Search

Insound’s Top 10 Vinyl Packaging Designs

The awesome folks over at Insound have put together a fantastic list of their 10 best vinyl packaging designs. Do you agree? Leave your favorite vinyl designs in the comments.

The Fall – Totally Wired LP Box
This 3xLP set catalogues what some consider the bands most interesting and productive years, those while releasing records for legendary British indie Rough Trade. The remastering and audio enhancements to the original releases, the overall tri-gatefold packaging and design, and the thick 180 gram vinyl make this a very special release.

Joy Division – Still
Recreated with the identical packaging of the original first release over 25 years ago, this re-issue speaks to the meticulous attention to detail that the band put not only into their music (and the 20 songs on Still) but into their design as well. With Peter Saville’s iconic designs, can you go wrong?

Radiohead – In Rainbows Deluxe LP Box
There is nothing I can say that describes how great this is.

Pretty Girls Make Graves – 7″ Box
Beyond limited edition (140) of hand numbered and silk-screened cardboard boxes that compiles the bands first 3 7″‘s which became their first album, Good Health.

Deadwood Divine – s/t LP
Not only is this release silk-screened onto cloth, but the first 300 LP’s were actually hand sewn…really.

Sin Ropas – Fire Prizes LP
This is a perfect example of why vinyl will always stick around, because of the packaging and artwork opportunities it presents. The outer jacket has a cut out which wraps around to the back, carving out a spindly tree. The swirl of colors you see as the tree is the full color record sleeve inside (by Brent Green – nice job!), with ghostly characters and bears in a cloudy dream landscape – and THEN, to top it off, the wax is a picture disc with this cool skeleton bird and a lurker on a dilapidated bicycle. All the colors hang together beautifully, with burnt orange, beige and browns. And hey, the music is rad too!

Mount Eerie – Mt. Eerie Pts. 6 & 7 10″ + Book
For my money, the ultimate in vinyl packaging. This is a wordless, huge, 132 page (plus a three panel fold-out) book with photos of “natural light in the natural world” taken using antique cameras. Oh, and a 10″ record too with amazing music. It’s bound inside a letterpressed dust jacket with silver text, and all printed on environmentally conscious paper. Absolutely worth every penny.

Severed Heads – Adenoids 1977-1985 5xLP
Having a band named Severed Heads pretty much demands extreme packaging. Like the Joy Division LP it’s elegantly minimal on the outside (with a creepy skeleton creature, natch), and when you lift the lid on the box you get five individual (and hand-numbered out of 600) LPs with their own sleeves and artwork, and a hearty 12×12 booklet for liner notes.

Ilyas Ahmed – The Vertigo of Dawn LP
Nothing is worse than a flimsy, bent sleeve (or impersonal plastic jewel case, for that matter). I love LPs that are nice and thick and look like they took time to create – when it comes down to it yr getting (and paying for, as opposed to stealing off the internet) a piece of art as well as music to listen to. And this platter from Time Lag is just that, showcasing the lovely and beguiling design that perfectly complements the music. When incredible presentation and music (certainly the case here) match up it almost seems too good to be true.

Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation Box
You (should) already know why.

Visit Insound here.

Jaime Derringer, Founder + Executive Editor of Design Milk, is a Jersey girl living in SoCal. She dreams about funky, artistic jewelry + having enough free time to enjoy some of her favorite things—running, reading, making music, and drawing.