The works of Alex Steinweiss: design of the music album cover as a new trend in graphic design
This article is discusses the works of the graphic designer Alex Steinweiss (1917 – 2011), who was involved in music industry of the United States. The author examines the causes and effects of the emergence of a new trend in graphic design, associated with the design of music album covers, as well as analyzed some of the covers invented by Steinweiss in the 1940s. A brief overview is given to the evolution of sound recording media and their packaging. The subject of this research is the art of Alex Steinweiss, while the object is the envelopes for LP vinyl records, invented by the designer during his work for the Columbia Record Label (1930s – 1940s). The relevance of this article is substantiate by the new wave of interest in vinyl records, and thus graphic design in the context of music industry, as well as by the demand to prepare specialists for working in modern music industry. The novelty lies in examination of causal link of the emergence of new trend graphic design on inventing music album covers. The conducted research indicates the influence of a number of socioeconomic factors and activity of Alex Steinweiss upon the emergence of a new trend in graphic design. The author concludes on the relevance of studying the creative path of Alex Steinweiss for the students and representatives of art professions.