brat

Modern album covers display how artists use specific typography and imagery to convey the meaning and emotion behind their music. By focusing on the placement, color, typeface, and visual style, it shows how graphic design can be used for storytelling, not just advertising.

Charli XCX’s “brat” album has three visual elements: the bold, neon green background, the black Arial typeface spelling ‘brat’, and the rough scribbles inside the title. The text appears low-resolution and slightly blurry, giving the impression that it was rushed. This messy, careless vibe reflects the emotion in her music, as it is ‘club’ music and made to make the listener feel unfiltered, confident, and want to dance. The simplicity of this piece allows the minimal, but bold features to stand out. It feels energetic, rebellious, and raw, reflecting the vibe of the upbeat songs. Interestingly, the scribbles were not part of the album’s original release- they were added later as a nod to “Brat Summer” being over, the time when the album came out and was at its peak popularity. Many people judge the album cover at first glance for its vagueness, but a deeper investigation reveals how carefully the album cover was actually constructed.