Steve PMHEvery artist works hard to make their music the best it can be. Good music sells well. However, this is not the place to stop at.
There are many other factors that come into play when it comes to making enormous sales from your music. Some of them include audio and video quality, production quality, and the album covers.
A good quality cover will make your entire album stand out to your audience. It is one of the easiest ways to boost your album sales, which is why you absolutely cannot overlook it.
Most artists understand this. And they work hard to make that perfect album cover. Doing this was pretty touch not too long ago. Luckily, making covers these days has been made so much easier through the power of technology.
There are many platforms online that have been created to assist you in making that perfect album cover. It goes without saying that you have to choose the best graphic design services to get the best art for your album cover.
This article will detail the features of five album cover makers. It shall highlight the key features that make them stand out and also talk about the pros and notable cons that each of these platforms has. In doing so, it will help you decide which of these platforms would make the best choice for you as you go about coming up with your album covers.
Fiverr
Created by Micha Kaufman and Shai Wininger, Fiverr was launched in February 2010 and has its headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Besides graphic design, Fiverr also offers a wide range of other services, including writing, translation, video editing, and programming. The platform allows users to buy and sell a variety of digital services offered by freelancers.
Fiverr is the world’s largest freelancing platform. This means that when it comes to album cover making, the crowdsourcing platform has thousands of freelancers waiting to create the perfect cover for you.
All you have to do to get started is to select a few potential freelancers that you might want to work with, then check out their profiles and portfolios first. All these along with their reviews are readily accessible, which allows you to weigh your options before hiring one.
Key Features
Freelance marketplace
Fiverr provides a platform where you can get professional freelancers to make album covers for you. They all have different ratings and pricing so you can choose the one who fits in your budget. All you need to do is select one freelancer then wait for the job to get done.
Private Communication
Once you have selected the freelancer to hire, you can have private conversations with them. This way you can give specifications and view the progress to your cover creation easily.
Filtered Seller Search
There are many different categories of services on the platform. Pick out a specific category then narrow down to one freelancer who perfectly fits that category. Alternatively, instead of going through all that hustle, you can just do a specific search and select one freelancer based on the results.
Pricing and plans
Fiverr has a uniform pricing system for all services. The rates start at $5 per job and can go up to thousands of dollars depending on the type of job you want to be done for your cover.
Pros
- You get to choose a freelancer based on your needs
- Great categorization of services which makes it easy to find what you are looking for
- You can tell what quality of service to expect from someone based on their ratings and reviews
- It works on a variety of devices. Fiverr is supported on Linux, Windows, Android, iPhone/iPad, Mac and is also web-based.
- It has a great customer feedback system
Cons
- Fiverr is not designed specifically for album cover design, so it does not have as many features as those offered by other platforms.
- If you have very specific requirements, it can take a while before you find exactly what you want
Cover Art Factory
Cover Art Factory was created in 2014 in Stockholm, Sweden. Having worked with a diverse variety of previous clients, including record labels, DIY artists and media companies, Cover Art Factory offers custom graphic design services that primarily target media and music industry professionals.
The platform provides tools for products like singles, EPs, albums, and playlists.
Making album cover designs using this platform can be done in one of two ways. There is a Snap n’ Go option that lets artists upload an image, title, and name. You can also opt to go with the Type n’ Go option which only requires your name and title.
Within 48 hours of uploading your information, you will receive a tailor-made version of the cover design you selected.
Cover Art Factory also provides you with the ability to sort by musical genre to market to specific audiences. The platform also offers positions that feature freelancing and telecommuting employment.
Key features
Template categories
The platform has a vast number of templates to choose from. You are not limited to a few choices, and this increases the chances of you getting something close to what you want. All the templates are free and easy to customize.
Expert designers involvement
When you give the details of the cover you want to be created, the actual work is done by professional designers who work to give you the best outcomes. Getting your work done by a group of specialists in that sector might be the best way to get it done right.
Once the cover has been completed, it is sent back to you, usually after 24-48 hours.
Price and plans
Prices range from $39 to $129 depending on the design and level of expertise you require in your cover.
Pros
- It is super easy to use. All you need to do is fill in the form detailing what you want from your cover.
- The covers are created by a group of experts
- It offers many templates to choose from
Cons
- It might take some time before you get exactly what you wanted
Place It
Place It is another graphics design service provider that lets you make your covers even with very little artistic skills. You can edit templates, choose colors, fonts and upload your images with ease.
Using Place It, you get access to a vast library of mockups. These allow you to inspire your designs with amazing covers. So far, they have sold over 7million templates.
The platform also lets you share your covers and invite friends and professional consultants to preview your work. This helps you make the necessary changes and also build up your confidence even if you have little or zero skills in art.
Key Features
Iconic Branding Assets
It offers quality design and branding assets in just a few clicks. The templates are created by professional designers.
This makes branding easier since you can finish making your cover by following just a few direct steps, allowing you to get the best out of it. You can also share your work on social media platforms to promote your albums.
Pixel-Perfect Mockups
The platform includes the world’s largest library of mockups. Using this, you can easily promote your designs with catchy images.
Videomakers
Besides cover making, you can also make striking videos using Place It all inside your browser. You can include images in your videos and share them to promote your work.
Pricing and plans
Place It lets you enjoy their services with a $14.95 monthly subscription or $99.95 annual subscription which saves you 44.29%.
Pros
- You create the cover yourself
- Place It offers professional advice
- It is easy to use
- The process of customizing covers is fast
Cons
- It might be a bit confusing for people using it for the first time
PosterMyWall
The platform was founded in 2010. Besides covers, PosterMyWall allows anyone to create videos even without having any artistic skills.
PosterMyWall also includes social media post templates including videos for your Instagram, Facebook, among others. Currently, PosterMyWall has over 135,000 templates, 2 million active monthly users and 18 million designs created.
It lets you organize your work in folders and photo/video collections. These are all securely stored in the cloud. It also allows you to invite friends and teams to edit and comment on designs.
A big plus of the platform is that you get to work from your computer, tablet, or phone.
Key Features
MASK editor
A major feature of the platform is this MASK editor feature. It enables you to upload an image and pull out one element. Using this feature you can edit images to create an edited version of it for your cover.
Choose your design
You choose from a wide range of colors and replicate them throughout the desired marketing piece to suit your preference.
Gradient background
The platform enables you to create a sensational background for your cover which adds delightful visual interest to it.
The “Glow” feature
This feature enhances image appearances to improve quality. It comes in handy as one of the final steps when creating your cover to ensure you get the best out of the platform.
With PosterMyWall, you get to share logos, brand assets and images with friends, your team and customers. This feature lets the people you share your work with comment on it which lets you make necessary changes from what they say.
Productivity Tools
The platform provides you with tools that enable you to organize your designs in folders and easily search through them.
Pricing and plans
- Banners – Starting from $69.95
- Bulk Flyers & Postcards – Starting from $10.95
- High-resolution downloads – Free
- Poster Prints – Starting from $7.50
- Frames $ mounts – Starting from $69.95
- Double-sided – Starting from $49.95
Pros
- It is easy to use
- It has a resizing option that allows you to create several models from a single design.
- Save to cloud option lets you access all your designs, folders and images/videos easily.
- It is professional as designs are created by a global community and high-quality stock videos.
Cons
- It can be quite costly when compared to other platforms
99DESIGNS
99designs offers you 2 options on how to create your album cover. You can either open up your design project to a designer community or get matched up with a designer. The option you go with is entirely dependent on what works best for you.
Creating your cover with this platform is quite easy. All you have to do is create a brief detailing what you want, connect with designers either one-on-one or an open community, then collaborate with them.
Usually, it takes about 24-48 hours before designs start coming in. Once you are satisfied with a design, you can release your payment and the files are made available for download.
Key Features
Cover making options
When using 99designs, you get to choose the way you want your cover created. You can choose between individual designers or contests.
If you already know what you want, it is best to go with an individual designer. If you only have a general idea, a contest is a great option to go with so you can get several covers to choose from.
100% guaranteed refund
If you are not happy with the work done by contestants, you get your money back within 60 days. However, there are several limitations to this feature. You cannot get a refund if you had placed a prize for your contest. You also don’t get a refund if the contest had entered the final round or the winner was already awarded.
Even so, if you don’t like the previous work, you can call 99designs who will help you re-write your brief and re-open the project.
Exposure to more designers
99designs is a marketplace for graphics designers. The platform gives you access to designers worldwide.
The designers are divided into groups depending on conduct and performance. Entry, mid and top designers charge differently depending on the quality of cover you want.
Pricing and plans
Pricing depends on the level of expertise you choose. However, 99designs offers price-fixed packages for one-on-one projects.
Pros
- You get to choose between individual designers and contests
- 100% refunds for unworthy jobs
- Different prices to choose from depending on your budget
- Many categories to choose from
- You get to escrow payments to designers.
Cons
- Team ups take quite some time
- You can’t control the type of designs you receive from contests
- Designers who don’t get picked in contests don’t get paid
Verdict
As you can see, different album cover makers will suit you differently depending on what you want.
If you want one that lets you do the work on your own, then your best bet will be PosterMyWall or Place It. On the other hand, if you prefer to outsource the work to professionals, then consider Cover Art Factory, 99designs, or Fiverr.
Overall, each of these platforms has its own strengths and weaknesses. Which means how good each one is will be determined by your specific needs and requirements.
