August 2013
Beginner
240 pages
6h 16m
English

1917–2011 | BORN: Brooklyn, New York | EDUCATION: Parsons School of Design
Designed inventive record covers
Developed the cardboard LP sleeve
In an era of digital distribution, it’s hard to imagine that packaging ever played a significant role in marketing new music. But it certainly did, and Alex Steinweiss paved the way for a golden age of album design.
In 1939, Columbia Records hired Steinweiss to design posters and in-store displays to market their records. Retailers needed these promotions, because the records themselves—78-RPM discs wrapped in plain paper and packaged in boxed sets—did nothing to sell themselves. Other labels, ...
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