The album cover artwork of Alex Steinweiss was a real smash hit

28 July 2011

American graphic designer Alex Steinweiss, who pioneered the concept of album cover artwork, died last week aged ninety-four.

In 1939 Steinweiss thought records might have more appeal if they featured eye-catching artwork over the plain brown packaging that was then in use. And he was right.

After designing a cover for Smash Song Hits by Rodgers & Hart (Internet Archive link), sales of the record increased by almost nine-hundred percent.

See more of Steinweiss’ work here (Internet Archive link), and here.

Originally published Thursday 28 July 2011, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.