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Context
and Audience
As a part of a series (3-part thus far), each WOW worship
CD contains "Today's 30 Most Powerful Worship Songs" for the Christian
audience. Although the album does not specifically say "WoW Worship
Green", the separate colours (blue, orange, and now, green) for each
CD in the series serve to help consumers and retailers differentiate
each of the three CDs. Interestingly enough, the green album contains
two covers: the old one, to maintain the ethos of the series, and a
perforated side to allow the buyer to tear the old one off to reveal
the new, or alternate, one. The newer green album cover portrays a
contemporary feel, which reflects the songs within--not organ-filled,
cathedral-like choral hymns, but rather music filled with percussion,
guitars (acoustic, bass, electric, etc), keyboards, and vocalists.
The company explains the change that "captures and communicates simple
experiences, which we daily overlook . . ." Personally, I find the
new design more appealing than the old, which is largely due to the
rhetoric of the image(s) and the text, working together as a whole.
Typography
and Text
In comparing the contrasting the two cover styles,
the typography of the old cover is in a serif-font that portrays an
ancient or "used" feel. The kerning is also quite conventional, following
a familiar tradition. Comparatively, the new cover has clean serif
fonts, which adds to the contemporary feel of the CD and is suggestively
reflective of "Today". The clean, straight edges of the contemporary
san-serif font and the wide kerning in between characters also allow
the eyes to see the words much easier, as it does not appear so "busy".
I am not entirely sure that the change from WOW to W(
)W is very effective. Although the parentheses indirectly indicate
that there is an image or a similar substitution for the letter "O",
the company is quite inconsistent with how they "spell" the word,
as a "tag" noun. The inner cover has multiple spellings, which include
"WOW" and "WoW", whereas the website spells it, "W( )W" in various
spots.
Images
The image(s) of the hands further add to the ethos of
a contemporary feel. The hands serve a different purpose across the
two covers. The images of the hands in the first cover functions more
so as the ground than the figure. The multiple images of hands imply
dancing and energy (as opposed to stiff conservative worship). However,
because they are placed directly behind the text, the hands seem to
create background "noise". On the other hand (no pun intended),
the hands on the alternate cover seems to be a part of the figure
as it operates as a part of the text-forming the "O" in "WOW". The
single images of a pair of hands serve to imply reverence and individual
worship. Furthermore, because there is no face attached to the hands
(unlike the old cover, which show some faces), the CD cover seems
to extend an invitation to anyone to worship.
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