Paramore RIOT Album

Paramore’s sophomore album, Riot has held up quite well since its release in 2007. The album was titled Riot because of the uncontrollable amount of emotions and feelings being poured out from the group. It’s expressed clearly through the songs and the album design with the sketched handwriting and chaotic type all over the album. The album limits itself to just three colors with lots of black and white and orange being the emphasized color. Instead of the band being placed on the front like what most record labels want, the band was placed on the back with the song list. For the album cover, there are many versions of the word Riot from outlines to bold thickness and sizes. There also seems to be a lot of tension created which increases this feeling of anxiety which is visually communicated. Or an album cover that seems relatively simple, it is very effective and communicates the overall theme of not only the album but the band. As viewers, we get the grittiness and rebelling nature that punk rock is and what Paramore represents. The design also reflects well on one of the singles released for the album, Misery Business which also has a toughness and messy approach to it. Mark Obriski was the designer who worked on the album and created the handwritten type that is used throughout the album. He even mentions on his Instagram that it was one of the first pieces of album art he created by hand. He used over 20 markers and many pads of bristol boards throughout his process to get the final product that we see today. There’s also a picture of him tracing around the band members moments after the album title was finalized. He played a major role in the creation of a staple piece in 2000s music album design.