AI and a single twig: Here are Art Vinyl’s best album covers of 2023

The winners of the “definitive” prize for best album artwork of the year have been announced. Coming in at first place is the designer behind PJ Harvey’s 2023 studio album I Inside the Old Year Dying, Michelle Henning. The judging panel selected Melodie McDaniel as runner-up for her work with Gabriels on Angels & Queens, plus Mat Maitland’s for the cover of Sub Focus’ album, which heroed a type of colourful, soft-bodied sea mollusc.

The PJ Harvey artwork was a curveball amongst cover designs last year; it featured just one lone stick against a white backdrop. Henning originally experimented with showing a full forest, but quickly realised that one stick “would give it the feel of the classic album covers I admire”.

Best Art Vinyl founder Andrew Heeps said “simplicity” and “thoughtfulness” were two attributes which united winners this year. “While the winning album artwork for PJ Harvey and runner up Gabriels focus on the single iconic image with multiple conceptual layers, third place Sub Focus uses an evolving single image via a lenticular design.”

There are themes that unite each of the 50 shortlisted artworks too. AI crops up repeatedly, in Lil Yachty’s album Let’s Start Here, in the Subfocus album from Mat Maitland and Geese’s album 3D Country, which was made using Dall-E. Another theme was the presence of artworks made by the musicians themselves, with Bar Italia and Yaeji both working on their own cover art, alone and with collaborators.

The shortlisted designs were selected by a panel of artists, designers and music industry experts including Andrew Heeps, founder of Art Vinyl and last year’s winner, the designer behind Black Country New Road’s Ants From Up Here, Simon Monk.

While simplicity was important for Michelle Henning’s winning artwork, the designer explains that the final work took months, from experiments with compositions and different photographs to waiting on the perfect weather conditions. Read our interview with the designer and artist here.