I bought Key’s cereal box album and it’s easily the coolest album I bought all year. From the external art to the photo book and inclusions it’s super well designed. Hands down one of my favorite albums in my whole collection!
gahhh it's so stunning! I lowkey wish I got that version as well as the space ray gun version haha! but I had to be a little more picky with what I've been buying these days :')
I'm a manga editor, which meant Love and Take was an insta-buy for me! I LOVE the tiny details: -The three albums versions have 1, 2, and 3 on the spine so they look like different volumes in the same manhwa series. -For Korean manhwa physical books, they usually print the author and artist's previous works on the jacket flap, so Pentagon put their discography on the flap of the member-only jacket. Also, I was really surprised that they making a member-only dust jacket on the back of the member's poster! It was an extra step that I really appreciated. As for bag packages, the only one I've ever liked was BTOB member Hyunsik's solo album, Rendezvous. First and foremost, it's a resealable bag(!!) and it also worked with the concept; his album was space/astronaut-themed, and with the holographic photo book packaged in the front, it reminded me of a bag of freeze-dried astronaut food.
ahh first of all, it is so cool that you're a manga editor! thank you so much for pointing out all of the little features of a korean manhwa that I wouldn't have understood or recognized myself! I really like the idea of a resealable bag so hopefully more companies do that in the future if they choose bag packaging, however I'm sure there's an added cost to something like that!
The best part about Pentagon Love or Take, is that if you get to collect the 8 albums of each version, it really looks like you have manga on your shelve.
I'm not even a pentagon fan but their love or take packaging made me really want to buy it I love the aesthetic of it, also you should check out Oneus their photoshoots are stunning my favorites are LIVED and Blood Moon. Blood Moon was my favorite concept this year the photobooks for the Gray and Blood versions are STUNNING
Love or take was a game changer it was so well designed even tho they weren’t trying to go out of line this just shows that they put much effort to all the aspects of their albums
Key's GALAXY mind resulted in the most amazing kpop album packagings of all time, I will prob never change my mind about that I remember him talking about how he specifically wanted the space ray version to be opened like one of those old school toys, which is soooo cool And the cereal box is literally the most creative, so 1000000/10 stars for Key!
Not a K-pop fan, but I LOVE the packaging creativity. Your breakdowns are fantastic. I’d love to see more creative packaging like this in other genres, but I think there’s a K-pop collector culture (amazing marketing) that doesn’t exist in any other genre - maybe it could happen in metal? I worked in fine printing for a long time and I’d love to see some letterpress, creative print techniques, interesting binding etc.
ahh thank you so much for the kind words! I deifnitely think that anyone who appreciates graphic design would have so much fun analyzing different kpop albums! there are just so many out there and they're all so creative! they've definitely figured out marketing in the music industry for this new generation!
Totally. I don't like Kpop, I don't listen to it and I don't know anything about the bands and their music, but I study design and I'm in love with packaging. When I discovered the level of creativity they had in k-pop packaging I was in love. Now I watch every unboxing video of their bands as a hobby ha ha ha and I'm thinking of buying some just for collection even if I don't like the music. My favorites are from Red Velvet and Aespa who have very original and beautiful packaging. The Korean industry is what keeps the physical music industry alive with that level of quality and creativity. While western physical music is disappearing by making the minimum effort by putting a sheet of paper and a cd box and nothing else and charging a much higher price than what kpop cd's cost with all the inclusions they have. Bravo for Korea and their work.
I love how unique kpop albums can be and how the concept of an album can uplift the photo shoot that is in the album! Besides Love Or Take and Turn Over, I’d have to say my other favorite album packaging is E’LAST Dark Dream. It’s simplistic yet but elegant, which really blends well with the comeback concept!
Key's concept blew everyone else out of the water, with the nostalgia factor and how gorgeous it is and just the amount of thought he put into it. I've limited myself to only buying what's available near me, so my collection isn't super diverse. TXT's Freeze is interesting. I get what they were going for with the frosted cover, but I don't love the sharp edges and the fact that it's so easily bent. FOE's box design was SO MUCH BETTER. I also like Twice's TOL box more than FOL (cute but harder to display imo, the way the inclusions were packaged worried me, and I feel like there was a missed opportunity to do a textbook theme instead). BTS Butter as well, compact but the colors pop and I love the magnetic closure.
The only negative thing I have to say about Pentagons Love or Take Album, as someone who collects ptg, is that they have a different format to all their previous albums. I always loved that they have different designs and even packaging but kept the same size so I was a little disappointed when they released Love or Take but then again everything else about the album is just so nice that I really don't mind that much.
one detail on PTG's Love Or Take album. On the back of the member jacket, they actually have the release history of PTG. I didn't even know this until a month or two after the release. And, I'm a Uni.
The cool SM jewel case trend was kind of started by Irene and Seulgi's Monster and was also used for Wendy's and Joy's solos + Queendom and I love that style!
I think purely off design i gotta give it to pentagon nct dream and key for best concepts but packaging wise i gotta say butter just cuz the box style they chose is sturdy, easy to open and display, nice colors and just overall an album i like opening to see thru the Photobook because is not inconvenient
Pentagon's album is the best for album design for me this year. I also really love the royalty concept for Turn Over (that's why I ended up getting all three versions 😅 ). I agree with what you said about SM and their jewel cases. They seem to either do it very well (like for their female artists) or just so plain and boring. I prefer their digipacks versions that they've been doing for some solos (D.O's, Kai's Peaches, etc.) because they're compact like a jewel case but not a jewel case, have a decent photobook, and very cheap! I don't like jewel cases. Even before I started collecting kpop, the jewel cases I have for non-kpop artists can break easily. Also, jewel cases for kpop are not really cost effective. At least with non-kpop artists (at least back in the day I don't know about now 😂), the CDs were cheap but for kpop, when you consider the majority of us are paying expensive shipping for a jewel case it's just not worth it in my opinion.
I think this is exactly it! what I love about kpop albums is that they're usually so much more beautiful than western albums haha! I think that's why I'm usually so underwhelmed with typical jewel case packaging!
This Aespa jewel case looks really interesting. I also liked their Shinee Don't call me Jewel Cases - not as special, but the member covers looked really good.
I agree a 100% A.C.E photobooks are always a masterpiece everytime I open a new album I'm in awe at how beautiful the photos are. I remember when the Under Cover album came out and I had gotten my copy I told my mom that I'm so tempted to buy more copys because the photobook was absolutely stunning. 😍
Agree with a.c.e photoshoots, their album photobooks are the only ones that I repeatedly browse through because i’m obsessed with how stunning their photos are always
I think they really understood that if they were gonna make a photobook it’s gotta be something that people need to keep coming back to to be at awe at😭
love and take, hot sauce, hello future, turn over, don’t call me and bad love are definitely my favorites in terms of design. omg and ace’s photobooks never disappoint.
I'm also a graphic designer and now I'm inspired to do my own video on the packaging/concepts I liked the most from this year. I love analyzing and breaking down different concept designs, color palettes, typography, etc. I think it's so fun! Plus, my brain is literally always thinking about these things because it's my job.
I bought love or take last month I loooove the packaging sm and all the inclusions too a brilliantly designed album!! just the amount of creativity that goes into albums is crazy some are so insanely good
Since you were talking about multiple albums creating a bigger picture, for pentagon you’ve also got a letter on the spine (you have the o I think), if you have them all it spells love or take. That’s a lot of albums but it’s good good fun for collectors since you have to find the right ones
WAIIITTT I DID NOT KNOW THOSE JEWEL CASES HAD SECRET PHOTOCARDS UNDER THE CD... I'VE HAD MY DON'T CALL ME MINHO JEWEL CASE FOR MONTHS AND NEVER KNEW LOL😭😭😭
I got the other two versions of bad love and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM. The only flaw is that to open the ray gun version you literally have to tear it apart, as it’s designed to be like that. I couldn’t ruin my only copy of it so I still keep it sealed lmao
Ooh so glad you started with Kingdom! Their album covers and designs are so pretty and I thought it was pretty cool that for HOK 2, which was based on Emperor Chiwu from China, they had a poster with all members that was folded and styled like ancient Chinese scrolls
I have TXT’s Fight or Escape escape ver. and it is soooo cute, the plastic slip reveals the title in a really cool way. Keys and ACEs were definitely my favorite, untouchable honestly
My definite favorite type of albums is definitely the book style, like sf9, pentagon, like day6 did with their the book of us series, so simple and elegant and looks great displayed on the shelf. I am obsessed with pentagons manga style cover, it looks so frickin cool!! Also you’re absolutely right, ace’s photography is always next level!!!
unpopular opinion, i guess, but i love regular SM jewel cases. they give you a nice little display for a pretty CD (well i guess not in case of Sticker, EXOs had very pretty CDs in those, first Kai solo too), you can put it on the shelf as a decoration and put any other CD there, if you want, since the CD backdrop is always transparent. and the way the pc is stored seemed neat to me, didn’t have any trouble opening/finding it. but welp that’s just my experience 😅
I do really like the way you are able to display some of the SM jewel cases for sure! I agree, EXO's was really nice! but yeah, sticker just felt a little too plain for me? but they did have to make individual member covers so I guess they couldn't spend too much time on the design haha!
My favorites from this year packaging and music wise has to be both A.C.E and Key. The amount of detailing put into both is so astonishing. Both got the concept and RAN WITH IT. Honestly for Siren: Dawn they brought back the underwater photography for their tragic merman concept. I have never seen an idol group do something as ethereal as that before. I think they really understood that they wanted an album that you keep coming back to just to look at the photography. Key’s was absolutely phenomenal. As someone who loves old movies the second I saw his concept teasers I knew exactly what he was going for and the EXECUTION WAS SO WELL. Musically I can hear the Bowie inspiration and Key embodied it. I think both A.C.E and Key were able to do something that wasn’t really done before and kill it 😭
If you haven't already seen them I would check out Dreamcatcher's album designs. They all fit in with their dark/fantasy theme. Each album/mini album set feels different (and fits the theming of that album's concept) yet feels cohesive with the entire collection as a whole. Recently their 'Limited version's bring this to another level, feeling like a hardback book and making the unboxing experience feel so much more premium. It's also nice that all of the albums fit on a shelf together without any major size differences, they look like they belong next to each other. Also a recent trend they have is spelling out a 4 letter word if you collect all 4 versions of a release, the word is related to the concept of that album. It's all these extra details that really bring them to another level. Out of all the albums the 'Raid of Dream' Limited edition looks and feels incredible (very similar to the sf9 album you show) but for one that came out this year I have to say the 'Road to Utopia' limited version gets bonus points for having a cutout window on the packaging which lets you see the eyes of one of the members (one of the inclusions is an a5 card with a random 1/7 member picture) the cutout is just big enough to see their eyes which perfectly fits with the theme of the title track (odd eye) this is just another example of them doing that little bit extra.
As someone who is also a graphic designer, i do really get your point at most of the albums. I always check out what the cover is like, what the packaging is and the design. And btw I enjoyed watching this.
Def agree with all your favs! A.C.E, Key, SF9, Kingdom, Pentagon. Some of my fav albums include Leehi 4ONLY, Sunmi 1/6, and Chungha Killing Me. Plus groups that keep the same size and aesthetic (Dreamcatcher, Ateez, Mamamoo, Oneus). Also been seeing a increase in the large coffee table book like albums (Woodz Set, Onewe, SHINee, B.I)
The cases for the Kingdom albums are always so pretty!! I don't buy each version because I want to be careful about $, but I make sure to buy the exact version that I want, and they are so wonderful!!
i also love the bts butter album and txt foe album packaging, i love the palette of colors they chose and the packaging is strudy and high quality :> edit: I would love to add sm gg case versions (rv, rv solos, and aespa) they are aesthetically pleasing
I don’t buy many albums(just from my ults) BUT my personal favorites I got were: -both of Astro’s albums(I personally think they both look amazing on the shelf as sets, the colors compliment eachother so nicely. Also they’re both pretty sturdy box packaging but not too bulky which I loooove) -ptg’s love or take (I literally bought two versions just bc of the amazing packaging and photo concepts even tho they’re technically not even one of my ults🤡) -nflying’s man on the moon (the packaging is suuuper simple, it’s basically just a large photobook but I absolutely love how large the photos are, and how many photos you got in it. Idk it just feels hefty?? and I love it) And now for ones I didn’t enjoy: both of txt’s chaos chapter albums😭 I bought all versions for both, and while I LOVE the concepts and inclusions for both(the skateboarding concept was what actually caught my attention and got me into them), the packaging itself is just not it for me. The plastic covers aren’t very sturdy, and the outer designs don’t do the actual concepts justice at all, not to mention they look so boring and plain on the shelf with their grey and clear spines:(
omg the Man On The Moon album is definitely stunnnning! I also agree with TXT, I like the frosted look since it kinda made sense with one of the concepts but the plastic casing was definitely a little difficult to work with haha!
Always looking forward to your yearly album packaging videos, great content as always. One of my favourite album designs from this year along with Pentagon's "Love or Take" and A.C.E's "Siren Dawn" is from a newly debuted girl group called Billlie with their album "The Billage of Perception". It's a saddle stitch design like Key's "Bad Love" but it also suits the concept as it looks like an old kinda movie poster with some cool illustrations.
my favorite album packaging this year was the omega x's vamos albums, but i also really liked key's bad love album versions! this year i was hoping for quality the boyz album packaging (ex. the only, the sphere) but i always feel disappointed with the standard flat albums with the flimsy covers (thrill ride had good inclusions but so much more packaging potential.) honestly i think this year wasnt great for packaging maybe due to supply shortages or whatever but hopefully 2022 can bring some more unique ideas for album packaging! honestly i love box type albums or just things that havent been done yet. and definitely nct needs to step up their game with album packaging cuz as someone who has been buying nct albums for year i feel like each album is just the sameish?? and just 1 photocard typically?? sm merch always seems cheap to me (excluding shinee cuz their stuff is typically good quality) but ik they have the funds to be producing higher quality unique albums and such.
I feel like a bag album that looked like an old stationary set would be REALLY cute, especially if it came with some stationary stuff, like a pen/pencil, sticker sheets, memo pad, postcards ect. The bag design can be cool for displaying all the inclusions of the album, so it doesn't really work when the album is just a book and jewel case in a plain clear bag... The bag could also be printed so it feels like it's actually part of the packaging. Finally, can companies PLEASE make them resealable (not in the hot sauce way)
This is my favorite type of videos you put out! It's really nice to hear about what you think works and what might not work. Love or Take definitely has my favorite design.
I agree that SM jewel cases are very much low quality and effort, but I'm sorta ok with that because it's priced way lower than a standard album while still getting a photocard (or 2) and a small sample of the photobook. I do hope they improve the design though.
Ooh about cut outs, BTOB 4u Outside, has some circles cutouts that let you see random parts of their picture...but for some reason i really like it because i feel they look like planets 🤭
Additionally I would like to talk about some things from this video. 1. Covers that create a picture together. Personally, I prefer when this type of thing is going through one comeback. My personal favourite is Monsta X's Code album. If you put both version covers side by side theyr create a cool picture. It's a bit difficult to store that way, but I did it in the past and it looks really cool! Another example I have is BTS's "Love Yourself" era. On this one I'm a bit conflicted. Covers match for a one comeback, but also for the all era, which is cool. But on their spines they have letters. So to get the whole message "love yourself" you have to get all versions. Otherwise it spells random words or nothing at all. I managed to spell "yes". I have to admit, it's a cool idea, but in the long tearm - it's fricking 12 albums in total. Ofc if you stan only BTS it's kinda acceptable, but I think it's a bit too much. 2. Plastic bags. I totally understand! It's totally horrible. It's not pretty, it's hard to store, it's just a mess. But I have an example that is kinda from that area. NCT 127 Regular-Irregular album. Have you seen it before? It comes in a plastic bag, but it's rather like a pocket. It's a very thick material and has an NCT127 logo on it. It's sealed with a sticker on the back, but you can cut it and it looks fine. Honestly, I might even store some documents inside, and put the inclusions somewhere else. The overall desighn is very cool to me, very conceptualistic (?). I'm not an expert, but for me it's one of the most unique and interesting album concept and package wise. Photos inside are also very weird (it's hard to explain, you really just have to see them). A lot of fans don't like that photobook, and sure, photobooks is like a flimsy magazine with weird photos, but I think it's brilliant and fun. I feel very inspired by it. Also it's easy to store and it looks amazing on the shelve if you store it with a cover looking towards you. I went on a rant again sorry :D I don't have anyone to talk about it really, so it felt really good to share my thoughts with someone who is also interested in k-pop albums packaging.
My favorite is Cix Prolouge: Be Ok! It has a very cool cut-out too, with the title track being Wave it has three different versions (ripple, storm and wave) and you can see a little sea with the version behind the cut out! It's really pretty, love displaying it on my shelf
I love watching videos like these. Idk why but I find album unboxings theraputic and I love seeing how creative some albums are. My favourite album design so far is B.I's Waterfall album. I found it to be simple but yet aesthetic and elegant. And it went with the theme of the album which was waterfall. Plus I loved the photography in the photobook and the material of the paper, it all seemed high quality
Idk if anyone said this here before but another thing about aespa's jewel case cover is that it has an AR thing on it which is actually cool imo because when you scan it with the smtown ar app, it would reveal like a portal to kwangya which you could explore through your phone. Idk if I explained it well but I think it's really cool.
As someone who is doing my master in graphic design and audiovisual postproduction i can say that i TOTALLY agree with everything you said like there's not a single thing a disagree with you, i also hate bags packaging so much and i don't really own one of those albums but everytime i see an unboxing of them i'm like ''eww why did they do that??'' it's not pretty, nor functional and obsly not pleasant to the eyes. The only album that i don't mind having in a bag is nct127's regular album, i mean it's not the best but at least the bag is a thick plastic and i didn't struggle with the sticker on the back cuz i cut it with an x-acto knife 😅 I have a couple of my favorite albums packaging and designs overall that you didn't mention and those are exo's don't fight the feeling and victon's 1st full album cuz omg the design, concept, photography and inclusions are so gooood!!! their design team really totally killed it! 🔥 Love these annual videos as your usual content Maria! ❤
I have sticker photobook version, and I think the album cover is pretty cool, same with hot sauce. I have the actual album version and the cover is really nice.
19:42 re: bag packaging that works, this year LUCY released bag packaging for their Gatcha album that divided their fans but I liked it so much I bought it. The concept was Gatcha machine, so the inclusions featured super adorable bright graphic, you can collect little coins w member initials, the inclusions was put in a little envelope that you had to get into like a Gatcha toy, and it make sense to suit the vending machine game concept. It didn’t have a sticker-it opened like a ziplock at the top and had typography on the bag itself. However! It was executed a bit poorly as the bag is too big vis-à-vis the photobook (doesn’t fit right). I wished they made it more fitted to the Photobook and it would have been great. So I do think bag packaging can work given right concept and execution. I did an unboxing of it, I liked it, had high expectation of it, so just needed a bit more tweaking. Thank you for your review, I’m so glad I do own a couple of these albums you featured because I do agree-i so appreciate being able to collect such beautiful expression of art and concept.
Stumbled upon this video and imo SM albums/packaging are almost always a hit or miss, and it’s more obvious how most of their packaging design falls flat in terms of cohesion. Compared with other (and smaller) companies, it’s quite disappointing how SM’s output feel and look lackluster at times (Key’s Bad Love and SHINee DCM/Atlantis photobooks excluded). Let’s not even talk about the underwhelming inclusions 😬 I mostly collect NCT albums and I’ve liked the photography and typography for most releases, but as a whole I know SM can produce more cohesive photobooks and other inclusions.
I love hearing your perspective on design! i think it gives more insight to the design process which is super cool!! I also got PTG's album bcs that packaging is literally one of the best i've seen, i dont think any other group has done smth like that before. While i totally understand the hate for bag packaging (i dislike them too), I do still really like city of onf's design for the album overall. Because with the inclusions like the fake money, the poster that looks like newspaper, the ID card adn everything, it looks like an package that you can get from The city of ONF world itself so im a little bit sad you didn't dive more into it really.
ahh thank you so much for the kind words! I'm loving the amount of comments talking about Love & Take being their favourite album in terms of packaging this year!! it makes me so happy that so many people felt the same way about that design as I did! As for ONF, I really didn't take into consideration the inclusions and overall theme! I think maybe I might make a whole other video on albums inclusions so I can really deep dive into those as well!
so i def think i might be the only one who likes the jewel cases ( takes up less space on my shelf and its easier to take the cd out rather than having to pull it out everytime i wanna listen to the album ). i really like the design for the nct dream hot sauce album.. its very out there and grabs your attention! i think what sm fails to do is that they have graphic designers in their company but they dont use them in a more creative way.. like why was the nct 127 sticker album so plain?!?! also im gonna need SM to stop with the long and tall albums for no reason like WHAT IS THE POINT!!!!. i will say my fave packaging was red velvet's case cover for queendom because the packaging on that album was perfect but the photobook? outrageously huge for no reason once again. my least fave packaging is nuest "romanticize" such an amazing album music wise and photo wise but the packaging... i felt like i ordered take out and then when i've eaten all the food i just squished the box and throw it out.... thats how bad the packaging is ( pledis and h^be will be dealt with! ). also you talking about sf9 "turn over" packaging reminds me of what nu'est had for their happily ever after album and it just screams royalty and im sure theres a storyline to it too.
ahh yes! that's totally valid! I'm sure many people enjoy jewel cases and that's totally okay haha! I agree with the SM designers! I've seen what they can do and I know the talent is there! I think the problem sometimes is that SM releases content so often that these designers maybe aren't able to execute the concepts they'd like to with the time they are given sadly :(
I just really want plastic bags to stop in kpop the only somewhat acceptable plastic bag to me are when its a ziploc (at least protect the album from dust if u want to be a plastic bag)
as a 127 fan myself I hate the design of Sticker album so bad till the point I have to cut the booklet and made a cover myself from it, which I will never do to any packaging since I love to preserve the original beauty of the album. I assume that sm try to keep the price low to sell better so they choose this kind of design but it makes me feel so annoyed and frustrated. They have all the elements, the outfits on all the members look stunning, the posing is very good, and the artistry concept photo at the back cover is gorgeous, but they some how release a bad final product idgi
i always look forward to these videos!! would love to see a whole video on the back of pcs, i love when companies actually put thought to the design of the backs.
It fascinates me how companies can nail a packaging and blow it in the same year LOL like SM with jewel cases, there is also Cube making art out of Pentagon's Love or Take and also Lightsum's Light a wish single but then making that giant thing for (G)I-DLE's I Burn. I appreciate they improved the slip cover from I Trust but WHY IS THE CD STILL FLYING FREELY IN A GIANT ENVELOPE smh.
I always regret not taking Bad Love home with me... I'm gonna do it next time! Also Everglow's -77.82X-78.29 album is absolutely gorgeous, but the fact that it has a bag, makes it so much less aesthetic to have displayed! I LOVE the whole design, and I do appreciate the fact that the sticker on the bag doesn't rip... but still... yeah I definitely agree on you on that part!
I hope WM not give us ONF Jewel case for next album... because my album always damage during delivery. Then , ONF album is one of most cheap price ever in market. When the case damage the the price can become 3$ only...
Omg yayyyy your last one of these was one of the first videos or yours I watched, and I loved it so much and have been looking forward to one for this year!!!
Hi! I absolutely love these types of videos from you. It's really interesting to see and hear about designs of k-pop albums. I love geeking out about package designs, so I thought I would share about my personal favourites this year albums below. I hope it will be fun for you to read! For several reasons I don't buy a lot of albums anymore, so I'm really picky with my purchases. This year I bought Rose's "R", IU's "LILAC" and ENHYPEN's "Dimension:Dilemma". I am in love with all of the above. Packaging is top tier. 1. Rose. This album has only one flaw - it's format. It's a simple box which is fine, but it''s short in height but very long, so t's difficult to store. Personally I don't have enough space rn, so it's just sitting under a pile of books which sucks. Otherwise it's wonderful. It has pretty colours, it's extremely pleasant to touch (including outer box and inclusions). All the inclusions were wrapped in the lyrics paper, which looks like a folded newspaper page. Photobook itself has some cool inserts, like black&white pages, pages in different sizes, a lot of lyrics on the photos styled like a subtitles. It's really beautiful and high quality design and it just feels pleasant to hold it. Rose herself participated in packaging creation, and you can really feel and see all the love and effort that was put into it. One of the best albums I ever held in my hands. 2. IU. Packaging is a magnetic box, which is my absolute favourite. Again, the format is a bit off - it's very big, but at least it fits with other albums and books. The cover has a hard plastic wraping that you can take off, and both box itself and a cover has their own photo on it, and together they blend, which creates a very unique imagery. I really like that! It's hard to explain, so I encourage you to look it up on RUclips - I think I've never seen this type of style before. The packaging inside is also wonderful. Again, it's difficult to explain without showing, but all the inclusions were packed in a pretty and smart way. Really - just look it up, it's SO pretty! And colors were also veeery pretty, I'm just in love with this album. I wish I got both versions (I have the lilac one), and I'm planning on getting a second version, cause it's also done amazingly. 3. ENHYPEN. Again, a magnetic box, a win for me. Don't have much to say, but the packaging is really beautiful. It's that colorful metallic for me, and all 3 versions look very good together, I had to buy them all, even if I don't usually do that. They look very good on a shelve. I liked that photobook covers were also colorful metallic, and irl it looks fantasic, even tho you can see your fingerprints on them. Also it included holo photocards, and they look really amazing, I wish more k-pop albums had them. Additionally I am in love with WOODZ's Only lover left album packaging (thanks to your video :D), but it will arrive only in January, so I can't speak about my experience with it. I wanted WOODZ's album for a while, cause I really love his music, and this desighn and photography finally made me buy one. I hope, that this wasn't boring, and sorry for my grammar, as English is not my first language :)
pentagon's love or take album is that one album i want to buy just because of the design and packaging but ngl i love do or not its soo good
I bought Key’s cereal box album and it’s easily the coolest album I bought all year. From the external art to the photo book and inclusions it’s super well designed. Hands down one of my favorite albums in my whole collection!
gahhh it's so stunning! I lowkey wish I got that version as well as the space ray gun version haha! but I had to be a little more picky with what I've been buying these days :')
Me too!
Key's concept is superior. I remember him being worried about the production and the comeback being postponed but in the end it was so worth it.
omg totally worth it! hands down the most amazing concept & execution of the year!
I'm a manga editor, which meant Love and Take was an insta-buy for me! I LOVE the tiny details:
-The three albums versions have 1, 2, and 3 on the spine so they look like different volumes in the same manhwa series.
-For Korean manhwa physical books, they usually print the author and artist's previous works on the jacket flap, so Pentagon put their discography on the flap of the member-only jacket.
Also, I was really surprised that they making a member-only dust jacket on the back of the member's poster! It was an extra step that I really appreciated.
As for bag packages, the only one I've ever liked was BTOB member Hyunsik's solo album, Rendezvous. First and foremost, it's a resealable bag(!!) and it also worked with the concept; his album was space/astronaut-themed, and with the holographic photo book packaged in the front, it reminded me of a bag of freeze-dried astronaut food.
ahh first of all, it is so cool that you're a manga editor!
thank you so much for pointing out all of the little features of a korean manhwa that I wouldn't have understood or recognized myself!
I really like the idea of a resealable bag so hopefully more companies do that in the future if they choose bag packaging, however I'm sure there's an added cost to something like that!
The best part about Pentagon Love or Take, is that if you get to collect the 8 albums of each version, it really looks like you have manga on your shelve.
I'm not even a pentagon fan but their love or take packaging made me really want to buy it I love the aesthetic of it, also you should check out Oneus their photoshoots are stunning my favorites are LIVED and Blood Moon. Blood Moon was my favorite concept this year the photobooks for the Gray and Blood versions are STUNNING
ahh I love oneus! i have the gray version of blood moon!
The theater version of BM is so fragile
I feel like 2021 was the year of iconic typography. Itzy’s Guess Who, Monsta X’s No Limit, NCT’s Favorite, Aespa’s Savage.
Love or take was a game changer it was so well designed even tho they weren’t trying to go out of line this just shows that they put much effort to all the aspects of their albums
Key's GALAXY mind resulted in the most amazing kpop album packagings of all time, I will prob never change my mind about that
I remember him talking about how he specifically wanted the space ray version to be opened like one of those old school toys, which is soooo cool
And the cereal box is literally the most creative, so 1000000/10 stars for Key!
Not a K-pop fan, but I LOVE the packaging creativity. Your breakdowns are fantastic. I’d love to see more creative packaging like this in other genres, but I think there’s a K-pop collector culture (amazing marketing) that doesn’t exist in any other genre - maybe it could happen in metal?
I worked in fine printing for a long time and I’d love to see some letterpress, creative print techniques, interesting binding etc.
ahh thank you so much for the kind words! I deifnitely think that anyone who appreciates graphic design would have so much fun analyzing different kpop albums! there are just so many out there and they're all so creative! they've definitely figured out marketing in the music industry for this new generation!
Totally. I don't like Kpop, I don't listen to it and I don't know anything about the bands and their music, but I study design and I'm in love with packaging. When I discovered the level of creativity they had in k-pop packaging I was in love. Now I watch every unboxing video of their bands as a hobby ha ha ha and I'm thinking of buying some just for collection even if I don't like the music. My favorites are from Red Velvet and Aespa who have very original and beautiful packaging. The Korean industry is what keeps the physical music industry alive with that level of quality and creativity. While western physical music is disappearing by making the minimum effort by putting a sheet of paper and a cd box and nothing else and charging a much higher price than what kpop cd's cost with all the inclusions they have. Bravo for Korea and their work.
I love how unique kpop albums can be and how the concept of an album can uplift the photo shoot that is in the album! Besides Love Or Take and Turn Over, I’d have to say my other favorite album packaging is E’LAST Dark Dream. It’s simplistic yet but elegant, which really blends well with the comeback concept!
honestly A.C.E is untouchable in terms of photoshoots. no one does it like them :')
literally this!!!
Key's concept blew everyone else out of the water, with the nostalgia factor and how gorgeous it is and just the amount of thought he put into it. I've limited myself to only buying what's available near me, so my collection isn't super diverse. TXT's Freeze is interesting. I get what they were going for with the frosted cover, but I don't love the sharp edges and the fact that it's so easily bent. FOE's box design was SO MUCH BETTER. I also like Twice's TOL box more than FOL (cute but harder to display imo, the way the inclusions were packaged worried me, and I feel like there was a missed opportunity to do a textbook theme instead). BTS Butter as well, compact but the colors pop and I love the magnetic closure.
Seeing A.C.E concepts being praised makes me so happy. Great taste!!
Pentagon’s album was the beginning of my kpop album collector arc haha
The only negative thing I have to say about Pentagons Love or Take Album, as someone who collects ptg, is that they have a different format to all their previous albums. I always loved that they have different designs and even packaging but kept the same size so I was a little disappointed when they released Love or Take but then again everything else about the album is just so nice that I really don't mind that much.
one detail on PTG's Love Or Take album. On the back of the member jacket, they actually have the release history of PTG. I didn't even know this until a month or two after the release. And, I'm a Uni.
oh wow! I didn't know this!! thank you for sharing!!
The cool SM jewel case trend was kind of started by Irene and Seulgi's Monster and was also used for Wendy's and Joy's solos + Queendom and I love that style!
Yes I believe it was Irene's decision to do them like that.
I love pentagons album it’s so pretty and I’m also a sucker for a good manga style 🥰 but all of these albums you showed are so pretty
right?!?! such a stunning concept, I knew I needed it the second I saw it!
&& thank you so much for all of the kind words!
I think purely off design i gotta give it to pentagon nct dream and key for best concepts but packaging wise i gotta say butter just cuz the box style they chose is sturdy, easy to open and display, nice colors and just overall an album i like opening to see thru the Photobook because is not inconvenient
ahh yes! I also love a nice sturdy box type packaging! especially when it comes with a magnetic closure!
Pentagon's album is the best for album design for me this year. I also really love the royalty concept for Turn Over (that's why I ended up getting all three versions 😅 ). I agree with what you said about SM and their jewel cases. They seem to either do it very well (like for their female artists) or just so plain and boring. I prefer their digipacks versions that they've been doing for some solos (D.O's, Kai's Peaches, etc.) because they're compact like a jewel case but not a jewel case, have a decent photobook, and very cheap!
I don't like jewel cases. Even before I started collecting kpop, the jewel cases I have for non-kpop artists can break easily. Also, jewel cases for kpop are not really cost effective. At least with non-kpop artists (at least back in the day I don't know about now 😂), the CDs were cheap but for kpop, when you consider the majority of us are paying expensive shipping for a jewel case it's just not worth it in my opinion.
I think this is exactly it! what I love about kpop albums is that they're usually so much more beautiful than western albums haha! I think that's why I'm usually so underwhelmed with typical jewel case packaging!
Yes, SF9 albums had a great royalty concept and loved the texture of the outer packaging, felt really cool
This Aespa jewel case looks really interesting. I also liked their Shinee Don't call me Jewel Cases - not as special, but the member covers looked really good.
as a universe i’m so proud and happy everyone is talking about love or take🥺
I’m really in love with the Pentagon packaging. It’s so cool and I really want to get the album
I agree a 100% A.C.E photobooks are always a masterpiece everytime I open a new album I'm in awe at how beautiful the photos are. I remember when the Under Cover album came out and I had gotten my copy I told my mom that I'm so tempted to buy more copys because the photobook was absolutely stunning. 😍
right?! their photoshoots are completely unmatched! god tierrrrr shit
Agree with a.c.e photoshoots, their album photobooks are the only ones that I repeatedly browse through because i’m obsessed with how stunning their photos are always
I think they really understood that if they were gonna make a photobook it’s gotta be something that people need to keep coming back to to be at awe at😭
love and take, hot sauce, hello future, turn over, don’t call me and bad love are definitely my favorites in terms of design. omg and ace’s photobooks never disappoint.
i think the bag really works for nct dream, it does look like sauce packet
I'm also a graphic designer and now I'm inspired to do my own video on the packaging/concepts I liked the most from this year. I love analyzing and breaking down different concept designs, color palettes, typography, etc. I think it's so fun! Plus, my brain is literally always thinking about these things because it's my job.
ahhh you should totally do it! I'd love to see your opinions!!
I bought love or take last month I loooove the packaging sm and all the inclusions too a brilliantly designed album!!
just the amount of creativity that goes into albums is crazy some are so insanely good
Kingdom is so underrated! Glad they were included in the video
KINGDOM IS SO UNDERRATED I WAS SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU HAVE THEIR ALBUMS OMGGGGG
Pentagon's and Key 's are the most beautiful and interesting 🤍
wow i NEED the pentagon one just for the design too!!!!
wow, pentagon's packaging is so beautiful!! i'm a huge bts fan but i have to admit that their packaging is not very interesting lately... my opinion.
Ahhhh thanks for including a.c.e! They truly have impeccable concepts!!
I never cared that much about not being able to buy kpop albums but when I saw key's bad love and how cool they are I genuinely wanted to cry
Since you were talking about multiple albums creating a bigger picture, for pentagon you’ve also got a letter on the spine (you have the o I think), if you have them all it spells love or take. That’s a lot of albums but it’s good good fun for collectors since you have to find the right ones
WAIIITTT I DID NOT KNOW THOSE JEWEL CASES HAD SECRET PHOTOCARDS UNDER THE CD... I'VE HAD MY DON'T CALL ME MINHO JEWEL CASE FOR MONTHS AND NEVER KNEW LOL😭😭😭
oh no haha! I'm glad you've discovered it now!
i also have the hongseok cover for love or take romantic ver. !! soo pretty
I got the bad love box set ver. and lemme tell you it was the BEST album I've bought so far I'm in love with the concept and design
I got the other two versions of bad love and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM. The only flaw is that to open the ray gun version you literally have to tear it apart, as it’s designed to be like that. I couldn’t ruin my only copy of it so I still keep it sealed lmao
I cut the bottom of the plastic to slide the cd and goodies out. It hurt but when on the shelf, you cant see the damage!
Ooh so glad you started with Kingdom! Their album covers and designs are so pretty and I thought it was pretty cool that for HOK 2, which was based on Emperor Chiwu from China, they had a poster with all members that was folded and styled like ancient Chinese scrolls
I have TXT’s Fight or Escape escape ver. and it is soooo cute, the plastic slip reveals the title in a really cool way. Keys and ACEs were definitely my favorite, untouchable honestly
My definite favorite type of albums is definitely the book style, like sf9, pentagon, like day6 did with their the book of us series, so simple and elegant and looks great displayed on the shelf.
I am obsessed with pentagons manga style cover, it looks so frickin cool!! Also you’re absolutely right, ace’s photography is always next level!!!
I love the design of Pentagon’s Love or Take album! Makes me feel like a teenager who collected manga all over again lol.
unpopular opinion, i guess, but i love regular SM jewel cases. they give you a nice little display for a pretty CD (well i guess not in case of Sticker, EXOs had very pretty CDs in those, first Kai solo too), you can put it on the shelf as a decoration and put any other CD there, if you want, since the CD backdrop is always transparent. and the way the pc is stored seemed neat to me, didn’t have any trouble opening/finding it. but welp that’s just my experience 😅
I do really like the way you are able to display some of the SM jewel cases for sure! I agree, EXO's was really nice! but yeah, sticker just felt a little too plain for me? but they did have to make individual member covers so I guess they couldn't spend too much time on the design haha!
My favourite album packages this year were IU Lilac and Pentagon Love or Take!
love oe take is so amazing, every details is just so good! that album is just executed really well
Also, Treasure's albums are so beautiful ! Even the post cards are stunning!
My favorites from this year packaging and music wise has to be both A.C.E and Key. The amount of detailing put into both is so astonishing. Both got the concept and RAN WITH IT. Honestly for Siren: Dawn they brought back the underwater photography for their tragic merman concept. I have never seen an idol group do something as ethereal as that before. I think they really understood that they wanted an album that you keep coming back to just to look at the photography. Key’s was absolutely phenomenal. As someone who loves old movies the second I saw his concept teasers I knew exactly what he was going for and the EXECUTION WAS SO WELL. Musically I can hear the Bowie inspiration and Key embodied it. I think both A.C.E and Key were able to do something that wasn’t really done before and kill it 😭
If you haven't already seen them I would check out Dreamcatcher's album designs. They all fit in with their dark/fantasy theme. Each album/mini album set feels different (and fits the theming of that album's concept) yet feels cohesive with the entire collection as a whole. Recently their 'Limited version's bring this to another level, feeling like a hardback book and making the unboxing experience feel so much more premium. It's also nice that all of the albums fit on a shelf together without any major size differences, they look like they belong next to each other. Also a recent trend they have is spelling out a 4 letter word if you collect all 4 versions of a release, the word is related to the concept of that album. It's all these extra details that really bring them to another level.
Out of all the albums the 'Raid of Dream' Limited edition looks and feels incredible (very similar to the sf9 album you show) but for one that came out this year I have to say the 'Road to Utopia' limited version gets bonus points for having a cutout window on the packaging which lets you see the eyes of one of the members (one of the inclusions is an a5 card with a random 1/7 member picture) the cutout is just big enough to see their eyes which perfectly fits with the theme of the title track (odd eye) this is just another example of them doing that little bit extra.
ahh my roommate is a dreamcatcher stan and owns their albums! they are truly stunning!
SM GG's case versions takes the cake for me. I just wish aespa's photobook for the case version had more pages...
As someone who is also a graphic designer, i do really get your point at most of the albums. I always check out what the cover is like, what the packaging is and the design. And btw I enjoyed watching this.
Glad to see all the pentagon hype in the comments. Truly underrated and their albums never miss. Their concepts are truly unique.
YESS KINGDOM!! so unique
Def agree with all your favs! A.C.E, Key, SF9, Kingdom, Pentagon. Some of my fav albums include Leehi 4ONLY, Sunmi 1/6, and Chungha Killing Me. Plus groups that keep the same size and aesthetic (Dreamcatcher, Ateez, Mamamoo, Oneus). Also been seeing a increase in the large coffee table book like albums (Woodz Set, Onewe, SHINee, B.I)
I LOVEEEE when albums are relatively the same size every comeback! it makes organizing things on a shelf so much easier and pleasing to the eye haha!
I love bad love’s concept!
The cases for the Kingdom albums are always so pretty!! I don't buy each version because I want to be careful about $, but I make sure to buy the exact version that I want, and they are so wonderful!!
i also love the bts butter album and txt foe album packaging, i love the palette of colors they chose and the packaging is strudy and high quality :>
edit: I would love to add sm gg case versions (rv, rv solos, and aespa) they are aesthetically pleasing
I don’t buy many albums(just from my ults) BUT my personal favorites I got were:
-both of Astro’s albums(I personally think they both look amazing on the shelf as sets, the colors compliment eachother so nicely. Also they’re both pretty sturdy box packaging but not too bulky which I loooove)
-ptg’s love or take (I literally bought two versions just bc of the amazing packaging and photo concepts even tho they’re technically not even one of my ults🤡)
-nflying’s man on the moon (the packaging is suuuper simple, it’s basically just a large photobook but I absolutely love how large the photos are, and how many photos you got in it. Idk it just feels hefty?? and I love it)
And now for ones I didn’t enjoy:
both of txt’s chaos chapter albums😭 I bought all versions for both, and while I LOVE the concepts and inclusions for both(the skateboarding concept was what actually caught my attention and got me into them), the packaging itself is just not it for me. The plastic covers aren’t very sturdy, and the outer designs don’t do the actual concepts justice at all, not to mention they look so boring and plain on the shelf with their grey and clear spines:(
omg the Man On The Moon album is definitely stunnnning!
I also agree with TXT, I like the frosted look since it kinda made sense with one of the concepts but the plastic casing was definitely a little difficult to work with haha!
Agree I like big size photo books too, I hope nflying continues w this style
Always looking forward to your yearly album packaging videos, great content as always. One of my favourite album designs from this year along with Pentagon's "Love or Take" and A.C.E's "Siren Dawn" is from a newly debuted girl group called Billlie with their album "The Billage of Perception". It's a saddle stitch design like Key's "Bad Love" but it also suits the concept as it looks like an old kinda movie poster with some cool illustrations.
ooh I've listened to Billlie's album but haven't looked into the packaging at all! time to investigate haha!
I always buy Monsta X albums they are so beautiful and i enjoy their music too
My favourite this year is NCTS universe album I love the clean case slip over
Stan A.C.E , I agree with you
my favorite album packaging this year was the omega x's vamos albums, but i also really liked key's bad love album versions! this year i was hoping for quality the boyz album packaging (ex. the only, the sphere) but i always feel disappointed with the standard flat albums with the flimsy covers (thrill ride had good inclusions but so much more packaging potential.) honestly i think this year wasnt great for packaging maybe due to supply shortages or whatever but hopefully 2022 can bring some more unique ideas for album packaging! honestly i love box type albums or just things that havent been done yet. and definitely nct needs to step up their game with album packaging cuz as someone who has been buying nct albums for year i feel like each album is just the sameish?? and just 1 photocard typically?? sm merch always seems cheap to me (excluding shinee cuz their stuff is typically good quality) but ik they have the funds to be producing higher quality unique albums and such.
yeah savage P.O.S ver is one of best investment that i've done this year
I feel like a bag album that looked like an old stationary set would be REALLY cute, especially if it came with some stationary stuff, like a pen/pencil, sticker sheets, memo pad, postcards ect. The bag design can be cool for displaying all the inclusions of the album, so it doesn't really work when the album is just a book and jewel case in a plain clear bag... The bag could also be printed so it feels like it's actually part of the packaging. Finally, can companies PLEASE make them resealable (not in the hot sauce way)
This is my favorite type of videos you put out! It's really nice to hear about what you think works and what might not work. Love or Take definitely has my favorite design.
ahh thank you so much!! I'm glad you enjoy them!
I agree that SM jewel cases are very much low quality and effort, but I'm sorta ok with that because it's priced way lower than a standard album while still getting a photocard (or 2) and a small sample of the photobook. I do hope they improve the design though.
Ooh about cut outs, BTOB 4u Outside, has some circles cutouts that let you see random parts of their picture...but for some reason i really like it because i feel they look like planets 🤭
I love nct dream n aespa album..
Additionally I would like to talk about some things from this video.
1. Covers that create a picture together. Personally, I prefer when this type of thing is going through one comeback. My personal favourite is Monsta X's Code album. If you put both version covers side by side theyr create a cool picture. It's a bit difficult to store that way, but I did it in the past and it looks really cool! Another example I have is BTS's "Love Yourself" era. On this one I'm a bit conflicted. Covers match for a one comeback, but also for the all era, which is cool. But on their spines they have letters. So to get the whole message "love yourself" you have to get all versions. Otherwise it spells random words or nothing at all. I managed to spell "yes". I have to admit, it's a cool idea, but in the long tearm - it's fricking 12 albums in total. Ofc if you stan only BTS it's kinda acceptable, but I think it's a bit too much.
2. Plastic bags. I totally understand! It's totally horrible. It's not pretty, it's hard to store, it's just a mess. But I have an example that is kinda from that area. NCT 127 Regular-Irregular album. Have you seen it before? It comes in a plastic bag, but it's rather like a pocket. It's a very thick material and has an NCT127 logo on it. It's sealed with a sticker on the back, but you can cut it and it looks fine. Honestly, I might even store some documents inside, and put the inclusions somewhere else. The overall desighn is very cool to me, very conceptualistic (?). I'm not an expert, but for me it's one of the most unique and interesting album concept and package wise. Photos inside are also very weird (it's hard to explain, you really just have to see them). A lot of fans don't like that photobook, and sure, photobooks is like a flimsy magazine with weird photos, but I think it's brilliant and fun. I feel very inspired by it. Also it's easy to store and it looks amazing on the shelve if you store it with a cover looking towards you.
I went on a rant again sorry :D I don't have anyone to talk about it really, so it felt really good to share my thoughts with someone who is also interested in k-pop albums packaging.
Turn over was amazing in all the versions, I really liked how simple, elegant and sturdy they are
My favorite is Cix Prolouge: Be Ok! It has a very cool cut-out too, with the title track being Wave it has three different versions (ripple, storm and wave) and you can see a little sea with the version behind the cut out! It's really pretty, love displaying it on my shelf
ahh I actually have one copy of that album as well!
I love it!
I love watching videos like these. Idk why but I find album unboxings theraputic and I love seeing how creative some albums are. My favourite album design so far is B.I's Waterfall album. I found it to be simple but yet aesthetic and elegant. And it went with the theme of the album which was waterfall. Plus I loved the photography in the photobook and the material of the paper, it all seemed high quality
Idk if anyone said this here before but another thing about aespa's jewel case cover is that it has an AR thing on it which is actually cool imo because when you scan it with the smtown ar app, it would reveal like a portal to kwangya which you could explore through your phone. Idk if I explained it well but I think it's really cool.
As someone who is doing my master in graphic design and audiovisual postproduction i can say that i TOTALLY agree with everything you said like there's not a single thing a disagree with you, i also hate bags packaging so much and i don't really own one of those albums but everytime i see an unboxing of them i'm like ''eww why did they do that??'' it's not pretty, nor functional and obsly not pleasant to the eyes. The only album that i don't mind having in a bag is nct127's regular album, i mean it's not the best but at least the bag is a thick plastic and i didn't struggle with the sticker on the back cuz i cut it with an x-acto knife 😅
I have a couple of my favorite albums packaging and designs overall that you didn't mention and those are exo's don't fight the feeling and victon's 1st full album cuz omg the design, concept, photography and inclusions are so gooood!!! their design team really totally killed it! 🔥 Love these annual videos as your usual content Maria! ❤
I have sticker photobook version, and I think the album cover is pretty cool, same with hot sauce. I have the actual album version and the cover is really nice.
19:42 re: bag packaging that works, this year LUCY released bag packaging for their Gatcha album that divided their fans but I liked it so much I bought it. The concept was Gatcha machine, so the inclusions featured super adorable bright graphic, you can collect little coins w member initials, the inclusions was put in a little envelope that you had to get into like a Gatcha toy, and it make sense to suit the vending machine game concept. It didn’t have a sticker-it opened like a ziplock at the top and had typography on the bag itself. However! It was executed a bit poorly as the bag is too big vis-à-vis the photobook (doesn’t fit right). I wished they made it more fitted to the Photobook and it would have been great. So I do think bag packaging can work given right concept and execution. I did an unboxing of it, I liked it, had high expectation of it, so just needed a bit more tweaking.
Thank you for your review, I’m so glad I do own a couple of these albums you featured because I do agree-i so appreciate being able to collect such beautiful expression of art and concept.
Stumbled upon this video and imo SM albums/packaging are almost always a hit or miss, and it’s more obvious how most of their packaging design falls flat in terms of cohesion. Compared with other (and smaller) companies, it’s quite disappointing how SM’s output feel and look lackluster at times (Key’s Bad Love and SHINee DCM/Atlantis photobooks excluded). Let’s not even talk about the underwhelming inclusions 😬 I mostly collect NCT albums and I’ve liked the photography and typography for most releases, but as a whole I know SM can produce more cohesive photobooks and other inclusions.
i agree with this wholeheartedly
I love hearing your perspective on design! i think it gives more insight to the design process which is super cool!!
I also got PTG's album bcs that packaging is literally one of the best i've seen, i dont think any other group has done smth like that before.
While i totally understand the hate for bag packaging (i dislike them too), I do still really like city of onf's design for the album overall. Because with the inclusions like the fake money, the poster that looks like newspaper, the ID card adn everything, it looks like an package that you can get from The city of ONF world itself so im a little bit sad you didn't dive more into it really.
ahh thank you so much for the kind words!
I'm loving the amount of comments talking about Love & Take being their favourite album in terms of packaging this year!! it makes me so happy that so many people felt the same way about that design as I did!
As for ONF, I really didn't take into consideration the inclusions and overall theme! I think maybe I might make a whole other video on albums inclusions so I can really deep dive into those as well!
so i def think i might be the only one who likes the jewel cases ( takes up less space on my shelf and its easier to take the cd out rather than having to pull it out everytime i wanna listen to the album ). i really like the design for the nct dream hot sauce album.. its very out there and grabs your attention! i think what sm fails to do is that they have graphic designers in their company but they dont use them in a more creative way.. like why was the nct 127 sticker album so plain?!?! also im gonna need SM to stop with the long and tall albums for no reason like WHAT IS THE POINT!!!!. i will say my fave packaging was red velvet's case cover for queendom because the packaging on that album was perfect but the photobook? outrageously huge for no reason once again. my least fave packaging is nuest "romanticize" such an amazing album music wise and photo wise but the packaging... i felt like i ordered take out and then when i've eaten all the food i just squished the box and throw it out.... thats how bad the packaging is ( pledis and h^be will be dealt with! ). also you talking about sf9 "turn over" packaging reminds me of what nu'est had for their happily ever after album and it just screams royalty and im sure theres a storyline to it too.
ahh yes! that's totally valid! I'm sure many people enjoy jewel cases and that's totally okay haha!
I agree with the SM designers! I've seen what they can do and I know the talent is there! I think the problem sometimes is that SM releases content so often that these designers maybe aren't able to execute the concepts they'd like to with the time they are given sadly :(
I don’t listen to Pentagon nor read mangas but omg I need all of the members versions now, thank you! :D
omg yes cant wait for 2022 version
I love LOONA's album designs, they're really consistent
Man, I couldn't not buy that whole dice set it looks so cool all together. The concept seems very cohesive.
I just really want plastic bags to stop in kpop the only somewhat acceptable plastic bag to me are when its a ziploc (at least protect the album from dust if u want to be a plastic bag)
I absolutely love this mini-series of yours!! it is definitely a video i look forward to so thank you so much for sharing it!!
ahh thank you so much!
as a 127 fan myself I hate the design of Sticker album so bad till the point I have to cut the booklet and made a cover myself from it, which I will never do to any packaging since I love to preserve the original beauty of the album. I assume that sm try to keep the price low to sell better so they choose this kind of design but it makes me feel so annoyed and frustrated. They have all the elements, the outfits on all the members look stunning, the posing is very good, and the artistry concept photo at the back cover is gorgeous, but they some how release a bad final product idgi
8:34 omg SF9 ✨✨😭 is really pretty❤
i always look forward to these videos!! would love to see a whole video on the back of pcs, i love when companies actually put thought to the design of the backs.
oooh I can definitely look into doing something like this!
It fascinates me how companies can nail a packaging and blow it in the same year LOL like SM with jewel cases, there is also Cube making art out of Pentagon's Love or Take and also Lightsum's Light a wish single but then making that giant thing for (G)I-DLE's I Burn. I appreciate they improved the slip cover from I Trust but WHY IS THE CD STILL FLYING FREELY IN A GIANT ENVELOPE smh.
I always regret not taking Bad Love home with me... I'm gonna do it next time! Also Everglow's -77.82X-78.29 album is absolutely gorgeous, but the fact that it has a bag, makes it so much less aesthetic to have displayed! I LOVE the whole design, and I do appreciate the fact that the sticker on the bag doesn't rip... but still... yeah I definitely agree on you on that part!
i love these types of videos! also, i hate jewel cases, and try to resist getting them
Bestie uploaded!
In terms of bags, there is an album by the band Lucy this year and they have a soft zip on the top and I feel like that is a good compromise
I hope WM not give us ONF Jewel case for next album... because my album always damage during delivery. Then , ONF album is one of most cheap price ever in market. When the case damage the the price can become 3$ only...
Omg yayyyy your last one of these was one of the first videos or yours I watched, and I loved it so much and have been looking forward to one for this year!!!
omg haha! I love this! thank you so much for all of the kind words and for sticking around for more content from me!
Hi! I absolutely love these types of videos from you. It's really interesting to see and hear about designs of k-pop albums. I love geeking out about package designs, so I thought I would share about my personal favourites this year albums below. I hope it will be fun for you to read! For several reasons I don't buy a lot of albums anymore, so I'm really picky with my purchases. This year I bought Rose's "R", IU's "LILAC" and ENHYPEN's "Dimension:Dilemma". I am in love with all of the above. Packaging is top tier.
1. Rose. This album has only one flaw - it's format. It's a simple box which is fine, but it''s short in height but very long, so t's difficult to store. Personally I don't have enough space rn, so it's just sitting under a pile of books which sucks. Otherwise it's wonderful. It has pretty colours, it's extremely pleasant to touch (including outer box and inclusions). All the inclusions were wrapped in the lyrics paper, which looks like a folded newspaper page. Photobook itself has some cool inserts, like black&white pages, pages in different sizes, a lot of lyrics on the photos styled like a subtitles. It's really beautiful and high quality design and it just feels pleasant to hold it. Rose herself participated in packaging creation, and you can really feel and see all the love and effort that was put into it. One of the best albums I ever held in my hands.
2. IU. Packaging is a magnetic box, which is my absolute favourite. Again, the format is a bit off - it's very big, but at least it fits with other albums and books. The cover has a hard plastic wraping that you can take off, and both box itself and a cover has their own photo on it, and together they blend, which creates a very unique imagery. I really like that! It's hard to explain, so I encourage you to look it up on RUclips - I think I've never seen this type of style before. The packaging inside is also wonderful. Again, it's difficult to explain without showing, but all the inclusions were packed in a pretty and smart way. Really - just look it up, it's SO pretty! And colors were also veeery pretty, I'm just in love with this album. I wish I got both versions (I have the lilac one), and I'm planning on getting a second version, cause it's also done amazingly.
3. ENHYPEN. Again, a magnetic box, a win for me. Don't have much to say, but the packaging is really beautiful. It's that colorful metallic for me, and all 3 versions look very good together, I had to buy them all, even if I don't usually do that. They look very good on a shelve. I liked that photobook covers were also colorful metallic, and irl it looks fantasic, even tho you can see your fingerprints on them. Also it included holo photocards, and they look really amazing, I wish more k-pop albums had them.
Additionally I am in love with WOODZ's Only lover left album packaging (thanks to your video :D), but it will arrive only in January, so I can't speak about my experience with it. I wanted WOODZ's album for a while, cause I really love his music, and this desighn and photography finally made me buy one. I hope, that this wasn't boring, and sorry for my grammar, as English is not my first language :)