рингтон the men who sold the world

X&Y by Coldplay, designed by Tappin Gofton, EMI, 2005.At a time when invisible data streams of binary information fed straight to our desktops are doing away with the need for album covers, it's odd to find a record sleeve as the subject of media comment and speculation. Odder still that the album cover in question — Coldplay's X&Y — should contain binary data as its central motif. Prophetic or what?The Coldplay sleeve has been designed by hot new graphics duo . They have good pedigrees: Mark Tappin was at Blue Source, Simon Gofton at Tom Hingston Studio, both important studios in the UK music design scene. Until the appearance of their Coldplay sleeve, Tappin Gofton were best known for their 1960s-style "agit-prop" cover for The Chemical Brothers album . Their work for Coldplay's third album establishes them as a new force in contemporary music design. With the record industry's habitual love of hyperbole, Coldplay are being touted as the "world's biggest band". They certainly sell records. Earlier this year, their British record label EMI was forced to issue a profits warning to its shareholders when the band delayed the release of X&Y. Lead singer Chris Martin (referred to in the UK tabloid press as Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow) responded by announcing: "I don't really care about EMI. I'm not really concerned about that. I think shareholders are the greatest evil of this modern world." Martin is an unlikely candidate to announce the end of capitalism. Middle class, privately educated and married to Hollywood royalty, he and his band generate enough income to equal the earnings of a small corporation. Their last album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, sold 11 million copies and it's easy to imagine EMI's shareholders forgiving Martin's lippiness if sales of X&Y exceed that figure.The X&Y cover is agreeably eye-catching. You wouldn't call it a classic, but it has an unexpected severity that lifts it above the anodyne and cosmeticised design currently favoured by multi-platinum sell

Decoding Coldplay's X&Y: Observatory: Design Observer