Tiles — Presents Of Mind
The Art Corner was a series of articles by graphic artist Mattias Norén, who was part of the DPRP team and designed the layout we had at the time. In this series, Mattias reviewed the artwork of albums. The series started in January 1999 and ran for about 18 months.
The original introduction of the series is included below and will tell you what it was all about. This category no longer runs, so information about submitting an album for review has been removed, but we're keeping the archived articles as a separate series in the Features category.
Check out Mattias Norén's company website: ProgArt!
Dear visitor of The Art Corner!
Some people say that it's just the inside that counts, but I'm actually one of those men that cares much about the outside as well! :-)
The Art Corner only concentrates on the outside. What I think about the inside, the music, I'll keep for myself in this case.
Each album has been given 1 to 5 points in seven different categories.
- Design / Composition: Is the idea and layout good?
- Technical skill: Is the artist good at what he is doing?
- Connection to the music: Is the artwork inspired by the music, album title and the lyrics? Does it feel good to look at the cover at the same time you listening to the music?
- Logotype: How good is the design of the logotype?
- Typography: How good is the typography? (cover and backcover)
- Booklet: How good is the typography, artwork, layout and paper quality?
- Disc: How good is the typography, artwork, layout on the disc?

Tiles - Presents Of Mind (InsideOut IOMCD 032, 1999)
Design
Artwork, concepts, and design by Hugh Syme.
Photography by Anthony Frederick.
Band photography by Glynn Scanlan / BBG&P.
Graphic refinement and pre-press by Amy Scanlan / BBG&P.
Scores
category | score |
---|---|
Design and composition | |
Technical skill | |
Connection to the music | |
Logotype | |
Typography | |
Booklet | |
Disc |
Score: 3.5
Comments
Albums with covers by Hugh Syme often contain high quality music. Probably because Syme is rather expensive (I can imagine), and that no one spends that money on an album with crap music. This album is no exception to that rule. It both sounds and looks good. It's probably not Syme's most exciting work in my eyes, but he is definitely the king of photographic visions.
The rosette around the brain makes this image a little too sweet for this kind of music. I like the back cover much better with a brain in a worn parcel. That would probably not work that good as a cover, so I think Hugh has done the right thing placing it on the back. The booklet is rather thin but contain some nice drawings.
Syme is a master of typography, but sometimes I think he could play around a little more. Many of his productions tend to look a bit similar.
The only thing I have against this CD is the image printed on the disc. A dark blurred brain that has no connection to the other artwork more than just being "the brain".
You can find out more about this great band on the official Tiles website.