The album covers of Blue Note Records, an American jazz record label, have been recognized for their distinctive designs. Many of these covers feature a combination of bold colors, experimental typography, and candid photographs of the album's musicians, and have been described as belonging to the Bauhaus and Swiss Style movements.
In the early 1950s, the LP record format gained popularity, necessitating album covers with graphics and information. During this time, artists like Gil Mellé, Paul Bacon, and John Hermansader began designing covers for Blue Note, often featuring photos by label executive Francis Wolff. In 1956, Reid Miles, a former assistant to Hermansader, was hired as Blue Note's art director. Miles made approximately 400 to 500 album covers for the label, which used various typefaces, mixed letter cases, and design principles and techniques such as asymmetry and tinting. He left Blue Note in 1967 following founder Alfred Lion's retirement; after Miles's departure, Forlenza Venosa Associates and other artists, including Mati Klarwein and Bob Venosa, designed many of the label's covers. The early to mid-1970s saw the work of designers such as Norman Seeff and Bob Cato featured on Blue Note covers, while in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the label's records were reissued in Japan with new covers designed by Japanese artists. From the mid-1980s through the early 21st century, a number of artists, including Paula Scher, P. R. Brown, and Adam Pendleton, contributed to the cover designs for the label's releases.
The Blue Note album covers, particularly those designed by Miles, have been highly regarded and considered definitive of jazz's visual identity. Critics have praised the covers' designs as iconic and noted their ability to capture the spirit of the musicians and their music. The style of these covers has inspired several graphic designers and musicians, influencing a wide range of album art and other visual media.