Number one record

Album art is still a coveted canvas for many graphic designers despite the decline of record sales, and the annual Art Vinyl competition is one of its biggest champions.

This cat astronaut effort by Richard Robinson and Gareth Pritchard for Klaxons’ Surfing The Void is the overall winner.

Commenting on a public vote which decided the winner, founder Andrew Heeps says Robinson’s ‘extremely striking image won by a clear margin.’

‘We may live in the age of the download but an MP3 cannot offer the visual and emotional appeal of a great vinyl sleeve,’ Heeps adds.

Second goes to a design by Matthew Cooper and Jason Evans with photography by Evans for Caribou’s Swim. Note how the hypnotic concentric rings are reminiscent of The Music’s eponymous debut album – which is no bad thing.

Third went to Ameile Nicolet’s interpretation of  the Pablo Cahn / Cesar Merveille Split EP.

Frederik Soderberg has designed the artwork for Junip’s Fields, which took fourth place, and Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs came fifth with design by Caroline Robert, art direction by Vincent Morisset and photography by Gabriel Jones.

A top 50 list can be found here, including this lovely piece by Edwin Collins for his own album Losing Sleep, which made number eight.