• Date: 20th Sep 2010
• Category: Design & UX
• Comments: 2

Yugoslavia always enjoyed a rich musical culture and today its descendant countries continue to do so. While its music is still readily accessible, unfortunately the same cannot be said about the graphic design work that stems from that region.

So I decided to pull together some of the creative cover designs that I could find on the net as well as the memorable ones that I remember from the past. However if you find that I left out an obvious masterpiece then feel free to mention it in the comments section.

I apologise for some of the poor quality images here, but then again that is part of the experience when looking at some retro graphic design work.

1970s - 1980s: The Early Years

Kad bi bio bijelo dugme

Artist: Bijelo Dugme
Year: 1973

This cover, which I imagine would have been a little provocative back in the mid 70s, was the debut album of the most popular rock band to ever emerge from Yugoslavia, and possibly the Balkans as a whole.

Bijelo Dugme (translation: The White Button) drew influences from traditional folk as well as American blues & hard rock music. The album cover reflects this cheeky and rebellious nature by showing a female wearing a denim jacket exposing plenty of cleavage. Their trademark white button also adds an extra touch to this cover.

Sta bi dao da si na mom mjestu

Artist: Bijelo Dugme
Year: 1975

A year later, the same group came up with another album whose cover shares a lot of the similar design traits as the first one. From these covers I have a feeling that life in the 70s wasn't too bad in Yugoslavia.

Prljavo Kazaliste

Artist: Prljavo Kazaliste
Year: 1979

The Prljavo Kazaliste logo is a parody of the Rolling Stone's logo, which was designed 8 years earlier. It is the work of Mirko Ilic, a famous Yugoslavian graphic designer who was also involved in some graphic design work for Bijelo Dugme. He later moved to the U.S. where he created illustrations for Time, The New York Times & The Wall Street Journal.

1980s - 1990s: The Golden Era

Mrtva Priroda

Artist: Riblja Corba
Year: 1981

Riblja Corba were arguably the face of the Yugoslavian heavy metal scene. Known for their politically provocative as well as dark lyrics, this disturbing image complements their music and also matches the name of the album Mrtva Priroda (translation: Dead Nature).

Their iconic logo (which translates to "fish stew") completes this album cover, making it stand out from the crowd of its time.

Dok cekas sabah sa sejtanom

Artist: Zabranjeno Pusenje
Year: 1985

(translation: while you're waiting for the dawn with the devil)

The reason I like this cover is because it is such a mess. There's so much colour it is hard to actually see what is in the picture. So in that way it perhaps tries to convey what it is like for the guy drinking with the devil.

Adding to the interest are the traditional wallpapers and table cloths which were a pretty standard look for restaurants and pubs of that time.

Kokuzna Vremena

Artist: Merlin
Year: 1985

Apparently the word "kokuzna" isn't really translatable but means something along the lines of "poor". So in conjunction the album would translate to "Poor times", so let's just leave it at that.

Ujed za dusu

Artist: Riblja Corba
Year: 1987

Another dark and mystical cover for Riblja Corba's Ujed za dusu (translation: Soul Bite). All of Riblja Corba's cover designs that are featured here were designed by Jugosla Vlahovic, a Belgrade born designer.

Nesto lijepo treba da se desi

Artist: Merlin
Year: 1989

The title of this album suggests that something beautiful is about to happen. If features a young man looking, with anticipation, into the distance of a clear and blue sky. There is a general feeling of positivity in this work.

In the following years, something did happen but it was neither beautiful nor positive.

1990s - 2000s: The War Years

Zbogom, Srbijo

Artist: Riblja Corba
Year: 1993

Again sorry about the low-res image. This one is a quite an interesting cover though. It is a parody of the double-headed eagle which appears on Serbia's flag, as well as kind of a sequel to the earlier album Mrtva Priroda.

The album is one of the first that was released after the war in Yugoslavia broke out. It features a number of politically related songs. Although Riblja Corba were later associated with right-wing and nationalistic views, the lead track Zbogom Srbijo featured anti-regime lyrics.

2000s - 2010s: After Yugoslavia

No Sikiriki

Artist: Edo Maajka
Year: 2004 

The song No Sikiriki (translation: no worries) was amongst the first rap songs to achieve mainstream popularity in the countries that emerged after the break up of Yugoslavia.

It openly mentions the war and the rapper's attitude to proactively change his state of mind into a  positive and happy one. Thereby finally coming to terms with the past.

The cover design does a great job at communicating the message. The artist Edo Maajka (translation: Edo The Mother) is pictured as a motherly figure, who through her own actions creates a positive environment in which to live.

Burek

Artist: Dino Merlin
Year: 2004

Burek is a traditional Bosnian dish.

This bright and cartoony design outlines the shape of a Burek. In connection with the album it reflects the artist's traditional style while also staying in tune with modern trends.

Balkansko a nase

Artist: Edo Maajka
Year: 2008 

The image shows a black and white silhouette of a young pionir. "Pioniri" were the youth of Yugoslavia, or more precisely a communist movement, used to spread ideologies at a young age.

The notable thing about this image are the colours. Red, white and blue were the colours of the Yugoslavian national flag. However with the use of red and white stripes for the scarf, as well as white stars for the hat (the original pionir hat included only one red star) the image that is communicated here is that of the USA and capitalism instead of Yugoslavia and socialism.

There is an interesting blog post which discusses the origins of this image in further detail.