Vintage Look CD / DVD Packaging Albums and Covers
Distressed Paper, Matte Uncoated, Old Fashioned, Antique Retro

Vintage, Distressed, Old Fashioned, Antique, Retro—How to Make that Look!

A vintage look in disc packaging is not hard to achieve with a few special effects and the right choice of materials. How old do you want to go?

Examples of Vintage Look CD DVD Packaging, Distressed & Retro Album Covers
More Examples - Vintage CD Albums using Swinging Sleeves, Very Retro!
And More Examples -Book Binding Construction, CD DVD Books & LPs
Make Use of Color - Parchment, Sepia

Parchment colors, worn appearance works well for something "aged", perhaps 100 years plus. Thick stock, non glossy, is good for something circa 1940's plus. Sepia tones, black & whites certainly convey an era prior to our World of Color. Retro (1950s-'70s) can be achieved by mimicking old LP album styles.
Uncoated Stock Paper - Matte & Recycled for that Vintage Feel

Recycled matte, uncoated paper is one of our favorite looks and feels for starting the "old" appearance. Old things usually aren't shiny.

Optionally, we can do a matte aqueous varnish on the packaging. Uncoated stock paper is not for all types of artwork as the colors can blend together. Crisp wording and fine knockouts don't do well with uncoated paper, for instance.
Distressed Paper Features - Cuts, Wears, Nicks, Tears, Cracks

Distressed features, such as old, torn pages, wear, breaks, cracks, etc can all be added in with creative artwork.

This Vintage scrapbook book used uncoated stock paper, with some special features to create the look. Check out the full spec here: Molly's Vintage Scrapbook Featured Title. Look at the fun photo holder corners....embossed to stand out.
Texture - Tricks with Embossing and Debossing

Using embossing or debossing can give an item a definite texture, such as distressed and "dented" look, or wood grain. See more examples and instruction on how to set up embossing or debossing on cd or dvd printed packaging.
Sepia Tones -- 1C Black to 4C Sepia

Sepia tones are usually simulated in process color and are ideal for WWI or WWII imagery.
Going Retro...LP Style, Vinyl Looking Discs, CD Albums

If you don't want to go too old, retro can be achieved by features like book binding (chipboard covered with a paper wrap) on the old vinyl LPs. See 1950s and '60s Verve or Blue Note LPs. for some great examples of the art. You could dgo earlier yet, like the 78 style sleeves (swinging sleeves). For retro on a budget, may we suggest some inner sleeves (colors like parchment, or printed 1C or 4C) for the discs, and just using a thick stock with pockets opening to the outside. Here are some examples - and also see our page especially for Retro LP Style CD Albums.

Featured Title Oria Blue - Swinging style sleeve

Complete with some authentic old titles.....
Show us! Uploading your Preliminary Art,
Going over Photos or Sketches, Looking at Features

If you have art you'd like to show us, we'd be happy to help you with suggestions on how to achieve the look you are after. Either email it to us (hello@megalodon.com) or use our upload page. Alternately, if you have a photo of something you want to emulate, let us see that too and we can work from that. If there are certain titles on our site that you like, we can tell you about the features that help create that look.

Ready to Manufacture?

If you know what you want to manufacture, send us your detailed spec and we can help you with the costs.

SPEC:

Qty: (300/500 is the min order)
Media:
Media Packaging:
...Dimensions & Construction Sketch or Photo:
...Paper Stock / Finishes:
...Printing:
...Special Printing Effects or Die Cuts:
...Other Printed Items such as a Booklet or Slipcase:
Proofing Needed:
Assembly:
Product Weight if known:
Shipping: standard 5-7 days, US address (let us know if different)

Source media: replication ready /formatted disc image file (or for usbs & video screens, usb & video content) & print ready artwork laid out on our templates. We will create the templates for you as part of the project.

Manufacturing Quote

Need Spec Development?

If you need some help defining your spec, we do have packaging engineers on hand that can assist you at an hourly rate. They can help you with ideas and develop your packaging / printing spec plus give you multiple production estimates if you need them. If you are working with your graphics artist, generally they will provide the packaging / printing spec for you.

Request Spec Development Consulting