This isn't your mother's cover art. Designers "back then" had a big record cover to mess around with -- compact disc cover designers today must convey an image in a much smaller space.

Because of the shrinking space, some people have a hard time finding the "art" in CD cover designs, said Ken Kubala, manager of City Lights Records, 316 E. College Ave.

"CD cover art definitely seems less interesting," Kubala said. "I just think the artwork's less important."

Although CD covers can't convey the detail of, say, the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, with the help of artists and designers, they are gaining importance.

From Aerosmith's Get A Grip to Nirvana's In Utero, CD covers are becoming controversial. Aerosmith took heat for depicting a cow with a pierced nipple. Nirvana's latest cover art includes a collage of plastic fetus parts.

CD covers intrinsically convey a message, but the meaning can vary from band to band, and from album to album.

Queen Bee and the Blue Hornet Band takes cover ideas for albums from band in-jokes. On Dealin' the Blues, the band members are pictured on card faces because they play cards on the road, said guitarist Mark Ross.

The band shot its first cover photo at the All-American Rathskeller, 108 S. Pugh St., because the bar was its first regular gig, as well as the place where the band got its start, Ross said.

Like Queen Bee, the Dirges also have a cover of personal meaning. Because the band is close-knit, for its first album, Fiber, the band put an old crate it uses to carry equipment on the cover, said guitarist Eric Zimmerman. Each member brought in an item with personal meaning to surround the crate, Zimmerman added.

To tie in the album's title, the band put a close-up of a piece of burlap on the top of the cover to symbolize friendship, Zimmerman said.

That kind of idea comes from the design process, during which the recording artist and a designer decide the form of the cover.

A designer and recording artist first meet to agree on the cover concept and choose a photographer or illustrator to realize the concept, said Maria DeGrassi-Colosimo, Hollywood Records art director. Many times, the artists have good ideas -- part of the decision rests on the tone of the album, she added.

"It all has a vibe or feeling, which depends on how it's going to look," DeGrassi-Colosimo said.

Artists often think more in terms of 12-inch record sleeves than a CD cover, especially when releasing first albums, DeGrassi-Colosimo said. Some artists want to put a lot of information on the cover, but size constraints make that unfeasible, she added.

To compensate for the fact that CD covers are simpler than 12-inches, DeGrassi-Colosimo said she might add extra panels to the package insert.

Sharing that idea of extra panels, Vic Chesnutt, an Athens, Ga., folk singer, designed his West of Rome album in a nonplastic Eco-Pak-esque case.

Instead of the standard jewel box -- a plastic box with a clear cover -- Chesnutt's case folds out into three cardboard panels, with the CD in a pouch in the middle panel. The CD case feels more like an album than a jewel box, Chesnutt added.

Kristin Thomson, cover designer and co-owner of independent label Simple Machines, also designs fold-out boxes; her band, Tsunami, released its first album, Deep End, in one.

Thomson said she often borrows images from other people -- on Deep End, she colorized a cover photo from a 1950s yearbook.

"I just goof around a lot," she said. "I spend a lot of time looking at fonts."

When the CDs finally hit the stores, cover art can influence sales.

"Everything looks so homogeneous," said Jay Williams, assistant manager at Blue Train Compact Disc, 418 E. College Ave. "Generating an image in that 5-by-5 (inch) square is going to become real important."

One student is already recognizing that importance.

"It might catch my eye if I see something unique or different," said Shawn Bord (sophomore-business).

To make some CDs more visible, Williams said he occasionally reorganizes shelving arrangements. Putting CDs in the front row makes a difference; if a CD hasn't sold for a long time and is moved to the front row, sales may pick up, he said.

Even the color of the plastic frame around the jewel box has an impact on consumers, said Robin Hyden, co-owner of Blue Train.

"It makes a big difference as far as catching people's eyes," Hyden said.