Packaging and Artwork
The album's cover art shows an empty road underneath a bright blue sky with a yield sign on the right-hand side of the road. The front cover art image was taken from a photograph of a road outside Billings, Montana, while the inside cover depicts the yield sign in the middle of the ocean. The cover of the cassette version mirrored the image. A yield sign is hidden in every picture of the liner notes booklet. At the 1999 Grammy Awards, Yield received a nomination for Best Recording Package. Ament said that the cover came from the idea on "how cool to have a yield sign where there's nothing to yield to", and the place was a road on the way to his Montana home which he considered perfect for the photo.
The album title is rooted in the idea of "yielding to nature," a theme central to Daniel Quinn's novel Ishmael. The band members read the book while working on the album. Regarding the title, McCready said, "I think the title Yield has to do with maybe being more comfortable within ourselves, with this band....we're all a little bit older and a little more relaxed and maybe just kind of yielding to those anxieties and not trying to fight it so much...That's what it kind of feels to me – yielding, letting something else happen and going with it." Vedder said, "Let's say that hypothetically speaking, the title does mean something...You can fight so much, and then you have to think, 'What are the real battles?' 'What's really important?' You get to a certain point, and it's really hard to remember what music is and to remember what drives you."
The indie rock band BOAT parodied the album's cover art, among several others, on its 2011 release Dress Like Your Idols.
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