Final Digipak

Here is the final outcome of my digipak.

Digipak Back Panel 2

Here is my final design of my digipak back panel. As planned, I kept the background the same colour, which helps to keep the consistency between the front cover and the back panel. Also, it is a relatively simple design as this has helped the names of songs stand out against the design. I added in a few bonus tracks as this was a convention I found most popular throughout all the other digipak and album cover back panels for many bands and artists.

Digipak Back Panel

Now that I have completed the front cover to my digipak, I have to create the back panel. I am going to use the same background as I did for the front cover to show the consistency throughout the whole digipak design, also I am going to keep the font of 'Impact' the same. The design on the back panel will be relatively simple to emphasize the song names and the bonus tracks featured on the album.

Digipak Front Cover

Here is the final draft of my digipak front cover, here you can see that I still decided to use the silver bland background. The design is a guitar which makes it unambiguous to my audience that this album consists of music from the pop/rock genre. Also, the way that the silver colouring becomes more luminous towards the centre makes the guitar appear to have a glow. I also, still used the band name that I constructed. The use of the white borderline around the black writing of the name makes it appear more striking to the viewers attention, which could also contribute to the idea of lightning. The name of the album is towards the bottom right hand corner, also with the white borderline around it to make it appear more striking - this works in collaboration with the use of punctuation as this makes the album title sound more striking phonetically, therefore the white borderline adds more effectiveness to the whole feel of the album name.

Digipak Background

I decided to use this as my background for my digipak as it is a relatively bland colour. This way, the words and the design that I am planning to use for my digipak front cover will stand out. Also, as it appears to be silvery and not just a plain white, this makes it simple, but not over simplistic to the extent that the background has no siginficance to unconsciously catching the eyes of the viewers.

Digipak Panels

I originally decided to make my digipak consist of 6 panels due to the fact that the majority of digipaks that I came across consisted of this amount of panels, even though my questionnaire results declared that most of the respondents would have preferred 4 panels. However, I have now come to realise that my questionnaire results were in fact most suitable, therefore I have changed my mind and decided to have a digipak that has 4 panels as this would be less time consuming. Also, I am not planning on having a narrative throughout the panels of my digipak, so I do not necessarily need to have 6 panels.

Image Ideas

Due to the fact that I wanted to use symbolic imagery on my digipak front cover, I thought that reseaching a range of images of the same kind of thing would be useful. The main image I wish to broadcast on my digipak is an electric guitar as this is very symbolic of my music genre at a first glimpse. Therefore, I researched these specific pictures. They are all relatively ordinary images, however, I plan on editing an image of a guitar into a different colour by using Photoshop, as this will make the plain image of this instrument more vibrant and contemporary for todays teenage audience.

Band Names

In order to create a captivating digipak I realised that the band name was essential as the band name is an aspect which helps to promote the whole group as well as the album on it's own, apart from the actual name of the album. I looked at areas of interest to my target audience and tried to use key words from particular areas of interest to help me gain an intriguing yet enticing band name which is different to what is out on the market currently. I looked at names around "power" and "energy". This would not necessarily be classified as an area of interest for my target audience as such, however, Pop/Rock bands would like to generate a feel of power and energy about their band name as well as the aura they might let out towards their audience. This is an aspect which I would suggest all bands aim to have and not just Pop/Rock bands. Also, I looked into the area of film, since films might have names that are inviting to their specific target audience, plus film names could possibly be passed off as band names and the audience might not even tell the difference. An example I chose for a film which could have had the potential to be a band name was "Twilight". Many people, and many other target audiences are aware of this film, and in my opinion this is an inspirational name of a film that could be useful for a band name. One last area of inspirational I analysed into was different areas, in this I mean location, for example, the rock band "Children of Bodom" named their band after a lake called "Lake Bodom". Another band is "Linkin Park" which I am guessing they named after some kind of park, these are reasons why I looked into this particular area for inspiration. Overall I came to like the name "The Lightning" for a band. Therefore, this is my chosen name for the band's digipak I am proposing to create.

Digipak - Initial Ideas

Due to having my questionnaire results, I have now been able to create a few initial ideas as to what to include on my digipak that would be suitable for my target audience. By having initial ideas, this will also lead me to have a rough sketch in my mind how I would like my digipak to finally come out. Here are a few of the ideas I have gained:

- Bright, bold colours e.g blue, red, yellow, green

- Symbols or images that represent the band or the genre of pop/rock e.g guitars, music notes, an image of a band etc.

- Use names of songs for the back of the album cover that are relevant to the pop/rock genre

- Possibly use dark font, maybe in block capitals to contrast with the bold colours

- Consideration of using graffiti writing when illustrating the name of the album e.g Michael Jackson's front cover of "Bad"

Digipak Questionnaire Results

Overall, the responses I received from my digipak questionnaire were successful due to the fact that the majority of the candidates had posted their responses back to me via Facebook as 17 people out of 20 replied. Therefore, this has given me a valid amount of data as to base my digipak outcome on. I have decided to put the results of the first few questions into graph form to make it directly comparable when looking at statistics. This should hopefully result in my digipak attracting the target audience I wish to receive.




Out of the 17 candidates that responded, 7 of them were males and 10 of them were females. This shows that there is not much noticeable difference in the gender preference when relating this to the statistics of the other questions. This could show a relatively high rating of validity when looking at peoples preferences.




The majority of the candidates that responded were between the ages of 16-21 which is the age group of the media group and myself, therefore it might be easier to relate to what my target audience is looking for with the designs I choose for my digipak as I would also be able to reflect what would attract me. Hopefully this will take into consideration the interests of many 16-21 year olds making my digipak attractive to the eye of those between these ages.

I gave the candidates options as to how many panels they believe would be most suitable for a digipak. By looking at the graph, it is clear to see that the majority of people would say that 4 would be most suitable for a digipak, 8 people agreed with this. However, 6 other candidates voted that 6 would be a more suitable amount for a digipak. In result to this, I have decided that as there is not much difference in the statistics showing how many voted for a digipak consisting of 4 or 6 panels, I will make my digipak consist of 6. The reason for this is because in my research of digipaks, it was very rare that I came across a digipak consisting of 4 panels as the majority of them had 6. Therefore I am going to conform to the generic conventions of digipaks when in the process of creating my own.

Also, this graph shows that the majority of people would prefer bright and bold colours opposed to dull colours. I think that this would be very convenient when relating this back to my music genre as bright and bold colours stand out the way in which our song stands out to all people,including those who aren't really into the pop/rock genre. For this reason, this links my digipak in with my music genre.

I also had answers generated from other questions such as 'What grabs your attention on an album cover?'. The majority of people voted for bright colours and only a minority voted for a photograph of the band or artist and graphics. However, I am still going to try and attempt to somehow include a bit of everything to make my album cover have a more varied image that could relate to the minority as well as the majority.

Moreover, another question that I found relevant that I generated answers from were 'What are you mosty likely expecting to see on a Pop/Rock album cover?'. Out of the options of 'symbolic imagery', 'photograph of band/artist' or 'graphics', a high percentage voted for symbolic imagery which I thought would be an option I would chose if I was to not conduct a questionnaire. In result to what would attract a major audience, I am definitely going to choose symbolic imagery as a way of creating my digipak. However, I am still going to attempt taking into consideration the minorty by considering graphics and photography of my band or solo artists as a means of making my outcome appeal to everyone and not just the majority.

Digipak Questionnaire

I decided that to begin creating my digipak for the ancillary task, it would be a suitable idea to compose a questionnaire in order to gain answers from my target audience as to what they would find most appealing for a rock/pop band’s album cover. I am intending on asking around twenty people for their answers for my questionnaire because it would be too time consuming to gather answers from a higher number of candidates. I am hoping to post my questionnaire on social networking website such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Myspace’ in order to gain immediate communication and responses from the questionnaire candidates. The questions in which I have put across will in result effect the outcome of my digipak such as the main colour scheme and what I should actually have featuring on the front cover that would be most pleasing for a specific age and gender. Furthermore, I have included in my questionnaire four album covers which are from a range of solo artists as well as bands from a similar music genre, this may also effect what I decided will be in the front cover of my digipak for inspiration as this will help to gain various images from different album covers which can result in my album cover being relatively diverse.

Analysis of a Digipak

It is most commonly known that the majority of digipaks have six panels, and it is rarely seen that digipaks have any less than that, however I have possession of a digipak which happens to have only two panels consisting of the front cover and the back. I would have originally chosen to have made a thorough analysis of a digipak consisting of more however I am unable to access one at this moment in time. Evanescence is a Pop/Rock band which is the same genre to our chosen song despite the fact that this particular band has more of a Rock vibe to their music compared to mine.


Front Cover

- The image of the woman on this front cover is the most eye catching point of the digipak cover because it appears that everything in this image is evolving around her even though she is not situated directly in the centre of the composition of the album cover. Her image could possibly give away connotations as to the band members identities, such as the long white/cream dress suggesting connotations of innocence and maybe purity. This could be symbolic of the bands main female singer. Also her pose appears relatively vulnerable with the way in which she looks back over her shoulder. This could be to connotate, again, the lead female singer of the band and how she might possibly be in a vulnerable position as she is in the spotlight compared to the rest of the band because of her status. ( This could be classified as main convention on a CD front cover: an eye catching image that is representative of a band/band member.)

- The colour-scheme of the front cover is literally half black and half gold. The image of the female is of her looking over her shoulder into the darkness of the black side. Some people could perceive this as having some meaning behind it, or maybe even some kind of narrative. Nonetheless, linking this to genre of music, this could be symbolising the two faces of music this band has for example, the softer rock songs that this band sometimes produces compared to the heavier rock songs. Moreover, this black could depict the sense of mystery the band still wishes to hold from their audience.

- The female in the picture is very pale with dark eyes and is not smiling which could be seen as a somewhat ghoulist, dead feel towards this certain character. It could possibly go against the conventions of which the band is wishing to perceive, if this image of the woman was to smile? The image is definitely not stereotypical in terms of sex appeal in some peoples opinions which attracts a predominantly female audience.

- The font is very noticably printed in the colour of gold against the black background of the right side of the album cover. The font type is not stereotypically gothic, but in some ways considered to be because of the elongated ends of specific letters which are clear to see once viewed. The font type contradicts the colour it is printed in which could again, symbolise the two phases of rock the band goes through: soft to heavy. However, the pattern around the name of the band is "swirly", this could just be the bands logo as a way of helping to promote the name of their band by presenting it in a more eye catching way, instead of just having the band name written with nothing to compliment it.

- The low angle shot helps to make the long door look even more elongated than what it already is, this might help the audience relate to all the images in which this shot appears to emphasize and then it will help them again, relate this back to the gothic theme in which this band alot of the time in their music videos portray.

Inside Panels

- The left panel could be seen as proceeding on with the narrative. The image is of a moon, which could symbolise the other side of the door from the image of the front cover. By opening the front cover you could be classified as opening the door. The font is still consistent as on the front cover, again with the swirly pattern placed around the font. The colour-scheme is also similar however more gold is used to show that the inside is more angelic - again relating the bands dull image on the outside and how it is different to what it is on the inside. Moreover, the swirly pattern here is more dominant, this could be to show the bands individuality as it could be looked upon as something they created and generated into print - showing their unique style towards the audience.

CD Compartment

- The CD compartment is somewhat different as it consists of only a goldish colour-scheme which could represent that the CD is 'sacred' and the most important part of the digipak, which in fact it is. However the compartment which holds the CD is in jewel packaging which is very common in all digipaks as it is still lightweight and convenient for the environment. There is a pattern of swirls again underneath where the CD is placed which leaves remaining to the eye only the background of gold. This almost brings the main attention to the CD itself.

Back

- Again, the perspective of the back of the digipak is interesting as it reveals the bands creative point of views. The gold writing is superimposed on the black/brown background which tries to put across the fact that the song names are very important, however your eye view always seems to end up facing that of the picturesque view of the night sky on the right. This is a way of just trying to emphasize the narrative which goes throughout the digipak. Some may not even consider this to be a narrative but just simply different ways of viewing this particular scene which is taking place from different angles, which could relate back to the different audiences having different views towards this band.

- As it is the back of the digipak, it will obviously consist of the generic conventions of the back of an album cover for example: the bands website, the record producers, the record label, copywrite details and of course the bar code which is a main generic convention of the back of an album cover.

Overall, I do have a liking to this digipak, however I am not too fond which the amount of panels this consists of, therefore I would not necessarily choose to product a digipak consisting of only two panels. Generally, the colour-scheme of this digipak would not be something I would particularly choose use when in the creation of my own, however to gain some initial ideas as to what would be most suitable to include for my specific target audience, I would have to create a questionnaire and gain audience feedback before making any vast decisions.

What is a Digipak?

Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. Since Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies, and because there is no other common name for Digipak-style packaging made by other companies, the term digipak or Digi-Pakis often used generically, even when the media holder is a hub or "Soft Spot" rather than a full plastic tray.

Made mostly from thick card, the digipak is virtually shatterproof and allows great graphic display. Originally used for the album packaging of leading musicians, the digipak and digipak family are now priced reasonably enough to be used for any CD or DVD project. The digipak is an extremely versatile packaging. It can be made to accommodate a booklet either by placing in a die-cut slot or gluing onto one of the panels. In addition, the panels can be increased from 4 to 6, 8 or more. The DVD digipak is a popular alternative to the DVD box which is now widely used for feature film DVD releases which are special editions because it increases the value and creates a premium product.

CD and DVD digipaks make a big statement, they represent the ultimate custom packaging for your CD or DVD replication project. A digipak is also a more environmentally friendly option when compared with traditional plastic jewel cases or DVD cases.

Material: 300gsm card with matt or gloss varnish. Printed 4 colours (CMYK) or Pantone colours. Spot varnish, lamination and embossing available.

Dimensions (Based on standard 4pp digipak): finished size of 139.5mm x 6mm x 125.5mm. This will obviously vary depending on the amount of panels, however this is the most common size.

Band or Solo Artist?

Whilst editing our music video, the production team and I were starting to think about the artist/s of our song due to the fact that this issue is relatively essential when designing an album cover. We are taking into consideration the image of the artist/s as we have specific target audience criteria to work in collaboration with for example the age group and gender we are trying to attract.

Ke$ha

Kesha is a contemporary American pop artist who began her solo career in early 2009. She was originally a backing singer for bands such as ‘The Veronicas’ and solo artists such as Britney Spears. Her fame mainly began when she appeared to be featuring in the debut song ‘Right Round’ with Flo Rida, then in late 2009 became even more popular amongst the youth when she released her single ‘Tik Tok’. In my opinion Kesha has the typical image of a pop/rock star. Her image would relate me back to the song to our music video ‘Superman’ as her individual style relates to our music genre. Also, she attracts the target audience which we are aiming to grab attention from as well.

Paramore

Paramore is an American rock band that is well known in many countries. The members consist of 3 boys and a girl who is the lead singer. This particular band had caught my attention when looking for rock bands which could have a similar genre to that of our production team due to their multi-coloured outfits and the lead singer. This is because in the song we are promoting, we also have a lead female vocalist. However, in the majority of their songs they have dominant beating of drums, this again reminded me of our song as we also have dominant beating of drums at the beginning and throughout the song. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that if the group and I decide that our song would be promoting a band, they would have a similar image to that of Paramore.

Even though the majority of my artist research is based on solo artists, for example Avril Lavigne, I feel that a band would be a more suitable way of promoting our song ‘Superman’ as bands are more adaptable to peoples personal taste compared to solo artists. Additionally, due to our song having many instruments being played that are immediately distinct, a band would get more acknowledgement and recognition from the audience for playing their own music instead of using the help of Garageband.

Some of the most famous album covers!

Nirvana : Nevermind

Nevermind is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991. Produced by Butch Vig, Nevermind was the group's first release on DGC Records. Frontman Kurt Cobain sought to make music outside of the restrictive confines of the Seattle grunge scene, drawing influence from groups such as the Pixies and their use of loud/quiet song dynamics.

The Nevermind album cover shows a baby swimming toward a US dollar bill on a fishhook. According to Cobain, he conceived the idea while watching a television program on water births with Grohl. Cobain mentioned it to Geffen's art director Robert Fisher. Fisher found some stock footage of underwater births but they were too graphic for the record company. Also, the stock house that controlled the photo of a swimming baby that they subsequently settled on wanted $7,500 a year for its use, so instead Fisher sent a photographer to a pool for babies to take pictures. Five shots resulted and the band settled on the image of a three-month-old infant named Spencer Elden. There was controversy about having a naked baby featuring on the album cover therefore Geffen found an alternative to have a sticker covering the baby's genitals.

Pink Floyd : Dark Side of the Moon

The album was originally released in a gatefold LP sleeve designed by Hipgnosis and George Hardie, and bore Hardie's iconic dispersive prism on the cover. For The Dark Side of the Moon Richard Wright instructed them to come up with something "smarter, neater—more classy". The prism design was inspired by a photograph that Thorgerson had seen during a brainstorming session with Powell. The artwork was created by their associate, George Hardie. Hipgnosis offered the band a choice of seven designs, but all four members agreed that the prism was by far the best. The design represents three elements; the band's stage lighting, the album lyrics, and Richard Wright's request for a "simple and bold" design. Added shortly afterwards, the gatefold design also includes a visual representation of the heartbeat sound used throughout the album, and the back of the album cover contains Thorgerson's suggestion of another prism recombining the spectrum of light, facilitating interesting layouts of the sleeve in record shops. The light band shining out from the prism on the album cover has six colours, missing indigo compared to the traditional division of the spectrum into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. A normal prism would also exhibit a continuous spectrum with no defined boundaries between colours, and coloured light within the prism. Inside the sleeve were two posters and a sheet of pyramid-themed stickers.

Herb Alpert : Whipped Cream and Other Delights

Whipped Cream sold over 6 million copies in the United States and the album cover alone is considered a classic pop culture icon. It featured model Dolores Erickson wearing chiffon and shaving cream. The picture was taken at a time when Erickson was three months pregnant. The cover was so popular with Alpert fans that, during concerts, when about to play the song "Whipped Cream", Alpert would tell the audience, "Sorry, we can't play the cover for you!" The art was parodied by several groups including once A&M band Soul Asylum, who made fun of the liner notes along with the back cover on their album Clam Dip & Other Delights, comedian Pat Cooper on his album Spaghetti Sauce and Other Delights.

History of Album Cover Design

An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially-released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records (either in several connected sleeves or a box), or the front-facing panel of a CD package, and, increasingly, the primary image accompanying a digital download of the album, or of its individual tracks.

The cover has 3 main functions:
1) To advertise the contents of the music product.
2) To convey the artistic aspirations of the original artists.
3) In reproductions of the artwork, to serve as a primary image in the promotional efforts surrounding the product, as an identifiable image associated with it.

Early History...

Around 1910, 78 rpm records replaced phonograph cylinder as the medium for recorded sound. The 78 rpm records were issued in both 10" and 12" diameter sizes and were usually sold separately, in brown paper or cardboard sleeves that were sometimes plain and sometimes printed to show the producer or the retailer's name. Generally the sleeves had a circular cutout allowing the record label to be seen. Records could be laid on a shelf horizontially or stood upright on an edge, but because of their fragility, many broke in storage.

More Recent Design...

The cover became an important part of the culture of music at the time. As a marketing tool and an expression of artistic intent, gatefold covers, (a folded double cover), and inserts, often with lyric sheets, made the album cover a desirable artifact in its own right. Notable examples are The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which had cut-out inserts, lyrics, a gatefold sleeve though a single album; and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon which had gatefold, lyrics, no title on the sleeve and poster inserts. The move to the small (less than 1/4 the size of a record) CD format lost that impact, though attempts have been made to create a more desirable packaging for the CD format, for example the re-issue of Sgt. Pepper, which had a cardboard box and booklet, or the use of oversized packaging.

The Beatles : Lonely Hearts

Pink Floyd : Dark Side of the Moon

Album Covers

As part of one of our ancillary tasks, we have to produce an album cover for our music video production. Therefore, to make a start on album covers I thought it would be productive and constructive if I were to take three album covers from my music genre and analyse them. By doing this I will gain inspiration for the album cover I am hoping to produce as I am hoping to develop an album cover which will directly catch the attention of all audiences. The album covers I decided to analyse is Pink’s album ‘Funhouse’, Katy Perry’s album ‘One Of The Boys’ and lastly, the artist I am following – Avril Lavigne’s ‘The Best Damn Thing’.

Here are the analysis's I have made of the following album covers...

As Avril Lavigne is the artist I am following throughout my project, I have decided to compare her most recent album to one of her older ones. Firstly, here is an analysis of her album cover for the front of the album and the back also.

Comparing Avril Lavigne’s album ‘The Best Damn Thing’ to her first album ‘Let Go’, there is a difference in the use of generic album cover conventions. For example, Avril Lavigne’s name on the front of the album cover does not stand out against the name of the album. This could possibly be challenging the album cover conventions compared to ‘The Best Damn Thing’ as usually the artist’s name would be somewhat striking compared to the album name to immediately catch the attention of the audience when placed on a shelf next to a number of albums.

A similarity between both album covers in which Avril Lavigne has proposed is that she appears to relatively still have the same style of a punk/rock girl due to the colour scheme of her outfits. However, her use of fashion in more recent years tends to become more colourful but only slightly as she tends to where the colour white more often. This could possibly be illustrating that as time goes on she is growing up and becoming more of a woman who sees the world through a more clear perspective. Whereas on the album cover ‘Let Go’ she is wearing all black which could hold connotations of someone who is mischievous and gets into trouble? So, the slight colour change could be demonstrating the process of her maturing.

The background of the album ‘Let Go’ is blurred and gives the audience a sense of dizziness. This could possibly be a way of demonstrating the feeling of being drunk or possibly on drugs. Avril Lavigne’s sense of fashion and public image would link to the background and the audience would associate this with people of the same stereotype.

‘The Best Damn Thing’ does not particularly challenge the conventions as much as what ‘Let Go’ does because her older album does not necessarily appear to be an album cover at all as the artists name is not striking in any way, there is not the name of any well known songs which has the chance of catching the audiences eye and there is not the use of bold colours which are prominent. Whereas her most recent album ‘The Best Damn Thing’, commit more so to the generic album cover conventions due to the striking image of Avril Lavigne, her name is noticeable next to the album’s name and the album would generally stand out to the audience’s attention when placed on a shelf compared to her older one.