Digipak Analysis

1)    What is the purpose of a digipak?

A digipak is a type of packaging for CDs or DVDs, typically made from cardboard with an internal

plastic holder for one or more discs; often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums.

Digipaks typically consist of 4 or 6 panels; front cover, back cover, CD holder and the remaining

panels being subjective to information on either the artist or the songs included.

2)    How is a digipak different to a CD album?

The top image is an example of a digipak whereas the bottom
example demonstrates what a typical CD album looks like.

Digipaks and CD albums differ in terms of how they are made, what they are made of and how they look in appearance. Digipaks are normally made from cardboard like material, giving it a much more rural effect and are arguably more environmentally than typical CD cases. However CD albums have been argues to be less vulnerable to wear and tear as they are made of plastic and therefore are less easily damaged. Aesthetically, both differ. Digipaks typically have more amount of panels ranging from 4 to a possible 8. In turn, they supply the consumer with much more information on the artist or the songs whereas a CD album normally has 4 panels when supplying one CD; a front cover, a back cover, a CD holder and the back of the front cover. CD albums are effective for protecting the CD effectively but digipaks supply more than just a CD as it provides background information too.

Task 1:

Analyse the following digipak. Ensure that your analysis is detailed and that you have included excellent examples to support the points that you have made. Also relate back to the music conventions and the target audience.

·                     Representation of music artist

The representation of the music artist 'Jack Johnson' conforms to the conventions of a typical Indie artist. On the front cover of his able, there is a silohette of a figure assumed to be him holding a guitar, as well as another panel conveying himself with a guitar again; central to the photograph to emphasise. By evidently displaying that the artist can play guitar suggests that he is pure in his talent, also providing the target audience with a short representation of him as it tells the target audience of his talent and therefore they have something in which they can relate to. Playing guitar is deemed conventional to an indie artist as presents to artist as down to earth, it is a quality in which others can relate to as many people have an interest/talent in guitar playing. In turn, this digipak will appeal to his target audience as they will be able to recognise and identify that the artist has similar interests to themselves and therefore they will feel closer to him.

Within the digipak, there is only one photograph of the artist himself, an image which does not appear clear in revealing his identity as the audience can only see a partial view of his face and some of his hand. This represents to artist as not being focused on his image and rather focused on his music as he makes this the main focus through lack of images of himself. This representation is highly typical of the indie genre as artists within such genre are presented subverting mainstream images by focusing on their music as a opposed to the brand of clothing they are wearing. Arguably, the lack of visual exposure regarding the artist's appearance may cause the target audience to become uninterested as they have little to relate to; however, because Jack Johnson is an indie artist, this follows generic conventions so therefore the target audience are prone to not viewing such aspect as unappealing and in turn, find such representation attractive rather than boring.

·                     Colours

The digipak appears to have a yellow motif as well as areas in both black and white. However it is mainly yellow, with this particular colour having very positive connotations such as sunlight, optimism, and happiness and therefore sub-consciously the target audience are prone to feeling positive as well. The connotations of the general motif of this digipak is arguably ambiguous in its intended effect on others, whether it be to indicate the personal qualities of the artist and therefore the target audience are given a short representation to relate to. Or maybe suggestive of the type of songs the digipak includes and therefore the target audience get a feel as to what the album will consist of? Conclusively, the motif provides the audience with a suggested representation of the album as a whole and therefore will appeal to them according to whether such representation is what they are looking for.

The contrast of black and white have been used against the yellow motif in order to achieve simplicity as well as effectiveness. If the artist would have chosen another 2 bright colours the digipak may have been mistaken for a pop artist as such appearance would conform to the pop generic conventions. However, by choosing two simple colours, the artist has effectively created a successful indie digipak in which the target audience can easily recognise and therefore find appealing. Such colours fit in with the artist representation as well as they fit in with the nature motif. Black and white could connote night an day, light and shade etc and therefore are suitable to the digipak's appearance.

·                     Design/layout

The design of each panel has an evident reference to nature in which this portrays the artist as very down to earth and simplistic, rather than over edited in construction of both digipak and image. Therefore the target audience are able to easily relate to the artist through his representation as he appears very ordinary. Regarding proportions, the allusion to nature is very large compared to the other content in each panel which emphasises that artist's simplicity and down to earth qualities. In particular, the allusion to nature is often portrayed by a tree or leaf, in which such figures are symbolic of liberation and independence, relating to the generic conventions. Indie is a genre is which manifested as a reaction to the mainstream genres such as pop as individuals felt that such genres lacked opportunity to relate to the artist or material they were creating because it lack relevancy to their own lives. Therefore, the trees seen on the digipak could be representative of the artist 'branching out' away from such mainstream conventions and rather remaining 'natural' according to his own image.

Furthermore, the design of the digipak appears very 2D as it lacks variation in terms of the colours used and therefore the use of block colours reinforces the artist being simplistic in his image. Although simple, the use of block colours also indicate statement for the target audience have limited colour to focus on and therefore the colour that is used appears as a statement, reinforcing the connotations of each colours as discussed previous.

·                     Typography

Much like the majority of each of the panels, the typography conforms to the simple style evident. The font itself is clear so that it is easy for the target audience to read and recognise who the artist is. This is conventional to the indie genre as it is simple rather than an unfamiliar font that correlates with an unfamiliar lifestyle that an artist such as Beyonce has. It represents the artist according to who he is and therefore the audience can relate to him as he appears ordinary through his use of simple font. The colour of the font is also clear to read, for it is opposing to the yellow background and therefore easily readable; such quality allows the target audience to know which artist this digipak contains and therefore is more likely to appeal to them as it lacks confusion as a result of its bold visual. However, the size is very small which may cause many to question which artist it is, as they cannot clearly see through a lack of big font and image of the artist. On the other hand, indie artists are recognised as being understated rather than over the top so this particular choice in terms of design and layout conforms to the generic conventions which will appeal to the target audience.

·                     How does the digipak promote the music genre?

The clear motif of nature represents the artist as down to earth as this subverts the mainstream conventions. This gives the artist and digipak qualities that the target audience can relate to as they are familiar with such content and their connotations as a result of associative connections. As discussed before, the indie genre formed as a reaction to mainstream genres and therefore such allusion to nature emphasises to the target audience that such artist conforms to indie conventions as being down to earth and simplistic. In turn, this promotes the genre as the generic conventions are easily recognised and therefore the target audience can clearly identify the digipak is indie. This will appeal to the target audience for the representation of the artist and indie genre are consistent and coherent and therefore will specifically meet their demand.

Include a summary at the end of your blog to show how you will use your research to inform your planning and creating your own digipak for your own artist. 

From analysing the previous digipak, the content of each panel typically conforms to the indie conventions in which we also plan on including. This is because it makes the appearance of the digipak clearly indie so that the target audience can easily identify the digipak as being Indie related, encouraging them to look and listen to it. Here are the following attributes in which we plan to include in the creation of own digipak for our own artist, as well as the aspects that we feel we will change:

• The motif of nature is effective in representing the artist as being easy to relate to, as the location is one that the target audience are familiar with. Furthermore, it's suggestive of their personality as being down to earth and simple, typical of the indie genre. As the genre is a reaction of mainstream genres, we wish to stay away from such conventions because this will not appeal to our target audience. Therefore it would be illogical to have the location of our digipak at a club, as this is not what our target audience find appealing and would more likely to be found in the hip hop genre. In which case, there will be evidence in our digipak of nature; possibly a daisy flower to reinforce the representation of innocence and natural through playing on the artist's name so not only do the audience understand her personality but also her name. This encourages them to remember her and therefore are more likely to maintain an interest in her.

The colours used in this digipak are simplistic, as there are only three main colours; yellow, black and white. They are all block colours as well which highlight the contrast as each one, further emphasising their connotations. This effectively suggests to the target audience the style in which both the music and artist adhere and therefore is successful in attracting the target audience for they know what to expect. Our research has influenced us to create a digipak that is consistent throughout each panel in regards to colours as this creates a theme in which can be representative of the artist and her track. To do this, we aim to focus on certain colours throughout our nature motif so that their connotations are highlighted to the target audience; green, which will be typically evident through fields and grass etc, to convey the artist's down to earth approach; yellow, typically conveyed by sunlight as light is a motif throughout our music video and therefore this creates a link; and floral pattern, shown on the artist's costume as this will reinforce her indie style in which her target audience can relate to and copy in order to feel increasingly similar to her.

In terms of the layout of our digipak, we plan to subvert the design of the analysed digipak above, as there is lack of images of the artist, which we plan to include. By including images of the artist, the target audience become more aware of her being and therefore are encourages to listen to her music as they become more familiar with her. Also, through familiarity, they will gain an interest in her image in regards to what she is wearing, her hairstyle etc, so that the audience can adopt such style as well in order to feel closer to the artist in terms of image. Indie artists have a typical image that promotes uniqueness and therefore images of the artist will promote such thing and create the effect that the artist is different to the others and therefore more exclusive as she is less known. This appeals to the target audience as Indie is a genre that purposely subverts mainstream conventions in order to appear different, in which this effect is created by her style.

The typography on the digipak above is very simplistic in regards to the style of font, so that it can be easily read by the target audience. It also isn't overpowering, in which may be evident on the digipak of other genres such as Pop. However, we feel the writing is slightly too small and therefore when creating our own digipak, the font size will be bigger on the front panel in order to encourage the target audience to read it. Also, the font of the artist's name will be specifically different to the other information on the panel, so that this draws attention to the artist, encouraging the target audience to remember who she is. As her name is Daisy, we plan to incorporate a daisy flower into the font so that again, this reinforces the artist's representation as being innocent and encourages the audience to remember.