Digipak Reflection

How did you use your research into digipaks to create your own?

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.

·     What could you change and why?

      Although the artist image is consistent throughout the digipak, the effects on each panel is not. Each panel appears to have a different level of contrast and therefore appears incoherent. This lack of professionalism in terms of the visual appeal may effect the audience as they can not relate to the digipak which influences them not to buy it. For example, panels 3 and 4 are visually matching in terms of added effects, however the last panel is contrasting to this as it is very bright rather than subtle like the others. Also, bright colours are associated with the Pop genre and therefore the digipak isn't consistently Indie which may confuse the audience as to what genre the artist belongs, failing to convey the initial appeal of the audience which will interest them to find our more. If I were to create my own individual digipak again, I would ensure that each panel was consistent with the other to create a coherent Indie digipak.

      How will this draft assist you with creating your group?

This draft gave me experience using photoshop as I hadn't used it before. From creating this digipak, I have gained an understanding of how to operate and create the desired effect I wanted to. For example, when wanting to place text above an image I learnt you must first create a layer to produce the work you want, which assisted me in 3 of my panels. Therefore when creating the digipak as a group I will be able to have an input in the production of it so that is it a unified effort. Also, I have learnt the importance of coherence in that all panels must visually relate to one another to ensure appeal as this creates a representation of the artist if coherent that the audience can relate to.