Group Digipak (changes made)

To create our final digipak, we each compared our own individual digipaks to analyse which aspects we thought to be effective and which didn't approve of. To do so, we had a meeting in which such process was carried out; taking it in turns to analyse each digipak so that everyone had a say in the outcome of our final digipak. 

Emma's Front Cover

Here is Emma's original front cover, the front cover we chose to use for the final digipak. We chose this front cover as we thought it was an effective visual for the target audience to initially see as her image is visible for them to relate to; the guitar is also visible to appeal to the target audience as this is a convention of the indie genre and therefore they can easily recognise that it is indie. We also thought the font was effective as it was clear and minimalistic, much like the typical indie artist would use. However, we then edited the picture so that the colours were slightly more subtle and therefore connoted the genre effectively rather than the brightness used in other genres such as Pop (as you can see in the final digipak).

Daisy's CD

Emma's CD

Above is the CD design of both Emma and Daisy; which we decide to make into one design for our final digipak. Emma's design is effective in being coherent with the other pictures from the photoshoot as the background of the 3rd and 6th panel are also a brick wall and therefore, it was relevant to the rest of the digipak and therefore we thought this was effective in creating a consistent image for the artist. However, the middle of Daisy's design was an actual daisy, an aspect that we also though was effective as it was relevant to the artist herself as it reinforced her identity. The outside of her design was intended to be a shoestring, much like the title of the song. However, we concluded that this intention wasn't entirely clear for our target audience to understand, thus deciding to take both better aspects of each of the digipaks and making one. We felt the out come of such idea wasn't too over the top for the design to be too busy, however was effective in portraying the image of the artist as well as being coherent with the other panels.

Daisy's Welcome Note

Our final welcome note was inspired by Daisy's original design as well as Millie's, as she also used the same picture. We decided it was effective as it provided the audience with a picture of the artist as if she were saying it to the audience herself, rather than not having a picture there are appearing distant. It creates the effect that the artist wants to connect with the target audience giving it a much more personal feeling as if she cares; a convention of the indie genre as artists are typically down to earth and easy to relate to people. Furthermore, she decided to separate the message from the image, further emphasising the importance of the message itself, as if it were personal to the target audience. However, there were same changes made too; the brush effect in the bottom right corner was eliminated as we felt it was slightly connoting the Pop genre through it's bright colour and therefore would not appeal to our target audience. Furthermore, the font of the message was changed to coincide with the rest of the digipak and the magazine advert so that each of the products were coherent and clear in terms of the artist's image. Also, the positioning of the message was moved lower down so that the layout was balanced.

One of my picture panels, also featured on Daisy's design too

The final design of our digipak needed two plain images; this one being taken from mine and Daisy's original designs. We decided that this picture was effective as a panel of its own as the shot is quite naturalistic; as if the audience were seeing her themselves. It lacks pose and therefore suggests a more valid representation of the artist for the target audience to relate to; gentle and down to earth. Such representation is conventional to the indie genre and therefore this will appeal with our target audience as they will be able to build an effective relationship with the artist. The photo also highlights the theme of nature in the digipak as it was taken in a field, as well as a horse and trees being identifiable as well. However, as we did with all the other panels too, we edited the picture so that the colours were more subtle and therefore conformed to the indie genre.

The other picture panel, taken from mine and Daisy's designs

Here is the second picture panel taken from the final outcome of our group digipak, originally used my Daisy and myself. As a group we felt like this picture was also effective on its own as it created a similar effect to the previous picture; it lacked a forced pose that may appear fake to the target audience, as the artist is simply playing guitar, looking at it as she does so. Therefore we felt the picture was suitable to be on a panel of its own so that the target audience had another picture of the artist's true being; a quality favourable amongst the target audience and therefore they will find it appealing as it is a convention of the indie genre. However, we edited the colour so that it was more subtle as well as resizing the picture itself; cropping the unnecessary background so that the audience could focus on the audience, also increasing proximity to feel closer in order to build a relationship.

Daisy's original back cover

We chose to use Daisy's back cover as we thought the layout of the design was very effective, with the artist almost looking at the song titles, as if she were looking over her own work and therefore emphasising that they were there. In turn, this encourages the target audience to read to track titles thus going on to listen to them. We also thought the picture itself was suitable for the back cover as the artist is still easily seen, however was not as intense as the front cover as she is looking away. When altering the design to remain coherent with the other panels, the colours were edited and the song titles were slightly moved down so that the positioning of the layout was effective and in balance.

Our Final Digipak:

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Although the digipak appears conventional to the music genre, the feedback that we recieved from fellow peers, which were also members of our target audience, indicated that the digipak was in fact too simple. This caused them to overlook the digipak becuase it was too minimalistic and therefore not engaging. Therefore we made slight altercations to this digipak to enhance its appearance without neglecting its simple and conventional look.

Again, from the feedback we were able to establish the negative aspects of the digipak and found that the  panels below were the ones deemed unsuccessful amongst our target audience. Below is an explanation of the changes we made, why we made them and the effect the changes had on the audience.

This is the CD panel. Although the appearance of the CD is very similar to the original design, we made slight altercations to make the panel more engaging. The font stayed the same to be coherent with the other products, as did the daisy flower, as this is evident in the other products and again, reinforces the coherent image of the artist. However we did include a graffiti effect over the brick wall background in the shape of two hands making a heart image. We included this is enhance the visual appeal of the panel as well as creating the illusion that the artist was quirky and individual as graffiti is associated with locations such as Camden which is deemed quirky and relatable for the audience.

We changed the letter panel of the digipak as it was very plain and simple in regards to the technological knowledge needed to execute it. Therefore it lacked the professional look that is evident in other digipaks we analysed. The biggest problem with this panel was the text, as it was very simple with no added effects to make it more engaging. Therefore we added effects to improve this problem; we changed the font so that the writing was less harsh an more in cohesion with the image of the artist. As well as this, we added a white outline around the text to soften the writing further, also making it stand out to encourage the audience to read the letter, thus further encouraging the relationship between artist and audience.

 This was one of the panels that consisted of only an image of the artist, to provide the audience with an exclusive insight as to what she is like. This image is successful in doing so, however it was slightly disengaging due to its simplicity. To improve this panel, we drew an autograph and using Photoshop, incorporated this autograph over the top of the image. This makes the panel more engaging as the audience, as they are provided with an exclusive signature by the artist, placing an importance on the audience members themselves. This encourages the relationship between the audience and artist which is vital in order for the audience to maintain an interest.

Lastly, we also changed the second artist image panel to make it more visually appealing. To do this, we added another graffiti effect to make the digipak coherent as well as reinforcing the quirky image of the artist. We also made overall changes to the digipak, one being the background of each panel. We changed this from white as it was boring, to a forest location as this is evident in the other products, again enforcing the coherence of the artist's image. Overall, the digipak is more visually appealing which encourages the audience to effectively 'buy' the digipak, influencing the artists success.