Research the codes and conventions of digipaks

All digipaks tend to include generic information such as a visual image, band or artist name in our to allow the audience to identify them, the album title, track list, basic background information of the band (colloquial language to make it seem more personal), acknowledgements, reviews from companies (e.g NME etc...), front panel with main image, the spine with the name of artists etc., the back panel usually with track list, the inside panels (will include CD, maybe booklet, information about the artist, or quotes) and finally the colour scheme will usually reflect the moo of album or genre of the songs on the disc.

Example 1:

:




This is the Digipak xx album by The xx. This digipak is very minimilist and it only features the colours black and white, even though this could be seen as plane I think it makes the album stand out more, I think just by having the X on the front it would draw people in and make them want to find out more. The xx are indie pop and I think there album artwork reflects this, theyre not selling themselves as individuals but there music and band as a whole. The music on the album is simple but still unique and I think the digipak shows that.

I like this album artwork because it is simple and gets the message across of what the group the xx are all about. No advertising, not selling themselves as individulas or celebrities just focsuing on the music.

I don't think this design is something I would consider for my digipak because even though it is indie it doesnt reflect the music my artists makes. This is very blunt and medern whereas the music I want to market is very warm and earthy.

Example 2:

This the deluxe edition of Alt-J's album An Awesome Wave, it is a collectors edition with CD and DVD. This album is a Mercury Award nominated which they have featured on the front to promote their album. The CD features their debut 2012 album and then DVD has never-seen-before track commentary from the ban and exclusive performances from In the Woods boutique festival 2012. Alt-J fall under Indie rock alternative rock/ art rock/ experimental/ folk rock this is due to their unique style of music, I think the cover for their album reflects this perfectly, it is very unique but still very interesting an would draw your attention. I think that its a limited tour edition would make it more appealing to fans and especially saying it's 'limited' will make people more willing to buy it, having something original is more appealing than having something that everyone else has. The rest of the design of the album is quite plain for example the back, I think that because of all that's going on on the front cover they didn't want it to be too overwhelming by having the back to busy hence the plain design.

I like this design I think the front cover is very interesting and looks very indie but I don't think the back cover does the entire album justice, I think the font is too big and the fact that some of the songs are in white makes them seem like they're less important songs.

My artists is of the same genre but has a very different style of music I like the front cover I think if warmer colours were used this could be adapted to my artist, I think the colours are to cold for an artist that sings about love and relationships in such a positive way,

 Example 3:




This is Kanye West's album 808s & Heartbreak, Pre to this album West lost his mother to a sudden and unexpected death and also split with his fiancée and this reflected in the music on this album, it is very cold and mechanical but also with alot of depth. This album doesn't show the extent of his talent but one of the most important statements in his career  this album was a very big risk and due to is humour and liveliness in previous albums was a shock to his fans but it had a good response due to how personal it is. The front cover art work is very simple but gives you a taste of what digipak will look like inside and then on opening the album you can see an array of colours, on the right hand side their is lines of block colours on the the middle panel the lines of colours become a tangled mess of colours and then on the left hand side page Kanye west is in the middle of it all tangled amongst it. I think this can be interpreted in different ways to be it shows how his emotions and life was stable (right panel) and then it all went to chaos (middle panel) and then finally he has become completely consumed by it all (left panel) and I think this album represents that time in is life completely.

I like this album artwork I think it really makes you think and it can be interpreted in many different ways, i think the grey background makes the images stand out more and I think it's interesting how this album stands out but not as Kanye West's it's not the typical album style.

This isn't something I would consider for my digipak, I like the idea of it being something you would have to think about and it could be interpreted in various ways but the overall style is too bold and modern for something as back to basics as Erick Bakers music but I think this due to the genre difference this being Electropop.

Example 4:

 
This is the deluxe album for Katy Perrys Teenage Dream ablum, the front cover is Katy Perry is laying on pink clouds naked but nothing explicit is showing, I think this shows that the album is her reflecting herself and her personality and that is also why she is the only thing featured on the front cover. Her name and the song title is on the spine, this is so it can be easily identified. When the digipak is opened on the left hand side their is a picture of katy perry and on the right outside pane their is also a picture of katy perry an when unfolded on the inside she is shown again, on both inside panels on the left and right the backgrounds are black and this makes Katy stand out more. The disc on the middle pane has a design of what looks like the swirls of a red and white candy-kane, and the extra disc on the inside of the right panel has a donut with sprinkles design, this all reflects Katys California Girls song and her entire theme for her tour, very sweet, angelic and child like but her make-up and the way she is dressed and poses could be seen as pin-up style which is more about woman being confident and sexy in a elegant way, this works well because I think if she had been photograph or hair and make-up been too over the top she could've been seen as immature or tacky. Included in the left side panel is a lyric booklet, by including this it makes the fans more included, also in the middle of the booklet there is another image of katy perry. Katy Perry is heavily featured throughout this digipak, she is selling herself as an artist and a celebrity.

I like how interesting and light-hearted the Katy Perry digipak is but I think the focus is more on her than the music, the pop bubble gum style theme reflects the music inside. I think that there is so much going on that it draws away from her actual talent as an artist.              
                                                                    This is something I would definately not consider for my artist it is too commercial and manufactured. The focus is mostly on the artist image than the music itself. I like that it is lighthearted and I think that's the only thing I could take from this digipak. Our artist is a lot more down to earth and relate able and we want that to be shown in our digipak.