Digipack analysis x

Digipack Analysis Millicent Sharratt

NOTE – I WILL BE ANALYSING ALTERNATIVE/ROCK DIGIPACKS AS THIS IS THE GENRE THAT I WOULD LIKE TO CREATE MY MAIN TASK AND ANCILLARY TASK ON.

Everything Everything – Get To Heaven Digipack Analysis

Everything Everything are an indie electronic rock band from Britain. They have released 4 albums, Get to Heaven, the album shown, is their latest studio album that was released in SUMMER 2015.A significant aspect to this digipack is the fact that the text advertising the band is absent. The digipack does not clearly promote the band themselves. This suggests that the band have a niche target audience, and possess the confidence to release a digipack with no conventions of advertisement required on the front cover of the digipack, implying their success in the music industry. This also implies that the niche target audience will understand and have a deep knowledge of the band to recognise the artwork of the digipack.

The front cover of the digipack, does not conform to the typical conventions as it does not require an image or a certain logo style that advertises the band/artist as conventional digipacks do. The artwork is eye catching and interesting to a wider target audience, however it may only appear significant to a niche target audience. The illustration is iconic and memorable for the audience due to the bold colours which will capture the audience’s attention. It can be suggested that the band’s electronic sound is reflected metaphorically through the art work of the digipack. Everything Everything are noted for an extremely eclectic and dynamic style, with complex song construction, the artwork of the Digi pack reflects their ‘peculiar’ electronic style and genre, through the random illustration.

TEXTA significant aspect to this digipack is the fact that the text advertising the band is absent. The digipack does not clearly promote the band themselves. The lack of font also enables the audience intially view the bold illustration, whhich seems to be the sginificant aspect of the digipack.

MAIN IMAGEThe main image presents a colourful cartoon like illustration of a character who is being smothered by a hand. The bright colours that are used in the illustration are significant as they capture the attention of the audience. The illustration appears horrific and builds tension, this may intrigue audiences who are unfamiliar with the artists work as they may be attracted to the art work used. An interesting piece of art never fails to capture the attention of a large audience. The illustration is placed in the centre of the digipack. According to the rule of thirds, when a significant object is placed in the centre of an image, it is more likely to attract the attention of audiences.

BACK GROUND IMAGEThe background of the digipack presents a simplistic gradient of yellow into a dark fuchsia tone. The simple yet bright tones helps to emphasise the importance of the main image, whilst drawing attention to the illustration.

COLOUR SCHEMEThe digi pack colour scheme connotes a sense of excitement and suspense. The background colour dissolves from pink to yellow, through the duration of this gradient orange tones are produced. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation. To the human eye, orange is a very hot color, so it gives the sensation of heat, therefore attracting the eye of the target audience. The main image presents more colder tones such as blue and purple. Whilst contrasting with the back ground of the digipack, the purple and blue tones connotes wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic. Overall the colour scheme connotes power and superiority. This is significant as the audience will be inclined to approach the digipack due to its individuality and brightness.

Most digi-packs posses the same layout, of 4 individual squares that all follow the over all colour scheme. This digi-pack follows the traditional conventions as through out the layout of the pack the colour scheme remains the same as the front cover. The use of pink and yellow tones, used in the background of the main image creates a visual flow from the front to the back of the digi-pack. The CD disk itself conforms to the typical conventions as it presents the logo of the artists and the name of the album, ‘Get To Heaven’. ‘Get To Heaven’ is shown in large font to present the significance of the name due to it being the name of the artists album. The next largest font presents the band’s name, followed by the record and publidhing companies. The CD base colour is black, whilst the font represents the same pink/fushcia tone that is presented through out the digipack, this again creates a sense of familiarity for the audience. The simple colour scheme is appropriate for the CD cover, as the design of the CD is not the most significant aspect of the pack. The over all appearance of the CD likens to older vinyl, due to the black surface of the CD.

The back of the digi-pack presents the track list for the record. The tracks are listed in the centre of the digi-pack. The bold font used to present the track list is significant, as it is easy for the audience to read due to the large bold font.The font used on the back of the digi pack is the same font that is used on the CD disk, this connotes a sense of familiarity, creating a constant flow. Successful digipacks possess a familiar style and colour scheme through out their digipacks to suggests a professional and official style.

TRACK LIST. Consistent black font used, follows the tradition conventions of a Digi pack. The track list is centered in the middle of the digi pack. The middle alignment makes ensures that the audiences attention is diverted towards the track list, as this is the most important information of the album.

License and copy right information listed below the track list. Smaller font is used as the significance of this information t the audience is small. The audience are more likely to be interested in the track list, rather than the license and copyright information. However the text is a size that is eligible to read. It is important to consider this information when creating my digipack. Barcodes make doing business much more efficient for companies. Barcodes provide a method to track and store information about goods, from individual items to large stocks of thousands or even millions of items. They serve an important role and provide advantages compared with manually entering information.

SIMILAR DIGI PACKS

Another digipack which shows a similar style to Everything Everything’s digipack. Maximo Park’s album cover is also an illustration/cartoon like image. Both digipacks present an illustration of a man in bold colours. However, there are significant differences between the two digipacks.

Maximo Park –Too Much Information Digipack Analysis

Maximo Park are an Alternative Rock band from Newcastle. In 2014 they released their 5th studio album, Too Much Information. The front cover of the digipack present a man who appears to be shaving his tongue, this relates to the genre of the band’s quirky style. The bold contrasting colour scheme makes the digipack appear professional and legitimate. The masthead of the digipack is placed to the left hand side of the front cover, the colour scheme regarding the title is clear as visible for the audience to read and understand. The band have kept their personal style and font, this way their target audience will be able to notice the digipack. The However the digipack subverts the typical conventions of a digipack as they do not include and image of the band/artist. This is typical with in smaller band sand indie/alternative artists. It is likely that their audience’s are more likely to be concerned with the quality of the tracks rather than the star image of the artists. The illustration is interesting and quirky, something that might also appeal to the specific demographic. The cartoon aspect of the image relates to other similar artists, such as the previous digipack that I have analyzed by Everything Everything. This digipack suggests the Maximo Park have an alternative star image, in addition to this the band are also passionate about their music and less concerned with the star image that they portray. It is important to note when analyzing this digipack, the band’s previous digipacks have never included images of the artists in the front cover. Therefore this suggests that the band have consistency with in their star image and haven't changed to fit in with mainstream music culture. Their difference in genre reflects through the style of their digipacks.

The pack for this album includes bonus tracks that are included on a separate disk/digipack. The separate digipack with in the main pack follows a different colour scheme. Instead of a pink/red tone the digipack portrays an orange background colour along with a white and black colour scheme. This is to ensure to the audience that the bonus tracks are separate from the main disk. By including an extra, ‘free’ bonus disk this will entice the reader into buying the digipack, as the audiences will want to know of and listen to hidden bonus tracks to get more from the band. The branding of the main disk and the bonus disk is also noticeably different. Both disks include a line illustration of the main cover, however they are easy to identify which disk is the original and which disk includes the bonus tracks as they feature different colour schemes. This way the audience will be able to identify the different disks.The digipack portrays a consistent flow in the style and genre, the use of the same font through out the digipack creates a sense of familiarity which makes the digipack appear professional and legitimate Despite the bonus disk the digipack follows a consistent colour scheme of red black and white. The block colours also connote how edgy the band’s music genre is. The bold, simplistic colour scheme will create familiarity with the audience, enabling them to identify the digipack in stores and through out all platforms of media. The colour scheme is significant to a band or artist as they can use this attribute to their star image in marketing and branding.

Like other digipacks in the media, the track list is listed on the back of the digipack, this suggests the digipack is following the typical conventions of a digipack. The back of the digipack also notes the terms and conditions/copyright information at the bottom in smaller font, again this presents how the digipack prioritises significant information. The track list follows the style and colour scheme of the front cover. The large font size makes it easy for the audience to read the track list, the large font of the track list also identifies the main importance of the digipack, that being the songs themselves.

The Doors – The Doors Digipack Analysis

The Doors were an American Rock band in the 1970s. Their album ‘The Doors’, was released in 1967. The digipack of the album is by far one of the most iconic album artwork in the history of rock. This is due to the iconic logo and successful branding of the band.

The mast head/logo is located at the top if the digipack, this is significant and follows the typical conventions of a digipack. The audience attention will be drawn to the logo and recognise the artist of the digipack. The spacing of the digipack is also significant, the band are placed underneath the logo, this presents the artist of the music, whilst presenting to the audience the relationship between the logo and the main image. The font and style of the logo is significant as it is iconic to The Doors. The certain logo is used on other media platforms for branding the artist. The logo is presented in yellow font, this enables the masthead to stand out against the dark, black background. The contrasting colours create a bold presentation of the digipack which will entice the audience to buy the record. The main image portrays the artists of the band, this follows the conventions of typical digipacks. The lead singer of the band, Jim Morrison, is the main focus of the digipack due to his significant role of leadership. Jim Morrison’s star image and persona is the most significant aspect the style of the band, arguably making the band significantly successful. All artists on the front cover of the digipack are engaging with the reader by direct eye contact, this therefore creates a focal point for the audience, furthermore the direct eye contact makes the artists appear superior and powerful. The other band members are placed next to the lead singer, however they are presented as smaller and less important. The artists are dressed in smart clothing, which may be similar to the demographic of the audience, whilst reflecting the certain genre of the music. The digipack reaches out to demographic groups such as ABC1, including middle to working class employees, whose professions lay in supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional.

In terms of spacing, important text is placed at the top of the digipack to portray its importance to the audience, where as other text is spaced at the bottom right hand corner of the digipack as this is not important to the audience or the branding of the artist. Furthermore, this shows that the digipack follows typical conventions as it possesses a logo/text suggesting the production company of the album, a common feature used in many digipacks. The colour of the digipack reflects a gloomy atmosphere towards the reader, implying the type of genre that the band are associated with. The colour palate used also suggests the seriousness of the band, also implying that the band have a serious attitude towards the music that they produce. The se of shadows with in the main image also creates a cynical

It is clear to see that the digipack provides consistent flow regarding the style, font and colour. The same font is used all over the digipack despite the font for the logo of the band. By repeating the logo of the band on the back and front of the digipack this will help the audience to understand the significance of the band’s logo, whilst also creating a consistent flow through out the digipack. The same colour scheme is used through out the digipack which also implies a sense of continuity and progression. The yellow and white tones of the font stand out and contrast against the dark background. The colour scheme suggests a serious atmosphere, which makes the artist appear more superior and serious to their audience. The serious style of the digi-pack implies