Top 5 Digipaks: Analysed

5) BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB SO LONG SEE YOU TOMORROW

Album title. Centred as most important. Unconventionally, the artist name is not printed on the front cover. The font is simple and plain, as not to detract from the busy and intricate design around it. The design is already memorable so the text is plain and centred in order to clearly tell the audience more information.

Intricate pattern.The overall design of this album cover is very clever and draws people in with its intricate design of the gradual stages of the sun and moon in a cartoon style. It is what particularly drew me into the album. This cover is memorable and unique, which helps to advertise the album and make the audience intrigued.

The genre of this album is indie pop/rock and I believe the album art helps to support this genre: it is clever and different, which would generally attract a different audience to that of a bubblegum pop album cover.

Quirky and different style – appeal to indie rock consumers.

Overall, I like this album art because it is clever and unique to the band as they have acquired this house style across all mediums of their work (music videos, digipaks, single covers).

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Same style as cover: consistent cartoon style and ‘progression’ theme which could relate to the music on the album (in the artist’s opinion).

Man and women figure from cover joined. Reference to a love theme which is often typical of the music genre. Similar design repeated inside case so consistent. Also same overall colour of forest green.

Same circle theme and same house style with similar colours and the same font from the front cover.

Conventions of back panels like company information, copy write and barcode.

4) THE VACCINESWHAT DID YOU EXPECT FROM THE

VACCINES?

Black Border:The square black background enables the Cover to stand out and for the image and text to directly contrast it, enabling them to be more clearer and simple.

I really like this smaller image against a plain background because it’s effective but simple for enabling the art to stand out. This front cover, for me, is regarded as iconic and I really like its simplicity but strong impact it can have.

Artist name:There is no indication of the album title on the front cover: only the artists name. This is unconventional, especially how it is actually listed on the back. The font is bold and spaced out, giving it impact and making it an important focal point of the CD, showing the band’s importance. This is supported by it being in the middle in a headline position so it is clear and easy to read for the audience.

Middle photo: The middle photo is very important for this album cover. Its cold and uncomfortable imagery is very inriguing and iconic for the audience and this is only supported by the large border. It is memorable and unique which would make the audience want to find out more. It is also unrelated to the title so it is questioned why they chose this image. Its connotations of teenage love and the fact they have no identity might support the genre of the album’s music, with soft love tones and the focus being on the actual music rather than the identity. It has consistent colours of a palette of red, white and pink – all soft like the style of indie rock on the album.

Labels:This is unconventional to front covers as the labels are normally found on the back panel. It is questionable as to why they placed them here, especially as it detracts from the stylistic plain background. It further supports the house style of pink though.

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Black Border:Same as the front cover with a similar photo in the centre and a headline text with the actual album name.

Consistent house style (font, colour, etc.) Album has relevant features throughout.

Conventional features like company logos, copy write and bar code.

3) ARCTIC MONKEYSAM

Main Image:The main image of this album cover are the sound waves which cleverly spell AM in the centre. Only black and white are used entirely through the digipak which is a very striking and different thing to do. This helps make it stand out and be more memorable. The use of sound waves support that the main focus of the album is on the music, rather than the image of the band or anything else for that matter. The high impact of the overall appearance of the single sound wave is very effective and iconic.

I like the fact that there are only two colours used because it keeps it simple. I also like the consistent artist logo because it helps keep their identity.

No other features, simplistic style supported.

Artist Logo:Small and in the corner, so the main focus is on the music and not them. No imagery of the band. Still kept in the consistent black and white style. Bold and memorable and carried over from other placement so consistent to the band which is important for their identity.

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Same Black and white effect throughout – consistent style for all panels of the digipak. Simple and plain again, supports that the focus is on the music as the band are only on the inside, not on the front cover. Typical of the indie genre, whereby the main focus is on the music.Indie band looking stylish and cool – aspirational for audience – also typical of the indie genre.

Same Logo as front cover and all black and white again. Bold font for impact with the conventions of track listing, company info, bar code and copy write information.

2) CUT/COPY ZONOSCOPE

Another example of the black background with a striking image effect. Draws audience in and creates an interesting and memorable image. The main centre becomes the image which deserves the attention.

Incredible images of New York with a waterfall. Even though this image is taken from an early album cover, it has been enhanced and edited digitally in a very nice way and its what immediately attracts the audience at first glance. Because it is such a bizarre and confusing image for people, it is memorable and makes people wonder about the band and their style. The image sort of relates to the band: an Australian ‘New Wave’ of indielectronica’ which are trying to be different and out there in an unconventional music form, much like the image is unconventional and ‘out there’.

Artist name and album title:Small and at the bottom but still in bold. They are semi important but the image is definitely most important to them.

I like the overall imagery of this album cover and its unique and eye catching style. I also like the black background again because it if an effective way of keeping it simple and uncluttered as to attract the audience.

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Similar collage style with a strange, thought provoking imagery for the back panel. Sort of unrelated entirely from the front cover with the white border instead of black but still carries over the font style.

Weird square design for track listing. Also, no copy write info or company logos on the back panel which is unconventional.

CD has unrelated patterns that don’t link with the rest of the digipak. Still an interesting design though with the consistent album title and artist name as the front cover.

1) SAVOIR ADOREOUR NATURE

Interesting imagery again, very clever idea of two space nebulas shaped as a boy and girl kissing. This relates to the bands style of being quirky and their reference to themselves as ‘fantasy pop’. It’s executed well with editing, if it had been poorly done it wouldn’t have been effective so that aspect is important. It’s a unique and effective concept and it interested me to find out more about the band. There are also lots of muted colours like beige, navy and grey which help give the album a soft tone, much like the music content on it.

I really like the original and creative idea on this album and I think it illustrates the band, which is very important.

Both artist name and album name are located at the bottom in a very small font. This is to not detract from the main image on the album or clutter it. It is simple but the artist is in capitals and bolded, showing that they still have some identity and significance.

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Same font and muted colours on the back panel, further supporting the house style and consistent style. Very simple track listing layout.

Conventions again in the form of barcode, copy write information and company logos.

CONVENTIONS OF DIGIPAKS

From those analysed, the clear conventions of digipaks are mostly found on the back panel: every one had some variation of barcode, copy write information and company logos. This is very important to include on the digipak.The front cover however had more leniency: the creativity varied and there are no typical conventions for creating a front cover. Some did have artist name and album title but this isn’t strict – not all album covers have to demonstrate this information.

What made a good album cover seemed to be a good amount of creativity in my opinion. Also, I feel that, in order to stand out, there should be a decent level of originality. The album covers analysed showed a consistent style throughout the digipak and most linked to their genre or band style. As I mostly analysed indie genre digipaks, I feel that the conventions of them include some reference to the band’s style like Arctic Monkeys’ striking black and white contrast linking to their old rock sounds on their album. I would need to include an element of this in my work in order to fill these conventions for the audience. I also found that in the indie genre there is a good level of simplistic but effective covers, so I should aim to incorporate this into my work as well.

RELEVANCY TO MINE

I plan to incorporate into my digipak:• A simplistic, plain background design to the front cover, like a white or black background•A consistent house style (font, imagery, colours)•Not much cluttering on the digipak•A style similar to that of the artist’s previous, to create an identity•As the song is quite indie pop, I plan on having light colours like white, blue, grey etc. These link to the feeling of the song and the blue links to the ‘ocean’ theme•A track listing, company logo, barcode and copy write information on the back panel•A unique and iconic image on the front cover, to stand out. This could come from/be related to the music video