question one: in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? DIGIPAKnancy over

DigipakMy inspiration for my digipak came from researching many artists from Rhianna to Ariana Grande to Mika. With my artist aiming at a young audience who enjoy R&B and pop music, I thought it was good to look at different genre albums in order to conform to the conventions of a hybrid pop/ R&B audience. Like Rhianna’s album cover, we have used a black and white close up image, however like Mika’s album cover, we haven’t centred her image to give space for the title and other features which conform to the conventions of existing media products. Like Mika’s ‘Popular Song’ album cover, I have used clip art with real life images. As my digipak is being aimed at a teenage audience, and as a teenager myself, I would want to see colour and creativity on a front of an album cover, which is what I would drive me to buying it myself. Going back to Rhianna’s ‘Talk that talk’ album cover, its very sophisticated yet still appealing to a younger audience as she keeps it simple which is also what I have conformed too.

Deejay is placed to the left hand side of the digipak , subverting from Rihanna’s rule of thirds image, however, I felt placing Deejay in the middle would leave little room for other features such as the album name and her name which are the key elements when bringing out an artist’s first album as the audience aren’t perhaps familiar with the artist’s appearance but are very familiar with the name.

I wanted to conform to Mika’s use of consistency with the clip art on his front album cover, however, my ability and knowledge of InDesign wasn’t quite enough to conform with those conventions. Not only, I also felt like too much clip art would clash with my iconic background which I’ve used throughout the entire digipak. The colours would clash an would make it messy and cluttered.

Digipak

From having made many drafts of my digipak, I didn’t want to just focus on basing my ideas on just one artist's album, as stated in the previous slide, I wanted to take the most from what there was on the internet and turn it into something great. By conforming to Rihanna’s sophisticated images and Mika’s use of pop and colour, bringing these two elements together were what best represented my digipak and how I wanted it to look.

The colours I used on the front album cover are very feminine which conforms with Mika’s Popular song album cover. However, unlike Mika’s album I made a clear contrast between the image of Deejay and the background as I wanted to emphasis her image which makes it more effective In terms of recognition and sticking to a clear, bold layout.

Unlike neither of the albums, I’ve used the ‘parental advisory’ sticker which indicates there are some mature songs on the album. Despite neither albums having the sticker, it doesn’t mean I’m subverting from these existing media products, I’m just being more in formative and cautious as my target audience is aimed at teens.

DigiapakWith the inside of my Digipak, I wanted to keep my ideas consistent as well as conforming with existing products. In hindsight, Mika’s designs and idea’s were a major inspiration for my own. The top image is the inside of my Digipak. Both sides consist of the design used on the front of the digipak, just in a different colour, just as Mika’s front cover (bottom left) and Cd (bottom right) has. I’ve also used the same font/ text on the disc as I have on the front on my digipak.

The reason I wanted to change the colours of the design (not only to conform to Mika’s existing product), but also because I felt using the same colour on each side of the digipak would make it boring and less adventurous for the audience.The mirrored image of Deejay subverts from Mika’s product as he has no images of himself on the inside of his alum and sticks purely to the iconic pop art design. However, I felt that when looking at other existing media products, it was important to emphasis Deejay and her youthful glow.

Deejay is also pulling a silly pose which subverts from her serious one on the front of the digipak, however , I felt that it was important to show the fun side of Deejay, as well as the fun side of her playlist.

Lastly, the clip art is also being continued throughout my digipak to give it consistency of the youthful look I'm trying to achieve, but as previously mentioned, due to my inability to produce more effective clipart, like done in Mika has done, it’s not only subverting minor conventions In his album, but also hasn’t allowed me to create a digipak to the fully extent InDesign could allow me to do.

Digipak

The back of my digipak are clearly signified by a song list which runs down the middle of the page. This is allows the audience to see what songs are include on the album. Despite each song not being numbered, as I felt this is ruined the look of the playlist, the songs are in order as they are listed. The use of the ‘miso-bold’ shows the consistency of this font, which will help associate it with the artist, I’ve also used the same design ( but different colours) to conform to the mise-en-scene which conform to the stereotypical conventions I’ve also conformed with some conventions in that not placing an image of the artist on the back allows the audience to focus on the songs in the album. Just having the songs will create a direct gaze for the audience.

Another convention which I have conformed too is the use of a barcode and copyright print on the bottom of the album.