Digipak Photos - Brick Lane Shoot

Digipak Research - Disclosure

Disclosure are an English electronic music duo. The band consists of the two brother; Guy and Lawrence Howard who's music is of the House genre. What makes disclosure and their album 'Settle' so distinctive are the white lines that are drawn on their faces. This appears on their album cover (as shown above) on all their promotional images and in their music videos. Disclosure have taken this simple concept and created their whole identity. They've become so easily recognisable and so iconic; and this helps to promote their music. 

The idea of simplicity is very apparent on this album cover; they use a simple monochrome font and neutral colours. This is done to make the main feature of the white faces more stark against the almost 'dull' background. Furthermore, the album cover uses an image of two brothers, this is done to promote the idea of 'brotherhood' between the two brothers in Disclosure. 

What I am going to take away from this album cover is the importance of simplicity. It's not about how much you can shove on one page, or how much colour you can fill it with; rather it as about creating an image that is recognisable and iconic, even relatable. I feel in regards to my digipak I will use an image that plays with the idea of 'dimensions' which is also exaggerated in the music video and so will be identifiable if it appears on the digipak too.    



Digipak Font Research

Digipaks usually have text, this can be in the form of the album name, artist name, recording company, copyright policies etc. The main use of the font will be for the album and artist name, as a group we decided on the name Tomi, and I wanted to find a font that expressed the quirkiness and originality of this name as well as representing the star's personality.

I used 'dafont.com' to research different fonts, below are some of the fonts I liked. I wanted a font that was different, something quite modern but not too simple, it needed to be readable but still be edgy.

After all my research I decided to use the 'PROMETHEUS' font as I felt it was representative of the dance genre and because it has a modern/edgy feel to it while still being readable. If the font was any more extravagant I feel like it would be too overpowering, especially next to the bold background. I also like how sections of the letters are missing; this creates a modern feel but also presents vibes of enigma.

Star Name

As a group we needed to decide on a name for our star, after hours of debating and research we finally decided on the name Tomi. We felt this was a typical sort of name for a deep house artist. It's short, memorable, edgy and very unique.

Some of the other names that were considered:

• Gabi
• Amethyst
• Ava
• Elsie
• Peroxide
• Kallie
• Elly

Digipak Research - Rihanna

Rihanna has a very strong and apparent star image and one of the ways in which she conveys this is through her album covers. The image of her is at the centre of the album, this is done to draw attention to the album. She is looking down, this could represent shyness, but her facial expression suggests otherwise, the way she has her mouth slightly open is quite seductive. She is almost saying 'I'm an innocent girl with a bed streak', this is also shown in other areas of the digipak. 

The colour red is a main theme used in this digipak from her hair, lipstick and the red roses seen throughout. This has many connotations, the main one being red is known as the colour of 'love', and this is her saying this album is all about love furthermore, the colour red and pink represents the pop genre which is the genre of the album.   

The use of writing is very minimal in this digipak. It includes the artists name and the album name 'LOUD' which is found above and below the image of her, this is done so that nothing obstructs Rihanna's face. The text used is very subtle and a white colour is used, this is done so it stands out against the background. The colour white and the pink rose used as the image on the CD represents pureness, this links back to the the idea of innocence created from the digipak cover. Moreover, the roses also connote romance, love and femininity and this makes it apparent that it is aimed at a female audience. 

This has influenced me to use a central image of my star on my digipak, and it has shown me the importance of colours. I don't have to use lots of different colours, rather I can find one colour with a strong symbol and apply it to different situations.

Digipak Templates

Digipaks have conventional styles, they mostly have either 4, 6 or 8 panels. Right now I am considering creating a 4 panel digipak. I feel this would be better as my digipak will be filled with a lot of colour and vibrancy and too much of it can be too overwhelming and look tacky, so I am going to keep it simple. Below are images of the different templates that I can use. I am also going to include the booklet, this way I can still use the images I want without it looking cluttered.

4 panel digipak template with booklet slot 

6 panel digipak template

Conventions of a Digipak

Digipaks are used as a promotional tool by record companies to increase the awareness of a new artist or as a collectible item for a popular artist. Digipaks consist of a front cover, back cover, spine, inside CD tray, CD as well as some form of text/image pages that either fold out or is in booklet form.
Below are possible templates for digipaks.

What is used on a digipak:

Front Cover: This usually consists of a dominant image of the star, along with the name of the album and the name of the star. The front cover often features something that is easily recognisable, that could either be representative of the artist or representative of the genre of music.

Back Cover: This contains the track list for that album, the name and logo of the record company, any awards or quotes from magazines or newspapers, copyright information a barcode, artist website information, links to social networking sites etc. 

Spine: This mostly has the name of the album or artist, sometimes even both.

Taylor Swifts digipak for the album 'RED'.

The digipak for 'RED' follows the typical conventions of a digipak. The front cover has an very prominent image of Taylor Swift, who is wearing her iconic red lipstick that is she well know for, as she wears it in all her videos and appearances, this emphasizes the artist brand image which can increase the popularity of the artist. Both the title and name of the star are made very apparent on the cover, this is done for marketing purposes. Inside is the CD and a booklet that contains the lyrics to the songs featured on the album as well as other images of Taylor. Everything about this digipak makes it apparent that Taylor is a pop artist. This is done through the use of images; Taylor is portrayed in an innocent light, it's subtle yet striking enough to catch your attention. The mainstream clothing worn by Taylor is also an indication of the pop genre.