Finished Digipak

Finished Digipak 

I have finished all of my Digipak Pages, and this is how they turned out. I like that they all fit together in terms of the mood and theme of it. 

New Back Cover

Back Cover

I changed a few things on the back cover after realising I got some things wrong. First I realised that I'd put 'Brokenhearted' in capitals and the rest of the songs weren't. So I had to change that first, but then I realised that I'd written the record company website as 'JLJ Records' when the logo says 'JLJ Productions'. After changing it I think it looks good enough to keep and I see no huge mistakes.

Back Cover for Digipak

Back Cover for Digipak

I like the way the institutional information fits properly on the image, and it looks good with the record company as well. The font of the track list fits the theme of the digipak because it's really girly and cute.

Lyric Page for Digipack

Lyric Page for Digipak

I've made a lyric page for the digipak. This is for the extra panel on the outside of the digipak.

I did this by colouring over the background image in white paint and reducing the opacity of the layer so that the effect was blurred. I then added in the lyrics in a clear bold pink font. Because the lyrics are so long, I had to use two columns to fit them on the page. I found the font online and I liked it because the theres only one heart and its like a simple decoration.

Final CD Tray Design

Final CD Tray Design

I finally decided on keeping the Cd design simple and not including writing. I used a picture of Matilda holding a balloon and decided to fade the edges out in pink. For the CD tray itself, I just cropped out a picture of the flowers on the graffiti wall and used that so that there was a running theme of flowers throughout the digipak.

Research on Digipak Disc Designs

Research on Digipak CDs

After looking at some examples of CD designs I found that overall, they aren't overly decorative, and a lot of them don't even have writing on them. I think I'll probably just put a design or picture on the CD, instead of covering it with warped text.

Beyonce

The Script

Katy Perry

Rihanna

CD for my Digipak

CD for the Digipak

This is the first draft for the CD to my digipak. It has a kind of 70's feel to it because of the warped text around the cd. I don't think it fits with the genre of the rest of my digipak because of this and I'll have to redraft it. 

Another reason I'm not using it for my digipak is that after talking it over with someone else, they mentioned that the design was bold, and if the design is bold that would mean that everything else in the digipak and my website would have to be bold and outgoing too. I think I prefer to stay simple with the design.

Production Company Logo

Production Company Logo

 

 

When researching digipaks, I found that most had the production company's logo on the back. I made one that was black and white because they rarely have colour because that way the don't merge into the background colour of the digipak. Some also feature the production company logo on the spine as well as on the back cover.

Completed Digipak Cover

Completed Digipak Cover

 

 

In order to keep Matilda as the focus of the album, I decided to blur out the background and keep her and the balloon in full colour. I also heightened the colour of her lips and the flowers on her dress to make them more eye-catching.

 

I think the warped text on the balloon shows her fun side and links to the smile on her face while she looks at it. I think it will be easier to make the rest of my digipack this way because now I can keep the theme of 'fun' and 'colour' through the rest of it.

Digipack Practice #3

3rd Digipack Practice

This is my 3rd attempt at photo shopping my digipack cover. I like the 'fun' vibe it promotes, but I feel like it takes a lot of attention away from Matilda, and in pop music, the focus is always on the star. I think if there was a way to make her stand out more that it could work as a cover. Maybe if I heighten the colours of her make-up it would emphasise her more.

Digipack Practice #2

2nd Digipack Practice

I played around with CS6 and watched a different tutorial that showed how to create a Lichtenstein-inspired pop art effect.

I like that it connotes something playful and enjoyable like a comic book, but I wanted the colour to play a big part in the digipack and this effect washes the colour out so that everything in the background is a lot paler than the foreground.

Digipack Practice #1

Digipack Practise

I have been watching tutorials on youtube to learn different effects that can be made in Adobe Photoshop CS6 and I found an effect that makes the photo look like it's made up of cubes.

I like the effect but I think the cubes connote more of a dance genre and we want something that looks like pop.

More Photos for Digipack

More Photos for Digipack

These are photos we took in front of the graffiti wall in Kingston that I think would suit the theme for the Digipack.



First Draft of Digipack Cover

Digipack Cover idea

This is my first initial design for the digipack cover. I like the image of matilda used, because she is smirking and she is wearing bold make-up and a leather jacket that makes her look tough, but I don't think it has enough to show a contrast between sweet and girly, and tough and rebellious. I also think the font I used is more suited to the 'dance' music genre rather than pop. I like that the colour of the font matches her lipstick because it brings more attention to her mouth and the position that its in.

I think to improve this I will have to find a font on the internet and download it to use for the cover, because most of the fonts on photoshop look too generic. I also think that this cover is too simplistic and I need more going on in it to make it interesting, like the illustrations used in Cher Lloyd's 'Sticks + Stones'.

Digipack Research: Cher Lloyd

Cher Lloyd's Album

Sticks and Stones

Cher Lloyd's album Sticks and Stones is her debut studio album after finishing fourth on the X-factor the year before. The album spawned popular songs like 'Swagger Jagger' and 'Want U Back', which both peaked in the top ten charts in the UK and US.
Her music is generally R&B, however her music is also influenced by the sounds of hip hop, dubstep, electronic, electropop, bubblegum pop, and dance-pop in some of her songs.
The first thing I notice about this album cover is that she is holding a placard with her name on it, like she is taking a mug shot. This signifies that she is rebellious and dangerous.
The expression on her face, with the raised eyebrow and the little smirk shows that she's trouble. Her make-up is simplistic except from her bold eyeliner and bright lipstick, something that shows her bold personality.

The name of the album 'Sticks + Stones' is a reference to the saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me," which implies that she doesn't care what people say about her and that she is a strong female that doesn't get hurt easily.
The illustrations around her look like doodles and behind them there are lines that could be height guides that are used in mug shots but it could also be the lines of a diary or a notebook. This would show that she is creative and a day dreamer, and also that she's young and playful.

In our video we use drawings and illustrations like this so I think it would be interesting to use them in the album cover as well. I also like how the fun and playful background with the drawings contrasts with her holding the placard and her bold make-up, nails and hair, and want to find a way to show this contrast in my own album cover.

Digipack Research: Carly Rae Jepsen

Carly Rae Jepsen's Album

Kiss

Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian recording artist. Her album kiss reflects her music with its colours, art and image. Her songs are usually about her life experiences (mostly with guys), like crushes, boyfriends, break--ups etc. The font that her name is written in looks like an autograph, or like she signed it, showing that this album is personal to her, and that its authentic.

The colour used for the background, as well as the colours that she wears are ones that are usually associated with romance and love, which the whole album focuses on. The album cover conveys the content in it, which I want to incorporate into my digipack as well.
This cover has the usual image of the artist on the cover, holding her arm and posed as if she feels vulnerable, connoting that she is bearing her heart on this album. This is also shown through the way that her name is the focus of the cover and the name of the album, 'Kiss', is in the corners. I like the effect that this achieves, of marketing her just as much as it is her music. I find this technique interesting and might include it in my own digipack.

Digipack Research: Eliza Doolittle

Eliza Doolittle's

Self-titled Album

Eliza Doolittle is a British singer-songwriter from Westminster, London. Most of her songs are indie pop, but also include sounds from soul and reggae music, something she associates with her childhood. Her star image is a young and carefree playful girl, even though she is also an enthusiastic activist. Her music doesn't show the intellectual, serious side to her, which shows in her self-titled album cover.

There is lots going on in the cover for this album, most noticeably the way that she is on an island with famous structures known for being in England, for example the 'Gherkin', Big Ben, Stonehenge and the colourful houses. She is showing that she has a strong sense of identity or national pride. She is presenting herself as a typical British girl.

The paint splashes around the image signify the phrase 'paint the town', which means going out and having fun. This emphasises her young and fun personality, which is something that I want to replicate for my digipack. Other objects in the image like the dice, the jukebox, the upturned ice cream etc. all say different things about her, like that she's playful, she has a love for music, and she's young.

I like the font used for the song titles, because it looks like something that was doodled or drawn in a notebook at school. The red shoes and shorts give her a boho/retro look. This mis-matched style replicates clothes you wear as a child. It emphasises her 'cutesy' image.

I like the font from this album and how they are placed in relation to her body, so that the full frame looks crowded and chaotic. I also like the use of colour and the themes of the paint splatters across the digipack. I think I might use that idea of a main theme to use through the whole digipack, but want to use more of the serious photos of Matilda rather than ones that make her look young and innocent.

Digipack Research: Meghan Trainor

Meghan Trainor's Album

'Title'

Meghan Trainor's Album 'Title' is her debut album. She became a success after her first single 'All About That Bass' took off over the summer.

The music she performs is a combination of genres like Caribbean, doo-wop, hip hop, soca and pop, among others.

These genres are generally up beat and made to be danced to; a common feature of pop music.

This is reflected in her album cover with the use of the tessellating triangular design. This design is common in relation to dance music, with the triangles representing a kaleidoscope kind of effect that can be found in many dance videos.

The triangles all contain a different view of the same picture, the same way that kaleidoscopes see many different views of the same thing. This might have been used to connote that in this album she is going to show many different sides of herself.

Her hairstyle for this cover mirrors her style and image. She usually wears typically 'girly' clothes like floral dresses and pastel-coloured cardigans. Her image of the 'cute, mousy' girl is a complete contrast to the songs she writes and the way she presents herself through her lyrics. She writes mainly break-up songs, and songs about how she is empowered by her body even though she isn't skinny.

Her album cover is bright and vibrant with lots of colour, promoting fun, which juxtaposes with her original photo where her hair is braided and her make-up is understated so that she looks gentle. We would like to be able to replicate this clear contrast between sweet and innocent and fun and crazy with our own music product.

Its also clear that the artist's image on the album cover is important in pop music, since the artist is a kind of brand to be marketed. I would definitely use a picture of Matilda for the album cover, as it is a convention of the pop genre.

Digipak Templates

These are the typical templates used for digipaks. There are 4 panel, 6 panel and 8 panel digipaks but I would like to use either the 4 panel of 6 panel templates.

 

 

Digipak Research: Katy Perry 'One of the Boys'

Digipak Research:

Katy Perry 'One of the Boys'