Planning Digipak

Planning our digipaks are important for various reasons. They are created by artists to support an upcoming album and add a way to provide more content for their audience and also the person purchasing the album. It isn't exactly considered necessary to create one, however artists like to do this to show that they have gone the extra mile and care about their fans and want to give them as much as possible. It differs from a standard jewel case CD as it is usually made of paper and contains elements that a Jewel case does not, such as a bonus disc, added artwork and a personal note from the artist themselves. As you can see below, I have created my very own digipak to promote an upcoming album from my own artist. It is a mock up drawing and obviously things will change and not look like the real creation, however it is helpful to plan to give ourselves an idea first of what we will create and how we will market the digipak and make it appealing.

First of all, all digipaks most include a CD, as it is the main content the customer is purchasing and is after, As you can see, most of my CD is blank and the black lines are meant to represent the case. I didn't focus on making the CD very artistic, as indie genre designs and album covers aren't known for bright colours or flashy, extravegent images, and including this on the CD would go against genre conventions and could possibly lose me fans, which would be bad as the artist would lose sales, as well as the record company.

One chosen image for the digipak is of the artists guitar. Images and artwork are included across digipaks and are considered bonus content and something you would not get in a jewel case. The use of an image of a guitar is effective in a number of ways. It is a massive convention of the indie genre, the main instrument people would associate with the genre when speaking about it and also many artists of the genre see it as valuable to them, as they are often seeing carrying or playing it in their videos, such as Ed Sheeran, Liam Fray and Passenger. Another meaning can also be that it means a lot to the artist, and just a simple image of the guitar can show that it is his life and what he cares about. This is effective as the audience may grow respect for the artist as the can appreciate he cares and takes time into a hobby he loves doing and if the artist is seen in a good light, the general opinion of him will be good, meaning more people will think better of him and will likely be more tempted to buy his music, meaning more sales for the artist and record label. No typography is sed in this image and the image is pretty blank itself, the picture tells a story rather than being in your face and flashy and has a story to it.

The next image in the top left corner is of the front cover, essential to all digipaks and also Jewel cases. It is what the potential customer will see first and what will attract them to the product. There isn't much imagery and colours to me front cover, as it's typically known that artists of the indie genre give a more down to earth feel on their front covers rather than bright images or effects. Mine can be compared to an indie album cover such as "+" by Ed Sheeran, which just like mine, doesn't have much imagery on offer and shows a profile, direct mode of address shot of the artist. This is sed to show that the artist is a relatable character, a convention of the indie genre, as he is looking right at them and connecting with them and shows his face just as neutral expression, which could show he is reflecting, or that unlike a genre such as rap, he is showing you himself naturally and not putting on any fake personas, and is coming out clean to the viewers of the cover. The title is in big bold font and placed at the top to stand out as this is the most important typography on the cover. There is an affect on the N which connects John and Spencer together, the artists name, I added this as a little effect as I didn't want the cover to seem too boring. My idea in general with the cover is that the artist does not need flashy and bright images to stand out and promote himself, nor does he need to be a fake person and not who he really is, he will give himself for who he really is and many can relate to him and he wants to show that he can be just like you.

The next image is of artwork, a feature of a digipak that differentiates it from a normal Jewel case CD. It shows the artist on his own stood against a tree playing his instrument whilst rain clouds are in the background. This connotes a few things, it shows the artist has been through dark days, hence the rain clouds and rain pouring down, which connotes the past, but he is able to stay true to his one love which is music and that he can forget bad times just through doing what he loves. Performing is what takes away the pain from him and escaping to the woods to play shows he is escaping from the stressful urban life into the rural woods, where he is at peace and in his own harmony, blocking out his demons. No typography is used here, as the image speaks for itself and you wouldn't expect typography to be included on the artwork in digipaks.

The next image is of a personal note from the artist himself, something you won't find in a Jewel case, but not something you'd find in every digipak. It is respected by many if an artist includes this as it is seen as they're going the extra mile to reach out to their fans and give them something personal from themselves. As you can see, the typography I chose was to sign it off with a signiture, as this is something the fan can hold on to and may find valuable. In the note, i wrote how the artist is thankful the those who buy his music and take time to listen to him and that it means a lot to him, which shows the artist is pouring his heart out to his fans and establishing a relationship with them, which is conventional to the indie genre as it's artists are often seen as relatable, down to earth people who can form a connection with their fans.

The final image on the digipak is the song tracklist of the album, which is essential whether it is included on a Jewel Case or Digipak, as it is information the customer will need to know, otherwise they will have no idea what song they are listening to and what order the songs are in, which will create confusion and likely make many think of the artist in a bad way. The images I have included around the track list are pictures of rocks, which is relevant and relates back to the album title, which is "Rock Bottom". It is has been clearly organised and laid out well in a list type form, which simultaneously shows not only the songs on the album, but the order they play in. The title "Rock Bottom" is above and separate from the track list to show that it is the album title and to not confuse people that "Rock Bottom" is a track on the album, when it isn't.

Overall, this is useful as it creates an idea of what my real digipak will be like before creating it and also gives me an idea of what sort of pictures I will need to take and where I will need to go to take them when thinking of adding them to the digipak. Photoshop will not be needed much for me as special effects and abstract editing won't really be present in my digipak, however it can help change the colour filter to make the pictures look better. I feel I am now more aware of where I need to go to take images for my digipak, for example, the forest, due to properly planning it and also clearly setting ideas that I want to pursue in the creation of this digipak.

From receiving feedback from my target audience, I realised changes had to be made from my plan in order for it to be successful. The fan note has stayed mainly the same, with even the signature still included, except a direct mode of address photograph has been added to make the thank you note more personal. The graphics on the CD became an actual brick wall, which was used because it is seen many times throughout my digipak and my artist also performs against a brick wall in my music video. The front cover stayed mainly the same, apart from a guitar was included, as this supports conventions as it is the main instrument of the genre and gives fans a sneak peak into what the songs they will hear might sound like, heavily influenced by an acoustic guitar. The planned artwork of me under a tree changed to me against a brick wall playing with dark postalised editing effects. This was used to show my dark emotions to the audience to connect with them and add a diverse effect to keep them interested. The artwork of a guitar stayed basically the same, except that it was placed on a brick wall with a song lyric from the album on the page. The track list was also edited around a picture of the artist with a guitar, it looks more interesting and organised than before.