Digipaks- key elements and examples
Range of genres to explore the different conventions
A digipak is an alternative version of the jewel case for both DVD's and CD's. The DVD digipak especially are used for promoting a special release of a DVD, but this is also the case for CD's. They are normally bought by big fans of the artist/ band, because they are usually priced higher. Because of the packaging they are less robust than jewel cases (normally protect the DVD/CD well, but outer packaging isn't as protected), therefore more care is needed when handling, this implies they are also of greater value whether the contents is acknowledged or not.
The packaging is also more environmentally friendly, which means it can be made out of recycled goods, so therefore implies it can be cheaper to produce than normal jewel cases. And because the size can vary you are able to personalise the casing with more detail and design than must jewel casing.
The below digipak is of the Rolling Stones, who are obviously a very well known band from the 60's. As most people know the Rolling Stones iconic logo (brand identity) as such is the big red lips, which is taken from Mick Jagger. In image two of the digipak, on the front cover you see that in the lead image they have incorporated the lips onto an illustration of a gorilla which would be noticed easily by a fan of the band. The reason they don't have to place an image of the artist on the front is because a digipak as stated earlier is aimed at big fans of the band, therefore the lips (iconic logo) are enough.
You can see there is a definite house style for colours; red, black, white. These colours all work with the iconic lips to and pull the digipak together. The fonts that are used (apart from the track listing are all done in san-serif, but almost with a painted effect which ties into their genre of band (rock/ rock and roll) because rock and roll is quite bold and loud and although san serif only denotes wideness it connotes to the audience rebellion, courageous music and some could say outrageous. And you can see they have kept to the house style on the CD's too, using the same colours and fonts.
Usually in a digipak you have some form of imagery of the band inside it, but most likely because of their age they have chosen to not include them in it. This was probably the choice of the bands manager for profit/selling purposes. Now they have made an insert for the album which includes images of them and information on the tracks and the bands journey over the years, but this still only provides the audience with images of them from early years.
The positioning/layout in this digipak is quite slick, not very detailed and easy to be guided by. They have used black as the base colour and white and red to guide you around the digipak- the track list is divided into three CD's and are all white on black which stands out easily to the audience. And at either end of the pak is the date of the first songs on the album and the most recent- this allows the audience to know what have been included in the digipak. The spacing has been used carefully to emphasize the small detail that has been placed on the cover. And this choice in spacing can signify greatness; detail is not needed from this band because they have already reached the top and have won their audience already.
In the last picture (4) it shows clearly they have placed all the institutional information, bar-code and additional information in the usual place: the back cover. This is the normal convention for any CD, DVD etc. It allows you to view any additional info such as the producer and copy-right laws behind the CD before purchasing it. On this digipak it even has the logo of the Rolling Stones above the bar-code, showing it is property/ material of theirs.
Digipaks-analysed
The Rolling Stones digipak
The below digipak is of the Rolling Stones, who are obviously a very well known band from the 60's. As most people know the Rolling Stones iconic logo (brand identity) as such is the big red lips, which is taken from Mick Jagger. In image two of the digipak, on the front cover you see that in the lead image they have incorporated the lips onto an illustration of a gorilla which would be noticed easily by a fan of the band. The reason they don't have to place an image of the artist on the front is because a digipak as stated earlier is aimed at big fans of the band, therefore the lips (iconic logo) are enough.
You can see there is a definite house style for colours; red, black, white. These colours all work with the iconic lips to and pull the digipak together. The fonts that are used (apart from the track listing are all done in san-serif, but almost with a painted effect which ties into their genre of band (rock/ rock and roll) because rock and roll is quite bold and loud and although san serif only denotes wideness it connotes to the audience rebellion, courageous music and some could say outrageous. And you can see they have kept to the house style on the CD's too, using the same colours and fonts.
Usually in a digipak you have some form of imagery of the band inside it, but most likely because of their age they have chosen to not include them in it. This was probably the choice of the bands manager for profit/selling purposes. Now they have made an insert for the album which includes images of them and information on the tracks and the bands journey over the years, but this still only provides the audience with images of them from early years.
The positioning/layout in this digipak is quite slick, not very detailed and easy to be guided by. They have used black as the base colour and white and red to guide you around the digipak- the track list is divided into three CD's and are all white on black which stands out easily to the audience. And at either end of the pak is the date of the first songs on the album and the most recent- this allows the audience to know what have been included in the digipak. The spacing has been used carefully to emphasize the small detail that has been placed on the cover. And this choice in spacing can signify greatness; detail is not needed from this band because they have already reached the top and have won their audience already.
In the last picture (4) it shows clearly they have placed all the institutional information, bar-code and additional information in the usual place: the back cover. This is the normal convention for any CD, DVD etc. It allows you to view any additional info such as the producer and copy-right laws behind the CD before purchasing it. On this digipak it even has the logo of the Rolling Stones above the bar-code, showing it is property/ material of theirs.
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Evanescence
Evanescence is a Gothic rock band with a female lead singer, which is shown within the artwork of their digipak. You can see that this is a four page digipak but like the above digipak of the Rolling Stone's they have used an insert to give information to the audience.
As you can see in all of the images, again there is a distinctive house style of colours, fonts and illustrations. The colours scheme for this digipak are blues both dark and light, beige/ yellows, blacks and whites. They have tried to make it look quite mystical and ghostly/dark which is a reflection of their genre of music (rock/ Gothic rock). They have obviously got the typical conventions such as a track list, all the institutional information and bar-code placed on their back cover. The writing colour used for these have again been incorporated into the colour scheme. The track list is in a yellow colour and the typeface they have used is serif and curly which is a signifier for ghost-like. And the additional institutional information is in a white which matches the main image on the front which runs through to the back page and like most digipaks is on the back page under the track-list.
The main image that has been used is of the main artist in the band and it has been used to promote the album name 'The Open Door'. She is as you can see walking through an open door into what can only be assumed the sky or heavens which again can be tied to the genre of rock, a lot of rock stereotypically focuses on heaven and hell, sadness etc and unlike the above digipak (the Rolling Stones) the artist is used on the digipak because she is young and not as well known.
As I mentioned earlier the front image runs through onto the back image which keeps the house style/continuity good because it ends up being one image on the outside. And once you open it up you don't have to keep as closely to the colour scheme which is evident here, but still have some form of house style colouring.
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Kanye West
Kanye West is a very well known rap artist with a slick r&b style in both his music and fashion. As you can see from the images of the digipak below this album reflects the type of image he has created for himself and also the type of music he produces.
On the front side of the digipak (2nd image) you can see there isn't much imagery used, but there is an image of a heart on the front which is emphasizing the name of the album 808's &heartbreak. Now although this digipak doesn't have much imagery it doesn't mean it hasn't been thought through carefully. Unlike the other albums I have looked at above there is a lot of white space used here very well. It emphasizes the attention on something and in this album it draws attention to the artist and the album name, white space is a technical tool when if used correctly it can be powerful at getting the attention you want. On the front/ back part of this digipak (image 2) there is very minimal detail, so where there is you will be drawn to it as a natural instinct. And also on the front the house style begins to show on the left hand margin of the front cover: there are a rainbow of pastel colours which run from one side of the cover to the other and almost direct you through to Kanye who has a red heart identical to the one on the front of the digipak which because it is repeated it begins to create an iconic logo for the album (the red heart). The house colours then arise from the rainbow and the deep red of the heart (just to note that the heart has been coloured red which is a stereotypical signifier of love and compassion), obviously here white is included but is used for a whole different purpose.
The image of Kanye is a very simple picture but includes the red heart placed where his actual heart is which signifies a connection between them, whether it is another's heart or his distance from his own that is broken, but yet still slick and 'cool' which is his iconic style and music genre's characteristics. I must say though it is not the stereotypical look of a rap artists CD cover because it is so formal and you could say visually prude, but that is another reason why it is very eye catching for the regular fans of Kanye and other rap artists. Most CD/digipak covers are representing rappers stereotypically with money, cars and women presented in the 'male gaze' (as sexual objects for the males).
In image three it best presents the look of typeface used in this digipak. Again minimal, but also very under-represented compared the the text in most digipaks, so it is breaking the conventions here by doing the opposite and attracting attention to the song titles/ track listing because they are so hidden.
As per usual the convention of the institutional text/ info has been abided by placing it on the back cover below the lyrics in a different typeface to the rest of the album, along with the bar-code and copy right information.
On the front side of the digipak (2nd image) you can see there isn't much imagery used, but there is an image of a heart on the front which is emphasizing the name of the album 808's &heartbreak. Now although this digipak doesn't have much imagery it doesn't mean it hasn't been thought through carefully. Unlike the other albums I have looked at above there is a lot of white space used here very well. It emphasizes the attention on something and in this album it draws attention to the artist and the album name, white space is a technical tool when if used correctly it can be powerful at getting the attention you want. On the front/ back part of this digipak (image 2) there is very minimal detail, so where there is you will be drawn to it as a natural instinct. And also on the front the house style begins to show on the left hand margin of the front cover: there are a rainbow of pastel colours which run from one side of the cover to the other and almost direct you through to Kanye who has a red heart identical to the one on the front of the digipak which because it is repeated it begins to create an iconic logo for the album (the red heart). The house colours then arise from the rainbow and the deep red of the heart (just to note that the heart has been coloured red which is a stereotypical signifier of love and compassion), obviously here white is included but is used for a whole different purpose.
The image of Kanye is a very simple picture but includes the red heart placed where his actual heart is which signifies a connection between them, whether it is another's heart or his distance from his own that is broken, but yet still slick and 'cool' which is his iconic style and music genre's characteristics. I must say though it is not the stereotypical look of a rap artists CD cover because it is so formal and you could say visually prude, but that is another reason why it is very eye catching for the regular fans of Kanye and other rap artists. Most CD/digipak covers are representing rappers stereotypically with money, cars and women presented in the 'male gaze' (as sexual objects for the males).
In image three it best presents the look of typeface used in this digipak. Again minimal, but also very under-represented compared the the text in most digipaks, so it is breaking the conventions here by doing the opposite and attracting attention to the song titles/ track listing because they are so hidden.
As per usual the convention of the institutional text/ info has been abided by placing it on the back cover below the lyrics in a different typeface to the rest of the album, along with the bar-code and copy right information.
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Indie, sub-pop and alternative genres
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