2. The Digipak
• The Digipak’s aim is to promote the artist and sell the physical album.
• The Digipak must have a consistent ‘house style’; this may include colour, font and
imagery.
• The design and content must not only be consistent throughout the product itself
but also with affiliated products which together make up the brand of the artist;
this includes the music video and website.
• The Digipak’s style should also clearly reflect the genre of music that the artist
belongs to.
• The Digipak must be of very high quality as it is a relatively expensive product (in
comparison to cd’s or mp3’s); and so should be presented as an attractive
luxury/novelty product.
• The Digipak must be ergonomic; it’s design should make the product as easy and
pleasant to use for the audience as possible- this may be achieved through the use
of cut outs, tabs and pockets, and an easy to follow layout.
• Many Digipaks are constructed to present a ‘subliminal message’ to the
audience, particularly a message that is also conveyed by the music itself.
3. Exterior
• The exterior of the Digipak must clearly show the name of the artist and the album, as well as the artist’s recognised
logo if applicable.
• The Digipak should have images of the artist themselves, to make the product instantly recognisable as their work and
to help promote the artist.
• There should be a track list (usually on the back) detailing the names of the songs that are included in the
album, along with numbers showing their order on the CD for ease of use as the audience can then skip straight to the
song that they want to listen to. This is also important as the audience would be attracted to purchase the album
when they see that it features particular songs, and will also give them an idea of how much content they are getting
for their money.
• There must be a barcode to allow the album to be bought, along with the price.
• There should also be ownership acknowledgements to cater for legal requirements; these would include the name and
often logo of the production company, and copyright information.
• The web address of the artist’s website should be included somewhere on the Digipak, to promote further content
and create a larger audience for the site which works as another promotion tool for the artist as well as being a place
from which the audience can purchase further products such as merchandise, tickets or music.
• Some Digipaks include review quotes which give a good reference for the album/artist. This would appeal to an
audience who may not be familiar with the artist but would trust the source. (this is particularly useful if the quote is
from an institution popular with the target audience.)
• Some Digipaks also include a sticker on the front to add extra interest; the sticker usually promotes one of the singles
included on the album if the song has been popular and well known. Alternatively it may advertise ‘extras’ included in
the purchase of the Digipak, or awards that the artist has received for the album.
• Some Digipaks print the date and timespan of the production of the album somewhere on the Digipak. This makes the
Digipak seem like a ‘collectors item’ and gives the audience a degree of personal insight and sense of value for the
album. It also implies that the release of the album should be considered as a sort of ‘historical event’, making it
exciting for the audience.
• There should be advertisements highlighting any exclusive features of the album, such as bonus tracks, videos, and
lyrics.
4. Interior
• The interior should also include further images of the artist, to reinforce their importance and add
interest to the Digipak for their fans. This may include set up, stylised, and often edited photo-
shoot images, as well as more natural performance and backstage shots taken from the artist’s tour.
• The Digipak should contain at least two disks. This may consist of the album split into multiple
parts; this would be used in the case of very long albums containing lots of songs. This may also be
used to separate songs in cases where the artist has produced songs in contrasting styles (such as in
the case of Beyoncé's “I am… Sasha Fierce”). Alternatively there may be just one disk containing the
album alongside other disks containing exclusive or reworked music, DVD’s of the corresponding
music videos, live performance footage or behind the scenes/”making of” documentaries. There
should be a good quantity of content included, to make the audience feel that they are getting their
money’s worth.
• Digipaks usually contain a take out booklet, which allows much more content to be included. The
booklet would contain lyrics to the songs, allowing the audience to learn the words and sing along.
There would also be lots of images of the artist as well as other images that are relevant to the
songs and ideas presented by the album and add an atmospheric effect. Many of the images are
printed in the booklet as a double page spread, which grabs the audience’s attention and allows for
more detail. The booklet may also contain interviews with the artist, biographical
information, quotes, tour details, credits and thanks.
• Details providing ‘extras’ should be included; this may be a link to a free download of a song or
competition information.
