The document analyzes 3 digipak releases for Elvis Presley, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra. It finds that each presents the artist using iconic imagery recalling their peak success to engage fans nostalgically. Design elements like color palette are consistent. Supplemental materials add personal touches to make the artists more relatable. Iconography establishes their musical genres, though genres are secondary to selling the artists' personas. Imagery like sepia tones preserves the artists' legacies, allowing reverent reflection on their history. The primary audience is established fans, with imagery hitting familiar beats while creating a bridge between fans and artists.

1. 3 Digipak Analysis
Sinatra, Presley and Fitzgerald

2. Elvis Presley - Digipak

3. Ella Fitzgerald - Digipak

4. Frank Sinatra - Digipak

5. Key Conventions
Each release has a common theme of presenting their artists in conjunction
with their most classic iconography and features images of them at the
height of their success, recalling nostalgia for the audience, engaging them
emotionally. Sinatra has his suit and trademark smile, Fitzgerald is before
a microphone, bathed in the spotlight and Elvis wears his open-chest
costume and the close-up focuses on his iconic expression.
Design elements such as colour palette are consistent throughout the various
panels and they all adhere to the standard layout of a digipak.
There are also commonalities amongst the supplemental materials such as
the inclusion of writings from or about the artist, to add that personalized
touch that makes them more relatable to their fans. Both the Elvis and
Fitzgerald releases include this element. Certain written touches
emphasize this such as the Sinatra release being titled “The Real… Frank
Sinatra”, making it seem like a more insightful and personal artefact for the
audience, warranting the more deluxe pricing and release format. The
images all have common threads such as costuming, location and the
persona of the artist.

6. Establishing Genre
Once again, iconography is key is establishing genre though,
overall, less emphasis is placed on conveying this since the artists
are already synonymous with the genre and the marketing is
deliberately targeting fans with a degree of knowledge about the
artist. The genre is secondary to the personas being sold.
Certain elements (such as the iconography mentioned previously)
are prominently featured and the use of sepia on the Elvis and
Sinatra releases not only visually connects to the time period of
their heyday but also renders them like statues, figures frozen in
time to preserve their legacy, allowing the viewer to look at them
with reverence and also reflect on their history, making for a very
evocative set of images.

7. Target Audience
The primary audience for these releases is established fans so
the focus is very much on hitting the well- known beats
they expect while also creating more a bridge between
them and their favourite artists. The images are generally in
close-up (though Fitzgerald is shown in a medium shot, it
positions the viewer in the audience, immersing them in
the time and place of the height of her prowess), creating a
sense of identification in combination with the
recognizable icons they have a pre-existing affinity for.

8. Influence Over My Products
The primary take-away from this latest research task is that I need
to personalise my product to connect my imaginary artist to
their equally imaginary existing fan base. I need to balance my
artist’s position as an icon (using classic iconographic elements
and grand staging) with him as a person (being more voyeuristic
and intimate), giving my audience a new perspective with which
to see him. I will directly echo certain images (the close-up of
Elvis, Fitzgerald at the mic, before the crowd) in order to capture
that instantly identifiable, historic moment. The visual language
used should subliminally create those points of reference for my
audience and link my artist to real-life figures in music.