The document analyzes conventions used in digipack album artwork across several artists. It notes that black and white imagery is heavily used, possibly to convey deeper meaning. Camera shots tend to focus on the artist, taking a narcissistic approach. Female artists are often portrayed as more sexualized than male artists through revealing clothing. A common theme is women having alter egos or dual personalities. Low key lighting and direct eye contact aim to create intimacy between artist and audience. Text color and typography communicate messages about the artist and their music.

1. DIGIPAKS

2. CODESANDCONVENTIONS
• In the main, I found that there was heavy use of black and white across all of the digipacks.
This may be used to connote the soulful meaning of the artist’s music, creating a deeper
preferred reading.
• The black and white imagery also creates the illusion of a raw, honest album that is appealing
to the audience: especially members of the demographic who view the artists as positive role
models.
• The camera shots tend to focus on the artist themselves, a more narcissistic approach to
selling the artist.

3. CODESANDCONVENTIONS
• Other digipacks focus on more ambiguous figures such as Bryson Tiller ‘Trapsoul’ who has a
dark figure to symbolise the lack of focus on him as an individual.
• Costume is very convergent of the genre in terms of working in synergy with the themes that are
conveyed within the music video.
• Female artists e.g. Rihanna are very much reated with voyeurism and as sexualised objects:
their revealing costume and heavy makeup encodes them as archetypal sexualised female
artists.

4. CODESANDCONVENTIONS
• Female artists seem to wear much more revealing clothing whereas men such as Bryson Tiller
are much less sexualised through their more understated, conservative clothing.
• A common theme in the digipacks is women having an alter ego. Beyoncé's ‘I Am’, presents
two different types of women: a sexualised, confident individual and a shy, reserved woman.
• This is very conventional of the genre to have varying stereotypes of women and the digipacks
definitely reflect this sense of female artists having an alter ego and being relatable to a very
wide demographic.
• Low key lighting seems very convergent, creating a sense of verisimilitude as well as anchoring
the theme of being soulful and honest.

5. CODESANDCONVENTIONS
• Direct address is the most common body language: all of the artists, apart from Bryson Tiller
face directly towards the audience. There is an illusion of an intimate medium between the artist
and the audience which is definitely effective in selling them as an artist.
• The typography is a crucial way to communicate a message about the artist and what their
music symbolises.
• Apart from Drake’s, all of the digipacks incorporate either black or white text into their visual
image. This is again very conventional of the genre, as a lot of the digipacks have a monotone
theme.