2. ANALYSIS OF EXISTING DIGIPAKS
Digipacks are a type of CD packaging made out of card stock or other heavy paper/cardboard material. Digipacks
can flip open like a book, or it can have three or more parts usually with images, so that one portion of the
packaging opens to the right and one to the left, with the CD in the center portion.
The part of the digipack that holds the CD is made of plastic like a traditional jewel case. Digipacks were first
created by MeadWestvaco, and their product, called Digi-Pak, is trademarked. However, as the format became
more popular and began to be used by more manufacturers, the generic "digipack" came to be used to describe all
soft CD packaging.
Digipacks pros and cons
They look nice, and many bands and labels like to use them for
aesthetic reasons
They're more expensive than traditional liner notes and jewel
cases
The three section digipack sleeves opens up more design options
because there is more room
Digipacks will rip and eventually the paper begins to peel apart
and separate
Digipacks don't crack like jewel cases do The trays in digipacks break much more often then in jewel
cases. The CD is not as protected since the outer portion of
made of paper, so the teeth that hold the CD in place crack and
fall out easily.
Digipacks can be more environmentally friendly than jewel cases
because they can be made of recycled paper
When the teeth of the tray does break in a digipack, the CD falls
out of the bottom of the digipack, because unlike jewel cases,
there is nothing to hold it in.
Digipacks look great, but if you're just starting out and money is tight, looking for ways to cut your
manufacturing costs is important. Stretching your budget to because you like digipacks aesthetically is not a
good investment.
3. ANALYSIS OF EXISTING DIGIPAKS
CD DigiPacks are especially popular in the music industry for CD albums as well as multiple CD disc sets. CD
Digipaks give a product an expensive professional look and feel – especially when well designed CD artwork is
combined with clever use of specialist print finishing options such as Matt Lamination, Spot UV or Embossing.
4. ANALYSIS OF EXISTING DIGIPAKS
The front of the digipak with have some
aspect of what the artist represents
and what their predominate genre is.
The digipak will most likely embody and
theme and a message about the artist
image.
This links to emphasizing the artist
brand image which increases the
popularity of the artist. The digipak
also exemplifies the artistic and
creative approach the artist is taking
throughout the music. For example if
there’s some futuristic idealism
conveyed in the lyrics or the visuals in
the music video then the front cover
wouldn’t be very contemporary but
more obscure and abstract. All aspects
of the digipak, brand image and music
video are all interwoven together.
Digipaks benefit the artist and their
music as its promotional aspect of the
music industry which helps bring
awareness to the artist thus selling the
artist and encouraging consumers to
buy and listen to their music. You could
argue that buying a digipak establishes
your loyalty to your artist
