1) The document describes the process of designing a digipak using Adobe Photoshop and layers. Background images were imported and arranged, and discs and logos were precisely cut out and placed. 2) Different versions were compared and elements like band logos and tracklists were manipulated and formatted. Text was added in a clear, official font. 3) Attention was paid to text placement and legibility against the images. Elements from other designs were copied over or emulated to achieve a consistent style and branding.

1. Eachofthebackgroundimagesonthedigi-
pakhavebeenscannedinfromphysical
printsusingadigitalscanner.Weselected
theoneswewantedtousewiththehelpof
AdobeBridgeandimportedthemtoPhoto-
shop,croppingthemtofitintheirrespecve
placeswithdroppedopacityontotheprovid
eddigipak“backgroundschemac”.Theabil-
itytoshithephotosaroundeasily,copying
anddelengdifferentversionsofvaried
zoomandcolourshiswasincrediblyeasy
usingthelayersfeatureonPhotoshop.We
producedtwodifferentversionsofthelayout
andcomparedthemsidebysideon-screenin
oordertofinallychoosethisone.
Thetwodiscswerecroppedfromcopiesofotherimageson
thedigipakusingtheellipcalmarqueetool,selecnginverse
ofthelayerandfillingtheselectedspacewithemptycontent
byhingthebackspacekey.Thiskepttheimagethesamesize
asoursourcelayers,andmeantthatwecouldmovetheselec-
onaroundtoincludeourfavouritepartsofeachimage,which
wefeltbestfitontothediscsthemselves.Thedigitaltechnolo-
gygyreallyhelpeduswithallofthiscopyingandmovingaround,
aswecouldeasilyaddordeletedifferentversionsofthediscs
andmatchthemexactlytothesizeoftheirrespecvetrays.It
wouldhavebeenextremelydifficulttocutsuchaccuratecircles
manuallyandtheselayerscouldbesentofftobeprinteddi-
rectlyontodiscsifwewereactuallygoingtoproducethem.
Theholesinthecentresofthesediscswerecoveredwiththe
elipsistool,thenboththelayeroftheimageandtheelipsehad
aholepunchedthroughusingtheelipcalmarqueeanddelete
tools.Thishasgivenusarealiscdiscimage.
Theband’slogowasrearrangedusingtheselect,copy
andpastefunconalies,thenthetwolayerswere
mergedtoformanewgraphicofthetwowordssideby
side.Thisgraphic(andthedisc tles)werefittothe
sidesofthediscusingthewarptoolandmanually
changingthe“arc”preset.Thebandlogosaresimply
warpedtextwetypedinandrasterizedinordertoma-
nipulnipulateitproperly.
Averylowopacitylayercoversthetwomiddlepanels
inordertomakethetextstandoutfromtheback-
ground.Thetracklist’slayerhasbeencroppedsoasto
makethetracksstandoutmorethanthelargerpara-
graph,buttheyweredoneinthesamefashionbydrop-
pingablacksquarebetweenthetextandimage,then
droppingitsopacitytoabout30%
Thesefalserecordlabelsweremadeinaseparate
Photoshopprojectbyusingtheellipsetool,adding
astrokeandsomecontrasngtextontopinrele-
vantcolours.Thesewerethencopiedoverintothe
mainprojectsotheycouldberesizedandplaced
appropriately.Weusedthesamefontsas,canoni-
cally,therearetheband’slabelstheystarted.The
ttextbelowthemisjustmadeusingthetexttool,
butweemulatedtheforma ngofotherlegalwrit-
ingonexisngdigipaksinaclearandofficiallook-
ingfont.Thisisagoodexampleofourtextplace-
mentconsideraons,aswehadtopicktheright
placesontheimagestowritesothatourtext
wouldstandoutandbelegible.Here,forexample,
weusedtheshadowoftheaudience.
Muchlikeonourmagazineadvert,oursty-
ilisedfontwascreatedbyduplicangour
text,slightlyshiingoneversionwiththe
movetoolandrecolouringoneversionof
thetexttoacontrasngcolourwhichmade
theothersetstandoutfromtheback-
ground.
Thesocialmediahandlesherearesimply
importedfromthemagazineadvertwhere
wemadethem,andthebarcodeisa
croppeddownversionofabarcodegenera-
torwefoundonline.Thelayoutofthisback
coverisemulatedfromdigipakswestudied
inourresearch.
Thisimageisthemostheavilyeditedout
ofthosewehaveused.Whilstallwere
tweakedinPhotoshopforopmalcontrast
andsaturaon,weactuallychangedthe
coloursofthisoneusingthevibrancead-
justmenttofeaturemainlyred,whereit
wasgreenbefore.Thisfittheimageinto
ourourcolourschemewhilstsllretainingits
framing,whichwasourfavouritefeature
andthereasonwechosetouseitonthe
frontofbothofourprintproducts.
Thespinesofthedigipakaremadefrom
usingtherectangletoolandaddingtex-
t/logosontop.