Generic conventions of RnB digipaks

1. GENERIC
CONVENTIONS OF A
DIGIPAK
By Halimat Dada

2. FRONT COVER
This consists of the artist name, album name and the album cover. Stereotypically it is
mostly females in the R&B industry. The artists are usually always confident and sassy
to portray their album or what their album may be like or they what they would like their
album to perceived as.

3. LAYOUT
• The font on most of the albums is centralised, but inconsistent as to whether its is to
one side; left, right, top left/right, bottom right/left or in the middle in front of the
artist.
• It is normally the artists face as a close up, extreme close up and occasionally a
long shot.
• The main image is the artist’s face, presented very bold and confident -
representing the album as a big statement.

4. COLOURS
• In R&B covers the colours depends on the type of album for example if the album is
personal the cover might be a colour the artist likes or if the album is their
pain/struggle it could a dark colour. However if the album is bubbly it will be full of
bright colours. The colours usually represent the mood and themes of the album but
otherwise there are no rigid conventions.

5. FONTS
The fonts on most R&B covers are usually bold and clear and easy for the audience to read and
understand.
The fonts in all these album covers are in capital letters and very bold this is to connote the ‘cool
and confident’ persona of the artist.
The fonts are often bold and thick and placed centrally - they don’t use italics and the size of the
letters could vary.

6. DESIGN
• The R&B genre uses a lot of bling which is like diamonds, glitter this is mainly for
the females of this genre but the males also include this theme of bling however
they mainly are wearing it in necklace form or rings. Also a lot of rap genre is
incorporated, by wearing snapback hats possibly the wrong way, as their clothing is
really definitive of the statement they are trying to portray. There is also a lot of
black singers that are involved in this genre which is shown on the front of all their
albums as the albums involve a lot of facial close ups, Rhythm and blues (R&B)
their songs mainly represent the blues its problems in and with life, so the facial
close ups maybe show the emotion.

7. COSTUME
• The costume for males is usually smart and casual whereas for females it usually a
little bit of skin which will be exposed.
• The males are usually dressed to impress, slick, a hat generally with a shirt and tie
most times.
• For example Rihanna ‘Loud’ is an album which was released in 2010, she portrays
herself sexually and has red lipstick which connotes seduction and on the digipak
there are flowers which also show her feminine side.

8. MALE CHARACTERS
• These men trey Songz and Jason Derulo are half naked which connotes strength
and confidence. Both album covers are mid shots and they booth look directly into
the camera. The mid shot is used to show their muscles and tattoos. Again these
are used to connote a confident, macho representation of males in the genre.

9. STEREOTYPICALLY
• R&B singers are usually black Americans or mixed race.
• Tattoos and jewellery to connote their wealth.

10. THEMES/COLOURS
• This album cover has a clear colour scheme of gold, white and black this could also
be linked the name of the album ‘Who you are’. The colour scheme on the cover
connotes her personality or the feel of the album. The font is very bold just like the
singer.
• All the themes on R&B digipak are mainly at least three different colours that link
together to connote something whether reflecting personality or emotion or a
personal album about their self.
• After I did my research on R&B digipaks I noticed they use a lot of rhyming and bold
colours to connote or dennote something about their album.

11. MAIN IMAGE
• Mariah Carey is someone who is bold and looked up to by so many people. She is
also known for her sex appeal and being very feminine.
• These album covers show Mariah Careys strength and how bold she is, in all of
Mariah Careys albums she is on the cover and is the main image and character, this
is done to promote the artist to the fans on a personal level.
• Mariah Carey uses a range of shots on her albums depending on the album, for
example if the album is personal she uses a close up shot.

12. CONCLUSION
• RnB digipaks tend to include;
• Attractive females, and confident males – presented as attractive and confident
• A range of colours
• Mostly close-ups
• Bold fonts, often centralised
• Minimal M-E-s but where applicable, typical RnB iconography in terms of clothing,
settings and ‘bling’
• Bold, confident themes