The digipak for Arctic Monkeys' album "WhateverPeople Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" prominently features smoking themes. On the front cover, a man stares at the camera with a cigarette in his mouth, emphasizing the cockiness associated with alternative music genres where smoking is commonly depicted. The back cover again shows the man with a cigarette, but his body language appears distressed and exhausted in stark contrast to his smug look on the front. While a narrative seems to be portrayed between the covers, it remains an enigma as the viewer is left wanting to know more about what happened to cause the man's change in demeanor.

1. Digipak Analysis
Arctic Monkeys – WhateverPeople Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
The front cover depicts a man staring directly at
the camera, with a cigarette in his mouth.
Smoking is a theme that this digipak heavily
focuses on. Cigarettes are also a common
representation of the indie/alternative genre, and
they are a commonly used prop throughout the
genre. The man has a smug look on his face which
could emphasise the cockiness associated with the
alternative genre. The colours used throughout
are edited with a blue tint, except for a label in the
primary optical area of the cover. The label stands
out well from the rest of the album cover so it
makes it easily visible to the audience.
The CD itself isfull of cigarettes,whichagainaddstothe smokingtheme of the digipak.Itisanunusual
technique fromthe ArcticMonkeys,asbandstendto go for more traditional CDdesigns.The backcoverof
the digipakfeaturesthe male fromthe albumcoveronce again.He isagain seenwithacigarette inhis
mouth,and the mise enscene isverysimilarbetweenthe frontandbackimages.However,the body
language onthe back cover ismuch different.The manlooksextremelydistressedandalmostexhausted
whichisstark contrast to the smuglookhe gave onthe frontcover.The fontsusedon the back coverare
verysmall whichmakesithard forthe readerto see it,insteadthe focusissolelymeanttobe on the image
of the man.
It looksas if a narrative istryingto be portrayed,howeveritisa narrative enigma,asthe viewerdoesn’t
reallyknowwhatisgoingon andwants to know more.Forexample,the viewerwantstoknowwhythe man
seemsdistressedandwhathashappened.