This digipak for The Killers' album "Sam's Town" uses a greyscale color scheme and features images of a ram throughout. The front cover shows a ram and a half-naked woman, setting a retro, western style. The back cover depicts the band in black and white against the same tired background. The inside front and back covers both show close-up photographs of a ram surrounded by desert landscape, implying a connection to nature. The ram's horns curl around the CD itself, blending nature and design. These ram images and western visual cues provide symbolic background and context about the album's themes.

1. Digipak analysis 2
The Killers – Sam’s town
Indie genre
Zoe Farrell

2. Front cover Back cover
Inside back
Inside front
CD cover
All the different covers

3. This digipak is all done in greyscale, singling out the album’s name on the front
cover. The album is very abstractly created, with the oddness of a Ram being the
focus point on the inside back cover. The greyscale throughout creates that typical
indie appearance, contrasting with the different manipulating shots they’ve added.
The front cover appears to be almost retro style, with a Ram lying down on one
side and a half naked female on the other, perhaps suggesting background
information about the album. This is a skill that attracts a wide range of audiences,
particularly adult men due to the female. The font of the bands name ‘The Killers’
is written in bold, flashy text, which juxtaposes with the text underneath, the name
of the album ‘Sam’s Town’, which is written in fancy italics. The background
behind the figures appears to be a tired wall, with a blackened out window. This
creates an old, western feel as it could be suggested they’re in the middle of
nowhere. The font of the bands name contrasts with this ‘dated’ feel, as it’s more
modern and alive.
Analysis

4. The typical indie conventions shine through within the back cover, due to the fact
there is a large image of the band printed on it. They are standing in front of the
same background as the front cover, and the majority of the group are looking
towards the camera to produce direct address. Their style of clothing also reflects
the indie genre, as the band are dressed smart casual, using the colors black and
white. Although the picture is saturated, it shows the band as being retro and old,
however they are a modern indie band. The song list on the back cover is
simplistic, in small font and they’re numbered so the audience can see what
number is each track. The writing is in white, which contrasts with the bands dark
coloured clothing, making it stand out. Like ‘The Kooks’ album, there is a
copyright notice on the right hand side, which sends a message out the audience
that they are a serious band, and it’s notifying them. A website is clearly marked
above the notice too, which provides the audience with extra information about the
band and their signed music. The photo that’s used, is to represent star image and
to put on show their own image.
Back cover analysis

5. This cover is very abstract, as the background appears to be a desert, with
half a van/mobile home in view. This could cause confusion for the audience
looking at the album, however it could be providing background information
about the album and the initial idea behind it. The desert reflects the western
appearance, as well as the deserted van that seems to be in the middle of no-
where. In the middle of the photographic image, there is a photo that is
framed of an unknown figure. This could be used to represent ownership of
the van and perhaps remembrance of someone ‘important’, which is also
suggesting background story to the album, making the audience want to find
out more about the photograph.
Inside front analysis

6. Again, this part of the album is also simple as it’s a photograph of a Ram and
nothing else. However, it links to each section of the album due to the western
style scenery, as it’s in a desert. This close-up of the animal represents nature
and could give off the thought of the album being related to wildness and
perhaps even beauty. The photo is extremely good quality too, as every detail
of the ram is available, however only the face of the animal is shown. This
could suggest that the most detail is seen on the facial area, and could also
juxtapose with the fact it’s surrounded by a desert but the close-up makes it
seem like the Ram isn’t alone. The image fits perfectly within the inside
cover, which shows structure and conformity of a digipak. The animal is used
on 3 parts of the album cover, which signifies importance of it and that
perhaps it is included in the background story of ‘Sam’s Town’. The
naturalistic feel the Ram gives is important, as the audience might not know
how it can relate to the album but they may be interested in the music to find
Inside back cover
out.
analysis

7. The CD cover includes an image of the Ram again, suggesting that the band
wants to show the importance of this animal through the use of photographs
rather than through their music. An extremely successful technique The Killers
have used is the Rams horns, curling round the inside part of the disc. This
shows interesting patterning as swirls round, creating that mixture between
nature and beauty. The animal appears to be elegant, as if it’s looking into the
distance as it’s heard a noise. This could be seen to create a humanistic
representation as the elegancy is shown through the craning of it’s neck and it’s
enhanced, tidy features. This could link back to the front cover, as if it’s
comparing the beauty and elegance of a Ram to the female that is standing at a
distance from it.
The CD cover analysis