2. What does this presentation entail?
In this presentation I am going to analyse 3 different digipaks within different genres. I believe this will allow
me to delve fully into digipaks to gain a greater understanding into the conventions needed and therefore
how I can apply these to my digipak.
I am going to begin with Lana Del Rey’s ‘Born To Die’ . I have chosen this as my first digipak as she fits finely
within the indie music genre, which, although a wide genre, my band Southlakes are included and therefore I
believe that analysing a music video within the indie genre will give me inspiration for my digipak.
The second digipak I am going to analyse is Odd Future’s ‘The OF Tape Vol.2’. Odd Future are famously
known for their controversial rap lyrics. This is a completely different genre compared to Southlakes, but I
have chosen to analyse this digipak as Odd Future have a similar target audience to Southlakes and
therefore I believe it will be beneficial to collate ideas for my digipak.
The final digipak I am going to analyse is The Hotelier’s ‘Home, Like Noplace Is There’. This is because The
Hotelier are an American Emo band with a sound that has similarities with my band Southlakes. Their target
audience is also incredibly similar to the audience of Southlakes with their both audiences having other
mutual likes with other artists. Both Southlakes and The Hotelier have an incredibly beautiful and unique
sound and therefore I believe that analysing their digipak will allow me to appreciate conventions that
consumers within this target audience enjoy. As a result, I will be able to create my digipak with many
previously successful influences behind me.
I will also include a final summary and evaluation of everything I have found out from these three very
different digipaks and how I can create my digipak with ideas taken from each.
3. Lana Del Rey is a female artist within the indie music genre who
burst onto the music scene in January 2012 with her album ‘Born to
Die’. She appeals mainly to young adults and has quickly become
an icon in a similar sense to Lady Gaga. The first component of her
digipak is naturally, the front cover.
The front cover displays a close up shot of Lana, focusing heavily
on her features and clothing. The audience can straight away
identify with the vintage 50’s housewife image in which Lana is
displaying. This ‘Girl-Next-Door’ housewife image is iconic for Lana
and acts as her artist motif, constantly used within her other album
covers and music videos. This image is showed through soft
makeup, with emphasis on certain features, such as her nude
lipstick, pout and wavy hair. This is cleverly used to portray Lana’s
personality, showing her as soft and kind –
stereotypes associated with a 50’s housewife. The soft tones are also used with her outfit choice,
despite being a simple white blouse it again reflects the style of a 50’s housewife and therefore further
instils the image that Lana is trying to portray. This allows the target audience to identify with her
sophisticated and beautiful image, which is apparent in her song sounds and lyrics.
Colour is vital for the overall effect of this album cover. The choice of light blues, whites and pale browns
is used to reflect a youthful vibrant feel. A filter has also been used to emphasise the vibrancy to appeal
to the younger target audience. This permits a relationship between the vintage style of Lana’s songs to
be created with the vintage feel of the visuals
Another common theme is the simplistic nature which is constantly in use with the design of the album
cover. The simple yet bold font used for both ‘Lana Del Rey’ and ‘Born To Die’ allows the audience to
quickly identify with the visual style Lana has created, which she also uses within all her other work. This
aids the audience to easily recognise her other work, increasing interest as the target audience know
what to expect and therefore enjoy the rest of her material.
4. Lana’s image motif takes centre stage within the inside covers of the digipak. In contrast to the front cover,
the close up this time is used to show a serious facial expression. I believed this is used to emphasise
Lana’s attitudes towards her music; she is headstrong and determined. The almost lifelike stare Lana is
giving to the audience creates a virtual, yet false rapport. The defining image stares straight at the
consumer to pass on Lana’s message of her music and entices the consumer to feel as though they have
a personal relationship with her and therefore feel more encouraged to support her as an artist and
ultimately enjoy her music.
To stick closely with the conventions of the front cover, soft colours and tones are used for the inside
pages. However, the background is perhaps more blurred compared to the front cover. This is applied so
the audience put all their attention into the main image of Lana herself. Interestingly, the location of the
inside covers is different to the front cover. In this image a garden fence and a parasol can be seen.
Whereas on the front cover, it is unclear what is in the background, but a possible garden fence can be
visualised. Considerably ,the change in location is used to show Lana as immersing herself into new
experiences and encountering new places, possibly for material within her songs. Yet the fresh colours
and the natural, organic locations manages to support the vibrancy of the front cover to further divulge the
target audience into her overall image.
5. It is also important to consider the CD itself compared to the rest of the digipak. Just by looking at the disk
it is straight away clear that there is distinct differences from the seemingly set in stone themes throughout
the rest of the digipak. The fresh, youthful colours have instead been replaced with sharp maroon roses
against a white background. Although the colours are simple and minimal, they still appear to dramatically
clash which allows for the roses to be more prominent. I believe this has been used to display two themes
to the audience; love and innocence. Red roses have significant connotations of love and relationships
and therefore suggest that throughout Lana’s music, ideals of love and perhaps heartbreak will occur. The
crisp white background appeals to Lana’s innocent side and the simplistic nature to suggest that
throughout her music she is very black and white with her views and that there is no hidden agendas to
her songs. This again supports her modest ‘Girl-Next-Door’ image as it shows that Lana is honest with her
music and what you see is what you get.
Also, on the CD there is no mention of the artist or album name for the simple reason that Lana wants her
audience to be completely focused on the music and the beautiful nature of the lyrics. Anyone who is a
fan of Lana Del Rey will be aware of her deeply rooted but inspiring lyrics. Therefore the lack of writing on
the disk persuades the audience to focus completely on the music and to visualise a story whilst listening
to her music. This evokes emotion amongst the audience which is vital within music as the audience stay
captivated and hence carry on supporting the
artist via listening to their music.
I believe Lana has also chosen this design for the disk as, even
though it suggests themes of love, it is not empowering and therefore
her younger target audience will still feel as though they are able to
relate to her as an artist. This shows that Lana has constantly kept
her audience in mind whilst creating her digipak; she tries to maintain
her artist motif whilst continuously appealing to the audience.
6. Finally, the back cover. The back cover is primarily used for track listing and other features such as the
barcode, record label and copyright information. Most noticeably on this cover is the extreme colour scheme
change. There does not seem to be a gradual change, instead polar opposites. The soft, natural tones that are
visible on the front cover are instead replaced with sharp, clashing colours. It could be argued that the back
cover is predictable if you analyse the disc as it hints at the same colours that have been used on the back
cover; red, white and black. The dominance of the striking text is used to show the seriousness of Lana’s
powerful songs. Yet even though it is clear that the songs are powerful, the use of the red suggests that the
dominant messages within the lyrics will relate to love and/or heartbreak.
It is important to consider the 3 tracks that have been
written in a black font. When the audience look at the
back cover of the digipak they are straight away drawn to
the bottom third of the cover. I believe this is done for a
selling technique as the three songs in black are bonus
tracks which only feature on Lana’s full album. Therefore
if a consumer is in a shop comparing the different choices,
they will consider that this album contains extra songs
and hence believe they are getting more for their money.
Also, the lack of photography and the minimalism of the
barcode and the copyright information allows the
audience to put their complete attention onto the song
titles and ultimately immerse themselves into the songs
and lyrics when they are listening to Lana’s music.
7. The next digipak I am going to analyse is ‘The OF Tape Vol.2’ by Odd
Future. OF are an American hip hop collective made up of numerous
members and sub groups. Although their genre is completely polar to the
band I have chosen, Southlakes, their target audiences have many similar
credentials such as their age range. Therefore I believe by analysing this
digipak, it will allow me to gain a broader understanding into certain
conventions that are currently in place to appeal to a young adult audience.
Firstly, the front cover is incredibly striking. It is important to note that the
sticker on the top includes the visual artist motif. The trademark bright pink
‘OF’ shaped cartoon donuts are used amongst all their products. Fans of
the collective will recognise this trademark logo on all of their album covers
and even their merchandise, such as T-shirts
highlighting the importance of their trademark logo.
The main image on the front cover is a more three-dimensional take on the OF logo. The flat, cartoon logo has
instead been replaced with a striking drawing that looks incredibly lifelike. The playful pink ‘icing’ and the other
childlike colours used for the ‘sprinkles’ are purposely chosen to appeal to the younger audience. Although it
appears as though it is just an image of letter shaped donuts, the letters are of course OF; the title of the artists.
Instead of writing ‘Odd Future’ somewhere on the front cover, they have instead opted to visualise their collective
name as a drawing. Also, the title of the album is almost written in pink watercolour, again appealing to a youthful
nature. It is unlikely that the average middle-aged male or female would go to a music shop and purchase this
album, or even appreciate it on the shelves. This is purely because the front cover is youthful and immature. I
believe this also suggests what the artists themselves are like. For anyone who knows of Odd Future will know
they do not take themselves too seriously, and therefore the artists personalities are channeled into a visual, as
shown on this front cover.
In contrast to the playful image, the parental advisory sticker on the bottom right of the front cover contrasts with
the childlike image that has been given. This warning suggests to the audience that the lyrics will contain adult
themes and allows consumers to see that this album is not for a pre-young adult audience.
and sport socks. OF truly has
become a brand with pop up stores across many countries selling their newest merchandise,
8. The inside covers are noticeably different to the front cover. The immature, childlike colour scheme has been
replaced with bold block colours. However if you look carefully at the ‘sprinkles’ on the front cover, these are the
same colours that have been used for the inside colours; blue, orange and green. I believe this has simply been
done to make a bold statement to the audience and add an element of confusion, immaturity and weirdness. This
again reflects the personalities of OF themselves which suggests that OF want the audience to take them as
individuals into consideration when enjoying their music.
Another huge style change from the front cover to the inside covers is the way in which the front cover is incredibly
neat and just looks like a professional album cover. Whereas the inside covers are opposite. The images for the
inside covers are now facial features, assumed to be one of the OF members. However the previous neat style
has been replaced with a shoddy, almost careless look. The effect is one of a young child in reception cutting out
images and sticking them onto a piece of paper due to the complete lack of neatness. A consumer who listens to
more mature music would probably be incredibly dismissive of these images, regarding them as lackluster and
just generally poorly designed. Yet OF have purposely chosen this style, again to appeal to their target audience
whom stereotypically are immature, messy teens and so the inside covers would be incredibly appealing to them.
This shows that OF are artists who heavily focus on what their specific audience want, rather than worrying about
what their critiques would think.
9. The disc itself is incredibly vital to discuss as it is of course the most
important part of the digipak as it contains the songs themselves.
Unsurprisingly, the CD design is a cartoon donut. This shows that OF have
almost created their own conventions and therefore make sure they include
these conventions as much as they can.
It is clear that OF have decided to use the same colour scheme as the front
cover and so almost make the inside covers seem completely out of place.
However it could also be argued this was purposely done to show the
complex personalities of the members of OF. The CD design is incredibly
childlike and revolutionises the ideals of the front cover. Although the front
cover is highly youthful, the CD design further emphasises this playful
nature.
As we see on the front cover, the OF shaped donut drawing is instead replaced with a cartooned drawing of a
donut to completely cover the disk. What is interesting about the colour choices on both the disk and front cover is
that, despite OF being a completely male populated collective, they have diminished the socially made ideals that
‘pink is for girls’. It is constantly pushed within media platforms and everyday social situations that colours such as
pinks and purples are for girls; blues and greens are for boys. It is seen within films and TV shows that boys are
bullied and branded ‘gay’, using the word as a derogatory term, if they wear the colour pink. Yet OF completely try
and refute these ideals, not only within this digipak but also with their everyday lives as their members are often
pictured wearing bright pink coloured jumpers. Also, a couple of the members within OF are in fact gay and
themes of homosexuality and the prejudices faced are often discussed within their lyrics. Therefore I believe that
OF have purposely chosen these colours for their digipak designs and in particular the CD design purely because
their audience are heavily male based and therefore they are subtlety indoctrinating their audience to realise that
there are no gender scripts when it comes to colours. I believe this is highly effective as the consumer would not
even hesitate in changing their mind on buying this album even though it is splashed with different shades of pink.
And even more interestingly, the consumer would not even notice nor care about the colour choices and would
most likely openly have the album lying on their desk at home for their friends to see, which then knocks the ideals
that pink is for girls completely out of the water.
10. Finally, the back cover. This is interesting for wide variety of reasons. Firstly, it is well known that the back cover of
an album is used for the track listing. However on this digipak, that is not the case. OF have again decided to take
an edgy, unique twist on the norm and not include the track listing anywhere. This is done most likely for
commercial reasons such as the element of surprise for the consumer as they wont know what to expect and
therefore are excited by the album. The consumer may also have to do extra research online to find the track
listing for the album before purchasing it and therefore they may come across personal and/or professional
reviews of the album, hence further persuading them to purchase them. Although this may be an incredibly helpful
tool for OF, it may also hinder them as the consumer may not purchase this album due to not knowing what songs
feature on the album. For example, if they know of one or a few of their songs and purposely want to buy the
album for those songs, they have no way of knowing if those songs feature on this album and so wont buy it due
to the uncertainty.
However, generically on the back cover of digipaks, a barcode and copyright information is featured and this can
be seen on the back cover of this digipak. This may be because this was one of the first major releases by OF and
so their producers, Sony Music want to establish a large credibility for the album. Early critic reviews of the pre-
release of this album were positive and so Sony Music have cleverly made it apparent that this album is signed
under them, hence allowing them to receive a large amount of credit
if it is successful.
11. [CONT]
What I find most striking about the back cover is that the conventions throughout the digipak have been
completely broken in regards to the inside covers featuring un-neat clippings of a black male’s facial
features, most likely one of the main individuals of the collective but it is impossible to tell as there is not
any defining features and instead generic features – eyes, a nose and ears. Yet on the back cover, the
small clipping of a facial feature has instead been replaced with a photo of a white male’s hand. It is clear
that this is a photo, not a clipping as there is a shadow against the white background which would only
be visible if the hand were actually there. Yet OF have again added an element of confusion as, at first
glance it appears as though this is the back of the hand, in contrary when you look closer you can see
that the first three fingers are actually the normal way round and it is not the back of them. The audience
can see this by the knuckles and fingers. I believe all of these unique elements to the digipak show OF
as unique and extremely different to any other artist within their genre, which is also reflected via their
songs.
12. The final digipak I am going to be analysing is The Hotelier’s ‘Home,
Like Noplace Is There’. The Hotelier burst onto the Emo scene with
this, their second, but more successful album. Their sound is very
similar to my artist and likewise the target audience whom enjoy The
Hotelier also have similar likes to other bands that my target audience
enjoy.
Firstly, the front cover is incredibly simple, yet what is interesting is that
it is memorable. Normally for an album cover to be memorable it is
usually shocking in some way to stick in the consumers mind. Yet the
simple homely image complete with a warm filter almost has a hearty,
country music style feel and therefore the audience feel a depth of
emotion and it sticks in their mind.
In many other digipaks it is common to see an incredibly ambiguous image in comparison to the album title,
yet with this digipak the album title and the main image fit beautifully. The title of ‘Home, Like Noplace Is There’
already suggests themes of warmth, love and happiness towards a homely environment. Therefore the generic
American country home, complete with a pastel blue paint job and crisp white shutters really does emphasise
the warm, comforting home atmosphere. Which in turn supports the title of the album as it is suggesting that
home truly is where the heart is and so the audience are given the impression that this house on the main
image is incredibly comforting and a nice environment to be, and the title further suggests that there is
nowhere more comforting to be than there.
Interestingly, the juxtaposition of the title is highly effective. Although at first glance it could be assumed that
the title is written in a graffiti form across this beautiful house, the house itself and the upper floor windows act
as a naturally framing for the title and so it sits perfectly in the space and looks picturesque; as though it
should be on a postcard.
13. [CONT]
Another important factor that contributes to the success of this front cover is the colour choices. The pale
blue and greys of the house is unique to see within buildings, yet against the sharpness of the green
grass looks as though it is the dream home everyone wishes for. The completely clear sky further
suggests that this is an idealistic, calm location which then even more so supports the album title, and
gives another element of warmth to this home. Therefore I believe that the simple image and the warmth
of the colours and filters allow the audience to be given a sea of emotion from this album cover (which
will be furthered when the consumer listens to the songs) and it is incredibly effective.
14. The inside cover of this digipak is completely different to the front cover, yet still sticks to the convention of using a
simple location image. The image used this time however is of a surrounding area, a snowy forest. This
counteracts the front cover as in that image the audience can note the clear ground and the warmth from the sky.
This suggests that if this forest is perhaps the one behind the house, that it is at another time of the year. Or
perhaps the clearness of the sky in the front cover is actually because it has been snowing and that is why the sky
is clear. Which suggests that the snow has settled at the forest behind the house, but in front of the house it has
been cleared to support the homely, clean image.
A similarity between the front and inside cover of this digipak is the theme of freedom. When looking at the front
cover you gain a feeling of freedom and contentment. And this is also apparent when looking at the inside cover.
The open path through the woodland area makes me assume that this is a place to go when an individual, whom
perhaps lives at the house seen in the main image on the front cover, can go to when they need a form of escape
or even just somewhere to go and relax. And therefore this also suggests another calming, warmth emotion for the
consumer.
The disk itself is interesting as the neutral colour again gives the calm feeling for the audience. However, the
writing on the centre is bold and to the point. This is the first time the consumer see’s the artists name, ‘The
Hotelier’ followed by the listing of tracks. This suggests that the back image will also be as simple as the front
cover and the track listing will not be on the back. The copyright information also features here, which again
generically features on the back cover and so the audience can assume that the back cover will be incredibly
simplistic.
15. Finally, the back cover. As predicted immediately it is apparent that
the track listing and copyright information does not feature on this
cover. However interestingly, neither does the barcode and that is a
generic feature that the majority of times will always feature on the
back cover. This suggests that the barcode will be on a sticker that will
be on a cellophane wrap that would cover the digipak when it is first
purchased. I believe the artist has decided to do this because they
want the audience to put their complete attention onto the image itself
and the message they are trying to portray.
It is automatically clear what the back image is; the back of the house
seen on the front cover. The old 60’s style of the house is carried on
to the back, with a generic small balcony and a back porch with a
small white staircase leading down to the garden. These types of
houses, and especially this garden where a very common house
choice amongst countryside areas in 60’s America. In those times, it
was common for the mother to stay at home to care and look after her
children, whilst her husband
worked. The nurturing warmth from a parent’s love is what makes a home so comforting and therefore I
believe this is what this digipak is trying to display. Using a situation such as this makes it incredibly easy for a
large amount of people to relate, and therefore if an individual feels as though they can relate to an
experience, they emotionally connect to it more efficiently. Resulting in the audience for this album to be
completely emotionally submerged into this album. For anyone who knows of The Hotelier will know of their
beautiful, yet emotionally involved songs and so it is unsurprising that they want to create an emotional effect
on the audience through their digipak.
I believe this digipak will persuade me to create a simplistic digipak that evokes a powerful emotion amongst
the consumer to enable my digipak to be memorable.
16. What have I taken from analysing these 3 digipaks?
Firstly, a common theme throughout each of the digipaks was colour. Specifically pastel, youthful and
warm colours. As seen in Lana Del Rey and Odd Future’s albums, pastel pinks and blues were
constantly apparent. Also, within The Hotelier’s digipak, pastel blue featured on the house which
evoked a deep emotion of warmth within the audience. This has lead me to the decision that within
my digipak using warm colours will be highly effective. Also, as my target audience is younger, I will
focus heavily on the youthful tones within these colours and most likely stick to using pastel blues
and possibly a similar filter to the ones seen on Lana’s and The Hotelier’s digipaks.
The next conclusion I have been able to draw from all my analysis’ is that a simple image will be most
effective. In both Lana’s and The Hotelier’s digipaks, locations are used throughout each page of the
digipak and therefore I believe if I focus on using locations as my central images, it will create a
visually beautiful but powerful message for my digipak. I also like the idea of a solid object for my
digipak. This was shown in Odd Future’s by the pink donuts and in The Hotelier’s by the image of the
house. Within Lana’s digipak, her main image was herself due to using her image motif to sell her
album as her and her style are well known. Yet my artists that I am creating a digipak for are not well
known and so I believe it would be beneficial to not include an image of them, instead create a solid
visual from a defining object.
Another factor I have decided to incorporate is that I am going to show the digipak title and artists
name on the front cover of my digipak, but I want to try and incorporate it in the image, rather than
adding it on via Photoshop. I believe that The Hotelier’s album and Odd Future’s both subtlety include
these features and make it a part of the overall image and digipak itself; whereas Lana’s, although
effective, does not blend is as nicely as the other’s do.
In conclusion, I believe these digipak analysis’ have enabled me to collate many ideas for my digipak
and have a clear direction in how I want to create my digipak.
