A2 Media Studies

1. Digipak Analysis
Fahmida Yasmin
Digipak Analysis:

2. Front cover:
Front Cover:
The main focal point of the album cover
is the title. By having the title on an
background with (a brick wall) makes
the title stand out as it is written in a
white font colour. The colour white
usually connotes lights, purity and
innocence. However the way Calvin
Harris has used the colour white
connotes more of an coolness. In
advertising the colour white usually
refers to being ‘cool’. This use of colour
fits in with the genre of EDM as most
EDM music videos and album cover
follow this conventional use of the colour
white.
This image of the artist Calvin Harris is really attention grabbing. As he is the artist behind this album
however he is not looking directly at the camera in an mode of address which stereotypically happens
across all genres and has become a convention. However Calvin Harris chose to subvert this
convention of looking directly at the camera or have an close up. However this is very common with
EDM album cover as most artists use graphical designs. And they avoid having the stereotypical shots
taken that the mainstream album covers would have. Therefore Calvin Harris may not be conforming to
the mainstream conventions, but is certainly conforming to the EDM genre. Also Calvin Harris’s use of
costume really links to his target audience. As the target audience consists of young people they would
relate to his clothing as they would dress casually like him. And relating to any artist is really important
as then the audience would start to engage more with the artists and buy more of his music.
Having the satellite positioned at the top allows
the audience to think more about his album
cover and wonder more into his music. As you
would not typically find satellites on an album
cover. This then reinforces how Calvin Harris
wants to correlate how much his music is
different compared other artists. Many EDM
artist such AVCII tend do this as the genre
EDM is quite different and EDM allows their
artists to be as different as they want. Also the
satellites gives the album a retro feel to it,
which suggest that music might feature some
retro sounds.
Moreover by Calvin Harris wearing white
trainers relates to his audience even more.
As young people would relate to these
trainers as stereotypically young people are
the main consumers of trainers. Therefore
this album cover is more appealing to this
age range rather than an 30 year old for
example. As the young people would more
likely to buy this as this links to their
persona.The use of colours that Calvin Harris has
used are primarily neutral based colours.
Ranging from whites, light blues and brown.
These colours are usually on the neutral
side of the colour spectrum. By Calvin
Harris using these colours allows his album
to stand out as he is subverting from the
EDM genre. As most EDM album covers
tend to be exagrivgant and consist of bright
colours such as; yellows, purples, pinks and
reds. An example of how a EDM artist used
these colors can be seen in the album
cover of Zedd-True Colours, which consists
a lot of bright colours. As Calvin Harris
chose these neutral colors it makes his
album stand out to the audience. As the
other EDM album covers are generally
really bright and to have an album cover
like this would make it already stand out in
the EDM genre. Also as he has used these
colours shows that he wants to relate to the
audience even more as these colours give
an 'chilled' approach which EDM album
covers do not give as they tend to give a
The houses at the background shows that anyone from any geographical location can listen to Calvin Harris's
music. As the houses look predominantly a working class house, even though the main consumers of EDM is
mainly middle class people. Thus, Calvin Harris continuously tries to relate to his audience even the ones that the
album may have not been targeted too. However the more he relates to his audience the more likely he is to sell
records. Also it is clear that Calvin Harris used props and location effectively, as the location of this image is 'normal
street' as the mainstream album covers tend to have locations set in unique locations or have no background as
they tend to have colored backgrounds or an extreme close up of the artists' face. As Calvin Harris chose to subvert
to conventions this makes his album cover more relatable to the young audience he is targeting, as they are more
likely to relate to the colours, location, props and costumes (mise-en-scene) used on this album cover than one with

3. The CD itself tends to be really plain with
limited designs, not like the album cover
as the CD is not the main selling point for
the artist as the CD goes into the
technology in which it would be played
from. Therefore many artists do not edit
anything onto the CD. However
conventionally many artist still have the
title of the album and their name on the
CD to make sure the audience know it is
their music they're playing. As Calvin
Harris did not have much designs or
edited features on his CD, as a group we
would do the same as the CD does not
need to be edited as it is not the front or
the back of the album cover. However we
would try to use a certain unique feature
to show that it is from our group as many
artists do that.
CD:x

4. Album Cover back:
The use of the similar images
from the front to the back of
the album cover allows the
audience to recognize that the
album is from the same artist
just by seeing the back of the
album for example.
Calvin Harris has also listed
the names of the songs that
would feature on his album.
However the text against this
background is unclear and
hard to read as the white
does not show as well as the
white text on the front cover.
In particular the 12th song
blends in with the house
colour. Therefore as a group
we decided to avoid this on
our album cover as if the text
is matching with the
background it becomes
unclear and hard to read
which we would not want for
our target audience as they
should know what songs our
album would feature.
However we would follow the
layout as he listed the songs
which tells the audience what
order the album would play.
However even though this image is
similar to the front cover it is more of
an mid to long shot range which
shows the audience that this is not
the front cover of the album and
reinforces that the back of the album
cover is not as important as the front.
As a group we would want to have a
mid to long shot on the back of the
album to show that it is the back.
However in this image Calvin Harris
is directly looking at the camera in an
mode of address which he did not do
on the front cover. Alternatively
Calvin Harris has done this to subvert
conventions as most artists do not
look directly at the camera in an
mode of address on the back of the
album cover as they tend to do this at
the front of the album. Calvin Harris
really challenges conventions as he
does have unique aspects that many
mainstream artists do not include for
example; Rihanna as her album
covers consists of her being
objectified and sexualised. Calvin
Harris does not do those things on
his album covers as he does not
need to be sexualised as he a man
and men tend to not be sexualised or
objectified within the music industry.
The use of logos and barcode would certainly be included
onto the back of our album cover as it shows the audience
the price of the album and which companies are involved in
the making of our album therefore, we would include these
features as it gives the album more of a professional feel to
it.