A2 Media Studies

1. Digipak Analysis
Genre: Dream pop, Alternative dance, Indie pop
Release Date: 5th October 2012
Ellie Goulding – Halcyon

2. Analysis
The true purpose of a digipak
is to sell and promote an
artist or band’s music.
Furthermore, the digipak
contains a variety of element
such as a tracklist, an album
title, the artist’s name,
artwork/photography, a lyrics
booklet etc. The album is also
created with the intention of
making the CD eye-catching,
to attract an audience, to
promote the artist’s work as
well as star image.

3. Font & Colours
When you look at the digipak, the audience can see
that the artist’s name ‘Ellie Goulding’ and album title
‘Halcyon’ are displayed in a light pink, sans serif font.
The use of pink tones against the dark, contrasting
background allows the artist’s name and album title to
pop out of the page. This draws the audience’s
attention whilst informing them of the album title and
that it is in fact Ellie Goulding.
The colour pink symbolises tenderness as well as
romance. This could imply the charming vibe
throughout the album whilst reflecting a feminine
atmosphere as Ellie Goulding is a female.
The background is presented in dark, grey tones which
is done with the intention of drawing the audience’s
attention towards Ellie Goulding herself.
Furthermore, the use of the dark tones within the front
cover of the digipak suggest elegance as well as
mystery. This interests the audience and draws them
in as the element of mystery encourages them to listen
to the album and discover Ellie Goulding’ new music.

4. Layout
The front cover is portrayed in a simplistic style
alongside minimal text with the intention of
drawing the audience’s attention to Ellie
Goulding and her star image.
The album title and artist's name have been
positioned in the very top and very bottom
portion of the front cover with the intention of
informing the audience as well as drawing their
attention to the titles and thus promoting the
album.
Elie Goulding is presented in a close-up shot in
the centre of the front cover. This draws the
audience’s attention towards herself and
promotes her star image as the audience gazes at
the front panel.
The word ‘Halcyon’ denotes a period of time in
the past which was pleasingly happy and
peaceful. This could suggest that the mood of the
album is calm and pleasant which encourages
the audience to feel positive about her work and
therefore purchase the album.

5. Appearance
Ellie Goulding is wearing dark clothes in
order to avoid distracting the audience
away from her which further promotes
her star image.
She wears minimal make-up, an almost
bare face and radiant complexion which is
aided with her clean eyeliner which could
hint that Ellie Goulding is young and
that this is an early stage within her
career.
Looking at the front panel, the audience
can see Ellie Goulding ‘whipping’ her
hair. This portrays her femininity and
promotes her album whistling aiding the
album with an urban edge.

6. Colours & Layout
The CD is portrayed in a solid black block of
colour. Due to the use of dark colour, this
connects the CD with the album and
enables the audience to associated the front
panel, the CD and the back panel as one.
The small hints of pink throughout the
digipak were used to compliment the front
cover, back cover as well as the CD which
draws the audience’s attention.
The record label logo is placed at the bottom
of the CD in order to avoid distracting the
audience away from the main focus – the
artist’s name and the album title.
However, the copyright information can be
seen lining the edge of the CD with the
intention of adding an edgy feel to the CD in
order to, once again, avoid diverting the
audience’s attention away from the main
focus.

7. Layout
On the back cover, the most
significant element of the digipak is
the tracklist. This is because the
tracklist reflects the mood of the
album whilst informing the audience
as to what they should expect to hear.
Informative text such as copyright
information, website and record label
are situated at the bottom of the back
cover. This has been done
intentionally so that the text informs
the audience but doesn’t distract
them from the main focus point – the
tracklist.

8. Font & Colours
The black and pink theme continues to
the spine and back cover of the digipak,
this enables the audience to interlink
the different panels together as they
would associate the spine and back
panel with the front cover.
Once again, a hint of pink has been
incorporated within the titles of the
tracklist in order to compliment the
overall theme of the digipak.
The theme of the album title and
artist’s name is consistent throughout
the front cover and spine of the digipak.
This connects the spine as well as the
front and back panel together.
The contrast between the back
background (which is black) and the
text (which is pink) draws the
audience’s attention towards the main
focus – the tracklist.