The document analyzes and summarizes key elements of digipak album covers from three indie artists - Gabrielle Aplin, Imagine Dragons, and Lana Del Rey. Some elements that the author notes as effective include contrasting fonts that make the albums stand out, continuity of design elements across the front and back covers, inclusion of the artist's website, and bold positioning of song titles that catches the viewer's attention. The author indicates they will consider incorporating inspirations from these digipaks, such as continued colors, layouts, and inclusion of legal/website information, into their own designed digipak.

1. DIGIPAK
ANALYSIS

2. GABRIELLE
APLIN

3. EXAMPLE DIGIPAK
COVERS BY
GABRIELLE APLIN

4. Gabrielle Aplin- English Rain
In my research, I chose to look at the artist Gabrielle Aplin as she is a solo indie
artist that we are partly basing our own artist on and out of all of her album
covers, this one appealed to me the most. Gabrielle follows the typical format
of an digipak having the artist name in clear capitals with the album name
underneath. However, the contrast of the two fonts stood out to me as it’s this
difference that makes the album stand out and look different which tells me
this a convention that draws the audience in so I will consider adopting this
style when I make my own digipak.The colours of the cover is very dark
featuring a nature scene but with a statement umbrella catches the attention
of the viewer.This umbrella pattern is again shown on the CD which I like as it
presents continuality whilst clearly fitting the indie genre as this is a fairly
original design element so will stand out to her target audience. Gabrielle both
conforms and goes against the stereotypical design technique of an indie artist
ensuring she will stand out whilst making money from it.This is done again
following the typical layout of an digipak having the simplistic style of the
songs in the middle of the cover on the back of the digipak. I also like how the
front and back of the cover are linked as well as having the umbrella pattern as
I feel it’s a nice touch to the digipak and as the front and back cover are fairly
monotone apart from the umbrella, the colours from the umbrella add
character and make the digipak look more eye catching.
COLOUR
PALETTE
DIGIPAK ANALYSIS

5. On the back of the digipak, underneath the song names Gabrielle’s website
(gabrielleaplin.co.uk) is shown along with the legal and rights reserved
information. This information is traditionally always includes on a digipak as
the rights reserved information allows the artist to have control over how
their material is used and the website promotes the artist and may include
tour details for the digipak furthermore earning the artist more money.
Gabrielle’s website promotes her social media platforms encouraging her
target audience to buy her tour tickets and so on.The font for the songs
work’s well and appears to be in the same font as the album name again
presenting the continuality across the digipak and it works with the style of
the digipak.The darker colours are also continued on the back presenting the
same scene and contrasting the black writing against the grey background
meaning it will be easy to read by the audience. Overall, the digipak works
well and I can clearly see how it fits with the genre resulting in it standing out
to the target audience meaning I will consider certain elements used and
whether to include them in my own digipak.
DIGIPAK ANALYSIS

6. IMAGINE
DRAGONS

7. EXAMPLE DIGIPAK
COVERS BY IMAGINE
DRAGONS

8. Imagine Dragons- Evolve
In my research, although I am using a solo artist with two
singers I decided to look at a band from the indie genre to
see the comparison.This particular digipak stood out to me
as it was an original layout that caught my attention. I like
how the colours also are continually shown across the
digipak which tells me that as these indie artists are adopting
this style to catch the attention of their target audience, I
should do the same. I am considering using my artists
makeup as inspiration for my continued colour (such as the
lip colour) as well as possibly using a stained glass window
pattern which clearly links to the featured song of the album
other the Headlights which will beTake MeTo Church.
Although I like the bold font used in the Digipak, I am not
considering changing the format of the letters which Imagine
Dragons have done (such as making the letters back to
front). Overall, I really like the simplistic approach of the
digipak and the positioning of the text in the middle on the
bottom.
DIGIPAK ANALYSIS

9. On the back of the digipak, the songs are displayed in a bold
white font and the placement of the songs really catches my
attention so I have heavily considering adopting this
approach in the creation of my own digipak. Similarly to
GabrielleAplin, Imagine Dragons also include their website
suggesting to me that this is a style many artists use as it
gives them more publicity so I am considering also using this
element. I like the logo for the record company featured
which is Interscope Records who work with a variety of indie
artists so I think I will use this company on my own digipak
and advert. I feel the layout is effective on the back of this
digipak as it captures the audiences’ attention however I do
feel having all the information in line with the songs may look
more effective. Overall I can clearly see how the digipak fits
with the indie genre and I will consider using elements from
this in the creation of my own digipak.
Imagine Dragons- Evolve
DIGIPAK ANALYSIS

10. LANA DEL REY

11. EXAMPLE DIGIPAK
COVERS BY LANA DEL REY

12. LANA DEL REY- ULTRAVIOLENCE
I chose to look at another solo indie artist and I picked
Lana Del Rey as I love the style of her digipaks. I also feel
her style would be similar to our own artist. She has taken
a black and white approach on the front and back of her
digipak but she has contrasted this with her CD featuring
flower petals. On the front of the digipak, I like the
positioning of the artist with the text across the bottom
which clearly catches the audiences attention which is a
technique I may use for my own digipak.The font is
written in white which I feel works well and contrasts
against the background and as it's bold, it’s easily
readable for the audience.The title includes ‘violence’
which contrasts with the flower petals which I feel is an
aspect that will work with her genre and stand out to her
target audience.The CD stands our and makes this
digipak unique which again works well with the indie
genre.
DIGIPAK ANALYSIS

13. On the back of the digipak, the songs are written in the
same bold white font presenting continuality across
this digipak which is something I believe I will also do.
The artist is positioned on the right of the text with no
text covering her face meaning the audiences’ eyes are
drawn to her.The barcode is in the top right corner
whereas the legal information is in the bottom left and
this layout works well as our attention is drawn to
every part of the digipak.Overall, I like the contrast
element of this digipak and the layout of it and using
this I will create my own digipak taking inspiration
from each of my analyzed digipaks.
LANA DEL REY- ULTRAVIOLENCE
DIGIPAK ANALYSIS