Mock Digipak

This is the general idea of how I want my digipak to look. Obviously there will still be a few tweaks to get a complete finished product however I am confident I am on track to achieving this.

I have shown a version of my digipak both with size guidelines provided by ‘Disk Wizards’, which helped me to get the correct sizing, and also without to give a more accurate idea of its appearance.

I tried to keep the colour scheme and theme consistent so throughout the pack I try to stick to a homemade feel and the colours brown, black and white (with the exception of the main pattern).

For the front cover I further developed one of my practice ideas so that I could build on an already existing idea. What I changed was essentially just the background colour- it was cream and I changed it to a scanned image of brown paper. I think this adds to the creative and artistic look of the piece as well as drawing a parallel to a similar ‘homemade’ look that we are going for in our video. I chose to use the brown paper as a running theme for the rest of my digipak as it shows consistency and professionalism.

For the back cover I used the magnetic lasso tool to cut out parts of my pattern to recreate a section onto the top right corner- this was to make reference to the front but also to add colour and a bit of interest to the sometimes boring looking track list. I also used the same font as on the front cover, which was ‘Orator Std’, as again it kept the theme running throughout and also as I feel it is a simple yet effective font choice which echoes elements of the band. These elements include a ‘vintage’ feel which the bands styling might incorporate due to its alternative nature which therefore links to the old vintage style typewriter like font I chose. I listed eight tracks for my album as I feel this was reminiscent of other indie albums which are quite minimal in terms of length. I chose to have the track list relatively small to keep the back looking clean and simple. I then added a barcode, an obvious convention of all digipaks and also a copyright notice which is reminiscent of actual warnings as I researched into the wording record companies use for this. I chose to add the record company logo ‘Columbia Records’ as this is the record company who produced the debut album for ‘The Vaccines’ who I think are a band we can draw a parallel to.

The left cover is probably the simplest panel of them all as it is literally just a quote on some brown paper. However this utter simplicity I feel works really well as the overall impact is better due to the obvious focal point. The use of a quote was to show where the band could have potentially gained inspiration from. Even though all artists have influences and inspiration I felt it was valuable to actually display this influence and reference a previous artist as it shows respect and gives a bit of background on the bands initial idols. It also broadens the potential target audience by referencing a famous artist from the past which gains automatic recognition and adds interest to people who may not have initially noticed it or have been interested. It helps to establish band image.

The three inside panels are not the same in terms of background and font choice to the front three however the theme still runs through by the use of brown paper and a general homemade feel. I chose to vary the background and font choice as I felt the lined paper added to the overall ‘put together by hand’ illusion but also allowed an effective basis for the lyrics to be displayed. This is why I chose to use an alternative font for these inner panels as it represented handwriting more effectively. ‘Lucinda Handwriting’ was therefore the font choice as it looks like it has been handwritten which is the effect I am going for; it also links to the music video for ‘Plage’ where we incorporate lyrics handwritten onto a lined sheet.

I chose to incorporate some lyrics more for the visually pleasing element rather than to actually be read- although obviously this is a good selling point for using them. I think the text looks like sort of ‘doodles’ which again adds to this general feel I want to get across. I only chose to use the chorus for two songs for use to this purpose as there was only room for this many and likewise as I already said, I wanted them more for the visuals than the actual aid. I chose to include lyrics from these two particular songs as ‘Plage’ is the one we are creating a video for, and also the one the band are to release as their first single, and ‘Young Lions’ as this is the song from which the album title was chosen. I used brown paper to aid the lyrics as hearts reference the love in the lyrics ‘my love is calling’ and stars represent the stars being sung about. They are very literal aids to the words but once again are there for the aesthetic pleasing they produce rather than any other factor. It also allowed the brown paper link to again be included and they look as though they have been cut out once again bringing the homemade idea all together. I chose a brown paper backing for where the CD would be also as this again adds to the overall idea and links the whole thing together.

Overall I am pleased with what I have achieved so far and think the creation of this digipak has been successful. I am not completely finished with it as I feel there is going to be more work to be done before I can be entirely happy with it, but for a draft I am confident it is on its way to achieving this. The main aspects I feel I may have to change are the inside panels, this is because although I believe they look effective there is work that could be done to further their potential. However, this is the first time I have tried the inside panels so my ideas are only initial and further inspiration may come of it.