A digipak is A digipak has the size and look of a CD jewel case but it ha a cardboard like outing and has a plastic tray glued to hold the CD. Digipaks are typically a gatefold or a book style folding however they do however come in all shapes and forms depending on the bands individuality, style and image. They usually consist of cardboard outing and plastic inlay in which the DVD and/ or CD are inside. Digipacks are designed for the ‘fans’ which usually contain special singles, interviews, never before seen performances and more, something that the fans would want to ‘have in hand’ especially something that is not on internet sites such as ‘YouTube’. Other aspects are also involved in digipaks that are involved in the digipak market that are designed to influence the consumer for example the ‘blurb’ is designed to explain what the digipak is actually about and what is on it, also booklets with a worded description of the bands experiences and song information and with the added artwork such as photography, posters and singles album artwork will be a must have for fans, as well as limited addition numbers which can seem that the object is rare and will be worth more money in the future. Other influential ways such as opportunities to win competition’s, to meet the band, to win merchandises such as T-shirts, posters and CD’s or even signed merchandise are again tempting for fans. Quotations from record labels or music production’s is a way to promote the digipak, if the has a positive quote by a well known source and is advertised in magazines, TV and internet etc then the product is simply going to do well. the law has a major impact on marketing etc as the law says that nothing can go through without a British broadcast film certification (BBFC) so U, PG, 12A, 15, 18. The last and most important aspect in creating a digipack is realism, does it look realistic? Aspects such as barcodes, the music/ band logos, and making sure there is a link between the digipak and the band.
Key elements include: Text-name of band name of album track listings price bonus material Website’s and blog’s name of record company Songwriters record producer Musicians
musicians thanks where/when recorded Pictorial-picture of band band logo record label logo barcode DVD logo/ CD logo website banner MPTS logo Design-colour and style to fit artists genre
unfolds cardboard sleeve adverts booklet DVD/ CD shape
The. advantages of digipaks include: Audience based High levels of graphic design More than a CD special editions Less likely to damage the CD Sentimental value
Can be collectors items (opportunity to make money) Leaflets promoting band merchandise & other bands Gain more attention from the public and possibly sell faster in the case of More economically friendly e.g.) recycled card used Bonus features which the audience have no access e.g.)videos
‘Black Stone Cherry’ album ‘Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea’
This first example includes the album ‘Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea’ by Black Stone Cherry, I added this to my research because I wanted to investigate different styles of digipak design, this design includes a basic but cartoon look images which relate to the album as a whole. The images all relate to one another all relating to the sea which include rough water and boats also the booklet which also relate to the sea with again images of sea related images has a group photo of the band on the back of the leaflet, I do however find this strange as I would of put this image throughout the booklet as well as the back. The digipak consists of a 6 panel digipak with a cardboard outing with a plastic inlay to protect the CD, it also consists of a leaflet about the songs and on the back of the album it has a list of songs, barcode, record label , year of release and song writers.
Led Zeppelin album ‘Mothership’
My second example includes the album by Led Zeppelin ‘Mothership’ , I included this digipak in my research because I really admire the consistency of the Led Zeppelin logo/ image of the blimp and also the consistency of the colour red. Another reason why I chose this for an example is because the outer layer is completely plastic which is usually cardboard. The inner digipak consists of images of each member of the band as well as a booklet with information, images and lyrics. The layout of the booklet is very neat and well layered with the images all meeting in the middle with the wording on the outside then a boarder for decoration. The back of the digipak again consists of songs, barcode, record label , year of release and song writers.
AC/DC’s album ‘Back in Black’
My third example is from AC/DC’s album ‘Back in Black’ I chose this example because I really like the idea of using lots of images of the band and also the booklet as that also consists of more pictures and also past newspaper/ magazine reports and also in other AC/DC album booklets have written lyrics which I think really adds to the booklet. The digipak itself consists of a 6 panel folding with the CD itself the same as the front cover (with the bands logo) . The album similarly to the Led Zeppelin ‘Mothership’ digipak uses a colour consistency with the colour ‘black’ which relates to the album title ‘Back in Black. The back of the digipak again consists of songs titles, barcode, record label , year of release and song writers.
I have decided to use a 6 panel digipak as I believe it suits the band image as the research which I have done relates to the genre. I have been given a rough copy of my chosen song and with this I can gather ideas for the digipak and other aspects for the project. Looking at the examples of existing digipaks from famous bands I learned how they produced a digipak with the bands image, style and music is achieved: the ‘Black Stone Cherry’ album is very limited and doesn’t really relate to the band themselves but does with the album name ‘Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea’ with the images of boats and sea monsters, I am not looking into creating a digipak like this however I do like the image style on the booklet. The second example is from a Led Zeppelin album ‘Mothership’ it is very iconic with their logo of ‘the blimp’ and the use of the colour ‘red’, the booklet is again using the colour scheme as well as well descripted information about the band and the songs. look, however the actual inlay is black with the image of an animal on both CD’s is unique to the band. My last example of a digipak is from the AC/DC’s album ‘Back in Black’ this album I am very inspired by as it is full of images on the digipak as well as the booklet which contains images, newspaper reports, song information and written lyrics, these additions are a really good example for a good digipak as this is what a fan would want. These images are images of the examples in the previous slides that really inspired me, the first photo is from the Black Stone Cherry album ‘Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea’ with the image of the band on the back of the booklet. The second photo is from the Led Zeppelin album ‘Mothership’ I’m really inspired by the layout of the booklet and the constant use of the colour for example ‘red’. The third photo is from AC/DC album ‘Back in Black’ this is probably the most inspiring album of all this research as I really like the image style of the band and the photos taken of the band live as well as the extra information in the booklet. And lastly the Foo Fighters with ‘In Your Honour’ album I really like the unique CD image and the photo on the front of the booklet.