Digipack

A promo pack is any promotional material for a song or artist, it can include posters, adverts and CD/DVD cases. In our promo pack we're including a Digipak. A digipak is a card caseing that can hold a CD or DVD and lists the songs and videos included, these are usually the same amount of tracks as an average album and can include both music videos and other related media. Our digipack should be related to the video, using similar imagery and themes so that they follow Ellie's style.

Madonna:

Digipaks are becoming more popular in recent times, however it is still difficult to find many mainstream examples. There was very little choice so I couldnt necessarily analyse ones from the exact genre of 'Folktronica' but I have chosen two which are by well-known artists and therefore popular music. This one, by madonna is very similar to her video for 'Music'(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdz2oW0NMFk). This shows that whoever designed the digipak had a certain image in mind, and made sure they were all linked and had a strong association with the artist. This pack is very colourful and would be effective at standing out in a store. The text on the back is quite small but very clear as it is white on a darker background. There isnt really any track/video listings so i dont think it would be the best one to base my design ideas on, but i do like the way it keeps it's identity.


The White Stripes:

The White Stripes have created a Digipak using only red, white and black which is the same conventions set by many of their other products. For example, when you type in "white stripes" on google images (below), you get results that predominantly feature these colours; making it clear that this is part of the band identity.

The white writing on the black background means that the text is clear and easy to read, while the main heading on the front is the focus, making the image the second thing you look at. I think the repetition of the image rotated from the front on the back cover looks really effective and helps the imagery flow from cover to cover.


We're required to create not only the front and back covers for our Digipaks but also the inside, this presents a slight problem where research is concerned as it seems pretty much impossible to find these kind of images (particuarly as I don't own any digipaks myself). This requires me to be slightly more creative as I have to think about what I would expect to find on the inside.

In order for my digipak to fit with the 'identity' we've created with our video, we need to use the same locations and styling as planned in our story boards. These flat plans mean i know which pictures to take (and use) for the final one.

This one copies the same image for both the front and the inside, I've done this because I would like to emphasise her as the central part of this pack.

This one looks a bit too busy for the front part and then too empty on the inside, so i would have to maybe spread some features out a bit and move to the inside if it was to be produced.

I put together the bits of my flat plans that i wanted to be my final plan in order to give myself a better idea of what i'm doing:

I think the idea of using the same images for both the front and behind the disc helps to repeat her 'brand image' which highlights her identity.

Main image I'm using on my Digipak

I decided to change the background on the front to a shot of the clouds because that way it emphasises the 'dreamy' aspect of her music. I copyed the sky onto the back to give an easy base for the track listing.

The inside cover is a repition of the front image and the track listing is also reflected in a different colour. I made the images on the inside seem more 'washed out' because it doesnt need to stand out to attract attention, and once again emphasises the 'dreamy' style we're looking to create in our music video.

Evaluation and Feedback...

I think my final edited digipack is succesful in the repetition of the main image and I am happy with the outcome of the front and back, while I think the inside could look a little more profesional. I made a photo album on facebook with my advert and digpak images on to collect feedback from my target audience, I tagged people in the pictures to get their attention and explained what it was all about.

The general feedback from the outside cover is that the sky background accross both the front and back is effective, although it was mentioned that its clear that there is two seperate images of clouds, which I was aware of but I couldnt get another image of clouds that was large enough to spread accross because of the time of year and lack of blue sky. Someone also mentioned that there are too many colours for the text, which to be honest i hadnt thought about until it was brought up. I think its a valid point and maybe it is a bit to many when the image is view in flat plan form, however i think if it was folded as it would be, then that wouldnt be as noticeable.

My feedback shows that the bottom song on the inside is unreadable because of the text colour against the background image; but as this is the inside of the pack it doesnt need to be entirely legible as the information is already on the front.