Digipak Research

Digipak Research 

What is a Digipak? 

A Digipak is a type of disk packaging that music artists use to promote their latest album of E.P. Most Digipaks have a theme or motif usually linking to the genre of the music. A Digipak differs from a normal CD case as it folds out and is able to contain more images.

Hip Hop-  Kanye West "graduation"

Front:

On the front of the Digipak there is an illustration of a teddy bear being blasted out of a cannon.The image could be a symbol of how after full time education you after "Graduation" are forced into the real world, out of a safe security. This appeals to his target audience of teenagers and young adults who can empathize with that struggle. 

The title and artist name are on the front of box a convention so that the audience can regonise the artist or music to make the decestion to purchase it. 

The cartoonist and colorful style that is shown on the front and runs throughout the digipak juxtaposes the genre as rap music is known to quite dark. This is done intentionally as to make the box stand out but also to represent the theme of growing up as the child like illustrations contrasts the music. 

Back

The back of the digipak contains the track-list, a convention of a digipak as it shows the content the buyer is receiving. The image is also the illustration on the front of the pack from the back. Which is a clever feature as not only does it create consistency but when physically holding the digipak and looking at it, it is like you are moving around the image. 

The Inside

The foldout of the digipak shows a narrative of the teddy bear going to his graduation. It is a struggle which could have a signified meaning (Suassure) showing that it is difficult to grow up. However, when considering looking at both the digipak and the "graduation" music video it could represent the how the american schooling system makes people miserable instead of building them leading to alto depression in young people. It is open to multiple interpretations and is therefor, Polysemic (Trowler). This also explains the sad look of the bear in the first side and the worried look in the front and second side. On the first slide there is a delorean and the bear is wearing white air max, both intertexual references to Back To The Future, fitting in with his theme of the inevitability of facing the future. 

Overall, the digipak has a continuous theme running through it as evident through the art style. This accompanied his music video for "graduation" as it is in the same style. The composition if the pack shows a narrative of one particular character as each side is like a page from a story,

Indie Pop- Lana Del Rey - "Born To Die"

Front: 

The text on the front cover is simple and effective as it is in a bold font in all uppercase. It is elegant and sophisticated. Her name is larger then the album name as her star power will attract audiences the most as she is well known and too some an icon. Showing elements of Dyers "Star theory" in that she is constructing her celebrity identify rather then portraying her authentic self.  For example, her real name isn't Lana Del Rey, but Elizabeth Woolridge Grant. However, he music feels authentic and relatable creating what Dyer calls a "Paradox of the Star". 

The main image is a mid-shot in which the artist is central. She is staring at the audience and creates a powerful and stern atmosphere. The mise-en-scene of her costume and setting creates a vintage 60's vibe, which reflects the style that is presented in her music videos. As she replicates similar outfits and the same hair and makeup. 

The blue and white color scheme used on the cover work together to have a signified meaning of a depression and sorrow as everything looks summery and nice but is faded through editing. This relates to the theme of the album as the majority of tracks are sad and mournful.  

 Back:

The back of the digipak contains the songs that the album has on it. The names of these tracks create a semantic field of the 60s and America relating to the vintage theme that the cover and music both have. They are written in the same font as the front making it more fluid and credible, also the colors enable the white text to stand out against the red background. 

However, the bright red contrasts with the timid colors on the front, this could be done intentionally as it gives it an edgy twist. The connotations derived from the color are of blood, danger and passion and therefor represents the darker songs such as "born to die". 

The juxtapostion between the front and the back could symbioses the two sides to the artist as she can be both classy and feminine but also passionate and dangerous. 

The Inside:

The inside of the digipak contains a list of all her songs with their lyrics all in a type writer font, linking to the 60's theme. What is interesting about this is the blood splatter on the pages of it. Again showing her edgy side but also linking to the hint of violence and chaos in the lyrics of some of the songs withing the album. Perhaps appealing to a "Rebel" audience (4C's theory) as it doesn't conform to the romantic nature of her music.

Electronic Dance- Years and Years - Communion 

Front:

The almost optical illusion art of Years and Years album "Communion" has a rainbow Y motif on the front and throughout their promotional material. This is a simplistic yet effective cover as the main image is a piece of modern art that is psychedelic and "trippy" relating to the genre of the fast pace intensity of dance music. The font used is  "Macula" which is simple and stands out against the black background.  There is a lack of images of the band itself on the front and throughout the digipak, perhaps this is because of the relatively small nature of the band as their faces would not generate the same star power as an A-Lister would. 

Back: 

The back of the cover has the same power, showing a consistency in style, all the tracks on the album are listed which gives the buyer the basic information needed to make an informed purchase.  The art is slightly more faded then on the front, perhaps so the focal point is the writing. 

The Inside: 

Much like "Born to Die", the inside of the digipak contains a booklet of lyrics from all the songs. The font is simplistic but also looks handwritten, most likely to show that the band themselves have crafted the music themselves, creating a look of authenticity and credibility. 

Deluxe: 

Alternatively the deluxe addition of the same album has a widely different cover. It is even more psychedelic and is more complicated and even chaotic. So much is happening all at once it would be hard for the audience to focus and to identify it as a CD cover rather than a piece of art. While it is successful in its aesthetics their standard edition is much more effective. However, arguably is could be said that the huge difference is art style could represent the diversity of their music style within the album as the two pieces are so widely different.

The XX - Coexist- Dream Pop

The XX's second album used a minimalist and simplistic, it contains a repeatation of the band logo on each panel. The only difference between the panels is that the colors change from black to white and vise versa. The bold text-less front stands out and is very intriguing due to the lack of information on the front, not even having the name of the CD. The back of the digipak contains the track-list. The XX don't use their Star power to promote the music, as they have very little and instead try to create art that stands out to attract audiences.