Analysis of My Digipak

For the cover of my digipak I decided to use an image from the music video of the four boys, including the artiste, sat in a line with their backs to the camera. I did this as from looking as other digipaks from Ed Sheeran's albums he doesn't have photos of himself on them too much, compared to the conventional digipak and I felt this photo worked with space on the grass to put the title of the album and the artistes name underneath. I decided the use the same font on the album cover as I did in the music video to keep everything consistent and as I felt it is a nice relaxed, basic font that goes with the sort of style the artiste would usually go for.

For the back of the digipak I used a photo of the artiste from the back for the same reasons as the cover and as it is quite a scenic photo around the artiste it was a good photo to use with space to put all of the song names without covering the artiste as all. I made the song titles the same font as the cover for continuity and I made them the same blue colour used in the music video and on the website as that is the colour this album is going to me linked to since this is something that Ed Sheeran likes to do with each of his albums and the colour stands out against the background so it is all readable.

For the rest of the digipak I just used some photos of the artiste as that is something very conventional for a music artistes digipak and lets the fans see a bit more of the artiste as a bonus to go with the album. I used photos that go with the theme of the album, with a couple of them featuring a guitar as Ed Sheeran is known for playing the guitar in all of his music and at concerts; it is basically his trademark.

Original Digipak Design

Digipak Analysis- One Direction

The cover of the CD is two photos of the band as their image is one of the main things they are known for and their fan base like to see them, this is also the sort of cover that is used for all of their other albums. Their band name is larger than the album name on the cover as they will be recognised more by their name as they are so well-known globally. Also, the name of the album is called 'Four' as it is the bands fourth studio album.

The back of the CD is on the same background as the photo of the bands on the cover and uses the same colours with the text to keep consistency throughout the design. It has all of the songs in the album listed in order and then has the production companies involved with making it across the bottom to give them credit.

The inside is a different design to the outside but still links together with the simple design on the CD being the same as background of the image next to it. Again there is a photo of the band as that is what they do for all merchandise from then, having photos of themselves making them look good and so the audience gets to see a bit more of them as a bonus with the album.

The inside of the book in the digipak is quite unconventional in the fact that it doesn't have the lyrics inside, which many digipaks do have, and instead it just has lots if photos of all of the band members as their image is something they are very well-known from and their fan base like merchandise from them that allows them to see more of the artistes. Then on final pages it has credits which shows everyone involved with the production of each of the songs on the album and then a thank you from the band, making it personal and to give something extra to the audience.

Digipak Analysis- Ed Sheeran

The cover of the CD is very simple, just with a large as the name of the album is 'multiply'. The simple design is what the artiste has for his most recent albums, following a theme so it is something that the artiste is identified by, also as he has the simple on his guitar. It also has the only colours used on the album as green and black as the artiste likes to have a constant theme with his albums, so the one before this one was all orange and now it is green, then the following one was blue, and this is done so the artiste is recognised by those colours at the time using them as one of the main parts of his branding.

The back of the CD has an image of the artiste as that is a convention of most digipaks and the audience would like to see some of the artiste on the album, however it still keeps with the colours and theme of the whole digipak and is still quite a simple design. Then the titles of the songs are along the side in a font that goes with the style of the cover where it is not solidly written and looks more edgy. The fact that this is the only image of the artiste in the album, along with a drawing in the digipak book, it suggests that he wants more of the focus of the album to be on the music instead of him as many music albums you see will be covered in photos of the artiste making them look good and putting a lot of the focus on them over the music.

The inside of the CD has the same colour scheme being followed but now black is the more dominant colour. The image inside is of blood cells which, paired with the darker colours, may be indicating that the artiste has a dark inside, something that could also be suggest by the darker themes of many of his songs, including things such as break ups, drugs and death. The image of the blood cells may also be a link with one of the songs in the album which is called 'bloodstream' and there is the X shaped cell that stands out in the image still linking it to the cover and name of the album. Then the CD is a simple black disk with small green writing around the edge to keep it all simplistic, without too much going on as the whole design of the digipak is very plain to make it more effective.

The inside of the digipak book is very simple again, still following the colour scheme with the black and green. It simply has the lyrics for each song across the pages, with details about who was involved with the making of each song underneath to acknowledge everyone that was a part of the making of it all. Then to keep it interesting on alternating pages, the ones with the green background, there are drawing like images to do with the artiste or of things that somehow relate to some of the songs in the album. Also, on the final page of the book it has a thank you message from the artiste making it more personal and as a way to end it.

Digipak Moodboard

This moodboard shows a few digipaks that have inspired me with mine. They are all from the pop genre which is the same as the artiste I am making my digipak for. I like these ones as they haven't got a lot of writing on and are mainly just photos of the artiste which I think looks appealing and the audience would prefer to have as they are getting to see more of them.

What is a Digipak

A digipak is the paper book you find in the CD case of an album to show more of the artist, have the lyrics of the song or things about the album.

Conventions:

• Lyrics
• Photos of the artiste
• Message from the artiste
• Credits
• Track list
• Barcode
• Copyright information
• Social media

Merchandise

Merchandise is a good way for a music artistes to market and advertise themselves and new music they bring out, whilst also bringing in more revenue. With this in mind, making some merchandise to go with the music video I'm making could be a good idea to get more people finding out about it and listening to the song, along with watching the video. The merchandise could include mugs and tops that the artistes could wear himself and share photos of him with it on social media, making fans want it too so they can be like their favourite music artiste.

Here are a couple of examples of the sort of merchandise that could be sold: