Digipak planning and research

As one of the ancillary tasks we have been asked to produce a digipak for our band's album. A digipak is made of cardboard that is usually printed with art or photos that represent the band in some way. The outside of the digipak is designed so that it can be folded in two halves that are separated by a sort of spine in the middle. The inside could hold a number of different panels (usually only up to eight), it also holds a plastic tray for the CD to fit into. Some of the benefits of using a digipak over a plastic jewel case are:

1. Because it's cardboard it wont snap and fall apart
2. It can be made from recycled cardboard which means issues with sustainability won't be a problem
3. Even the plastic CD holder can be made from cardboard instead of plastic

Some of the disadvantages are:

1. It could rip and fall apart
2. If it gets wet it could become soggy and rip
3. The cardboard would show more signs of wear than a plastic jewel case

However, the disadvantages can be overcome by simply coating the cardboard in a very thin layer of plastic film, which would result in the cardboard becoming waterproof -to some extent.

An example of a blank digipak

I think it would be sensible to only include the front cover, back cover, inside cover and CD holder in my digipak rather than having any extra panels inside as the CD isn't a limited edition album and doesn't contain more than one disk. I have been looking at examples of digipaks from bands in the indie/alternative rock genre and here are some of them:

Boy & Bear - Harlequin Dream

This digipak features a drawing rather than the usual photo you would see on the front cover of an album. The font size used for the band name and album title is quite small when compared to the size of the album but due to the fact the font is in a dark colour it stands out well against the light sky and our eye is immediately drawn to it. A harlequin is a type of clown that could be seen at the circus, this may be why the album art of a fun fair/circus.

James Vincent McMorrow - Early in the Morning

This album cover features a photo containing what many people would deem to be 'drab' colours. However, the photo is quite artsy as it has a narrow depth of field and the edges are quite dark. McMorrow is from a small coastal town in Ireland called Malahide, the photo on the album cover was possibly taken on the beach of the artist's home town so it does have a relevance to the artist's brand image. The font size used is larger to that on the 'Boy & Bear' album and it stands out very well against the light sky as the font is dark and bold.

Daughter - The Wild Youth EP

The photo used on this album relates very well to the name of the album due to the fact that the people photographed are two children and they both have what looks like tigers or wild animals painted on their face, they are the 'wild youth'. The children stand out very well against the dark/plain background, this could be something I may incorporate into my digipak. The font, although fairly small, also stands out quite well because it is white on a black background. 

From my research I can see that similar bands to mine tend to use photographs as a main element on their album covers. The font is usually quite small and either very light, very dark or bold so that it stands out against the other elements on the album cover. When planning my digipak I will certainly consider using a photo and the small text on a dark or light background as I think they're very useful in helping the artist to convey their band's image.

 Digipaks will sometimes feature a 'parental advisory explicit content' sticker (see image below). This sticker or label is attached to content to allow parents to know that the songs on the album contain lyrics featuring:

• strong language 
• references to violence or physical/mental abuse
• lyrics promoting sexualised behaviour
• discriminatory language i.e racist, homophobic or misogynistic
• lyrics glamourising dangerous or criminal behaviour which could encourage others to partake in it

Some digipaks may also contain a logo produced by the band, this is so that fans can see the logo and recognise that that particular album is produced by the band. Some iconic band logos are:

The Rolling Stones band logo

Nirvana logo

The Who logo

These three logos are so iconic because they were featured on the backdrop of the stage each band played on. As each band grew in popularity across the world, so did their logo. People would buy merchandise featuring the logo rather that an album cover. Ultimately a band's logo becomes their brand as most people wouldn't recognise the faces of the band members, but they would almost instantly recognise their logo.