Draft Digipak back & front

This is the final creation of the Digipak. My influences for the style of text on the front of the Digipak came from 'The Libertines' and the 'Britpop' Magazine which I felt suited the Digipak because the themes of colours were Black&White with a splash of colour here and there. I tried to make the front cover as simple as I could by using a simple illustration and easy to read text. The album title 'This Must Be Love' Looked really plain and boring just under the main text. So I put it down the side and bordered it with the same style as the 'Britpop' theme. And the rotation added to the presentation making it look styled. I drew the illustration of the man on the front of the cover using illustrator, my influence for this was the illustration of the man on the American Britpop Magazine. My reasons for picking this is that it doesn't single consumers out because of the mainstream 'British' stereotype. I added glasses to the illustration and no face to hide the identity of the 'Little Man Tate' there wasn't really any influence behind this just pure creation. And lastly I added a splash of colour to the T-shirt on the man. To just remind consumers of the Genre so they are not confused about what type of music it is.

The back of the digipak. I used the 'Ska' style checkers to add decoration and style to the back as well as the Mod symbol to reinforce the style of music. I tried to make it as much as I could like a professional album, for example the record labels and the barcode. Also the copyright information to show what you can and can't do with the CD. My choice of text for the tracks is the same as the text on the front of the Digipak so following the same theme, which you should really use when making albums. I still need to finish the rest of the inner album which I will upload when finished.

Music Advertisement Poster

This is my music advertisement poster, created on illustrator and Photoshop. I have tried to make this poster as real as possible by adding the following; A rating from a magazine which shows the consumer how good it's going to be by the rating and in this case a 4 star. I have added the record labels which helped fund and publish the band. A release date is crucial to a advertisement poster because people want to know when they can get it. Following this, you need a place where it will be available in this case 'HMV'. You also need a website where people can digitally interact with this poster and find out more about the band or artist and maybe listen to a short demo track so you can get a feel of what there music is like, thats if you haven't already heard what they are like. Lastly you need a the title of what you are advertising with a subtitle. And some imagery of what it the product will be like, imagery can say a lot about what you are advertising and hit the right target audience. Also people like freebies and this advertisement gives you a poster to put on your wall. My influence of this poster came from my album cover which theoretically is the same just smaller and without the advertisements of 'HMV' 'NME'.

Creating My Digipak

I have been given the chance to design my own digipak, just a standard one CD Digipak along with album artwork and maybe a poster inside. I had the choice of three Brit pop style songs to pick to do the Digipak for and I picked 'This must be love' by Little Man Tate. I picked this song because I could visualize  the Album before I even finished listening to the song.

Listening to the Lyrics really helped because it helped me think of a theme and colours to the Digipak. The song is about a girl to a certain extent, this again is a Brit-pop band therefore the album will need a Brit-pop theme and influence to it. Something that isn't to over the top but just to show the consumer what Genre it is, whilst trying not to make it too pretentious. Typical British themes; Pub, football, Rock n Roll, red, blue, white, lambretta etc. Something will come up in the designing process. I will be creating the album by draft first, i.e hand drawn on paper and then taking it into photoshop and illustrator and re-creating it.

Here is a draft of what i came up with, still unfinished but it's a start...... at the moment it's rather plain and could use some imagery in the background, the cartoon on the front was drawn on illustrator with the pen and brush tool, I think i will fill the background with the three traditionally Brit Pop colours. Blue, white and red. The inside of the album cover, the design of the CD is a mod logo, so artwork on the disk! Pictures will go on the inside of the album artwork cover. But I haven't thought of what to use just yet. 

Digipak

The Digipak, today know as a CD... it consists of a gatefold (book) paperboard or card stock outer binding with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD attached  to the inside. Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies. Digipaks are normally special edition copies of the Album. That are either available for a short period of time (Limited). They are tougher and less fragile not to mention they give more protection to the case. 

On a digipak you normally find an image of the group of artist or maybe just artwork on the front. Along with the name of the band/artist and the album name. The back of the album has the track list, a related image, barcode, record labels involved, charities and information about the album. On the inside of the album depending on whether it is a 6 panel or a 3 panel, you have album artwork on the middle panel, on the far right you have a bonus CD or some form of freebie, the far right you have the main CD and sometimes a design on the CD to make it "Limited". Just like the CD on the left. 

Inside a 6 panel digipak you have some special edition features like a bonus disk, interviews and behind the scenes. Posters normally come inside, along with album artwork and lyrics. If you are lucky enough you get exclusive online content that nobody else can see unless you buy that specific album. 

There are 3 types of Digipaks a standard 1CD pack with the track list on the back and maybe some album artwork inside. Digipack two, a more expensive 2CD album with exclusive content inside. Album artwork inside with lyrics inside. Extra songs on the disk, maybe hidden tracks... A poster or postcard normally comes with this pack. The CDs normally have artwork on them to make them limited edition or just different from the standard album and the 2nd CD has interviews on it with video footage and live tours and performances. Digipak three, a special or limited edition pack of all the greatest hits and tracks, bonus tracks, album artwork, posters. 3 CDs one having all the outside footage of the band/artist. This album is the most expensive of all 3 but you get lots for your money, these packs appeal to the big fans of the artist or bands. 

Artists sometimes re-release special edition albums to either make a come back or earn some more money. This is normally the 'Queen' of all Digipaks. 3 or more CDs inside with more album artwork than you know what to do with! The artwork relates to their life, from begin to present time, there isn't much special about these albums other than some of the songs maybe Digitally remastered for that CD. 

Practice/Random Album Cover

Draft Album cover and record label; These are some designs I made as a rough draft. The covers are completely random and they were designed from generated Images, quotes and articles. The Album cover of the women holding an egg is quite obscure and was hard to relate an album too. I drew around the image in Photoshop with the pen tool to give it a cartoon effect, leaving me to use the real imagery for the back of the cover. The colours I used for the back of the album cover are main colours. They also suit each other well and make you think what the album could be about.... I rotated the bottom two images to give it a reflection effect, like looking into a river or a mirror.

"Gary And The Snails" came from a generated random article from wikipedia which is a bizarre name to call the band but in some sense it's not that bad. I changed the colour of the font because it overlapped the image and the text wouldn't of been visible. The album name "There Is Only Opportunity" Came from a generated quote online which I feel makes the album even more odd that it actually goes well together. Again I changed the the font so that it would be visible.

The Creation Of Our Album Artwork

I researched lots of Britpop and influences towards the Britpop genre, lots of the bands have a close up picture of them in a very obscure places, for example in pubs, down streets and most often, up against walls and railings. Themes inside the frame, hats, glasses, leather jackets and white t-shirts tend to be the popular choice in pictures. In quite a few albums they have the union jack covering them or behind them. (Arctic Monkeys, the kooks, the libertines, oasis, blur etc). We had to go out and take a picture of our band, we picked a stairway because it is quite a meaningless place, like most Britpop bands. We took around seventeen photos of this position but i only picked a solid nine. 

These pictures are all different types of shots, high angle, low angle , mid shot and side shot. We chose to wear Hats, glasses, leather jackets and black and white colours. The pictures could be used in a digipack or on an album cover. They look like any other album cover that is out there.  I selected this close up of all of us sitting on the stairs facing the camera, this looks very professional. i edited the exposure and hue/saturation, this makes it looks film like and black & white giving it an old style effect. I think the fact we are all wearing white T-shirts and hats makes it look britpop style and because i am not wearing glasses it doesn't over dress the picture.