Final Digipak Design

Above is the final version of my digipak design. This is a birds eye view of it and if I was to print it out and fold it along the lines, the photos would all face the right way and be the right size. Having received audience feedback about the mock up of it, I made quite a lot of changes which I think have been effective and successful. Overall I am pleased with how it looks and believe that it clearly presents all of the necessary information to the viewer in a visually exciting way.

This is the final version of my digipak placed onto the template that I used to size and shape the panels. This presents an idea of dimensions and also shows the basic framework that I used to help me during the process of completing this.

Audience Feedback On Mock Up Digipak Design

Mock Up Digipak Design

This is a mock up of my final digipak design which includes all of my own photographs. I found the bar code and official logos online. I think that it is a simple design, but that that it also relatively effective and informative. To improve it in certain ways, I will obtain audience feedback so that I can make some changes for the better.

Flat Plan Of My Digipak

This is a photograph of the flat plan of my digipak. I have shown where I intend to place text and what different images I hope to use. I will experiment with filters and effects on Photoshop, and hopefully produce something that I am pleased with and that uses my planning successfully. 

 

How The Sales Of CDs Have Changed

Copy Of Existing Digipak

Below is the copy of an existing digipak that I made, based on Rihanna's album 'Loud.' One photo shows the copy that I without the template that I used, and the other shows the template that I used, giving size and dimensions. I used Photoshop to create the copy of an existing digipak, and found photos on Goggle that are used on the real front and back cover as well as inside, and used them to  create my copy. The two panels on the left show the front and back of the CD, as in the original digipak this is a clear plastic CD holder that folds out as part of the digipak. Sizing the photos and cropping them whilst lining up the spines was hard, but overall I am pleased with how this looks and think that this has helped to remind me of and develop the different aspects of Photoshop.

 

How Star Image Is Used

Photography is an important element when using star image in advertising. The image is what first attracts the viewer and it is also the last thing the viewer usually remembers after turning the page. Advertising images may be used on billboards and in magazines, as well as on posters and flyers. They are also effectively used on the front of digipaks, as demonstrated in the examples below.

Some of these appear more straightforward depictions of the artists, while others have more dramatic effects and enhancements incorporated. Looking at these covers of soul music albums, I am able to see that I must include the face of my artist on the front cover of my digipak, in order to conform to the genre expectation. Applying a filter also seems to be a common trait, so when I use Photoshop I will need to experiment with this. As three out of the five covers shown above have very close up photos of the artist's faces, I will consider taking photos from different angles of my artist, which are close up and clearly show her face. 

Difference Between Digipaks And CD Cases

Digipaks

Digipaks typically consist of paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside (sometimes the disc tray can become detached after time). A digipak with a recycled tray made from sugarcane can help to reduce environmental impact, and many printers use recycled or sustainable material for the board stock of a digipak.

The popularity of digipaks among record labels and recording artists grew in the early 2000s. Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums.

A digipak is less resistant to abrasion than jewel CD cases, so tends to show signs of wear relatively quickly.  It is less vulnerable to cracking than a jewel case is, but the disc tray inside the package remains rather brittle and is prone to cracking if the package is crushed.

CD Cases

 The CD jewel case has a tight and firm grip of the CD because of the tray's lock, so that even if the CD jewel case is turned upside-down, left, or right, the CD is held in place. The jewel case is made of plastic, so it is sturdier compared to cardboard, paper, or foams.

 As the CD jewel case is the standard, most-commonly used CD case, it is cheaper to produce and can easily be mass produced. It is designed to carry a booklet, as well as to have panel inserts. These may be used to display album artwork, lyrics, photos, thank-you notes, messages, biography and other such elements.

The type of material that the CD jewel case is made of, allows storage of CDs for decades without ruining the CDs themselves. The CD jewel case also offers orderliness when stacked on a shelf. Since the CD jewel case has existed for decades, there are many CD shelves, racks, and other products in the market that are made for CD jewel cases.

What I need to do and include when designing my own digipak:

1. Create six panels with a clear yet sophisticated design.
2. Make sure that the digipak has relevant pictures to do with my music video.
3. Have at least one photo of my main character presented on my digipak.
4. Display the artists name and the title of the album.
5. Make sure a track list is included as well as a disk holder.
6. The record company, copyright discloser and barcode also need to be included.

Font Tests For My Digipak And Advertisement

Below are ten different types of font styles that I could potentially use on the cover of my digipak, as well as on my poster. From this list of ten, I have chosen to more closely look at styles two, six, eight and nine and decide which one I want to use.

I like the spacing between letters with this style of font, and think that the fact that the name of the artist is capitalised is more effective and makes a better statement than if it was lowercase. I like this style of font because it makes a statement but also has a sense of elegance about it.

This is a nice style of font, but I think that the boldness of the text could potentially be too harsh for the look I want to obtain. Combining this with the little spacing between letters, although I like this font, I am not sure that I want to use it on my final products.

This is a nice style of font and I like how the letters extend in length and are not very wide. I think that it looks good capitalised, but perhaps it is not quite as sophisticated as I want it to look. It may look better with more spacing between the letters, but as I do not like the letter 'R' in this style of font, so I'm not sure that I want to use it.

I like this style of font with the double lines and the shadows that this creates on each letter. However, although it is the same black colour as the other fonts, it appears much paler than the others. For this reason, while I think that it is elegant and sophisticated I find it perhaps too pale for use on my digipak or advertisement.

How Musicians Promote Themselves

It is important for successful marketing and advertising to know how to give your artist and album a look. This look is the first thing people see before they hear the song, and with social media these day it is very easy to see the advert before hearing the song. Making use of social media will help to entice people to listen to the music produced by the artist, and increase audience awareness.