Digipak Inserts

Here is the Left Insert for the digipak:

Here is the Right Insert (behind the disc) for the digipak:

Digipak Back Cover

Here is the back cover for my digipak:

Digipak Front Cover

Here is the front cover for my digipak:

To create my front cover, I followed my original inspiration of 'Meat Is Murder' by The Smiths, with a few tweaks. I duplicated the photo originally taken for my front cover 4 times, and only showed the quarter where the boy is sat down. Then, I flipped it both horizontally and verticaly so that they all are facing away from each other. I then placed a filter on it called 'Glowing Edges', to give it a more distinctive look.

Slight Changes in Digipak Design

I am going to make an adjustment in my digpak's design - instead of the design being 16 different images (in the style of U2's Achtung Baby), I am going to instead just have 4 copies of the same image. A great example of this design is Meat Is Murder by The Smiths, as shown below.

Digipak - Insert Designs

After doing the front cover for my digipak, I decided to look into the designs for the Insert for my digipak. Here are some of the designs I looked at:

Digipak Front Cover Draft

Drafting for Digipak

I have begun the drafting for my digipak and will upload it in due time.

Digipak Front Cover Idea

After looking through various digipaks (as shown previously), I have begun looking at different ideas for MY digipak.

 

I asked around a few of the students into what I should call my digipak/album, and I decided that, even though I had been given many ideas (most of them sensible), I was not going to have the title of the album on my front or back cover of the digipak. This is a common theme through albums, but you do see it often in alternative albums, mostly older ones.

Duie to this, I have been looking at other album covers outside of the 1990s, mainly ones from the late 1980s, artists such as The Smiths, The Stone Roses and U2 among others, in order to gain inspiration and tritle-less covers.

 

The album cover that has most attracted my attention is Achtung Baby by U2 (1991). The use of 16 different images, only three of those eluding any idea of who the band is, creates a great effect, wherein which the band's identity and the genre of the music are contained within the contrasting imagery. Other things, such as that the title of the album does not appear, and that the colours are quite dark, with bits of white spread across to contrast.

Digipak Ideas - Inspirations

I have looked at many of the album covers by variopus bands that are familiar to the ideas of Britpop and /or from the mid-to-late nineties. I chose various different covers which I would then analyse in order to gain an idea into whay my digipak's front and back cover should look like.

Here are a few of those covers:

(What's The Story) Morning Glory? - Oasis (1995)

His 'n' Hers - Pulp (1994)

Elastica - Elastica (1995)

Wild Wood - Paul Weller (1993)

Stanley Road - Paul Weller (1995)

Digipak Analysis - Urban Hymns by The Verve

While researching digipaks I have seen a very similar theme appearing throughout the various genres. The genre of Alternative Rock, or just Rock in general, is that the band does not usually appear upon their respective cover. Instead, a more common cover is much more abstract, featuring something more political or controversial.

The front cover of Urban Hymns shows the band, with Richard Ashcroft (Second from left) the main focus of the various members. They are all sitting in the middle of a large field or park of sorts (the images were taken at Richmond Park in London), possibly showing the ideas of being free and able to be who you want - the fact that they are sat in very casual, laid-back positions shows that the songs may have a slower, less pacey style to them, similar to the Britpop genre of the time.

The title 'Urban Hymns' seems to give religious connotations, which is followed within the album itself, with songs such as 'Sonnet' and 'Lucky Man' which feature many pieces of religious imagery. The title may also be another way of saying the album is full of 'Anthems of the Current Generation', with songs like 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' a highlight.

The back cover, in comparison, is completely black, with only the setlist and a very small image of the band, stood in a garden. This is a good comparison from the front cover, as it makes the front cover much more eye-catching, though the use of random images of the band on the back are common themes of the various pieces of art on The Verve's various albums and singles.

Digipak Analysis - Viva La Vida by Coldplay

The front cover of Viva la Vida (which means 'Live the Life') mainly consists of a painting known as "Liberty Leading The People" by french artist Eugene Delacroix in 1830. the use of revolutionary imagery such as this cover is prevalent throughout the entire album and the songs within. It also shows that the band is trying to (possibly) purvey an anti-political message to the masses. in contrast, the back cover and the inside of the digipak are much less hectic and much calmer in comparison to the front cover, which compliments well and makes the front cover more eye-catching.



There are a couple of conventions which Coldplay break here - firstly, the band's name does not appear anywhere on the outside covers. This shows that the band does not need to state their name anywhere in order for the album itself to sell copies.

This 'revolutionary' cover also shows of in the genre of music that they perform - Alternative Rock.