Planning Digipak - Miss Georgiou

Planning Digipak

A digipak is different from a CD Jewel case in many ways with its main aim to be to promote the artist in further ways. The digipak does this by having a more personal approach and targeting their language and image directly towards the audience to make it more significant to them. This helps to promote the artist as if the audience feel closer to the artist then they are more likely to be able to relate to them and enjoy their music as they have a sense of the artists personality. 

For the design of my digipak I took inspiration from many different places. Mainly from looking at digipaks from other indie artists similar to my chosen artist. I looked and analysed Gabrielle Aplin's digipak as she is an indie artist and she gave impressions of isolation and independence which is some of the traits that I took inspiration from to include in my own digipak for example using the field location. 

I will be creating my own digipak for my chosen artist and chosen song within the indie genre. It is imperative that I plan how I want my digipak to look before hand so I can research and gather ideas on conventional aspects of the indie genre and include these in my digipak to make my audience immediately aware that my digipak is from this genre.

The colours that I have decided to use in my digipak are mainly pastel colours which is yet another inspiration that I took from Gabrielle Aplin's digipak. The use of pastel colours has different connotations for each colour and give a different sense or quality. For example, I used the colour pink for my background and also my wings which will be presented on the Cd element of my digipak. I decided to use the colour pink as it portrays traits such as sensitivity, tenderness, love and sympathy. These are all qualities which I want my artists to be represented with so it makes it easier for my target audience to relate and feel comfortable with the artist. Another colour that I used in my digipak was the colour purple. Although the colour isn't necessarily a shade which could be considered as a pastel colour, I have used the colour purple as it connotes feelings such as mystery, creativity and sometimes sadness. These are all trades that I want my artist to have when she is going through difficult times in her relationship as it will make the audience more likely to emphasis with her and make her more relatable as the target audience could have gone through a similar situation within their own relationships. Finally I have used the colour blue as the colour for my artists name on the front cover of the digipak. The colour blue is a pastel colour which represents the artist as vulnerable yet friendly and humble but it also has connotations of feelings such as trust, faithfulness, stability and power. These are all qualities that I want my artist to be represented with to show that she can get through the situation and be true to herself. This will inspire the audience to think like the artist and maybe this will help for them to be able to relate to her and understand how she may be feeling.

Some of the conventions of the indie genre have been incorporated within my own design of my digipak. The first convention I have used is the use of an isolated setting to represent my artist as vulnerable and unstable as they are usually singing about their problems which eventually get better by the end of the song. The setting I have used is a field which is extremely open and sparse which could represent the theme of isolation. This location could also represent independence and show the audience that the artist is strong enough to get through the situation on her own. This is conventional to the indie genre as indie artists usually write and sing songs about their own issues and this is an attribute to help them build a relationship with their audience as they are hoping they may have experienced a similar situation or feeling. 

Another convention of the indie genre that I have followed in my digipak is the use of close up shots. These are conventional to the indie genre as these types of shots are used to portray the emotion and feelings of the artist to the audience as the main way to helping them understand the narrative and how the artist must be feeling. I have used these shots within my digipak to give an immediate insight to what the album may include and the certain atmosphere of the songs that are on the album. This may persuade an audience to buy the album as they can understand the material may be negative and they could perhaps relate and understand this deeper as they are experiencing a similar thing in their own lives.

The images I have chosen to use within my digipak are mainly close up shots with the use of one long shot. I have decided to use a close up shot for one of my images and also my front cover album picture. The long shot I have used is used for a second image within the digipak. Both of my close up shots show the artist and her facial expressions which is conventional to the indie genre as it allows the audience to recognise how the artist is feeling. One of the shots shows my artist looking happy as she lays in the grass. This is representing her as at one with nature and wildlife which is also conventional to the indie genre. This is because the settings that are used are mainly low budget and easily accessible to the target audience to give a sense of realism. The other close up shot presents the artist with no emotions as she look into the camera. This is because I want the artist to be represented through the use of setting and clothing on the front cover to help the audience to recognise it is from the indie genre and to give it a conventional and professional look. However my long shot shows my artist from behind as she sits in the field and watches the sunset. This is representing her as independent yet also a sense of isolation due to her being in this large location on her own. However it also represents her as being comfortable with wildlife and being alone with her self which could portray to the audience that she is a humble and open person which could help them to relate to her and build a relationship with her as they may share similar qualities.

The layout and design of my digipak is quite simply yet effective. I have decided to have all my images of the artist to have the focus remained on her at all times. This is conventional to the indie genre as because most of the elements in this genre are low budget the main focus is on the artists and their talent which also gives off a sense of realism. Therefore by having the layout of images all of the artist this is letting the audience remain focus on her at all times. I have also incorporated a track list and a personal message to fans. For my track list I have kept the layout central and listed each song one by one below each other. I have done this because I want it to be easy to read for the audience and clear for them to look what songs are on the album and to then look into the material further. I have incorporated a fans message in my digipak as it gives a more personal feel to the album and makes the audience feel as though the artist is speaking to them directly and making them feel special. This gives a sense of realism as the audience understand that the artist has taken the time to write a message to the fans and this may make them feel a sense of loyalty to the artist as the artist appreciates their fan base and them listening to their material. I have also kept this quite simply by just having the message displayed in the central of the page. I have kept the colours for the track list and the fans message both within the boundaries of pink and purple to give them a professional look as they match and colour coordinate with the rest of the digipak.

The typography used within the digipak is limited. This is due to including only the most important pieces of information within the album cover such as the artists name and the name of the album. I wanted to keep this clean and professional by not cluttering the cover with information and making it confusing and hard to read for the audience. By having only the artsists name and the name of the album it gives just the correct amount of information for the audience to look deeper into the artist and their material if they wanted to which is further promoting the artist. Other pieces of typography that I have used in the digipak is the track list and fan message which is conventional to the indie genre as it gives a sense of realism and naturalism as it makes the artist seem like an ordinary person which could make them seem more relatable to the target audience.

The language I have used within my digipak is mainly short and simple to help it catch the audiences attention and make it conventional to the indie genre which is usually straight to the point as it is about realistic issues and problems that the artist may be going through. The language I have used consists of the name of the album which is "illuminate". We came up with the name "illuminate" as it suggests that the album is bright and positive which is the final outcome of the narrative in our music video. The name of the album also corresponds with the lyrics in our song with say " sunlight comes creeping in, illuminates our skin". We also believed that the relation to wings and our song would also correspond well with each other as it would give the audience a theme to catch onto and be intrigued into learning more about. The name "illuminate" also gives a positive vibe to the audience making them more likely to want to listen to their artist and their material.

I found this planning useful in relation to taking my pictures for Photoshop as it gave me a visualisation of what I wanted my digipak to look like and how I was going to give it a conventional yet professional look that would attract my target audience. I found out that I wanted to use pastel colours and isolated settings within my digipak as I believe it gave off connotations of the indie genre as it gave true representations of her my artist would be behaving in my music video. I feel as though through this planning I am more aware of the pictures I need to take to make my music video have an immediate look that it is from the indie genre and how to attract my target audience into what they may want to see in the music video and on the images in the digipak. This planning has allowed me to research what pictures would suit my album and artist best and also the narrative that I will be presenting in my music video of broken relationships and heartbreaks which is also a common issue for mature teens from my target audience.