Ancillary text - Digipak explained

Front Cover - Title  

For the cover title I have taken inspiration from various existing album front covers and incorporated the name of the album and the name of the artist. For example as shown in the print screen above the letters of the artists name are shown in black where as the album name is shown in the colour white, however as the album name is 'I'm a Mess' and in the artists name there is a letter 'a' so I have been able to merge the two together. 

Album cover - Image 

For the background image on the album front cover I have taken inspiration from a well known album, '1989' by Taylor Swift, as Taylor Swift uses an image that doesn't show her face because she is that famous and well-known there is no need to show her face as she is  already recognisable just by certain styles. 

Ancillary Text - Digipak



Digipak

This is my final design for my digipak, it includes both the front and back cover, spine and two inside panles and two discs. Throughout my design I have kept a consistent style such as a particular colour scheme, font style and pictures used. I have tried to follow conventions as much as possible from what I have researched.  

 

After having my teacher look at my digipak design, he pointed out a few issues that needed to be addressed and changed. Firstly I had put spines in places that did not actually need spines, so I just deleted them out, and finally on the top right background I had placed the text the wrong way up, so I had to rotate the text round to correct the mistake. Below is the final design with all the mistakes corrected.

Photos for Ancillary Text - Digipak

Photos for Digipak 

For my digipak I had the idea to use roses, similar to Lana Del Reys 'Born to die' album. So therefore I had to take pictures of real roses to edit onto my digipak template. Here are some of the pictures that I have taken; 

As explained above these images are going to be used for my digipak, the images shown are just a few from what I have taken, however they show that I have used different angles and lighting to create a variety for me to choose from when it comes to designing and producing my digipak. 

I also decided to see how my idea would look on a physical CD, here is an image of how I would like my digipak to look like using a blank CD and a rose. 

Obviously there will be no middle on the CD template, but I like the idea that the petals will be placed around the centre of the CD making the illusion as though it is a rose. When it comes to producing my digipak I want to keep the colour scheme simple such as the rose petals staying red but incorporate a black and white theme. The reasoning behind the rose theme is that within my music video the bunch of roses is a symbolic prop used throughout. 

The above images are also original images that I have taken for my digipak, as within my design I want to incorporate a graffiti style because of the genre my artist is associated with. It was initially hard to find useful and inoffensive graffiti to use for digipak, however I managed to come across this graffiti when walking my dog down a pathway leading to a playing field. 

Fonts

For my ancillary texts, actual text will be written on both the digipak and poster therefore I have started to look at different styles of font. A specific site I have used is to look at these fonts is DaFont, here are some example of the fonts that are available from this site to use on my ancillary texts. 

As you can see at the top of the page are headings of the fonts available and a list of all the different styles, this is site is really useful as it doesn't just allow you to explore and try out different fonts it also gives a step by step guide on how to install the specific type of font you want. Below are some examples of the specific fonts I liked from DaFont. 

After selecting a specific font I liked, I can preview the style with my own words, as shown below; 

Album Design - Cohesive Style

Spine: Conventions - Research Existing Products

Spine: Conventions - Research

The final part of the album I am going to research is the spine of the album; even though this is the smallest part visible on the album it is also very important as it distinguishes the album when it is stacked alongside other albums. As I have done in my research for the front and back cover of the album I have found typical features which are used on existing CD spines. Here is a list of the conventions used;

• Name of the record company in recognised font, or logo
• Name of band
• Name of album
• Code linking to the record company

As shown in the pictures below, CD spines are used to organise albums so that it is visible for consumers to recognize them when they are stacked. Usually the design of the spine will follow the same format and style as the front and back covers of the album to show continuity and to continue the established style and image of the artist or band.

From my research I have found that one of the main styles used on CD spines is the simple white background with black text and maybe a hint of colour, this is a clear and easy style for the audience as it is easy to read. By choosing this style the main focus of the design can be on the font as the background is plain and simple therefore making the name of the artist and extra information included stands out more. Another main choice for spines on CDs is similar to what I have mentioned above but instead of white background and black text it is reversed to a black background and white text. The final design used is to add colour as shown on the screen shot to the right, this type of design is usually chosen if there is artwork followed throughout the album, I think using colour is a brave choice as it can sometimes make the album look confusing and make it hard for the audience to read the context on the spine. 

In conclusion I have found that the majority of spines on CDs it needs to be clear and neat, also the artists/band name, album name, record company logo and serial need to be featured on the spine as well. Usually only two to three colours are used max this is to keep it clear and easy for the audience to read. Overall the spine works the best when it shows continuity with the front and back covers of the CD. 

Back Cover: Conventions - Research Existing Products

Back Cover: Conventions - Research Existing Products

After researching front cover designs, I’m moving onto back cover designs of albums as this is usually the next part the customer would initially look at as they automatically flip over from the front cover. Similarly to front covers there are conventions followed on album back covers, here are some examples of the features that are generally found on back covers;

• Name of artist/band at the very top
• Name of album beneath the name of the artist/band
•  Lists of song titles featured on the album, often with numbers displayed next to the track
• Barcode in the bottom right hand corner
• Name of the record company
• Copyright and year
• Art work or images that are related to the front cover and artist/band
• Who owns the copyrighted material
• Who the album has been distributed by

As mentioned in my research for album front covers, these specific conventions can and are being broken in the music industry. Specific artists especially those associated with the indie genre are breaking these rules and conventions as it is a way of them expressing themselves as an artist and testing society.