Digipak

Digipak

Analysis

The front of the Florence and the Machine digipak has a large image of the lead female singer which automatically allows us to identify who she is and what image she has. The album title 'lungs' is positioned over where her lungs would be and the image has been altered so that the lungs can be seen on the outside of her body. This creates image and text cohesion for the album title and already gives us an insight as to what to expect from the album and the themes which may be incorporated in the songs.

Analysis

The Marina & The Diamonds digipak is very interesting because the front cover is simply a picture of the main singer herself. Its a close up shot which highlights her image and the background behind her looks like an old tapestry material. This gives it a vintage look and contrasts well with the modern flawless look of the female. The bright white text of the band stands out well on the front as it contrasts against the darker image across the background. The text also wraps around the shape of her face which creates image and text cohesion so we can recognise that she is Marina the main singer in the band.

Digipak analysis

The outside of the Mumford and Sons cover uses very pastel colours which links in with the beach theme of the digipak. It has a seaside shop look which fits into the genre well as its quite quirky and never been used before on a digipak. On the front cover of the digipak we can see that the band are posing as Mannequins in the window of the shop. This has an in depth message as mannequins are often use to help sell and promote clothes. Therefore the band pretending to be mannequins is a metaphor of them trying to promote themselves and sell their music. It also highlights that they are trying to appeal to all audiences.

Definition

What is a digipak?

A Digipak is a patented style of compact disc or DVD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI Media, a MeadWestvaco, Inc.

The CD on the inside has the look of an old vinyl record which again ties in with the retro look on the front of the Digipak. The retro look is continued with a image on the inside in black and white of the artist again to reinforce that she is the star and tries to sell her image aswell as the music. It once again includes the name of the band and that only in the same font as the text on the front and the back which ties them all together. This links to the old conventions of music with the record look and also how this fits into the theme of indie rock as they are nto trying something new but almost recycling old ideas.

The CD itself has a printed image on it which is of hands crushing together, which connotes pain and hate which could be a secret meaning behind her writing the album. Many pale colours are used as they are of her hands and the sepia tone makes it look vintage which ties in with the quirky indie rock theme. The black and white image of Florence on the inside holding herself ties in with the theme of pain that we recognise on the actual CD and this reflects on the music.

A digipak is the packaging that surrounds a CD or DVD when its sold. Its usually made of strong cadboard or gatefold which can then be placed into a plastic tray to protect the digipak and CD. Digipaks were an alternative to the original jewel case. It is now seen as a type of premium packaging so its often only used on single discs or special edition releases. The idea of digipaks started to be used by numerous record labels in the 2000's.

The back of the digipak is quite plain and includes the stereotypical conventions of a digipak. There is a list of all the tracks that are on the CD and also a barcode and a small section at the bottom for record label information. There is also a window at the top which continues the theme from the front cover of a beach shop and therefore the back shows the back of the shop. This creates almost a 3D effect on the digipak as when you open it up to expect to see the contents.

The inside shows the band all sitting on a window each which again shows another view of the beach hut and again contributes to the 3D look. The pale colours again keep it very simple but quirky at the same time as we can actually see the band in an unusual location.

The CD in the digipak is completely black with the bands name on white which has a very subtle affect. It contrasts well against the rest of the pack as they are all pastel colours and it makes the CD and the music the actual main focus in the pack. This links it back to the genre of Indie rock which is meant to have all focus on the music rather than publicity.

The back of the digipak does have some typical conventions such as the abrcode and also the list of the tracks. This is done using the same font again to make the digipak flow. There is also another image of the artist, very similar to the one on the front cover and again similarly to the front, the text is wrapped around the artists hair in a circle this time. This mixes up the layout so its varied and unusual for people wanting to purchase the CD.

The back of the digipak has again reminded us of the name of the album which is lungs as we see a detailed image of a pair of lungs. Having he image black and white gives it a unusual effect on the image as we can see it in much more detail. The typical conventions with the barcode and the track listing keeps it similar to others but the twist with the images is what sets it apart and allows it to fit well within the genre.