Digipak Research -In order to develop my understanding of the technical features and conventions of digipaks, I have studied examples from a range genres. Here I have looked at two digipaks of constrasting genres closely

Digipak Research -Muse, ‘Black Holes and Revelations’ Digipak

Digipak Research - Outer 3 Panels

- The cover of the digipak features four men sat around a table on the surface of mars with another planet in the background. These men with their toy horses are meant to represent the four horsemen of the apocalypse (tying in with the title, Revelations to be the stories in the bible featuring the four horsemen) . This rather bizarre image allows the audience to identify the genre of the album to be alternative rock. (Alternative rock often being quite ‘out there’ and eccentric). The strange attire worn by the men further the eccentricity of the situation conforming to the genre. - Not only that but the Mese en Scene (in particular the red and blue contrast of the land and sky) creates a visually appealing image to look at which may draw audiences and potential customers in.- Interestingly the cover of the album does not feature the artists, this conforms to the bands insistence that they are more interested in their music than the way they look highlighting them as artists more than showmen. - Conforming to the visual conventions of digipaks, the Muse logo, album title, track list and record label logos are prevalent. - The bold black typeface used within the muse logo will be instantly recognisable to fans, the sans serif font is easier to read and makes the logo stand out from afar. It also reiterates the bands brand image of not being terribly interested in their image, more interested in function over form.

Digipak Research - Inner 3 Panels

- The inside of the digipak features a fairly minimalistic design. - The red font on the patterned black background stands out and is visually appealing. It is also in fitting with the rest of the aesthetic style of the digipak artwork. - The red font in fact seems to be made out of the image on the 3rd panel of the digipak. This furthers the notion of the ‘red planet’ or mars which helps to continue the ‘sci-fi’ or out of this world feel of the album (Black Holes and Revelations). - The planet Mars featured behind the disk space furthers the albums ‘other worldly’ feel whilst the blackness could represent space.

Synergy- The back of the digipak features several record label logo’s and the artists own website. (www.muse.com). This synergy allows the audience to have the information to easily acquire more information and products by the artist and their record label.

Digipak Research - Artist image

The digipak has an important role to play in establishing the artist as a recognisable brand and creating familiarity with its audience. This means that fans who own one album will subconsciously be drawn to an advert for a new album release. All of the MUSE covers feature the same bold logo and never feature the artists themselves on the cover. This decision highlights the bands insistence that they are not in fact concerned with their image rather their music. The covers all feature quite surreal and colourful images that present an almost sci-fi feel to their albums reflecting the electric and synthetic instruments often used in the music. All of the albums have quite provocative or bizarre titles (Uprising for example) which alludes to the intense nature of the artists music.

Digipak Research - Sigur Ros, ‘Valtatri’ Digipak

Digipak Research - Outer 3 Panels

- The cover of the digipak features a boat out at sea with what appears to be stars overlayed on the image.- The sticker on the front of the album provides individuality to the product. This appeals to loyal fans of the artist as the sticker only comes with first editions of the album. Making this a collectible for fans allows the digipak to have a more personal connection with the artist and perhaps adds more value to the product than an internet download. - The use of a ‘written’ font connotes a more personal touch to the album and adds to the image of the artist as not being controlled by the music industry and free to their own creativity. This will be recognisable to the loyal fans that the digipak has been targeted towards because the same font has been used with most of their other albums. - Certainly the text on the back of the cover gives the album a very personal touch due to the message thanking family and friends for their help and even containing mistakes and scribbled out errors on the cover. - A convention of the post rock genre is to not have the artist on the front of the album. Similarly to alternative rock, this is to portray the artists as more concerned with their music than their bands image.

Digipak Research - Inner 3 Panels

- Similarly to the Muse Digipaks, the Sigur Ros digipak has no text on the inside and uses a single image across all three panels. The serene image of the sun breaking through the trees fits well with Sigur Ros’s music style which is often thought of as beautiful, consoling and peaceful. - The ‘crackly’ nature of the image makes it appear to of been taken with an old camera or is perhaps reminiscent of an old vinyl sleeve. Which would appeal to fans who perhaps are looking for more distinct artists away from the mainstream.

Digipak Research - Artist image

The album artwork for Sigur Ros allow the audience to quickly identify genre, brand image and style of music. From the examples below the ‘scrawled’ handwritten text used on many of their album covers make it clear that the artists wish to deliver a unique and personal touch to their music and grant the feel of something that wasn’t mass produced by a ‘corporate machine’. The photos used are always quite distorted or abstracted, a convention of the post rock genre that allows fans to identify the band as outside of the mainstream or fulfilling a niche.

Digipak Research - Artist image and synergy

The album artwork for Sigur Ros allow the audience to quickly identify genre, brand image and style of music. From the examples below the ‘scrawled’ handwritten text used on many of their album covers make it clear that the artists wish to deliver a unique and personal touch to their music and grant the feel of something that wasn’t mass produced by a ‘corporate machine’. The photos used are always quite distorted or abstracted, a convention of the post rock genre that allows fans to identify the band as outside of the mainstream or fulfilling a niche.

Digipak Research - Overall Findings/Decisions

- The track list for the album often appears on the panel in the middle so that it will be presented on the back of the digipak. - From these two examples it can be seen that the artists genre is directly linked to the aesthetic style of the digipak and will feature genre iconography. - Using a 6- panel format will allow for a less condensed/cluttered layout allowing for more focus on the digipaks visuals. - It seems to be of vital importance to adhere to the demands of the record label so the digipak will have to contain their logo’s and branding as a form of synergy.