media

1. How has your digipak used,
developed or challenged
conventions.
BY MARC CROWN

2. The Front and back cover

3. Layout and design of the digipack
The font cover shows the members of the band through individual images. I
have chosen this as the front cover I believe that it is crucial that the audience
starts to recognise the members of the band, despite them being an organic
band. This will help them to develop a fast relationship between the audience
and the band which should help the band grow in popularity at a faster rate.
Having their image on the front cover and seeing their faces on my other
products such as the website, may help them to build and develop a
relationship first with the consumer before they start selling their music. This
will help them become recognisable in the niche market and gain market
share.

4. Positioning of the artist in the frame
Having a four piece on the front cover, and the instruments, clearly signifies that the
band are organic and authentic and play their own songs. For the front cover, I gained
inspiration from 'The Strokes' with separate images of the band members but lining
them up with each other and I changed it to have the name of the artist on the top and
the album name on the bottom. Just like the album ‘The Strokes’ where I gained
inspiration from, the band are placed in the centre of the frame. This helps the
audience to spot the artists easier and makes them stand out on the shelves.
It is extremely important that the front cover represents the post hardcore genre and I
believe I have matched the conventions to do this.

5. Font and colours
I have used the ‘Graffiti' font in size '36' on purpose to catch the eye of the target
audience and it fits in with the image of the band and is recognisable when being
compared to my other products. It is typical of a post hardcore album cover to have
large capital lettered fonts that are bold and dark coloured. I used the colour white,
because it stands out on the shelves. This is a symbolic code and examples that use
these colours in the same genre include Pierce The Veil, All Time Low and AFI. The
font is a loud bold colour which would help attract new fans and gain their attention
to the exciting and up and coming new band 'The Perfect Fall'. We felt the use of
colours are dark and depressing and will help target their audience of alienated
disaffected youths who may appreciate the goth pop punk that mainly appeals to
the niche target audience.

6. Effects used
The glass effect on the front cover of the sharp lines around the images of the band
members helps create the expectancy of a post hardcore band as the effect
represents the music as being rough, loud and aggressive. Therefore this effect was
used in order for it to fit in with the genre and stand out on the shelves.
Furthermore, the photo shoot of the band in front of the coloured graffiti wall was
quite dominant and took our eyes off of the members of the band. Therefore I
edited the photo to make the background black and white. By desaturating the
background of the images, I have created the opportunity for the band to become
more recognisable and stand out from its competitors.

7. Comparing my product to other digipaks
The effect I used that created a glass feeling
is also used in other products in the post
hardcore genre. An example is the album
‘Masks’ from Eyes Set To Kill. This
demonstrates that the effects I have used
matches the conventions of a post hardcore
album cover.

8. Comparing my product to other digipaks
My product further matches the conventions of
a post hardcore digipak as I have used the
typical colours used. Similar to my own digipak
in terms of font and colours, ‘Sick Of It All’ uses
dark, gloomy and depressing colours mainly
consisting of dirty grey, black, red and white.
This is typical of a post hardcore genre digipak
as it appeals to the target audience- referred to
as Emo’s who are angst ridden youths.

9. Comparing my product to other digipaks
However, other post hardcore genre digipaks
do not usually consist of the image of the
artist, and instead usually consists of artwork
of monsters, haunted houses, skulls and
eagles. Therefore I challenged the conventions
in my product as I felt it was necessary for a
new band to be known by their audience. In
the start of their career it is important that
people can relate the name of the band with
the image of the artists. This is why I decided
to challenge the conventions and used a
picture of a band on the front cover.

10. Target audience
The pictures of the band on the front cover are not only designed to
sell them as an organic act, but also to relate to Dyer's star theory
and trying to sell the artist as being youthful and rebellious and
to be anti-authoritarian, which is helped by the graffiti background.
The idea behind this is that fans will identify with this type of image
and respond positively. The image on the front cover would appeal
to the 15-25 year old audience as it represents alienated, disaffected
youths who are alternate and want to rebel. This group would
approve of the front cover as we can see the anger on the lead
singer, the graffiti background and the darkness of the package.

11. Inside covers

12. Inside covers
In order to maintain the theme throughout my products, I used an edited picture
of the band standing in front of the graffiti background and this is where the CD is
slipped inside into the ‘pocket’. To the left, the massive 'POWER' graffiti
emphasises the name of the album cover. I took a picture of this graffiti as I
believed it has matched the star image of the band while appealing to the target
audience as it matches the conventions of the post hardcore genre. The font is big
and bold, using capital letters so it stands out, which is a running theme in the
album cover. Also, it includes a lot of red and black which are the predominant
colours used in the digipack. Once again this is used because it matches the
conventions of the post hardcore genre as it connotes danger, darkness and
rebelliousness.

13. Inside covers
The writing underneath are credits to Fearless Records and everyone else involved
in making it happen. This is a common feature in album cover which states who
the credit should go to and the main people involved in the process of making the
artist and album cover.
Overall I am really pleased about the album cover, I gained confidence from using
the software when I edited previous digipacks and I was able to convert my skills
to make this to contribute to my final product, I was able to create and stick to the
Graffiti theme, which is extremely effective on a digipack as it catches the
audiences eyes which helps build their fanbase and grow in the market. This is a
running theme used in all of my products.

14. Lyric Poster
In order to try and promote the band further,
I made a lyric poster which slips in to the right
hand side of the inside cover. I used the same
background as my website in order to create a
recognisable cohesive package. The graffiti
background also fits in to the theme of the
music video as the location for that was the
‘Graffiti Tunnel’.