This document summarizes some common conventions seen in digipak album packaging designs. It discusses features of digipaks like their paper-like feel and multiple panels compared to plastic jewel cases. Digipaks are cheaper to produce and distribute than vinyl records. Design conventions covered include placement of the artist name, album title, track listings, additional content listings, copyright information, barcodes, external panel linking, inner panel flow, and spine design. Examples are provided to illustrate each convention discussed.

1. In this vodcast I will be looking at the general conventions for a Digipak.
One of the main features of a Digipak is the way they look, compared to a plastic
jewel cd case or a vinyl. As you can see here, a Digipak has a softer, paper feel to
it, and has more than 2 sides whereas a plastic jewel case has 2 sides and is
bulkier. Fans prefer to collect Digipaks than jewel cases as they imitate vinyl,
without it being the same size and price of vinyl. Here you can see that Dua Lipa's
Vinyl album costs $22.95 and the CD costs $13.95. Vinyls are expensive due to
the production costs, but they've become increasingly popular again as fans enjoy
collecting them. Digipaks are lighter and smaller than plastic jewel cases so its
cheaper to distribute as well as store being able to stock more of them. Digipaks
either have 4, 6 or 8 panels to them with one or more trays inside for the singular
CD or multiple CDs. As you can see here, this is an 8 panel Digipak template with
just 1 tray, whereas this is an 8 panel Digipak with 3 trays. Here is a real life
example. Some Digipaks also have pockets. There are diagonal pockets, slip
pockets or tube pockets. These are diagonal pockets, these are slip pockets and
these are tube pockets.
The next convention we expect to see is the artists name or logo. This isn't always
the case, for example here we have Harry Styles's album Harry Styles from 2017
which doesn't have his name nor the album title.
This leads us into the next convention being album titles. It is typically the second
most prominent text, after the artists name on the front panel and is usually in a
different font to the artists name. Yet again, this isn't always the case, this album
cover is countertypical as here we can see the font is the same on Harry Styles's
name as well as the album title Fine Line and they are the same size.
The next thing we expect to see is the track listing on the back panel of the
Digipak. There are occasionally bonus track included, which we can see here with
David Guetta and here with Ellie Goulding. The tracks can be numbered, which
we can see here with Lana Del Ray and here with the 1975 or not numbered, which
we can see here with arctic monkeys.
Another common convention we expect to see are editions, bonuses or extras on
the front panel. On Beyonce's greatest hits, we can see a yellow rectangle in the
bottom right corner which has "including" written on it with song titles
underneath. On Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster, its in the top left corner where it
says limited edition version, as well as "8 brand new tracks"
The next convention is the small print. We expect to see the label and who the
rights belong to on the back panel. With this, we expect to see the P and C symbols
which mean copyright and phonorecord. We can see this clearly on Ellie
Goulding's Halcyon Days. The small print says that it's owned by Polydor, a
subsidiary of Universal which is one of the big 3 dominating the music industry,

2. which are Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. We can
also see this on Foo Fighter's album Echoes Silence Patience and Grace. Here is
another example on the back of Adele's 21.
Another thing we expect to see on the back panel are barcodes. Here are some
examples. Occasionally, we're able to also see a QR code which would link to the
artist's website. If not, the link is found near the small print.
The next convention I will look at is the external panels link. On Arctic Monkey's
AM Digipak, the front and back link as on the front we have this white squiggle on
a black background which links onto the back panel where it is just a straight white
line on a black background. On the 1975's album The 1975, the front panel shows
a neon sign with a neon boarder resting on a grey wall and the floor. The back
panel is the same, but instead of The 1975, we get the track listing. On Kanye
West's album Graduation, the front panel shows a a bear flying towards the
foreground, but the back panel shows it in the opposite way where it's flying
towards the background. There are a few examples where it doesn't link as well,
like Lana Del Ray's Digipak for her album Born to Die. The only link is the font
and colour way.
The next convention I will look at is the inner panel flow. On Rihanna's Loud
Digipak, there is a singular image of her lying in roses, which is split up over the
three inner panels. On Beyonce's Greatest Hits, we have two separate images of
her but they still match as they are black and white.
The next convention I will look at is the spine. We typically expect to see the
name of the artist and album on the spines and the catalogue number, whether they
link with the external panels, like this, or not, like this. Here are some more
examples. As you can see, the name of the artist typically comes before the album.
Thank you for watching my vodcast on Digipak general conventions.