Digipak Evaluation

On the front cover of our digipak we have used a grey background and an image of footsteps. We had looked at possible image ideas before we planned our digipak and liked the idea of writing with chalk as it could connote the fact that it is home-made and therefor matches the ‘do-it-yourself’ attitude which we wanted to put across. Since the song is called Footsteps we wanted to comply with this in the simplest way possible – and we therefor chose to draw footsteps in chalk. We liked how simple this connection is as it works with genre we have chosen, this understated theme matches both the music and the band’s image which is very minimalist. Along with the simple image we also had the band and song name in white. The general colour scheme of white on grey is popular among many indie-rock artists which lead us to use it as well, I think it is popular as it shows that the band isn’t too concerned about advertising, and therefore have no need for bright eye-catching colours. The white writing is the brightest aspect of the cover and therefore stands out quite easily – the font we had originally planned was scratchy and hand-written but after looking at similar cases we found that this was more common of rock artists so we decided to change the font to something which still looks handwritten but has a more scripted look to it. The band name on the other hand is very simple, however due to the size of the writing it stands out on the cover. This therefore allows the band image to be both simple but important – especially to its fanbase.  Overall the front cover is very simple as this reflects on the band’s image, who we want to portray as being more concerned about the music produced than the image they portray. 

On the lyric page we used an image of the lead vocalist with the microphone and amps in the background. We made the lyrics the same font as the song name which allowed the connection between the two to be made, it also has the same hand written look to it which allows the whole image to look handmade and therefore could connect to the audience as it gives it a more personal feel. We continued the black and white theme into this image; however photoshop was used to make the photo this way, unlike on the front cover. We chose to do this as it would allow all images to merge into each other without looking forced and therefore it looks professional. We purposely arranged the image to allow the text to fall between the amps and the lead vocalist, and due to the shadow formed by the use of lighting in the drama studio we were able to place the text over the shadow, therefore allowing the image to stand out. The image adjusts from pitch black on the left to grey-scale on the right – which was unintentional when we took the photo but we found worked well with the overall colour scheme, especially since the front cover is predominately grey and most of the other images are black and white. 

The simple colour scheme is also a reference back to the simplicity of the band, to compliment this we also chose to include very little writing on the digipak unless it is necessary. This due to our research we found that many indie digipaks follow this same style, for example on an Arctic Monkeys CD one of the pages only include a line of writing, and the front cover consists of mainly the band name. We wanted to only include the same simple aspects, such as the band name, lyrics, song name and price. This opens up pages to only include images which are simple band photos, such as a close up of the guitar and an image of the band turning away. We chose these images as they are common shots which are used in an indie digipak but however also follow images which are common in the rock genre. The images of the guitar and microphone (page 2, front cover and Tray) again emphasise the importance of the music over the band’s individual image and this also further introduces the band as from the indie-rock-genre due to the instruments and equipment shown. Indie music commonly only uses a select few instruments which is due to the music style played which consists of simple but original guitar riff with another guitar riff layered to complement it. The images of the instruments throughout the digipak therefore give an instant reminder to what genre of music it is.

Another image which we had purposely set out was the image of the band turning away (page 3) – we were inspired to use this image as we had seen a similar one before and used it as a sample image for our pitch. We liked this image and thought that it portrayed the image that we were looking for – where again the band doesn’t care much for the image it portrays as far as they look like. The use of their name and their music advertise them, instead of their using their looks as a ‘star image’. The fact that their back is to the audience both gives the audience an idea of what the band looks like but also allows them to have the anonymity which we wanted to portray. This could therefor suggest that the band wants their audience to pay more attention to their music which connects back to the band’s lack of a large production company and their ability to portray themselves how the want to be – instead of having the image constructed for them – suggesting that their music is what inspired them, not their claim to fame. This image has been used as the back page of our digipak as there is now the connection of them looking into the booklet. 

For our back cover we continued the theme of the feet, this time having more of them placed along the right hand of the image as if they are walking. We wanted to have this repeated on the front and back as it is their signature image – we found that many bands such as Kasabian and the Arctic Monkeys use the same image repetitively  - and it allows their fans to instantly recognise them. The font used on the back cover is the same font as the one used for ‘Footsteps’ which is used to match the front cover and follow up on the homemade feel which we wanted to portray. In addition to this we added the common aspects such as the barcode and the price. We priced the CD at £7.99 as this is the most common price for a CD at HMV for an album with a small amount of songs. We wanted the band to have a production company as this is common among many modern indie bands, but we created our own record company as we wanted to use a smaller name as to combat the stereotype of a large company controlling what a band does. This way the band can create their own image but are still promoted.

By Rebecca Gatfield