Digipak Research

Along with our music video we are going to make a digipak to advertise and broadcast our product. A digipak involves packaging for a compact disc and is popular amongst manufacturer's for the use of singles and special edition disc's. Digipak's have increased in popularity in today's society as they reduce environmental impact and improve functionality by introducing recylced components into it's trays, one consumer even announced it's 100% PET tray made from recycled bottles. Digipak has developed with the release of a new product called digipak i-create for the consumer market, this is a web supported concept that is aimed at the download, music, photo and creative markets.

This image shows the contrast between the general CD jewel case and the digipak. Digipak's can have many sleeves, this one in particular has 4 sleeves consisting of 8 sides with the disc used as one sleeve. Each sleeve can differ however they are often used for lyrics, introducing an artist, offers/competitions, pull out posters, credits or manufacturer's information and images or photo shoot's with the artist. These features are used to advertise the artist and make them more appealing to the audience. Sometimes they are used to introduce new artist's and allow the audience to get an indepth view of them. Other feautures are used such as competitions to gain publicity for the record/manufacturing company. Images can be used a voyeurism and to attract an audience. They include a front cover which is used as the main advertisement for the manufacturer generally containing the artist's name, song title/album name and an image. They also have a plastic insert suitable to hold the disc and a back cover containing a barcode, record company, manufacturer's information, contact information, a background image and a list of the song title's. The spine makes it easy to recognise the disc containing the artist name, publisher and title of the disc.

Digipak research analysis

A digipak is a style of packaging for a compact disc or dvd that is often used for CD singles or for special editions of CD albums. I have chosen to analyse The Beatles album, Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band as I find it particularly fascinating and unusual. Sgt Pepper's was The Beatles eighth album and progressed from their previous albums by the use of orchestra's and hired musicians, the collective sound on the album is visually interpretated through the album cover.

We denote an image of The Beatles surrounded by many famous people. The Beatles are dressed in brightly coloured military uniforms and Mccartney and Harrison are wearing MBE medals (all The Beatles had been awarded MBE medals) The MBE award is a great achievement given by the Queen and an honour to receive, this suggests that The Beatles were at the height of their career during this album, they had already achieved high levels of success and they were proud of it. The Royal Coat Of Arms Of The Uk is shown on Lennon's right sleeve and the Ontario Provincial Police badge from Canada on Mccartney's arm, this may suggest that they are proud of their country and to be Brittish but also shows that they have achieved world wide success. Cut out figures of their hero's surround them including poets, actors, writers and music artists suggesting that they have influenced their music and that they look up to them as role models with respect. The first aim was to create the idea that they were in a park however this progressed with the cut out models, keeping with the park idea the typography is displayed in a floral text displaying the artists name, some other items shown belong to the band including a small portable tv set and a trophy, this connotes that they are trying to get accross to the audience that what you see is what you get and they give everything into their music making it more personal to their fans. A God like statue is shown reflecting the lead up to the peace movement and suggests their views to events at the time such as the Vietnam war. The album cover shows the album name in a drum and all the Beatles are holding instruments with some also located around them, this connotes the importance of their music to them.

The inside cover contains photos and cutouts of Beatles merchandise and themes of the album, including cutout military badges. Close up photos of each member are shown in a leaflet, this applies to their fans showing an in depth view and how each member's character differs, their direct mode of address makes it more personal to their fans.

The back cover contains a simple smaller image of the band in the same uniforms shown on the front, the song titles are listed vertically above with the record company details,publishers, directors and any other creditors to the right in a formal column, by repeating the star image The Beatles are gaining recognition and publicity. The spine shows simple bold typography that makes it clear and very easy to recognise.