Digipak design drafts

Digipak designs
Final front cover draft design:

When deciding on a final draft design I did some target audience research into whether the target audience of my artist/the video (album) liked it:

·       A lot of the people I asked liked the way the colours stand out but still allow the artist to become the main focus of the cover.

·       They liked the way that the direct eye-line from the artist meant that they were drawn to the image/cover and thought that it meant the image itself become so ‘effective’ and ‘professional looking’

·       They believe that the overall design was very ‘now’ and ‘current’ in the dance music industry and said that they would definitely be interested in ‘Luna’ as a new artist and her album-looking ‘fun’ and ‘creative’

·       One of the individuals I asked said they specifically liked how the colour of the powder paint and the model’s eyes stood out from the background

·       A large amount of the people I asked said the positioning and sizing of the font allowed it to look professional and like a ‘real’ album cover

·       A lot of people said that it was a very original and alternative album cover and would stand out either when buying online or in a store (such as HMV)

àI really like this final draft design, because it both looks professional (through layout, font size, image selection for inspiration etc.) and is something I could achieve when doing my own photography and completing the final design (front cover). The use of colour within the image allows the artist to have an expressive, ‘now’ feel and will be sure to attract the target audience (15-early twenties). The direct eye-line and use of vibrant colour (through powder paint/post production editing) also means that potential buyers and individuals that haven’t herd of ‘Luna’ (being a new artist) yet will be sure to be attracted/consider her as a new dance artist. 

àWhen doing my photo-shoot I will be sure to use a similar colour scheme and keep the direct eye-line with similar framing. I will be sure to take a large variety of shots with variation in shot framing and eye-line (etc.) meaning that I will have a large amount of images to choose from (although I will use this central image as a main inspiration for the shoo-considering colour scheme etc.)

Inspiration for my final draft:

I previously analysed the Rihanna-‘Loud’ digipak and found the front cover to be the most effective, with just the album name spaced on the bottom of the cover with the main image-the cover itself is very striking and memorable). I have tried to create the same effect in my own final draft, spacing out the lettering at the bottom of the album cover in a block colour having the same memorable, eye-catching effect. The use of bright colours within the image is also something I have tried to incorporate into my own design, meaning that the use of minimal text (stylized, colour etc.) allows the image to become the main focus as well as the album name.

In my album front cover design I will be sure to include the artist’s name, Rihanna being a more established artist meaning that she does not need this-potential buyers/fans easily identifying her from the main image (not needing her name on the front cover).

Front cover main image editing:

When editing my main image/inspiration (sourced from tumblr) I have enhanced the colour of both the powder paint and the models eyes. I have done this as it will help me when editing my own photography I will have already experienced the use of the software (photoshop) and have explored ways in which to allow these aspects to stand out/become the main focus through editing. When looking at the original photo you can see how I have enhanced the eye colour, therefore allowing the direct eye line to become more ‘visually grasping’ to the viewer (and therefore to the album). The enhancement of powder paint also adds to the visual effect of the image and reinforces the creativity, ‘expressiveness’ of the album/artist. The enhancement of colour also means that when using plain black text it still stands out from the background image as well as doesn't become 'too plain' (the design allowing the artist image to still stand out as well as the font).

Development of the use of font:

When selecting the final design draft for my front cover I did several other drafts playing around with the positioning and size of the album font. I started by just using ‘Afterglow’, the album name but then I decided that as a new artist ‘Luna’ (the artist name) should be included. Once establishing which font I would use (top right) I then added in the artist name, I have done this because as a new artist to the music industry, my artist isn’t as well established as other existing artists meaning that this cover would draw the potential audience/customer of the artist/brand would be drawn to the album (artist name)-being the predominant front on the cover.

I have positioned the text at the bottom of the cover/image as this part of the image as a background allows it to stand out most effectively. I finally decided to position the artist name above the album cover because as a first album release it should be more focused on the artist and not the album name-whereas established artists (such as the Rihanna-Loud album coveràmain inspiration) normally just include the album name. This is because they expect the target audience to already know the name of the aritst’s new album and be able to identify them from an image.                              

Main image selection

When selecting an image to use as my main ‘background’ of the album cover I decided against my initial idea/inspiration (the image above). This is because when trying to ‘recreate’ this image in my own photography I believe I could find it quite difficult, in that the shutter speed of the camera may not be able to capture images such as this as well as the fact that it is almost like ‘smoke’ behind the main model which I believe would be fairly taxing to recreate.

Although this image isn’t being used when selecting the image I have used I was inspired to stay to a similar colour scheme of blues as I believe it is both a neutral colour-allowing the artist to become the main visual aspect within the image, not being distracted by the use of powder paint. This can be seen where in the image I have used the colour blue is predominant.