Analysis of Digipak's

Firstly, I have chosen to analyse this cover of the album 'The Wild Land' by Nate Maingard. I chose this mainly because I loved the cover art, and this is a common aspect the Indie Folk genre. Although, I probably won't do produce a cover like this, I want to encorporate this style in some of the other areas of the digipak and magazine advert. Firstly, the colours of this cover are black, white and yellow, which is quite simplistic, and the main image looks as if it has been sketched with a biro pen and the yellow was then added for a slight addition of colour.The artistsic look of the cover suggest the musician is also quite artistic and inventive in his music and also reflects the creative and whimsical feeling of a lot of indie and traditional folk music. The layout works well, as the different aspects of the drawing flow together, and suggest his music and energy when playing is similar and positioned beside flowing water, a curved tree bearing fruit and bright coloured moon. This all stands out well against the black background, which also suggests that is a night scene. This gives feelings of excitement as well as mystery, which perhaps are characteristics of his music. The font of the album name goes well with the sketched image, and gives a vibe of youth and childhood, as it is handdrawn font and not sophisticated. The name of the artist, is also typed in a hand written style font, as if he wrote it himself and is in the same yellow colour as the moon in the image. This allows the two aspects to stand out against the black and white.

I then have chosen this front cover of an album by Ray Lamontagne called 'Gossip in the grain'. I liked the worn out look of the photograph, and the use of a sepia colour image, giving the cover an old feel, suggesting his music is influenced by old traditions, genres or sounds. I like that it is a closeup of his face, giving more of himself to the audience that the previous album cover I looked at. This album, compared to some of his other albums, which don't include images of him, is more personal and almost more honest, due to the use of his photograph. However, he is looking downward, instead of directly into the camera, which suugests he is still secretive about sharing himslef with the audience. He looks almost sad or thoughtful, which to me, gives the impression that he has difficulties, or experiences in his life that have affected him and his is willing to share them through the medium of his music. The background is out of focus and blurred, and in a metaphorical sense, suggests that his past has or will become a blur. The layout of the titles are very simple and positioned at the top of the cover, allowing the image to be the main focus and isn't overpowering, due to its small size. The font is a very elegant, curvy font which reminds me of old fashioned handwriting, almost as if his album is like a hand written letter to the audience or person in his life. The font is quite complec, making it hard to read, but still possible, which in my opinion, suggests that it is like himself, hard to read, but if you look closer, you can discover more.

I chose this album cover, lastly, because I thought the mis en scene was very similar to some of the mis en scene in my music video. The look of the cover is quite feminine due to the pink colours and natural colours of her skin, hair and eye, which all stands out against a dark background. The photo is an extreme closeup of half of her face, which allows an intimate look at her, without seeing all of her, which I think is how she would like the audience to percieve her music, personal, but not all of her. The subtle pink makeup and bold flowers compliment each other and give the image a girly look, representing the artist as young and feminine. The direct look at the camera suggests she is strong and willing to share her story or personal experiences. The words 'never fade', I think goes well beside the stong represntations of the photo. The white text is easy to read against the darker colours of the photo and uses a simple font, that reminds me of a typewriter. This is similar to the previous cover I looked at, which uses a hand written font, to give the idea that the artist is 'writing a letter' to the audience. The same could be applied for this typwriter font. The layout of the text is quite obscure, the name of the album being in the centre and her name in the bottom right side of the cover. This maybe represents her strange unusual personality.

Now, I will be looking at the back of album cover, where the tracklist will be placed. This is the back of the album by Nate Maingard. I chose to analyse this album because I loved the cover art, especially on the back, which I think could go well with a photograph on the front cover. In this case, a hand drawn image was used for the front cover. The hand drawn border follows the theme or look of the front cover, giving a very imaginative and free spirited vibe, which is the same sort of representations I would like to present in my digipak. The colours are the same as the front, this time the yellowe being used for a flower, which gives adds to the theme of nature. I like that the border is uneven around the cover, with some drawings going into the centre more than others and almost quite childish. This could represent the artist or the artist's music, which may also be uneven or irregular, but still beautiful and exciting. The border takes up most of the cover, and is almost like looking or peering through all this 'imagination' to see the tracklist, like peering through trees in a forest to find something. The font of the tracklist is the same of the text reading 'Nate Maingard' on the front cover. This follows a recurring theme and is a handwritten style font, giving a sense of 'writing to the audience'.

This is the back cover of the second front cover I analysed, by Ray Lamonatgne. The style of photograph is similar to the cover, old and sepia, obviously taken using an analogue camera. This is apparent due to the border of the image, which is seen when analogue photographed are printed. The image is of an old grammaphone, which was an old way of playing music loudly.This old fashioned theme suggest his interest in old traditions and music. He way take influence from old musicians. The image is positioned over a black background, where the tracklist is situated. The treacklist is rotated to the right, and the size is quite small. This makes it harder to read and more obscure. Again, this may be the artist showing the way his music is difficualt to read, but once you look closer, or study it closely, you will find out more about him. The coloured of the text is white and yellow, which allows differenciation of track numbers and tracknames. There is more text to the left, which is even smaller, which would include information about copyright and the record label involved with the album.

Lastly, I have chosen to analyse this album back, which is the back of another Ray Lamontagne album. I loved the style of colours used for the tracklist, which is obviously quite easy to do, yet gives a really unique effect. I only chose to analyse the back, becuase the front was actually very similar to the back. The colours used are black white and yellow fading to a dark gold colour. The fading in colour may rpresent his fading in life due to difficult experiences, or may just be used to go with theme of suns fading. The artists name is in white which stands out the most against the black. Also, you will notice there is glossy black text aginst the matte black background, which reads 'Till the sun turns back'. This works really well, as you can still read it, and matched the theme of the sun turning black. The layout is very simple, but this is well chosen as it allows the eye to appreciate the colours rather than layout or images. The fonts are also simple, but quite bold in order for them displays the colours and to stand out, especially the black text.

I have chosen to analyse the inside of the album booklet of a James Morrison album. I likes the black and white theme of the booklet and the use of photography against the text. In the first double page, some 'candid' photos of James have been used to show the jop he has in making music in the recording studio, where he is laughing or deep in the music. The black and white gives a classic, memorable feel to the images. In the second double page, images of him performing are shown, as if someone has taped them roughly to a wall and written messy notes or lyrics beside them. This gives a relaxed vibe, almost as if the booklet is a scrapbook of memories. In the last two double pages, simple photography of a book and stage floor with taped wires are used as a background to the lyrics of his songs. The book suggest perhaps his love for writing songs and maybe is the notebook he uses to write lyrics. This adds a very personal feel to the album booklet. The stage floor, however shows the other side to his music, the performance. I like how he shows all the different and exciting aspects to the process. The text is small and laid out in columns, both characteristic of digipaks. The colour of the text depends of the colours in the background, as the text needs to be readable.

Lastly, I have chosen to analyse a much simpler style of digipak, in an album by Tanita Tikaram.. I liked this digipak because it used simple and childish drawing over a plain white background, beside black text. I like this as it suggests a  kind of scribbly, casual vibe, sketches she might do when writing songs. I think the simplicity of the digipak reflects her simple attitude to music and songwriting, that is should be uncomplicated and pure. The text is also very simple, besides the titles of each song, which like most of the other digipaks I have looked at, is in a hand-written font. This again, gives a simple, unsophisticated feel. I noticed that the columns are positioned to the right instead of left, which is more unusual, maybe reflecting her 'different' personality. I also noticed at the bottom of the second double page, there is an actual handwritten note that the artist has written herself, thanking people that helped in the making of the album.