2. Style
I personally feel that a good digipak will convey a certain
style in its artwork and will show the reader an insight into
what to expect from the songs on the album. For example,
Mumford and Sons. Their first album is called “Sigh No
More” and the artwork for it looks very vintage. This tells the
owner/customer that the songs on the album will sounds
rather “old” and perhaps imply to certain people, like it did
me, that the songs have a lot of “Soul”. From that and the
album name they can assume that the songs have a lot of
meaning and moral, much like they do.
This creates a complete style to the Digipak as it links the
meanings of the songs to the style of the artwork. Having
the certain style has certainly effected the consumer in this
case.
The style of the Digipak also reflects onto the band as it represents
them on a consumer level. The digipak needs to link with their genre
and link with the ambitions of the band. I say ambitions because they
releases have to gain an audience and keep them interested in the
band for a possible 5-6 years as albums require a lot of hard work, so,
by showing the motivations of the band the Digipak can advertise the
future of them as artists and keep them current. Having a certain style
to the Digipak will then help that. In reference to a Pop artist or one
that is current and popular, the album must be keep them in the
“spotlight”. This can be achieved in many ways either by being
instrumental in the industry ( Being Ground-Breaking) or unique and
weird as both of them will be memorable, but again, this will depend
on the genre of music as the artist must appeal to them first.
In my opinion, A style can also be very
reflective of the band and show the
consumer what the music means for them.
This will usually be in the form of an
elaborate metaphor but the message is still
important. It shows that the artist’s main
goal is to tell a story with their music and
can add another level of connection for the
consumer as they like the band for people
as well as their music. This is more tailor to
certain genres like folk etc rather than Pop.
I base this idea of off the uses of each
genres music.
3. Relevant to the genre (stereotypes)
I feel that a successful digipak will have
various and relevant links to the genre of
music they create as well as the genre that
their target audience enjoys. For example,
Coldplay are a band that will rebrand and
recreate themselves to suit their target
audience. Their last release was Mylo
Xyloto. In the album art, you get a great vibe
of new, almost electro in genre but that
reflects the use of synth in their songs, so it
is relevant to the genre.
In relation the genre of folk rock, a lot of
bands aim at the stereotypes of the genre.
This is emphasised in the clothes that they
wear and the artistic style of the
artwork(which I just discussed). By making
it relevant to the genre, they are appealing
to the target audience and making them
form an interest in the band rather than
just their music.
4. Use of Font
A digipak will have a very
specific use of font, the most
effective have a reference to
the style of the music and
suiting the act. For example,
when reflecting the band Of
Monsters Of Men, I would
expect to see a font such as
THIS and not THIS. This is
because of the links an
audience makes as soon as
they see media related to an
artist and how they expect the
artist to be represented.
The use of font is of course also very
important in creating the digipak as it
adds to the style and representation
that the band is aiming for. If the
audience can not understand the
aesthetic choices of a Digipak then as a
consumer they may be inclined to not
buy the product as it breaks the trust
that they have formed with the artist,
the trust of purchasing music from a
band that is related to the genre of
music that they enjoy.
