Digipak Analysis

A digipak is a patented style of CD packaging with a registered trademark, there to encourage consumers to buy into a product associated with a certain artist. The purpose of a digipak is to promote an album. It's a way of pursuing the artists theme and corporate identity, as well as listing the content of the album; all the songs and how long they last. The use of images within help to connote the type of artist they are and the message they wish to portray through individual songs. The digipak is also a way of hide other promotional material, for example tour dates and locations. They are eye catching to attract a wider audience, not only their target audience in order to gain a greater number of fans.

The difference between a digipak and a CD album is that a CD promotes nothing but the songs itself, whereas a digipak has 3 extra slides to promote the artist and their image,  through additional images and including a welcome note from the artist; introducing themselves and their songs, creating clarity of the underlying meanings, as generally digipaks are more personal to the artist themselves. The digipak may also include a lyric booklet, providing even more photos of help with the overall understanding of what they wish to connote. Overall, all the different elements of a digipak allow the audience to feel more connected with the artists they're interested in and enjoy their music at the same time.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find a 6 slide digipak by an Indie artist, but was able to find one with 4. Obviously as a group when we come to creating our own we will mimic the traditional 6 slides; consisting of a welcome note slide, front and back cover leaving 3 spare slides for pictures of the artist. As a group we wish to capture the audience visually, alongside the successful audio.  

When looking at Florence and the Machine's digipak, we are presented with a picture of herself in almost cartoon form, with a set of lungs across her chest with half displayed under a stringy top. The fact that she has chosen to have lungs shown on the outside of the body portrays to the audience the relation to the album name 'Lungs'. She is seen to be located in the typical rural area being a forest, surrounded my spring flowers and coloured birds to connote her image as being very calm and indie-like. An audience will expect the digipak slides to portray clear examples of conventions, relating the the indie genre within to form clarity. The image of herself takes up the majority of the slide, with 'Florence and the Machine' written in bold, curly text. The album title is also written on the front cover being 'Lungs', which is in fact placed on top of actual lungs in capital, bold letters. The album title also has horizontal lines above and below to contrast against the vertical lines of her stringy top, ensuring that the title doesn't fade into the image itself. The majority of this slide includes the colour green; consisting of her clothes and tree background, however her pale skin tone, the warm red displayed on the lungs and her ginger hair create a contrast against the different shades of green. This ensures that she is not lost within her clothing and background, but in fact stands out against it. Conducting research on the indie genre, as well as the typically conventional digipaks has given me a greater understanding of the types of location they use, being various rural locations, the types of clothing worn and where to put text and in what font and size. This particular layout and design suggests that Florence and the Machine wish to follow the typical codes and conventions of the indie genre. The fact that the location is obvious and that Florence herself covers the majority of the cover, suggests that she wishes to sell not only the indie genre, but herself as a commodity. Selling herself as a commodity means that in order to so, the cover needs to be eye catching and stand out against a background. Florence has done so with the contrasting colours used against the different shades of green, being her hair the lungs. The fact that she stands out encourages an audience the buy the digipak, to not only listen to her music, but learn more about her as an artist.

Colours that are used within Florence and the Machine's digipak are all very mixed, which doesn't make it conventional to the typical indie genre as a whole. This in fact contrasts in comparison to and indie artist such as The Kooks, where the same colours feature in every slide. Three of the slides within the digipak include lungs in different prospectuses, which all in fact link to her album title 'Lungs', however the colours change drastically between each slide. The front cover is all very conventional to the indie genre, however changes when it comes to the disk image, being a pair of pale skinned hands holding on to a pair of lungs, with the album name imprinted on top in the opposing colour white. The third slide is a picture of Florence under a sepia effect. Again Florence wishes to sell herself as a commodity, creating clarity for an audience of what she's like as an artist. 

Florence and the Machine's digipak in which I have researched into has given me a greater understanding oh herself and the music she produces, however the digipak itself contrasts in comparison to typical indie genre digipak. It promotes Florence herself as a commodity and the theme that runs through her album, however doesn't include her band as they are not as well known within the media. Natural like pictures represent the indie genre, as most indie artists produce their music around realistic events and life experiences that have occurred.