Completed Digipak

Having used this template we were able to create our digipak on Adobe Photoshop CS5

Our Front Cover

For our digipak we really wanted to convey how our artist is trying to break from her long kept silence, this is why although the artist has her mouth shut, she can be seen (in almost a x-ray like fashion) with musical instruments (guitar, drums, microphones, musical lyrics and a speaker) in her throat (to symbolise her new found voice). The effect we have chosen is great, as it emphasises the colours well, linking visually to our use of the rubix cube (which we feel represent the manipulative game she's trying to break free from)! (Hence our album is called 'Loud'.)

Spine

Our spine involves the name of our band ('Disciples of Rock' - as we follow that genre specifically), as well as including some white slanted lines (that we think are symbolic to guitar strings - something used often within the songs as well as the video).








Inside Left

For our inside left cover, we opted to show our artist in an almost evolutionary stage (starting from an almost unnoticeable ball hidden in the corner of the room, until she reaches her new found freedom of speech). We also felt this filter added the idea of not only sound waves but chains (again what she's breaking free from).

Inside right

We have included a bright colourful background to emphasis the loudness of our album and then the vinyl is a record player including the title of the album and the name of our band. The colours link to the rubix cube we used within the music video and emphasis our theme of a 'game'. In addition the messy overlapping lines convey the 'loudness' of the album and video.

Back Cover

Our back cover simply shows the songs within the album (with the number one hit at the top, so it draws in the most attention). And although quite simple with not too much overcroading, it still remains pretty bold and distinctive adding to the theme of being loud. We included not only the barcode but the production teams logo and iTunes (a possible site you could purchase it from).

Finished product

Social media feedback on magazine cover

Interviews after construction

I decided to interview a few members of my target audience after the construction of our media products. This way i could gain an insight as to whether we would successfully appeal to them and also see if we had met the demands of a rock genre. Through doing this face to face it was much more effective that using social internet sites and survey monkey as I could see their body language towards our products and see what they liked and disliked.

Front cover of Digipak and band name

(Edited on Adobe Photoshop CS5 as well as Office Word Document and Office PowerPoint).

Having completed our front cover for the digipak, we have decided that the band name will be 'Disciples of Rock' (a name we feel infers our chosen subject well). 

The main theme for our digipak is that our artist is breaking free from her silence in the game (her life) and so we opted to use an almost skeletal image filter with musical instruments and notes showing up within her throat (symbolising her new voice). The filter effect also adds a bold pop of colour against the black background, thus not only matching the colours from our key prop (the rubix cube), but also displaying the loudness of her inner voice through the use of brightness. We feel the look could also be perceived as rock, since the tiny symbols could be mistaken for tattoos (something a lot of rock artist's get).

CD cover

Possible pictures for our album cover

On our album cover for the CD we want to include images of some of the equipment we used, however we need our images to be shown on a Matt black background (so it didn't appear in a white box on the CD)! So I took the images we wanted and using word document I was able to use tools to get rid of any background, leaving just the image itself and then I placed each on to a black background and screenshot them (ready for use in Adobe Photoshop).

Digipack ideas for layout

Digipack design ideas

My plan for our magazine advertisement

For our magazine advertisement I felt that the album of the artist should be settled in the centre to make it the main focus of the advertisement. To emphasis the album cover further I would include a colour scheme of black and white vs the colour of the album particularly the old fashioned megaphone situated on her cheek - symbolising her sudden outburst of anger. The font will remain in the style of the rock genre with a similar font to David Guetta's electronic logo which is slightly electronic looking. Additionally the title name 'loud' will be much larger in sizing than the other details to draw attention to the concept of the album which is to break free and use your own voice! But other details include the date of release, our record label, reviews, our website and most importantly we want the song to our music video to be mentioned as the best seller on the advertisement - as it will bring our video more attention.

Magazine advertisement idea

Drawing of my magazine advertisement idea:

For my magazine advertisement idea I took inspiration from looking at previous artists advertisements of their album, as well as the layout within the magazine. I have put the bands name at the top of the advertisement, in the biggest letters so that it stands out to audiences. Furthermore the majority of the space is took up with the artists image which will appear at the front of the album. This is because as it is a new artist, we want to advertise her as well as the band, so she is a popular image within the music industry. In addition the audience will recognise the album within shops as they know what it looks like. Moreover along the bottom there will be reviews out of five, in addition to the release date, record label and production company. 

Analysing music magazine advertisements

                                Magazine Advertisements

Jesse.J's magazine advertisement for her album 'Who are you'

Having analysed this advertisement I found that there are some specific key factors that we as a group should use to attract an audience for our music video, such as:

• the artist name
• a picture of the artist
• the album name
• the best selling song on the album - we could make this 'what do you want from me' as it'd make someone viewing it more likely to go straight to that song and its video
• logos of the record label/s
• where you can find the song such as the artist's very own website or somewhere like iTunes and HMV...

There are actually some other key factors that we could consider to include for our magazine advertisement, such as:

• the release date
• any reviews to make the album seem better

Its therefore evident that Jessie.J is trying to rely solely on her status alone in order to sell the album as she hasn't found it necessary to include further details. In conclusion we need to think about what details our artist needs to inform their audience with and how we could be display them to attract the target crowd.



Analysing music magazine advertisements

 Analysing conventions of a magazine advert for a CD: 

I looked at the Arctic Monkey's advertisement for their CD within a magazine, looking at the conventions of the layout, colour, text and themes. The name of the artist was the biggest on the ad, showing that they rely on their branding alone to draw attention. The CD was a medium close up of a girls face, showing that the artists are not even on the advertisement, which could suggest they are not interested in promoting themselves/ their image, but the music itself. 

The main conventions that are normally seen within a magazine advertisement for music is:

1) The artists name

2) A picture of the artist/band

3) The logo or name of the record label

4) Reviews in the style of stars out of five

5) The release date of the album

6) The albums names, in addition to some of the previous singles being advertised

Album Name

These are words that we have brainstormed in relation to our song genre and artist, we hope to get an idea of an album name from these.

When brainstorming we thought about how the artist is singing about her controlling relationship and how now she is tired of her partners 'game' and how she just wants 'independence' rather than the 'mayhem' its causing her to feel. We also believed that her relationship could resemble a natural disaster hence the use of 'riptide'...

But overall we like 'independence', 'play' and 'loud' the most, therefore we hope to use these within our album name.

My first attempt using Adobe Photoshop CS5 to edit album covers

Adobe photoshop cs5 from Madeleine Fox