Digipacks
- 1. Colour scheme- This Arctic Monkeys digipack lacks colour. It is made up from black and white images as well as a black background with white texts or shapes. Due to this the album cover as well as inside and back cover look classier. This can be said to signify the ‘classic rock’ genre that the bands music falls under. This is their 5th album and typically from the studio albums released before (shown on the right), their album artwork and colour scheme isn’t bright or colourful but toned down and simplistic with only one (picture or text) dominating the design. Main Images- All four members of Arctic Monkeys are in this image. They’re wearing suits that make them look smart and classy. This corresponds well with the organised layout of the album as well as the classy use of the black and white colour scheme. In addition, none of the men are looking directly into the camera lens creating a mysterious atmosphere. Their facial expressions lack emotion and therefore highlight the stereotype of a dominant, self-relying man. This idea can be further supported with the use of shadows which adds to the serious and almost ‘ominous’ atmosphere. For the front cover as well as CD design, they have used frequency lines which has been described as a ‘characteristic of an amplitude modulated (AM) signal’ which is a technique used for electronic communication. This is a clever idea since the title of this 5th studio album is ‘AM’ allowing the audience to decide if that stands for ‘Arctic Monkeys’ or ‘Amplitude Modulation’. Once again, the uncertainty and lack of a definite answer empathies the mystery. CD- The CD follows the same pattern as illustrated on the front cover of the album/digipack. This promotes continuity and allows the audience to feel familiar with the music when listening to it. Keeping the CD artwork simple allows the audience to focus on the music instead of being distracted by the CD itself. Focusing on the music can be seen as a repeating feature here. Layout- The layout of the digipack is very organised. The spacing is equal making the digipack not look crowded and overwhelming. The ratio of images to text is not equal since the only text featured in the digipack is located on the back cover. This isn't an uncommon feature for Arctic Monkeys. The white lines used for the wave make up for the lack of text used. Text/Fonts- The only text available on the whole digipack is the back cover where the name of the band ‘Arctic Monkeys’ is displayed along with the track list of the album. The band name text increases in size giving off the impression similar to the sound logo (shown below) as the sound waves increase. In addition, the letters curve up suggesting that this was done intentionally to fit in with the waves (shown below) that are featured on the CD and front cover. All of this relates back to music. The font of the band name is wavy and irregular which contrasts with the simplistic and organised lay out of all the other images and shapes on the digipack. This shows that the nature of the band isn’t strict. The font used for the track list is a simple, sans-serif font that can be recognised by anyone as it is commonly used digitally. Once again, this follows the simplicity and familiarity of the whole digipack.
- 2. Colour scheme- The colours used for the ‘Blur’ digipack are very bright and bold. They are a continuing feature used in the digipack as you can find them on the front and back cover of the album as well as on the inner part of the CD. The four bright, main colours used are- yellow, blue, green and pink, accompanied by a white ‘filing’ colour for text. The bright colours most probably have the intention to attract the audience when looking at the album. In addition, since colours are featured on the front cover and help determine the difference between each of the members of the band. It is clearly meant for the colours to clash. They even out their boldness by using white as the font of the writing. The back cover is similar. The band went against using the four colours usually associated as the ‘main’ colours- blue, green, yellow and red. Instead they replaces red with pink. Layout- Although the digipack gives off a very busy atmosphere due to the big images and many bright colours used, the layout of it is very organised. The shapes used are mostly coloured rectangles which fill up a lot of space giving the illusion of a full/busy layout. The rectangular theme gives the digipack a neat finish. It is even continued in the inner part of the CD. A mixture of the bright colours accompanied with the rectangular shapes creates a sharp and ‘in-your-face’ look that you can’t miss. Most probably this was done as a way of attracting the audience when the album is on the shelf or when it’s an option for livestreaming/downloading. CD- The CD is extremely simple, it is left completely blank allowing the aluminium surface to dominate the whole design of the CD. The only detail, distinguishing it as a Blur CD, is the four colours that are used throughout the digipack located on the inner part of the CD. Although there is no way of knowing why Blur chose to have these four specific colours on the digipack, they match perfectly with the usual aluminium shine and reflection on a CD. In addition, lack of design on a CD allows for the audience/listeners to focus solely on the music without any distractions. Text/ Fonts- The ‘blur’ text on the front cover establishes who the band are. To help this, the font used is the typical blur logo (shown below). The font used on the back cover for the track list is a simple sans-serif font used on most albums for the track list, Blur have decided to not personalise that part of the album. Main Images- The main images on the front cover are the only ones on the whole digipack and therefore are significant. They are headshots of all four band members, this is important since this digipack comes from the ‘Blur: The Best Of’ album so it is important to show off the band. However, the images are not photographs but instead artwork that looks as though it was made digitally. Although the headshots only have dots for eyes and nose, it is evident that their facial expressions are serious. All members of Blur are also looking directly into the camera lens making the album more personal to the audience since you feel as though the members are looking at you. Through this, they are almost breaking the ‘fourth wall’ between themselves and the audience/listeners. This must play a part in attracting the audience to buy the album. Intertextuality plays a part in this front cover since it bears some similarity to the 1982 Queen album ‘Hot Space’ (shown on the right).
- 3. Colour scheme- The colour scheme is largely black and white. The front cover, back cover and all the background of the remaining panels are all white. This creates a very classy and simplistic look that allows the audience to focus on the details of the images, that are also very simple and lack complexity. The one differing part of the digipack is the black CD, most probably the most important aspect of a digipack since it stores the music. As a result, you cannot miss it. The digipack also includes colours such as red (for the clothes of some of the band members in the window of the front cover) or blue in the reflection of the windows. This is done very subtly using pastel shades that do not overwhelm the audience yet add a more aesthetically pleasing finish to the digipack. Layout- The layout of the digipack is very organised and minimalistic. Mostly it includes pictures that take up the whole panel/side. The minimalistic nature of the digipack can be seen by the use of the all white panel with a small pattern located in the centre. Proving that the digipack is organised are the almost symmetrical photographs and the writing that is positioned centrally to the given side/panel. CD- The colours of the CD are inverted and stand out from the remaining sides/panels of the digipack. The font and size of writing used on the CD is identical to the font and size used on the front cover of the album. It has no specific pattern yet it is very clear that the CD is from the Mumford and Sons ‘Sigh No More’ album because of the writing on the disk. There are signs of continuity and familiarity since the CD includes a pattern that is included on the opposite white panel of the digipack. Main Images- The main image is a long shot of one house in what looks like a row full of houses. Judging from the awning on the side houses, this is a row of shops and cafes/restaurants. Presumably the four characters in the window of the shop are the four band members of ‘Mumford and Sons’. In the image they are acting as models as they are positioned in a usual place of a mannequin. Their clothing resembles the folk rock music that they preform. In addition, in the picture they are all holding or are stood with instruments (guitars- both acoustic and electric, a cello and an accordion). Once again, this perfectly mirrors their music styles and automatically tells the audience who may not be familiar with the band, what style of music they play. Furthermore, showing continuity, in the picture included on the inner panel of the digipack (shown below) one of the members is playing the trumpet. Continuity is also presented on the album through the use of windows, they make a reoccurring appearance. The picture on the back cover presents just a window, the same one used in the picture from the inner part of the digipack (once again, shown below). Text/Fonts- Most of the space in the digipack is taken up by images and therefore there is minimal space for text. On the front cover as well as the CD, the band name is displayed in a font that has been used on a number of their albums . The font used for the track list on the back cover is a serif font. This is typically more aesthetically pleasing than a sans-serif font. This corresponds with the ‘&’ sign they use for their band name which is seen fancier and prettier than a usual ampersand.