Digipak Plan and Design
- 2. I began with a simple net such as this to begin sketching out my idea. This, plus a backing piece of card would push the CD up through the middle of the pack highlighted to the left. However, my idea was not this straightforward. I wanted the two pieces of card that held up the CD to resemble a city skyline. I also had to take into account the various limitations of the project digipak: • Must use only original pictures • Must have four folds •Elements of corporate identity present This was my initial plan for my idea: DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN
- 3. DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN I printed a small paper version of the net to better understand what I was working with so that I could proceed to make further changes to the net. I first discovered that the two flaps on the side of the net seemed unnecessary for my design. I decided to discard these. I also decided to change the so they were overall slightly larger than the average size of a normal CD case. The average CD is 12 cm in diameter, and a CD case is often like this: I decided my closed digi- pak should be square, and decided to opt for a 20 cm x 20 cm layout.
- 4. DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN I had wanted a rough skyline like this one: on either side of the fold where the CD was to appear. I decided that this should be around 6 cm (i.e. half the size of the CD) to provide the desired effect. This would mean that the two buildings on the far right and far left would have to both be 6 cm so that they would connect and keep the CD in place. Then, because of the four folds, I had to incorporate another fold onto each side of the net. This would have to be smaller than the front and back page so that it would fit in next to the popup. With 6 cm out from each side of the popup, the pages must be smaller than 20 cm.
- 5. This was my first net. I found that when testing this, having the outer pages, marked ‘1’ the same size as the inner pages, marked ‘2’ this made the digipak difficult to close because they did not fit together properly. This has to be taken into account because rather than paper, card would be used, which is thicker than paper and thus would be even more difficult to close. The makeshift disk I used also does not fall back into the digipak so the CD does not always ‘popup’ unless it’s pushed back further in manually. This may be due to snags in the paper though, so the difference in material may improve this. This effectively demonstrates what the pack will eventually look like nonetheless. DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN 1 12 2
- 6. DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN I could then focus on the design of each page. Below I have labelled each page the inner pages 1 -4 and the outer pages 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A respectively, where 2A is the front of the album and 3A is the back. I could then plan what I wanted for each page. 1 Lyrics 2 Lyrics 3 Lyrics 4 Lyrics 1A Thanks 3A Front 2A Back 4A Band info
- 7. DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN 3A Front CITY LIGHTS A very simple design, to draw people in both with the artistic style and the lack of information – characteristic of the Indie Rock genre. The glass theme is apparent in the digipak, website and music video for consistency and corporate identity
- 8. DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN 2A Back THE HEALING TIME HOPING SHOW ME THE WAY VOWS FORGOTTEN SILENT ALARM CRYSTALS WAKE UP DREAMER PLANS IN THE MORNING BLOOD DANCEFLOORS Changed order of last two songs to make a more aesthetically pleasing design Background image: 33% Colour Saturation so that colour is visible but not too bright to keep in line with colour scheme Recurring theme of wine glass and swirls
- 9. 1A Thanks DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN BAND NOTES: Only image of band on the digipak – often bands will not feature on their CD at all, as the focus is the music for indie rock music.
- 10. 4A Band info DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN BWE ARE BLOC PARTY Corporate Identity in the logo, also found on the website Use of a graphical image in line with common indie rock theme
- 11. 1 Lyrics DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN THE HEALING TIME Stills from the music video then used for the subsequent four pages – shows consistency with music video All images colour saturation of 33% - colour present but only minimally
- 12. 2 Lyrics DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN HOPING White text did not work well with this background so black will be used for the inner lyric pages and white for the outer lyric pages.
- 13. 3 Lyrics DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN SHOW ME THE WAY VOWS WAKE UP DREAMER I used the nicest forest shots to make up the band pictures as these were most artistic, as indie rock digipaks often are. Some were not artistic enough or looked out of place so I compensated by going out and taking more forest shots.
- 14. 4 Lyrics DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN IN THE MORNING
- 15. DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN CD Layout CITYLIGHTS The background colour will then show through the cut out of the windows of the buildings Simple design as usual for an Indie Rock band Century Gothic font consistent with the band’s image as are the colours Two colours provide simple interaction for the audience (i.e. changing the colours of the building lights) something for them to engage with, makes the digipak more interesting
- 16. DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN 1 Lyrics 2 Lyrics 3 Lyrics 4 Lyrics 1A Thanks 2A Front 3A Back 4A Band info This is the final template. The outer section (above) that the user will first see is deliberately black and white with only the slightest hint of colour, and then the more colourful images (below) are inside. This makes the digipak appear more stylised.
- 17. DIGIPAK PLAN AND DESIGN I conducted a final test using card to illustrate functionality.
Editor's Notes
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