Digipak mock up:
Front cover:
The image on the front cover of the digipak links my tasks together. It features the same artist that is in the music video and on the website. He will be wearing the same clothes that he wore in the images of him on the website and that he wore in the music video. Thereby, linking the three products together as continuity is established. The image will be taken at a medium close up and the camera will have a long exposure to create an image of a person having a BlurryFace, thus linking the title of the album with the image. The artist will make eye contact with the camera to create a personal connection between the audience and himself. This will also intrigue the audience as it will act like he is inviting the audience to find out about his dark story which adds to the mysterious aspect of the image and character, whilst also triggering the audience’s curiosity.
The image is a medium close up shot of the artist, which signifies that this is his album. The long exposure makes the artist look like he has three faces, indicating there is an imbalance/ impurity within him. The “impurity” is the mental illness that he suffers from. My music video explores the life of a student suffering from MADD in my music video, as a result, both products are linked. The image itself is too demonic for my liking so it acts as a rough guide for what my image will look like. My image will be a lot less sinister and more eye-catching as it will have vibrant colours. He will be wearing a black hoodie in the shoot to connote that he has been tainted and is impure (He has a mental illness). However, he will be wearing a white shirt underneath the hoodie to indicate that there is still purity and innocence inside him. This is reflective of people with mental illness being labelled and consequently being misunderstood; therefore, this product criticises the social stigma behind mental illness as it highlights the effects of the discrimination that people with mental illnesses experience because of their condition. The artist in the music video will be suffering from Mixed anxiety-depressive disorder (MADD), it is a diagnostic category defining patients who suffer from both anxiety and depressive symptoms of limited and equal intensity accompanied by at least some autonomic features. The music video will follow a day in his life where he wishes that he could go back in time to when things were simpler and ends with him having a mental breakdown whilst trying to revise for an exam.
My research showed me that most digipaks from this genre have a parental advisory logo on the cover as the Parental Advisory Logo helps to inform parents that songs or music videos contain explicit lyrics that might be consider offensive or unsuitable for younger children. However, this album doesn’t have any material that could be considered offensive or unsuitable for young children so I decided not to include it.
The typography of the album’s title is scruffy and rough revealing the genre of music that is explored on the album. Moreover, the denotation is that it looks handwritten, and the connotation is that the artist on the cover who is mentally unstable actually wrote it on the album during one of their breakdowns which thereby, makes the album feel more personal as it is the artist’s form of escapism from his mental breakdowns. Placing the title on the top central portion of the cover is a convention, as seen from my research, as it is clearly visible and does not draw attention away from the artist who is the main focus of the cover. The typography includes the title of the album, which is a much larger font than the artists name. The title of the album is font size 72 and the artist’s name is size 32. I chose to do this because I felt like the picture shows the audience who the artist is and if they want further information about him then they can explore his website. The font for the artist’s name uses a distorted font, connoting that he is different to most other musicians, alluding to his mental illness and therefore, creates a mystery about the character which is reinforced through the abstract image showing multiple heads. It is coloured orange to follow the colour schemes that the website uses, which creates continuity and develops a brand sense, showing that these two products are a part of the same brand.
Inside the Digipak:
When the digipak is opened there will be 5 panels. The disk panel shall be in the centre with four different panels surrounding it on each side. I chose to make the disk panel simplistic and minimal so that it would not distract the audience’s attention from the main focus; the images of the artist on the other four panels. The layout of the disc is inspired from my research on the Gorillaz digipak as they also only feature the title of the album and the band’s name on the disc. The inspiration behind the Maltese cross idea came from bands like the Gorillaz who also used this layout for their album ‘Demon Dayz.’ The strange and abstract layout is reflective of the style of music featured in the albums, that being alternative rock as it does not follow the conventional mainstream layout for a digipak.
The Four images around the disk will depict four different poses of the artist suffering from a mental breakdown. The current images are a loose guide to what will be produced. The images will be taken at a medium close up so that the audience can get a good look at him and so that the clothing can be seen so there are added connotations. The images will also be taken at eye-level to create equality between the audience and the artist, reminding the audience that although they look scary and weird, it is still a human being. The images will show the artist’s suffering in an explicit and graphic manner to highlight the pain and torture that people with mental illness struggle with. I decided to do this in an attempt to raise awareness to the issues of secondary school students struggling with mental illnesses, stress and anxiety as this issue is often overlooked and dismissed. So, this hyperbolic presentation of what it is like to suffer from these should help to change these attitudes.
The artist’s facial expression will be aggressive and overexaggerated to really emphasise how much people with conditions like this suffer. The denotation of this panic and desperation for help exposes what overwhelming levels of stress can do to a person and how it can have an intense effect on a person’s life, to a point where their life is ruined. The artist will also be wearing the same clothing that he wore in the music video thereby linking the two products. Moreover, there will be pictures of the artist on the website where he wears these clothes so the website, digipak and music video will all be linked together. Two of the pictures will show the artist holding onto his head, connoting that the main source of his pain is coming from inside his head. It also suggests that he is facing an inner struggle and fighting a war that is ongoing in his mind. One of these two pictures will show that the artist is covering his face, connoting that he is ashamed of himself, revealing the sad reality behind what some mentally ill people feel about themselves. I decided to create a picture like this to make the audience sympathise with the artist and make them feel like they must do something about this issue so that people like the artist don’t suffer in silence. The lighting will dramatically change the image as it will add an enigmatic feel to the image. It signifies that the audience do not know the artist’s story which is what will be explained in the album and music video. This is reflected in the photography as he does not make eye contact with the camera in any of the images that are inside the digipak.
Back cover:
The back cover includes an image of the candle that was used in my music video which thereby links the two products together. The candle is an extended metaphor for the artist and his current condition. The candle features in the choruses of the music video as it becomes relight connoting that he wants to go back in time to when he was younger as the artist is currently stressed out and his hopes, passions and dreams have been “extinguished.” The candle could also be representative of his mental stability and how it has faded over time and has finally been extinguished. A barcode is used to identify a sale, and is read universally. From my research, I have learnt that It is conventional to include barcodes on the back cover of albums. It is usually placed in one of the corners to ensure it doesn't distract attention from other elements on the back cover. So, as a result I have included a barcode on the back of my album in the bottom left corner, so that It doesn’t distract the audience’s attention away from the track list and the image.
From my research, I found that the track list is a convention of back covers. It informs the audience, showing them which songs are on the album. From the track list, they can identify popular singles which may have been released previously. I have written the track list in white as it contrasts the black background which allows it to stand out. All of the tracks are numbered so the audience can skip tracks if and find their favourite. I have put the titles of my tracks in size 18 font making them clear and readable.
Another convention which I found during my research is Copyright and legal information. These are usually discretely written in a small font at the bottom of back covers. This will be added to my final design for my digipak as it will make it look more authentic, genuine, and closer to a realistic media product as it will follow modern conventions. Moreover, I decided to include some symbols that fans of the artist associate themselves with as they call themselves ‘The Skeleton Clique’ which acts as a hidden extra to the more devoted and hardcore fans of the artist. Moreover, some symbols that were used on the official cover of ‘BlurryFace’ feature on the back of my digipak to act as an intertextual reference.
3 missing panels:
There are currently three panels missing. I missed these out due to the complex layout of the Maltese cross digipak. I have decided to add these in later with the final design for the digipak as they will be simplistic panels, two will have quotes with a black background and the other will feature the lyric “Wish we could turn back time” from the music video that I will be creating thereby linking the two together. There will be an image of the extinguished candle from the music video as the background for the lyric panel. It will act as a form of promotion for the music video, which in turn, could boost ad sense revenue gained from the extra viewers as fans of the digipak would watch the video on YouTube. I chose this line from the song because it highlights the artist’s longingness for the past and emphasises how much he hates life right now because of his condition and the stress he faces, which all adds to the point that I am trying to make about how serious mental illnesses are and how they should not be dismissed and overlooked when students suffer from them.
Spine:
I also forgot to create a spine for the digipak due to it being quite an overlooked part of an album. The spine I plan to create for the final design will be simplistic and will use the same fonts that are used on the front page of the album to create continuity. It will also use the black white and orange colour scheme that the digipak and website use in order to establish continuity and to connect the two products together.
Possible Quotes:
Here is a list of the possible quotes that I could use for the two missing panels:
"I'm not lazy. I'm just exhausted from fighting my way through every single day."
"Never let the options of others become the measure of your self worth."
"Don't let your struggle become your identity."
"If mental illness could be seen on a sufferer maybe society wouldn't say "just get over it."
"Not all wound are so visible. Walk gently in the lives of others."
"Masquerading as a normal person, day after day, is just exhausting."
"The greatest cruelty is our casual blindness to the despair of others."
"It's a disorder, not a decision."
The Two I Plan to use:
I let my target audience vote to choose which quotes they liked the best and these are the two winners:
"If mental illness could be seen on a sufferer maybe society wouldn't say "just get over it."
"Don't let your struggle become your identity."
Lyric I plan to use:
There was mixed feedback about my fonts, some said that it intertwines with the pic as they’re both disjointed i.e. ‘BlurryFace’ links with the literal blurred face. Whereas others said that they don’t like the fonts because they look too childish and immature for the genre of music. My response to this will be that I will run a tally with 10 people from my target audience to see which font they like the most and the winner of the poll will be used in the final design. By doing this I know that I will be appealing to the majority of my target audience even though the sample is small.
Others said that they liked the look of the disc as it looked professional. They particularly like the background of the disc and how it links with the front covers image.
My target audience also commented on how they particularly like the back cover as it has all the connotations expected to see like a barcode, however it is missing some copyright material which is a connotation of a back cover, so my response will be to add this missing content so that this feedback is fully achieved.
However, on the other hand, some of my target audience said that there were a lot of conventions of a back cover missing like: The artist's name, how the album name should be underneath the artists name, the barcode should be in the bottom right and corner and that there should be copyright information. They said that since it lacked all of this, it look unprofessional and unrealistic. So my response will be to do some thorough research into the conventions of a digipak back cover and adjust the layout so that it conforms to conventions. This will make it look professional and realistic.
One individual stated that they didn’t like the picture as it needs to look clearer and suggested that I should overlay a sharper image to achieve a cleaner look, however after I explained to him that it was meant to look like a mental breakdown he suggested to keep the abstract as it adds to the intensity of the attack whereas a clear image would subvert this desired effect.
A few people commented on the fact that the digipak was missing a spine and 3 panels so in response I will create them and add them to the final design. I will use their ideas and implement a line from the song on one of the panels and for the other two I shall use quotes rather than a fact about mental health. Using a line from the song will create continuity by linking the music video and the digipak which shows the audience that these two products are a part of the same brand.
One member of my target audience said that the image on the front cover looks to grey, going on to say that it made the cover look bland and boring. I will respond to this feedback by using a lighter shade of black and white so that the greyscale is not overpowering.
One member of my target audience said that I need to even out thee spacing on the back cover of the digipak as it is currently uneven. Currently, the uneven state subverts the authentic look that I was going for so my response will be to change it so that it is all evened out to make it look cleaner and sharper which in turn will make it look more authentic.
Layout of Digipak:
“Wish we could turn back time” with picture of the smoking
candle in the background.
Audience Feedback
and Response:
Others said that they liked the look of the disc as it looked professional. They particularly like the background of the disc and how it links with the front covers image.
My target audience also commented on how they particularly like the back cover as it has all the connotations expected to see like a barcode, however it is missing some copyright material which is a connotation of a back cover, so my response will be to add this missing content so that this feedback is fully achieved.
However, on the other hand, some of my target audience said that there were a lot of conventions of a back cover missing like: The artist's name, how the album name should be underneath the artists name, the barcode should be in the bottom right and corner and that there should be copyright information. They said that since it lacked all of this, it look unprofessional and unrealistic. So my response will be to do some thorough research into the conventions of a digipak back cover and adjust the layout so that it conforms to conventions. This will make it look professional and realistic.
One individual stated that they didn’t like the picture as it needs to look clearer and suggested that I should overlay a sharper image to achieve a cleaner look, however after I explained to him that it was meant to look like a mental breakdown he suggested to keep the abstract as it adds to the intensity of the attack whereas a clear image would subvert this desired effect.
A few people commented on the fact that the digipak was missing a spine and 3 panels so in response I will create them and add them to the final design. I will use their ideas and implement a line from the song on one of the panels and for the other two I shall use quotes rather than a fact about mental health. Using a line from the song will create continuity by linking the music video and the digipak which shows the audience that these two products are a part of the same brand.
One member of my target audience said that the image on the front cover looks to grey, going on to say that it made the cover look bland and boring. I will respond to this feedback by using a lighter shade of black and white so that the greyscale is not overpowering.
One member of my target audience said that I need to even out thee spacing on the back cover of the digipak as it is currently uneven. Currently, the uneven state subverts the authentic look that I was going for so my response will be to change it so that it is all evened out to make it look cleaner and sharper which in turn will make it look more authentic.
Layout of Digipak:
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