CD Cover Research

DigipaksIs a compact disc that is used for the purpose of packaging. It’s usually in the style of a book and has front, back and an insert booklet.It usually portrays generic conventions that promotes an artist i.e. (The artist in an album wearing a lot of jewellery could connote that it is R&B)It also represents as a trademark of the band.

Conventions of a CD Cover

• Genre

• Lettering/font styles and size

• Image

• Stars/Icons

• Representation

• Audience

Genre

Genre plays an important role in the decision of what a CD cover looks like.If it was Christina Aguilera; her genre is Pop and RnB mainly, but it is also electronic. Therefore in this picture one half of her face could denote her electronic genre while the other half her RnB and Pop side. It could also connote that she’s going to mix her genre to make a hybrid

Lettering, fonts, styles and size could describe an epilogue of what will happen in the narrative/music video.In this case her first name in black and second name red ,dripping down could connote that it’s going to be about something dark and eerie . Her name being split in half, the same way as her face could describe the link between them and show that something is going to go wrong. The word ‘ Bionic’ is not so dominant compared to the picture however the brackets surrounding it shows that it is significant as well.

Image is one of the first things you look at when buying an album. It lets the audience conform with the Artist, which in the end can make them buy it.Strong characteristics are shown in Christina Aguilera’s album. The Artist filling up about more than half of the Album, a close up shot and Aguilera giving direct address to audience suggests to the Consumer that she’s very dominant and strong. Imag

e

Stars/ Icons usually conform to a genre that most of us like to listen to. However the more famous the Stars/Icons become the more dominating they are in the market ,where there would be hardly any space for niche markets to compete and grow. Beyonce is an example of this, she has been around for a long time so the Audience would feel more comfortable, if her album came out as we already know her. Sometimes big stars/icons go out of their genre, which can be risky but it won’t affect them much because the have a wide target audience.

Stars/Icons

Media producers use stereotypes to show representation. One of the most common representation is of women being portrayed as sexual objects in music videos for male audience.Some Artists break this voyeurism of women by wearing clothes that are not revealing and still get highly praised. Represent

ation

Audience is the most important when designing an Album Cover. As Artists create a representation of what is currently in trend, the audience would be the ones changing it. Every Genre has a target Audience. Hybrids are hard to determine as they are a mixture.Accessing and getting Audience’s attention is important, if not addressed correctly they might not want to conform with the Artist. Before it wasn’t easy for independent bands to get a target audience but due to digital technology growing, it is easier for independent markets to communicate. However this is the same for bigger companies and Artists.

Audience

CD Digipak

Album Cover

Back Cover

Spine

Song titles Band Name

Album Name

CDBand Name- so it is easy to pick up in a store

Front Cover

Back Cover

Inlay CoverCD Cover

Inside Cover

CD

Casual setting for the audience to easily conform to. The background is slightly blurred so that the Audience’s attention is focused on the couple. The blurred background make the scene calm and casual.

Name of Artist surrounds the Artist himself to address him and give audience information about him

Another convention folk/rock album cover is that a simple background is used and then a meaningful pattern is put on which relates to the Album and could sometimes also relate to the narrative of the Music Video

Surrealistic paintings are used to create meaning and expression.

Folk/Rock artists usually wear casual or formal clothing so that the Audience can easily conform and be relaxed by it.

Possible CD covers

I took pictures and chose these pictures specifically because I think they represent the natural setting and casual feeling that I want to show in my CD Digipak.

Typography

I wanted to display a typography that fit in with the Dorian Gray theme. Therefore a Victorian parchment like writing

Typography

Some of them were not chosen because when I placed them on the CD cover they were not visible enough. Some were scratchy and fady

Typography

Therefore I started to look at something more bolder so that it would catch the Audience’s attention and let them vaguely recognise what the album is about.