I made this CD digipak on Adobe InDesign which was my first time using the software, I found it easy to understand and simple to navigate. The design was inspired by the creative photography set in rural locations as seen on Corrine Bailey Rae's album, The Sea, and Noah and The Whales album, The First Days of Spring. I wanted to capture the beauty of nature to reinforce and evoke the subject matter of the majority of the artsit's songs. However I still wanted to include the artist in the imagery as I think it's important for the target audience to recognise the artist. Kate Nash's album, My Best Friend is You, doesn't feature an image of the artist which is different as it doesn't follow the typical pop conventions for a CD cover, but I don't think it is very successful as the audience can't feel connected with the artist or relate to the artist as they don't know what she looks like.
I chose the close up of the artist for the CD cover as I think it's more personal and I like the way the sunlight frames her head so she really stands out. Her face is looking upwards, which makes it appear as if she is looking towards the text on the cover, as I positioned the text in her eyeline, thus making it the focal point of the image. I have used the rule of thirds within the front cover to make it more asthetically pleasing and easy to understand for the target audience. The background of the branches evokes nature which makes the subject flow throughout the music video and the ancilary products. The rural setting also follows the typical Indie music conventions, as I have analysed many Indie CD digipaks which include references to nature e.g. Jack Johnson, Lissie, Florence and The Machine. The artist's costume of the leather jacket evokes toughness and a sense of adventure, which illustrates the mood I would like the music video to subtley convey.
The typography of the artist's name has a serif style which is flowing and conveys elegance, sophistication and femininity, thus appealing to the target audience of girls aged 14 - 19 years old. The typography of the album name, track titles and lyrics is in a son-serif type writer style which is bold, simple and quite rustic, thus portraying the key features of Indie music. The blue colour of the text amplifies the name of the song, Against The Wind, whilst also has connotations of peacefullness and the sea (which again amplifies the imagery featured in my music video). The blue colour also makes me think of freedom, as I wanted the design of this digipak to convey the feeling of growing up and breaking free from the mould (which highlights the meaning behind the lyrics of Against The Wind).
The other photos featured within the digipak all link back to the main theme of nature, with the artist interacting with nature in a wooded area. The sun was just setting when I took the photos which was perfect as my music video is going to feature a sun rise so there will be a continous theme through my final products. I like the atmosphere the sunset evokes; it's quite a meloncholy feel as it has connotations of an ending, be it the ending of a day, the ending of a life, or it could be represented as the ending of childhood. This is why I chose the photo where the sun is almost fully set for the end panel of the digipak as it symbolically illustrates the end. I have edited all of the photos on photoshop to brighten them, thus evoking a happy, cheerful mood and conveying the sense of a summer's day (despite it being a chilly Autumn day!).
I wanted some of the photos to include the artist with her guitar to convey the authenticity of her music and to also enhance the acoustic/indie vibe of her music. The costume of a maxi skirt, vest and pendant portray a slightly hippie style which follows the typical conventions of indie pop music. It is also valued as a trendy outfit within our target market, thus making the album appeal to them. All of the photos convey quite an isolated feel as the artist is on her own, however this reflects the depth of her lyrics and also makes her the focal point of the audience's attention. I tried to get the artist's poses to be as natural as possible to portray a laid back, free spirit personality to reinforce the stye of the music video.
I will show this design to members of my target audience and get them to assess the appealing quality of the digipak; I will ask them if they would consider buying it if they saw it in a CD shop, and what I coud do to improve the overall design so that it appeals to other members of my target audience. I think I will need to improve the text on the digipak as I'm worried it isn't 100% easy to read; the light blue colour doesn't stand out very clearly and the size of the text for the lyrics is too small. So I will evaluate these aspects and alter them for my final design.
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