DIGIPAK ANALYSISES X3

Victoria Cowburn

PINK FLYOD – DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

PINK FLOYD■ Pink Floyd were an English rock band formed in London and founded

in 1965. The band were active between the years 1965 to 1994 and 2012 to 2014. famous for their progressive and psychedelic music. This was distinguished by their sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics, extended compositions and elaborate live shows making the band commercially successful and ‘musically influential groups in the history of popular music’.

■ ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ was released in March 1973, became an instant chart success it was a US number 1 remaining on the Billboard chart for more than fourteen years. In Britain the album peaked at number 2, spending 364 weeks on the UK chart and selling over 40 million copies worldwide making it the world's second best-selling album.

MAIN IMAGE/ARTWORK:The band’s eternally famous logo features as the main design of the front cover, covering the entire space. The iconic artwork was designed by Hipgnosis and George Hardie which features a beam of white light passing through a refracting prism. The stroke of light represents unity and the prism represents society in which the refracting beam of coloured light symbolises unity diffracted, leaving an absence of unity. This deep message evoked from such a simple design creates a sense of mystery for the contents of the album making audiences wanting to understand more about the meaning behind the design and music. The contrast from the multicolours to the pitch black background creates the colour palette of astronomy, as if a star is shooting through the sky. The large amount of black throughout the digipak links to the name of the album ‘dark side’ creating a connection between the conventions and a ongoing theme.However for the audience, black has connotations of mystery, evil and the unknown thus intriguing listeners to buy the album and look inside for more information. The main design is positioned in the middle of the front cover but stretches to each end, encompassing all the space. The overall very simplistic design evokes a lot about the persona of the artists; that they are more passionate their music rather promoting their star images which would be done by featuring photographs of themselves. At the time, Pink Floyd were already famous in the music industry therefore there was no need to promote their star images much further as they were already established artists. Despite the design being arguably quite basic, it is now known as one of the most famous album artwork’s in the world and now features on a range of merchandise such as t-shirts and canvas bags.

ALBUM NAME/ARTIST NAME:The name of the band and album are discreetly positioned together in the top right hand corner, far from the album’s artwork. Inserted in a small circle, the serif font is of a very small size coloured white in order to stand out against the black background. Due to the composition of these two conventions, it looks like a sticker on the cover especially as it is framed by two circles, creating an almost 3D effect. The subtly of these two conventions is done in order to not distract the audience’s eye from the main artwork and not to overcrowd or cluster the space in keeping with the simple design.

FRONT COVER

BACK COVER

MAIN IMAGE/ARTWORK:The same artwork is used on the back cover of the digipak as on the front cover. However here it has been horizontally flipped upside down, creating a more abstract piece of artwork. The size of the piece is composed slightly larger compared to the front cover but otherwise is near enough exactly the same. There is a strong sense of consistency from the front to back covers where the meanings behind the artwork are emphasised further and highlighted by the band.

TEXT:Interestingly, the conventions of a back cover have been massively subverted on this digipak. Conventionally, a track listing of the album is listed informing the audience of all the songs included. However here there is no text at all, giving the audience no information at all. When initially looking at this I was immediately confused as to why no information is mentioned, an impression given to most people. The lack of text keeps the audience guessing and intrigued to the contents of the album, a key way of selling a product. If text was inserted then it would have to be layered over the artwork, distracting the audiences attention away from it and possibly destroying the simplicity of the design. In addition to no track listing there is neither any copyright accreditations. Again the added text would possibly overcrowd the design however this means there is lack of protection of the artwork.

BARCODE AND RECORD LABEL LOGO:Only two are other conventions are confirmed to on the back of this digipak; barcode and record label logo. The standard composition of a barcode is subverted as here it is position at the top of the cover rather than the bottom. The barcode is an essential convention as it is needed when purchasing the product however to be different and unique the band have chosen to position it elsewhere. The ‘Harvest’ record label logo (belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI) is signally positioned at the bottom right hand corner, which can look slightly random and out of place but in keeping the quirky abstract design.

INSIDE COVER AND SPINE

MAIN IMAGE/ARTWORK AND RECORD LABEL:For the inside cover of this digipak, the convention of using a similar design to the front or back cover is exactly confirmed. Here, the artwork of the back cover is used creating a strong sense of fluency throughout the product. The Harvest record label logo is also included for copyright of production reasons, another standard convention that is used throughout the digipak. Pink Floyd have a very obvious theme and message of their album, where the logo is constantly used making it today so recognisable and well-known. Inside the booklet features the lyrics to each individual track, photographs of the band, copyright warns and compact disc information.

TYPOGRAPHY:All the conventions of a spine are used, making the album look legitimate and recognisable when searching for it on a shelf or in a shop. The same font is used for the band’s name as on the CD and a similar font for the album name as on the front cover. The bold typography style is furtherly conveyed making the words easily readable. The name of the record label and the catalogue/serial number is traditionally used positioned at the far end of the spine.

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Pink Floyd’s CD is the most informative segment of the digipak as it beholds a lot of useful text. The name of the album and artist are positioned at either end of disk in the same font as the spine, creating a fluent typography style. They are the largest features of the CD increasing their significance to the audience. The track listing is also finally included which is a typical convention of a CD but also very necessary for this digipak as it is not included anywhere else. All the copyright information is also included such as dates, record company names and producers protecting the contents of the disk. Information about the CD itself is used for playing purposes as well as the logo of the production company. The same sans serif font is used throughout and coloured all black, creating familiarity for the audience and sticking to the colour pallet of the digipak. The size of the fonts are all proportionally balanced as the track listing is easily readable and large highlighting its significance of the digipak compared to copyright information which most customers are disinterested in reading.

PEACE – HAPPY PEOPLE

PEACE■Peace are an indie rock band formed in 2009 in

Worcester, England and are still established to present day. Having grabbed the attention of musical institution NME in 2010 and compared to the likes of Vampire Weekend and Foals, the band were soon featured as part of the magazine's ’Ones to Watch ’ feature and released their first track ‘Bblood’ online in 2012.

■‘Happy People’ is the band’s second album and was released in 9th February 2015. Under Columbia record label the album peaked to number 12 in the UK charts.

The colour pallet of this digipak is obviously depicted from the front cover; consisting of different shades of blue and yellow. Blue and yellow are traditionally very calm and mellow colours which in keeps with the name of the band ‘Peace’. The colours however are also very bright and vivid connected to the ‘happy’ feel of the digipak. This is a subverted stereotype as most modern indie albums feature dull colours or are completely monochrome e.g. Catfish and the Bottlemen ‘Balcony’. The name of the band was inspired by a photograph celebrating the end of World War 2 which fitted in with feel of the songs they wanted to produce. The main image is a photograph of all four members of the band in a living room looking directly at the camera, thus creating eye contact with the audience. The photograph has been edited to create a distorted and manipulated effect as it curves into the middle. This emphasises the relaxed almost hippie feel of the digipak, highlighted by the artist name. The name of the album has also been abstractly transformed, looking as if it has been squished. The traditional peace symbol frames the photograph, a common feature of the band’s album front covers, also seen of their EP ‘Delicious’ making fans aware that both albums are produced from the same artist. The photograph can said to be ironic as the artists appear very serious and thoughtful rather than looking like ‘happy people’. This fits in with the indie persona of expressing moody expressions, especially in photographs. The geometric pattern in the background adds extra texture and interest to the front cover as well continuing the colour palette. The name of the band conventionally positioned at the top is of the same typography style as the album name positioned at the bottom. A serif has been used adding more character and style to each letter.

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A similar style of photograph is replicated on the back cover, consisting of the same models and location. Instead the main image on the back cover features a out of focus photograph of the lead singer Harry Koisser who appears to be taking an picture using a phone. This can be interpreted as Harry taking an picture of the audience, exciting fans and making the product feel more personal. Or, it could be Harry taking the image on the front cover giving an behind the scenes insight into the production. Layered underneath the main image, the same peace symbol and location of a room is used as on the front cover, creating a strong connection between the two covers. The composition of the track listing has been subverted as it is horizontally listed rather than vertically. Still separated by numbers, each track is typed in the same serif font as on the front cover informing the audience what songs are featured on the album. Underneath this convention is all the copyright information by the record label with the logos inserted next to. The parental adversary explicit content logo has to be included as some of the songs include swearing which younger listeners may find offensive. Usually parental adversary warnings are seen on rap or hip-hop albums rather than indie as they contain more explicit language and references, therefore this album has subverted the stereotype within the indie genre. As all the written and visual information is at the bottom of the cover, the barcode is positioned vertically in the top right hand corner, instead standardly horizontally at the bottom. This convention has been subverted due to the composition of the rest of the back cover leaving no remaining space of the barcode other than the top.The spine follows the same colour palette consisting of yellow, blue and white as seen on the front and back covers. The colours all very consistent and fluent throughout the album making it memorable and recognisable for future references. The same font is used as on the front cover for the artist and album name but has been changed to italics, making the text appear more relaxed and smooth. Other key and very important conventions are the catalogue number used by CD manufactures to search quickly and efficiently for certain products, a necessary convention of officially produced albums on sale.

BACK COVER AND SPINE

This CD design is very simplistic and lacks a lot of the standard conventions found on a disk inside a digipak. This includes no track listing of the contents of the album which is conventionally found on a disk to inform the audience when playing the music. The name of the artist and album is another stereotype subverted, however the CD is recognisable in other ways. The vivid colour scheme is presented throughout the digipak, including the disk making it obvious what artist and album the CD belongs. Also the thick blue peace symbol divides the CD into sections which features on the front and back cover, denoting the name of the band through the symbol. The necessary and relevant copyright credits are curved around the shape of the CD in basic a sans-serif font.

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SIMILARITIES BETWEEN ALBUM COVER AND MUSIC VIDEO ‘WORLD PLEASURE’

‘World Pleasure’ taken from Peace’s second album ‘Happy People’ was revealed on YouTube in March 2014 after the full album was officially released in February 2015. ‘World Pleasure’ was the first song to be revealed and was therefore seen as a tease to the fans awaiting the new album. The mise en scene of the music video is very similar to the artwork on the front cover of the album, particularly focusing on the costume. Bassist and back vocalist Sam Koisser wears the same brightly coloured black and yellow jumper in the photograph of the front cover and during the music video, creating a direct comparison between the two products. Another point of comparison is the structure of the peace symbol used to frame the artists, which has become apart of the band’s logo and highlights the name of the band. On the front cover the artists are positioned within the circular shape of the peace symbol over them, the same as the video. By making clear points of comparisons between the digipak and music video is creates a link between the two products and thus promotes one another , creating a sense of familiarity for the audience and a obvious image style.

CIRCA WAVES – YOUNG CHASERS

CIRCA WAVES■ British indie-rock band ‘Circa Waves’ were formed in 2013 in

Liverpool. The band consists of frontman Kieran Shudall (vocals and guitar), Sam Rourke (bass), Colin Jones (drums) and Joe Falconer (guitarist).

■ The band released their first studio debut album ‘Young Chasers’ on 30th March 2015 after being signed to Transgressive Records in the UK and Virgin EMI in the US. The band had a successful festival season playing at Glastonbury and Reading festival in addition to touring in October, headlining at O2 academy in Brixton, London.

The main image presented on the front cover fulfils a illustrated and cartoon style due to the quality and colours of the artwork. The name of the album ‘Young Chasers’ taken from the seventh track name is accentuated by the main image featuring a young boy running. The name can be interpreted as the boy chasing something, or being chased and running away, this is open for audiences to infer. The image over the boy has been Photoshopped over the sky background creating a surreal image that makes the overall piece abstract and quirky, a convention of the indie genre. The sunny sky background suggests the boy is running through the clouds, creating a unreal perception and evoking dreamlike qualities. The colour palette of white, blue and black is continued through the product, light blue being the dominant colour. Baby blue has connotations of new life and innocence, in keeping with the youthful aspect of the album conveying a moral or message to the audience. This message is to keep to continue to chase your dreams will you are still young, directly communicating to their young target audience of teenagers. Two different font styles are used are quite the opposite to one another in style. The album name is written a rough, hand-written font where shadowing has been used to create a slight 3D effect. The font looks as if it has been hand drawn onto the album, making it appear quite personal and informal. The calligraphy font used beneath the logo adds more design and interest to the front cover emphasised by being coloured black making it dominant on the page.

FRONT COVER

The back cover features the same subject of the sky, however here the colours are more muted and more clouds are included. This could demonstrate a more serious tone to the album contrasted against the bright and sunny front cover, conveying a more important message and mood. However the more subtle colours allow the increased amount of text to be more readable and dominate on the page against the main background image/artwork. The track listing, a convention of the back cover of a digipak, its vertically listed informing the audience what is featured in the product. The style and structure of this convention suits the indie genre, as it does not include numbers and is messily organised. The font remind me of someone's handwriting, similar to the font used on the front cover, creating a relaxed and informal style and mood. The messy handwriting resembles the youthful meaning behind the album conveying a clear theme and moral behind the work.

The other convectional codes of a back cover are positioned at the bottom including copyright information, the record label logo Virgin EMI and barcode. The conventions are structured in order of significance and importance, as the text at the bottom is least interesting to the young target audience. This hence reasons why the text is so small as most audience members would see it as irrelevant to the design and contents of the product. However such information is vital in protecting its contents and giving certain rights to the artist and record company. BACK COVER

The design of the CD is very basic and simplistic and some of the conventions of a CD have been subverted. This includes the track listing of the digipak, website addresses, production and manufacturing information. By not including these conventions the artist has subverted the conventions, adding to their indie persona and thus not committing to society’s conventions. The dominant colour taken from the outside of the digipak of baby blue fills the entire disk, adding to the fresh youthful nature of the band and target audience. The logo and album name have been inserted in the same font as the front cover at the top where the audience will be familiar with the layout. Around the edge of the disk copyright information similar to that displayed on the back cover is used in order for the record company and artist to claim all the rights of the product.

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