This blog post shows the research I've done and the progress to reach the final Digipak. This blog was mainly made by Kenzo and was assisted by Jeremy (with the visual effects and suggestions).The ResearchWhen doing the Digipak research, I used multiple social media apps such as Instagram, X, and TikTok to give me a wider understanding of how other artists construct their Digipak to fit their persona and the intended audience of their album. Our teacher told us to do 6 research of Digipak cover but I did 10 give us a better understanding of our genre.
1) Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep
Camera:
- Medium Shot: The angle of this shot is taken at eye level, and the lack of camera movement and angles makes this scene feel uncomfortable and eerie, as if something is wrong, even though nothing has happened. The position of Billie Eilish is facing directly to the audience and centred in the frame, also adding to the uncomfortable feeling.
Miss-En-Scene:
- Dark background: A calm but sad feeling. This also depicts a single character in a small, dimly lit room, which conveys loneliness and quiet.
- Simple and Plain costume: The loose and oversized white outfit shows vulnerability and links to the theme of sleep. The white contrasts with the dark black surroundings, making the image feel unsettling.
How does this reflect the Artist's Persona?
The digipak cover shows Billie Eilish as someone who enjoys darkness and emotional honesty. The unsettling of the scene, yet calm environment, shows Billie exploring her fear and her inner thoughts. Showing Billie in a dark room alone suggests that the artist is not afraid of confronting uncomfortable life rather than hiding from it.
Does the Artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
Billie Eilish does not have a strong traditional logo, as her branding often relies on mood, imagery, and minimal use of typography. However, this album cover is consistent throughout her other media, such as merchandise, music videos, and so on, which use low-key, moody lighting, an unsettling environment, and a minimalist aesthetic that prioritises emotions.
How has the Album Cover influenced you?
Even though the vibe given off from this digipak is really well created, our artist would probably not 100% follow this digipak design, as it's too horrifying and disturbing for the viewers. We would most likely only take the lighting from Billie Eilish and apply it to our digipak. Since this was the first digipak I researched, I realised that facial expression is also important, as it conveys what our character's overall personality looks like.
2) Arctic Monkeys - Whatever people say I am, that's what I am not
Camera:
- Medium Close-up Shot: The angle of this shot is taken at eye level, and direct framing makes this digipak have a raw, documentary style feeling. Additionally, it also uses the lack of camera angles, which creates a sense of unpolished realism combined with eye level view, suggesting honesty in everyday life.
Miss-En-Scene:
- Black and White colour palette: this creates an urban, gritty vibe. The urban vibe allows the audience to feel that the artist's lifestyle is similar to theirs.
- Simple background: Allows the audience to stay focused on the emotion and expression of character in the digipak cover.
- Cigarette: it helps to symbolise the character in the digipak as a rebellion and a youth culture type of person
- Plain clothing: it adds to the realism vibe, making it feel more depressing.
How does this reflect the Artist's Persona?
It portrays the artist as truly rough and honest, matching their songs about daily life, partying, and the young people's world. It gives off a strong, no-frills energy that highlights how down-to-earth and against mainstream trends they are.
Does the Artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
This artist has a logo, and they are named Arctic Monkeys. The font used in the text logo matches their indie identity, and with their other music albums, they have focused more on imagery rather than branding, which makes them consistent across their other media.
How has the Album Cover influenced you?
We will most likely create something similar to this album cover, as it does not require any complex props or visuals. A similar font used on the digipak cover could also be used on ours, as both of us share the same vibe and target audience for the music video. So far, this digipak is what we're looking for.
3) The Weeknd - Dawn FM
Camera:- Close-up shot: Eye levelled to show the audience the artist's expression, creating a direct connection with the viewer. It also uses a lack of camera angle, making the image feel reflective. Another thing is that it also uses a tight frame to show the artist's clear expression and his age in the picture.
Miss-en-scene:
- Dark background: shows the artist is isolated, combined with the tight space of the picture.
- Blue lighting: it shows the mood and vibe that the artist is full of sadness and loneliness.
- Plain clothing: The artist intentionally does this to keep the audience focused on the facial expression, similar to the previous digipak cover.
How does this reflect the Artist's Persona?
From the digipak, it shows that TheWeeknd is a self-aware and reflective artist. The old man shown in the image suggests that the artist is now matured and is looking back on his past choices. In this album cover, the artist is shown more in honesty and vulnerability rather than the normal artists who are mostly shown in glamorous and flashy lighting.
Does the Artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
The artist uses a simple text logo, such as "TheWeeknd /Dawn FM", similar to his other albums. The typography matches his intended retro radio vibe, and it feels like the branding is minimal and intentional. If we compare it with the other media of TheWeeknd, the design remains consistent, mostly showing his own singular face in the image.
How has the Album Cover influenced you?
Similar to the other album cover, the lighting and makeup show how important they are, as they can tell a story and create a first impression of the music to the audience. Another thing to mention is that facial expression could also be a good combination with the lighting to create a deeper vibe.
4)
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
Camera:
- Medium Close-up: the character is shown side-facing the camera rather than looking at the camera, which is something new compared to the other digipak I researched. The angle at which the album cover was shot makes the audience feel that they are observing the character.
Miss-en-scene:- Black and white colour palette: it gives an old classic vibe and a serious mood.
- Neutral face expression: It creates an impression on the audience that the character has detached from emotion and is depressed.
- Simple background: Similar to the other digipak cover I researched, the artist intentionally does this to make the audience stay focused on the subject, which is the face of the character.
How does this reflect the Artist's Persona?The album cover highlights the emotional depth of the Smith rather than the glamour, reflecting on Smith's introspective nature. The album cover rejects the norms of pop culture and instead tries to create an emotional feeling of detachment by using proper Miss-en-scene which is in line with the band's artistic identity.
Does the Artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
Same with the other artist I researched, The Smiths, uses a simple serif text logo for their band on the album cover. This style of logo remains consistent throughout other Smith's albums and merch. The reason they do this is probably because the band wants the audience to focus more on the message and make it feel more honest, rather than focusing more on the branding.
How has the Album Cover influenced you?
From this album cover, I like the use of the colour grading, although it is maybe way too dark for my album cover. I also liked how all the album covers have the same similarities, which is that they use simple, minimal font typography, as this creates a stronger meaning in their song.
5)
Keshi - Requiem
Camera:
- Long shot: the camera is positioned a bit distant from the artist to create a silhouette shot. This camera angle completely subverts a typical pop-star image, as the lack of eye contact suggests emotional detachment and avoids being too glamorous.
Miss-en-scene:- Low-key lighting: The image, combined with a strong backlight of the character, creates a dramatic silhouette.
- Dark, simple clothing: It adds up to the vibe.
- Lack of props: the artist wants the audience to focus on the emotion rather than on other objects.
- Unclear setting: the artist wants the audience to focus on the emotion rather than the location.
How does this reflect the Artist's Persona?
Keshi's persona is that of an introverted and emotionally honest artist, which matches the album cover vibe. It is shown through the silhouette that suggests the artist is having an inner conflict with his emotions. Additionally, the lack of visual images of unpolished scenes also reinforces this ideology.
Does the Artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
Keshi's logo is a minimalist typographic design that often only uses his name in bold with clean lettering. This also applies to his other media, such as the merchandise and vinyl designs. Having a consistent logo allows him to create a strong brand identity and cohesion across different platform making him gain a lot of fans.
How has the Album Cover influenced you?
I like how the cover has already told me what emotional expression I would get before listening to the song. The silhouette also made me feel that I can relate to this artist. However, I do not like the lighting of the album cover because it's way too dark and it does not fit with the album we are going to make.
6)
Jeremy Zucker - Love is not dying
Camera:
- Medium shot: It is also placed at eye level to create equality between the artists and the audience. The artist's head is shown tilted down while avoiding eye contact and is intentionally placed slightly off-centre, creating a sense of emotional imbalance.
Miss-en-scene:- Lighting: low-key lighting under the sunset with orange and a bit of mixed purple colour.
- Setting: Outdoor sky at dusk may symbolise that something is about to end, and a new life may begin.
- Simple costume: the artist is trying to make the audience relate to him.
- No props: the artist wants the audience to focus on the emotion rather than on other objects or status.
How does this reflect the Artist's Persona?The artist's persona is often seen as emotionally open and relatable by the audience. In this album cover, the artist's posture and lack of eye contact make him insecure and honest about vulnerability.His image as a bedroom-pop musician who prioritises authenticity over celebrity is linked to the natural setting and understated style.
Does the Artist have a logo? Is it consistent with their other media?
The artist does not have a visual logo; he relies on his handwritten style, typography and minimal graphic design. Throughout his career, this style has been shown consistently on his merchandise and vinyl/cassette designs.
How has the Album Cover influenced you?
I like how the album gives a healing lighting through the sunset setting and dusk sky, telling the listeners that it's going to be reflective music. Jeremy's closed body language promotes emotional connection and empathy. By this, it makes the audience listen to the record more intently and thoughtfully, instead of just carelessly
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DEVELOPMENT #1FRONT COVERThe front cover is the most important part of the digipak, as it gives the audience a first impression of how the music's vibe will be. Which is why Jeremy and I produced a lot of versions of the front cover and asked a few audience members which design is prefered the most.
1st Version:We didn't have any illustrations or whatsover however, we want to fuse Arctic Monkeys' digipak cover with our music video. We want the audience to feel that the character is trapped inside his own thoughts by making the character alone in a small room with his head down. Additionally, we want to tell the audience that it was his birthday, so instead of having candles on a cake, we added a cigarette on layers of bread. The cigarette on the bread suggests that the character is doing the bare minimum on a day that he's supposed to feel special about, combined with water from the shower raining upon him, telling that he's trying to cleanse himself from thoughts washing over him. We used the glowing question mark on his head to make the audience think that our character is uncertain of his identity.
After we finished the 1st version, we asked our teacher how the front cover looks and it was met with pretty good feedback. Here's what he said, summarised in points:
1) Good lighting, it gives a proper vibe to the music video
2) The question mark is a bit too off and dominating; this will pull the audience away from the better detail (like the cigarette on the bread)
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2nd Version:After receiving feedback from our teacher, we scrapped our first version and immediately worked on our second version. We decided to pick another picture that shows the bread and a cigarette, much more visible than our previous 1st version. We also experiment with different lighting and visual effects to try to give more options for our audience to decide.
(Fig2.1)
(Fig 2.2)
(Fig 2.3)
(Fig 2.4)
(Fig 2.5)On this attempton colour grading, I tried using Arctic Monkey's lighting, and it received good feedback from the teacher.
Throughout version 2, I experimented with different types of colour grading to ensure that it fits with the vibe we are looking for and the intended audience. I want to create a message just from the digipak cover, so I decided to choose Fig 2.2 because my intention was to make the colour gold to represent how Kenneth Lee is from the outside (giving a positive vibe as if the artist has successfully reached his goal) while the inside of the digipak is going to be dark moody blue to show Kenneth Lee's inner self (giving lonely and sadness feeling even though he succeeded). When the audience opens/listens to the digipak, it will make them feel as if they are entering into Kenneth Lee's emotions.
I intentionally covered Kenneth Lee's eye, as it creates a meaning of uncertainty and lack of clarity about his future life. Aditionally I added roses in the background as it symbolizes love and desire; however, I lowered the contrast of the roses and made them dark and a bit hidden, which makes the audience think that the artist emotionally wants that to exist but cannot be clearly perceived. I also copied most of the digipak research where the artists are centred in the frame. This makes the audience focused on the intended subject (which is Kenneth Lee). I think this is a good digipak design because it creates a powerful message without explanation.
DEVELOPMENT #2
DIGIPAK CONTENT
Version 1 (attempt made by friend)
Version 2 Mini vote
So it turns out version 2 was the chosen one. Even though it was a good attempt made by my friend, there are some flaws that it has (for example: The same digipak cover is used for the digipak content). In version 2, the content is divided into the left panel and the right panel. On the left panel, the artist is shot from a high angle, making him vulnerable, and the low lighting gives a sense of emotional heaviness and depression. We intentionally make the artist feel like he's doing too much but still is not enough, which fits the theme of the song. Not to mention, I also added a quote saying “I step into another year carrying the same unanswered thoughts,” which is not a dramatic quote but a reflective one, talking about how time is slowly passing, and growth is expected. On the right panel, it shows the shadow outline of the artist rather than the full person, which may suggest he has lost his identity.
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DEVELOPMENT #3
BACK COVER
(The original Picture we took)
The Final Version
For the final creation, I used Canva to help me edit the picture and the lighting. We used the bread and the candle as our main symbol on the digipak cover because it gives an impression to the audience that something is wrong, as this suggests that the character is celebrating nothing all alone. We intentionally make the candle flame small, showing that the fire is steady, to create a meaning that this character's loneliness isn't explosive but just constant (reminding him every single time). The dark background of the digipak used to isolate the bread and candle together, just like being mentally alone.
The gold exterior and the dark interior create a contrast that can represent the difference between Kenneth Lee's public identity and his private emotions.
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