Digipak so far...

My Front cover so far, not finished yet!

How it looks with the back cover and Track List 

Editing Digpak: DAY 2

Cover of my Digipak so far! (STILL UNFINISHED) 

As of now, my Digipak's front and back cover is 90% completed. I continued to use PhotoShop Elements to edit and just finish off the where I stopped last time.

Rihanna's Loud album was the album I used to help me with the layout and act as a guide when I was editing
my album

The back cover.

Digipak cover, spine and back! 

Editting Digipak : DAY 1

Screenshot of the first step of editing

Using Photoshop Elements, I have attempted to edit my Digipak cover. While I was editing, I asked Tony (media teacher) for feedback on my first edit. He told me that the the "Eliza and the Crystals" wasn't bright enough, so I changed the background colour darker to contrast against the white font.

Before I change the colouring, the background was lighter

After, background and image is darker.

Digipak Mockup

This is my finished Digipak mockup! I have used a print out of the 

image and used chalk on black paper! 

Photos considered using for Digipak & Advertisment

Here are the 4 images that I will use for my Digipak and Advertisement.

Out of the hundreds of images we have taken, I have narrowed it to just 4 images that I will be suitable for my digipak and advertisement.

For my Digipak Cover,  this if one of the 2 image I think of using for the Cover of my digipak. The reason why I have considered using this image for the Cover is because it's fresh and unique. There's so much personality in this image, that I it would look good on the CD sleeves in stores or even on iTunes.

Other photo I think of using for the cover of my Digipak is the photo on the left. It's quite a close tight shot of the artist's face which I like! All the real album's I have analysed, the artist's face is usual quite up in the frame. 

As for the back cover of the digipak I don't want to use and image of the artist like Marina and the Diamond's album back cover. 

Analysis of 3 Digipaks

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE - LUNGS

Florence +the Machine - Lungs Digipak

This is the Florence and the Machine digipak for her album 'Lungs'. As the original artist of the our chosen song 'Spectrum' is Florence and the Machine, I have chosen to analyse her digipak. As well as her name, her genre of music is very similar to ours, and this would definitely relate to our target audience. 

<-----This is the back cover of Florence and the Machine - 'Lungs" digipak It has the track listing, barcode, website and detail of the record company which is - Universal Records.  It also has a big drawn image of lungs relating it back to her album name.

Back Cover

CD 

 The image on the CD is simple. It has the album name across it which is very clear to see with the background image of hands.


This is the front cover of Florence and the Machine - 'Lungs' digipak. It has the artists/band name at the top which is very bold and clear to see. The mid shot of Florence herself takes up the whole of the front cover stating her album name 'Lungs' at the bottom. She used a prop in this image which is the lungs itself, this clearly links to the album name.

The spine of the digipak with the artist and the album name on it.



LANA DEL REY- BORN TO DIE

Front Cover

Lana Del Rey is an American artist and the reason why I chose to analyse her digipak is because her genre of music which is indie pop relates to our genre of music. As our music genre is the same this would definitely relate to our target audience.

This is the front cover of Lana Del Rey's album 'Born to Die'.  This front cover is very similar to Florence and the Machines album cover of Lungs. They both consist of a mid shot image of the artist taking up the whole of the front cover and in this case Lana Del Rey. The artist name is at the top and is also very bold and clear and the album name in at the bottom in red contrasting to the rest of the album front cover.

This is the back cover of Lana Del Rey's album 'Born To Die'. This is very simple and doesn't have an image and is all text, however it is very bold and clear to see. The back cover does follow the conventions as it does have a track list, a barcode. the website and the legal information underneath the barcode and the record company logo on the corner. 

CD

The spine of the digipak with the album name and record company logos on it.-->

 <---The CD is very simple it just has roses on it, I think the simplicity works well with this.

RITA ORA- ORA

 Rita Ora is another artist that has influenced or artist. The reason why I chose to analyse her digipak is because her general style is street which is very similliar to our artists, however our artist is more towards the grundge. This would definitely appeal to our target audience as both of their styles are very similliar.

This is the front cover of Rita Ora's album 'Ora'. It is a close up shot of her which takes up the whole o fthe album cover which I particularly liked. The artist name is in red at the top but not covering her face, the red makes it bold and stand out. The album name is at the bottom also in red .


This is the back cover to Rita Ora's album 'Ora'. It has several pictures of Rita and has the tracklist in red which makes it stand out. There is a barcode, the name of the record company and the legal information at the bottom. Also on the spine of the digipak it has the artists name and album name, also the name of the record company.

The cd is simple and in red which I really liked. It has the artists name and album name on it.

Progress Review Blog: Hannah D

Progress Review Blog: Nadia

Genre related Magazine Analysis

We are also asked to create an advertisement for our album! To help us get a sense of what the purpose and style a real advertisement should feel and look like, I have looked in several magazines to find advertisements of artist's who relates to my genre. 

Here's my Analysis on Florence + the Machine's advert I found in NME magazine. We used Florence + the machine's Spectrum song in our music video, so Florence + the Machine shares the same genre of music our artist does.

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LadyHawke's was another advertisement I came across. LadyHawke is a electro-pop/indie rock artist originally from New Zealand but relocated to London. Her genre of music is similar to our artist and she's a Londoner. Her audience are quite indie londoners who loves to go to festivals, similar to our target audience. 

Overall, an advertisement must reflect the album! The colours/image/fonts has to been similar or even the same to give the audience what kind of feel the album has to offer!  

Do & Don't of Design Work

Colour Schemes

Our album name is 'AURORA' so it makes sense if we reflect the colours that the aurora emits. Here are just 4 colour scheme that I have created using Photoshop. I have taken different images of an Aurora and created a colour palette reflecting the images. My favourite colour scheme is 'Colour Scheme 1' and I mostly likely to use the colours in 'Colour Scheme 1' in my album because 'Colour Scheme 1' only really have 2 colours and all the albums that I analysed follow the same colour counts! When you think of an Aurora too, you instantly think of the dreamy green colour, so that was another reason why I have chosen 'Colour Scheme 1'. 

Shortlist of Layout and Design

All of the album covers I have analysed and all the artists that has inspired our artist, their album all have a close up or a mid-shot of their artist as the cover. So I have chosen to follow the same path as they did and I have chosen to use a close-up of my artist's face as the layout of my artist's album.

Shortlist of Fonts

Here's a shortlist of different fonts we liked on PhotoShop. The fonts we liked and might consider using are written in black! 

'AURORA' Tracklist

X Factor Final 2012- 'Spectrum' Calvin Harris remix

On Saturday the X Factor Finalists performed a mash-up of different songs and the Calvin Harris remixed version of Florence + the Machine's 'Spectrum' was one of them! This shows how popular our song choice is! The finalists sung it well too!

Digipak Photoshoot Photos

There was so many photos from the photoshoot for our digipak, 

so here's a few photo for the blog!

Digipak Photoshoot

Remina taking her photos for her digipak. 

As a group we wanted to follow the same style of album covers of Marina and the Diamonds, Rita Ora etc. They all have plain, background and a close up portrait of the artist as the album cover. We booked room 333 to use the green screen to act as our plain background that would be easier later to photoshop out the background. We used Hannah D's Canon 600D to take the photos.

Location of the album shoot                         Hannah S. testing out the camera                                          Action

We took 171 photos! 

The photo shoot was a success! Everyone got a turn to take photos for their album cover and took quicker than expected! 

Album Cover Photoshoot Inspirations

No background and we looked at the shot angles and distance

Before we went to shoot for our Eliza and the Crystal's digipak photos and album cover we looked at artist's that has inspired us and our artist. We look at how they pose and the images that are used in their album. We looked at Rita Ora, since her style has always influenced us. 

• We noticed that with her album cover and most of her digipak picture there is not background. The background tends to be a flat colour. 
• We look at the angle and the shot distance of the camera to help us with our photoshoot. 
• We also look at what she wears, so on the day of shoot our artist knows what to wear that we make her, the artist stands out like Rita Ora. 

We notice Rita Ora loves to wear leather,  this is a moodboard we put together to help us inspire our artist and what she might wear on the day of the album photo shoot.

We looked at Marina and the Diamonds too, the way her photos have been taken and the pose she does for her album and photoshoots.

Rita Ora Billboard Advertisment

When I was on the way home from shopping on Sunday. I came across this billboard poster advertising Rita Ora's ORA album. I notice she still uses the same image she used for her album cover and the same font and colour schemes still applies to her billboard advertisement.

Analysis of 3 genre-related Digipaks.

To create a successful digipak, researching is key. In this blog post I'm going to look at three digipaks that relates to my genre and how the existing digipaks has appealed to it's audience and relate to the genre.

Rita Ora has been one of the main source of inspiring our artist and her image. Left, is the album cover of her 'Ora' album and the other, the deluxe ver. of the album.

• The image used is definitely appropriate because it's an extreme close up of her face and she is trying to sell her and her music. The album and the image used is focused only on her. 
• Only two colour are used in both of her album and the font used are clear and easy to read!

I love the simplicity of this album cover. Even though the photo used is loud and expressive! The black and white photo is contrasted by the bold and strong colour of the font.

                                                The CD                                                                                   The Back Cover

The colours red and black is used out constantly through out the digipak which I think is very effective and now the colours associates with her! RED, WHITE and BLACK are both very bold colours reflecting her personality and music. For my album, I will also try to use only 3 colours! 

Our artist's style/fashion is inspired by Rita Ora and Rita's target audiences are similar to our artist. 

17 year olds + females. 

Our artist is also heavily influenced by Marina and the Diamonds. The name for our artist, Eliza and the Crystals was also inspired by her. Marina and the Diamonds share the same type of genre that our artist is promoting. Indie pop, New Wave, Synthpop, Electronic. The front cover of the album shares the same layout as Rita Ora's album. A close up image depicting the artist's face, with the artist's name and the top and the name of the album at the bottom! 

• Even though there is more than 3 colours used in the album, the colours used has a similar feel. The dark blueish undertone. 
• The font used is all the same excluding the copyrights. 

Marina and the Diamonds 'Electra Heart' album is personally one of my favourite. I love the colour palette used. I think the colours set to the mood of the album, a very Indie pop, electronic vibe. Which I'm very interested in recreating for my artist. 

Our music video track; Spectrum is originally sung by Florence and the Machine. Her genre of music is similar to Marina and the Diamonds. So it was inevitable I analyse her Digipak. Florence and the Machine shares the similar name to our artist as well as genre of music, although Florence and the Machine is more Indie-Rock, where as Eliza and the Crystals is Indie-Pop. 

As for the cover of her album:

• Everything on the front and back cover is in black and white. However, the image of her is in full colour contrasting against the black and white theme. 

• The font used for Florence + the Machine is the signature font that the band uses when 'Florence + the Machine' is written.

All analysed album have the follows the conventions of a digipak: 

Overall, all the artist's albums I have analysed they follow all the code of conventions.  They also seem to all include a close up portrait of the artist as the cover album art, which I will in-corporate into my album cover. All the album's I have analysed are all English female singers that all shares similarity to my artist from style and genre of music.