research: digipaks
TRANSCRIPT
Rihanna is known for her extensive collection of tattoos. The use of
having the title of her album appearing as a tattoo on her arm reflects her as a person and her
public image
Rihanna’s pose backs up the idea of her rebelling against
and challenging what is stereotypically expected from women. Having her tongue out and giving the
camera a menacing glaze is not considered feminine yet
she still embraces it
STANDARD COVER
DELUXE EDITION COVER
Parental advisory sticker gives a warning to whoever buys this
album of the explicit content in the music so they do not take
offence
In this album cover, Rihanna’s make-up is much more simplistic
which suggests that the extra songs that are featured on the deluxe edition of Talk That Talk may have a softer tone to them.
The name of the album is delicately written at the bottom which
contrasts the edgy appearance of the title on the standard album
cover.
Overall, this image is more compliant to the feminine stereotype of
women than the image presented on the standard album cover (ignoring
the smoke coming out of her mouth and her tattoo which support her
rebellious public image)
RIHANNA TALK THAT TALK – DIGIPAK FRONT COVER
As Rihanna is already a highly well known artist, her name is not
present on the front cover of her digipak for Talk That Talk. Her logo is all that is necessary to identify
her.
Her make-up is very dark and her hair is slightly messy. This creates a sense of a darker, edgy tone as
she is usually presented as a femininely pretty woman but now has decided to rebel against this
image. This edgy tone gives consumers an idea of what kind of
atmosphere the music on this album will create
RIHANNA TALK THAT TALK – DIGIPAK BOOKLET
Lyrics to a featured song, 'You Da One', are shown to link the visuals to the content of the album.
Seductive and playful poses reflect her fun songs and mature lyrics
Provocative clothing creates a male gaze and draws in male audiences
Her cigar creates a ‘bad girl’ image that Rihanna has been famous for ever since her Good Girl Gone Bad album in 2007
Rihanna is a style icon who is famous for her unique fashion sense – this is shown in this digipak booklet as she is wearing trendy outfits which her female fans would want to imitate
Androgynous style supports her rebellious image as she rebels against what it means to be ‘feminine’
Rihanna is a style icon who is famous for her unique fashion sense – this is shown in this digipak booklet as she is wearing trendy outfits which her female fans would want to imitate
STANDARD BACK COVER
DELUXE EDITION BACK COVER
RIHANNA TALK THAT TALK - DIGIPAK BACK COVER
She has a mixture of femininity and masculinity. She is wearing a suit jacket
and a bow-tie with a cigarette. However, the
stockings are very revealing and feminine
Follows conventions of back covers of CDs as the number of songs,
running order of tracks and track listing are all
present. They are written in red which
contrasts the black and white effect of the rest
of the back cover in order to make them
stand out as the music is the main focus of the
whole package.
Production details are in small print as they are
not important to Rihanna’s fans but must
be present for legal reasons. This includes
credits towards the production team, record
labels and copyright information
The black, white and red colour scheme is very simplistic. The lack of a polished design complies with the idea of Rihanna being rebellious.
Rihanna’s sex appeal is presented in the image of her that is on the back cover. Her shorts are very revealing as they are ripped and so show a lot of skin. Also, she has slid her jacket down to tease viewers of the album.
KINGS OF LEON ONLY BY THE NIGHT – DIGIPAK FRONT COVER
The front cover of this album is split into four equally sized sections, all containing a section of each band member’s face. Their faces have been edited to make their faces merge into one. This suggests that as a band, they are equal and as family (the band consists of three brothers and their cousin), they are so close, they are like one person.
As an American band, the use of an eagle merged with their faces suggests patriotism. The eagle is also a symbol of freedom and courage suggesting that they have grown to become more fearless and adventurous with their music in this album.Some argue that this is not an eagle and may be an owl which symbolises night time (which links to the title of the album) and also wisdom (again shows their growth and increased wisdom in this album)
Eye contact with the consumer intrigues them to buy the album as it creates a personal connection between them an d the band. The serious facial expression of the band members – the stern eyes of the top two and lack of a smile from the bottom two – suggests that this album will have a serious tone to it
As the band is already very well known, the font used for their name is very small. Due to the band’s success, they do not need any extravagant ways to promote themselves.
KINGS OF LEON ONLY BY THE NIGHT – DIGIPAK BOOKLET
Images have a minimalist theme – does not distract from the music as that is intended to be the main focus of the entire product
The front cover of the digipak includes straight-faced portraits of the band members merged together – here, their pictures are separated and we are able to see them all individually. This suggests that, although they are united through their band (as shown on the front), they are still individuals and the album may contain stories from their individual lives
Continues with the green colour scheme – links the whole album together and presents it as a strong body of work
Serious facial expressions suggest that the songs on the album talk about serious events in the band’s lives
No writing – lets the music speak for itself
KINGS OF LEON ONLY BY THE NIGHT – DIGIPAK BACK COVER
The continuation of the bird image on the back cover shows that the sybolism of the eagle/owl continues throughout the album. It presents the band as having strong personalities which do not change when confronted with the difficulties in life that they describe in their heartfelt songs
While on the front cover the picture is split into four and merges the images of the band members with the bird, on the back, the four sections are completely made up of the back of the bird. This shows that on the surface, they are simple human beings but behind the scenes, they are more free and wise.
The font on both covers of the album resemble the font used in surveillance footage. This could represent the band’s feelings of being watched since becoming famous and being in the public eye. It could also suggest their fear of danger as it is often the military that use this font – they may fear being attacked by an army of journalists.
Mock coding is used for the track listing to continue the military tone. Green font is used for the coding but the titles of the songs are written in white in order to make it stand out.
The names of the producers and record label logos are included for legal reasons but are written in a dark grey colour on a black background because they is not deemed important by Kings of Leon fans
DAFT PUNK DISCOVERY – DIGIPAK FRONT COVER
The font style of the duo’s name is consistent throughout all of their albums which makes it easy to identify a Daft Punk song and acts as their logo. However, the colours change with every album to present its tone. For example, the colours on this album cover are much more futuristic than that of their debut album as the album.
The simplicity of the album shows that the duo’s name is all they need to promote their album as their name is well known and fans would trust them to make something of high quality. The simplicity of the album cover also means that it will be timeless as it is not something that will lose relevance over time.
The appearance of the writing makes it look like the logo was created out of liquid silver. This highlights the quality of the duo’s music as their name has been written with a precious metal.
The rainbow colours behind the font suggest a positive tone as a rainbow is a beautiful product of something negative such as rain. The use of a rainbow amongst dark colours such as sliver and black adds a fun, bold aspect to a simple album cover. This could show that the music on the album is the breakthrough of positivity from the darkness
DAFT PUNK DISCOVERY – DIGIPAK BOOKLET
Lyric booklet encourages listeners to sing along. The songs to all of the lyrics are included in order to get everyone to join in
Daft Punk create party songs so they aim to create a union of fans and form them into a community – by getting their fans to sing together word for word, the duo have achieved this
An image of the duo is shown so people can identify them
Instruction manual on how to get to the fan club on the computer – continues the robotic theme that the duo have established through their robot headwear.
The colour scheme of black and white with splashes of colour is continues in the digipak booklet
Legal information is included on the back of the booklet in order for it to not disrupt the minimal images on the front and back of the digipak.
DAFT PUNK DISCOVERY – DIGIPAK BACK COVER
The font style and colour is very simple as it continues with the album’s simplistic theme. It stands out amongst the plain black background to highlight the music as the most important part of the whole digipak
The duo’s logo and their record label’s logo are featured as the main contributors to the production of the album. The logo of the Daft Punk fan club, Daft Club, is also featured in order to thank the duo’s fans for helping their first album to succeed and give them the opportunity to create a follow up. In this sense, they feel that the Daft Club deserve just as much credit for the creation of the album as those who physically worked on the songs with them.
The track listing is the main feature of the back cover because Daft Punk did not want to distract from the music with any extravagant effects and images. This shows that the music can speak for itself and does not need any other features to express the tone of the content.