Planning the digipak - Miss Miller

The digipak

A digipak consists of a gatefold style, which is a similar style that is used for books and usually has a paperboard or cardboard outer binding which makes up 6 sides in total, this provides an artist with the opportunity to include more for visual artwork of a higher quality, for example, an image of themselves, and information about themselves for their fans benefit, for example, a digipak will often contain a letter from the artist directly for the audience that helps to add a 'personal' feel to the album as the audience will feel as though they are the only ones that the artist have done this for and that they are directing the letter directly to them and not to hundreds of other people. Digipak's are often used for CD singles or special edition CD albums and are therefore seen more as a collectable and are arguably worth more to the audience due to the fact that there will be the idea that not everybody is going to have them and that they may also include bonus tracks that are not found on the CD. There is usually an unspoken competition between fans regarding who knows more about the artist, or who has met the artist the most amount of times, therefore the audience will want to own something related to the artist that feels more valuable than just a regular CD.

On the other hand, a Jewel CD case which is most commonly used CD case and the one you would expect to see protecting the CD's when they are sold in shops, has a plastic outer shell which helps to protect the paper and CD that can usually be found on the inside, therefore the CD is likely to last longer and may cause the artist to be viewed as more professional. Also, the album details, such as song and album names, are usually solely on the front and the back of the case which is often see-through, therefore this helps to grab the audiences attention because it allows them to see all the necessary information, and if they already know what the album cover looks like it will make it easier for them to spot the album in the shop. Furthermore, a jewel CD case usually contains a booklet made up of the lyrics of the songs from the album, which may appeal to the audience because it will allow them to learn the words to some of their favourite songs.


I will be creating my own digipak for Gabrielle Aplin, who is the artist I have chosen to use for my final music video production in order to promote the artist as well as the album that she has released. Planning is important in order to create an effective digipak because I will need to think about the colours and images that I am going to use, and the information that I am going to include in order to promote the artist and her new album well so that an audience will want to buy it. Furthermore, planning the digipak helped me to decide which conventions I should include so that an audience will associate the digipak with the artist and the indie genre, for example, the use of isolated locations shows the artist as being an individual, and the use of affordable clothing which she will be seen wearing in the images will help her to be seen as more relatable, due to the fact that her audience may not be able to afford designer brands that celebrities are often associated with wearing.


I decided to use a variety of colours on my digipak, in particular natural colours for the images of the artist, for example, there will be no special effects added onto the image because I want her to appear more genuine and relatable, which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie songs are often based on real life experiences, which is why their music often feels more realistic and makes the audience feel as though they are not going through these experiences alone. I wanted the colours of my digipak to convey the emotions of the album, therefore the use of colours such as blue and purple compliment the song names "please don't say you love me" and "home" which sound as though they are going to be personal to the artist which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists often write their own songs that are based on real life experiences. Furthermore, I used the colour blue on every slide within my digipak due to the fact that the indie genre is often perceived as being emotional and the colour blue relates to the term "feeling blue" which implies sadness and suggest that her songs are going to have a deeper meaning to them. These colours will appeal to the target audience who will be keen to know more about the artist and will feel as though they will be able to do that by listening to her music which is personal to her. Also, these colours will help me to promote the artist effectively due to the fact that the target audience will want to know more about the artist and the use of these colours will suggest that her music is going to tell them more about her due to it being based on real life experiences. She will be viewed as more realistic and as someone who the audience can relate to, which will make it easier for them to build a relationship with her because she does not flaunt the money that she may have and her fame to an audience who may not be able to relate to that type of lifestyle.

For the cover of the album and digipak I decided to use a close up of the artist which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that they help the audience to see how the artist is feeling and will give the digipak more of a personal feel because indie artists are often perceived as writing songs that are based on real life experiences that they believe the audience will be able to relate to so that they can show them that they are not going through these experiences alone. The use of a close up could represent the artist as being more realistic because they audience will be able to see how she is really feeling, rather then how she wants the audience to think she is feeling, which therefore makes things seem better than they already are. I also decided to use side profile images of the artist in order to suggest the idea that there are many different sides to a musician, especially indie artists who often use their music to tell their audience more about themselves, due to the fact that their songs are often based on real life experiences. I felt that the use of these images would help my artist to be perceived as more down to earth due to the fact that she can be seen wearing affordable clothing, for example, leggings and a grey tee shirt, natural looking makeup and in easily accessible locations, which implies that she has not been changed by the music industry in order to fit into the mainstream and that she enjoys what she does, which suggests to the audience that she is passionate about sharing her music, as opposed to just being in the industry for the money. I also decided to use an image of the sky for the CD itself, due to the fact that the weather often connotes the idea of different emotions, for example, sadness which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as writing their own music that is based on real life experiences, which therefore allows the audience to get to know more about them through the stories that they tell them and helps them to be viewed as more realistic. The use of these images will appeal to the target audience who will be able to clearly see what the artist looks like, and therefore if they see images of her in other aspects of the media, such as a magazine article they will be more likely to want to find out more about her which will help to increase her exposure within the music industry which could also help to make her more successful, as there may be magazine readers who do not know who she is, but may be interested to listen to some of her music after reading about her. Furthermore, the use of these images promotes the artist as being more natural, due to the fact that she appears happy and caught in the moment, especially in the side profile images of her, which suggests that the picture could have been taken by a friend, rather than for the purpose of the digipak. The use of images overall will benefit the artist due to the fact that they will help the audience to recognise her and her album when they are looking in stores that sell music.

The front cover of the album clearly tells the audience the name of the album and artist, and shows them an image of what she looks like, which is beneficial to the audience because it shows them what to look out for if they want to buy her album in the shops. The audience are shown all of the necessary information, for example, the name of the album and artist are in bold above the image of her which could suggest that she is trying to promote her music rather than herself, which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are perceived as caring more about sharing their music with an audience rather than trying to become as famous as they possibly can, which therefore implies that they are not in the industry for making money and helps to explain why they are always on the road performing for their fans. Furthermore, the written information within the digipak is separated between images of the artist, one of her side profile, laughing and one of her standing in front of a brick wall, isolated locations of which are conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as doing their own thing and as not fitting into the mainstream. Also, the image of her laughing suggests that the shot is candid and helps to represent her as being more natural due to it suggesting that the picture was taken by a friend, rather than for the purpose of a digipak, therefore she is not posed for the camera and is not trying to make herself look as good as she can, which helps to make the digipak and the artist feel more realistic because nobody looks good all of the time. Also, the audience may not be able to afford plastic surgery which is often associated with the music industry to make celebrities who are constantly in the public eye appear younger than what they are. On the back cover of the digipak the audience are shown a list of her song names, for example, "home" and "salvation" due to the fact that some of these songs will have been released before the digipak itself, therefore if the audience have already listened to these songs and like them, they will be more inclined to want to buy the full album. Also, the songs are written in order from the shortest length of the song name to the longest, due to the fact that, not only did I feel this was nicer for the audience to look at, but it also made it easier for them to read because the words flow the same way their eyes will as they are reading.

The typography that I decided to use for my digipak appears to be handwritten which I felt would help me to give my digipak more of a personal feel to it because it will look as though it has been written by the artist herself, which I hoped would help to try and persuade the audience to buy the album because there will be the idea that they will be able to feel closer to the artist, which is also conventional to the indie genre because indie artists are often perceived as writing their own songs that are based on real life experiences which allow them to tell the audience more about themselves and is beneficial for the audience due to the fact that Gabrielle Aplin was new to the music industry, therefore not many people will know that much about her and so the digipak will need to promote and introduce her into the industry which will allow her to build up an audience who she will be able to direct her future songs towards and who are going to buy her music. Furthermore, on the fifth side of the digipak I have included a written message from the artist thanking her audience because I feel that this will help to give the digipak more of a personal feel to it because the audience will feel as though the message is directed to them and not to hundreds of other people, and the message itself tells the audience how the artist feels about them. A digipak may often be seen as more valuable due to the fact that a typical jewel CD case does not include a message from the artist and usually contains less images and information about the artist, therefore the audience will view the digipak as being something that other fans may not have. I have used mostly informative language within my digipak, for example, a list of the songs that feature on the album on the back cover of the digipak and the name of the artist and album on the front of the digipak because I felt that by showing them this, the audience would know what to look out for if they want to buy the album in stores.

My digipak differs from a jewel CD case in many different ways, for example, there is a small message written by the artist to the audience thanking them for their support which helps to give the album more of a personal feel and helps to build upon the relationship between the artist and the audience because the typical jewel CD cases will not include this letter, therefore the digipak may feel more valuable to the audience. The digipak will also include more images of the artist and information about her that the audience may not already know, which helps to make the digipak feel more personal and also gives the album more of an individual feel because most people will own the jewel CD case.
In my digipak, I feel as though my artist is represented as being natural and as someone who cares about her fans, for example, by including a handwritten letter for the audience from the artist helps to give the digipak more of a personal feel because the audience will feel as though the artist is talking directly to them, and due to the fact that not everybody will own the digipak version they may be seen more valuable to the audience because not everybody will have a letter from the artist. Also, there are more sides to a digipak compared to a jewel CD case, therefore the audience will be given more information regarding the album and will be shown more images of the artist that they may not have seen before which may make them feel as though they are getting to know more about her. The majority of the conventions that I decided to use within my digipak conform to the indie genre due to the fact that I wanted my digipak to be recognisable as part of the indie genre and for the audience to associate my artist with the indie genre, for example, the use of emotional colours such as blue to imply that the songs have been written by the artist herself and are based on real life experiences. Also, the use of a close up of the artist for the cover of the digipak is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that it will give the audience a clear image of what the artist looks like and shows them how she is feeling which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie songs are often based on real life experiences. Furthermore, if the audience know what she looks like, when they see images of her in other aspects of the media they will be curious to find out more about her. I have also decided to make the typography on the digipak appear as though it has been handwritten by the artist, as I believe this compliments the idea that indie artists write their songs themselves, which also helps to give the album and digipak more of a personal feel. Having said that, the use of a long shot image of the artist is arguably subversive of the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as being open about their feelings which is why they usually use close ups as this allows the audience to see a clearer view of their facial expressions, however, a long shot creates a sense of mystery due to the fact that the audience will not be able to see her face, although this could represent the fact that she is knew to the music industry, therefore not many people will know that much about her and so in that sense she is still a mystery. The digipak promotes the indie genre as containing songs that are based on emotional experiences, for example, the use of the colours blue and purple and the visuals of clouds on the CD itself connotes the idea of sadness, which compliments the perception that indie artists often sing about emotional experiences that the audience may be able to relate to. The indie genre is a more personal genre of music as the narratives within the songs allow the audience to get to know more about the artist. Through the use of a long shot image of the artist, Gabrielle Aplin is perceived as being mysterious which is arguably due to the fact that this was her debut album and she was new to the music industry, therefore people will not know too much about her and in that sense she is a mystery. I feel as though I am more aware of the images that I need to take for my digipak due to the fact that I have already planned what I want my digipak to look like, therefore when I am filming I will know the exact shots that I need to take and how I want the artist to appear in the images. Also, through planning the digipak I have decide to try and use as little Photoshop as possible, due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as being more natural and relatable, however, Photoshop is often used to change images and to make things appear better than what they are. I could potentially use Photoshop to enhance the writing and key information on the digipak, for example, the name of the album and the song names due to the fact that they are the most important aspects of the digipak. I don't want the audience to be able to tell that the images used in have been Photoshop because I feel as though this would be subversive to the indie genre.