Before we start to design our own digital pack we need to get a better grasp of how they are constructed, and the basic design ideas that are frequent in most CD cases. Going with the idea of shoes as a focal point for the cover, I thought that the imagery present here would be quite appropriate. As this is a compilation CD, there are two discs covering the ‘grooviest’ of 70’s music. Whilst the genre is not relevant I feel that there are a lot of stylistic choices that we could follow up and incorporate into our design.
The name of the CD here is in big block letters in a variety of different fonts, lending to the 70’s theme massively, alongside a huge platform shoe on a huge platform shoe. The idea is very clear here, to immediately present to the audience exactly what kind of music is on the CD, by using an iconic symbol that to most people would be relevant to only one point in time: the 70’s. I feel that this clarity is something that we should take heed of. With the target audience of teenage girls, we can’t afford to differ too much from what would be expected. We will bring our own ideas to the table, but we’re not going to risk alienating potential buyers just because we want to go all deep and meaningful with the cover.
As expected, the back of the case lists all of the songs included in the CD, along with an even more striking show on the right. This is a nice composition as the shoe is as high as the list and so makes the presentation more even. The text itself is fairly standard, with copyright information and a bar-code. I think we should include false copyright information and a price code just to make it look more like a professional product. The text and imagery has been laid out well, but interestingly, all colours and designs are restricted to the shoes. This forces the eye to look closer and in turn read the information to find out more. As our track is a single, will we most likely focus on imagery over information, as only one song has to be listed on the back, or front for that matter.
The insert is a big part of a physical CD. In a world in which media is becoming increasingly digital, there has to be an incentive for people to leave the comfort of their own homes to go out and buy something that could otherwise be enjoyed by download. This particular insert delivers the names of each song, along with the lyrics for each. Including additions like this, that aren’t available with downloadable content, may be enough to gain a greater number of buyers by however small a percentage. I’m not sure whether an insert would be appropriate with a single CD; we’ll have to do some designs first.
I do like how the artwork on the insert is treated as filler rather than focus. The typography used is enough to keep the eye moving but not enough to completely steal the attention from more important aspects of the Digipak. I think that we should use a similar technique on theinside of our CD case. From experience this is usually how I have found CD covers set up, so keeping to the formula will give a more professional, recognizable outcome.
As this is a two disc set, I’ve displayed only one of the discs, as the other is hinged underneath on a blank background which isn’t very appealing. The inside of the CD has used the same artwork from the front of the case with the phrase ‘Dig it!’ pasted above the shoe. It’s clear that the design of the case has been kept constant in all aspects, to the extent of re-using different aspects of the artwork. It could be seen as being lazy, but honestly a music industry isn’t going to do a half hearted job on selling merchandise, so it’s obviously a design choice; one that I think we should follow. For our own product, I think that re-using the same picture may be seen as not putting enough effort or thought in, so if any material is re-used, it will be smaller aspects such as a logo or the ‘filler’ as mentioned earlier.
The disc itself has been given a lime and pink colour scheme. This doesn’t meld with the colours used on the front and back cover, however it does very well to continue the theme of the 70’s over, using almost pop-art funky colours that were common of the era. Over all the idea of this CD is to revisit past music hits. As a result it’s clear a lot of thought has been put into evoking thoughts of nostalgia rather than trying to establish the next big music hit. Although of a different genre with different intentions, the material shown here can definitely be interpreted and used in our own digipak.
No comments:
Post a Comment