Planning digipak - Miss Miller.

A digipak is like a jewel CD case, but it provides the buyer with further information about the artist and gives them more features. A digipak further promotes the artist compared to a jewel CD case as it has more information about the artist and is therefore more likely to entice people to purchase it. They can include messages from the artist to the which helps the audience create more of a relationship with the artist. They also include the lyrics to the songs which is something that will attract people to buy it. Other features include a variety of images of the artist and an information booklet about the artist. I feel a digipak is more effective than a jewel CD case as it is more personal to the fans and they will feel a greater connection with the artist.

I will be creating my own digipak for my artist "Sub Focus". The digipak will include six sides which will have a variety of images of the artist, the song list, a message from the artist to the fans and lyrics to one of the songs. It is important that I plan my digipak very well as I need to know what to include. I will do this by researching other digipaks in my music genre such as Calvin Haaris and Example. I will analyse these digipaks and take aspects that I believe are effective and try to incorporate them into my own digipak.

I have used a variety of bright colours in my digipak, these include red, yellow and orange. I have chosen these colours specifically as I believe they reflect both my artist and target audience; they are bright, fun and edgy. This will promote my artist well as it is clear that he is conventional to the music genre and will therefore attract my target audience well. Furthermore the use of these bright colours, will make the digipak stand out from others and will therefore attract peoples eye, this means they will be more chance of them purchasing the product. The bright colours also represent the strobe lighting which is used a lot in dance performances, again this makes it easy for the audience to identify that it is from the dance genre.  Bright colours are also used as a way to lift the emotions of the buyers, colourful images and backgrounds automatically put the buyers and target audience in a good mood. Colours such as orange and yellow symbolise happiness which is the feeling that is created by the genre of dance music. Exciting colours also reflect the emotions that are created by the music, the dance music genre excites the target audience who are into the feel good factor and remaining excited when listening to the songs. I have also used the colour black for the font in my digipak as I think that it contrasts well with the bright background colours and this will make my artists name stand out more.

The digipak I have created is conventional to the dance genre. It is conventional in many aspects, one of these is the bright colours, which is often related to the dance genre as it is very edgy and the people related to the genre like to stand out. Another way in which the digipak conforms to the dance genre is through the use of a sound wave, this makes the digipak look very technological and futuristic, which are again both related to the dance genre. The use of a sound wave also means that potential consumers are able to identify that it is a music product and more specifically from the dance genre. I have decided to include a personal message from my artist to my fans it can help create a relationship between artist and fan, and also making the artist much more accessible for the target audience. Although a personal message is not very conventional of the dance genre I think that it is a good idea to include it within my digipak. The tracklist for my digipak is very conventional of the dance genre as it is simple and clear. This allows the audience to clearly see what will be featured within the digipak and this is what will persuade them to purchase the product.

I have used a variety of images in my digipak, one of these is a picture of a clock on the main cover. I have included this image as it represents the song that we are using in our music video "Turn Back Time". I believe that this will attract the target audience as it shows that the images used are related to the songs in the album itself, adding a touch of class to the digipak. I have also included an image of the artist himself, I have used this image as it will appeal to the fans of the artist and attract them to buy the digipak. The image I have used shows my artist wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap which are both conventional of the dance genre and allow the audience to identify him as a DJ. The sunglasses and cap also keep the artists identity somewhat concealed, making them want to find out more about him by purchasing the product. Furthermore using an image of the artist makes the digipak personal to the artist, and the target audience will be able to see who the artist is and what he looks like. Using images of my artist makes it unconventional to the dance genre as you don't usually see dance artists appear on their work, however I feel it was vital to include an image to entice the audience.

The layout for my digipak is very simplistic. I decided to not clutter the digipak as I did not want to put people off of it. The song list for my digipak is an example of how I kept it simplistic. I placed all the songs in their own column and kept the backgrounds as plain as possible so the songs could stand out. This means that information such as the tracklist is clear for the target audience to see and therefore persuade them into purchasing the album. As I kept the layout simplistic, it means that the rest of the information on the digipak will stand out such as song lyrics and the message from the artist to the fans. The design for my digipak was very important as I wanted it to appeal to the target audience. I decided to try and keep the theme of the digipak similar throughout as I thought this would make it more professional and therefore attract the target audience.

The typography for a digipak is important it will determine whether the target audience are attracted to read the information or not. In reaction to this I decided to keep the typography simple but bold. I did this by keeping the font as simple as possible, but by putting it all in capital letters. Furthermore the font is written in black writing, this means that the font is going to stand out and attract the eye of the target audience. The strong and powerful font also reflects the dominant image that I have created surrounding my artist. It suggests to the audience that the artist is strong and powerful, making him and his product more appealing to them. Most of the typography in my digipak is in the colour black, again this means that it will stand out against the colourful background. Furthermore I have tried to keep all the typography the same throughout in order to create a consistent design. This consistent design will make the digipak look classy and professional and will appeal to consumers.

The language that I have used in this digipak is to try and persuade the target audience to purchase the product. For example, "the no 1 album", this informs the audience that the album is very successful and is likely to tempt them to purchase the product. I have also included language such as "you" in the message from the artist to the audience, this will make it seem more personal to them, and they will therefore create a relationship with the artist.

The planning of my digipak was very useful as it helped me see what I wanted to include in my digipak. Furthermore it enabled me to see what pictures needed to be taken to put in the digipak. The digipak that I have created follows the conventions of the dance genre, making it clear to the audience which genre it belongs to and attracting fans of the genre. The simple layout also conforms with the conventions of the dance genre as it creates the simple yet appealing image for the older target audience. The image of the artist subverts slightly against the conventions however it helps to increase the relationship between the target audience and the artist.  I had to use photoshop in order to create my digipak and the planning I did made this process much easier as I had an idea in my head of what I wanted.