Final Digipak

Final Digipak:

Our finalised Digipak is highly representative of the indie genre. It includes a monochromatic colour-scheme, adhering to genre colour conventions, an identifiable logo to ensure brand identity and the LED light box motif is a very relevant piece of imagery to our target audience. The album is representative of our artist as a whole and reflects all of the songs featured on the album, however, the album is entitled 'New Religion' (named after their most popular single, therefore making the title more memorable to their fanbase) and the bright acid wash colours on the front of the cover could be seen to reflect the brightness the girl provides to our male protagonist's life within our music promo. Therefore, there is an implicit symbiotic link between our Digipak and Music Promo. 

To create our Digipak we adhered to the standard dimensions and format of current Digipak's which include a front cover, back cover, inside cover and spine:

3D Design:

The 3D design is a representation of what the CD would look like if it were to be commercially produced. It is notable that, the acid wash convention can also be evidenced within 'The XX's' famous 'X' infographic on their first album cover and the acid wash overlay, evidenced in their music videos. The monochromatic colour scheme can also be evidenced in all of 'Catfish and the Bottlemen's' promotional material. Therefore, the conventions of the indie genre we have utilised can be evidenced in other RMA'S, making our's a strong contender within the indie market as these will appeal to our target audience.

Audience Feedback:

After showing our focus group the 3D image I created of what our Digipak may appear like in real life, we then asked them for their feedback as to whether they would choose to purchase the album if they saw it in a store. All four member's stated they would purchase the album.

Abdullah: "The design is really eye-catching, and I think it look's really effective due to it's simplicity. It really looks like an indie CD cover."

Zach: I think that I definitely would purchase it. I really love the back cover in particular as the fact that the track list is almost perched on the electric line is a really well-designed element. Most CD's have very mundane back cover's but I really like this one!"

Final Digipak Design Feedback Video:

Final Music Promo Audience Feedback

Final Music Promo Audience Feedback:

The following feedback on our Final Music Promo was collected from various social media which we utilised to communicate with our focus group.

Final Music Video Submission

Final Music Video Submission:

Second Draft of Digipak Design

Second Draft Of Digipak Design:

After receiving the feedback that our original digipak design (the Polaroid design) was 'too representative' of the single 'New Religion' and not the album as a whole, we decided to create a second design following our audience feedback. Interlinking our advertisement feedback, we decided to avoid utilising yellow in our design, as it was clear from our teacher and focus group feedback, that this didn't appear 'indie'.

Looking back at our RMA's we noticed that the majority of the designs incorporated a motif, (a concept that we had originally fulfilled through our use of a polaroid motif) or a graphically designed visual. Therefore, we knew we needed to create a memorable motif that would ensure synergy and memorability between our products. It was then I thought to use an LED light box, as the bright illuminated white light would allow the lightbox to stand out from a dark coloured mise-en-scene (which is often exhibited in indie promotional materials). This is a very 'indie' convention, as light boxes correlate with themes of 'youth' and 'rebellion'.

Within the opening of our music video, we used imagery of an underpass location that appeared particularly indie, and therefore to create a link between our music video and our digipak we believed this would be the best location in which to capture photos for our digipak.

The Photoshoot:

Here are some example photographs from the photoshoot I conducted:

• I also decided to take singular photos of the underpass and extra coverage photos, just incase we wanted single photo of the underpass for our advertisement design. 

• I also took extra photos of pieces of prominent eye-catching graffitti, as the notion of graffitti is very indie; I thought these could perhaps be used within the inside pannels of our digipak design.

Creating The Design:

After going through our photographs, we collectively with our focus group chose the below photo to feature on the front cover of our digipak design. Our focus group stated that this was the most successful photo due to the offcentre placement of the light-box in the frame which gave the cover an interesting perspective, and highlighted the indie rebellious spontanuity as within indie designs. they tend to challenge the conventional rule of thirds. 

I decided to create a walkthrough voiceover tutorial that explains and justifies the choices made towards creating our second digipak using Adobe Photoshop CC 2017. 

Final Advertisement

Final Advertisement:

After three drafts of our final advertisement, we decided this was our most successful Advertisement. This design is heavily inspired by our digipak, ensuring continuity between our branding (A convention evidenced in the indie genre). The design accentuates the positive reviews of our band, thus, enticing the viewer to listen to the artist which has received five-star critical reviews. It is explicitly clear as to the purpose of the advertisement, due to the bold capitalised typeface that reads 'the debut album'. An issue that arose surrounding our initial drafts was the uncertainty as to the purpose of the advertisement. 

Audience Feedback:

"I really love the design, it just looks so professional, and the photo you edited of the poster in public made it look even more enticing because the colours allow it to really stand out. I clearly know what it is and I can see the link between your digipak."



"I think the image is really clever, it sort of looks like the mug shots you see in old movies, and that creates a good association to the vintage and rebellious look your going for."



"It's very clearly indie and the layout is clever because you announce what it's advertising at the top, then you read the seperated raving reviews, and then you are informed where you can purcahse it. It's very cleverly formulaic to ensure people purchase the product, which is a good marketing ploy." 




"I love the acid wash overlay and how you've used that throughout your advertising. It looks very proffessional and that would definitley catch my eye if I saw it within a magazine."

Third and Fourth Draft Advertisement

Third and Fourth Draft Advertisement:

Third Draft:

Whilst taking photographs for our ancillary digipak I decided to simultaneously capture shots that would be suitable for the advertisement. In contradiction from the digipak photos, I knew the advertisement photos needed to be taken at a portrait angle (compared to landscape) in order to ensure that it could be easily placed into an A4 magazine, which would have this page orientation. 

I decided to initially just take photos of the underpass set itself without the light-box, as my partner and I concurred that it would be effective to superimpose text over a location evidenced in the music video to create synergy. We also particularly liked the layout and alignment of the text on the first draft of our advertisement and decided to mimic this in the 'third draft' of our advertisement. We copied the elements from our original photoshop file and superimposed them onto the adapted design, however, my partner decided to change the image of the stars to a hand-written, scribbled set of stars that appeared more 'indie'. 

Audience Feedback:

After showing the idea to our focus group we received some more critical feedback which encouraged us to create a new, more successful design. We were also told by one of our teachers that "the yellow isn't coherent with the indie genre" and therefore it would be best to adapt our colour palette to darker monochromatic colours.

"There is quite a lot of negative un-used space in this design which makes it not particularly interesting to look at. I like the text though."



Similarly, referring back to our RMA, I felt that the sole use of a background wasn't enticing enough to our target audience, as many of the artist's I researched made use of successful, yet simple, iconographic motifs which have since created a brand identity for their music and the indie genre. 

The band Catfish and the Bottlemen are a prime example of how an iconographic logo can be incredibly lucrative in creating an individual and recognisable identity. Their album cover has featured on the entirety of their promotional material and merchandise, it is unique, quirky and ultimately the humourous element to it makes it easily recognisable; this is something I wanted to recreate within our product, in order to make it stand out within the genre. 

This feedback prompted my partner and I to create a new design, utilising a different picture that I had taken in the underpass that contained the light box, which filled the 'empty vacuous space' in the frame. It also included the band's logo that had been generated earlier in the post-production phase. However, despite including the text 'debut album' the typeface and colours chosen for the text meant they were difficult to read and not highlighted enough, despite them being the incentive for our audience to purchase the album. 

Fourth Draft:

ABDULLAH: "I like the design, but I feel that the logo isn't aligned in the opening of the underpass as well as it could have been, which reduces it's aesthetic slightly. Also, you can't read the reviews because the text clashes with the background."

CHLOE: "This looks very indie and the colour scheme works a lot better than your original design. I also really like the way the lighting appears in this picture as if it's illuminating 'The Heydaze' logo."

ZACH: "The light-box is very memorable and makes the design much more aesthetically eye-catching. However, maybe you could brighten the light of the LED box to make it stand out more as you don't want it blending into the background because its  the main feature!"

REBECCA: "I really like the design and love the logo, but I agree with Abdullah, the text isn't really that visible."


Teacher Feedback: "There is a lot of negative space in the design at the top, but overall it looks good. I like where you have placed 'The Heydaze' logo."

Final Draft:

Whilst on the photoshoot, I had also taken some photos in the underpass of someone holding the light-box in front of their face, thus concealing it, as I believed this appeared highly rebellious and mirrored the scenes from old-fashioned films whereby criminals have their mug-shots taken. I believed that through using this image, people would connote these humorous and rebellious themes, therefore, remembering our product and associating it with the music. I felt that whilst the 'fourth draft' was highly successful, without adhering to the same colour scheme as the digipak, the two products appeared slightly disconnected. Therefore, I decided to trial using the 'mug shot' image to create a tester design. After creating it, I received the feedback that it was highly successful and "looked as if it was professionally made". 

               

The creation process of the design: 

Changing Our Initial Digipak and Advertisement Designs

Explanation For Changing Our Initial Digipak and Advertisement Designs:



Transcript:

• After creating the first draft of our ancillary advertisement, it was pointed out to us by our teacher, that our branding wasn't conducive with the indie genre as she felt that our predominantly yellow and black colour scheme was 'too bright' and overshadowing. She also felt that creating synergy between our digipak cover and music video through the use of  the polaroid motif (which is featured in the music video) shouldn't appear on our advertising; as the music video and album/advertising are separate entities, promoting more than one single. 
• Therefore, I decided to reevaluate our initial advertisement and digipak design ideas and researched the branding of two bands that were heavily influential throughout the creation of our music video: The Hunna and The Lumineers. When looking at their digipak covers we immediately noticed that both bands had predominantly monochromatic colour schemes, consisting mainly of black and white or dark brown hues. Therefore, we decided that to fully adhere to our genre conventions, we should adapt the colour schemes of our designs. 
• We had initially decided, that we wanted to name the digipak 'New Religion', the name of the song we created our music video for, which is also the band's most popular and streamed track on Spotify and overall social media. However, when making a list of their songs to include on the track-list on the back panel of the digipak, another one of their songs entitled 'Stuck Together' inspired me. After asking our focus group 2/4 members gave very positive feedback on the prospect of using 'Stuck Together' as a new album title, as they believed it was a 'catchy' and 'original' title.

'Stuck Together' Album Cover Design: 

- Despite the focus group liking the graphics/visual design itself, they believed that it was difficult to interpret and the text on the glue stick appears to be part of the album name. Therefore, the design isn't a lucrative choice for our Digipak. 

• ABDULLAH: "It isn't clear that it's an album cover."
• CHLOE: "I'm not sure what is stuck to the hand because it looks a bit like sellotape." 
• REBECCA: "I like the brightness of and the intricacy of the design, but I agree with Chloe I don't really know what is stuck to the hand." 
• BEN: "I think it looks great, but it definitely needs a logo or some more clarification that 'Stuck Together' is the album name and maybe remove the text on the glue as it looks like its part of the title."