The document discusses the design of a digipak for an album. The author aimed to follow conventions to make the product look professional, while also challenging some conventions through their design choices. They summarize how each element of the digipak (front cover, back cover, spine, discs, etc.) follows or challenges typical conventions. Research into other album designs helped influence their choices. Overall, the author believes their digipak successfully follows conventions of cohesion and style appropriate for the indie music genre.

1. The digipak was one area of my project where
I really wanted to try and be as conventional as
possible because I think challenging
conventions too much would have produced a
product that looked amateur. The research I
did into existing products before I started
drafting was really helpful as it meant I had a
good idea of what conventions to include.
In this presentation I’ve taken each element of
the digipak and discussed how it has followed,
or in some cases challenged, conventions. I’ve
also considered the digipak as a whole
towards the end.

2. FRONT COVER

3. Front covers of albums are generally spaces
where artists are free to express their style
and image and thus there are only really a
few conventions that you are guaranteed to
find across all albums. I chose to
conventionally have both the album and
band name on my front cover, because I felt
it wasn’t just important, it was essential, as a
potential buyer needs to know who and what
they are consuming. The other conventions I
followed were to have one main image, a
simple colour scheme and cohesion through
fonts. Most album covers only use one or
two fonts and they tend to be clear and bold.
I chose to use one because I think it helps
create a simple but effective style. The only
convention I broke with the front cover was
choosing to not have an image of my artist.
However, this convention is being
challenged more and more with recent
albums, and I think it’s definitely something
that the Indie genre often opts to not include
so I don’t think using a more abstract image
has made my product less professional in
any way.
CONVENTIONS FOLLOWED CONVENTIONS CHALLENGED
• Band name
• Album name
• One main image
• Simple colour scheme
• Only one font used,
which is clear and easy
to read
• Image of the artist

4. How conventional is the front cover in relation to other media products?
Vampire Weekend’s style,
and this album in
particular, was one thing
that inspired my design.
The album is of the same
genre as my chosen song
so I found it useful to look
at the band’s visual style.
The similarities here
between their front cover
for their second album
Contra and my own front
cover are clear – both
choose to challenge
conventions by having a
main image not of the
artist, both use a clear bold
white font to print the
album and artist name,
both have a simple colour
scheme, and both are fairly
basic but effective designs.
This front cover for
Bastille’s Bad Blood was
another design that
inspired my work. The use
of water in both links them,
as well as again the bold
white font. I liked the way
Bastille positioned the text
and so I did create some
drafts where the text on my
own front cover was
positioned in a similar way.
However in the end I
decided that was better
suited to the back cover
and so kept the text as you
see it here. It did inspire
me to try positioning the
text within the scene
though, which resulted in
the band name looking like
it’s behind the glass.

5. BACK COVER

6. With my back cover, there were a lot more
conventions to follow and include and I tried
to use them as far as possible. The tracklist,
album name and artist name are clearly all
there. I also conventionally included a
barcode, copyright information, the record
label logo and social media for my artist. Not
every album back cover has every one of
these conventions but I wanted to include
them all the keep my digipak looking
professional.
I chose not to directly challenge any
conventions with my back cover, but I did
develop some. Obviously it’s conventional to
have a tracklist but I chose to position it to
the left instead of centrally, where it usually
is. I also chose to have the band and album
name positioned larger to the right, whereas
usually on back covers they feature in
smaller print towards the top, if at all. I like
the style I managed to create though and I
think here building on existing conventions
was the right thing to do. I feel it makes my
product more original and thus more likely to
catch a potential consumer’s attention.
CONVENTIONS FOLLOWED CONVENTIONS CHALLENGED
• Tracklist
• Album and band name
printed again
• Main image linked to the
front cover
• Barcode
• Copyright information
• Record label logo
• Social media links
• Positioning of the tracklist
• Size of the album and
band name

7. How conventional is the back cover in relation to other media products?
Fun’s album Some Nights
was one that inspired my
back cover design. I liked
the way they printed the
album and band name
again in a large bold font
and so I decided to
incorporate this into my
own work. I also liked that
they didn’t simply followed
the conventional one-
column tracklist and
instead created variation
by going with two. Although
I wanted one column, their
design encourage me to
experiment with positioning
and therefore end up with
the design shown here.
The back cover for Drake’s
Take Care album was
another design that I used
to help make my product
as conventional as
possible. I liked the central
alignment and therefore
tried to recreate this kind of
symmetry in my own
design. I also liked the
darker block colour
background, I think it adds
a simplicity to the design. I
knew I wanted an image
rather than just colour for
my own back cover but
Drake’s design meant I
decided I didn’t want the
image to be too
extravagant, just a plain
darker backdrop for the
text.

8. SPINE

9. Again with the digipak spine I tried to be as
conventional as possible. There’s not much
room for experimentation and challenging
conventions with the spine because it’s such
a small area; it needs to be clear and easy
to read. I included the conventions of the
album and band name printed as the main
part of the spine. I also added the
conventional record label logo and serial
number. For the background of my spine I
chose to follow conventions again, using an
image that was a continuation of the back
cover. Most albums do this, whether it’s with
the back or front cover, or they opt for just a
plain colour background. I think following
this convention helped to make my overall
digipak more cohesive, particularly because
I followed conventions with fonts as well,
and used the same one as on the back and
front covers.
The positioning of the the features on my
spine is another area that I kept
conventional because, as I said,
experimenting with changing things on the
spine is risky – the conventional way is the
best in this case.
CONVENTIONS FOLLOWED CONVENTIONS CHALLENGED
• Album and band name
• Background a
continuation of the back
cover image
• Record label logo
• Serial number

10. How conventional is the spine in relation to other media products?
I liked the use of colour on
this White Stripes album
spine. It was one that
followed the convention of
continuing the
image/artwork and fonts
from the front and back
covers onto the spine,
which you can see is
something I chose to do as
well. It doesn’t have a
record label logo, probably
due to lack of space,
whereas I chose to include
that in order to be as
conventional as possible.
Grizzly Bear’s Shield
album spine also inspired
mine. I liked the way they
used fonts and text size to
distinguish between the
album name and the band
name. I also liked their
positioning, the
conventions of the serial
number and record label
logo where there without
taking over the design. I
think it looks very neat and
professional and that was
something I wanted to try
and achieve with my
design too.

11. INSIDE PANELS

12. The inside panels were an area where I
found it difficult to follow conventions, in that
there aren’t really any set rules about what
to include. There’s no essential features like
the tracklist or album name, which left me
fairly free to do what I wanted. However I
still tried to be conventional by using images
related to the front cover and continuing to
create cohesion through fonts. A lot of inside
panels use images of the artist, but I
decided against this convention because I
didn’t have images of the artist anywhere
else on the digipak so I felt it would have
looked out of place and disrupted the style I
had created.
From my research before drafting, I found
that a lot of inside panels chose to
incorporate lyrics from some of the songs on
the album. I really liked this idea and so
chose to use this convention in my own
digipak. I also think this convention draws
attention to the song I created a music video
for, which is good as it’s intended to be a
promotional package all working to sell the
song and the album.
CONVENTIONS FOLLOWED CONVENTIONS CHALLENGED
• Main image linked to the
front cover
• Use of lyrics
• Image of the artist

13. How conventional are the inside panels in relation to other media products?
Muse’s inside panels on their album Absolution had a style that I liked. I incorporated
their simplicity and use of basic colour into my own design. They also used an image
linked to the rest of their digipak, which I also did as I’ve already explained.
Furthermore, their two panels were not separate, instead the image spanned over
both of them. I really liked this convention because I think it draws the different panels
together and is interesting because each panel works separately but then creates a
different effect when they come together.
I’ve included an example of inside panels from Rihanna’s Loud album here to
demonstrate how my work challenges conventions as well as simply follows them.
Rihanna is obviously of a different genre to the one I’m working in and I wanted to show
the ways in which I’ve chosen to break conventions. Rihanna’s design includes an
image of the artist which is something I decided against, for reasons already discussed.
It also features no text at all, a convention that again I chose to challenge because I felt
that due to my images being more abstract, it would be too simplistic to leave them
without text. Although I’ve challenged conventions I don’t think it’s made my inside
panels unprofessional because of the genre that I’m working in.

14. DISCS

15. For the discs of my digipak I again felt it was
necessary to follow conventions. There are
certain features that need to be on there –
the record label logo, more copyright
information etc. – so I included those.
However I chose to only put them on one
disc and not the other, which challenges
conventions slightly but I think doesn’t
detract from the professionalism too much.
Again I was aiming to create cohesion so I
used a similar image to the front cover and
inside panels, and the same font again. Not
all albums have two discs, but those that do
have disc numbers so I chose to follow that
convention and include them as well.
I also decided to add the text on disc two
advertising the fact that it contained the
music video made as part of the promotional
package. This is another convention of
albums where a music video is included,
and I again decided to follow rather than
challenge it.
The positioning of my text could be
considered slightly unconventional but I
wanted to add some originality so I’m happy
with the final design.
CONVENTIONS FOLLOWED CONVENTIONS CHALLENGED
• Album name
• Record label logo
• Copyright information
• Disc numbers
• Background image
similar to front cover and
inside panels
• Text advertising the
music video
• Image of the artist
• Positioning of the text
• Artist name

16. How conventional are the discs in relation to other media products?
The Mumford & Sons’ disc
design here was one that I
drew inspiration from. The
main thing I liked was the
way the copyright
information was positioned
to follow the curve of the
CD. This is conventional
positioning as the
information is necessary
but doesn’t really add to
the look of the disc and so
doesn’t need to be in huge
print. I chose to follow this
convention and keep my
copyright information in
small print to the right,
following the curve of the
disc. I also liked the way all
the other text and logos
were central, creating a
symmetrical look so again I
attempted to recreate that.
This Bombay Bicycle Club
disc was another design
that inspired me. I liked the
use of blue and also the
positioning of the band
name at the top centre of
the disc, and you can see
how both of those
elements were
incorporated into my own
design. Again the copyright
information is positioned
around the edge of the
disc, I liked that this design
took the image from the
front cover and used it, but
not just in the sense that
it’s exactly the same image
– they adapted it slightly to
create variation and I’ve
done the same thing with
my own; the images are
linked but not identical.

17. DIGIPAK AS A
WHOLE

18. The conventions of a digipak are the
features I’ve discussed throughout this
powerpoint. Obviously I wasn’t going to
challenge conventions by not including two
discs, a front and back cover, spines and
two inside panels.
However, and more importantly, the main
convention of digipaks is that they look
cohesive. I tried to be conventional by being
as cohesive as I could. This meant using
consistent fonts throughout, using images
that all worked together well and developing
a clear colour scheme. I wanted to ensure
that the final product didn’t lack variety but
still make sure that each separate element
combined well. I think I managed this
balance by combining following and
challenging conventions.
The other conventional aspect of digipaks is
that they represent the artist and genre they
are from. Again I tried to be conventional by
adhering to the features of the Indie genre
and also tried to represent my artist’s more
pop/low-fi elements as well.
CONVENTIONS FOLLOWED CONVENTIONS CHALLENGED
• Two discs
• Two inside panels
• Back cover
• Front cover
• One main spine
• Cohesion through images
• Cohesion through fonts
• Cohesion through colours
• Images of the artist

19. How conventional is the digipak in relation to other media products?
Bon Iver is more within the genre of my chosen artist. This album design uses
actual art rather than images, which is something I really liked but decided against
for my own product because I felt it didn’t quite fit with my artist style. However there
are similarities in that both of us chose not to include artist images, suggesting that
maybe challenging that convention is more common within the Indie genre than
people think. The Bon Iver back cover is one that clearly inspired my digipak as you
can see from the symmetrical positioning of the tracklist on the back cover.
Although Katy Perry is within the pop rather than the Indie genre, her digipak is a
good comparison for how my own has followed and challenged conventions. You
can see the clear cohesion in both – the images and colours all compliment each
other and even when you take each element separately, it’s still obvious that they
come from the same digipak. However the Katy Perry album design is very focused
on images of her – typical of the pop genre – whereas I chose to challenge
conventions and not include any artist images.

20. Overall I feel my digipak has followed
conventions of existing media products
effectively. The only times I’ve challenged
or developed conventions have been when
I made the deliberate choice to do so for
artistic purposes. Plus, within the Indie
genre, challenging conventions in itself is
not unusual so I feel I can conclude that
I’ve produced a mostly professional-looking
product that is conventional of a digipak
you would expect to find being sold today.