1. In what ways does your digi-pak use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
The digipak front cover meets many typical
conventions of media conventions which I ensured
through research into the products of artists of
similar genres. Firstly, the artists name is the
largest text on the cover, immediately showing the
audience who the product belongs to, while slightly
smaller text says the name of the album. This
easily identifies the product and links to the style of
most artists’ albums. We have used only two fonts
on the front cover which keeps it quite basic and
not confusing or appear unplanned to the audience.
An idea we have included, challenging typical
products is for the font of the artists name to
represent her signature, therefore using a hand-
writing styled font. It could be argued that we
challenged typical media conventions by changing
the girl’s style between these ancillary tasks and the music video itself, however, this was
carefully planned and supported through our research which showed artists are often showed in
a different way as individual music videos will have their own style and not be the same
throughout the album; one example of this is Katy Perry who’s music videos are very different,
therefore meaning the album cannot reflect her style in every one of them. Most artists appear
glamorous and attractive on their album covers, attracting potential customers and their fans
attention. We felt that the style of the girl in the music video itself was quite rough and did not
portray her as a successful artist and therefore we chose to change her outfit, hair and make-up
slightly but not too dramatically that she will not be linked with the music video. The colour
scheme of the front cover is consistent as the colours in the image are used for the text colours
also.
A way we have challenged typical conventions of digipak’s is in the editing of the image we have
used on the front cover. We decided to emphasise the lips and eyes, making the rest of the
photo quite faded in colour but sharp. I feel this gives the final image a professional look which
does link with typical products but also incorporates our own ideas.
The inside cover of the digipak links to the
front, developing many conventions of
existing products. Firstly, the image links with
that on the front, keeping the case consistent
by showing her in the same clothing and
make-up but still emphasising the lips and
eyes. However, this photograph has a
different style to the front one, appearing to
be more eccentric and reflecting the carefree
personality of the girl in our music video. This
links to many digipaks, for example Rihanna’s
‘Talk that Talk’ album which show the artist in
a more casual, less glamorous view than that

2. on the front cover, giving an insight into the album; I therefore believe this image has
successfully done this, making it appear realistic. However, this image does also challenge
typical conventions by cutting off the artists forehead but we ensured the eyes and lower part
of the face could be seen to prevent it from looking amateur.
In the bottom right hand corner of the inside cover is a line from the song saying ‘Ignorance
is your new best friend’. This develops typical conventions as a similar idea was used on this
section of one of Kesha’s album. It links to the music video, making that song in particular
stand out to the audience, while the font links to the song and albums name which is written
on the front cover, keeping it consistent.
The actual CD in the digipak shows a
repetitive pattern of Ellie’s lips,
immediately showing that it links with the
rest of digipak, keeping the lips as the
main focus, while the background shares
the colour from the front and inside
covers. From research I carried out, I
found that a basic, repetitive pattern is
quite common for a CD, for example
Kesha’s Animal album:
Behind her name are lines
of Kesha’s initials, similar
to the way we have
presented Ellie’s lips on
our own CD.
Therefore, the CD we have constructed develops typical conventions of products from
artists of similar genres. Taking the lips from the front image, however, was our own idea
which we have not seen used on typical products, though Rihanna’s ‘Loud’ album does a
similar method of using a common image from the front cover (a rose) as the only image
on the CD, suggesting our product shares this convention.
Behind our CD is quite basic and took a few
designs before we decide to go with a message
from the artist. This challenges typical
conventions of media products as not many
have messages from the artist. However, I
believe if this was an actual product it would
appeal to the audience as they would feel the
artist is directly talking to them.
Ways this meets conventions however is the
way it links to the rest of the digipak, in both
the background colour and the font. This font
is only used for the artists name and so by
writing ‘love’ and ‘x’ after her name makes it
even more signature-like.

3. Our back cover of the digi-pak mainly meets
typical conventions of real products. Firstly, the
colour scheme links throughout, with the back
cover also using a pale blue background and black
and red for the text colours. In addition, the
information presented on the back cover is typical
of an album back cover, with the song list being
the main focus and then further information on
the record label and contact details on the artist.
Research showed that most commonly digipak’s
do number the songs and so we also did so but
putting the ‘#’ sign in front so they are read
‘number 1’ and so on. We have added a third font
to the digipak here as we had planned to use the
‘Elle’ font for her name only, while the font for
‘ignorance’ is quite thin and therefore was hard to
read in this smaller sized text. A similar font has
been used to prevent it looking like it does not fit
and is also bold so easy to read. Though it may challenge conventions using a different font
on the back, only three are used throughout, keeping it realistic and linked to real products.
The text at the bottom is also written in this font and therefore keeps the back cover
consistent, while the contact information is in the ‘ignorance’ font meaning it does still link to
the front cover.
The image shows about two thirds of the girl, with the rest being cut off the side of the case.
Many real products include an image on the back cover but a slightly less obvious or full view
of the person; for example Rihanna’s ‘Rated R’ album back cover shows her back as she walks
away. We therefore also decided to use this convention by cutting off part of the person, while
believing it made it link well to the front cover image which also cuts off a small portion of the
girls hair. In addition, the editing of this image, like on real products links throughout with all
being quite faded in colour but sharp, with the lips and eyes emphasised.
A way this part of the digipak does challenge real products, however, is through the contact
information we have included beneath the list of songs. Instead of addresses and names of
the producers, we decided to put the twitter, MySpace and Sound Cloud accounts of the artist
as these are three websites which are currently highly active in the music industry and
particularly popular with teenagers (the target market for this artist).
The spine of the digipak is fairly basic but this reflects typical digipak spines. We decided to
use the same fonts from the front cover in the text across the spine as the same information is
presented here. In addition, the background colour links to that throughout the digipak,
developing typical conventions of digipaks.
A way the spine of the digipak challenges these conventions is in the way we have not
included the record label logo on the spine. However, we did not mention the record label
throughout and so felt it would look a bit out of place and random if only mentioned here.
Instead we only included the artist and album names, making them stand out as the only
information.