Digipak ResearchFolk Rock

Hanan Mohamed 5161

About our Digipak A Digipak is a book-style fold out paperboard or card outer binding

used to hold CDs on the inside, the first alternative to jewel case packaging. It’s much less likely to crack then jewel cases and allows the manufacturer more creativity with the graphics and overall design. The panels can range from from 4, to 6, to 8 etc.

For our chosen track we must create a Digipak to market the band – this will be done using skills of editing, software e.g. Photoshop, photography and design skills. In researching digipaks however it was difficult to find recent examples as folk rock is a genre that was explored much more by artists a couple of decades ago than the present day and full digipaks are relatively new and more common in the more popular genres e.g. pop, hip hop, RnB etc. Even though album covers front covers are easily found, the inside and back covers are not always available. To the best of my ability I have researched five different bands’ albums front and back covers and analysed them in the following slides.

The bands and artists I have used are: Cat Stevens, Laura Marling, Bon Iver, Mumford & Sons, and Simon & Garfunkel.

The font colour used is yellow like the shade of sunlight, and matches

the background This is in keeping with the the

most dominant theme of folk rock which is being

in touch with nature. The actual font looks like

cursive and joined up it looks like it has been handwritten. This is important to the folk genre which is about truth and freedom, so

reminds the listener that this music is what the

artist has written himself and is not subject to the producer of the record

label’s demands.

The entire background of the album cover is not

a photograph which is more common but hand drawn which is unusual,

and a common feature of folk rock album art which

is often painted or drawn. This indicates

that the artist used their natural talent for art instead of technology

which is in keeping with the folk rock theme of staying in touch with nature, along with the very simple setting of the artist lying on the

grassy ground and nothing else.

The artist has been depicted similar to his real life self. Here he has a large beard with an open necked shirt, and appears to be sleeping. He fits quite neatly into the grass around him, and with his eyes closed looks very at peace – this implies that nature is a part of him, and he is a peaceful

person at heart. Not looking at the camera or even out at all shows he is focused on his music, and is an introspective person. His long beard although natural is almost a part of a costume or

dress code as across artists in the folk rock genre most men keep beards to emphasize their maturity and life experience, and the long beard has connotations of wisdom, spirituality. This sells the artist as a wise, mature, peaceful man at one with nature and in the business for the

music and not the money.

The background matches the front cover as it is also hand drawn with a grass ground background, the font type and colour remain the same. Although curiously, the artist here is completely absent – but his imprint is left behind on the grass so when looking at the back the viewer stills thinks of the artist, who has actually

been made conspicuous by his absence.

The record label’s logo, website and address are present next to the barcode to sell the label themselves and associate themselves

with the artist as well as give credit.

The font colour used is a simple black on white, which is in keeping with the simplicity of the folk

rock genre. The font type is in capitals and a very simple font, which

looks quite classic looking.

A photograph has been used for the front cover which looks like a typical street, and the focus is

on the shop on the middle which looks like an old charity shop, a

boutique or a shop that sells vintage clothing –

not any shop that would be found on the high

street and does not need to be flashy with lights

and big displays to advertise itself.