Digi- Pak

Rihanna’s ‘Loud’ album is set in the Dance-Pop/ R&B genre. The album was released on the 12th of November, 2010. The album was released in 4 separate editions; a Digi-Pak, standard edition, packaged and deluxe edition.

The theme of the Digi- Pak consists of roses. The CD is decorated with a huge Peach coloured rose, while the inside of the Digi- Pak shows an image of Rihanna laying on a bed of red roses. The theme of the Digi –pack can be seen as a huge contrast to the album title ‘ Loud’ as roses and the light floral colour peach, present a theme of love, and sets a calming tone to the image. However the theme can be linked to the songs on the album such as ‘ California king bed, and only girl in the world ‘ reflects the gentle imagery the theme gives and also the sentimental element of the roses.

The main colours of the Digi Pakis red with a nude pallet undertone ( peach rose and Rihanna's brown skin tone). The bold red colour is not only visible from the flowers but also her red lipstick. This can reflect through her album title ‘ Loud’ and her songs ‘ S&M, Raining men and what's my name’ as they are all vibrant, catchy and seductive songs much like the colour red.

Looking at the style and layout of the Digi Pak we can see that the album’s main focus is on the artist, Rihanna. The cover of the Digi Pak is a close up image of Rihanna , while the inside of the Digi Pak is a stretched image of her laying in a bed of roses. By having such as focused image of Rihanna can be seen as a way to translate to the audience that the songs on the album are a personal insight into the lifestyle, mentality and personality of Rihanna. This can also be seen as conforming to the conventions of being an artist from this certain R&B/ Pop, who tend to be more narcissistic with their image, and try to brand themselves not only as artists but fashion icons.

‘Communion’ is a synth-pop/ house/ electronica studio album, by group Years & Years. The album was released on the 10th July 2015. the album debuted at Number 1 on the ‘UK Top 40’.

The album design has a geometric theme. The lines form the letter ‘Y’, symbolising the bands name. the geometric theme can also be seen as a refection of the songs genre on the album, as they are quite electronic. This relates back to the how the music is made digitally, through computerised instruments (synthesizers) and sample beats, so the album cover has that future- like effect.

The colour scheme of the Digi- Pak is multi-coloured. This can be a representation of where the album’s genre, Electronica and House, are mostly promoted. Which are in clubs and house parties, which normally have bright colourful lights and settings. Also on the album songs such as ‘ desire’ and ‘ shine’ use filters that change multi-coloured, correlating back to the multi-coloured theme design of the Digi-Pak.

The font design follows a 3D/Pencil Sketch theme. The typography is bold and white, making the text stand out from the Digi-Pak theme colour which is multi coloured. Although the typography subverts from its colourful theme, it fits into the futuristic theme, as they are 3D letters that seem almost touchable off the cover. The white colour also fits the theme as it allows the text to be visible and not blend in with the geometric theme. This could be the way of promoting the band but from a less narcissistic view point. As instead of having their image plastered across the front and the inside of the Digi- pack, there group name stands out in bold, white font. This can also be seen as a deliberate act by the group to follow the trend within this particular genre, where artists prefer to display the music more than themselves.

By looking at both Digi- Pak’s , you are to tell easily that the two albums are from different genres. This has influenced the idea that for our my own Digi- Pak, that presentation is important, and allows the immediate genre identification and reflects the sound of the music on the album. So as our duo is more of a House/ EDM band and majority of their songs will fit into those genres, Years & Years Digi- Pak cover design would be a better influence on how we create our Digi-Pak, to go for a simple yet bold theme, rather than Rihanna's artists focused image.

By looking at both Digi- Pak's, I like the idea of having an image of the artist however also having a drawn theme to digital style to the Digi-Pak. This has influenced the idea that for my own Digi-Pak I could create a theme colour ranging from the colour purple as the band is called ‘ Ultra Violet’, and create that as the inside of the Digi Pak, also adding the effect of something illuminating, adding to that club/ house party idea. As well as having an image of the duo, but not in such a way where it’s a main focus, and having the purple theme come across in the image as well, possibly adding a purple filter to their image.