A digipack consists of a series of carefully designed covers (front and back) and two inlays from within an album package. There is a correspondence between the construction of the digipack and it’s features (eg. text, images, graphics etc.) with the intended image of the band as a product. We created the digipack using Adobe Photoshop, and as a group decided some of the key features that should appear on the finished product.
The digipack is what will be seen when a potential buyer crosses the album, whether its in a music store, online or on itunes, as they obviously cant see the actual product, the music, so it is essential that the album cover (front and back) is well designed; stands out against other musicians ‘products’ and reflects the band in a positive light and how we want them to be received. We deduced early on in the process that ‘The Toy Hearts’ image was; fun, playful, eccentric and something different to the stereotypical musicians currently plaguing the charts. We decided that we should use a rustic styled background to reflect their heritage as an ‘organic’ band with experience and performing history. We also chose to include images of American ‘retro’ stickers, to reflect the bands American musical influence as well the quirkiness and fun feel to the band. We would use the images and background to create synergism across all Toy Hearts products, so that the ‘Toy Hearts’ image or brand, will be known by sight.
The front cover of the digipack features the ordained back ground and the ‘sticker’ images in the bottom left corner, that will be featured across all Toy Hearts products. The band logo featuring their name is included, with a ‘wacky’ typeface reflecting the eccentricity of the band, to; hopefully be recognized by Toy Hearts fans. The album name is too featured, as this tells the buyer exactly what they are buying. The main property of the front cover is the image of the whole band printed onto scrunched paper to create an unpolished appearance, reflecting a slightly carefree nature.
The first inlay incorporates the trait background. The main aspect of this inlay is the close up images of each band members instrument, as we want the audience or buyer to know that each band member plays their own instrument, and the instruments are not stereotypical; electric guitar, bass and drums, but are in fact instruments many of the audience will not of seen bands playing before, we felt this is a unique selling point of the band.
The second inlay, features the lyrics to the song for ‘This Little Kitty’, we put these in to imitate existing products on the market today as this is often done by bands, it is done with the intention of creating a feeling of interaction and involvement with the audience, instead of an us and them mentality. This inlay also features a logo for the single ‘This Little Kitty’ as this would be the first single released off the album, so would hopefully be recognized by fans, this logo was created by imitating the iconic ‘Jack Daniel’s Whiskey’ bottle sticker, which is a recognizable white font on a rectangle black background with line graphics exclusive to the Jack Daniel’s label. We chose to imitate the label, because the music the Toy Hearts make, ‘Bluegrass country’ music, has it’s routes in the USA state of Tennessee and Tennessee’s other most famous export is Jack Daniels. The bands actual logo is also featured, which will be instantly recognizable by fans.
The back album cover features the same background. This features the track listing for the album, which conforms with the conventions of other existing products, it tells the audience exactly what they are buying, and may feature songs which they didn’t realize were on the album which may encourage them to buy. This cover also features a black and white image of the double bass player in the ‘Toy Hearts’, it is a nice shot conforming to the rule of thirds and showcases the ‘freshness’ of the band. To conform with existing products on the market we incorporated the record label logo, copyright icon and barcode to make it look as realistic as possible.
The back album cover features the same background. This features the track listing for the album, which conforms with the conventions of other existing products, it tells the audience exactly what they are buying, and may feature songs which they didn’t realize were on the album which may encourage them to buy. This cover also features a black and white image of the double bass player in the ‘Toy Hearts’, it is a nice shot conforming to the rule of thirds and showcases the ‘freshness’ of the band. To conform with existing products on the market we incorporated the record label logo, copyright icon and barcode to make it look as realistic as possible.
