(AT1) Digipack Font Ideas

Now that I have my overall finished digipack background, I experimented with various fonts for my title:

(AT1) Record Company Research

The record company of an artist is essential to their image, many record companies have specific music genres that they sign with. The record label is a huge contributor to the image and style of the band. Many consumers are even more draw towards new up and coming artist or band if they hear they are from one of their favoured record labels or as the same label as another band they know of.

As the record label logos and details are needed on the back of my digipack I felt it was important to conduct research into the various record labels out there that my band could potentially be signed to, I wanted the logo I used on my digipack to be related to the similar genre of my own band and have signed other band of similar image and style.

Here are some record labels I looked into but felt did not fit the image of my band or fit the genre of my bands music:

Domino Records

Domino recording company are an independent recording lable based in london, founded in 1993 and are mainly a indie pop/indie rock record label.

Former & Current Artists Include:

·         Galaxie 500

·         Animal Collective

·         Arctic Monkeys

·         Panda Bear

This record company is an independant and British recording label as my band is from australia I didnt think a British label would be best and they primarily sign with indie rock artists.

Roadrunner

Roadrunner records is an American records label based in New York, partner of universal music group. Signs with mainly heavy metal rock bands.

Former & Current Artists Include:

·         Metallica

·         Shinedown

·         Slipknot

·         Bloody Kiss

Although a very big american based company, idel for promoting tand marketing, the artist signed to this labbel were mainly haevy rock bands and so my band would not suit the labels image.

14^th Floor Records

British record label founded in 2002, joint venture of Warner music UK.

Current Artists Include:

·         Biffy Clyro

·         The Wombats

·         Damien Rice

Although this label focused more on a similar genre of music to my bands tit was a relativelyt small British label and I am looking for a major american based label.

The Island Def Jam Music Group

The Island Def Jam Music Group are a huge American recording label founded in 1999. The label have a huge number of artist primarily solo artist such as:

·         Rihanna

·         Taio Cruz

·         Nas

·         Ne-Yo

·         Justin Bieber

·         Duffy

Although this label would present great promotional opportunities as it is a huge american label, it is a lable of mainly pop and R&B artists.

The two recording labels I decided on for my digipack were:

Atlantic Records

Atlantic records is an American based recording label and has gradually earned a reputation as one of the most important independent record labels. Atlantic records is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. and gradually expanded into roach and pop artist signing acts such as Led Zeppelin, Cream and Foreigner.

Interscope Records

Interscope records are an American label based in California and is owned by universal music group. The label has signed many industrial rock artists such as Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson and rock band Limp Bizkit. In 2004 the label also began signing artist such as, Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World, Papa Roach, Rise Against & All American Rejects. As well as these the label has signed many artist of other genres such as Lady Gaga, Nelly Furtado, Robyn & LMFAO.

I have chosen each of these labels as they both focus on similar genres to mine and are very big american based labels, they present amazing promotional opportunities, especially interscope which has signed many well known artist of ,not only a similar genre to mine but to more wellknown pop artists that would potentially help to promote my own band and their music by being associated with such other well known bands like Jimmy Eat World, All American Rejects & Blink 182.

 

(AT1) Different Colour Digipacks

When I had created my Digipack I experimented with the different effects I had researched and these are the 6 I liked the most.

I will use Design 1, 3 and 4 when I add my barcode, track list etc. and see which of the three works better. 

(AT1) Photoshop Research

Now that I have my images for my digipack I researched the various photo effects available on photoshop that I could potentially use when I create my digipack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXjP7qvmRD4&feature=share&list=PL906C2BE783C4B8C9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qkb6UJn0Do&feature=share&list=PL906C2BE783C4B8C9

http://youtu.be/eneyl4KS99A I found this video to be particularly helpful as many of my images are dark and I want to make them more colourful and vivid.

(AT1) Photos For My Digipack

Cover Photos:

For my Cover photos I set a camera up on a tripod in order to make sure each photo was in exactly the same position but with a different skyline and background of each photo. I did this by going as the sun was beginning to set and I took photos as it was beginning to get dark over a period of around 1 hour:

 3:20PM

3:28PM

 3:40PM

 3:46PM







3:52PM

 3:58PM

4:12PM

4:24PM

Back Photos:

While waiting for the sun to set for my cover photos with a second camera I took various photos that I could use for the back of my digipack. With each of these photos I kept in mind that unlike my front cover images I needed to leave spaces within the image for things such as the barcode, track listing and record company information.

 I Think I will probably use image 3 as it has the most useful space for the tracklisting etc. and has the most effective skyline in the background

  

(AT1) Naming The Album

Possible Album Names

§  Art V Science

§  Decorous

§  Noble Purposes

§  The Planet Is Fine It’s the People that are F****d

§  Piece By Peace

§  Never Believe A Happy Song

These are some possible album names I have chosen, my favourites album titles at the moment are; Piece by Peace, Art V Science & Decorous.

Piece by Peace

I really like this album title as the different spelling of the word ‘piece’ indicate a different meaning behind them, piece referring to a piece of something and peace referring to peace and harmony. Piece by piece is a well know phrase/saying so the different spelling and meaning provides a unique twist which I think will appeal to my audience. There is also the possibility to include more meaning behind the phrase with the different spellings and meanings of by; I may consider spelling it as ‘bye’ instead of by to create more meaning to the title.

Art V Science

I like this album name as I relates to the fact that music is a kind of art and with my chosen album designs being rather creative I think it will link in with the cover very well. This album title may also relate to both my potential album covers.

Decorous

I like this title simply as it is not an everyday word, many members of the audience may not know its meaning so it may seem intriguing.


I have decided on the name Decorous for my Digipack, it is simple and as it is not a common everyday used word I think it will appeal to my audience and draw in their attention, it is also a simple one word title that will not overpower the cover. 

(AT1) My Chosen Logo

This is my chosen logo from out of all of my designs I prefer this logo to the others as I feel its is basic and simple, the other designs were too overcrowded with colour and as you can see from my logo research bands of this genre have very basic coloured logos often simply black and white. 

Also I feel this logo fits in with the band image more than any others, the bands name is 'Birds of Tokyo' and I feel like this font used reflects the font of japanese writing and so represents the band very well.

The idea behind this logo also is that, each letter of the logo is written by each member of the band, now audiences want more than simply the CD itself so I feel having a not only the band logo but a print of the band signature within it works really well. 

The main reason i have chose this logo is also that my digipack is quite vivid in colour and i do not want the bands logo to dominate the page but this logo is simple but will hopefully become a recognisable logo for the band.

I also feel that this is a unique logo that could easily become a recognisable symbol for the band on various products and future Digipacks and posters, much like the rolling stones, Blink 182 or The offspring.

(AT1) My Logo Designs

Now that I have researched the typical logo designs and how they shoudl look I drafted some initial designs of my band 'birds of tokyo'. When a set out in designing my initial designs I first selected my two primary colours, as any more then two would overcrowd the design and it would not follow the typical image of a band logo, as my band is called birds of tokyo I had chosen red (refering to the Japanese flag) and black as this is a commonly used colour for band logos.

My aim for my initial designs was to produce a sleek and professional looking logo while also hoping to maybe encorporate a symbol into the design that relates to the bands title, so either a Japanese flag or a bird.

My Initial Designs:

Some of my initial designs were bold and innovative while others were simple and basic, some I incorporated symbols such as a bird or a red circle for the Japanese flag while some were simply black and red without an image. Some I feel were too hectic for a and logo and it was not clear enough what the logo said or was while others were too simple and lacked and eye-catching features.

Once I had sketched my initial designs I seleceted my favourites based upon how interesting I think my audience would fine them and how much they related to a typical looking logo design. I then drew up my favourtie designs on the computer to get a better idea of how each one would look on my digipak.

(AT1) Band Logo Research

In order to make by band and digipack more appealing I conducted some research into band logos, It became apparent to me through this that many bands currently use band logos to brand themselves and their style of music. It is a very clever way of attracting an audience, and gaining recognition. I am hoping to also create a recognizable logo for my bad so that it can be used on my digipack cover and help to attract my audience.

 A bands logo is very important in promoting a musician. Logos for band are becoming more and more popular with some bands albums recognizable by a single symbol such as, Him, Linkin Park or Blink 182, having the logo of the band on the cover of a digipack can instantly draw the attention of an audience. A bands logo can sometimes simply be a certain font but once it is established, the font is then used throughout all of the band material and it becomes a representation for that band.

Once I had decided to create a logo for my band, I then conducted research on typical band logos, how they are styles, what colour schemes they use etc.

I found that while some logos used very eccentric font styles like, Whitesnake, New York dolls or Pink Floyd others used very simplistic font styles such as Oasis or the Beatles. Other logos featured more colour than other while others were simply black and white. Others included an image relating to the band name within the logo while other simple had writing and nothing else. One important feature I did find however was that generally speaking band logos need to be kept simple. There were very few logos I found that featured a lot of colour with the most common colour used being black, they were all very clear on the styling of the writing and did not include any abstract, off-putting or obscure fonts or images that would confuse the audience.

Through this I have gained a better understanding of how a band logo should be presented, it needs to be clear and efficient with basic colour schemes.

 

(AT1) Full Digipack Design

Using a website:

http://www.pure-music.co.uk/cd-manufacturing-cost/?gclid=CNnIkfucvbQCFePHtAodqx4AFQ

I found the accurate dimensions for an album digipack of the style I wanted. This so that when I begin creating my album on Photoshop I can input the correct sizes of the back the spine and the front. (125mm – 284mm)

This website also contained various nets for different album designs so I was able to look at the various album layouts and choose one I felt would work best with my design.

I chose the CD in gatefold wallet layout; this design allows a booklet of up to 12 pages in size to be inserted inside the album. CD wallets and booklets are given away free with almost every CD, DVD and game now, with millions being produced every week they are lightweight and cost effective but are ideal for promotion and marketing.

Now with my accurate dimensions and net I drew up a full design of my digipack including, front, back and spine for the finnished product: