(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:

(AT1) Initial Digipack Designs

Now that I have researched the different styles of digipaks and their codes and conventions, I have drafted some initial digipak designs.

Once I had my initial designs I selected my favourites designs based upon how realistic it would be to produce and how it would attract  my audience, once I had my favourite designs I asked members of my target audience which they prefered:

Doing this helped my establish which of designs would be best to use, design two seemed to appeal to many members of my taget audience, where as design where as many people felt design 6 and 8 were too dull and accodring to my audience, design 5, although clever and unique, did not appear to be something used on a typical album cover. I have decided that I am going to use deisng two (tree) .

(AT1) Digipack Analysis

(AT1) Research Of Digipack Covers

I have decided to research the different styles of album cover designs in the genre of music I am focusing on so that I can choose a design that is most suitable for me to create, I can then begin sketching my initial designs.

The design that I like the most is the abstract designs however I think they will be too difficult to create effectively so I am going to use a mixture of them all I will sketch some initial designs some will be potential full images some will be of one item in the center and I will try to incorporate an abstract element in to some of them. Once I have my initial designs I can narrow down my favorites based on how easy they will be to create, how unique they will be and how my audience will respond to them by using a questionnaire.

(AT1) What Is A Digipack?

The digi-pack is a form of packaging for CD’s or DVD’S created by MeadWestvaco; they are generally a gatefold book style outer binding, with the plastic tray to hold the CD placed inside. Manufacturers are becoming increasingly environmental by using recyclable product’s to make its tray. Others are beginning to eliminate the plastic tray completely and replaced it with a card or paper tray.

The album digipack I very important in attracting the audience, if the album digipack is not appealing enough it has the potential to not only put consumers off but not catch their eye at all, the digipack design should reflect the theme of the album, if it is a rock band it would be bizarre to feature something such as rainbows on the cover unless it related to a specific song or was used in an ironic way.