It was my job to research into a pop art style of Digipak, and so I am now posting that research. I managed to find three examples of the pop art style that we were personally considering for our Digipak. The main ideas were to use four pictures, one of each band member within the inside of the Digipak. We also contemplated using colours that clashed and contrasted to provide a modern and contemporary feel.
'The Best of Blur', Blur's Greatest Hits
This style is fun and contemporary with the colour adding to the theme. It is an eyecatching album cover/DigiPak and provides the buyer with an idea of how the band's music will sound. The cartoon-like pictures are simple in style and could be achievable if we were to adopt the same style for our own DigiPak. However, the plain coloured backgrounds do not suit Faded Cadence's genre style. Blur are a 'britpop', alternative rock band which is a completely different genre to that of Faded Cadence's indiepop style. The colours are of an odd choice as they clash with one another. However, this was probably intended and may have been chosen by each individual band member.
The font used is very simplistic, and has been a consistent feature throughout the band's discography. The font could be described as the band's logo and therefore is needed to keep the theme repetitive. The colour white of the font helps it to stand out amongst such bright backgrounds, but also helps to tone down the other colours used.
If we decided to apply this style to our DigiPak, I think it would be better to leave in the original backgrounds of each picture rather than digitally transplant the band members on to a fake background. I don't believe that the cartoon, drawing of each artist would work as no one in Media Group C can draw adequately enough for the pictures to look real. As this is also Faded Cadence's first album/DigiPak, it would be more beneficial to use real life photographs of the band members in order to advertise them to the purchaser. We could also not use Faded Cadence's logo as this would be breach of copyright; it could be time consuming deciding upon a new logo, and so we have decided to leave this style feature out.
Example Two:
'Celebration', Madonna's Greatest Hits
This style is more representive of pop art than the Blur album cover/DigiPak. The image is possibly greyscaled or modified to a sepia effect; this leaves it devoid of any colour. As the image would be dull and not inviting to the buyer, colour has been digitally added to exaggerate certain features. Presumably the yellow highlighting along the hairline has been used to emphasise Madonna's common and unchanging blonde hair. Her lips are coloured in a deep red which could connote passion or danger; however, as her facial expression is relaxed, it is most likely intended to promote seduction or passion.
The picture is of a fairly young Madonna, this would be fitting to her Greatest Hits album as it demonstrates her progression as an artist from the beginning until the production of the album. The colours once again clash rather than compliment each other; this is most likely intended to attract an audience or buyer to purchase the album. The style of the album cover/DigiPak fits the genre of music pertaining to Madonna as she writes electronic pop, rock and dance. This type of music is associated with bright colours.
As for fonts, the words, 'Madonna' and 'Celebration' appear to have been written in the same font. However, 'Madonna' is written in a larger font size, as this is the artist's name, it seems only fitting. 'Celebration' appears to be written in italics and is positioned directly below the artist's name. The fonts used are not indicative of Madonna's style and have not been used repetitively on her other albums.
If we were to adopt this style for Faded Cadence's album cover/DigiPak, I think that the colours would need to be toned down as they are too bright to be linked with the calm and laid-back feel of their music. I also think that instead of a sepia style background, it would be more fitting to use a greyscale effect to add emphasis to whichever colours were used. The band would also benefit much better from relaxed photographs, where little posing is required, as this would link to the genre of music.
Example Three:
'Asylum' by KISS
This is unique style for a heavy metal rock band, such as KISS, as it is more colourful than one might expect. The colours used a bright pinks, yellows, blues and greens so it keeps the style attention grabbing but does not take away from the dark background.
The photographs of the band members are at a slant and are slightly grainy which adds emphasis to the title of the album, 'Asylum'. The band members are all staring out of the album cover/DigiPak directly at the audience or buyer which helps to involve the audience or buyer in the artwork. Just like the Blur album cover/DigiPak, a colour has been assigned to each member. However, with the KISS each member's have been highlighted with a bright colour, presumably in reference to the band's name.
'KISS' is written in the logo font for the band, and this has been used consistently through the band's history. The font colours are not as bright as the main image, but this is presumably so that the artwork is the main focus of the album cover/DigiPak.
If we were to use this idea in for Faded Cadence, I would suggest that the colours were once again toned down and replaced with light, possibly pastel, blues, greens and yellows. The main image works, and could be used for our own DigiPak. However, I would not use a completely black background as it is too dark and does not represent Faded Cadence's music style.
And, that is all folks!
Hope you enjoyed my little run-down.
Thanks,
Lydia. :)
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