JACK KERRY: A2 MEDIA COURSEWORK.

3 album covers analysis Inspirations and Digipak analysis:

Sting - all this time. (Album front cover.)

There is certainly a colour palette being followed for this cover. The clothing and background of the image is dominantly blue. A little bit of green is also blended in with the blue. Besides these 2 colours, the only others featured are red, for the letter S and thing on his trousers. Pale, for the skin colour of the man. And white for the remaining text featured. The dark blue and green colours were probably used as dominant colours for the overall picture so that both the text and the featured artist would stand out more to people looking at the album people, due to white and pale being significantly lighter than the featured clothing and background in this image. This raises visual interest from the viewers of the album cover and is therefore more effective in gaining its target audience. The simplicity of the background is what gets the audience to focus on certain properties of the cover. Not only does the colour scheme help to make the artist and the text stand out more, but the fact that the background featured is merely just a door which is just used to simply represent the content of the album, this makes the viewers focus on the artist more and his appearance. As a result, they begin to develop an attraction towards him and his presence in the album cover via illustrative techniques. In this case, the background does nothing more than merely represent the genre and album content, leaving almost all focus to shift towards the text and the artist featured. I chosen this cover because of its resemblance to my own idea. The door in the background appears to be very worn down and grotty. The rotting and the dirt represent negative emotion and narrative content. My cover development may be able to use some influence from the making of this cover. Sting is also a solo artist performing in the soft rock genre, so much similarity is used. The artist in this image is looking towards the camera. Therefore, its focus is towards the viewer of the album cover, or it at least appears that way. This is a technique of breaking the fourth wall which is used when a breakaway to reality is needed or wanted to create effect towards the audience. By the artist looking towards the camera and at the viewers, it gives them emphasis and a great feel of how he appears in his music videos, and what he is about. This attempt seems like a successful one. By looking at the audience, we can develop a feeling and awareness towards who this man is and what type of performer he is. The typography used is interesting. It is an Accord Light SF font style used for the title text on the cover. It bares close resemblance to a Calibri font, but the letter shapes are just slightly different. This contrast in used font also provides the implication that while this is a simple, standard soft rock album in many ways, there are certainly some unique features and special values to its music and music content and style. This is an effective way to promote the cover of the album towards the audience, and market is as a unique yet familiar and standard, likeable music album.

Sting all this time. (Album back cover.)

There are a few credits at the bottom showing which companies were involved in the production of the album and how they were involved. The website address below is a method of casual marketing. Perhaps my work should use this as inspiration. The album name, A&M records mention, and album code are all featured on the side of the cover. The A&M records is a special thanks to the company which helped with production of the album. A feature I should include on my produced album. The other features are also useful as category is a useful thing to have on an album cover. The barcode is featured in the corner as another feature to represent category. This is a stereotypical and stylish feature to have on a back cover. Something I should use for this coursework.

The song list is shown as the dominant feature on the back cover. This is to get interested viewers who have picked up the album cover and turned to see the back a chance to know what is on the album. The font used is similar but smaller to the one used in the front cover. This represents similarity used in overall albums.

The colour scheme is also similar, except yellow has replaced red. The text stands out from the blue background in this part of the album much like how the text and artist do in the front cover due to the colour scheme. This shows the effectiveness of a well used colour scheme.

Sting all this time. (Album inside.)

Though there are many different designs of the CD itself, this one in particular has a certain style of using a simplistic design and appearance to make the contained content AKA the title of the artist and album stand out more. There are other versions of this disc, such as one which has the same image as the front cover. Which would be another way of both keeping the design of the whole album similar as well as making certain visual elements stand out as explained on the front cover analysis.

The inside has a dark CD with some of the used colour palette from the cover. The word Sting once again has a red first letter and the rest of the text is in white. The same font is used as well. The colour palette has been generally stuck to throughout the entire album. This makes the appearance a lot more fitting and makes the album more attractive in general.

Below the title of the album on the disc is the same series of credits featured on the back cover. This is so viewers can definitely know who and what companies were involved with the production, distribution and marketing of the product. Sometimes this is essential for artists and bands if they want big companies marketing and distributing their CDs.

Kerrang the album 09. (Front cover.)

I selected this cover in contrast to my other 2, more specific examples. This is more of an overview or general album design. No particular band is featured, just a lot of headings and marketing lines are featured. The Kerrang CD pack cover is an example of how overall design, layout, structure and use of colours and fonts can specifically generate focus and attraction from viewers of the cover. Kerrang is a leading brand in music, and there production is of high standard. The colour palette used is both relative to the Kerrang brand and simple as well. The colours used are black, white, blue and yellow. This does mean that colours doe not specifically make anything in particular stand out, but the whole package is represented via the style of the album cover, as well as the layout. Obviously, in terms of layout, the title Kerrang and the album 09 subheading are the two most stand out properties of this cover. Each feature on the cover stands out in its own way, the parental advisory stick and Double CD marketing technique are both featured in the corner by themselves so they singly stand out. The song list also stands out via being in different colours each line Kerrangs typography is interesting. The cover uses a variety of fonts, sizes and colours for each property, another way in which each feature manages to stand out. The fonts used vary. The Kerrang main heading is an edited version of Arial with lots of lines and rough edges inserted. The album 09 subhead seems to be Arial Narrow. The difference being that the colour is yellow to make it stand out as much as the Kerrang heading itself. A similar approach is taken with the band list in the right low corner. Each name is featured under another and the colour continues to change each time. The designs in the background are very interesting. They are not produced to be instantly spotted, rather than to be a background attraction that looks good, but does not steal any focus from the viewers towards the headings and featured text. If a viewers observes the background designs close enough, they resemble various things, such as a pair of wings above the Kerrang main heading. A design sometimes associated with the Kerrang brand. While this is perhaps primarily a technique of branding from Kerrangs part, it also provides me with some inspiration for my own digipak production.

The fact that no band is featured in particular is understandable for an album f this type, but it shows a good contrast in effectiveness. Without any band to be shown on the cover, a lot of anonymous feeling and lack of demonstration is often present, like in this cover. It is really just a lot of text and headings shoved over a few designs in basic. But Kerrang is a large enough brand to get away with that, and people who are into Kerrang know most of the bands associated anyway. Nevertheless, this makes me think about how effective my band image should be on my front cover

Kerrang The album 09. (Back cover.)

The same font and colour scheme generally applies, though red has replaced blue as one slight difference here. The fonts and typography styles have been maintained, as has the intelligence level in layout and structure of the back cover. A certain pattern has generated in my analysis which demonstrates that most successful and well produced album covers and CD packs are usually fitting in basic content all throughout. This means that all elements of the pack, including front cover, back cover and insides are all containing similar colour palettes, fonts, etc Kerrang definitely uses that to their advantage. The features shown on this back cover include a barcode, which represents category, and a series of rights and details next to it at the bottom, explaining ownerships, which companies helped with production, etcthis is always useful to have when it comes to distribution and exhibition stages of media products and texts. The fonts are still the same, and the use of colour alteration is being utilised as ever. The subhead once again shifts to yellow colour as the main heading is featured in white. Then through the entire CD 1 and 2 track list, each band name is highlighted in yellow while the song title is shown right next to them in white. This is a technique used by Kerrang, showing that use of an effective colour palette combined with efficient structure and layout makes presented content stand out far more and attract the audience a lot more effectively as a result.

The layout is very effective as the track list for both discs is at the centre of the cover, and takes up most of the space too. The underlines of the CD 1 and 2 titles, and the numbering and other neat qualities of the structure make the entire cover looked more professionally produced. This is an illustrative effect that draws in more target audience consumers. The layout makes the overall can make albums and CD packs appeal more to the audience.

Kerrang the album 09. (Inside.)

The disc maintains the use of the consistent colour palette and typography setting as well. Much like with the back cover, the track list has been added to the CD. The Rhino sticker and the use of colour contrast for song titles and band titles have also be maintained. The use of familiarity is so that it attracts the viewers of the CD more effectively and does not send them off guard by applying new fonts and colours to different sections of the digipak product. The disc features the same properties as both the front cover and the back cover not for the sake of redundancy, but for the purpose of getting the message in the audiences heads that the bands in the CD and the songs that are featured are both significant and important. This implies a lot of their presence within the contents of the CD rom.

The CD has the ownership rights placed around the CD. This places a dynamic form of layout on the CD itself. Unlike the Sting CD, the credits are not just simply placed underneath the title. The use of effective structure and layout has been maintained for the CD design itself. The title and subheading are placed at the top in large font to provide emphasis towards the overall content of the product. The CD 1 and Rhino sticker are placed on either side of the disc. Then at the bottom is the track list for CD 1. Not only are all of these features highlighted via a use of colour contrast (such as the subhead being yellow to the titles white.) but of the 4 main properties, they are all placed on either side of the CD with significant space between each. This spacious and organised design makes the CD product look arranged well, professionally produced, and a well made product overall. This provide further amplification that with the right structure and layout used, a product can appear to be even more attractive to the viewers and target audience than it already was with its contained content.

Elbow leaders of the free world. (Front cover.)

This band is a very specific, indie soft rock type of band and is very relative to my Digipak idea. This CD cover provides a good, specific example of what a traditional, old fashioned soft rock CD album cover would appear like. The development is simple in terms of colour, layout and quality, yet the appearance is still fitting, effective and dynamic nonetheless. The image of the band being featured on the front cover is an aversion in this case, as technically the band members are being portrayed, albeit as cartoon characters in a simple sketch. The style and design of the cover certainly relate to the quiet and slow paced, and somewhat old fashioned nature and feel of the indie soft rock genre. The cover is certainly designed in a very well manner that is able to promote the band to its intended target audience of soft rock fans. The colour palette is green, white, brown and black in this example, where the white is barely used at all except for the band title. The main cartoon image of the band is also in a lighter tone of green. Despite this, the black outlines still make them stand out. The colours are not bright and are quite dull for music album covers, this is due to the cover being very relative and appealing to the old fashioned, slow paced soft rock genre. The typography used is very basic, yet is still effective, as are most elements in this cover. The font used seems to be Arial in very bold standards. The font is common and basic but stands out thanks to the colour contrast between the writing and the green background. Not to mention the band title in white and the leaders of the free world line in dark brown. The layout also played a part in the texts ability to appeal to the target audience. The text is placed on the top centre of the cover, and is very noticeable thanks to its size, colour contrast and position. The main image Is featured below. While it blends in with the background, it still stands out as well thank to the inspiring artwork.

Elbow leaders of the free world. (Back cover.)

The typography remains consistent, at least for the most significant contents. The track list is a very significant element here. The yellow certainly helps it to stand out against the brown. The bold Arial font still being used certainly provides the feel that this album is of an indie soft rock genre context, and this is evidence by the consistent use of basic fonts and colour palettes. A lack of high-tech visual effects and bright colours which are usually associated with more mainstream music products and modern production techniques also helps to supply the implication that this is a specific rock CD which relates solely to soft rock. This is important as when I develop my own, I will have to consider what it appropriate to use and how it will represent my used song and genre, etc

The colour palette is generally the same, except green has been replaced by yellow, and brown is now the dominant colour of the back cover of the album. The layout is very well organised, with the barcode on top, a track list on the left, credits, and copyright on the right hand side, and the sides of the cover in white featuring the title and a number code. Basically, the layout is traditional and the content is all separate so each thing stands out. l that is why effective layout is useful. It certainly makes everything become both more noticeable and appealing to the audience if the layout is well made.

If my own Digipak back cover is presented with a track list due to the design being based off an album cover instead of a single song CD cover, then the style this example has used would be necessary to take inspiration from. The colour contrast, the basic yet bold font used and the size of the track list all make it stand out very well in this back cover. The layout also plays a part via the lack of surrounding content stealing focus. The classical, casual, dull coloured appearance of this back cover especially contrasts from more general, modern styles such as Kerrang. This metaphorically creates a red oni, blue oni effect. Kerrang and other mainstream music CD styles being very outgoing, outspoken, and wild. This is evidenced via Kerrangs style of using bright colours and complex designs. This is blue oni, more casual, calm and sophisticated. This is evidenced by the dull yet still noticeable colours, the simple design, etc

Elbow leaders of the free world. (Inside.)

The colour palette and fonts are used and maintained in the CD example of this album. Yet another simplistic design we can see. Perhaps soft rock albums are not so difficult in terms of computerised productions. The layout is similar to some of the previous examples, with the title at the top, some company details around the sides, etc The style of design has also been maintained. The front cover featured a drawing of the band members. In this example, there is a drawing of a circle. Perhaps a tumbleweed. Which would certainly be fitting to the stereotypically old fashioned content of this CD.

The red oni, blue oni contrast has been maintained here, too. While the Kerrang example featured bright colours, a variety of font styles and a visually impressive CD cover, this example features dull yet effective colours once more, similar typography for each inclusion of text, and simple designs and uses of illustration. Once again Kerrang appears to be more outgoing, wild, more modern and youthful. While this is calm, basic yet sophisticated in design, perhaps aimed at a slightly older audience.

Perhaps the use of small sketch drawings may be appealing for parts of my own design, though whether or not it will be consistent in use is not certain. Nevertheless, the inspiration remains.

Cantinero Better for the metaphor. (Album front cover single example.)
I chosen this cover as a bonus example because it is a cover of an alternative rock performing artist AKA one of my two selected genres; and also because the style of the design represents a classic approach. The classic approach represents old fashioned simplicity in some stereotypical ways. My music video of Proof is also a simple video. Furthermore, this album cover once again has a background of negative, degrading content. The little building behind the man with some dirt, old walls and a ruined window sets the image that the narrative content featured within the music is similar to my own. Degrading, dirty, low standard, not taken care of very well, etc basically, this cover, in some ways, represents the narrative content of my music video, so this might provide me with some useful inspiration. The colour palette is set to black and white in this cover image. This is seemingly done for two reasons . Firstly, it sets the image to represent classical styles of music and old fashioned alternative rock. Secondly, as far as illustrative techniques go, the lack of interesting use of different colours supplies more focus from the viewers towards other elements, such as the artist and text. A similar technique to the Sting album in terms of colour use. The typography is interesting. In the case of the title of the artist, the text is bright white, long and wide. This is to make the text stand out. In contrast, the title of the album itself below is featured in more narrow, less noticeable text. This is to perhaps put emphasis towards Cantinero as the artist, and show his significance and value within the product. Come to mention, the entire design of this front cover seems to be to get viewers of the cover to really focus on the artist. This is a good example of getting the target audience interested in the album by truly focusing on the unique selling point of the album. In this case, Cantinero. Based on font type judgement, it appears the artist title is set in Algerian font and the better for album title is set in Arial narrow font.

The artist himself appears very calm, and dressed in casual yet neat clothing to place a contrast in illustration. This is perhaps a marketing technique to support variety in songs and narrative content. The breaking the fourth wall principle is subverted here, as the man is looking towards the camera, or to an angle close to the camera, but is wearing shades so his face and part of his face is not shown. This also makes it unclear if he is actually looking at the viewers. This eliminates the purpose of getting viewers to become familiar with the artist by looking at them and vice versa. However, the clothing makes him appear stylish to the viewers nonetheless.

Conclusion:
Based on the analysis I have conducted, it appears that

since my music is that of an indie soft rock style, my design for the Digipak is going to require some fitting design and colour scheme. The colours were discussed in a previous post relating to the examples of colour palettes. As far as style, design, typography and layout all go, the design needs to be simple, without too much use of high standard modern technology. This colours need to be less bright and have a more casual and mixed feel to them. The layout should be basic and have the title at the top of the disc. Of course, if subversions that work can be made to the stereotypical design of a soft rock album cover, then they can be used