Digipak Journey (MK)

(Click photo to enlarge for more detail)

The idea for our music video sprung heavily from the fact that our 'inspiration' video reminded us of the 'Great Gatsby' era and the setting for it. After doing a lyric analysis, MKTO's song 'Classic' gave many references to different years such as: the 1950's, 60's - we particularly focused on the 1920's. However, during their music video, a lot of visual mise-en-scene features gave us hints that they were trying to portray this 'Gatsby' vibe. I initially wanted to follow this route for my Digipak and Poster due to the fact that our music video would link with it.

(1) I firstly made a mood board, including various screenshots from our inspiration video, to give us an idea of how we want to visually portray this song on screen. I included existing artists that also influence the band of the song, fashion style in regards to what the actors were wearing and what we thought related to our chosen era (modern clothing and theme inspired) and most importantly the type of colours that we thought were relevant and would represent this era clearly.

(2&3) Next, as a group, we decided that our Digipaks and Posters could stick to this theme of 'Gatsby' as well as the music video, so we looked at various different fonts that we thought looked the most like the 'Gatsby' theme and decided on Raconteur NF.

(4) This photo is the official cover for 'MKTO - Classic'. We looked at this a lot due to the fact that it gave us a lot of inspiration to how we could lead our ideas on to create our Digipaks. The 'record' idea firstly gave me the hint to develop it further by researching various different forms of 'music' player - however, at the time, I didn't think to continue into this due to the fact that our theme is Pop and I didn't think it would have been relatable.

(5) The colour palette shows possible choices that I made during the initial stages of my work. When looking back, although for my first draft I created a very modern look - something that I now regret doing - I learnt from this mistake and decided to stick with most of these colours until the end. These choices also came from the fact that at the time I was doing a lot of research into existing Digipaks and had a lot of inspiration come to mind when this process happened. However, I didn't really take into consideration the theme or our target audience - only the way it was presented on the page. I think that this may have been the reason for me not thinking in depth about the choices I had made.

(6) The first series of photos show the first Digipak that I looked at for inspiration: 'Purity Ring - Shrines'. I liked the composition of the CD cover and how the artist had incorporated illustration for the main theme of the Digipak. In relation to this, I looked at two other covers by FKA Twigs and SBTRKT. The running theme of this first analysis was the fact that the covers are simplistic and only required a centre image, no text. I liked the way that wanted to grasp their audiences just by one illustration/photograph that they thought represented their albums the most. This was something that I wanted to incorporate into my own final Digipak.

(7) The second series of photos show the second Digipak that I looked at for inspiration: 'Kid Koala - Carpal Tunnel Syndrome'. This Digipak is primarily illustrative based - this not only being on the front cover, but on various panels of the Digipak. I liked this idea due to the fact that it is creative, imaginative, but quite basic. However, it does work. By having only two main colours on the Digipak, it doesn't distract the audience away from the great drawings. The other attention to detail was also on the fact that the typography is hand written and works alongside the theme of the Digipak. This made more sure of wanting to go down the illustrative route for my Digipak.

(8) The last series of photos show the third Digipak that I looked at for inspiration: 'Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'. This Digipak is a mixture of photography and typography (predominantly photograph on the front). I looked at two other album covers - one by Kanye, another by JAY-Z and Kanye. I think that by collectively looking at each cover, I instantly could relate it back to our initial theme of 'Gatsby'. The Gold and Silver covers, alongside the Gold/Yellow typography in Kanye's MBDTF album create the sense of 'wealth' and 'authority'. I think that I could develop the colour and theme into my own Digipak draft.

(9) This photo is taken from the first draft of my Digipak. The look and theme I was trying to portray was simplistic and modern. I think that the most influence on this design was the first Digipak I researched was by Purity Ring and Kid Koala - combining simple and typographic features into my own work. However, I don't think the choice of colour and placement wasn't too direct to what I initially wanted to achieve. I think I focused more on look than design - the modern idea that I went for in the end doesn't particularly appeal to our 'Pop' audience. I also took the font choice from my previous project.

(10.1&10.2) I looked back at various screenshots from our inspiration video so I could find various objects that could influence my final Digipak. I decided to stick with the illustration idea due to the fact that I can incorporate my talents into this piece of work. I also decided to revert back to the 'Gatsby' theme and find objects that relate to this. I also thought of the many 'Pop' conventions that I need to follow which include things like having an interesting concept and colours. I was able to take photos of our two leading boys which also gave me inspiration on the sort of formality on my Digipak.

(11) I looked in various different books for more inspiration and I found two images that I thought could work alongside my theme: Playing card typography and a gramophone. I think that these two features could be the main eye-catching pieces in my Digipak, to which I was able to also incorporate the initial colour choices I picked at the beginning of the research process.

(12) This image shows the final design for my Digipak/Front cover. I decided to mix typography and illustration, alongside the initial colour choices and 'simplistic' theme. I made sure that my front cover idea had originality, but keeping to the 'Pop' conventions and style. While doing this, making sure that every aspect of my Digipak was eye-catching to our audience.