Digipaks

A Digipak is a form of CD packaging which is used for singles or special CD editions. Meadwestvaco were the first people to create Digipaks but more manufacturers use it nowadays too. Digipak's have a gatefold (book-style), paper board or card stock outer binding with one or more plastic trays to hold the CDs.
The front of the Digipak is useful to represent the artist and their style. Typical logos or iconography might be used to allow the audience to become instantly familiar on first glance at it. The artist's brand is portrayed and any new messages within the music can be demonstrated which increases their popularity and fan-base.

DIGIPAK ANALYSIS

When analysing the Digipaks I decided to choose artists that I had already studied to ensure that I could analyse their style more accurately. P!nk's image overall is represented as feminine, sexual and powerful in the images on the Digipak. The two close ups of her face on the cover and on the insert use direct mode of address to connect P!nk to the audience. Her strong, black make up look and styling choices make her seem dominant and seductive to the audience - this would attract people to the CD automatically.  Although the image on the bottom left is high angled and would typically weaken the subject's appearance, P!nk is still represented as powerful due to the animalistic feathers and stance that she has taken. Her appearance is comparable to that of an animal waiting on it's prey or a majestic bird. The animalistic theme is repeated in the final image which conveys P!nk's entrapment in a cage. Although this would be seen as a sign of weakness for many, P!nk's casual, carefree pose and glamorous costume lead one to believe that she's in control. 

In terms of the black and white colour scheme with the red typography, one would suggest that this further represents her as a classic, well known artist. Black and white photos are symbolic of age; thus one would suggest that P!nk's label is attempting to represent her as someone who is experienced with their music and someone who's been around for a while. On the other hand, red has connotations of passion, love, power and blood - representing her as a strong female. P!nk's image is evident throughout the Digipak - this is how the artist will sell the single/album. In the insert an image of P!nk is seen on every other page with the song lyrics next to them. This allows the audience to sing along to the track if they wish and also provides them with further imagery of the artist.

Dissimilar to P!nk's digipak, Florence + the Machine's doesn't have any photographic imagery except on the insert. Interestingly, the cover image is a cartoon image of Florence; one feels that this is a risky design choice because some people wouldn't instantly recognise that it was her. Each page has the bordered motif which keeps the design regular and neat through each page. The black, lilac, yellow and white colours are all match well and suit the flowered design on the insert and back cover. Again, dissimilar to P!nk's Digipak, Florence + the Machine's one held 2 CD's so it had an extra fold out section. This is transparent plastic and is the only section which is not patterned - most probably to save the cost of trying to add in another design piece and so the audience can view both CDs easily. 

On the insert Florence + the Machine are represented as experienced and popular artists. Unlike P!nk's Digipak, this one gives an overview of their career and has information about the artist as opposed to lyrics. Although I think both are good ideas, I like the idea of the artist making a bond with the audience through giving them more in depth information.