COMP 3: Digipak Development

This blog post contains my research along with the groups development of our digipak, written by Timo

Research

Since our project revolves around a female pop star, I proceeded to conduct research on female artists' digipaks that followed the same genre. These artists include, Im Nayeon, Dua Lipa, and Kim Jennie. The following digipaks are example of what I believe is a similar theme and mood to what we want our digipak cover to be.

I personally like portrait shots of artists on the digipak cover because it feels much more personal and give a form of interaction with the audience. I like that the poses they are doing in the cover do not seem very monotone and have some sort of uniqueness to it, with Nayeon (most left) the dress and shiny accessories standout, with Dua Lipa (middle) the bar shes hanging on adds another layer of depth to the design, and lastly Jennie (most right) has a bright pink flower that glows. I personally like the idea of not only having the subject artist stand out.

On the other hand, Nayana also conducted research, finding pictures in pinterest she deemed the most fitting for our concept. I agreed with Nayana, since the pictures she chose perfectly encapsulates a senso freedom, whilst still being elegant and simple. Nayana's research seem to follow a earthy or natural colour pallete, whilst having the subject either look away or directly at the camera. This research is shown in the image below:

Layout Planning

Before digitally developing our digipak, Nayana sketched a rough plan on paper creating a 4-page layout of a:

1. Front Cover
2. Tracklist
3. CD
4. Back Cover, containing:
• Hand Signature
• QR Code
• Barcode

Below is the sketch/draft Nayana created for the layout

Digipak Front Cover

Using Canva, we (Timo, Nayana, and Sharon) created a large variety of different mockups, utilizing different typefaces, compositions, sizing, and colours, using the same picture. After further discussion, we all agreed on one typeface called "Moontime" (circled in green), which was used as our main digipak cover font as well as our title card in the music video. It encapsulates the perfect amount of elegance, whilst still being personal as it looks like a handwritten font. Shown below, is the compilation of mockups, compiled by Sharon.

However, after further analysis, we decided that the original picture used was a tad bit too bland and didn't represent exactly what we wanted it too. The pose itself is very monotone, therefore, we conducted another photoshoot experimenting with different poses. 

With the first three rows of our mockups, we chose a beautiful image of our star facing away from the camera, reaching to the sky. I believe that this image was a good choice to use as a base for our design because it gives a bit of mystery and really shows her freedom when she is reaching to the sky. Whereas. the final row of mockups uses a portrait image of her facing straight towards the camera, which is popular with indie artists, this can give the audience a more personal feel as she makes direct eye contact with them. However, what these two images both have in common is that the background mostly consists of either the sky or the open ocean. This connotes freedom as there is so much free space behind her almost as if she is flying or soaring.

With the first image, we finalized our layout with the title text being at the bottom, this is because this is the most optimal position for the text to stand out, as other positions would make the colour pop out less. However, we made a lot of trials of placing different writings on top of the cover, this is because the composition would feel imbalanced without anything on the top part, therefore, we experimented with adding her name "KIARA" in a bold font, testing different colours, such as different shades of blue and even green. Furthermore, we added "The 1st Mini Album" as writing to emphasize our artist's debut album, however, our media teacher disliked the font we used as the text saying the "1st" was easily misread as "ist", we then finalized a font which eliminates this problem. Below it we also placed a copyright text which was used to further balance the layout, to not make the space feel too empty.

Final:

The picture shown above is our final front cover for our digipak, we decided not to change the font above despite our media teacher's feedback as it adds the perfect balance of simplicity. Using green as the font colour also helps with continuity as the inside of our digipak uses these colours.

Tracklist 

Below is the tracklist Nayana created, in which she combined the actual artist's, Sabrina Carpenter's, songs as well. Short song titles are seen to be more popular with modern artist's which is why we chose this as our tracklist.

1. Just Say Yes
2. Feather
3. Nonsense
4. Actin'
5. Boy(friend)
6. Nowhere Near
7. Idyllic

Shown above is a compilation of our (Timothy, Nayana, and Sharon) mockups made in Canva. I personally designed the tracklist layout adding a text below the title of each song showcasing its producers and writers below it to give it another layer of design, which was heavily inspired by K-Pop albums, as this design language is popular in that industry. My text design was finalized as everyone in our group really liked it. Our tracklist title font changed multiple times as we experimented with blending two different fonts, however, we agreed with our media teacher's feedback to change it as it seemed too excessive. With our tracklist page image, we experimented with different pictures we took at both the park and the beach, however, we had two main options which were either a scenic background or a picture of the artist looking at the tracklist. Firstly, we eliminated using a scenic background as it was a bit too empty, and the text was hard to read if the background was bright. Secondly, we experimented with adding a colour block behind the tracklist to make the text more visible, however, it seemed dull and quite unprofessional which led to us deciding to not use it. Lastly, we decided to use the pictures at the park, changing the colour scheme to green and brown, as this would make the text more visible. 

Final:

As a group, we believe this tracklist page is perfect as the image of our star with her hair flowing in the wind perfectly represents her freedom, accompanied with her expression, smiling with eyes that glow, showcasing how happy she is after letting go.

CD Page

Shown above is a compilation of mockups for the CD page made by Sharon. Using different pictures of scenic backgrounds from our set, including the sea, and the sky. However, the colour tone was not satisfactory as it didn't give much detail to the clouds.

Final:

Shown above is the finalized CD page, using a photograph I took at the park of bubbles floating at the park. I think this image is the perfect choice bubbles float effortlessly, carried by the air. This lightness can represent the feeling of freedom, as they are not weighed down by gravity or constraints. The carefree movement of bubbles through the air can evoke a sense of liberation. The bubbles weren't placed in the middle to make it seem as if the bubbles were carrying the CD, whilst making it seem natural.

Back Cover

Shown above are the mockups of our back cover page compiled through Canva. We first used a simple image of our star with her back turned away from the camera. We then experimented by adding a barcode, which is commonly found in most artist's digipaks. We then added the artist's name to give more exposure to her, for curious audiences. Lastly, we added an anecdote, which was written by Maxi, after researching different artists' "about" page in spotify. 

Anecdote:
"After rising into the limelight of public attention at the age of just 13, 17-year-old Indonesian singer-songwriter KIARA continues to push the boundaries of what the music industry considers feasible. Feather - her newest album - debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 32 different countries. Hailed by both the public and the industry alike as one of the most creative and inspirational talents of her generation, the end of KIARA's rise to stardom is seemingly nowhere in sight."

Final:

The image shown above is our finalized back cover. I think that anecdote used in this back cover is the perfect length and detail to give information of our star, KIARA. Using the image of her facing away also gives an effect of a dramatic and grand ending, perfect for our back cover.

Reflection: When creating this digipak, I was not really supposed to work that much on it, however, as we began to develop the different pages, I couldn't help but to put effort into it. Working together with Nayana and Sharon helped me improve my designs as their feedback was really helpful. I learnt how to make different fonts of different typeface families work well with each other. I learnt how to compose different layouts to make the perfect balance of dividing attention between the title and our star. Using canva was also really helpful as we could collaborate on a design in real time. Following this project, I need to do more research on digipaks to broaden my style because I feel like I followed a certain style as I was afraid to try something new.