Influences and Inspirations for digipak and magazine advertisement

Finished results!

Digipak

 Insert

 Magazine advertisement

Magazine Advertisement construction

I knew I wanted to use the circular graphic I had used on my front cover for my magazine advertisement because this would hopefully enable the viewer to instantly recognise the CD product itself from the magazine advertisement. Therefore I began by using the circle photograph I had edited earlier. However I also already had an idea in my head that I wanted the text on the advertisement to change colour dependent on the background. Initially I wanted the words themselves to be partly black when on the white of the background and partly white on the image itself. Unfortunately this proved to difficult for my technical skills so I opted for having two words "new album" in white where the line of the sentence crossed the image.I changed the words "the" and "from" into black either side of the image. I feel this still provided the right effect. I also positioned the name of the artist in the same place as on the digipak cover to again show the album cover and also to draw the eye to the name and show the importance.

I created my magazine advertisement in microsoft word. I drew the frame by using a rectangle shape tool and then adjusted the sizing so that it was the the right dimensions for an A4 page (29.7 X 21cm). I then placed my edited circle with text in the upper center.

After I had added the initial text for the top half of the advertisement, I wanted to add a review to "big up" the album and attract the viewers. I decided to use a five star image as I had seen these on several magazine advertisements previously. I found an image I liked on google images, and edited it so that it was grey in colour in photoshop to match my colour scheme and create a subtler look to the advertisement. I invented a simple quote from The Guardian. I chose the guardian because it is a respected newspaper that often reviews music.

I also added the words "includes the single aint nobody" to particularly identify and draw attention to the song I had used for my music video. This is a technique I have also seen in other magazine advertisements. 

I then added my record company logo, however it had a white box around it that was interfering with where I wished to place it, so I edited out the white in photoshop.

I then sourced the twitter, facebook and soundcloud logo from my digipak and placed them in the right hand corner of my advertisement so they wouldn't draw the attention away from my main advertisement text/graphics but still encourage viewers to investigate the artist further. I also changed the colour of the logos from white to a light grey so that they would stand out on the white background but not be too obvious or clash.

Here is my finished magazine advertisement:

Digipak contstruction- insert and mini poster

For my insert I chose to use a six way fold technique that allowed for six panels each side. This is because I wanted a space big enough so that one side of this insert could be folded out into a mini poster for the owner of the digipak. This creates a free piece of merchandise for the audience and could encourage publicity if it was put up somewhere others would see it. I first drew the squares each 11 by 11 to make sure they would fit (once folded) into my digipak slot of 12.5 by 12.5. To create the poster side I then again used one of my images from my photo shoot and used photoshop elements to edit it to my liking (straightening, brightening etc).

I then used a circle tool to create a spherical shape in the middle of my image for my text to go in. I used the transparency tool bar to adjust the opacity and make the circle faded so that some of the image was still visible through the shape. Finally I added text across the center of the circle to show the name of the artist and complete the poster. 

 For the other side of my fold out insert I decided to display the lyrics of the song I used in my music video- aint nobody. I chose the font I downloaded as I have been using this font for the whole digipak to keep consistency of design.

To finish the panels I added a thanks to one of the panels and a crediting panel to the other. The panels read "Thanks" "Kordula would like to say a huge thankyou to all involved in the making of this album. Without the continued support of fans, friends, family and our amazing production team this would never have been possible. A special thank you to moon and rust records "
"All tracks written and recorded by Kordulas Published by moon and rust records Mixed by Kain Davis at boomsoundroom Los Angeles CA, Mastered by Tom Sterling at SterlingSound CA Art Direction by Kacy Maitland at Dotscop"
"www.kordulasmusic.co.uk"

 To finish this side of the fold out insert I added a circular image I cut out on photoshop and faded it so it wouldn't make the text over the top unreadable.
Here are the two sides of my insert fold out. (The grid lines show where the panels fold)

Digipak construction- using a cut out

After some deliberation I have decided to have a cut out circle on the cover of my digipak. This is a technique I first saw on the XX's album cover. The right panel is technically my front cover, however here I have placed a circle to show where there will be a cut out. The left panel shows the image that will show through this cut out to form the cover. I feel this will add a more edgy look to my digipak and ideally encourage the audience to pick up the digipak and investigate further. I also like the idea that the circle cut out is like a window or a porthole, showing the sea behind.

Here again I have put a circle cut out space as this would be the other side of my front cover. The third panel would fold to go over the CD itself (middle panel) and the left panel would then fold over this to create the cover.

Digipak construction- inside the digipak

Inside the image I decided to use one image spread across the three panels. This is an idea I had seen in other digipaks and thought it was very effective. I also felt I needed to balance the white and simplistic cover I had created. I chose an image that depicted footsteps walking towards a frothy shoreline. I feel this links well to my music video in which my artists are walking along/towards the shoreline. The right panel has an extra cut away to show that this is where my insert would go. I chose to create a curved edge to mimic the undulating shapes seen in my photography with crashing waves etc

I then added a circle for my CD to be placed in. I used microsoft words tools for this, and faded the white shape to create a subtle contrast that would still allow the image to show through.

Digipak construction- the spine

Creating the spine was a very simplistic piece of graphic design. I decided to again keep the white background of the front cover and the back cover so that the cover in itself would seem seamless and an ongoing graphic. I added the name and album title in a grey font to provide a subtle effect that would still compliment the theme of the digipak. The name I chose to be in a slightly larger font to make it stand out and catch the viewers eye. I also added the record company logo again, but faded it so that it would not detract away from the name or album name.