Digipack - Final Design

Audience Feedback:

To gather audience feedback about the images I have taken for my digipack, I posted an album on facebook and sent an email round to people, asking what they thought of the pictures, e.g. the use of colour, props, how it relates to my target audience, and also asking them anything they think could be changed or made better. This really helped me when choosing the images to use for my digipack, as it let me know what the audience liked and what they wanted to see. This is very important, as the audience are going to be the people who would be buying the record, and it is important to know that they like the style being shown.


This is a print screen of the email I composed to send round to people on facebook, in order to achieve some audience feedback for the images used on my digipack.

In order to achieve the right look for my images, I researched further into my chosen artist, and looked at a number of different promotional pictures produced for Florence and the Machine. This then gave me some ideas about the type of poses and positions I wanted to place my model in, and the style of costumes and props I wanted to use in order to create the right look for this particular genre.

I wanted the colours in all of my pictures to be very bright, and for the model to be the main focal point in all of the shots. I also wanted to include different unusual positions so it would represent the quirky individual style of Florence and the Machine.


To create this particular shot, I used a flowery duvet which I placed on the floor. I thought that the bright colours and the outgoing patterns represented perfectly the particular style I wanted to create, and to reflect the bubbly personality of Florence and the Machine. The black dress being worn by the modal, makes her stand out from the background and shows up well against the vibrant flowers. When taking this picture, I placed the camera in a high angle shot, and focused on the model from above.

The heart that has been drawn onto the models face, represents the theme of 'You've Got the Love', and gives the song and the images consistency.

This is an example, of how i edited the original picture, in order to connect more with the target audience and to make the picture more appealing. The stars have been added using Photoshop, and I feel they make the image more interesting to look at, and different from anything else. The models pose, has been inspired by a promotional picture taken of Florence Welch, but with the added prop of using heart lights, to help bring out the theme of love.

I wanted all of my pictures to stand out, as vibrant colours are a clear idea that Florence and the Machine have based themselves on, and I wanted to also show this in my digipack to link with the unique "indie" theme. To compose this shot, I positioned my model in front of a white wall, and costumed her in 'stylish' clothes, that would make her stand out, and to also represent the styles and ideas of my target audience.



This is a different style picture that I have created for my digipack. I have incorporated the theme of 'You've Got the Love', by editing the word 'love' on to the mirror beside the model. To compliment the unusual style of Florence and the Machine, and to link with there 'strange' style of music video, I wanted this particular photo to be posed for in a different type of way, and so to create this I have used props such as the mirror, sink and chest of draws to create originality in my style. Once again, I have used a plain background, and have also put the model in bright coloured clothing in order to compliment the style of the target audience and to keep my photos consistent.

Below is the audience feedback that I have received from posting my images on facebook. As the email shows, I asked people to comment on particular aspects of my photos, such as the use of colour, props, mise-en-scene and composition of the shots. By doing this, it helped me to focus more on my target audience, as the age group that I asked to respond, where all people between the ages of 16-21, which are all ages I am aiming at for my digipack and video. As well as asking them to comment on what they liked about them, I also asked them to comment on things they didn't, and how they thought it could have been taken better or improved. By doing this task, I received some really encouraging feedback about my pictures, and I also received criticisms about the lighting for example, which I will take on board for future assignments.

Above our some of the comments I received for my photos. The comments include encouragement about the composition of my images, and how they link in well with the style and themes within the song, and within the artist. There is also comments about the mise-en-scene used within the images, and how the background, costume and make-up shown is unique to the style I am trying to capture.






























Above are a few of the improvements people think I could make to my images, and how these photos are not as good as some of the other ones I have taken. I agree fully with the comments said, and will not be using these images in my digipack, as they did not reflect upon what the target audience want, and do also not show my best work, and create the result I wanted. The comments made for these particular photos are about the lighting used in both, and go from one extreme of the image being too dark, and not being bright enough to show off the model against the background, and the other extreme being that the image is too bright and over exposed, which means the focus is detracted from the model.






Creating my Digipack




I have decided to create my final digipack using Adobe In Design. This is due to the layout and how I feel more confident about using this programme. I have however been using Photoshop to edit the images I am going to use on the digipack.

To begin the creation of my digipack, I firstly created a template for it, and adjusted the size of the document to help me with this. I then used the shape tool to draw four equal boxes, which helped me to properly set out my layout.




This print screen (after selecting the images I wanted to use) shows how I have 'placed' the images into the template. This is done by going to 'file' and 'place', and then I have adjusted the images to correctly fit into the boxes. To do this, I also had to use the scale tool to make sure that the images were kept as a whole, and were not altered in any way. By doing this, it also meant that I could position the images as I wanted and could crop the parts of the image that I didn't want to include.

In order to properly set out my digipack, I had to rotate the top left hand image so that if it was to be printed, it would be the right way round when folded. To do this i simply used the rotation tool and turned the image round using the mouse. I want every background of this digipack to be different, and so I have carefully chosen images that reflect this idea. However, due to the theme of 'love' in the song, I have a focus colour of pink and red, that runs consistently thought all of the images.




The next step I took when making my digipack was choosing the font that I wanted to include for my front and back cover. To find this I used the website http://www.dafont.com/ and searched this website for scribe like writing. The writing I have decided on, is print screened below. I chose this particular writing because I wanted it to be like it had been hand written by the artist, to give it a more personal touch and also because I like the way in which a heart can be created using the symbols, to link in with the consistent theme of love throughout my digipack.

After experimenting with different pictures, I decided to slightly change my idea, and instead of using the left hand picture for the inside cover, I decided that it would make the CD stand out better, due to the use of the patterned flowers, if it was used on the back cover. By doing this, the bright, patterned flowers should grab the audiences attention if the digipack was stocked in a shop. Therefore this print screen shows how I have acheived this, and as well as moving the images, I have also included things that will make it appear more like a CD cover, for example a barcode, and Florence and the Machine's record lable symbol, Island Records which were edited using Photoshop. By doing this, it will make the whole overall effect more professional. I have chosen to place these in the bottom left and right hand corners of my digipack, so that they do not distract from the main images, but can still be seen.


To continue with the theme of love, I decided to create a heart shape for the inside left hand cover of my digipack. This is where the CD would be held. In order to do this, I cut out a heart shape from red card and carefully ripped it down the middle. This then meant that it compliments the theme of the video, as its all about having a broken heart and relying on your friends to help you through (paper clip holding the heart together). After I did this I took a still image and imported it into photoshop for editing.



I had the idea of colouring half the heart in red and having the other half in black and white. I decided to do this because I wanted the idea of love to be shown to be good and bad, that love can be strong but then lost. This links into the idea behind the video also. In order to do this, I firstly set the image colour to black and white, and then used the colour tool to carefully shade in one side of the heart in red. This took a lot of time to do, and it was hard to make sure that the red was all the same colour, depending on the different layers, but I was pleased with the end result.


This is a print screen of my complete digipack in Photoshop. As seen, I have rotated the two top image in order to fit with a digipack layout, so that if it was printed it would look professional and would fit easily into a CD case. I am pleased with the end result of this, and feel that I have completed the task well, and made use of the programmes available for me to use. I have tried to stick to a simlar colour scheme throughout, and as I have previously mentioned, paid special attention to the brightness of the colours as this is something in which I can link to the common conventions shown in a lot of Florence and the Machines work. In this digipack I have also tried to include things such as a barcode, and record label symbols to make it more professional and have also used a model within the same age range of my taget audience so that they can begin to relate to my product further.



After I had completed my digipack, as I will be doing with my video and advert also, I posted my work onto facebook, and asked people of my target audience to comment on what they thought. I asked them to comment on ideas that they liked and thought that worked well, as well as ideas in which they thought could be developed further or changed. I also asked them to write how they thought my work could be linked to the work of Florence and the Machine, and whether they could see the link between the two. By doing this, it meant that I could then take on board some of the comments and use this feedback in future tasks.

I am really pleased with the end result of my digipack and am also pleased with the responses I have been given from it. For example, in this particular feedback, comments have been made about the way in which I have incorporated the theme of love in my work, which links well with the feelings and meaning behind the song lyrics. This is also due to the pinks and reds which have been used on the digipack to keep this idea consistent, and the theme of love continued. There were also comments made about how I have tried to use typical conventions of a digipack, such as including a bar code, and record label symbol in order for it to look real and presentable, and as if it could be put on a shelf in a record shop. It was also mention in the feeback that my digipack had continuity, and the colours thoughout were the same or matched well to one another.

One improvement that was mentioned however was to include the artists name on the front cover of the album cover, and not just the name of the single. After recieving this, I now think that this would have been a good idea to do, instead of having it more on the spine of the album. By doing this it would have meant that the target audience could recognise the single more clearly, and may show more interest towards the artist herself. However, even though the name of the artist is not featured directly on the cover, I do think that from the way in which I have tried to link my own work with Florence and the Machine's style conventions, my target audience should be able to recognise the artist through the style I have adopted.