Digipak Analysis - Miss Miller

Digipaks consists of having a gate fold style. The paperboard and cardboard material makes sure that it provides a stronger material and is of better quality. With the outer binding having one or more plastic trays for the CD. Digipaks are aimed mainly towards the more involved fans of the genre. Usually to promote a new album to the audience, special editions of the album are made and produced in this format. The digipak style was able to create a lot of hype in the early 2000's enabling record labels to support themselves further by creating special editions and copies of the certain album.  These are rather different to the average jewel CD cases that are plastic and have the majority of the detail just on the front and back. Digipaks are overall higher in quality as the images are more professional and planned. There is usually a signature or a letter of thanks from the artist to the audience which immediately makes this a more personal product for the audience to enjoy. Bonus tracks can also be added to digipaks to intrigue the audience further by promising them more music as well as a better quality case, the use of bonus tracks acts as a method that ultimately makes the product alot more personal as people will feel alot more special and selected if only they have access to the bonus tracks that nobody else has. It includes six sides usually which overall include the artwork, information and lyrics. I am going to analyse my chosen artists digipak, Gabrielle Aplin. This is because she is not only my chosen artist but she follows the indie theme which makes this a hugely accessible and successful digipak. I am able to take alot of inspiration from this digipak as it consists of the same theme, colouring and imagery that I want present in my own digipak.

Through this particular digipak of Gabrielle Aplin's album 'English Rain' we are able to witness how her overall representation is very innocent, feminine and in touch with nature. It is a very individual product that seems very personal which would work successfully through the use of the particular colouring and positioning of the artist. As an indie artist, she has done an excellent job at create a particular representation and image by manipulating the photos and the font of the writing on the album to represent herself as more approachable and friendly to her audience, instead of how other artists may introduce. This may be heavily based of there wealth and appearance where here Gabrielle Aplin has not followed the typical mainstream conventions and has decided to take her own approach on what she thinks is artistic and successful. 

The connotations of this digipak support the representation of the artist. She connotes the typical conventions of an indie artist.We are able to see this through the mise-en-scene in her digipak. The artist, Gabrielle Aplin is seen in the location and setting of a field. This is a typical place for an indie artist to be seen. It fits the codes and conventions of the indie artist, overall connoting that the artist is very in touch with natural and remains very genuine like her setting. She is in now way wanting to portray her self as artificial or in a fake background, meaning that she wants everything to remain very simplistic like her particular genre. In addition to this the iconography in the digipak also helps to connote a very vintage and natural style. In particular, the umbrella used in the digipak relates to the natural weather, which may also be something that is picked up on alot in the indie genre, as the weather is usually very particular in the indie genre. The weather is often very natural and kept at its natural element, being either a very bright sunny day or in comparison a very gloomy rainy day, each relating to the ideology of the indie genre and connotative to the artist in a successful way that relates to the indie genre. 

The colours used in this digipak relate well to the artist as it portrays her personality in a particular way which will appeal to the audience. The background of digipak is in complete sepia and black and white effects. The drained colour effect represent the idea that she is in a bad situation. to connotes to the idea that even though we all go through bad times there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. This is seen by the bright multi-coloured effect of the balloons and umbrella it gives the audience hope that her music can help them get through these bad and bland times and make them see the beauty and colour of the world again. In addition to the contrast in colours it may always be a way to teach the audience a very deep message. The fact that Gabrielle stands behind a bland and boring coloured background may connote her representation of the world and society. The fact that she is living in a 'black and white' world. This represents her as someone who encourages the audience to be unique and different and ultimately stand out from the crowd. Through the colouring in this digipak of hers she is able to teach people to never lose hope and always be the best you can be. This will end in the audience feeling like its okay to be different as many of us like to feel individual they will then look up to Gabrielle's digipak as a means of motivation, resulting in them buying the digipak and promoting the artist.

The design is very precise in Gabrielle Aplin's digipak. Everything has a particular place and a purpose. The layout is very put together and creative which create a very personal touch on the audience as it shows that you are able to show your true colours and be creative without having to fit to society's standards of beauty and art. The positioning of the artist in the digipak makes it look as if she is hiding away. On the front cover of the digipak we see Gabrielle Aplin hiding behind the colourful umbrella which implies to the audience that this digipak is in fact a place to escape from the real world and feel comfortable. This is something that may indie artists aim to achieve as they want her audience to feel like they can go against the most popular songs and find themselves in much more 'meaningful and powerful' song that connote real life situations. The fact that the two CD's in the digipak both contain the colourful umbrella, which represents somewhere to hide, and the colourful balloons that may represent the audience playing the music and feeling as though all there worries fly away just like balloons would. Ultimately, make this particular layout of the digipak very successful indeed as they continue to create this idea of escapism.

The images in Gabrielle Aplin's digipak relate to her overall representation of the songs on the album. The main image of the digipak is a long shot that shows part of her background and a smaller image of her on the front. This relates to the connotations of looking and concentrating on the good things in life. This is due to the fact that the long shot allows the audience to see her in a beautiful field that contributes to the idea that there is so much more to life, through the imagery and her music the audience are able to listen to the deep songs with hidden messages and look at the picture with her standing in wide spaces and be able to feel free just like Gabrielle Aplin. This is due to the fact that the beautiful, natural fields in her digipak allow the audience to be able to notice the world in more detail and know that there is more to life then what troubles them right now, as an audience it acts as a type of therapy which overall contributes to Gabrielle Aplins relationship with her audience as they appear alot more together and in union through the imagery on her digipak. In additions to this message of not 'sweating the small stuff' We see that the imagery on her two CD discs allow the audience to focus on the ordinary items which are the balloons and the umbrella. The use of these items and the colour of them relate to the idea that Gabrielle wants her audience to focus on the little things that are beautiful like a balloon in the sky or a colourful umbrella that may look special in the pouring rain. Either way the representation of these images encourages the audience to live everyday uniquely just like Gabriella Aplin and through the images on the digipak the audience are inspired to concentrate more on the natural and beautiful things that are often taken for granted.

The typography in this digipack differs on every side of the digipak this means that each font and style choice has a different meaning on the audience that is buying or considering to buy the digipak. On the front cover of the digipak the artists name 'Gabrielle Aplin' is in a larger, type writer effect font. Each letter is also capitalist which make her name stand out above all the rest. This is usual to the artist as it allows the audience to immediately recognise this digipak as hers. This means that loyal and consistent fans will be able to recognise the name of the album and continue on to buy it as they may originally be a fan of her music. In comparison to this if an audience member is not aware of the artist the focus on the artist name may cause them to research up about her resulting in them finding out information about her, if they are intrigued by the artist they may also go onto buying the whole digipak. The way her name is displayed by the typography is overall a great way to advertise as it portrays her as the priority. In addition to this we are able to see the album name 'English rain' directly underneath this italic font which relates to the style of the album name being English rain as it remains very vintage and almost girly. This particular font appeals to the target audience of the younger female age range as the font almost looks like handwriting that may be present in a diary. This appeals to that particular target audience as they are then inspired to read this 'diary' which are actually all Gabrielle Aplin's songs. Through the choice of font colour we are able to know that the songs on the album may have hidden message and contain raw emotions. This is due to the fact that the colour black often connotes the use of 'darker' and 'more depressing' themes which will ultimately relate well to this particular audience as they may relate well to the issues that Gabrielle sings about in her songs, stereotypically being about love and heartbreak, which are common themes in a young teenage girls life. In addition to this there is one slide of the digipak that has Gabrielle Aplin's signature on it, it is presented as 'Gabrielle X' which works well with her audience as they are able to feel apart of something special. The 'kiss' that she has added onto her name also adds to the personal touch that would appeal to the audience and persuade them into buying the digipak over the ordinary CD jewel case.

The style of language used in the digipak relates mainly to her album name as the overall look of the particular digipak is very organised and structured to appear as simplistic and natural as possible. The wording of the album being 'English Rain' relates to her target audience as she is typically aiming it towards a UK younger audience as she herself is British. This inspires the audience to buy the digipak as they look up to Gabrielle Aplin as someone who is very patriotic to there country, this allows them to idolise her and want to see her talent, just through the fact that she has incorporated her country into the style of the language. In addition to this the typical English weather is an element that will portray Gabrielle Aplin's digipak as alot more natural, supporting and celebrating the typical weather situation in the UK rather them twisting them into this 'perfect' environment. The audience will overall relate to this as they want to look up to an artist that is alot more genuine and truthful about there surroundings. They are also able to relate to her as a person not just as an artist as the weather is something alot of people moan about in the UK, which make the artist appear as though she is having an indirect everyday conversation with her audience. Which will cause them to relate to her more and buy into her music and spend slightly more on her digipak.

The music genre is presented in a particular way through this digipak as it allows an element of beauty to be present. The indie genre is typically seen as one of the most creative and unique genres as it allows artists to be more intimate with the audience through the used of particular shots and scenery in the music videos. This can be seen through Gabrielle Aplin's choice of location for the digipak to be shot in. The use of natural surroundings relate to the indie genre as it enables the audience to feel alot more at home with the setting. It is not somewhere hugely inaccessible to them as most towns do have a field or park to play in. This juxtaposes other genres as they may use very expensive and artificial locations that the audience will be unable to relate to. In addition to this Gabrielle Aplin relates to the music genre in her digipak as she involves pastel colours, they are stereotypical to the indie genre as they are still bright but are alot more gentle which connotes the overall atmosphere of the indie genre. If she was to use neon colours in the digipak it wouldn't have the same effect and relate to the dance genre more as they would use colours like that to try and enhance the clubbing scene. The artist also uses unique, but ordinary objects which relate to the indie genre as many vintage props that may be seen as 'junk' to some people are used heavily to create a more normalised setting in the indie genre. Finally as an audience looking at the digipak the floaty and delicate font relate to the indie genre as it displays the artist as being a lot more personal to there audience. These particular type of font relates to the indie genre as it allows the digipak to appear alot more natural and raw. Which connotes highly to the type of songs indie artists usually create. 

The arist, Gabrielle Aplin is also portrayed in a particular way, just through her digipak alone. The overall use of mise-en-scene in the digipak makes the artist appear alot more fragile. This is because although she is hiding behind the umbrella she is more exposed then every as she is promoting her digipak which contains very personal songs and messages about her private life in them. The audience will admire her for this and grow with her as an artist. The fact that she is displayed in neutral colours and locations allow her as an artist to be portrayed as 'normal' she isn't showing off her money in the digipak or create an unrealistic image of herself. She appears as someone who is down to earth, just through the digipak alone.

The audience can relate to the artist in a very inviting way. This is due to the fact that by Gabrielle Aplin's representation in her digipak the audience are able to see her as someone who is very intriguing. They notice her little quirky elements in the digipak such as the colouring balloons and umbrella and this pulls them in further into buying it as it is different to other artists that usually show themselves in the most attractive and glamorous setting. This results in the audience being able to look up to her as a role model and friend as she comes across 'normal', this is due to the fact that she doesn't express herself in any other way, she uses real life and everyday emotion to accumulate an audience instead of bragging about how much money she earns and how successful she is. Her audience members see themselves on a similar level as her, making it alot better to feel accepted, rather then being jealous of Gabrielle Aplin - the audience admire her normality and simplistic features of the digipak.

After analysing Gabrielle Aplins Digpak I am now more education on how an indie artists digipak should look. I am able to take not of all the codes and conventions that Gabrielle Aplin has used and apply them to my own digipak. These overall allows me to plan my digipak and take into account that typically my chosen artist isn't someone who uses themselves to sell there digipak. They don't use there selg image to appeal to the audience. I know this because after analysing my chosen artists digipak I have learnt that she tends to manipulate the setting, colour, typography and iconography used in the digipak to make it alot more original and individual instead of appearing as very proactive to sell the product. This is something I wish to apply to my own digipak as I will be able to incorporate alot of emotion, which will relate to my target audience as they are younger and heavily influenced on so having an artist which appears to be at the same level and share the same emotions as them will be successful for them and motivate them to buy the digipak.