Research and planning: Generic conventions and analysing exisiting digipaks

Generic conventions and analysing existing digipaks

Purpose 

• Marketing tool that sells/promotes the album
• Displays indirect information such as the ideologies of the artist
• Creates, adapts or feeds into the representation of the 'star image'
• A product to keep hold of, can be a collectors item
• Attract a particular target audience
• Buy into artist lifestyle and ideas
• An everlasting product that will symbolise the artist and the album. 
• Form of synergy- advertising and promotion
• Creates a relationship between the artist and audience

What are the generic conventions? 

The generic conventions of a digipak includes: 

• Artist image
• Tracklist 
• Parental advisory label
• Record label
• Barcode 
• Album title 
• Company details
• Critical sticker

Analyse two examples that are similar to your genre/artist

Ideas we will also use:

- Make the artist appealing to the popular culture and subcultures, so she can appeal to  a mass audience
- Include sub images that are similar to the main image, and evoke similar/same themes.
- Ensure the layout is neat with the text neatly placed next to the main image
- Make the title of the album suitable by making it link with the main image and themes.
- Include conventional information, such as the artist name, album title, main image, barcode, small print regarding the production company, parental advisory label if necessary.

How has this research given your group ideas on what to include in your digipak? 

This research has been extremely beneficial to our planning process as we now have a clearer understanding regarding digipaks as we are able to identify their purpose which is that they are a marketing tool used to sell and promote the album to the audience and are what determines the successful of the album as the audience use this as an indication when deciding whether to purchase the album or not. We have also dissevered what the generic conventions of digi-paks are. As a result, we will be following the generic conventions in order to secure the success of our digi-pak, ensuring that it looks professional and can be portrayed in this way by the audience, encouraging them to buy the product. After analysing the existing products from similar artists to ours, we have identified that these digi-paks consistently use dark colours and simple yet important information that the audience should be aware of. It is also important to ensure that the four images used are similar, to maintain consistence throughout. Similarly, when creating our digi-pak we will also use dark colours to promote the dark mood and unique persona of the artist, and only include relevant information to prevent boring the audience. By following generic conventions and being influenced by digi-paks from similar artists/genres we are hoping the digi-pak we create is relevant and successful drawing the audience in to buy the album.