Digipak and Advert Commentary

The digipak I created was inspired by both Taylor Swift's album 1989 and Gabrielle Aplin's English Rain. The reason as to why I was inspired by these were due to the simplicity and delicate aesthetic which is present across both. Unlike the mainstream pop genre albums which focus on the male gaze predominantly, these two albums focus on the theme of the album, in a less 'in your face' way. This means that the professionalism of the product is in a way easier to recreate as a student, due to our artist not being of the aesthetic which Rihanna is represented like in the media.
The warm filtered theme which runs across my digipak and advert is based around the album title 'Autumn Leaves'. Like Gabrielle Aplin's adaptation of the English countryside I decided to keep a theme of the autumn season. A typical convention of a pop digipak and advert is vibrant colour, therefore I ensured I used this where possible to keep to the conventions. However, overpowering of colour is something I tried to divert from as our artist is known as being indie-pop, so simplicity was still key. Unlike most indie-pop digipaks and adverts they don't present the artist generally on either the CD cover or advert. This made it difficult to make the decision as to whether it was important to have the artists image on mine. Due to pop conventions of presenting the artist across both pieces of media I believed it was important to at least have use at least two different images.
Another convention of a pop digipak and advert is the artist's image attracting the male gaze. With research from Aplin and Swift's albums stating this isn't the case I decided to divert the photography away from the idea of attraction and more towards the tone and emotion of the album. I believe in my opinion this would attract the target audience I have, more so than a different 'in your face' gaze style would.
The inspiration of how our artist is dressed came from multiple artists such as Gabrielle Aplin, Birdy, Taylor Swift, Shannon Saunders and Hannah Grace. Regardless of only three of these artists having record deals presently, I believe the two YouTube starts Saunders and Grace put across an individual style which fits the genre they produce music in, and is effectively simply stereotypical. With a target market of teenage girls primarily, I believe the more simple she is dressed the easier the audience will relate to the artist.


My Digipak and Advert: