Digipak Analysis

Alt-J “An Awesome Wave”

Alt-JAlt-J are an Indie Rock band founded in Leeds, England. They have been critically acclaimed due to their unusual sound and unique take on lyrics to tell a story. We will be analysing their 2012 debut album “An Awesome Wave” special edition for our Digipak analysis. This album received numerous awards and even received a Brit nomination for Best Album. They released a special edition Digipak that was designed in an unusual style, much like their songs. It consists of a Front and Back cover, a paper slot on the left panel that holds an Extra booklet, and the CD lies on the Right. Although we will not use this template for our Digipak, we wanted to see the different variations that are still successful, yet follow a different format.

Front For the Front Cover, they have chosen to use a bold and colourful image, that represents the feeling of the album tracks. It is unusual and unique, highlighting their distinctive sound. As they were a relatively new band, its surprising that they decided against stating their name on the front. They have relied on the uniqueness of the front image to stand out, which was a bold choice as they had not released an album before this. They clearly wanted to draw the attention entirely on the songs on the CD, as they have not made any indication to themselves, with no obvious image of the band. We liked the bold colour choices in this image, something we wish to incorporate into our own Digipak. However, we would like to add our main actor on the front of our Digipak as we are purposefully promoting our music video, and not the entire tracks a CD.

Back The Back cover consists of the track list, with subtle attention to their record label, “Infectious Music” and a needed barcode. The simplicity of the back further reinforced their desire to draw the attention directly to the songs on the album, as supposed to the band themselves. Furthermore, by using a large font and printed capital letters, it is more likely for their audience to recognise a song they have previously heard, and would entice them to purchase the album. For our own Digipak, we liked the idea of the simple design of the back cover, as they have got straight to the point of promoting the songs they are selling. We want to make our back cover simple also, with perhaps only one image so we can include the necessary purchase and record label information.

Special Edition CDThe CD lays in a paper pop up container. This is a more environmentally friendly way of creating a Digipak as you are able to use recycled paper. It is also unique, tying in with the creative nature of the track and Digipak. It is a very simple design, being completely white with the track listing again printed on the edge of the CD itself. The simplicity of the design contrasts with the bold images on the front and extra panel. However, we want our Digipak to be striking throughout.

Extra Panel Here is the cover for their “Extra Panel” booklet. Inside, there are details of the songs with lyrics. This cover would have been possibly better than their front cover, as the title of the album is on clear display. The audience would have therefore been able to clearly associate the image with the band and album title. Furthermore, the triangle shape is also relatively associated with the band, it appears on their merchandise and their magazine adverts. The recurring bold image is visible behind the black, further enforcing their individuality. We liked this image as the main purpose of it was showing the album name, however, for our Digipak designs we want to add images of our actual actors in the video and the artist name.

Evaluation This Digipak is overall very unique and exciting. The images used are consistent and the recurring blue image is present in two designs. The simplicity of the writing involved proves that the band only wanted to draw attention to the music that they have created, as supposed to the bands image or their eagerness to sell merchandise. They focussed the entire attention on the tracks, which, as a debut album, is very brave. However, they clearly have confidence in the music. For our Digipak, we are mainly promoting the music video that we have created. Therefore, we wish to include images of our actors and clips from the video itself. However, we wish to use “Alt-J’s” Digipak as an influence to make our images bold and creative, by using bright colours and exciting photos.