Digipak Analysis - Miss Miller

Digipaks are 6 sided paperboard or cardboard books that have additional information about an artist and are normally packaged for special edition CD albums. Digipaks also contain higher quality images than the normal edition of the CD, this is so that the digipak may appeal to the artists audience as they will see that the quality of the images are better and think that the overall album is probably better as they've changed the look of the album, which achieves the artist profit. Another addition to a digipak is that the CD may contain a bonus track or a secret track on the album that you can't find on the normal edition, this makes an artists fans want the digipak as they want to listen to the song so that they feel more included into the artists work, which in turn makes them buy the digipak so that they can complete an album by listening to this bonus track. I have chosen to analyse the Jack Johnson digipak for the album "In between dreams" because he is associated with the indie genre and has a digipak that our group would like to take inspiration from.

The artist is represented in a way that makes him come across as peaceful on the digipak. On the digipak, the audience see the artist twice, one image of him and a guitar showing he's part of the indie genre and another image of him touching or picking something from a tree which is to establish a connection to other forms of life. This representation makes him seem like a nice person as he seems to like nature and that his music can be listened to as a way of getting in touch with nature implying that the digipak will make the audience peaceful. This means audiences may buy the digipak because he comes across as a nice person, also audiences who are a fan of the artists music will buy this as it seems relaxing and peaceful because of the images of the digipak.

The hidden meaning or connotation behind the artists digipak is that as said before, Jack Johnson supports all forms of life and is one with life. This connotation is displayed because the colours of the tree and the artist are exactly the same, implying that they are one, they're connected as the artist is touching the tree branch and is at peace with nature. The digipak connotes that the artist's songs are peaceful songs and that he wants to try a different route with his music, this is clear because his guitar almost looks like the front of the digipak as well as the disk, showing that he has changed his style so that it feels more peaceful for the audience but also to advertise a new musical direction that he wants to take. This makes the digipak more marketable towards an audience because he comes across as peaceful to his audience and that he wants to change his style for newer audiences.

The colours are very important for this digipak as they help convey the connotations and the representation of the artist as said before, the black and yellow front cover of the digipak that represents the peaceful nature of the artist as conveyed through his guitar as they are the same colour, this also creates a theme throughout the digipak in the sense that that's how the audience will know how it belongs to Jack Johnson. The white further implies this sense of innocence and peace that the artist represents, the bright colours just convey that he stands out from the others, the disc also conveys that the audience will be presented with the peaceful side and nature of Jack Johnson's music which encourages audiences to buy the digipak because he clearly looks like a nice person who just wants to make peaceful music and the audience because of the recognizable colours on the digipak.

The design of Jack Johnson's digipak is kept rather simple, it conveys exactly what type of artist Jack Johnson is but connoted one of his feelings about the world. The bright yellow is supposed to grab the audiences attention, this makes the audience feel as if this artist stands out from other artists of the same genre because of this bright yellow contrasting against the black of the digipak, the black could represent the colour of the genre the artist Jack Johnson is associated with which is indie. The layout of the digipak is quite effective in terms of the audience he is trying to aim this digipak towards, for example, the artist name and album are kept in the corner of the digipak cover while the connotation of the images stand out the most. This illustrates that Jack Johnson cares more about the idea that he is trying to portray more than the marketing of the digipak, this makes him seem more pure as people would claim he is "selling out" by highlighting the fact that he made this digipak for the audience.

The images of the digipak are important to the representation of the artist as it shows that he, Jack Johnson, is in peace and tranquility, this is emphasized by the image of what the audience assume is Jack Johnson where he is holding a branch of a tree almost as if he is grabbing a hand, this shows that he is affectionate with nature and that he respects them like a fellow person. The other image on the digipak is Jack Johnson sitting down with a guitar in his hand with a plain white background, this image further emphasises that he cares more for the ideas of his music as the white connotes the innocence of the music, the music is portrayed as simple but peaceful to his audiences. This allows audiences to buy into the artists lifestyle because the artist is at peace and cares for trees and other life forms and wants to show his audience this through the digipak because the digipak is special to him.

The typography or the font on the digipak is used for everything, the songs titles, the artist, the name of the album the digipak is for and for the review of the digipak, this creates a regular theme across this digipak as the audience would begin to associate that particular font with Jack Johnson due to the digipak. The typography is extremely simple in a way, the bits of texts that are black stand out, like the name "Jack Johnson" stands out because of the contrast it has with the yellow, however the white is mostly used for "In between dreams" the change of colour is to make sure the audience aren't bored of very limited amounts of colour, however the white blends in with the yellow slightly but stand out from the black, this could all mean the Jack Johnson with this new digipak is trying to create music that is peaceful but still follows the indie genre. Therefore the audience buy into his lifestyle because he has shown how nice and peaceful he is to nature and life and that his music is trying to be different while still maintaining the genre conventions.

The language used on the digipak is very informative for the audience that will buy this, it lets the audience know who the artist of the digipak is as well as the digipaks exclusive content for the audience, for example "Jack Johnson special UK edition album featuring bonus tracks". This language makes the audience want to buy into his lifestyle because he comes across as a very giving to his fans due to the fact he is offering bonus tracks just for his audiences entertainment which can make the audience feel special and further encourage them to buy into the digipak, the language is formal but it conveys useful information about the digipak that the audience may want to know.

This promotes the music genre that Jack Johnson is appealing towards, which is indie, because for one it shows the artist with an acoustic guitar which is a common use of iconography for many indie artists and the look that they want to go for in the music industry. It promotes the artist because it makes him seem out there for indie audiences, the bright shade of yellow used for the digipak makes him stand out, in other words he stands out in the indie genre because of his talent in the music industry, but the digipak conveys Johnson so that he is peaceful and is harmonious with nature through the use of the image with the artist holding a tree branch. As stated before, the digipak attracts an audience because it shows that Johnson is different from what other artist do in the same genre, the colour makes him stand out, the image of the digipak makes him stand out and audiences will respect the fact that he's going for something entirely different form the music genres conventions with this digipak. The digipak is successful of promoting the artist towards his audience because it does convey that he is peaceful but wants to stay at the same genre while also creating a particular theme across his work, this way people are able to recognize anything by the artist due to the colours and the font used in the digipak.

In conclusion, this research into Jack Johnson's digipak will be beneficial when making our own digipak for our artist because we're implementing a digipak belonging to the same genre as this one, this will help because we could take inspiration from this digipak to be used in our own digipak made for our artist, for example, showing the artist with a guitar so that audiences of the indie genre know that it would appeal to them. This was research was beneficial to my planning stage because I was able to take on board many inspirations from this digipak to use in my digipak like the guitar present in the majority of the digipak's slides to show this is a passion and a close up of the artist sitting down with the guitar to show that the music is personal to him and the audience.