Zeynep Altun A2 Media : December 2014

Below are three case studies that include a CD packaging which is made up of the album cover, side portfolio and back.

Lana Del Rey: Born to die.

This album cover of Lana Del Rey's Born To Die album cover, perpetuates a very simple yet elegant character. The angle used is medium shot with above the worms eye view which helps to reflect power. Although the background is very simplistic and just presents a natural setting it works very efficiently with Lana, as the main focus of the cover is her. The close mid shot of her portrays her as strong and independent this is reflective from her songs and the lyrics used as a constant reoccurring motif and a profound message. The colour scheme once again emphasises on a more natural scheme as it predominantly consists of blue and white. Therefore taking these main factors in to consideration I believe that with Frank Ocean's 'miss you so' the CD packaging should also follow a more simplistic route due to the idea that both artists can be compared in the sense that they should be portrayed as the centre of attention and the background should be kept straightforward.

We can infer that the back cover is minimal as it only consists of a featuring list, label logos.
The disc design follows the minimalistic approach with a hard white print and 3 roses on the edge of the disc which also fits the romantic themes of the album as well as connoting love and passion. The booklet inside the album's packaging features the lyrics of the the album printed on an off white background with ink splatters in gold and blood splatters.

From analysing Lana Del Rey's CD digipack I have reinforced specific ideas that I could possibly cooperate in my own CD packaging for example the key symbolisations i.e a consistent font or lettering which will give the artist (Frank Ocean) more recognition rather than all kinds of lettering which will not follow a specific pattern or convention in this case. This is important because, both artists (Lana Del Rey and Frank Ocean) follow a simplistic yet memorable approach in the design of the CD packaging.

Above is a album cover for Jhene Aiko's 'sail out' album. The approach used in this specific album cover follows more of an anecdote meaning that for example, the ship used and the almost mystical background makes the design very romantic however the colour scheme adds a specific edge to the whole cover as it follows a more gloomy and mysterious atmosphere. Although a lot seems to be happening on the background it could be argued that Jhene is still the main centre of attention even though we (the audience) don't infact see her face. I believe that this is what significantly can draw or interlink our possible CD packages because, Frank Ocean also is similar in the sense that even though on his previous album covers he has not had a specific image of him we are still acceptance of his remark.

Drake 'Nothing was the same'

Drakes album cover of nothing was the same is a side close up of an oil painting of the artist. There is evidently no eye contact however the reasoning behind this is to compare it to another oil painting of Drake when he was younger, this immediately narrates a story or idea of the young Drake looking up at the older version of himself and evidently of all the successful accomplishments he has gained.

This album cover containing 'Ed Sheeran' is dominated hugely by one close up of the artist. Furthermore like you will see below it is the same image used in the magazine poster this creates synergy because its conventional in the sense that it follows a specific type of image. In addition to this one of the main reasons why I decided to use this specific case study was because of the choice of colour. Just like Frank Ocean's album channel orange which will also be examined as a case study both artist have decided to use one block of colour, the only difference is that Ed Sheerans one is a saturated orange.

The name of the artist is a key feature that is needed for a magazine poster. It reinforces artist recognition. Album name: is a collective name given to the various songs on that one CD. This is also featured on the CD cover, in the same font, colour and size, creating synergy between the CD cover and poster. Release date is essential in notifying the audience of when the album is available in stores. Featured songs on the album: provides a sense of persuasion in including the top charting singles from the album. Encourages the consumer to buy the disc.

The album cover is of a person holding a board from a mugshot. Even though we can't see who is holding the board we can examine that they are styled in an all black attire as well as black nail varnish,this reflects the punk trend that the audience would recognise. We can tell that the whole digipak almost slightly tinted black and white, this automatically identifiable as a punk colour palette. The images are gritty which once again reflects old and tarnished which works well with the overall theme.

Reviewing the back which is a track list and copyright info etc. This is in the same font as the album title, which is quite plain and continuous. The lexis is white on the black background, which gives the overall digipak a dark and gloomy feel.
The other pane on this side is a band photo, another feature that almost all albums contain. The picture is taken against a badly hung white background, so that the set up looks careless and parodies very produced band photos. The image is very high contrast and uses low key lighting, this adds a lot of shadows and emphasises the black and white. The band are looking out at the viewer confrontationally, with the lead singer in the forefront. These panes are all quite redundant and what you would expect, styled in a similar way to many punk albums.

Here we can see a pattern through the orange background Frank Ocean has chosen to use, which is very similar to Ed Sheerans. Both have also in cooperated one image of themselves, this is very simple yet it is something you would associate both artist with. Therefore we also wanted to use this idea for our own album design.