Individual digipak- Miss Miller

I have chosen to create an individual digipak as firstly, this is a popular style recently and provides the audience with a special edition album and more information from the artist. Digipaks are unique as they feature more elements that a traditional CD for example, bonus tracks and higher quality images. Lastly, each member of the group will be creating their own digipak which will give us an opportunity to compare ideas to make the final product as successful as possible.

Firstly, the colours I chose to apply within the digipak are used to exploit the themes of the music and represent the artist as well as the genre. The colour pink is used within the roses on the front cover and the clothes that the artist wears which highlights the idea of romance and causes the audience to view the artist's feminine side, causing her to promote the idea of love universally. Love is a conventional connotation that indie artists portray, as they show their fans elements of their life such as experiences, causing them to have a stronger bond with the people who buy their music. I have also chosen to use the colour red on the artist's nails, roses on the album and back cover and on some of the text such as 'I will love you 'til the end of time' in the fan message, the use of these images link together and promote the idea of love and passion further. This is evident through the colour being used in the fan message, highlighting the artist's love and appreciation for her fans. The artist also wears blue in an extra picture, which is often associated with trust, wisdom and intelligence therefore,the artist is promoting herself in a positive way, which also adds to her character and the audience's opinion on her. The use of this deep colour is extremely eye catching and is used to show the lyrics within the song and the album name 'Nostalgic' highlighting that the artist reminisces about love related memories. Most of the text such the artist's and the album's name which overall causes them to become more vivid which can be identified in stores and even explores the idea that the artist is the focal point of the whole album. 

The artist, Autumn Healy is placed on the side of the front cover however takes up most of the space with the use of a mid shot to highlight her. This shows the artist's importance as the main focus is on her as she also looks straight into the camera, causing her to look confident and at her audience, creating a bond. The artist wears natural make up and a flower crown in her hair, relating to the indie genre as artists within this usually have a naturalist attire. She also holds a cigarette as a piece of iconography as this conforms to the star theory as the artist seems rebellious which is again conventional to indie genre as artists usually promote their habits such as smoking and drinking alcohol to give the artist and in depth view on their life. This is also seen through an extreme close up used as an extra image as the artist exploits her smoking habit further. The artist is again the main focus of the whole image showing her importance linking to the crown ring she wears, linking to the idea of royalty. Another extra image is used as the artist is placed in the middle of the shot as mid shot is being used to show this. This again causes new fans to become more accustomed to the artist's image as she is the only person in every picture chosen. The indie genre is also highlighted here as the artist wears traditional clothes that are quite individual and vintage. Autumn also wears natural makeup, with an element of the 1960s for example nude lips and winged eyeliner. This causes her to look more natural and not over done, which makes her relatable and promotes the idea that she isn't take to the artist and that her look is achievable. The vintage elements causes her look to become more interesting and iconic. 

The design and layout of the image includes the use of a simple yet naturalistic background. The use of a park and trees are used to make the pictures more interesting and create depth as well as conforming to the indie genre as artists within this genre typically use naturalistic settings. However, this does not take the focus away from the artist. This highlights the importance of the artist even further, causing her audience to straight look at her. This again links to the front cover as roses are used behind the artist. The colouring connotes love and passion causing the audience to link these connotations to the artist. Due to this, the artist's personality is more visible to the audience which creates a bond and makes her songs more personal.

The artist's name 'Autumn Healy' is written in bold, black writing at the top of the front cover. This causes the name to stand out and make it recognisable to the the public, promoting the artist. It is also written in a type writing style which adds a personal touch. This links to the album name 'Nostalgic' being written in italics/a hand writing style, causing it to become more personal, from the artist to the audience as well as including a feminine touch. The writing used on the back cover (song titles) and not to fans is also in a type writing style, exploiting a personal touch and also adds to the vintage effect and overall makes the digipak more interesting to look at. Personality is conventional within the indie genre as artists typically include features that make the link to their audience by adding their own personal features within the album for example, the red writing 'I will love you 'til the end of time' which as well as being colloquial, is a lyric for the artist's song, creating a relationship between the artist and fans. By doing this, her lyrics are also promoted, making the audience remember them and connect with the song even further.

Linking to this, the language used within the digipak is extremely informal and features everyday talk which is evident in the note to fans, which also causes the audience to align themselves with the artist as she uses common metaphors such as 'this past year has been a roller coaster'. The use of this language causes the artist to cooperate with her audience and the audience would respect this in return.The use of shorter structured sentences makes the digipak easier to read therefore more memorable, which is a positive element to apply when promoting and selling the digipak.

Lastly, the elements that I chose to include within my digipak used connote varying messages. The back cover and message to fans is presented as a note book with type writing text.This adds a vintage element and causes the digipak to become more personal. Vintage elements such as this are conventional to the indie genre as they are extremely unique and create the look of a more interesting item rather than a typical CD case. Artists within the indie genre use 'individual' and unique styles within their albums to interest an audience and to promote the idea that their music is different from every other artist's therefore, I used other albums from this genre as inspiration and applied elements that make this digipak more interesting and visually pleasing. This notebook layout is used on the note to fans to create a personal element, which also links to the use of the rose on the back cover which can connote love for her fans or even for a man in the artist's life, linking to the notepad background, which can infer the idea of a love letter. Red roses are used on the CD cover which was an influence from Lana Del Rey which connotes the theme of love and beauty, linking to song titles and the title of the album, as the artist can possibly reflect on her love life which causes the audience to connect with her music, which is also conventional of the indie genre as the artist's thoughts and feelings are always touched upon.

I used Photoshop software to create my digipak. Overall, I believe that I had many strengths in using this to create a successful digipak. An example of this is the editing of pictures, I believe that I was able to edit pictures of the artist in a positive way for example, changing the brightness and applying filters for example the 'cooling' filter without making the artist look fake to the audience. I also believe that my text choices were positive for example, the handwriting text called 'snell roundhand' which makes the digipak seem more personal. However I did struggle with using some tools within Photoshop for example, applying the rose pictures on to the CD. Initially, I wanted to apply a whole rose to fit into the circle however, I found the cutting tools such as 'lasso' difficult to use. To overcome this, I cropped around the rose and duplicated them on to the CD in different sizes which I think creates more depth as opposed to my original idea.

To conclude, I believe that my digipak conforms to the conventional within the indie genre. This is evident through elements used for example, setting within the pictures. This highlights conventional naturalistic themes without being too dramatic and distracting focus away from the artist. I chose to conform to the genre to appeal to the target audience. I did this by adding elements that will make the audience bond with the artist for example, the notepad backgrounds of the note for fans page, and he artist's signature which makes the digipak more personal linking further to the rose added on the back page, acting as a declaration of the artist's love for her audience. I believe that creating an individual digipak will help ensure my group produces a successful final digipak as we can discuss and share ideas from our own creations and choose the best aspects that will represent our artist and the indie genre in positive ways.

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