What is a digipak?

What is a digipak?

A digipak is a CD case which has multiple folding panes. usually digipaks are made of card and are used as an alternative to the usual plastic CD case. If the artist/band wants to include more than one disk, a digipak can work better than a standard Cd case because there's more space for multiple disks to fit. 

Themes often run through digipaks in order to help promote the artist and their genre of music. Themes vary depending on the genre. 

Below shows an image of a blank digipak. The image shows the format of a digipak. The format can include a plastic wallet in which the Cd slides into as opposed to the plastic holder for the CD. 

Digipak Examples 

Kanye West - Graduation

When artists use digipaks, themes often run throughout depending on the genre of their music. 

Below is an example of a Digipak by Kanye West for his album "Graduation":

The digipak follows the narrative of a cartoon character actually trying to get to their graduation which is happening on the final panel. Potentially, the bear is intended to be Kanye West himself as he tries to get to his graduation.
The artists name appear in red at the top of the digipak to show Kanye west's importance to the album. The fame he has already gathered means he doesn't need to appear on the digipak because he's well known enough just with his name that he doesn't need to further advertise himself.
Constant use of the vibrant purple colours link to the vibrant style of music within the album. an image of a vibrant and colourful Kanye west is created, which adds to his star power because if people appreciate his image, they will be more likely to buy his music.




Rhianna- Loud

Close up shots of Rhianna are used to create an image of the singer. Red lips and pink hair create a representation of the album being based around romance and maybe even danger because of the connotations these colours have.
Potentially a narrative similar to that of a fairytale has been used within the digipak. Repetitions of images of flowers as well as a white dress as part of mise-en-scene link to a fairytale idea. Fairytales link to romance and love in some way or another so again suggest the songs link to this theme in some way.
Themes of love relate to the pop genre so themes like this are expected to feature on this digipak.
Rhianna's name features across the top of the digipak in white writing. A simplistic title shows how the singer doesn't need to advertise her name all that much on the album because her star power means she's instantly recognisable by the close up shots of her across the front panel of the digipak.


Gorillaz-Demon Days

The digipak for Gorillaz shows the cartoon of the virtual singer and then folds to present the three other band members on the other panels. The way the digipak has been folded means that the layout of the panels can change, meaning that the audience can choose the band member that features at the front of the digipak. The same camera angle and shot is used for each character (Close up) with a centred frame, which allows each panel to fit equally well as the front panel.

For anyone familiar with Gorillaz, the cartoon style is instantly recognisable as theirs. Audiences see the style of art and already know the band, which links to the lack of advertising and name branding on the digipak because star power has already been achieved by using close up shots of the virtual cartoon band members. Music videos for the bands music always includes the cartoons which makes the cartoons the bands identity.