A digipak for the album's release - Construction

8/2/2019 A digipak for the album's release - Construction

1/25


2/25

*FRONT CD COVER*

Out of all the ideas we had for the front cover our focus group (which consisted of 50 random individuals that fit our targetaudience ) suggested that this one would be the most effective. We wanted to created a split screen of the female artist.The left side showing her culture , tradition and faith with a collage of the time she spent with her mother in the background, and on the right showing her western culture, her boyfriend and the time they spent together. By using this idea it willbecome evident that there are two side to a story coming back to the old saying don't judge a book by its cover which is

a metaphorical phrase which means "you shouldn't prejudge the worth or value of something, by its outward appearancealone. I have chosen to use a midshot/close-ups because if I was to use a long shot of the artist it would have to be verysmall for it to be able to fit on the cover and the audience would find it hard to see the collage in the background and the

female artists facial expressions and the might misinterpret the meaning of the song , I also want to include some scenesfrom the music video onto the front cover giving a link from the main task to the album digipak. Also when a potential buyercome to pick up the album they are immediately engaged and know what to expect from the music video.


3/25

Step 1

I opened both images I needed onto Adobe Photoshop, here Icropped the opposite half of each photo so by combining them Iget a complete image. Next I opened a blank canvas and draggedboth images onto the page where I tried to shift and play aroundwith both halves of the images until the female artist (Halima) hadher lips, chin and the edge of the scarf met perfectly . I

encountered some issues with doing this because I was not in thesame exact position when I took the photos of Halima and thecamera was slighting close on the left image and a slightingdistant from the right image therefore sometimes Eg - the lipswhere in the correct place but the chin was not and so forth.

Since I simply could not get the lips to meet , I decidedto duplicate the image on the right side of the lips andlayered it on top of the original image and resized it soit matched the lip line . Now the shape was smooth atherefore does not look like it is split.


4/25

Step 2

I need to get the skin tone correct on the face sothat the both images blended in as a single image ,therefore in order to achieve this I used the Curves

tool to adjust the lighting trying to match the skin

tone to get a even finish on the female artists (

Halima) face . I then tried to remove the blemishes

with the Clone stamp tool, however since I canonly select one layer at a time meaning I can onlyadjust one side of Halimas face I had to be careful

when cloning parts of the face so I did not cut off forexample parts of her eyebrows, also keeping inmind that both sides of Halimas face had to be

symmetrical .

Later on I tried to match the lip colour on both images , to do this I usedthe Magic wand tool to select the lips on both layers I then used the

Brush tool to smudge the lip colour across the lips trying to smoothen

them out , then used the Hue Saturation tool to change the colour.


5/25

Step 2 - Continued

I started to play around with the Magic wand tool

and thought of adding eye shadow to Halimas

eyes , however after a little thought we decided notto because it could ruin the naturalistic look wewere trying to achieve.

Overview of the

Front Cover sofar .


6/25

Step 3

After I had emerged the two halves of thephotographs together to make a completeimage. We began to collage images ofHalimas Asian culture and heritage on the

left side where she had Asian clothes on ,this collage would consist of photographsof Halima and her mother and images of

her as a child to develop theunderstanding of the audience about therelationship she had with her mother. Onthe right hand side there would be acollage of Halima and he non-Muslimboyfriend and the time they cherishedtogether also containing scenes from the

flashback and split screens from theactual music video so the audience couldget a feel of the music video just bylooking at the front cover.

After I created the collages. I saved the image as a PNG fileso any piece of the white background would appear clear onthe saved image. I then opened the image onto the frontcover and layered the imaged underneath the image ofHalima ; I did this numerous times because the arrangementof the images caused some is the pictures to be seen andothers to be cut off . As a result this was another trial anderror process .


7/25

Step 4

The photography on the front cover is now finished , however we still needed to add theartists name and album name . We wanted something elegant and bold but at thesame time not to overpowering. I went on a website called http://www.dafont.com/here we experimented with different fonts to see which would be most suitable forour album digipak and promotional poster. Here are some examples

A

rtistNameexam

ples

Album

Na

meexamples

1

2

3

4

5

6
http://www.dafont.com/http://www.dafont.com/


8/25

Step 4 Continued

When myself and Halima decided on a few possiblefonts we then asked our target audience which theyliked better. The responses we had were variedhowever many people suggested that font 3 was thebest font for the artists name since it looks elegantand the fact that it look handwritten helps relate to theRNB genre and it gives it a personal touch , since to

helps convey passion. For the album name mostresponses suggested that none of them should beused because here the handwritten feel makes thetitle look as though it spells ASAIN instead of AS I

AM, therefore myself and Halima decided to go for a

basic yet bold font. I then print screened the fontsand saved it as a JPEG and imported it onto Adobe

Photoshop where I removed the background ,cropped the image and changed the font colour towhite. I then added the Album name underneath theartist name and the Front cover was finished.


9/25

*FINAL FRONT COVER*


10/25

*INSIDE CDCOVER*

Before After

First I opened the image I wanted to use on the inside front coveronto Adobe Photoshop. Here the first stage was to removeblemishes and imperfections to encapsulate a clean , pure andnatural look. I did this by using the Clone Stamp Tool. I have used

this previously in AS therefore the skill of getting the skin tonecorrect came quite naturally to me . However I developed my skills

by now being able to remove fine hairs on the skin Eg from theeyebrow by altering the hardness and size of the tool allowing me topinpoint the exact area which needed to be perfected.

Step 1


11/25

Step 2

After removing the imperfections I wanted to create the SinCity effect this is where the selected area remains in colourhowever the background desaturates , I believe this would agood effect to portray the past and present but in a simpleeffective way. By using the Pen Tool I selected the femaleartist (Halima) , I did this carefully so I did not miss the edgestherefore I zoomed into the image to make sure the dotswhere places correctly.

Selecting the Artist

When I had selected the female artist ( Halima) . I right clickedand chose Make Selection here I changed the radius to 5 .

This tool allows me to change the radius of the selected area togive it a smooth finish.

I then clicked on File and

inversed the image so thebackground was nowselected


12/25

Step 3

After inversing the image . I clicked on Desaturate

I immediately realised that due to the backgroundbeing white that as it desaturated it remained blackand white and did not look any different to theoriginal photo. I then began searching for someeffects to achieve my desired look. But before I did

this I used the Curves tool to adjust the lighting toilluminate the face so it stands out when I add aneffect.

When looking through the Filter Gallery I cameacross the Dark Strokes Effect I have used

this previously in AS and believe it is a goodeffect because it helps to smooth the image andyou have the control of changing the Black

Intensity and White Intensity.


13/25

Step 4

Dark Strokes Effect

We decided to stay with the Dark Strokes

Effect because we believe it gave us the

contrast of light and dark and createdspace between the female artist (Halima)and the background . This effect alsohighlighted Halimas face and the long

strokes make her eye lashes and eyebrowsseem enhanced and fuller.

Since this was going to be the inside cover ,we wanted it to be simple and so thought it

would be best to leave it with the DarkStrokes Effect. However we also added the

artist name near the bottom right hand cornerto help make brand identity since we wheregoing to use the same font throughout thealbum digipak and the magazine promotionalposter.


14/25

Step 5

When we showed our inside cover to a focus group whichconsisted of 50 random individuals from our target audience .

They told us that the image looked great and that the DarkStrokes Effect was effective . However we did receive someconstructive criticism about the image itself and that from a

distance the female artist (Halima) looks as though she almosthad a beard. For this reason I went back onto Adobe

Photoshop and used the Clone Stamp Tool to remove this .

Later I showed the image to the same focus group and theresponses we had where very positive. It looks perfect ,

You cant even tell you removed it , Wow your getting quite

good at this Photoshop stuff , Sundas. It was evident that our

inside cover was a success with our target audience and thatthey understood that the close up image was good to usebecause Halima is not looking into the camera ,but lookingdown and by doing this it helps to depict that she is trying to

drown her sorrows away .

Before

After


15/25

*FINAL INSIDE COVER*


16/25

*Back Cover*

On the back cover we decided to have a picture of a whiteflower which looks as though it is crumbling away, we felt theflower represented the artists mind-set within the video as italmost represents the artist peeling off bits of the flowerwhich is helping her to decide what to do, whether she shouldleave and be with her lover or continue living in misery. Thisalso links to a scene within our video where the artist ispraying and seeking guidance from God . These elements

together ,as a result represent how perplexed the artist is andhow this is causing her to become depressed. As well as thiswe felt that the crumbling of the flower also depicted thecrumbling of the artists relationship with her family due totheir lack of willingness to allow her to do what she wantsand what makes her happy by forcing her to stay away fromthe man she loves. By using a white flower we felt that itportrayed the loss of the artists innocence in the eyes hermother as white is a colour which represents innocence and

purity. The decaying of flower also demonstrates thedestruction the family honour due to the artists decision toleave, by using the colour white it is almost as though theartist leaving the home is leaving a stain on her familieshonour. We have also targeted the Pakistani/ Indian cultureby using the colour white, this is because in these cultureswhite is worn when a person dies as it is thought thesecultures white represents sorrow therefore by using white wehave almost depicted the death of the artist for her family.


17/25

Step 1

Here I selected an image I took of a white flower and croppedit , because digipak covers are usually square in shape later Iadjusted the brightness by selecting the image and clicking onBrightness/Contrast , however the image lost to much colour

and therefore we decided not to keep this effect. Myself andHalima then started to try the different effects trying to identifywhat type of emotions and ambience we are trying to portray.

We believed that the best effect was the Dark Stokes Effectsince we have used this in the inside front cover and by usingit again shows continuity and developed the loss of hope andinnocence theme . However we did change the sliders so thatwe achieved our desired effect.

Dark Strokes Effect

Adjusted sliders

Desired effect


18/25

Step 2

Here we added quotes from big news industries such as New

York Times and upcoming music video awards to give the album

good recognition and therefore illustrate to the audience that it isa great album and the quotes would persuade them to actuallybuy it . I have also added the artist name which is of the same

font throughout the digipak advertisement to create strong brandidentity . Later on I looked up the company name and what musicinstitution the album was from and have added it at the bottomleft ,this shows professionalism as many cd/album digipak havetheir company names and say All Rights Reserved and in order

for the album to be bought it was essential to have a barcode andtherefore I have added one , through research I noticed that a fewalbums have both a American price and Uk price listed on theback , I wanted to include these in our album cover because it

shows variety and that the album will not only be successful inthe Uk alone but also in America . For the official prices I wentonto the iTunes website both the USA and Uk version to find outthe different prices they also stated a list of names of the songsincluded within the album and therefore I checked for any spellingmistakes or errors that could be corrected.

UK PRICEUSA PRICE


19/25


20/25

* CD/INSIDE BACK COVER *

I looked on the internet for a CDtemplate once I found one that I liked Isaved the image as a JPEG and thenopened it on Adobe Photoshop .I usedthe Magic Eraser Tool to remove any

background outside the edges .later Iopened the image I was going to useon the CD , and started removing theblemishes with the Clone Stamp Tool.

I then used the Healing Brush tool to

repair the skin on the lips.

Step 1

Before After

Before

After

I then used the Pen Tool to select the

lips ,so I could adjust the lip colour I gaveit a tint of purple since purple suggestspassion and purity I did this by using theHue Saturation Tool.


21/25

Step 2

Here I used the Magic Wand Tool to select

Halimas clothes and alter the colour again to

purple to coincide with her lips, and then usedthe Curves Tool to adjust the lighting. Since

our front cover was more or less a natural plainimage myself and Halima thought it might bebest to edit this image to keep the audienceengaged and therefore tried out more effects

such as Ink Outline however this effect madethe clothing look quite painted and did not suitthe look we wanted to achieve so instead Idesaturated the image and continued to try outeffects I believe this was quite effectivebecause it toned down the purpleness of theclothes , again we went for the Dark Stokes

effect and continued to change the sliders until

we achieved the desired effect.

Ink Outline Effect

Before After


22/25

Step 3

I layered the image under the CD template so Icould see the parts of the image which neededremoving , then I used the Eraser Tool to

remove parts of the sides which were outside thetemplate and therefore were not needed .I usedthis tool because it was quick and easy to get

into the corners of the CD because I could zoomin and out . Previously I chose to use the MagicEraser Tool however it removed parts of the

whole image. Later I began adding in the artistname and the album name and finished it offwith the company information and website .


23/25

* CD/INSIDE BACK COVER *


24/25

*SPINE*

Firstly I created a new blank canvas andcropped it so it looked like a small rectangleshape then filled it in black with the Paint

Bucket Tool so it would match the theme of

the loss of happiness and the absence ofcolour in the artist life , later I added in the

artists name and changed the colour to whiteas it would stand out and also added thealbum name and it was finished .


25/25

* FINAL DIGIPAK *

Documents

A digipak for the album's release - Construction