Digipak

The Slip by Nine Inch Nails

This is the artwork for Nine Inch Nails’ digipak for ‘The Slip’. I do not believe it’s very effective because it doesn’t state the band name, or even have the band’s logo. This makes it difficult for the audience to identify that it is by the band, and if they can identify that, it makes it difficult for them to identify what album it is, as there isn’t an album name, either.

The back cover of this album doesn’t have either of these things as well, or even the standard for albums, where they have the track list on the back. I think a track list on the back is important as it allows the audience to get an insight into what they are buying, and if they recognise any singles off of it. Having the track list can aid the audience in working out whether this is a new album or an old album. If it is an old album, there would be a lot of songs that they know.

Inside the digipak however, has the band’s logo, the album name and the track listing. I think that this is an ineffective place to have all three of these things. At most, two of them should be on the inside, but all three in a place that the audience cannot reach without buying the album means that the audience does not know what they are getting until they actually buy it, and this could deter the audience from buying it.

The digipak opens out into three sections, the middle section being a compartment for the lyric book. This is a good place to have the lyric book as it is protected and will not fall out or get damaged so easily. The other two sections have the two CDs that come with the album, and they have a similar design but they are mirrored. They have the words ‘audio’ and ‘video’ on them to help the person who has bought this identify which CD is which and does not cause any confusion.

Demon Days by Gorillaz

This is the artwork for ‘Demon Days’ by Gorillaz. This is a much more effective cover than that by Nine Inch Nails as it has both the artist’s name and the album name. This allows the audience to identify what the album is and who the album is by, however, they do not have a standout logo that instantly makes you think of the band that they use consistently in various places, their name is in a standard font.

On the other hand, an effective part of this cover is the pictures of the band in cartoon form, which is a consistent theme of the band, they use these cartoon forms in all of their music videos and that helps the audience identify the band. However, this does not have the same effect as a logo as most logos can be easily placed anywhere and be copied by their fans, and will help with giving the band exposure. These cartoons are difficult to put on merchandise and are hard for fans to copy.

The album opens up into 5 different panels, the middle panel being the CD. This CD is ineffective as it has nothing on it to help distinguish that it’s an audio CD, and it is just not very interesting. Having no artwork means it can get muddled up with any loose CDs that the buyer has. The other four panels are once again these cartoon versions of the members of the band. Once again, easily recognisable and keeps with the theme from the front cover of the album.

To my knowledge there is no lyric book, which is a key feature of the album as a lot of people like to read the lyrics on their way home from buying the album or just in general when they are bored.