DIGIPAK ANALYSIS 1 THE KNIFE – SHAKING THE HABITUAL

For the Shaking The Habitual album by The Knife there are a variety of covers featuring different artwork. Some, all take the format of CD and others are exclusive for the vinyl release. The constant within all varieties is the colour scheme and the fonts used. The title of the artists ‘The Knife’ takes the central position on the cover of the standard release. The album title, always slightly below. This is hardly a non conventional technique and is adopted by a great many CD digipaks and album covers. The two separate fonts used are distinctly different, one, very gothic and formal and the other extremely cartoon-esque. This provides an effective counterpoint. Having two separate fonts is a more standard technique used on digipaks unless a very standardized theme is used. The fonts used are actually very unique and recognizable which is helps the viewer remember the album cover, typically.

The colour scheme is something I would not consider to be exactly conventional. Though there are not any ‘standard’ colours expected in a music digipak, the extremely bright pinks and greens are not often seen and to me work very well. It provides an extremely unusual eye-catching yet distorted effect, for instance, the album cover is incredibly easy to 1. recognize and 2. notice, yet the colours employed make the viewer look closer into the details of the cover (such as the text and imagery) as it is not an easy task to single out any distinct aspect (primarily due to the colouring) – this is something I very much enjoy about the whole ‘theme’ this digipak goes for. It ends up (to me) being eye catching, particularly in its colour palette but also in the other aspects too.

Due to the slightly odd nature of this album cover, it would be expected that the imagery used would similarly follow suit. And this it does. Though the imagery is usually different for each variation of the album cover, they all seem to have the common characteristic of being very odd, having a similar colour palette and again, because of this, being more than difficult to see. The images (to reiterate) are again unusual, on the ‘standard’ cover, one features what seems to be an image of a man laughing, whilst holding money. The image is made a lot more interesting due to the extensive camera effects that the photo has obviously gone through, extending how distorted and unusual (and thus eye-catching it is). The other image (again on the standard cover) is directly parallel to the first, the other is far more simplistic which again provides a nice counterpoint to the more complex and detailed image on the opposite side. Both images are located in the top corners of the digipak cover which is not a standard place to put them. However, because of this, I think it helps focus attention on the title of the album.

*Shaking The Habitual is the fourth studio album by the swedish electronic duo The Knife. The Knife constists of siblings Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer.

DIGIPAK ANALYSIS 2 CAPTAIN MURPHY - DUALITY

There is actually very little text on the cover of this album (digipak). There are many more variations for the album artwork than there are for ‘Shaking The Habitual’ by ‘The Knife’ (around 20 different pieces of artwork I believe) yet all of them have very little text. On the original cover (the one on the left) the only text featured is simply the artists name ‘Captain Murphy’. It is done in a very simplistic and standardised font, and to be honest at first glance is hardly noticeable due to its colouring. This again is a massive contrast to the very complex background that creates the majority of the album cover. Due to the graphics on the cover, there isn't really any room for a ‘huge’ amount of text, so personally, I believe this works well. On the other cover (as an example) there is no text at all, meaning again the focus is solely retained on the imagery.

The colour scheme employed is obviously, again, very vivid, bright and unusual. There is not really a set colour palette for the album artwork however on the original cover it mostly consists of orange shades combined with some purpled and darker blues. This is very abstract, not only is it intriguing to look at, but the colours used are very harmonious and generally gives the album cover a very ‘soft’ feel in terms of cover. This of course contrasts hugely with the graphics which are not in the slightest bit ‘soft’ (e.g ‘The Captain’ standing on a mound of skulls) I think again, this is a great counterpoint and definitely gives the entirety of the cover an abstract feel, one that is again, very intriguing to the viewer. This unusual and contrasting colour scheme in used on every variation of the album artwork.

The imagery, or rather, graphics used on the album artwork for ‘Duality’ are obviously varied (as stated before) – they are often very dark and abstract, they have a very ‘pop art’ sort of feel combined with some sort of villainous comic strip. It is definitely detailed and because of this, interesting. The variations of the imagery are also ‘nice’ to look at, though not perhaps your standard sort of graphic you would expect on an album/digipak cover, I think it works incredibly well, not only is it something I believe the viewer will be inclined to study in detail, it is something I believe they will be inclined to remember. This is something that not every album cover achieves. If anything, I feel that the graphics are certainly iconic, particularly Captain Murphy. This, combined with the lack of text and bright colouring means that the attention is always retained on the various graphics.

*Captain Murphy is the ‘alter ego’ of renowned producer Flying Lotus, Captain Murphy rose to fame in 2013 after releasing his first album/mixtape Duality which features incredibly experimental and dark rap and production. Captain Murphy’s identity was unknown until months after its release. Flying Lotus’s alter ego is named after the character from Sealab.

DIGIPAK ANALYSIS 3DEATH GRIPS – EXMILITARY

As seen in my previous digipak analysis, a number (two is typical) of fonts are employed and used in the cover of this album ‘Exmilitary’ by Death Grips. The albums title is done in a font that wouldn’t be amiss in ‘The Times’ – it is very formal and also gothic. This is in stark contrast to the very standard (almost Arial) font used for the artists name, this runs down the left hand side of the cover. The artists name (Death Grips) is in a typically non standard location, for instance, on most album/digipak covers the artists name and title alike usually take a central location and instead run horizontally. I believe that by not having any sort of text in a very central location the focus is instead placed on the image (which is what I presume the artists wanted).

The image used is particularly unusual and non conventional. Typically, the only occasion a full face image takes up an entire CD cover is if 1. it is one of the artists (usually the vocalist) or perhaps some other individual who is not related to the band, but is visually pleasing (e.g Vampire Weekends’ ‘Contra’) . This however is totally different. The individual in question is not actually a member of Death Grips. The man in question looks intimidating and is hardly your attractive ‘sex sells’ type of person to have as the entirety of your digipak or album cover. This to me is incredibly interesting and is certainly more than affective at capturing the eye. The background (some sort of jungle or rural setting) is distorted which again makes the viewer focus more on the rugged looking individual, again, amplifying the intimidation and oddness he so very well provokes. Again, this cover is highly recognizable which is why I believe these types of abrasive and ‘in your face’ album covers (digipaks) work.

The colour palette used is natural, there seems to be no effects used at all on the photography which takes up the entirety of the CD cover. The lighter and more medium shades of green again contrast to the naturally dark skin tone of the man on the cover. This provides not only a nice contrast, but because of this contrast in colours, again, the individual is highlighted and is more of a focus to the viewer. The title of the album is simply just a black colour, which again, contrasts to the other colour used for the artists name. The white colour of ‘Death Grips’ which runs down vertically down the left side of the cover helps it stand out against the green tones in the background. Overall the digipak cover has a very ‘naturalistic’ and rugged feel which is provoked by both the imagery and the colour palette used.

*Exmilitary is the second EP release by contemporary hip-hop artists Death Grips in 2011. Death grips blend harsh and brash vocals with edgy and dark electronic beats. Death Grips consist of rapper MC Ride and producers Zach Hill and Andy Morin.

DIGIPAK ANALYSIS 4ATOMS FOR PEACE – AMOK

On the cover/digipak of Amok by Atoms For Peace there is again, not huge amounts of text. The style of the digipak is anything BUT minimalist however the only text featured on the huge fold out digipak is the title of the album and the artists name (with the exception of a few hidden words and phrases within the design. The title of the album is considerably large and takes up a good proportion of the front cover, the artists name sits just below at a tangent which means it crosses over with the title of the album. It is considerably smaller. Both fonts differ in colour, they seem to be the reverse of one another (e.g black with a white outluner and white with a black outline) and I feel this helps each piece of text stand out against the hectic similarly-coloured background.

The colour scheme is simply black and white. As I saw in my research, a great deal of digipaks and albums choose to adopt this theme as although it may not be the ‘brightest’ design, it is certainly bold. I think the colour palette chosen works particularly well on the digipak for Amok, it is simplistic, yet is totally balanced out by the hectic design that it colours. The black and white design helps the individual single out all the complex and intricate details of the design. I feel if it had been brightly coloured, focus may have been lost from the actual artwork on the digipak. It certainly has a lot of impact and again, is a very memorable design for a digipak. If anything, this highlights the effectiveness of such a colour scheme.

The graphics I believe are not only the largest component of the digipak, but also the most prominent and important. The incredibly detailed design that spreads across every single fold out of the digipak is really very well made. It is difficult to see from the image above, but there are actual foil components that illuminate throughout the entire digipak, adding to the complexity of the intricate design. It is certainly very easy to look at in detail and I think that any digipak which gets the individuals attention enough to study the graphics/artwork is one that is effective indeed. If asked which of the 4 digipaks I felt was the most memorable I would have to say the digipak for Amok. To me, it really shows that even with a very simplistic style/amount of text and an equally simplistic colour scheme – a digipak can be very iconic and memorable wholly through its graphics and its design.

*Amok is the first studio album release from Atoms For Peace earlier in 2013. Atoms For Peace consists of Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke and acclaimed producer Nigel Godrich.