Digipak Ideas

In order to further inform research for my digipak drafts, I have further analysed more digipaks/album covers from bands of a similar genre/similar design to what I would like to achieve. Note that the video was filmed in black and white when released to the UK, much like the digipak/album cover. This album cover is black with a shade of white that is almost beige, a sort of dark cream/ivory colour.

Ivory is considered quite a sophisticated colour that connotes a calmness and dignity, which my reflect what the band feel they would like to be considered as. Cream/Ivory essentially signify/connote purity and innocence - which for a start is a binary opposition because the meaning behind the song essentially "depicts the jealousy and paranoia of a man who suspects his significant other is cheating on him" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Brightside

This therefore establishes a clear binary opposition - using colours associated with purity and innocence, arguably warmth to represent a song about an unfaithful lover is done essentially to present two concepts with entirely different meanings that conflict each other in every way. This gives the artwork a sense of irony but also evokes an intriguing interest from consumers - it would be expected that a picture of a man and a woman who share an intimate relationship with each tother would be printed to maintain some relativity, however The Killers and/or their marketing team had clearly chosen to subvert this convention.

Another commonality between this and the other digipak i have analysed (Ed Sheeran's "The A Team") is that the name of the track is positioned very low in the bottom right hand corner of the cover in very basic (but still sophisticated) typography. Again, this can be attributed to the desire of achieving minimalism and to demonstrate a work ethic that focuses entirely on the production of the music. This is because many of the fans will never actually get to meet the band, but the artwork on album covers and promo videos resonates through to the fans and they subconsciously form an opinion of the band based on these factors. The image itself is actually quite difficult to decipher which renders it with some ambiguity: it seems that it is an archetypical American highway which could be symbolic for a number of things. It could be symbolic of life's complications and how it is an emotional roller coaster, especially in the context of the narrative and that we all face ramifications in life. However, it could also be to target an American demographic who will immediately recognise this style of road/highway and so it may be to grab the attention of their target audience.