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Ed Sheeran - '+'
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The first thing I notice when analysing Ed Sheeran's debut album '+' is the use of the colour orange. As we know, Ed Sheeran has ginger hair, therefore making the digipak orange makes it more personal to him and the buyer. We also see the personal factor in the bottom right of the digipak. The cross in the bottom right hand corner represents the album, so as well as it being a symbol to represent the album it also could represent something personal to Ed Sheeran. The slight fade on the large picture of him on the front of the case could be an indication of his place in the charts at this point. When releasing this album, Ed Sheeran was only just coming onto the music scene. Therefore, the fade on his face could show the fact that he isn't fully known in the charts, but is beginning to be known and representing him coming out the shadows into the fame. Another thing I can see when analysing the front of the digipak, we can see the artists name and the album title. This conforms to the conventions of a typical digipak because when looking at the conventions we can clearly see that the artist name and album name is stated on the front. 
The back of the digipak also conforms to some of the conventions of a typical digipak. On the back of this Ed Sheeran album is a list of all the songs on the disc inside. We can also see a bar code in the bottom left corner. The bar code also conforms to the conventions because every digipak has this otherwise it wouldn't be able to be purchased. We can also see some information about the product at the bottom of the product. The digipak also conforms to the convention of it being a book-fold style. When constructed together, the digipaks opens and closes just like a book would. This matches to most other digipaks and therefore conforms to the convention. Inside this digipak is a disc containing the songs.  
We can see that the disc also contains the personal feel with the orange base colour and the cross symbol from the front of the digipak. The artist name is also on the disc making it clear once again who the artist is. 
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What I can take from this is that creating a personal feel from the artist is important, especially as the artist we have chosen is independent. We can do this by either having a image of our artist or choosing a symbol to link to the artist. Having a list of the songs also on the album is important as this is another convention spotted. 
Mumford and Sons- 'Sigh no more'
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The first thing I notice when looking at the digipak for Mumford and Sons is the colours used. When analysing indie-folk costume, I noticed that the colours used were very natural and pale. I can see that this has followed into the design of the digipak, with the white building and brown neutral clothes proving this. The iconography of the clothes and instruments in the front window of the shop, gives us an insight into what the genre is before listening to the album. 
The instruments seen in the window are a clear
example of the genre indie-folk. The banjo and chello
are typical instruments used in a indie-folk music 
video, therefore the audience know the genre straight
away.
The audience are also given an insight into the
genre of the band when they see the building and type 
of clothes. This is because the style for both things
are seen as both vintage. The indie-folk genre
dates back to the vintage times, therefore
these items could link to the vintage indie
times. The idea of the vintage times also
comes from the slight fade in colour of the
picture. This gives the image a slight feel that
is isn't new,it is fairly old. The genre also
originates from the countryside, therefore
using a country lane as the location, also gives the audience an indie-folk feel.
As well as matching the conventions of the indie-folk genre, it also conforms to the conventions of a digipak. The use of the title matches most digipaks by giving the audience a clear indication of who the artist is. Another convention seen is the songs on the back of the digipak. We often see this with digipaks and the Mumford and Sons isn't no different. The inner plastic wallet also conforms to the conventions of a digipak, something Ed Sheeran's didn't have. However just like Ed Sheeran's digipak the artist name is clearly typed onto the disc, so this is something we need to seriously think about when designing our own.
We also need to think about making sure that the audience have an insight into the genre before listening to the album. This is because I have seen it in this indie-folk digipak, so conforming to the conventions is key. 
 
Rihanna- 'Loud'
The first thing I notice when looking at the digipak is the close-up shot of Rihanna. This immediately conforms to the conventions of a digipak as a picture of the artist is shown on the front cover. The use of the bright red lipstick and hair colour, gives us an idea that the album is either about love or death. This is down to the fact we associate the colour red with of of these things. The colouring also relates to the album name, loud, as the colour is very bold and in your face. 
                                                                                              This also means that the digipak is conforming to conventions as                                                                                                 another convention of digipaks is having the album name on the                                                                                                   front cover. One other convention is having the artist name on the                                                                                               front cover. From the picture we can see that this is achieved,                                                                                                       therefore conforming to another convention.   
                                                                                     The inside cover of the digipak gives us a bit more a clearer                                                                                                           message behind the album through the use of mise-en-                                                                                                                 scene. The long, white dress worn by Rihanna resembles                                                                                                             what a wedding dress would look like. Therefore, as an                                                                                                                   audience we begin to think that the album is based about a                                                                                                           love, not death. This is then backed up further by the setting,
a field of roses. The rose is associated with love, so putting her in the middle of a field of them could link to her being put in the middle of a different love situation. The costume choice of the white dress, gives us as an audience the thought that she could be very innocent and has been hurt in the past. The colour red could then link back to this as it resembles pain and death. This thought could then be backed up even further as the use of make-up could lead us to believe that she is hiding the real person she is. This is because make-up can be seen to be masking your real personality, so maybe in she has been hurt in the past, therefore feels she needs to hide this pain and act as a strong woman. 
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