I felt that to make the digipak personable and essentially an asset to our fans (an item of value), it needed to have a form of identity. With this in mind I decided that each one would contain an autographed photo of a member of the band. In the one I designed there is a signed photo of myself with a little message (below image). As I am the feature of this particular digipak, there is another image of myself on one of the faces to enforce the idea that you had purchased a 'Nathan' Rough Cut EP. However, if this went in to mass production in reality there would be an even split of copies dedicated to one of myself, Safiye, Ollie or Dan. The font used to the right is not specific to the general Rough Cuts style because I felt it was more appropriate for it to look like it had been written by hand and resemble a greetings card message. The font for my name in the top left hand corner is deliberately bold for cartoon affect, which does tie in with the comic-strip style that the website and Rough Cuts brand adopts.
Elsewhere I had to consider how I was going to portray the modern and colloquial nature of the band without making it appear ubiquitous like most other digipaks in the 21st century. Mysterious French double act Daft Punk have attracted a huge worldwide following for hiding their identity by wearing robot masks. They possess a technologic, futuristic theme and this allows them to experiment with unusual patterns and effects. I wanted to emulate this in my work and felt it would be fitting because the idea our group had from the start was to make the most of colour. Obviously our identities are known, unlike Daft Punk, but people would recognise where I had got my influence from and understand the intrigue I was trying to create.
This photo (below) is a clear example of what sort of futuristic style I wished to impose on the digipak and involved me utilising the tools available on Photo Shop. I had the idea to edit a photo of myself and experimented with the range of filters that the programme has. I managed to instigate a design that gave each person a rainbow-like outline and appeared infrared. I was pleased with how this looked and instead of limiting this design purely to this one image, I rolled it out across the whole digipak to ensure it was coherent. On this particular cover I felt there was no need for text to accompany it because it detracted from the photo's sense of mystery. It gives an impression of my persona within the band (the mise-en-scene - sunglasses, styled hair, numbered t-shirt) and shows me looking directly in to the camera, as if to suggest I'm posing for whoever is looking.
The double page spread inside the digipak was an important one because I had to decide what exclusive/valuable content I was going to include. I opted for an extensive list of lyrics from 'Hey Ya vs Roses' but with a twist because on its own in standard form it would be a cheap feature. I have typed it in such a way that you can see how certain words are meant to be pronounced and exaggerated within the song. It makes it a perfect aid for karaoke sessions because you are given a precise guide in how to sing like Rough Cuts do. I was able to explore another side to the Rough Cuts image with this page and I felt it was appropriate to use brightly coloured graffiti writing, just as Ollie does in the music video. It creates a 'rough', edgy look and that makes it a memorable. As you can see displayed in the bottom right corner, there is an exclusive 4 digit code that is unique to this particular digipak. It adds to the identity of each one and gives the consumer what is essentially an online password (for my website) that unlocks bonus content.
The front and back covers are what you would expect from a conventional digipak. The front is a group shot (from left to right: Dan, Ollie, Safiye, me) that has the song title emblazoned across it, as well as our name situated across the top. It retains the same futuristic style in its editing and the font for 'Hey Ya vs Roses' is also presented in this way. It encompasses everything Rough Cuts represents and shows us smiling, which is what the song is designed to do. The back cover has the tracklisting which reverts back to a graffiti writing. The text is placed on top of an edited image of Ollie doing his graffiti on a wall - a shot that comes from the video. This is where the product again displays the important coherency I desired. It contains Facbook, Twitter and SoundCloud logos to remind the consumer we are active on those particular social networking sites and it also illustrates how important the internet it is in the way a band promotes itself. It was also vitally important I had an 'explicit' content badge to make everybody aware of the swearing that the song contains. We may be idols in the eyes of certain fans and therefore it is our responsibility to act as role models and inform them of the presence of strong language.
The digipak, in all its glory, stands as a unique product and represents everything that a modern band stands for in the public eye. We are accessible and relatable but still give the impression that we have our own identity. I hope this aids the vicarious way in which our fans perceive us. The package is an asset with it's exclusive content (autographed photo, precise lyrics, unique online code) and this makes it a worthwhile purchase - it gives you content that does not accompany the song if bought through iTunes and that hopefully encourages people to buy it. They would have something to show for being fans of Rough Cuts and it would provide us with extra revenue. It would be priced at around £4.99 (according to research of similar products) which gives us a greater income than if someone opted simply to buy our song in iTunes for between 79-99p. All things considered I am very pleased with how it looks and feel it would be effective and competitive in the current music market.
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