Construction Post 5: Digipak post-production

We used Adobe Photoshop to create our digipak. 

It took a very long time to create, which I had not expected. Below there is some information on how we made it.

Our album cover required a template which can be seen above. The green area represented the space for our photo, the blue line represented space for any text to flow over and the red line represented the cut off point - if something passed this, it would not get printed. 

Me working on the album cover 

The Basic Process

1. Creating a flat plan to use as a guideline 

2. Editing the photo for the front/back cover

3. Editing the background for the front/back cover

4. Adding text to the front/back cover

5. Editing the photo/background for the inside cover

Useful tools

Front&back panels

We made some changes as a result of our own observations and also those of our target audience. These included:

• Changing the background
• Changiing the image of our front cover
• Changing the framing of our front image
• Changing the font of our name 
• Changing the colour of my jumper

The initial problem that we had with the original image was that there was too much space between Gift and Angela. Our target audience focus group also observed this. Although we overcame this by removing the background and then splitting the image of us into two so that we could move it closer together, something still was not right.

After having done some research, we decided that it was more conventional to have an image of us in a smarter outfit. At first I was sceptical as I thought it was better to bring out our street vibe, however, seeing as bands similar to us such as 'Neon Jungle' also followed this convention made me change my mind.

Inspiration: Neon Jungle 

Therefore we used our smart outfit. Originally it was a long shot but some feedback from our target audience was that there was too much space surrounding us. As a result the image we went with was more of a mid shot which actually works out better as you can see our faces more clearly.

Our target audience focus group was not keen on the 'D4MES' font and said that it was too faint. Therefore, we decided to use a bolder colour and add a black outline. For the back cover, everyone really liked my outfit but by chance, all the others had chosen an outfit where they were wearing either dark colours such as black or white. Therefore we decided to change the colour of my jumper to grey so that there was a consistent look.

The colour of my jumper changed from
red to grey in order to match the others' clothes 

A new skill I learnt: using the brush tool to paint

Inside Panels

We also changed aspects of the inside panels as a result of feedback from our target audience and our own observations. These changes included:

• Changing the picture
• Changing the background

Original photo/background

The first picture we chose for our inside cover was one where we were all standing. Although we all liked our positioning in the photo, in terms of height, we thought there were better photos to depict the closeness of our group. Therefore, we chose a better photo (which can be seen below) that reflects not only the chemistry within our group but also our street style.

Final photo

Our target audience also picked up on another issue with our inside panel idea: the background. Some comments that we got were that it was confusing as to what the link to the front panels was. I also felt that it was quite dull and unattractive. Therefore, we reassessed the background and thought a lighter colour would be better with patterns and so in the end we ended up using a grey geometric background.

Final photo/background

We also edited the photo in a black and white style and added our names to make it more interesting to look at. The inside panel is now much more similar to the front in terms of colour and so our album has a consistent look.

Experimental inside cover 

At one point when we were thinking of ideas to re-design our inside panel, Gift experimented with colours and similar effects to our final album cover. An important thing I learned in this process is the importance of experimenting to improve a product.

Problems and Solutions

My Contributions

I found creating the digipak the hardest and most challenging task as I have not used Photoshop properly before and so as a result I found it very confusing. The other members of my group were much more experience than I was and so I took a step back in order for them to put their skills to use. I still contributed but did not take a lead role in this particular task. What I did in the task:

• Helped to choose photos
• Helped to research and find backgrounds
• Helped to remove the backgrounds of the photos
• Helped to paint the photos

I believe I could improve by learning how to use Photoshop properly so that I could do more things and do them faster. I also would like to improve on my confidence and perhaps next time try and do things I am not sure how to do - perhaps by looking up tutorial videos on YouTube. As a group think we worked very hard despite being very tired as a result of how much time this task required. Next time we could improve by making the flat plan even more detailed so that we knew more about what we wanted initially which would have likely saved us time, as it would have meant making less changes.