DigiPak Rough Designs

After looking at many different DigiPak design I began experimenting with possible layouts and ideas on photoshop. When designing the front covers I wanted to incorporate a reference to fire or fireworks in order to maintain the continuity with the song. My first attempt was a basic image on our artist aflame on top of a distressed background. Although this was a really cool piece to work on as a group we felt it was not Digipak material. The second attempt was a sort of textured/ cartoonized effect which had a very eye-catching style with a lot going on. Below are the steps taken to produce this design.

DigiPak Front- To start off I opened up the photoshop software and created a blank 12' 12cm document which match the dimensions of a DigiPak front. I then needed to manipulate a basic image of our artist so that it looked like a sketched image. In order to do this I had to desaturate the image before going to the filter tool and modifying the sketch settings in order to get the required style. I then started to experiment with the blending options before ending up with my final image. I then brought in a textured canvas style image which I used for the background. This gave the whole theme of the DigiPak is distressed feel which suits the target audience. I then created a black strip to act as a footer before putting the 'Parental Advisory' label in the bottom right corner. To give the 'Fireworks' title its effect I simply merged the text layer with the black footer before using the magic wand tool in order to just leave the impression of the 'Fireworks' text behind. The text I used was called 'Roadway', a very bold but simplistic text which makes a statement similar to DigiPak's of the same genre. I used a very simple outer glow from the blending options to make the text even more obvious.
The final step was to bring in the impression of some actual Fireworks. In order to do this I had to use tools such as the magic wand, background eraser as well as the hue saturation, opacity setting and some basic glow blending options. To finish off I duplicated the canvas texture and turned down the opacity in order to give all aspects (except the artist image) that textured style.DigiPak Back- To maintain the continuity of the piece I again used the same background image. The difference with this set up The photoshop canvas width had to be increased by 0.8cm as the spine of the DigiPak must be incorporated. I simply created another black strip with a smaller light coloured strip overlayed to act as the spine. Again I used the same techniques as before to create the black footer and the Firework template.
I then added the some basic features seen on nearly all DigiPak's into the footer; barcode, recycling logo and the disc logo. By added these keeps the conventions of a DigiPak. Again using the 'Roadway' text I added the album title and artist to the spine in order for the album to be easily distinguishable in a CD rack. I then incorporated the record label's logo and some basic information in order to make the piece look more authentic.
To create the tracklist I again used the 'Roadway' text to keep the piece flowing. I used a light colour from the background for the colour of each songs title as well as using black for any song that contained a featuring artist. In blending options I again used a light outer glow as well as using a drop shadow matching a darker aspect from the canvas background. I feel using these colours in the text maintains the theme of the DigiPak. To finish I moved the positioning of the tracklist to give it an unconventional effect.
DigiPak Inside Left- This very basic design again contained the same background and Firework Image, however in different positioning. I then created a simple black box with the opacity turned down in order to show the taxtured background. I then brought in the Young Money Entertainment logo into the document before using the magic wand tool and the outer glow setting to give the basic shape of the piece. I then decreased the size of our artists image before placing it on top of the record labels logo.
The text again in the 'Roadway' style was inserted first in a basic white format whcih works effectively with it's black backdrop. I then used the same settings as on the tracklist for the middle section whcih contains the message, in order to maintain the continuity with the DigiPak's back cover.
DigiPak Inside Right- For this section I used the exact same backdrop as on the inside left side. I felt this part did not need any more elements as it would have a plastic covering and disc masking it for the majority of the time. In order to create the plastic disc holder I placed a basic template on a white backdrop into photoshop. I then used the magic wand tool to remove the white background. I then brought in a plastic sheet image in from the internet before turing the opacity down. These layers were then meged together before I used the inner bevel in the blending options to give the piece a more realistic impression.