Deconstruction of Digipak: 18 Months

Front Panel

In some respects, the front panel of the album, 18 Months, is in complete contrast to the 'How Deep Is Your Love' music video. Although the song doesn't belong in this album, the artist has chosen to employ an exotic setting for the music video and this album cover employs an urban setting; whereas the music video conveys more genre characteristics such as, dancing and travelling, the album cover subverts to these characteristics. In addition, the heavy use of colours in the music video juxtaposes with the lack of colour use in the album cover. The use of brown and white colours makes the blue sky stand out indicating this was taken in the summer. This is important because dance music is generally listened during the summer, therefore, the audience is successfully targeted. 

The image used for the front panel is a long shot of the artist himself sat on the curb of a pavement. The rule of thirds features a house on the left, the artists' shadow in the middle and the artist on the right. He is positioned with his face turned away from the camera and the choice of casual clothing matches the mise-en-scène. This indicates that his appearance as an artist is not important to his brand and his music should be the focal point. Furthermore, the artist's hands are positioned in a clapping motion pointing towards his album name. It appears that he is applauding himself for finishing his creation of the album which indeed took him '18 Months'.

The album cover also employs traditional conventions. The artist's logo and the name of the album are clearly visible and attract the eye; this is very important as the artist's logo helps to reinforce brand recognition, and the album is the product that is being sold. The expanse of the brick wall behind where the artist is pictured has allowed the album designer to superimpose the artist's logo and the album title in the centre of the picture, being the first thing the audience will see. The positioning of this typography can be interpreted as graffiti giving the artist a rebellious look, which may appeal to a younger audience.

Inside Panel

The C.D. also takes a simple approach to present the album and uses the same typography from the front panel. Likewise to the album cover, the artist's logo and album title are positioned in the centre to maintain consistency and clearly display the key details. The plain black background juxtaposes with the white text, making the artist logo and album name stand out. However, the minimal use of colours further contrasts the music video. 

More conventional features of the C.D. are presented below the artist's logo and album title: the logo of the artist's record label, Colombia, has been included - as has 'Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited'. In addition, plagiarism and copyright symbols are shown. The design of these customary information are unobtrusive, so it does not detract from the main image of the C.D.

Back Panel

A similar image is used for the back panel as the front panel. However, the difference is that an extreme long shot of the artist is used and he is also looking directly into the camera. Although the use of an extreme long shot displays more of the surroundings, the attention to detail is minimised. This helps the audience pay more attention to the conventional features including the album track list which in this case the songs are underlined for emphasis, information stating the rights of the album and the barcode. Most importantly, the logos of the different record labels involved: Deconstruction (British record label), Fly Eye (Record label founded by Calvin Harris himself), Colombia (subsidiary record label) and Sony Music (parent company).


Focus Group

"Although Calvin Harris' image isn't largely displayed over the album, I like how he has steered away from his genre stereotype and included himself as many dance music producers keep their image unknown."

"From watching the music video of 'How Deep Is Your Love', I didn't expect the artist to create such a simple urban album cover but perhaps he is trying to attract his audience to not only listen to his music for dance and clubbing purposes."

"The image used for the album cover is very simple. The artist comes across as an ordinary citizen which makes him appeal to the general public more. It makes him seem relatable and humble."

"Personally, I think this album cover should have taken a more interesting approach and especially used more colours like the music video. Also, track list on the back of the album is hard to read due to the white font colour."


Lessons to be Learnt

• It is very important to include all of the conventions such as, the band’s logo, the record label’s logo, the barcode, etc

• The artist logo and album title should be clearly visible and attract the eye

• The use of the artist’s logo is important to reinforce brand recognition

• Simple designs can be effective at clearly displaying information

• It is important to consider how you want the audience to perceive the artist

• If superimposing text onto an image, it is important to ensure the text can be clearly read and it doesn’t obscure the image