Digipak inside cover research

Just like the back cover, the inside of a digipak and its design and colour scheme is usually dictated by the consistency it needs to have with the front cover design. A widescale change from the colours and imagery on the front cover would look out of place - odd - jarring.



Of course, a convention of the inside covers of a digipak would be the disk holder, so I need to decide how this will fit in with my design.

As the disk holder will usually have the disk in it, it doesn't make sense to put the most focus of the design into the area behind the disk holder - as it will be covered. This is not to say I will leave it blank, however.

There is also still the possibility to slightly vary the colours and imagery of the inside cover from the outside cover. Above is one perfect example of that with Bombay Bicycle Club's album 'Flaws'. The brighter, cooler and more colourful inside cover contrasts slightly with the front and back outside colour, which is made up of inky black and grainy copper colours. 

It's still fair to say that the imagery uses muted colours on all covers of the digipak, perhaps suggesting a dark tone and message of the album and its music. They also share the grainy, washed out look - connoting some kind of folk-like foundation (the band is often described as indie-rock or indie-folk) as it gives the impression of being old and passed down down the ages. 

One other interesting design choice is that all of the imagery is actually painted by the bass player of Bombay Bicycle club, denoting a home-made style which is often synonymous with folk and indie music. 

The actual paintings depict a woman looking sad and dejected on the front cover, and a man kneeling on the inside cover. The inside is consistent with the front cover with this imagery as it shows someone who is perhaps oppressed or who hasn't enough energy to the point of kneeling on the ground - barefoot - topless - hopeless. 

It seems that album covers often use emotive imagery like this to connote their albums having deeper emotional messages within the music. 

They also used the inside cover to show crediting for the different tracks in the album - something that is sometimes needed and sometimes isn't. 

Another digipak example is Mumford & Sons, below:

Yet again, you see the striking resemblance between the inside (bottom) and the outside of the digipak, hence showing the importance of consistency in design. The colours and the house/ shop motif are repeated and developed - seemingly moving up a floor. 

I believe that the imagery of the band members sitting outside the windows is meant to denote their relaxed wackiness and intrigue the audience into wanting to find out more about them via their music. We are often attracted to mysterious figures in media forms. 

One thing that some album digipaks have done is include lyrics on either one of the covers or within a booklet - which is something Mumford & Sons have done - the left side of the inside cover is occupied by a booklet containing the lyrics of each song in the album. 

Its something I could do with my own cover - but having already decided on the design of the front cover, I think that including lyrics on one of the sides of the inside cover would ruin the minimalism created already. I would much rather use striking imagery to intrigue audience members into the album.