Researching Ancillary Products: Analyse Three Digipaks that relate to your Genre and Audeince

Our song called ‘Who You Are’ by Jessie J, the genre that the song and Jessie J belongs to is more of RNB and HipHop. I wanted to find other artist/s that belong in this same genre. 

I was researching digipaks from the genre of RNB and HipHop and found a four-panel digipak by Nicole Sherzinger. I really like this digipak because firstly, I like the images of the artist because they illustrate the kind of artist she is and the kind of music that might be included in the digipak – it looks to be filled with ballads and heartfelt emotional songs. The front cover is really good because it follows the convention of most digipaks where there is a medium close up of the artist. For my own ideas, I was inspired from this digipak because of the softness of colours used to illustrate the love and passion of the lyrics of the song. 


I like the font of the texts and how its positioned near to the bottom right of the digipak so the main focus is on he artist. Both images of Nicole Sherzinger on the front and back of the digipak clarifies the natural beauty which I think is meant not only to reflect the songs on he digipak but to also inspire her audience to stay true to who you are. On the back panel, I like how the image of the whole of the artist is used and displayed on the right to position the track list, so that both the artist and the songs connect. This is really a good idea that I have considered doing with my own version of a digipak. This digipak reflects the genre of RNB and HipHop because of the style of music that she sings and how her audience will now the lyrics of the songs. 

The second digipak that I was researching on that connects with the same genre of RNB and HipHop is Cher Lloyd’s digipak. I really like this digipak because of the creativity that has been used. I firstly like how the whole of Cher Lloyd has been used for the front cover and how she is positioned by turning upside down to show how she is – fun, eccentric and like to have a laugh – illustrating her personality. I also like the illustrations used for the background because it gives an animated feel and a sense of creativeness with the songs – no all conventional songs, reflecting not a conventional singer. I like the bright colouring used because it makes the digipak stand out and creates a uniqueness as a digipak – an idea that has inspired my idea process for when I makes my own digipak.  


This digipak shouts out how fun and exuberant this digipak will be with the songs and conveys to the audience of how Cher Lloyd is – making us feel more connected with her by feeling we can relate to her. The way this reflects the genre is by clarifying the up tempo of the music and the fun and speed of it through the vivid colouring and illustrations. Her audience will be aware of this style because of how Cher Lloyd sings and raps, and her clothing show an urban lifestyle yet a pop star look. 

The third digipak that I researched for this same genre is Rihanna. In this digipak I really love because firstly, it promotes Rihanna perfectly by having her whole face making up the front panel. I like the filter of the red used because it creates a feeling of love and desire from the digipak and her facial expression of having her closing her eyes and her lips a little bit open, show he seductiveness of her. It illustrates how she is as an artist and what you can expect from her through her songs. The theme of red is clearly important because it is consistent with the other panels. I like how they thought really hard on the mise en scene because they want to convey the idea of love because they use the colour red and inside the digipak, there are roses connoting love and heart brake – a contrast of what you might be expecting with he songs. 


Visually, its amazing because it looks very attractive. I like how the images of Rihanna runs through both the inside panels. What I found interesting is that the texts of the artist name and the digipak feels close and intimate because even though they are separated, it feels compact. I also like how there is a glimmer of shine across the front cover showing a symbol of importance. I have been inspired from this digipak by the consistency of one colour – red, to reflect the feeling of the songs and the artist. 


The way it reflects to the genre is because even tough there is love songs and heartbreak songs, the edginess of the instrumentals and the lyrics create the RNB and HipHop that makes Rihanna famous. Her audience will expect this and know they types of songs that she makes. However, the visual on the digipak does contrasts her earlier styles of her earlier digipaks because they often have dark colourings and lots of shadows to reflect the genre. I like how this digipak challenges her other ones by making it look different even though its still RNB and HipHop, giving it a new feel to it.