Digipack Conventions - James Wilson

A digipak is a type of packaging for discs which folds out like a book rather than open out like a conventional case, made from cad instead of plastic however the disc itself will sit within the digipak in a thin plastic tray. The design of the digipak it self is in fact cheaper and easier to produce than a normal jewel case. It is usually used for special edition Cd's and DVDs, and due to the way it is packaged it enables a multiple number of discs to be held within it.

Digipak is a registered trademark of AGI media who originally developed the packaging style, however the term digipack has come into common use for any similar style packaging. Even when produced by other companies or with varying materials. Digipak weaknesses include the plastic trays used to hold the disc are brittle and liable to snap, or loose teeth, more so than jewel cases and the softer card materials used for the outer packaging are likely to get damaged easily although UV coating is sometimes used to minimise this. All digipaks have quite simple designs consisting of the artist on the front. All these covers have had simple effects put onto the images, this gives it a slightly stylised look.

Aside from simple design conventions Digipaks seem to be relatively simple, only having the artist and disc name on the cover, possibly with a DVD logo. Age ratings aren’t often an issue with musicians releases, however if applicable this would be on the front. Information on the back may include track and content listing, Record label information and bar code including small print on copyright information. These Digipaks shown have chosen to show logos and or artwork as the front cover, this is more in keeping with these bands styles. Also both artists are quite famous and do not need a photograph of themselves on the front for self-promotion.

In conclusion a digipack has a number of conventions;
-The band/Artists name situation somewhere on the outside (normally front cover)
-Basic information about the band either on the inside or the outside of the the digipak
-Song lyrics are occasionally on the digipack dependant on the reputation of the song
-Digipacks can also include newspaper reviews of the album/song (Normally positive)