Planning - Digipak Planning

The Idea

• Through my digipak research I have decided to take the minimalist approach to the artwork, and the poster to accompany it. This decision was primarily made due to the extensive use of symbolism in The Stone Roses' promotional material and music videos; particularly the lemon. For a long time this has been at the core of my interest for my creation of the digipak artwork as I have an aim to create something conceptual and minimalistic, but recognizable enough to allow it to be associated with the band and their music. In the early stages of my portfolio I created a blog post which detailed an early mock-up of a digipak cover; from this post I have decided to take some ideas, but discard others. For example, the use of the lone lemon in the center of the cover is a feature that I would still hope to apply to emphasize the symbolic nature of it to the audience; whilst also acting as a piece of nostalgia for long-time fans to recognize its meaning. Instead I have decided to create the concept of using three lemons in, perhaps, a diagonal or horizontal line on the front of the digipak cover. Again, this not only relates to the symbolism of the lemon, but also relates to my use of the number '3' as a piece of symbolism. This is being done to highlight the fact that it is The Stone Roses' third album, whilst acting as a comeback album following their extensive touring and being released on the 30th anniversary of their first single with the full current line-up "Sally Cinnamon". This is primarily being utilized to act as a branding and promotional device to bring the fans back to the band and provide a sense of nostalgia to the old song.

The idea I am trying to describe can be shown in this very rough mock-up of my ideas of thoughts on the left. However, I have made a decision that I would like the band name and album name, if I choose to include one on the front, to be peel-able stickers to reveal that the cover is just the lemons. I have made this decision as I would, again, like to emphasize the symbolic nature of the lemon through the use of minimalism and a conceptual design. I feel as if this would relate to the target audience well as this is a symbol that they would be very familiar with and will instantly associate with the band.

I feel as if I have a good idea of what the front cover of the digipak will include, however I am still unsure of the back cover, inside and the tray.