LB: Digipak Analysis

Wretch 32 - Black And White (album)



Wretch 32 is an English grime and hip-hop and is quite similar to our artist Hawk House. I have chosen this digipak as it heavily contributes towards Dyer's paradox star theory, and adopts an interesting yet simple method of presenting the album to the audience. The magazine advertisement is not directly promoting the album, however it is promoting the album tour and also includes some interesting techniques to contribute to meta-narrative and affect the dominant reading path.





Front Cover






Middle Pane/Disc




Back Cover




Album Tour Magazine Ad




How is the genre of this artist evident?

Due to the simplicity of the design of the album, determining the genre of the album at first is hard. The grain of the image of the star of the front cover connotes a rough texture and hardship, which is directly reflected in Wretch 32's lyrics in the album. In my opinion the artist has chosen to keep the genre the album almost a mystery, which interests people in listening too the listen to the album and find out. The lack of inter textual references often detract attention from artist, whereas a lack of them suggest artist has artistic integrity and strengthens their meta-narrative as a musician.




What visual techniques are used?
-White space is important in affecting the dominant reading path. This is particularly evident on the front cover of the digipak, whereby white space contrasts with the black background of the title and the black and white image of the star. White space is also used in the main image of Wretch on the front cover, this use of integrating images into the background is an idea which I like, as well as keeping to a colour scheme which happens to also be the name of the album 'black and white'.

-The use of a single image of the artist on the front cover is an effective technique. The fact that the artist is in a profile view and not facing front supports Dyer's paradox star image theory that the artist is both present and absent at the same time.

-The only other image of the artist is visible on the middle pane, and again the artist does not break the forth wall, this has connotations of artist integrity. This is unconventional of other hip-hop albums, as many break the forth wall as the genre of music is mainly performance based. This lack of contribution towards para-social intimacy relates to Dyer's theory, as the lack of connection with audience means the audience will strive to complete the star image, resulting in continued consumption.

-The colour scheme of the album digipak is the main visual technique and, in my opinion, the most effective one. True to its name 'Black and White', the colour scheme is simple and effective. The monochrome theme creates a binary opposition between the colours which could be connoting life and death or yin and yang. The black and white makes the overall digipak have a professional finish as well. Every aspect of the album stays true to the colour scheme except the bright red CD cover. This has been done to create an almost a surprise for the audience, similar to opening a treasure chest and finding gold if you will, as it highlights the aspect of the digipak with the most importance. It is iconic and will make the audience remember the album more.

-The album logo in the top left of the front cover is designed using a simple yet effective black and white colour scheme to correspond with the theme of the album art. The back cover of the album also uses a monochrome colour scheme with the track list displayed tracks from left to right, each one separated from the other. Although this is a very simple design it does not feel or appear generic and dull, and instead feels very professional and attractive.




How has this influenced my ideas?

- The simple design for the digipak is something I really do like. I think having one large and important image on the front cover is far more effective than having an array of random images.

- The black and white colour scheme is another idea i would like to take forward as I believe it looks professional and allows you to highlight important aspects of the digipak using other colours.