Digipak Research

A digipak is a type of packaging that comes with a CD, usually intended for a special purpose, for example, a limited edition.

Talk That Talk - Rihanna

The first digipak I've researched is Rihanna's 'Talk That That' album. It follows the usual conventions as it has six panels, in order to show the buyer more content, and features large pictures of the artist. A parental advisory label can be seen on the cover so that the consumers are aware of the "explicit content". This is useful as it means the product won't be sold to the wrong kind of audience, e.g. small children. A track list and the production company can also be seen on the packaging.

Two of the images denote Rihanna with her mouth blowing out smoke. This relates to Rihanna's edgy personality. Moreover, her mouth being open relates to the title of the album, 'Talk That Talk'. Another photograph shows Rihanna sitting with her legs open. Furthermore her legs are made into a focal point by the use of lighting. This has sexual connotations, which Rihanna is quite well known for. This is also quite conventional of the R&B genre. The images have been edited in black and white, with high contrast. This again emphasises Rihanna's edgy style. The typography used is serif font, which is quite sophisticated and will therefore appeal to a more mature audience.

Teenage Dream - Katy Perry

The second digipak I researched is for Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream' album. This also has six panels and large pictures of the artist. It subverts the usual convention of an album cover as it does not show the title of the album or the artist's name. This draws emphasis to Perry herself. Similarly to Rihanna's digipak, it denotes a parental advisory label. The track list is shown of the back cover of the album.
The images on the outside of the digipak denote Perry laying naked on a pink cloud. The use of a cloud relates to the title of the album as it connotes a "dream". Katy Perry being naked also gives her sex appeal, similary to Rihanna. Her skin appears to be flawless which suggests that she has been airbrushed using Photoshop. This relates to Naomi Wolf's theory (1991) that women are objects of sexual desire and must be beautiful in order to be successful.
The track list is written in large, red bubble writing which connotes candy. This relates to Perry's theme of album as the CDs also look like sweets and the top image denotes cakes.