5 Seconds Of Summer – Self Titled, UK deluxe edition

Digipak analysis

Different covers availableThere are lots of different cover designs for their album including a fanzine, UK deluxe, North American and a UK Amazon only edition as well as many others. By including so many different variations of cover for the same album, it gives the fans something to buy and collect which not only gives the band more popularity and makes their albums more noticeable, but also gives fans the satisfaction of owning more merchandise released by the band. As each country has a different album cover, it makes the album feel more personal to that country and could make fans feel more included as they took the time to create a different cover just for their country. One reason for them doing this is that the different albums differ in songs which makes this change easily recognisable and people will be able to buy the album that have the songs that they like the most on. By doing this, fans are more likely to buy an album as they can get the one which has their most favourite songs on it. This helps to increase sales for the album and interest in fans as there are so many variations of the album that fans will want to get.

One of the most popular albums to get was the UK deluxe edition which has a more personal feel to it as it has the same cover as the UK standard edition but includes drawings done by the members on the cover and CD. Some copies of the deluxe edition could also be bought signed by the members of the band. By including signed copies, more fans are going to want to buy it as getting CDs autographed by band members is something that a lot of fans do to feel closer to the band. These extra details would make more fans want to buy the album as they would feel like it is much more personal to them and that the band took a lot more time to make the cover.

Outside cover The cover has hand drawn drawings by the band members which relate to the song titles within the album and specific things to the band, these include references to their lives and their record label. By including these, it makes fans feel more involved in their lives as they use references that only big fans of the band will know. This not only makes the album feel more personal to the fans, but also gives the impression of the band taking a long time to make the album to make it directed completely toward the fans.

The clothing of the band members ties in with the genre of music that they play in. Skinny jeans and chequered shirts are two of the main types of clothing seen being worn by musicians in the rock genre. This band is no different as they are all wearing skinny jeans and two have chequered shirts on which keeps to the conventions of the rock genre. Fans would expect to see them dressed this way as that is what they are used to seeing from the genre so by keeping with this convention, it allows them to fit into the genre well and makes them more appealing to fans.

The red x used on the front cover of the digipak, going over all of the members, which gives a connotation of danger or rebelliousness which is closely associated with the rock genre. The colour red is used throughout the rest of the digipak as well which automatically puts the idea of them being in the rock genre into the audiences head due to the close association.

The barcode is positioned on the bottom right of the back of the digipak. By placing it at the back, it is still easily seen and accessible but does not disrupt from the overall look of the rest of the digipak.

The record label (Capitol) information is positioned in the bottom left on the back of the digipak along with legal information and the bands website being in the middle. This makes it clear and easy to see and find if it is needed and is done in a way so as not to take away from the final look of the digipak whilst still giving all of the information needed about the label and legal information about the album. By including the website, it makes the band a lot more accessible to the public and gives fans another media to see them on.

The back of the digipak works like a song list but in a different way to the typical conventions of a digipak. Rather than listing the songs like most albums do, they have done it through doing little drawings to represent each of the tracks which are featured in the album. This goes against the conventions of a digipak but it works in a very good way as it makes it much more interesting to look at and makes it stand out a lot more compared to a typical song list.

There is an image of the “rock symbol” in the digipak which is used to represent and encourage how they are part of the rock genre. The symbol is a strong convention to the rock genre so there is a strong link in including this between the band and the genre that they play in.

As the album is self titled, the bands name and the album title are included on the spine of the album cover.

Inside coverThe CD is held in a plastic case instead of previous CD releases which have been done in just cardboard. This shows that the band can now afford to use a more secure plastic case for their albums.

The doodles from the front of the CD case are carried through to the physical CD which creates a sense of continuity throughout the digipak. The drawings are very similar to those used on the back of the case to represent the songs included on the CD.

The side panels of the digipak include multiple images of all of the band members. These images include photos which were posted on social media as well as some images from before they became famous (like school photos). By including these, it continues the personal feel given from the front cover and allows the fans to see some of what their lives were like before becoming famous.

The way that the images are laid out resembles a film reel which is encouraged through the images being displayed in black and white. By doing this, it creates the idea of being shown their history and getting to travel along on their journey with them. This also challenges the conventions as the rock genre is associated with having a non-caring and rebellious attitude yet we are being shown a different side to them by seeing their history in the images.

There is an even amount of each of the members shown throughout the images. This is evidence of them rejecting Andrew Goodwin’s theory of the lead signer being the main person in the band as there is an equal amount of coverage as all of the other members rather than it all being focused on one particular member.

The font that is used on the CD and throughout the digipak is the same as all of the other CD’s and EPs which have been released. This shows their house style and people will recognise them through the font and will associate them with it.

The colours used on the inside of the case contrast the colours used on the outside of the digipak. The inside uses very dark colours and has a plain black background with monochrome images covering it, this embraces the rock genre as dark colours are widely associated with rock music. This sticks to the conventions of the rock genre and means that they want to be like other artists from the genre.

There are splashes of red used on the case which sticks to the house style of the album and the conventions of the rock genre. The red is used on some of the images, on one of them to bring all of the band members together using two separate images. It is used on another image though to put a cross through it. The image is of one of the members only wearing underwear and, by putting the cross through it, shows that they are trying to keep with the conventions of the rock genre. The genre gives the idea of having things unsuitable to younger people and, by having the cross through this image, it encourages and reinforces this idea even more.