Creating our CD.

Creating our CD:

Our research controlled our final product a lot as there were clear conventions that were used on most of the Digipaks I found, therefore I had a clear idea of how our one should look. There was many features that most artists used such as the text around the rim and the logos. They also used a repetitive design in order to fit with the whole album and help the audience to recognise the album visually.

My research will be clear in my final design as it highly influenced me as there were set conventions used which means I followed them to make mine look realistic and professional as there is some things people expect on a CD therefore they would recognise a change in design which could be unsuccessful.

Our main influence from our research:

Creating my own CD:I had to photograph my own images for this CD in order to avoid plagiarism. I photographed fire by burning old newspaper and then fanning it so that the flames grew. This ensured the flames were clear and the newspaper wasn’t a feature. 

I was pleased with the quality and clarity of the images as it was very dark outside therefore it was harder to focus on the flames to create a clear image. 

The late night works as the darkness surrounding the flames makes them stand out.

My Images:

Designing and Creating my CD:

I created this in Adobe Illustrator.

I had to create a template of a circle and then add the text i wanted.

I chose to use the same font as the rest of our Ancillary task so that there was a constant variable to relate each section.

The font is Birch STD, i then expanded the space width so that the letters spread out to the same space from each corner.

How I edited it in Photoshop:

I cropped the image to a smaller size so that the excess image could be easily removed. 

I then used the Quick Selection Tool to highlight the areas which needed to be removed.

This has had the area around it removed so that when it is saved it is just the CD area.

Our Final First Draft:

I decided to change the design slightly by making the fire black and white this was so that it looked like smoke as the image next to this at the back of the pamphlet will be a candle therefore the smoke will relate to the rest of the CD which is something i decided to do from my research as this was a convention many digipaks used as it tied the whole album together. 

I feel smoke looks better as the flames is very overpowering and doesn't work as well as it takes the attention away from the artists name and album title. 

I also need to add the rest of my design generated from my research as the logos and rest of the text has to be added.

I changed this image to the one on the right by editing it in Photoshop. It was very simple as the quality allowed me to just change it to black and white without ruining the clarity. I then placed the image on the CD to use the best part of the image.

This design is much better than the coloured flames as it looks like smoke which relates to our video, the design is softer and makes the writing stand out more. It also suits the black background more as it isn't too overpowering.

Adding the final features:

I created two designs and then chose the best one when comparing them. I used black font for the record label information and white to see which one worked best.

Because of the white text around the CD the white worked best, it also stood out more which made it look professional as a bad feature such as hard to read text ruins the quality and makes it look unsuccessful.

The Logos I used:

These are the logos i used as i had to choose between the logo of our record companies as my research only had two logo's and one was the compact digital audio disk logo therefore i had to chose the image from the main record label. 

I feel these made the Cd look more professional as it is a normal convention for most Cd's therefore it makes ours look realistic. 

The text I used:

Around the rim of the CD:

Executive Producers: Dr Dre & Anthony “TOPDAWG” Tiffith Co-Executive Producer: Dawaun Parker, DJ Khaalil, DJ Dahl, Hit-Boy, Jack Splash, Just Blaze, Like, Pharell Williams, Bahki, Scoop DeVille, Skhye Hutch, Sounwave, T-Minus, Tabu, Terrace Martin, Tha Bizness, THC.
Creative Direction: Poppy Scott “Pops” Cally Skinner, Marie Ahagbuje, Rebecca Martin “Becks”

This is the text i used on our other Ancillary tasks as it is the producers names which is a common feature on many of the albums and pamphlets. 

©2013 Aftermath/Interscope Records, A division of UMG Recordings, Inc. All Rights Reserved Unauthorised copying, reproduction, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting, prohibited. Made in the EU.

LC064040603527439430

This is the text i used on on the bottom of the CD below the logos as it is naming the record labels used which relates to the logo above it. 

Final CD: