Digipak - CD Booklet Template

Above is a free download of a CD Digipak Booklet from the Internet. It simply consists of two panels which represent each page. There is no set rule for how many pages a booklet needs to contain for a Digipak, but they typically have the same number of pages as there are songs on the album (1 page for every song) plus the front and back covers, and either one or two pages for the musician's 'thank-you's' and the credits. There may also be additional spare pages within to show off photography or other artwork. Some artists may even squeeze two or more songs onto each page in order to save paper, production times and costs. For the album that I am making, '+' by Ed Sheeran, there are 16 songs as it is a Deluxe Edition. That would mean at least 16 panels, plus 2 for the front and back, 1 for the thank you's and credits, which in total makes 19, but there needs to be an even number, so then I have one free for a picture.

Below is an image of a quick mock-up sketch I have drawn to show what content will be on each panel, as the printing process and putting-together of the final piece will be very difficult, as usually these booklets are printed double-sided and then stapled together in the center:

As we do not have the printing facilies available to us to ensure accurate double-sided printing, I am more likely to construct my booklet with four panels to each section. The top two panels will then fold over and be glued in place, so the design will have to be created upside down to the adjacent two panels.

The mock up...

I used the template I published initially and my mock-up layout to then place the lyrics to all of the different songs. It took some time as I had to frequently print them off and cut them out to test out that my layout worked, as sometimes the text was coming out upside-down and in the wrong order. I have now resolved the problem and saved each 'setcion' as a new template for myself. All that is left for me to do now is to drop in pictures behind the text and also add in the credits on the last page. Then I will progress to remove the pink 'fold' lines as they will no longer be needed and re-size the final product so that it fits inside the Digipak casing I have created. 

Digipak Mock Up

31.01.14:

Today I finished my mock-up for my Digipak. It is essentially exactly how I want my final product to look, except that I have used mock-up images from the Internet to indicate the types of image I want to use for the finished product. This helped me to visualise the look of my ancillary product as well as setting up the layout for all of the text on each panel. Once completed, I cut out a smaller version of the Digipak to test that I had all of the folds and cuts in the right place so that I know what I do/don't need to change for the real thing. Luckily, everything was correct as I used a template and I like the layout of what I have produced. What I now need to do is to adjust the document so that it is of the correct size (I may want to print the document off on A2 paper to see what it would look like in real-life) and to add in an extra panel in the middle to act as the pouch which will hold the booklet. Obviously, I will then add in my original images and adjust the text accordingly if they don't work out as well with my own images. Below is a collection of images of my Digipak that I made up today: 

    

  

 

  

    

Digipak Mock Up Designs - Physical Practice

Style 1: Style 1 and 2 are very similar in the sense that they are constructed of the same number of panels to contain the same number of CDs. However, with this style, I have incorporate the lyric booklet as part of the interior design of the Digipak, with the front cover of it matching the image on the middle inside panel. The lyric booklet would be glued to the centre of the Digipak so that audiences can open it and read with ease without having to worry about the booklet getting lost or damaged, and it looks effective as it does not effect the or ruin the design/picture inside as it makes up most of it.

        

Style 2: Like stated above, style 1 and 2 are very similar. This style is exactly the same as the above style, except that the lyric booklet is contained within a small pouch on the inside. I think this is a more stylish, neater way to present things, but it would mean adding additional tabs and panels to the template, making the design process more lengthy and difficult, and in the real industry, more costly. For both designs I decided upon three panels across as I wanted to segments for two different CDs as the album will be a deluxe edition, which is why that aspect has not changed. Overall, I think I am going to opt for Style 1 as the design and construction process will be much simpler, and I like that it adds another dimension to the Digipak as a whole.

Website Mock-Up; Progress

As I cannot post a link to the website I am creating until it is completely finished and published, I am going to update this post with screenshots to show my progress with the product. At the moment I am just doing the basic layout for the website, placing all of the necessary text boxes and experimenting with colours, images etc.

At the moment I am using images available for use on Wix and images I have saved from the internet in order to gain a clear idea as to how the final piece will look. All of the text at the moment is being copied and pasted from a different source, but I will eventually write my own content once I am happy with the mock-up layout.

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10.01.14

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