Using, Developing and Challenging Conventions- Digipak

In order to ensure that my final Digipak cover is successful and appealing to my Target audience, I have compared 'The Rockweilers' album cover to 'P!nk's- I'm not dead' cover, as they are of the same Pop Rock genre.

When analysing both the album cover that I created to a genuine pop rock album cover, I noticed many similarities that revealed the use of conventions, as well as characteristics which illustrated the contrasts. The main characteristic which I found similar was the use of graphic art, this is shown by the black and white sketches of London scapes, and the cartoon images of flowers on the cover of P!nk's album. This proves that the pop rock genre and their fans find graphic imaging most appealing, as it may create a sense of fantasy and freedom. Secondly, I noticed that both covers used a colour scheme based around the colours pink. Although P!nk may have used this because it relates to her stage name, I believe that the colours were utilised because pop rock is a genre which has a predominantly female audience, and therefore the colours reflect the stereotype of girls. Nevertheless, both albums show a sense of rebellion through the text that is used, since the fonts do not conform to 'formal' texts and resemble graffiti. Finally, the 'Parental Advisory' symbol appears on the left hand side of the album cover, which contrasts the conventions of an album cover in general, this also reveals rebellion. Moreover, this is also the case in a number of pop rock, and rock band album covers, such as Avril Lavigne and Blink 182.
In contrast, there are certain traits of the album cover which do not conform to other pop rock covers. For example, although the images of buildings do not resemble other pop rock artists they are most important as the scenery and urban landscapes reflect the band's background. Furthermore, many pop rock artists that I have researched for example P!nk use images of the lead singer or band as the main feature of the album cover. On the other hand, I have used only a small image of the lead singer in cartoon form, this is because I feel that the portraying the character of the band is most important when selling a debut album.
In conclusion, I believe that the cover has worked well and will appeal to the specific target audience, as I have based my creation around the audience's most appealing features. Although, there are areas which differ from popular pop rock artists, I have carefully selected areas of the design to favour the characteristics of the 'rising stars', The Rockweilers.