Drake's Digipack Comparison

The main inspiration for the design of my album booklet was Drake's 'Nothing Was The Same'. It's simple but effective design was exactly what I was trying to achieve, which is why I got a few ideas from it.

Drake’s album cover is so simple; a black background, and white text in the centre of the page. The typography is kept consistent throughout the digipak, and everything is kept similar to this cover.

Because Drake is such an established artist, he doesn’t need his picture on the album for people to know it’s his, as they will immediately recognise his name.  Also, this is his third album, so he isn’t trying to promote himself anymore, but his music, and so he can get away with this simple design a lot easier.

 

For my album cover, I always wanted to have a black background with white writing as the design. The logo will feature at the start of each music video, making a link between the album and the songs so people can make an automatic connection between the two. The typography features throughout the album booklet, and the design is consistent.

Just like the front cover, the track list features the same typography, and has the same simple design; a black background and white writing in the middle of the page.

Again, I wanted to keep the same design throughout my album booklet, and Drake’s track list gave me the idea for this. I have centred the text and numbered each song simply to space out the songs a bit more.

The songs are not only in alphabetical order, which is another feature I have seen, but is subtle link to the Sweater Weather video, which is the first single from the album. The music video shows the couple's relationship progress over the course of a year, and the song lyrics, in alphabetical order, show the couple's entire relationship;

Afraid - They're strangers and they're both afraid to make the first move.

Bad Blood - They're worried that their pasts may mean that the other mightn't like them or that it may affect their chance of a relationship.

Carpe Diem - They're young and they want to act like it; they don't want to get into a serious relationship, they're just looking for fun.

Deja Vu - There are constant arguments in the relationship and each argument is a 'deja vu' of the last.

Gone - The arguments drive them apart and they're threatening each other with the end of their relationship.

Kiss Me - They want to 'kiss and make up' because their relationship means too much to them to let go.

Lovers - They're back together and they're stronger than ever.

Runaway - They want to run away and spend the rest of their lives with each other.

Sweater Weather - They're spending each day together in bed without a care in the world.

What We Were - Their relationship didn't last and now the guy is looking back at what was, wishing they were the same again.

The music videos for each of these music videos will portray the lyrics and the title of the song, and will each show a story of the couple's relationship.

Drake doesn’t have the lyrics of his songs in his Digipak, just the credits. He has done the same for every song on the album, and has kept the same typography and design throughout these pages.

The back cover of Drake’s Digipak has a lot more than mine, and he doesn’t have the track listing on. The large group of text on the right hand side of the page is a quote by Ross Valory, the bassist from band ‘Journey’. This quote is one which I have seen a lot online, and is one of my favourite quotes. It reads; “A lot of people get famous and then don’t want to be famous. You signed up for this you gotta pay for it. A lot of people just don’t know what the price is when they step up to the plate. The wear and tear is not physical. The wear and tear is a mental thing. You really just let go of a lot of relationships that require presence and constant nurturing. You say goodbye to people, people get sick and die when you’re gone, and a lot of things just go by the way side. Then where’s all the strife, and power, and money, and control.” 

He then writes something himself; “They’ll never truly know but thank you all who try to understand. Nothing was the same.” –This may have been where Drake got the name of his album from.

He then has more credits on the left hand side of the page, and has the logos of his record label, management etc. in the bottom corner, just like mine.

Instead, I chose to put the lyrics of the songs in my album booklet. I used the band’s logo and blurred it out so I could use it in the background, and placed the text in the centre and over the logo. I did this for every song, and used the reference points on the axis to make sure the logo is in the same place on each page.

 

 

The back cover of Drake’s Digipak has a lot more than mine, and he doesn’t have the track listing on. The large group of text on the right hand side of the page is a quote by Ross Valory, the bassist from band ‘Journey’. This quote is one which I have seen a lot online, and is one of my favourite quotes. It reads; “A lot of people get famous and then don’t want to be famous. You signed up for this you gotta pay for it. A lot of people just don’t know what the price is when they step up to the plate. The wear and tear is not physical. The wear and tear is a mental thing. You really just let go of a lot of relationships that require presence and constant nurturing. You say goodbye to people, people get sick and die when you’re gone, and a lot of things just go by the way side. Then where’s all the strife, and power, and money, and control.”

He then writes something himself; “They’ll never truly know but thank you all who try to understand. Nothing was the same.” –This may have been where Drake got the name of his album from.

He then has more credits on the left hand side of the page, and has the logos of his record label, management etc. in the bottom corner, just like mine.

I used the logo of my band on the band so that each page features my band’s logo, and placed it in the centre of the page so that it grabs your attention and is the first thing you see. I designed the track listing differently because I have seen it in a few other album back covers. I also thought it would help with the continuity of the album booklet as there is more black background than writing on most pages, and this design helped me continue this. I put the copyright statement in the bottom left hand corner, with the record label logo and barcode in the bottom right hand corner as this is a feature I have consistently seen with back covers of albums.

Below is a powerpoint with my full album booklet on.


I am going to voice record peoples' opinions on my album booklet and make a post with any changes I may have to make to the booklet.