2nd digipak analysis: Bruno Mars

This album digipak is really simplistic in terms of color variety and imagery, however this works well as it takes the 'less is more' approach. The use of yellow connotes happiness and will attract a potential audience to the album that is looking for music that is happy, that they can listen to in the car with everyone. In addition to this, the use of yellow appears like the sun which is what people associate with happiness and the summer which is a season that people look forward to, just like how people will look forward to listening to the album. This album was released in early october, this after summer has finished so I think this was released to uplift the mood about the fact that summer is over, also, the album was to possibly help people remember all the great things that went on during the summer.

The use of black in comparison to the yellow works very well as the contrast in the brightness of the colour would attract a customer to the product. In addition to this, so that the tones match the CD case the black, like the yellow, is also dulled. The use of the man with the shadow, shown on the front of the digipak, is also shown in the cd case to link the case with the cd.

The use of an illustration styled cover is commonly used in digipaks, this paired up with the silhouette of the man on the front is also similar to conventions and styles that are found in cd cases. This paired with the use of a simplistic design on the back of the cover makes it similar to most album covers.

One of the themes shown through the album digipak, is night and day, this is shown through the contrast of yellow to compared to back, yellow representing day, and the black representing night. I think some of the albums design is influenced by the songs within it. One of the songs from the album is called 'talking to the moon', the cd design shows a version of Bruno as yellow figure looking upwards as his hat is tilting upward suggesting he is looking upwards toward the middle of the cd. The centre of the background is white making it look like the moon. This makes it appear like he is looking at the moon possible talking relating to one of the songs in the album.

On the front of the album it has a yellow road that Bruno is walking down, we associate (due to the media) yellow roads with hope and dreams. The fact that this road disappears into the sky turning into a trail left by a rocket suggest that the vocalist is trying to put his songs out there with his imagination and dreams, and is going to send them to space. Also that he is moving past all boundaries and is trying to say that the songs on this album with be about dreams and hope and moving forward in life.

Something interesting about this album is the fact the the production company is not shown on the front making the cover dissimilar to other album covers. The visuals in this cover illustrate that the album is all about the artist as a silhouette of him is presented on the cover and on the cd, however, because this is just an illustration and isn't a picture of the artist you could interpret yourself into the illustration, the silhouette could be anybody as it isn't heavily defined. This connotes that the album could be about anybody and can relate to anyone as like you connect yourself to the silhouette you can also connect yourself with the songs on the album.