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Digipak: Inlay (First Draft)

The next step was to design the inlay of the digipak. We manged to significantly follow our planning throughout the design of the inlay especially.

I started off by designing the first page of the inlay, opening a new file on Photoshop (Ctrl + O) and inputting the same dimensions (5.45 inches width and 4.95 inches height) as the back and front cover for standardisation and coloured the file black, as that was to be the background colour of the first inlay page. We chose this colour since the key element to go on the page, a pixelated heart, we felt, would stand out best against black, part of the colour scheme.



Next, I used the text tool to write our names (the creators of the album and SAD productions) on top of the file. I used the font Bebas Neue, taken from the website DaFonts. The san serif font was used to give it a not so formal look a serif font would allow. The colour white was used so the text would be prominent against the black of the background.

Keeping all the elements to go on this panel in mind, the team decided to add some texture to it since it would seem too flat otherwise. Mahnoor and I picked the transparent texture named 'Scribble' from a website called Transparent Textures. I opened it up on Photoshop and dragged it to my file and positioning the file above the black coloured layer and below the text so only the background would appear textured. I then used the brush tool and with it, coloured the texture white so it would be apparent against the black. The texture was still not as prominent as we would like it so I duplicated the layer with the texture on it and locked them.


Next, I copied the same copyrights placed on the back cover, on the bottom of the page. While this is not a convention, it is also not unheard of. We made the decision to place these here since we wanted to break the convention of placing copyrights on the CD itself since with it's busy style they would not be visible and would diminish from the meaning of the CD design itself. Bebas Neue was used for this as well and white for the font colour so it stands out against the black. Next to it we added a transparent version of the logo of EMM Records (also made on Photoshop with the help of the eraser magic tool). I resized it to the appropriate size with by applying transformation (Ctrl +T ) and pressing shift while resizing to preserve it's proportions. I used the ruler tool (Ctrl + R) to drag down a boundary so I could place them at the same level.
  

On the inside, we decided to add the SAD Productions logo since they are the ones who produced the album. However, for the logo to be visible, we decided to add a slight outer glow to the logo. 


The outer glow effect, however, looked grainy so we exchanged it for a slight stroke instead. Once that was done, I dragged it over to the file I was working on and resized it with the help of the transformation tool (Ctrl + T) and shift, pressed to preserve the proportions of the logo. The logo was then placed on the right of the copy rights so both logos would frame the copyrights.


The next step was to add the pixelated heart to the inlay panel. The decision to add this was made since the heart plays a key element as a symbol for either her happiness or her discontent. The full heart is symbolic for her newfound happiness.


 I dragged the heart to the file I was working on with the help of the move tool and then adjusted it's size with the help of the transformation tool (Ctrl + T) and shift to preserve it's proportions. The heart is purposefully made the biggest element on this panel and centralised to draw the audience's attention to it directly.

Mahnoor then changed the font of the copyright to the one which had been used for them on the back cover for uniformity and meaning (the pixelated font was more cohesive with the theme). She also, after the agreement of the team, decreased the opacity of our names since the panel looked rather cluttered. By doing this, she focused the attention on the more significant elements of the panel such as the hearts and even the copyrights.



This is what the first page of the inlay looks lie:


Side by side, I was designing the second inlay panel. I opened a new file on Photoshop and inputted the same dimensions as the rest of the panels for standardisation (5.45 inches width and 4.95 inches height)


The colour we had decided upon for the second inlay panel was blue, to balance out the predominant yellow and red of the cover panels. To match the blue of the painting exactly, I opened up a picture of the painting and used the dropper tool to do so.


Mahnoor then added a texture onto the inlay page, on top of the coloured layer. She took the texture from a website called Transparent Textures and used the move tool to add it to the file and then locked the layer.


I then used the ellipse tool to make a circle for the CD. I changed it's colour to red for the time being so I could differntiate between it and the inner rings of the CD easily. Using the same tool, I created two more circles, one slightly smaller than the other and centralised all three circles.



For the CD we decided to add a part of the painting that contained the logo of the artist, The RedTide Rats, a rat and an eagle. For this we opened the picture of the painting (Ctrl + O) and then dragged it onto the file, placing it below the smaller circles but above the biggest circle and then applied a clipping mask so the image would be restrained within the shape. I then used the transformation tool (Ctrl + T) and shift (to preserve proportions) and adjusted and aligned the image till the part where we wanted was showing.


This is what the second page of the inlay looks like:


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