ANCILLARY TASK - Textual Analysis of a Digipak

Ocean Eyes

Ocean Eyes is Owl City's second full-length album he made after Maybe I'm Dreaming became successful in the US Electronic Albums chart (number 13). Ocean Eyes contains a variety of electronic songs containing quirky lyrics and heavy use of a synthesiser. Tracks with odd titles such as 'Dental Care' and 'Vanilla Twilight' are featured on this album, reflecting Owl City's reputation for strange, dream-like lyrics.

Front Cover - This is an image of the Burj Al Arab in Dubai.This building acts as a hotel and it has one of the highest ratings in the world, some calling it 'the world's only seven-star hotel'. The hotel has been designed to mimic the shape of a ship's sail. It is stationed on a separate, artificial island off Jumeirah beach. I believe that Owl City chose this image in particular because it reflected the serenity of his music. The sail-shaped building also linked in well with his ocean-themed songs such as 'Umbrella Beach' and 'The Saltwater Room'. The picturesque nature of this image attracts the audience's eye. Overwhelming blue hues emphasise the tranquil mood the album cover is meant to set upon the audience. To contrast the beautifully detail image, a bold font is used on the band's name and album title to stand out and balance the picture. If the font was more like a script, it would make the cover seem very busy. It is clear that Owl City wanted to achieve a clean, open look to the album, possibly because it is a lot easier on the eyes.

Back Cover - The back cover is predominantly an image of the Burj Al Arab again but this time from a different angle. This angle is closer and shows a darker side to the building. An image of the sky has been layered over the predominant image to create an almost dream-like effect. The track list has been aligned to the right and lines up against the straight edge of the hotel. The font is in the same colour as the deep blue sky in the picture to keep the colours from clashing. The font is the same as the font used on the front cover to keep the design together and more formal.

Digipak Sides - The sides of the digipak use the same design as the back to keep the design more formal, however the colours of the background and font has been reversed to keep it from looking too repetitive.

Overall - In conclusion, this digipak has been designed purely to reflect the themes and moods of Owl City's music. The colour scheme is based around ambient blues and whites and the bold font offsets the intricate detail of the images.

What have I learnt?:

• As with the website, the digipak must also reflect the music of the artist. Themes and moods within the music must be shown through colours and images.
• I now have an idea of what images to use. From this I can start collecting picturesque, serene images for the front and back of the digipak.
• Playing around with fonts and editing will be useful to bring out the full potential of a seemingly ordinary cover.