DIGIPAK ANALYSIS - "The Wall"

I will now analyse the digipak for the 1979 album "The Wall" by Pink Floyd. I obtained the photos from the iTunes LP feature that came with purchasing the album.

This is the front cover of the album. This is the 2011 digitally remastered edition of the album, so there are a few differences from the original. For example, there was no writing on the front cover to preserve its minimalistic style. The album is essentially a rock opera revolving around the character of PINK and his feelings of abandonment and personal isolation - the wall being symbolic of this. These are some themes I am going to try and work into my music video.

The colour white - other than paying homage to the incredibly minimalistic album cover of The Beatles' "White Album"

- is inviting and enigmatic at the same time. There's a distinct blandness to it, which attracts people's curiosity. I believe this method would be unattractive if the band was not well-known. But because both The Beatles and Pink Floyd are well-known and liked, they are able to use artistic techniques without it affecting sales. In this modern era, however, fewer and fewer people know of Pink Floyd than, say, Lady Gaga or Olly Murs. 

This is probably the reason why the creators of this digitally remastered edition of the album chose to place writing on the wall (which has the unlikely possibility of being a reference to the idiom 'The writing on the wall' - meaning a pre-determined future - which appeals to the more artistically knowledgeable) saying the name of the band and the album. The writing is also done in a graffiti style, which not only gives it a realistic position but also makes it appeal to the younger generation of today. It suits the contemporary youth social context. A few of the songs  - most particularly "Another Brick In The Wall Part 2" - definitely appeal to a youthful audience, so the use of graffiti was a wise choice. Its black colour also relates well to the dark themes of the songs on the album - as well as looking good on a predominately white backdrop. The use of grey could also be an artistic device - if you place it with the black and the white. It could represent different view points, usually coined when referring to one view - which is black - and another - which is white. The grey represents the thoughts in between, usually coined in the phrase: "There are lots of shades of grey". If we take the character of Pink, who's life is falling apart and he feels separated from everything, and these different colours - this digipak could be to represent Pink's distorted mindset. 

This is the back cover of the album (picture obtained from Amazon.co.uk):

As you can see, there is about as much minimalist detail on the back of the album as the front. Much of the text is still in that graffiti style - it is only the logos and the barcode that do not conform (since they need to be recognised, in spite of their connection to the album, as their own brand). 

A booklet is contained within the album. This is the front and the back cover:

The front cover, as we can see, is exactly the same as the front of the CD case. The back, however, is rather different. No graffiti writing is used on this page, probably to separate the band members and the companies from the songs themselves. This carries on with my theory in the Dark Side of the Moon album, where the artists only want the music to be heard. It is a part of that world, as it were - and the ordinary text used on the back page suggests that it is not part of that world. It could be simpler than that - the writing could be different because there is a large amount of small text and it would perhaps be considered unreasonable if it were in a graffiti font. All the names have uppercase lettering with a bold font, so people can recognise the names instantly. 

Like the booklet in the "Dark Side of the Moon" album, this one also contains the lyrics to all of the individual songs. They have continued the same style that was on the front cover - graffiti-esque writing on a bland, white wall. This perhaps suggests that poetry can be found in graffiti as well. Perhaps the designer is speaking out for the youth subcultures who do graffiti. In any case, this font is certainly nice to look at. It has also changed slightly from the front cover because it is mostly in lowercase lettering. Some of the letters also appear to be smudged - and with its blackness it suggests that this is ink. Ink would probably be appropriate because of the references to school in the song. Ink and handwriting like this could be reminiscent of schoolwork. This is another contributing factor in appealing to a youthful audience. 

Half-way through the booklet - marking the transition form the first disc to the second - is a surreal picture of the wall:

The wall now has many bricks removed and many peculiar visions and image emerge. These images - in their sexual, disjointed and amusing premise - are obviously reminiscent of many paintings by the surreal painter, Salvidor Dali. It seems that we are given a further glimpse into Pink's mindset. It seems to be that the world, according to him, is inherently absurd and so this is why he chooses to separate himself away from it. The colours now vary from the white-grey blandness of the wall. There are four spotlights pointing at one individual in the space on the left. These spotlights could represent the four band members of Pink Floyd and their creation of Pink the protagonist. Maybe it is also to display Pink's thoughts when being in the real world - he is constantly in the spotlight. The colour seems to have an overall darkness, which is placed in contrast to the whiteness of the wall. Pink like the wall because it is brighter, in spite of its two dimensions. 

All of these surreal elements appeal to contemporary and intelligent audiences, who enjoy this style. Since Pink Floyd also makes music which is considered to be rather surreal, this image would appeal to their fanatics (as well as followers of progressive rock in general).