Digipak conventions

Front cover:

• Usually has the name of the artist and the title of the album
• The artist's name is often in a larger font as the album is effectively selling the artist
• Often the artist's face in close up but if they are well established they tend to not have their face
• The colour, font, and choice of image should reflect the genre of the artist
• Sometimes it reveals labels such as the parental advisory sign
• Often a very obvious colour scheme
• Level of creativity or quality that you would not get on a standard dual cd cover

Back cover:

• Song titles in order of sequence
• Font used is the same as the front cover
• Barcode
• Logo of the record label and sometimes their website
• Copyright information
• Credits eg producer/songwriter (rarely)
• Website of the artist
• Record labels postal address
• Continues the theme from the front

Spine:

• Artist name
• Album title
• Reference number
• Record labels name and logo (sometimes)

Inside:

• CD tray, can be transparent with an image beneath it
• Images are a continuation of the same theme
• Image of the artist inside
• Booklet with songs lyrics
• Quotes from some of the lyrics spread out
• Personal message from the artist
• Lots of small images
• Songwriting credits etc

The function of an album cover is to advertise and promote an artist and to essentially make money. Also, the album cover establishes the genre of the artist and thus attracts their target audience. Finally, it showcases the star's image.

Here is an example of a digipak done by Rihanna