The

Physical Music format is good

because it encourages a physical interaction with printed material.

Respect the FormatThe music industry needs the CD to survive despite poor sales year on year

compared to downloads. This is a campaign to revive the format in a saturated download market.

The Target Audience: I will target the people who pay for downloads to promote and persuade them to return to the Hard Copy format before CD’s become a thing of the past.

The Delivery: I plan to design and craft and a luxury giftbox to house CD’s. The initial plan is to create a box that will hold two CD’s of choice but if deemed successful could be converted to take a larger number if neccessary. The giftbox will be sold with the CD’s and will act as an alternative to wrapping a CD in the traditional fashion. The aims of the packaging is to get people excited about the CD format by surrounding it within a tranquil and cosy environment. This is a product people should take their time with.

Secondary

Research Examples visual, quantitative and qualitative

primary and secondary research results.

Key areas of interest: What state is the industry in?

Who still buys CD’s? Is the digital download take over imminent?

Why is the physical format important?

Examples of CD packaging which prove the format worthy

Primary

Key Media Quotes ‘Vinyl, Digital sales hit new high marks.’‘U2’s Bono disappointed with latest album sales’‘Best buy prepares for a shift to downloads’

Visuals: What’s out there?

100% of people surveyed that purchased CD’s said that CD Packaging was important to their musical experience.

‘If you were to buy a music download from iTunes Music Store. To print the artwork, you would pay around £2.60 more than if you had purchased the physical copy’

Did You Know?The quality of sound on a CD is far superior to that of a standard iTunes download.

“If the group is big, it don’t matter what the cover is. You can wrap it in a brown paper bag it makes no difference to sales. “Atlantic Records Director (1979)

Initial IdeasA visual starting point.

Luxury packaging for CD’s in the form of Chocolate box. (One layer with mini CD artwork and one layer for uniform MP3’s). Crit group input proves this to be the better idea of all I presented.

Focus shifts to create brand for packaging after crit group suggestions. Different brand names are tested before Audio Indulgence becomes number one choice. Initial logos are then developed.

Further logo development and visual realisation prove that the logo needs some sort of graphical element to spearhead a memorable campaign

First computerised logo’s seem to lack visual appeal that I want but do link with the luxury chocolate market.

The logo development begins to come together but the graphical element still does not sit quite right, so further development is needed. The use of serif and sans serif sends out the wrong message. Visual inspiration in the form of Chocolate packaging is now included as part of my research and also to give a better understanding of the design in that market.

Idea DevelopmentLuxury packaging: The inspiration and execution

With the logo finished, the packaging ideas were already underway. The packaging net had been selected from a book of exisitng templates and various ideas were realised which would work on that template. I was happy with the designs on the pages shown but I felt they simply did not give luxury feel. The colours were too vibrant and the large graphics were too bold.

The logo was finally coming together and this proved to be the style and colour choice adopted. In the development of this I had looked at various logos for luxury chocolate to style the look of this logo on.

I felt it was important to stick to these styles as my concept had strong links to the graphic approach. If the designs did not reflect that the packaging shape would be irrelevant.

Colour variations were tried and tested but the gold spot colour gave a sense of indivuality and a feel of expense.

This packaging mockup includes the logo with its invidualistic gold metallic spot colour and matching reverse sticker that includes fictitious product information in the form of a ‘Nutritional Information’ guide.

The packaging is finished with a gloss spot varnish to reinforce the luxuriousness of the product and its packaging.

Pattern development for the varnish illustrated here.

Inside compartments used to hold CD’sLogo featured on box Reverse side label with product information spot varnish pattern used throughout box

The DeliveryFinal Product shots

In context and distribution

DistributionThese are ways in which my product could be advertised for distribution. These include stickers on monitors around college. These could be distributed around Universities internet cafes to increase coverage. Internet banners to be featured on websites such as HMV and play.com, as well as full size posters to be featured in shop windows for maximum coverage.

Outer PackagingFlexographyWhite backed folding boxboard 320gsm2 spot colour gloss spot varnish patternEmbossing on Logo

Duplex Printed TagOffset LithographyArt silk 280 gsm2 spot colours

Thermochromic BandOffset LithographyArt silk 280 gsm

Reverse side stickerOffset LithographySelf Adhesive/Removable 90gsm1 colour uv gloss finish

Distribution stickerOffset LithographySelf Adhesive/Removable 90gsm1 colour uv gloss finish

Information LeafletOffset LithographyArt Gloss 200gsm1 colour Embossed type on cover

Website BannerRGB ConvertedFlash based animation

Advertisement PosterOffset LithographyWebfed and choppedArt Silk 130gsmFull Process Colours plus 1 spot colour