Analysing a CD 'digipak'

Jay Z uses a bold, capital font as the title of his CD cover: THE BLUEPRINT 3. Listening to the album, the listener can tell that Jay Z is trying to bring back an old school (2001) sound back into hip hop. In interviews he mentions that he is trying to correct the mistakes so-called 'hip hop artist's have made by trying to ease the r'n'b culture back into a non auto tuned classic vibe. To me Jay Z's music in this album in particular is to the point and simple( simple in the fact that he is there to rap and convey a message: that instruments are at the main forefront of music not different avenues of technology such as auto tune). He creates a classic sound which is why he is a significant role in the hip hop movement. Because Jay Z  uses this style, the listener can therefore tell why he uses a simple, bold font. It is to show that the music he makes is powerful in its simplicity. This can also be emphasised by the album cover. The background is all white including all the instruments. Jay Z's focus was to show that hip hop is still about making music rather than focusing on the radio hits, gimmicks and money. The assortment of instruments shows the versatile nature and style of his work. 

The front and the back of the CD cover have the same plain white background, however on the back instead of bold, black writing, he uses: bold, red writing. Although the colours are different the listener can see the continuity in the album cover as the words are still simplistic. The colour of the font is red which continues with the theme of the three red stripes on the front cover. I think the writing is red to show the progression of the music production. For example the 3 lines of red represent the music that can be made by instruments and the red writing on the back cover is the final product. 

There is a CD booklet in The Blueprint 3, this allows fans to have a piece of memorabilia from the album, In it, it talks about the production and work that has gone into the album. A common theme throughout is red and white with occasional black tones, this theme is continued throughout and emphasises Jay Z's message that the instrument and classic music is the important thing when listening to his album. Red symbolises, sex, death and danger which suggests this message will be in his songs, The juxtaposition with the white also suggests purity and is considered the colour of perfection. Thus suggesting Jay Z deems his music as the perfect conveyor of classical rap and hip hop.

The CD cover is a mid-shot it is used to show the overall subject, which is the instruments. It allows the listener to see the whole picture without fully focusing on one element of the picture.