JP: Digipak Deconstruction

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

• The indie/alternative genre of the album is evident from the digipak. The front cover shows a traditional style painting, possibly from the civil war or surrounding eras. The album name, 'Viva La Vida', is splattered over the top of the painting in white paint. The kind of dull colours and themes displayed on this cover and the inside covers are quite common features of indie and alternative albums, and so we relate these colours with the genres.
• The visual techniques used in the digipak are mainly colour and tone related. All three covers with text have the text centralised rather than applying the rule of thirds. The splitscreen cover has the band members centralised in their individual pictures as well, so the rule of thirds does not apply to this digipak whatsoever. 
• The subtle tone and bland colours displayed on the digipak are trademarks of Coldplay, who are known for some of their slow, relaxing music, which could be related to traditional art and subtle tones, which are evident on the digipak. The mise-en-scene on the digipak is sparse, with the only photographs quite difficult to make out, with the only real subject being the artists face, and in one of the pictures, his guitar. The band members are all wearing bland white shirts with black waistcoats or dark coloured coats.
• Viva la vida literally translates as 'live the life' in Spanish. This has many positive connotations, which is showing that Coldplay's music is generally happy, despite it's slow and bland nature that is often evident. This is the only linguistic device used, as due to the simplistic and subtle nature of the digipak, there is the minimum amount of text required, with track listing, band name, album name, and other necessary details in small print.
• The only real reference to culture in the digipak is the civil war era painting, a symbol of more upper class or arty audiences. This immediately rules out a large audience from choosing to buy this album, and this therefore means that Coldplay are aiming for a select target audience. 
• The band's image is reinforced with this digipak, as Coldplay are widely described as being very arty and traditional, and this album is supporting this star image that they have created for themselves by making their digipak very simple and artistic. This does help sell their products, as it makes their albums very recognisable as being theirs, so their target audience finds them easily in stores, and also it means they can display albums as a kind of decoration around their house, as it is quite arty, and people will know they are Coldplay fans.
• This print text will mainly be consumed by a very focused audience, and not ambient at all, because it is quite subtle and if displayed amongst a group of other digipaks or CD cases, it will go unnoticed unless it is being looked for, and I believe this subtle, artistic look is exactly what Coldplay intend to do.