"AM" by Arctic Monkeys is a very simplistic yet effective style of a digkipak and is very similar to The 1975's . ''AM'' was released digitally and physically on September 6th 2013 under Domino Records and charted at number one in the UK album charts for two weeks.
Front panel
The front of "AM" is very similar to The 1975's as it has a simple black and white design. However, AM features no text unlike The 1975's and just includes the image of a sound wave (a sticker featuring the bands logo is used for the packaging for the digipak). The full digipak is black and white which is a common convention in the indie rock genre and the use of black and white stands out it's audience. The image of the sound wave relates to the first single released from the album ''Do I Wanna Know'' and this gives the band a new identity as previous albums sound very different to AM and therefore their new style of branding their products has had to change. Using the sound wave on the album, merchandise and in music videos reflects this change and somewhat separates their new material from their old material. Alex Turner, the frontman of the band said that the sound wave coincidentally 'kind of looks like a bra' and this reflects the albums songs as they all consist of being written about women. The front panel doesn't feature the bands name like The 1975's does and this could be because AM is Arctic Monkeys' fifth studio album and have already established a big audience and fan-base whereas The 1975 is the bands first and therefore need to get their name out there. However, the centre of the sound wave forms into the initials "AM" (the name of the album and also an abbreviation of the bands name) It's also noticeable that each 'wave' can be interpreted into the letters "A'' and "M". The use of this is very unnoticeable and unrecognisable unless the consumer is a fan of the band, which gives it an optical illusion effect.
Inside panel - The inside panel of the digipak is black and white and features an image of the band on the right. This again, is similar to The 1975's digipak as the image is in black and white and most members are looking away from the camera whilst Alex Turner (frontman) and Jamie Cook (guitarist) look directly at the camera. This is a typical convention in the indie rock genre as the lead singer almost always looks directly at the camera whilst the other members look away into space.
The CD - The CD features the same graphic design as the front panel and like the front panel displays identity of the band.
Back Panel/Tracklist -The back panel features the bands logo at the top which allows new listeners of the band to know their name. "AM'' contains 12 tracks and each is displayed on the back of the album to allow the audience to know which songs feature on the album in order. The back panel also includes copyright and record label information alongside the bands official website.
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