Usher Digipak

Usher Raymond, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, philanthropist, businessman, and actor. He rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit, "Nice & Slow". The album has been certified 6-times platinum. His follow-up album, 8701, produced the Billboard Hot 100 number one hits "U Remind Me" and "U Got It Bad". The album has been certified 4-times platinum.

Usher's 2004 album, Confessions, sold over 10 million copies in the United States and has been certified diamond by the RIAA. Confessions has the highest first week sales for an R&B artist in history. It spawned four consecutive Billboard number one hits  "Yeah!", "Burn", "Confessions Part II", and "My Boo". Usher's 2008 album, Here I Stand, sold over 5 million copies worldwide, and its lead single "Love in This Club" spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

On March 30, 2010, Usher released his sixth studio album Raymond v. Raymond, which became his third consecutive album to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. It has been certified platinum yet again and spawned another Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit "OMG". The song became his ninth number one in the United States, making him the first 2010s artist to collect number one singles in three consecutive decades. He later released an extended play and deluxe edition of Raymond v. Raymond, entitled Versus, which debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart. Its lead single "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100.

The RIAA ranks Usher as one of the best-selling artists in American music history, having sold over 23 million copies in the United States alone. To date, he has sold over 65 million records worldwide, making him one of the bestselling music artists of all time. Usher has won numerous awards including eight Grammy Awards. At the end of 2009, Usher was named the number one Hot 100 artist of the 2000s decade. Billboard named him the second most successful artist of the 2000s decade, with his 2004 album Confessions being ranked as the top solo album of the 2000s decade. Billboard also placed Usher at number six on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years. Usher has attained nine Hot 100 number-one hits (all as a lead artist) and has attained eighteen Hot 100 top-ten hits.

His second album, ''My Way,'' we see an birds eye close up  shot of usher looking up at the camera while standing on top of an escalator,  with the closer up you are able to see seductive look that he gives to the camera which is targeted at the female audience. Instantly that symbolises the idea of brand identity, recognizing whom the albums is and the artist selling point. With a purple subtle tint which is an appealing colour for the female audience. Wearing dark clothing to match the dark purple colour that is of the house colours. As following the clothing trend that was during that time, on the back cover he wears a white jacket, with a black hat, his body is out of focus while the chain is in focus which has the letter ‘’U’’ standing for usher. With elements like this you could tell that this was the old usher that was young.

His album confessions, with a similar outlook of making sure that the artist is the main centre of attention, it takes a side profile of usher looking away from the camera while wearing a Bennie hat. Stage light that produced a brown contrast through the picture which is taken from his skin town to match the rest of the album art. With the tittle of the album reading sideways on the left hand side of the album ‘’Confessions’’ and usher’s name also written. For his next album ‘’Confessions Part II’’ album it shows usher as a sex appeal, a similar ideas of attract the audience with a certain level star image, as a Goodwin’s theory star image that would be emphasis to make the album more of a commercial product which would be advisable to the different selling points such as iTunes, MHV and Zune Music.  For the female target audience the concept of usher leaning on a wall and he has his shirt off, show his muscles flexing, is an idea that would gain a large amount of sales.

His 2010 album ''Raymond V. Raymond'' showed more of his evolution from a young teen artist to a mature R&B legend. On the Front cover it shows large writing of the album name, and on the right hand side is a half picture of usher and similar on the left hand side . This takes the concepts of the album name, of two different Usher competing against each other and the title of the album is based on his last name ''Usher Raymond.'' and the title itself has smoke effect which implies that there is a fuse and fire and sign of conflict. The CD of the album is as backward ''R'' and forward ''R'' and a large shinny which produces visible light colours ''V'' which goes over the stacking, similar to that the logos for ''la Face'' ''Jive'' and ''Sony music'' are of similar concept which aims to catch the eye of the consumer.  On the back of the CD it takes of an alternative format of listing songs that feature on the album, as it reads left to right rather than in a order going down, this may be difficult to read as you may be looking a specific track, for my digipak I would list them going down the left hand side of the back. Futhermore, a long shot shows Usher looking directly at the camera and haing is arms across a bench whcih may look like to be a church with out removing the seriousness of the comeptative nature and and yet again brings the emphasis of the star image which is started by andrew goodwin.