Photolog 2019: Day 108 of 365

Picked up my BigHit order from the post office today. My BTS Map of the Soul: Persona albums arrived!

Map of the Soul: Persona (4 versions)
I do love the various shades of pink that they used for the different versions of this album, and I really like the contrast of the aqua blue in the lining, but this design is definitely not my favourite. Now, I know there is beauty in simplicity. All the Love Yourself albums — Her, Tear, and Answer — were fairly simple, but the different flower illustrations throughout the series told a story that flowed together beautifully (literally, the lines of the flowers connected on both the front covers and spines of the albums when you put them all side by side — you can see it here and here). There's a reason why they were nominated for Best Package Design at the Grammys. As someone who used to study graphic communications, I just think the packaging for Map of the Soul: Persona lacks that kind of creativity and aesthetic drive from its predecessors. 
I'm comparing this to the Love Yourself albums specifically because it seems like the designer for this album wanted to mimic the Love Yourself design with the similar use of space and curved lines — granted, using four separate lines rather than a singular flowing line — but it seems to lack the inspiration of the theme and concept of this series. I understand where they're coming from; it's called Map of the Soul, so a heart drawn on top of a grid with little dots for coordinates does make sense, but it's almost too literal. It looks too clean, almost clinical. I also just don't like the font. It looks like Century Gothic, which is too basic and common. When you look at the fonts that grace previous BTS albums, from 2 Cool for Skool to the Love Yourself series, they all stand out and look iconic. But here, it just looks like a font that someone might use to write a memo at work. (No, seriously, some of our memos are in Century Gothic, and that's what it looks like.) 
That having been said, I appreciate the functionality of the packaging. There's no extraneous covers or sleeves; the album opens up like a book, with one side housing the CD and the other side with a pocket to attach the photobook. It's nothing really special, per se, but it looks clean and it's easy to keep all the components together.
Map of the Soul: Persona (Version 1)
Map of the Soul: Persona (Version 1)
Map of the Soul: Persona (Version 1)
Map of the Soul: Persona (Version 1)
Map of the Soul: Persona (Version 2)
Map of the Soul: Persona (Version 2)
Map of the Soul: Persona (Version 2)
All four versions feature a different concept shoot with the general theme of self-identity — from Version 1's casual, silly, humble, selfie-taking Bangtan to Version 4's luxurious, high-maintenance, bored-looking, global superstar status BTS — and I will say that the photos do make up for the lacklustre packaging design. We saw previews of these shoots already (here, here, here, and here), but seeing the full set of photos and having them in print brings a level of satisfaction that you just can't get online. I was actually pretty torn between Version 1 and Version 2 as being my favourite, but I think 1 ultimately wins. As much as I love seeing our boys preening themselves, I do prefer the carefree style and more natural poses of Version 1. And I love that it shows off Bangtan as a family unit.

Map of the Soul: Persona (Version 3)
Map of the Soul: Persona (Version 3)
Map of the Soul: Persona (Version 3)
Map of the Soul: Persona (Version 4)
Map of the Soul: Persona (Version 4)
Like previous albums, each album comes with a photocard and a little mini booklet of the HYYH Notes that continue the story of the Bangtan Universe (all the entries in the Notes from Map of the Soul: Persona are new and follow after the Save Me webtoon!). But Map of the Soul: Persona also comes with a randomized "signed" postcard of a member (basically the member's autograph, along with a little message, is printed on the back) as well as a cute photo film strip featuring the group selfies from Version 1 (it's printed on clear thin plastic to mimic an actual 35mm film strip). I got a Jungkook postcard and V photocard in Version 1, a Jimin postcard and Jimin photocard in Version 2, a Suga postcard and Suga photocard in Version 3, and then another Jungkook postcard and a different V photocard in Version 4. (I'm really happy that I got both my biases and my bias wrecker, but I only wish I didn't get two of the same postcard 'cause they're just duplicates.) 
Map of the Soul: Persona (Framed photos — all versions)
Map of the Soul: Persona (Framed photos — all versions)
Map of the Soul: Persona (Posters — all versions)
Because I did the pre-order through BigHit (the only official retailer that offers all versions of an album in a set — when you order single BTS albums, they are randomized so you don't get to choose the version you want), I got all four versions of the posters as usual (that come rolled in a tube, not folded — another reason I order through BigHit instead of any other retailer) and I also got all four versions of the "special gift," which was the photo-size version of their poster images in shade-matched cardboard frames (they can be removed from the frame, so I'll likely transfer them).

Now, excuse me while I attempt to move things around on my BTS shelves to fit these new albums...