RESEARCH

Analysis of three digipaks that relate to my genre: 
My genre is; alternative rock, folks, blues, country blues. 

This artist is Sara Bareilles with her album 'Bottle It Up':

The good thing about this digipak is that it is simple, the photography is self explanatory, they haven't put any silly effects on the picture which makes it look really professional. They have used a one clear precise picture to promote the artist so the audience know what she looks like. You can tell that by the front of the digipak it is summer, this connotes happy emotions when you look at the digipak. The artist name and album name is very clear, she has used two fonts that work really well together, and they have followed the conventions of a digipak very well.   

The back of the digipack matches the front, carries on with the summery scene, They have used the conventional of a digipak; record label, copyright, bar code, track listing etc. The picture that they have used is similar to the front, very simple with no effects. the track listing front matches the front and it is clear and to the side so that the consumer can read it.

This artist is Amy Macdonald with her album 'A Curious Thing':

The front of this digipak is very simple as well, close up of her face; she looks very simplistic and classy. The font of artist name and album name is really clear and bold, the consumer can easily read it from far away if they were in a store.

The back panel for this digipack, matches the colour scheme to the front. The font is the same clear, white and readable. Even though this digipak is very simplistic  it contains the conventions of a digipack for this genre. It includes a readable track listing, bar code, record company and a logo. However they could have added a little more on the back for example; copyright or a website adress.

This artist is Eliza Doolittle:

Eliza Doolittle is not the conventional artist, she has a specific style which she follows through out most of her albums. As you can see from the picture below, her name is always in the same front through put albums, singles, promotion etc. They have used this very effectively because now when ever you see the type of writing, without reading it you would assume that it is Eliza Doolittle.

Her album covers are usually very creative and abstract; this album cover is very abstract. They have used Photoshop to manipulate images that they have put together, for example they have placed Eliza holding a statue with her leg over the gherkin. The strength about this digipak cover is that it is very eye catching and creative; this digipak will make people look twice. The artist name is on a white banner making it very prominent and bold.

The back panel of the digipak follows the theme and colour scheme very well, it is graphic and creative like the front. The font that they have used is the same, and they have used the conventions of a digipak; bar code, record label, logo, copyright etc. I know that the font is very iconic to her image however i think that it is too hard to read; when i saw this it look very visually exciting but it took me some time to read the names of her songs.

My audience would relate to the 1st 2 digipacks rather than the third one because they fit with the 'folk, pop rock, Soft rock, Folk rock, Indie folk, country blues' genre. they are targeting a similar audience and will follow the same conventions; this means that the audience will like them. They both use simple use of photos/ pictures, all different shot types. Also from a look at these digipack, we can tell you’ll be getting a mix of genres, not just one, you can see a little pop rock and folk as well, so this will interest the audience more, because it gives them an overlay of different genres.

 

RESEARCH

Examining Previous Ancillary Work: 


These are the Digipak's that we analysed in class: 



This Digipak is for an artist called 'Amber Gold'. The strengths of this music video is that it has a prominent and fitting font of artist name and album name, It is clear and readable. The picture has been very efficiently used in Photoshop, they have clearly thought about how they want their artist to be portrayed. the actual photography is really good, it is really professional and classy.  However there are weaknesses in this Digipak that they could change and improve. Firstly on their back panel they have put the track listing on top of their artist image, this is not good because it will be hard to read and they have covered up the artist which means that we cant see her. The second point is that the design/ graphics of the inside are completely different to the design of the front. Also there is no clear division between the panels, and the inside font that they used was not readable or appropriate and they covered up the artist with the picture so it wasn't placed in a good position. 
  

This Digipak is for an artist called 'Indiya', the strengths for this music video are that they have utilized Photoshop very well. They picked a sparse and simple image and font, this made it easy for they reader to read and think that this digipak works really well cos it all matched. They thought very visually about the effects and what types of pictures they wanted and this worked really well and it created a visually creative digipack.  However they do have a weakness; they put the artist name and album name on the CD housing part, and this doesn't follow the conventions of a digipak and you wouldn't normally get that.  

This is another digipak for the same artist but by a different person. There were a lot of weakness to this digipak, firstly that the on the front panel they had stretched the picture which made the good photography of the picture look bad and out of place. The graphics over the whole digipak was too much and it made it hard to see the writing. there was no cooperate identity, this means that the record label will not get promoted and the consumers will not know who the record company is and also the spine has no information on it. The inside of the digipak has writing over the close up of the artist  which means that you cant see the writing or the features of te artist. 

We were told that we need to find two extra Digipaks from Vimeo from last year and we have to analyse them: 


This digipak is a 6 panel Digipak for an artist called 'Callie'. The strengths about this Digipak is that the font of the track listing, album name and artist name, it is very clear and readable from far away.  They have used a neon effect through out which is good because it is consistent however some of the panels don't match the criteria for the neon. The front cover is not that good because it has too  many pictures, it should really focus on one main image of the artist. I think that the graphics for this digipak are really good, they match with the club anthem theme. The colour theme is really good and it runs out throughout the whole digipak which is good, however the shoe on the back panel doesn't really fit in, even thought they have added the neon effect it doesn't really go with the rest of the digipak, looks too fake. 

This Digipak is for an artist called 'Eman', the strengths about this digipak is that she has taken the photos very well, they have used 2 colours which is the conventional amount, the purple and white are very simplistic and work really well together. The effect the have used on the front panel picture is really good and she is that main attraction of the front which is good to promote the artist. The track listing is on a clear bold purple background and the writing is white and it looks really clear and bold. The inside panel picture has been well thought out and deserves some credit, they haven't used any effects on it and it looks really good just the way it is., it really shows of the innocence and classiness of the artist. However there are some weakness and improvements the could make. The back panel has only a bar code, it doesn't include a record label, copyright etc. also that font for the artist name, album name, and track list are swirly hand writing; this is not clear and the audience will find it hard to read and they wont be able to read it from far away.  

RESEARCH

                                 

Digipak & Advertisement Design Brief


We are going to be marked on how well our promotional package works together to promote the artist, we need to have clear visual links between all three components and it has to appeal to our identified target audience. we are going to use Quark express for the layout and Photoshop for image manipulation. 


As a group we had to discuss these decisions about our Digipak and this is what we chose:

• Colour scheme 
• Font style 
• Song lists
• Graphics
• Name of artist
• Name of album

And the decisions that we had to make on our own were:

• Number of panels 
• Content of each panel 
• Choice of image on each panel

As a group we had to discuss these decisions about our advertisement and this is what we chose:

• Colour scheme
• Font style
• Graphics
• Name of artist 
• Name of album 
• Date of release 
• Web address 

And the decisions that we had to make on our own were:

• Choice of image
• Positioning of items on the poster
• If you want additional things on the poster e.g. Star Ratings, Quotes, Tour Dates etc. 

It all depends on making the right decisions, we have to think
carefully and always think about you target audience and if it going to
appeal to them.   

Analysis of adverts.

Three advert analysis' that relate to my genre.

Analysis of digipaks.

Here are a couple of digipaks that relate to my genre. Analysed.

This is Kate Nash's album called Made of Bricks.

This is Marina and the Diamonds debut album The family Jewels.

This is the album of our original song - KT Tunstall Tiger Suit.

These are all from a similar genre to our artist - Pop/Indie depending on what track you listen to.

RESEARCH

What to do and what not to do when creating digipak's and adverts:




What to do:

• Use clear font
• Use appropriate sizes for images and fonts
• Use clear photos that are in focus
• Use a layout that follows the rule of thirds for composition
• Use an appropriate type face that follows genre conventions & looks clear from a distance
• Follow the colour rule that is appropriate for images, font, and background
• Carefully integrate front, text, language and image
• Use appropriate industry logos and conventions, properly position the barcode, date, copyright, titles, artist name

What not to do:

• Stretch images, this will make them out of focus
• Use layer styles
• Use unnecessary effects , any effects used MUST suit the genre 
• Place text across the artists face
• Use a font simply because 'you like it'
• Feel you need a separate photo on every panel- be creative...

                                             

We have to remember to stick to these DO'S and DON'TS because they will help us make some great ancillary products. 

Analysis of three advertisments that relate to my genre

In lesson we also discussed what an advertisement should look like and what it should include.

These were the things we concluded:

·      Release date
·      Prominent display of artist name and album title
·      May sometime also include tour dates, reviews, quotes from magazines and newspapers
·      Record label and logo
·      Website

 Now lets analysis some advertisements for these features.

The first advertisement we’ll look at is Rihanna’s for her album Loud.

This relates to my genre because it used conventions of a pop genre, such as closes of artist up, clear font and mutual colours. This relates to my audience are mostly young to young adults and manly female because of the colours used – it’s very feminine. It also has a young vibe towards it through the artist’s use of bight red lipstick and fake eyelashes.  So it’s also important on the artist’s appearance when constructing an ancillary product.

The second advertisement we’ll look at is Adele’s, as when done her didgpack, I wanted to do a advertisement of one of the digipacks I don’t so we can look at the links between them.

Okay, so from this we see that the digipack and the advertisement are VERY similar, which goes with her overall theme of simplicity.

I’ve already explained on the previous blog why it relates to my genre and audience.

The last advertisement we’ll look at is Christina Aguilera for Bionic.

This one relates to pop genre because gain it’s very playful and fun, which is shown through the use of graphic on one picture of her face. This mirrors what pop is also about – fun.  This relates t my audience because, again, it’s very feminine, i.e. red lipstick. But it will also relate to my young target audience because it’s experimentative and spontaneous, which represents their life style.