Ancillary Texts

Digipak

Indie Digipak Analysis

Digipak Designs

Front Back

Reasons for ChoicesFor this design I have chosen to use a piece of artwork on the front cover instead of a picture of our artist as this has proven to be an effective technique, as shown by The Killers. Although I haven’t chosen to use a picture of our artist, I have kept the picture relevant as the imagery of a woman crying reoccurs within our music video, as well as it reinforcing the theme of heartbreak. Black, white and light pinks seemed to be the most fitting for this particular design as they give the cover a sense of “softness”, which again reinforces the idea of vulnerability that comes with the lyrics of the song on the album. Just as all the digipaks we looked at during research have done, I have kept the fonts consistent as it gives the digipak a professional and “clean” look. Although quite different to the designs of pop or R ‘n’ B digipaks, this design doesn’t particularly adhere to indie conventions for all the reasons mentioned above.

Reasons for ChoicesOur second design for our digipak is an extreme contrast to the first. The most predominant difference between the two is the colour scheme. Holly has chosen to adhere to the indie convention of using dark colours (black and white) and this is effective as it links back to our video which is also in black and white. This portrays to the audience a consistent and well put together image for our artist and their works. One feature myself and Holly has chosen to include in our designs is the use of album art rather than an image of the artist, this is an idea myself and Holly have discussed that we would like to incorporate in the magazine advert as well, with the artist also featuring on the album art so the audience can therefore form a link with the artist and the art itself. Holly has created an individualistic font for the band’s name, which again will be consistent over all works to do with artist. “Poltergeist” has a different font to “Transparence” and although this isn’t consistent as a result, I believe it works well as the font for the song title is more fitting. On the back of the digipak is the bar code, and record label’s information.

After weighing up the pros and cons of both designs, myself and Holly have decided the second digipak design is the best fitting to promote and portray our artist, Transparence.

Our research into digipaks showed that there are codes and conventions to the indie genre and artists that typically follows these conventions are successful within the genre. A main feature of the indie genre however is to be individual and different, and I feel that we have achieved this individuality whilst not completely deviating from the genre’s norms and expectations from the audience.

If we were to change one thing, I feel that incorporating our artist onto the front cover of our digipak would be effective as this is what we have chosen for our magazine advert and by doing so on our digipak we would be creating a consistent image for our audience.

Final Digipak Design

Magazine Advert

Indie Album Magazine Advert Analysis

Band Name FontThis is the first thing which grabs the audience’s attention due to it’s size and individualistic font, with it being especially attention grabbing for individuals who are already fans as they’ll recognise the logo commonly used on their works.

Picture of the ArtistAgain, similarly to the idea of the font, by using a picture of the artist this allows for recognition from the audience which may in turn result in attention. This is also effective as it means the audience can identify with the artist over even physical features. The picture also shows the artist singing, reinforcing the indie convention of the focus being primarily on the music rather than the artist.

Basic DetailsIn this particular example, Arctic Monkeys has chosen to keep the finer details minimal, with the details that have been shared (album name and release date) not being the main focus of the poster. This may not be as effective as only pre-existing fans may look closer to see the finer details other than just the artist.

Colour SchemeAs with most magazine adverts the artist has chosen to keep the colour scheme consistent, and this has worked well to create a professional end product. The colours chosen again adhere to the indie conventions, as the sepia-toned picture creates a rather dull effect, with the only “pop” of colour being the white lights in the background. This contrasts to pop music magazine adverts which often use bolder and more vivid colours to their advantage when aiming to grab an audience’s attention.

Band Name FontJust as in the magazine advert for Arctic Monkeys’ album, Florence and the Machine have also used their band logo font for the same reasons. However the logo isn’t as predominant in this poster, taking less focus from it with it still being relevant.

Picture of the ArtistA common theme for magazine adverts is having a picture of the artist in the middle. In this advert the artist has chosen to use the album art on the poster, which incorporates a visual representation of them for all the same reasons as the previous poster. This picture doesn’t necessarily adhere to the conventions of the indie genre as there is no focus on the music or band playing, and it’s in this sense that this poster shows similarity with adverts of the pop genre. Despite this, the poster does adhere to the indie conventions in terms of the representation of women. In the pop genre, as identified in Andrew Goodwin’s theory of music videos, women are often overly sexualised as shown in the camera angles chosen. This differs in the indie genre with women often taking a more conservative approach. This seems to be effective as it allows the female artists themselves to be taken more seriously with their music, whereas women pop artists may attract an audience who are there purely for their image.

Basic DetailsFlorence and the Machine have also chosen to only include the minimal yet most relevant details of their album. This is effective as it means even if the audience even so much as glances at the advert the likelihood of them taking in this information increases. In comparison to the Arctic Monkeys advert, the album title is slightly larger in size than the other details such as the release date, which ultimately shows the audience it’s importance.

Colour SchemeA dull yet not boring colour scheme has been chosen, with the black background and dark reds being predominant. This technique of contrasting dull and dark colours with slightly bolder colours is effective as it means the advert doesn’t have a monotonous feel to it. The reds and pinks immediately grab the audience’s eye.

Magazine Advert Designs

CD Deluxe CD Vinyl

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In order to create synergy between the magazine advert design and the digipak design I have decided to use the same images and font. I feel this is effective as it enables the audience to recognise the image we’re trying to put out about our artist and therefore hopefully gain an interest into it.

Magazine Advert Designs

Our second magazine advert design was designed by Holly on Photoshop and again she’s incorporated the same images as in her digipak design to create synergy. In comparison to the digipak, the release date and the different ways the album is available as the advert’s primary purpose is to promote the release of the album.

Final Magazine Advert Design

In the end, myself and Holly felt this was the best final design for the magazine advert as we chose the design with the same images for the digipak. By using this synergism within our products, we’re creating a consistent and professional image for our artist and for our audience to perceive. As well as using the same background image for the advert, we have incorporated a picture of the main artist, Tia, with a cloud of smoke around her head to symbolically show the overall message of the album (breakdowns of relationships). Tia is also shown to be playing the guitar which adheres to the indie genre conventions of the focus on the music rather than the individual artist. By adding this image of Tia, we have adhered to the indie conventions of magazine adverts. In white font at the bottom of the poster is the relevant details of the album and its release, this is typical of an advert poster as this is the primary purpose of the poster. With the font being white we have kept our colour scheme consistent throughout the digipak, album and music video, as well as emphasising the most relevant information to catch the audience’s eye. Overall, I believe we have made a relevant and effective magazine advert poster for Transparency's album and song “Poltergeist” due to the consistency of colour schemes, adhering to several indie genres and creating synergy between all products surrounding the band.