Digipak and Poster Analysis – Bradley West

The artist of this album are The Saturdays, the album is called Chasing Lights and was a 2008 release from the five piece girl group and the genre of the album is pop and dance pop which is of a similar genre to that of the genre of my music video using the song ‘I don’t care, I love it’ by Icona Pop.

The front cover of this album has a long shot of the five women in the group sitting and standing on white steps in a seemingly all white backdrop and room and this shot enables the focus to be on the entire band. This shot is added to by the use of a low angle with the girls above on the steps to signify their dominance which represents both their successful music and their feminine star persona of being very fun and upbeat whilst all being very powerful and independent women. This also fits in with the theory of empowerment as the women are shown as being dominant on the cover. The women are all placed within the ‘power points’ of the rule of thirds which connotes their significance and independent star persona image. This placing also highlights the focus of the album cover which is on the band signifying that their image is key which would appeal to the target audience (girls 10-30) who want to be like the group and be as powerful and independent as them as the women are the dominant image on the cover. The use of rule of thirds here also fits in with the male gaze theory somewhat as the first and main thing that is seen when looking at the cover are the women and therefore the main attraction is the attention on the women’s bodies and their outfits which would therefore draw men into possibly buying the album due to their sexual desires.

The dresses of the group members juxtapose heavily with the background to create effect and their dresses juxtapose additionally with their black tights which gives the backdrop a ‘black and white’ bland feel which could signify other artists and their music being boring in comparison to theirs. The colourful dresses and this juxtaposition created with the deep focus of the white backdrop signifies the image that the group are different and represents their star persona that they are fun, lively and creative women who are not afraid to stand out and be independent. This would appeal to the target audience as they not only want to look like the ‘fun’ women but they also want to hear something new and creative which the

cover is signifying that the band will deliver. Each group member has a coloured outfit which differs from colour to colour with differing group members to represent their star persona and image as each member has their own colour across a lot of the group’s images and print campaigns and it is a common motif of the groups. The use of their colourful dresses also fits in with the theory of empowerment as the women are signified as stylish and grand especially in comparison to the backdrop through the use of colourful costume. In addition, the fact that the women are wearing full dresses and are covered up, which subverts to stereotypes of women bearing too much skin and being ‘slutty’ empowers the group which appeals to the target audience as they want to avoid being objectified and be like the group and therefore are more likely to engage with the cover.

The typography used for the group name ‘The Saturdays’ is thin and is black in colour (to go along with the juxtaposition of colourful bland .vs. black and white ‘bland’ everything else). Whilst this is the case, the font style is creative and the size is fairly large, taking up approximately a quarter of the cover, which therefore makes the band name stand out especially with the lack of text on the cover. This style and size signifies that the band is creative and original and has a dynamic style of music. It also connotes that their name is important (with the lack of album name on the actual cover) and that through seeing their name as opposed to the album name the target audience will be engaged to buy the album with the gratifications that the band typically offer. In relation to this, the image of the band takes up the majority of the cover which is playing into the fact that the audience does not need to know the album name, the focus is on the artist and this is enough to entice the target audience into buying, this focus entirely on the group conforms to common pop genre conventions. The album name is sneaked in on the side casing on the front and again uses thin almost italic style typography signifying the stand out star persona of the group. The font colour is a vibrant multicoloured style which fits in with the creative and lively style of the group and their pop-dance style of music.

The main image is cropped to just highlight each member and have them in the centre of the cover all within the ‘power points’ of the rule of thirds to represent their independent female star persona and make them the standout focus of the cover. The most prominent colour on the cover is white which is used with a ‘black and white’ scheme backdrop to signify something that is dull and bland, other pop artists. This contrasts to the bright, supporting colours which the group members are wearing (blue, green, yellow, red and pink) which represents the group as being standout in the pop genre and signifies their lively, upbeat style which conforms to pop conventions. These bright colours to highlight the band would engage the target audience who would be drawn in by the focus of the colours on the attractive women which would meet male sexual desires and desires of women to be like the group members.

The back cover of the album features a completely black background with the song titles in the album displayed along with a bar code and other information such as the record label and group website which meets the conventions of an album back cover. The colour scheme of the front cover is met somewhat with a dull coloured backdrop (black) juxtaposed with the multicoloured rainbow style font of the song titles which continues the theme of reinforcing the creative, lively star persona of the group which would engage the target audience and draw them into the product. The font in combination with the colours screams ‘fun’ to the audience but is not over the top and this therefore is a great mode of address to instantly tell the audience that the genre of the album is pop as typical conventions are met and the style is upbeat and feminine (which the rainbow colours signify).

The other panels of the digipak highlight each individual member of the group in their coloured outfit posing on the steps. In each panel, the group member is posing in a glamorous way which meets the empowerment theory as it is giving off the message that the women are proud of who they are and their style and are not afraid to show it off. It also fits in with the fun, independent and powerful star persona of the group as the body language they pose with gives off a very ‘open’ and confident attitude and the fact that each member is within the ‘power points’ of the rule of thirds in each panel adds to this feeling of dominance. Once again the clashing colour theme of the digipak is reinforced with the group members each wearing their individual coloured dresses (to distinguish members and signal some individuality) in contrast to the white steps backdrop and this again signifies that the group stands out which appeals to the largely female target audience who want to subvert stereotypes of women being reliant on others and less important than men and stand out like the group.

The CD of the album continues part of the ‘bland’ backdrop theme to the album with it being black with very little colour on it. The only colour comes with small white font detailing the group name and album name, which is in even smaller font. This again signifies that the album name is of less importance than the group name and that the focus is on the group and their fun and independent star persona which draws in the target audience. The main focus of the CD comes with the background grey text ‘THE SATURDAYS’ which is in the trademark style font which the group name is always wrote in and this covers the entire CD and is not cropped so that some of the name is cut off. This creates an explicit focus on the group name implying that the group is of most importance. This eye-catching taking up of space on the CD somewhat signifies the feminine power persona of the group but also represents the creative and fun side of the group as it is something different and engaging which prevents the CD from being bland. The recognisable font style of the band name on the CD is enough to appeal to the target audience who are familiar with the font due to it’s use across media campaigns and across the digipak.

The poster highlights the same main image as the front cover of the album and this cross media promotion using the same image allows the audience to easily identify the product and group. The exact same style is used with the glamorous posing of the group members which fits in with the empowerment theme which the target audience of girls look up to. In addition, the same colour scheme of the black and white backdrop contrasting to the vibrant colours of the girls is used to continue to signify the creative image of the band and their lively and different style which their star persona is somewhat based on. This colour projects the women as standing out which therefore appeals to the target audience who want something new and fresh. Much of the shot types, angles and style are the same of that on the album cover with the exception that there is less cropped out and more the background is seen to fill up the larger poster. This just highlights more of the bland floor and steps therefore adding to the representation of the group as vibrant and different. The group logo and their font style for their group name logo is retained being the same as it is across media campaigns which reinforces the groups image and style with the font’s standout, creative style signifying the impression that the group are trying to give off that they are creative and engaging. This and the album name are placed above the main image whereas the secondary information ‘The debut album’, group website etc (conventions of an album poster) is placed below in small font which reinforces the idea that the group and specifically the image of the group are very important. Their glamorous but sexy style gives off the impression that the group are fun and alluring as well as stylish and strong which can apply to both the empowerment theory (focus on their independent style and strong nature) as well as the male gaze theory with the focus on the way the women look and their bodies which would appeal to men as their sexual desires would be met. The font colours used throughout are either white, black or grey continuing the ‘bland’ theme which contrasts to the colours of the group signifying their importance and stand out creativity from other artists. In addition, the only piece of text which is remotely large is ‘The Saturdays’ logo text which reinforces the focus on the band, their name and their image over their album and possibly their music signifying that their star persona and image does the talking in engaging the target audience into buying their records and listening to their music. This would appeal to the target audience who stereotypically like pop music as a

genre convention of pop is that there is an explicit focus on the artist and that is what draws pop audiences in. The only platform which is mentioned on this poster in relation to information on buying the album is the group’s official website which is a good use of cross media promotion to gain more website viewers.

The digipak and poster speaks to its audience through the colour scheme and style which highlights the group’s star persona and style both image wise and musically to the audience which would engage a typically pop-orientated target audience. Very little language is used but where it is language such as ‘exclusive content at thesaturdays.co.uk’ focuses on rewarding the target audience which would engage them more and positively reinforce them to purchase the album. This kind of positive language gives off a positive feel with the group and further establishes the group’s engaging and creative style. The main use of iconography throughout are the use of colourful dresses to signify the creative and different style and star persona of the group which sets them apart from the rest and is a unique selling point to garner more buys for the album.