Website design

Here is the home page of the website for my artist:

This is just one possible layout for the website. I like this one because it has the same simplistic design as Daughters actual website, but has more content and an easier layout to navigate around. The important information, like the artists name, music video and place to buy the album are all clear and in a large font to draw the readers attention to them.

This is the another possible layout for the website. Again the artists name is in a large font, and the readers eye is automatically drawn to the large image of the artist, which is taken from the music video and digipack- linking all the products together. This website design is more similar to Daughters actual website, however it is slightly more easy to navigate around and there is more of a direct link to the other products.

Font examples

I've been testing out different fonts and texts on Livetype for the music video title and if I can find a find a similar font for the ancillary texts, then I think I will use this one for it:

I like the idea of having whitish grey writing on a black background because my music video is very much about contrast and darkness. I have spaced the characters close together to represent the closeness of the two characters in my music video- one representing the tame side of people and the other presenting the more wild dark side of people.

Past Student Ancillary Text

Again this Digipack is quite basic, but does contain all the information and conventions of digipacks. They have clearly edited the images used and the text looks fits the images. However I hope to do a bit more with my digipack and want to have more images and information on mine.

Here is the poster that goes along side the CD. There is a clear link between the digipack and the poster, for example the image and font used. The poster again contains the information needed for a poster, but it isn't particularly eye catching.

Past student Ancillary Text

I really like the editing of the images on this digipack and think the writing is really suited to the colour scheme and editing of the images. I like how some of the pages are simplistic, with very little writing, and then others contain a lot more information. However it is still very basic, and I would like to do more with my digipack. I would like to be able to reach the same level of editing as this text, but would like to have more information and images of the artist and fans.

Past Student Ancillary Text

This is a past student digipac.

I personally think they could have done more with their digipac as its very simple and contains the bare minimum. I plan to have a more complex layout, with more information and pictures of the artist and fans. They do have the name of the album, bits of lyrics, list of songs, bar code and other important information on it, but they don't have any extra information, pictures, or lyrics. I don't think it's very well edited and could have been better if more time had been put into.

I hope to spend a lot more time editing the images and putting more information on my digipac as well as using a more complex layout.

Lesson on Ancillary Texts

Created with Padlet

Album cover poll- Results.

From the album cover poll I did, 50% of people voted for the Bastille album cover for 'BAD BLOOD':

30% of people voted of the Rihanna album cover:

10% of people voted for the Kodaline album cover:

10% of people voted for the Gabrielle Aplin album cover: 

And nobody voted for the Christina Perri album cover:

These results would suggest that most people prefer less obvious album covers, that relate back to the hit music video for the album. However as 30% of people voted for the Rihanna album cover, it could also be said that people like the close up image of an attractive female artist. I would like to combine the top two voted themes, by perhaps having a similar 'less obvious' theme, with a close up of the female actor I plan on using in my music video- therefore attracting the type of audience that voted for the Bastille album cover and the Rihanna album cover. I intend to ask my target audience to vote on which album cover they like most for ancillary text I produce. I will make several versions of the album cover for this project and then edit and decide on one by asking the target audience for the band I want to use.

Research into Ancillary texts- Results.

Here are some of charts made from my audience research into what they think is important about the ancillary texts:

As you can see most people thought that the two most important things that should be on an album cover is the artists name and the the name of the album. The third most important thing they felt should be on the album cover is a picture of the artist, closely followed by the list of the 'hit singles' on the album. As 11 people answered this survey, its clear that everyone felt that the name of the artist, and the album name was important for the album cover. I will use this information to create an album cover for this project- I plan on putting the name of the artist and the name of the album clearly in the front of the cover.

 

A majority of people said that pictures of the artist and information about tours are the most important things to go on an artists website. Latest music videos and a bio on the artist were the next 'most important' information needed on the website. 

As you can see, 80% of people agreed that there should be a relationship between the album cover and the website. 10% of people strongly agreed, and only 10% disagreed this the statement. I personally believe that a relationship between the album cover and the website is important, and plan on incorporating this into my ancillary texts.

Again a majority of people (70%) agreed that their should be a relationship between the music video and the album. However this time 20% of people disagreed with the statement, while again 10% of people strongly agreed. I think I will try to create ancillary texts that have some kind of relationship with the music video. 

As a majority of the people that answered the survey were between 16-21 (fitting into the target audience for my genre of music) it is safe to assume that this information is accurate in ensuring that the audience for my project like the ancillary texts. The favourite genre of music of the participants in the survey was a mix of Rock, Indie and RnB.

Album Cover Poll

Which is your favourite album cover?

Bastille- Pompeii

Rihanna- Talk that Talk

Kodaline- In a Perfect World

Christina Perri- Tragedy

Gabrielle Aplin

View results

Powered by kwiksurveys.com

Bastille- Pompeii0%

Rihanna- Talk that Talk0%

Kodaline- In a Perfect World0%

Christina Perri- Tragedy 0%

Gabrielle Aplin0%

Create a poll like this

Ancillary Texts

Kodaline Album Cover
All three of these album covers have similarities that tie them together with Kodaline's Website. Their newer album covers all have 'KODALINE' in the centre, with the name of the album or single underneath it in smaller capital letters. Whereas their older album covers have 'KODALINE' written either in the bottom corner or near the middle of the cover. This shows how their image is progressed as  time has gone on and as they have become more well-known. Each album cover has the background of a quite iconic looking picture, often edited with filters to make the image look better and more out of the ordinary.

 

The website follows a similar theme:

http://www.kodaline.com/home/

All the writing on Kodalines website is written in the same font as the album covers, and on the home page, each link to another page is one of their albums covers. There is also information on tours, music videos, lyrics and a way of purchasing the music. This means they are marketing themselves as well as informing their fans. Their ancillary products work well together and help build a strong image for the band. The music also suits the ancillary texts quite well as the images on the album work with the genre of music. I like the idea of a continuated theme or font running throughout the ancillary texts and music video and would like to use that idea in my own project.

Ancillary Texts

Artist Analysis

As I've decided to do a song by the band Daughter, I thought it would be interesting to look at the promotion package for their album 'If you leave'. Daughter are an English indie pop band from London. As there is no music video for the song I want to do, if looked at the music videos they have for other songs on this album, like 'Still' and 'Youth'.

Youth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QT5eGHCJdE

Still:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUWrcFpmI5U

These two videos are very different, as one is narrative based and the other is performance based. Although both videos do have images of the band performing. I like how the video for 'Youth' is very simplistic and reflects their newer style. Whereas the video for 'Still' reflects their slightly older style. 

Their album cover also reflects their older and newer style: 

This album cover is for 'If you leave' and is very simplistic. There is an image in the background, which appears to be of a woodland areas, with the silhouette of a person that is hidden by a bright flash of light. The writing over the top is very simplistic, with the name of the band, 'DAUGHTER' and then the name of the album underneath. 

This cover is for their single 'Get Lucky' (a cover of Daft Punk). This cover has the mid shot of the main singer, in black and white, with the name of the song, 'GET LUCKY' and the name of the band underneath. This cover reflects the video for 'Youth' and also mirrors their website.

As you can see, the cover for 'GET LUCKY' is the same image as their website. Their website is the large image in the middle, with links to other pages down the bottom. The main singer is placed in a close up in the middle, with the instrument players blurred out in the background. This is likely to be done as the main thing the audience will recognise is the main singer as she is the person they hear and see singing a majority of the time. At the side there are links to their facebook, twitter and other social networking pages, in order to allow their fans interact with band in a more personal way. 

I really like how simplistic their products are, and how a lot of it links together- depending on what time they were created. I prefer their later stuff, as it ties together better and the simplicity of the ancillary products. I like the idea of using an image of the artist/band with simplistic writing over the top. 

Artist Analysis

Created with Padlet

Research into Ancillary Texts