Album Poster Analysis

Analysis of five album posters, looking at design, placement, images

and colours.

Album Poster Analysis

The artists name is placed at the top in a large font to ensure it’s noticeable; it’s the most important bit of information as it informs us of the artist straight away. The font used is the same as the album, this creates a recognizable link between the album and promo poster.

The title of the album is placed just beneath in a smaller size font. The placement of the title her means that once our eyes are captured on the bands name we automatically look beneath and see the name of the album being advertised. Then, the audience becomes familiar with the title.

The main image is of 4 images placed together, these are of the 4 band members. The images have a vintage style and we can see a link between the style of the images and the bands folk genre(they are in the countryside and the vintage style is associated with folk music). The members instruments appear in the images as well, demonstrating again, their folk style and their passion for music as a band. The images take up a lot of space on the poster, which puts focus on them as a band and their style.

Here, in a smaller font than the bands name and album title, is a review from NME. Positive reviews from well known critics is good for promoting the album and encouraging audiences to buy it.

Tells us what the album includes. This is quite common for album posters as it informs the audience of songs that they may be familiar with and is good for intriguing people who know the more popular songs but not the whole album.

The artists name is in a ‘digital’ style of font, this is the same as the album cover. It’s placed at the top in white, this helps it to stand out against the black background. The title of the album is also in this font, the title becomes easily noticeable as well.

The image is the same as the one used on the album. Most album posters do this as it makes sense to use the album image so the audience automatically recognizes the image. Also, because the image takes up most of the poster, it captures the audience straight away. The image features parts from all band members morphed with an owl, there is a link between this and the title ‘Only By The Night’.

The release date, this prepares consumers for when they can purchase the album. The font is red, this colour, and the way it’s used against the other colours, helps the release date stand out.

Popular singles that are included in the album. This is common for music posters, it informs the audience that the hits they’re aware of are featured and helps increase the sales as people may buy the album for those particular songs or assume if one hit song is good the whole album will be.

Artists name, the album is self-titled and so this is also the title of the album. The same font style that appears on the album , it’s simple but bold and stands out well against the image in the background, the white sky.

The image is of the artist standing in a street with houses. The feature of the artist is something the audience will recognize, and an image of Bugg is also featured on his album cover.

An image of the album cover is featured, this shows the audience what the album looks like so they would recognize it when going to buy.

Two short sentence reviews from popular alternative music magazines. Positive reviews help encourage the sales of the album and show to the audience that it has been reviewed by magazines that have been involved in big names. The white font stands out against the blacks and browns in the background image.

Featuring two popular singles from the album. This informs the audience that the popular songs they’re familiar with are included and can help increase album sales.

The release date in bold, this stands out to the audience and ensures they know when they album is available to buy.

The title of the album ‘number 3’. This is their 3rd album, hence the title of the album. The title is big and bold which makes it clear to the audience.

The main image which is of all three band members. The lead singer is Danny O’Donoghue’s, so the use of him as the biggest image is associated with this. The two other members have been edited into his body, this shows them as a band and their close relationship.

The bands name. They’ve used their logo and placed it at the top of the poster next to the album title. Here, it is easy to locate.

The colour theme uses only a few colours, beige, black and white. This keeps the design minimal, and drives focus on the image and text.

Release date, this text is behind a black background, which means the text stands out in contrast.

Artist name and album title. The background behind the text is a low opacity white. This allows the black text of the artists name stand out. The text is also large, especially larger than all the rest of the text. Madonna is a huge artist and so it’s important that her name stands out.

The album name is in a bright pink, this also stands out. The use of the bright pink Works with the theme of the poster.

The main image is an image of Madonna, inside many iconic images of her have been edited in, showing her through the years. The album features all her greatest hits, which explains why all these different generation of images is there because it signifies her generations of music. The image features many bright colours, this links with the album title ‘Celebration’ which we would associate with celebrating.

Release date, in the smallest font. It means not too much attention is being paid to it.

Explaining that it’s the greatest hit collection, with 34 songs ‘that changed the world’ this informs the audience that it is a greatest hits album and that it includes Madonna’s iconic songs.

‘Plus new music’ encourages audience as it includes new songs as well as old ones.