ALBUM POSTER ANALYSIS

PURPOSE The poster is used to advertise to the target market and audience to persuade them into purchasing the album. They follow different conventions depending on the genre but most of these poster follow these set layouts of the poster. It becomes more recognisable the more posters you look at. Some bands and genres chose to break the conventions and this is often done by edgier genres such as rock.

Conventionally the poster will include:•Artwork or logos of the band or artist•Artists name•Release date•Album name•Known singles on the album

ARTIST NAME ALBUM NAME

The artist name is a form and is conventionally the largest text on the page. It catches the attention of the audience and people tend to notice it the most. It is conventionally located near the top of the page and can vary is size on how much poster it takes up. With the bright red balloon like font Katy Perry font it has become associated with her personality, she has grown this association so if a smaller niche band was to use this font people would see the font and immediately think Katy Perry not the band.

The album name is also a form and is conventionally the largest text on the page. More often than not the albums name is found nearer the bottom half of the page and has it’s own font style varying from the rest of the text and the artists name’s font. This font needs to be cohesive with the actual album cover and is often transferred straight from the cover to the poster to make sure there is no variance.

IMAGERY RELEASE DATE

The imagery shown is what is likely to catch the attention of the public or target audience. The imagery can either be a photograph or art work or a mix of both. It needs to stand out to help sell more copies for the band. In terms of genre rock albums often feature artwork that looks visually interesting, sometimes controversial or disturbing but ultimately has this grunge aesthetic. Pop genres often have the artist posing or staring into the camera using their body and looks such as the Arianna Grande poster, this is because sex sells and they are more likely to make more money than the AR street album. The Kings of Leon poster is visually captivating and a manipulation and digitization of two images merged together which will attract the audience.

The release date can vary it is usually the use of simple digits rather than writing the date out, its punchy to the point and more memorable. However there are other posters that use a “Out Now” rather than a release date. The date can be placed all over the page there is no convention for this but on average 82% of release dates are either dead center on the top or dead center on the bottom.

LANGUAGE TYPOGRAPHY

The language used on the poster is often very short and direct to the point giving the facts and figures rather than having a paragraph of text that people wont read. There is all the legal documentation and copyright information found at the very bottom footer of the page which isn’t really read by customers ever but legally needs to be there to prevent theft of the artwork or publication. The posters are often put up in shopping centres or on billboard s and people don’t have enough time to read it which is why the short direct points are important.

The typography of the poster needs to have the synergy of the album cover. It’s often chosen to represent the band or artist and can mean different things and again needs to be visually captivating. The products need to work together in cohesion to make the package work. Different genre use different typography to show off their vibe. Its used to express they style of music.

Nirvana was an American rock band that was originated from Aberdeen, Washington by Kurt Cobain. The band consisted of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl.

This is the Nirvana poster advertising the release of the ‘Nevermind’ Album on it’s 20th anniversary, meaning this is a rerelease. The album was released on 26th September 2011 on multiple different formats such as DVD, Vinyl edition and Digital.

Nirvana were a notorious iconic band that were renown for their grunge style and rock music. When the album was originally released it cause much controversy amongst the public. The album cover has a naked baby swimming after a $20 bill with the genitals on show, this is what caused the controversy due to the explicit image, it seemed innocent enough but the media and public twisted it even though it was just representing the songs on the album. The band wanted this controversy and uproar as it shows their lack of fear and rebellion which is why it appealed to the rock fans. This rebellion is what they lived for and they found it humorous and meaningful.

The typography must be cohesive and be the same throughout the poster in like to the album. The majority of font used is serif. The only variation in font is the differentiation between the bands logo and the album cover. The writing is also all black with exception of the “Scan to win” and the App store piece in the bottom middle.

The colours on the posters needs to have an association with the album cover and the colour scheme picked needs to be eye catching and bold. In this case the colours are the underwater blue hues of a swimming pool and the contracting black text makes it easy to read, the white text at the bottom blends well and makes it less visible and harder to read. Album covers don’t need to feature on an

album advertisement, but without it, it would be much harder to recognise the album when in shops or online. Furthermore this means the customer will need to be dependant on the bands name and the album name. The Nirvana poster uses the image from the front of the album cover as the background for the poster. This is a way of synergy and allows the customer to put one and one together. This will reinforce the image of the album because it is exactly the same and will be easier for customers to find it due to its memorable and controversial imagery.

The band's name needs to feature as part of a poster so that it can advertise the band and their music as a brand to their audience. Publicity grows as it did with this iconic band.

Interaction is often featured to heighten the bands publicity. It appears to be drawn on in a sketch like way which is visually appealing and interesting.

This is to aware the target market there forms of the album are available on Blu-ray.

This is another use of interaction and tells the audience to download an app and a special Nirvana feature can be unlocked – this is a good way of enticing the target market.

This is the clarification that it is a rerelease and features the 20 years sticker but uses the bands logo as the zero which was authentic and interesting. The font used still links to the typography used for the bands logo and album name.

WHO CREATES THE POSTERS These are the people involved in making the poster they will often be the same when creating the digipak.

ArtistDirectorProducerPhotographer/ art designer

EditorArt director

There are also other people involved but work in different sectors:

Design executive: give the approval or disapproval of what the graphic designer does

Graphic designer – designs the bands visual identity. Create a certain style and look that will blend into the genre.

Costume stylist: plans what the artist or model will wear

Hair and make up: do the artist or models face and make up

Technical assistant: make sure everything runs smoothly and to plan

Financial advisor : distributed the money and what will be spend on the digipak or poster.