How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Question 2, Evaluation by Rishi Ghetia

Digipaks and Magazine adverts•Main purpose is to promote and advertise•A Digipak feels like the artist is giving

‘more’ to the fans and consumers. E.g. Behind The Scene Footage

•Digipaks and Magazine adverts allow artists to create a ‘brand’ image e.g. distinctive typogrophy or a logo – examples shown below

Magazine advert on the left and album cover on the right

Our Digipak

Main theme the digipak explores is ‘nature’ and ‘flowers’. This is because the album’s lead single is about growing up/coming of age… other songs on the album are also about growing up, hence the growing of ‘nature and flowers’ links to growing of a human.

The use of white, throughout the digipak connotes innocence and purity (childhood) – again linking to the coming of age theme

Front CoverOn the front cover, the dominating feature is the lungs with flowers growing out of them. This is due to the size of the image and it is the only image with colour on the cover. The background colour is an image of flowers placed into the lungs and flowers. The album name is written through the image and is called ‘still growing’ this links with the nature and lungs (bones) which are growing as well as the artist, whose songs are about coming of age and growing up. The artist name is written at the bottom, our special typography is

the font used (which will be used for all Algwyne products) and the ‘x’ in the Castro. We were inspired by other artists and bands who used symbols in the name so we decided to use the ‘x’ to differentiate the artist – stand out

Inside page 1

The inside page is of a skull (linking to the bones/lungs in the front cover) with the image of flowers inside the skull. Again this is exploring nature and bones – growing. The colour of the white in the back is lighter than the front cover and the back cover on purpose. We wanted the front and back to stand out as it is what people see first rather than the inside.

Inside page 2/The cd slot

The first CD slot is for the album cd, on the cd itself the artist name is written at the top, at the bottom is the album name. On the sides of the cd there are design patterns. Inside the patterns is the same photo of flowers used in the front cover. We therefore kept the continuity of the range of colours and themes. The background is still white and the nature theme is still being explored.

Inside page 3/CD slot 2The 3rd page of the digipak is the 2nd CD slot. Here we have (keeping the same font/typogrophy) the album name at the top of the CD. Below it is written ‘DvD extras’ allowing the audience to know which is the album and which is the extras. On the CD there is a picture of waves in a silhouette style – again linking to the theme of nature.At the bottom is a bush of flowers with the green and purple as primary colours. Using this picture makes the colours stand out next to the white background. But at the same time we are still exploring the growing theme.

Inside page 4This page explains what the DVD extra includes. In the same font used for the artist name and album title the written information includes the music video, interviews, behind the scenes footage and the making of the album artwork.On the bottom right is a dominating picture of a red tree. The colour juxtaposed to the white background, looks good and stands out. Using the tree – continuous exploration of nature

Backcover

The backcover has the same background colour as the front cover – a more darker white. The back includes the song names in bold, typogrophy. The words have a picture of flowers in the back, giving them a glossy, colourful effect. The record label logo is at the bottom, as well as the barcode and copyright information

Inspirations

•The lead single being about – growing up/coming of age

•Other songs on the album also exploring the theme of growing up

•Indie artists do not usually use their own photo; they experiment and explore

Existing artist examples

Lorde’s debut album ‘Pure Heroin’ follows a black colour scheme with silver writing. The artist’s name is seen in block capitals at the top and the album name is seen in the same font and the same size at the bottom. – Lorde is an indie pop artist; Making this album cover experimental and breaking conventions of the pop genre.

It however works well with the theme of the music and songs (dark/slow)

The back of the album is also black with the track listing in silver; in the middle of the page.

Another more experimental look; Ben Howard is seen in the front cover but the dark lighting and grey filter doesn’t allow you to see features like his eyes or mouth. The instant reaction you feel when seeing it is ‘he is in the dark’. Perhaps representing how he really feels – being depressed. The album is slow placed and there are sad songs about love – which the artwork represents perfectly – the slow sad nature of the songs.

The back cover is also black with the song track list in white – again an experimental digipak that works well for an indie artist.

Like many other indie genre digipak’s the artist face is not the focus. Indie artists experiment more; clearly shown in this cover. The artist is seen running away; perhaps representing that he is running away from his life (linked to the dark nature of the music.)

The mise en scene used is a car with only the headlights visible; a location which is an open road; and the artist running away.

The colour scheme used in the digipak is a dark brown colour. It is clearly in the dark; with lights from a car giving a spotlight effect on the singer who appears to be running. – the dull colour works well for the band because the music of the album is of dark nature.

The text used is white a bold. It sticks out from the dull background; therefore making it the first thing you see when you see the album cover. The same font is used in the back of the digipak; this consistency makes the album artwork attractive and professional.

Target Audience•Our target audience is males and females

aged 18-25•Our music is for a niche market – indie•Indie fans will be excited and will love our

digipak as it follows conventions of indie digipaks – experimentations

•Indie fans usually want to see something different and engaging

Magazine AdvertWe tried to associate both the magazine and digipak as much as we could. The nature/flower theme has been employed on the magazine advert too (continuity).The typography is the same from the font. The artist name has the ‘x’ allowing audiences to instantly recognise it. There are quotes from indie music reviewers on the right – NME and The Guardian. Allowing indie fans to see what indie critics think of the album. The artist name and the album name are dominating the page with the biggest font. However the hourglass with the flowers inside are the most dominate due to the size and vibrant colours. The hourglass links to the coming of age/growing up theme – as it is all about time.

Underneath the album name there are 2 lines allowing ‘debut album’ to stand to let audiences know that he is a new artist. On the digipak advert we are also promoting the single.The album date is written at the bottom as well as the record label logo on the bottom left.

This minimalistic magazine has been inspired by other indie artists (next slides), it is experimental as there is no artist picture, however it is what you would expect from an indie artist.

Existing Minimalistic Indie Magazines

How do the products link?• In order to see the link, you cannot look at the literal

meaning of things – more about looking at connotations and metaphors

• The lead single (as we are now), the music video and other songs on the album explore coming of age/growing up

• We then linked this with bones (rib cage/skull) and flowers/nature which grow and evolve, as well as the hour glass (themes of ‘time’)

• And explored them by using experimental techniques (e.g. an hour glass with flowers inside)

• We continued to explore these themes throughout the digpak and magazine – continuity and creating a brand image at the same time

Linking Music Video theorists to magazine advert and the digipak

•Andrew Goodwin – There is a demand for close ups

•We challenged this theory by having no artist image

•Andrew Goodwin – There is likely to be reference to voyeurism

•We challenged this; there is no human image shown