Conventions of a CD for my A2 Media Coursework.

1. Conventions
of a

2. What I think the conventions are.
• Before looking at existing CD’s, I am going to write what I think the
conventions of a CD are;
• Artist name
• Album name
• Record label logo
• These are the three things that I think all CD’s will have and am now
going to look at different artist’s and their CD’s to see if I was right or
to see if there is anything else that needs to be added to the list or
anything that needs to be removed.

3. On these two CD’s, the track list has been included on the bottom which I think makes
it look slightly overcrowded and I don’t think this idea would be one that I would
include in my product. I think that the consistent font use on both the artist’s name
and the track list is very professional because it illustrates how the artist has been
organised and thought through the design of the CD. Apart from the track list being
included on the CD, I think this is a very conventional product because it contains the
artist’s name, the album name and the record label(s) the artist is signed to. Out of the
two albums, I prefer Foxes’ Glorious product, because I think that the pink and white
colours go together a lot better than the black and silver do on Katy Perry’s Prism. I
think the main reason for this is because the Prism CD reflects light a lot easier and is
therefore shinier, which is a bit annoying when trying to look a the disc because the
light shines on it and makes it difficult to see and read.
CD’s with a track list on.

4. (Lady Gaga – Artpop)
(Nicki Minaj – The Pink Print)
On these CD’s, the artist’s name hasn’t been included on them and I think this is because
these two artists are very well known globally and are very popular in the music industry.
They have both been known for being very different in the way they dress; Lady Gaga
wearing the famous meat dress and Nicki Minaj always having a different wig on
wherever she is. The CD’s link in very well with the overall theme of the album because of
how Nicki Minaj’s album is called ‘The Pink Print’ and the CD features a fingerprint which
is pink, and Lady Gaga’s album is called ‘Artpop’ and the CD’s mise en scene features Lady
Gaga herself positioned in a sculpture type form. I think they are both really symbolic of
the music industry and how you need to fit a certain mould (Artpop) to be accepted
which therefore removes your identity (The Pink Print). I really like the idea of not having
the artist’s name on the CD, but think that having it there would be a better choice for my
artist because then the consumer would be more likely to remember their name than if it
was just a picture of their face or a blank CD with no text.
CD’s without artist name.
More examples:

5. (Lorde – Pure Heroine)
This is a really simple design, but I think it works really well with
some artists. For example, this is a CD from the artist Lorde whose
music is quite dream-like and serene, so this design fits well with her
music and reflects the type of artist she is. I think the use of a silver
colour is really effective as it has connotations of emotion and
mystery, (empower-yourself-with-colour-psychology) and this
represents her as a really interesting artist which helps to promote
her image within her album to potential consumers of her music and
merchandise. A CD that doesn’t contain the artist’s name or the
album name isn’t very common but it does allow the artist to be
creative if they don’t want to include an image onto the CD. This
isn’t a design I intend to use on my product because I don’t think it
would be very effective, due to the artist I am making my products
for being a new one and therefore I want my products to have my
artist’s name and album name as many places as possible without
overusing it.
CD with no artist or album name.
More examples:

6. Due to Ke$ha’s image being that of a ‘party animal’, she has used
this stereotype to her advantage and made an album out of it.
She has used gold lettering which I think is used in an ironic way
by Ke$ha, as it usually connotates wealth and power, but if she is
the one partying and spending all her money on alcohol then she
wouldn’t have any money, but she is extremely successful. I think
this is her way of stating that she should be able to do whatever
she wants to. I really like how the font stands out because it is
really vibrant and exciting against the dark black background. I
think that this is the most likely type of CD I am going to create
for my album, because it has both the artist’s name and the
album name, which are the two things that I want to really
promote for the artist that I create. As well as this, I think that I
am going to use an image of my artist on my CD as this will make
people more likely to remember the artist, as they will see her
face multiple times in my products.
CD’s with artist and album name.
More examples:

7. Men VS women.
• Another thing that I have decided to look at the conventions of is the
way that men and women are represented on their CD’s and how this
illustrates them in a certain way.
• I think that, before I do any research into the conventions of each sex,
men will be perceived in a much stronger and powerful way than
women and that women will look like they are trying to be sexual to
make their album sell as good as they possibly can.
• I am going to look at some existing products and analyse why they are
designed in the way that they are and look at whether they follow the
conventions that I have thought of above.

8. MEN.
For male artists, I have found that they more often than not don’t appear on the physical copy
of the CD themselves, but instead try to be creative and create something that is aesthetically
pleasing, or something that relates to the album cover in some way. I think these albums
illustrate power and because it suggests that people buying the album will already know what
the artist looks like because of how popular they are. Out of these albums, the newest one is
Sam Smith’s ‘In The Lonely Hour’, which still follows similar conventions to the other CD’s. He
was able to release this CD without an image of himself on it as he released a lot of songs
previously and therefore created a following for himself which he has then used to increase
sales. I also think that the font used on these albums is a very important indication to what
kind of music the consumer will find on the album, as Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’ CD has a font
which looks similar to graffiti, which links well with the title as this has negative connotations
as it is illegal to graffiti. This is what I expected to find in the way the artist has represented
themselves and their ideology, but was surprised that the artist didn’t appear on the CD as I
think that this might have made a stronger statement than having just their name on it.

9. WOMEN.
For female artists, there doesn’t seem to be a pattern which correlates between the sex
of the artist and the design of the CD. In some cases, the artist has used an image that
isn’t of themselves, but is an image of something that relates to their album or
something looks aesthetically pleasing (similarly to that of male artists). Other times, the
artist opts for a simple cover with just their name and the album title, which I think is
used by different artists to illustrate the type of music their album contains, but can still
look really creative if the colour choice is done right and can still look really professional.
Sometimes, though, the artist’s CD has an illustrated or manipulated design (Bionic by
Christina Aguilera) which relates to the album, which shows the creative side of their
personality. I also found some albums that have the artist on the CD, but these artists
aren’t represented in a sexual way like I had first thought. Nicki Minaj has placed herself
on two of her albums, and I think this was because this was her debut album that was to
be released in shops, online etc. This allowed her to get recognised in the music industry
which was important for her as she has gone on to be a very successful artist among
other things. Although these CDs are very different in their design and their layout, they
still have similar conventions including things like the record label(s) they are signed to,
and relevant images/colour choice.

10. As this product is different to what I expected a female artist’s CD to look like, I have decided to look at why this is and why it works. Lana Del Rey
is labelled as both indie and dream pop, and I think the use of black and white on her front cover and back cover illustrate this as it has
connotations of nostalgia and memories. I think she hasn’t used herself on the CD within her product because she has used an image of herself
on both the front cover and the back cover, so didn’t want to overuse images of herself which would make the product look unprofessional.
Instead, she has opted for a very minimal design on her CD which contains lots of different images of different coloured flowers/plants which
have been manipulated to create an image with a variety of flowers/plants. I think that if she had used black and white for her full product, it
would look very dark and unappealing, so she has used flowers to add some colour and life into her product and therefore making it look
effective and interesting.
ANALYSIS.

11. • After researching existing products and looking at the different types of CDs there are, I
have noticed that the conventions of a CD aren’t as straightforward as I expected. This is
due to not every CD looking the same or wanting to illustrate a specific message.
• Every CD that I have looked at, though, contain the record label(s) that the artist is signed
to.
• As I am planning on creating a CD in a similar way to how Ke$ha has done her CD, I am
going to analyse the conventions for this particular design:
Artist name
Album name
Record label(s) the artist is signed to
Simple design
• I am planning on breaking this convention and adding an image to my CD as I think this will
make it look interesting and will make the artist’s face even more memorable, although I
may end up changing my mind when I am creating my final product.
The conventions.