1. Digipak and Poster Analysis – Bradley West
The artist of this album are The Saturdays, the album is called Chasing Lights and was a 2008
release from the five piece girl group and the genre of the album is pop and dance pop
which is of a similar genre to that of the genre of my music video using the song ‘I don’t
care, I love it’ by Icona Pop.
The front cover of this album has a long shot of the five women in the group sitting and
standing on white steps in a seemingly all white backdrop and room and this shot enables
the focus to be on the entire band. This shot is added to by the use of a low angle with the
girls above on the steps to signify their dominance which represents both their successful
music and their feminine star persona of being very fun and upbeat whilst all being very
powerful and independent women. This also fits in with the theory of empowerment as the
women are shown as being dominant on the cover. The women are all placed within the
‘power points’ of the rule of thirds which connotes their significance and independent star
persona image. This placing also highlights the focus of the album cover which is on the
band signifying that their image is key which would appeal to the target audience (girls 1030) who want to be like the group and be as powerful and independent as them as the
women are the dominant image on the cover. The use of rule of thirds here also fits in with
the male gaze theory somewhat as the first and main thing that is seen when looking at the
cover are the women and therefore the main attraction is the attention on the women’s
bodies and their outfits which would therefore draw men into possibly buying the album
due to their sexual desires.
The dresses of the group members juxtapose heavily with the background to create effect
and their dresses juxtapose additionally with their black tights which gives the backdrop a
‘black and white’ bland feel which could signify other artists and their music being boring in
comparison to theirs. The colourful dresses and this juxtaposition created with the deep
focus of the white backdrop signifies the image that the group are different and represents
their star persona that they are fun, lively and creative women who are not afraid to stand
out and be independent. This would appeal to the target audience as they not only want to
look like the ‘fun’ women but they also want to hear something new and creative which the

2. cover is signifying that the band will deliver. Each group member has a coloured outfit which
differs from colour to colour with differing group members to represent their star persona
and image as each member has their own colour across a lot of the group’s images and print
campaigns and it is a common motif of the groups. The use of their colourful dresses also
fits in with the theory of empowerment as the women are signified as stylish and grand
especially in comparison to the backdrop through the use of colourful costume. In addition,
the fact that the women are wearing full dresses and are covered up, which subverts to
stereotypes of women bearing too much skin and being ‘slutty’ empowers the group which
appeals to the target audience as they want to avoid being objectified and be like the group
and therefore are more likely to engage with the cover.
The typography used for the group name ‘The Saturdays’ is thin and is black in colour (to go
along with the juxtaposition of colourful bland .vs. black and white ‘bland’ everything else).
Whilst this is the case, the font style is creative and the size is fairly large, taking up
approximately a quarter of the cover, which therefore makes the band name stand out
especially with the lack of text on the cover. This style and size signifies that the band is
creative and original and has a dynamic style of music. It also connotes that their name is
important (with the lack of album name on the actual cover) and that through seeing their
name as opposed to the album name the target audience will be engaged to buy the album
with the gratifications that the band typically offer. In relation to this, the image of the band
takes up the majority of the cover which is playing into the fact that the audience does not
need to know the album name, the focus is on the artist and this is enough to entice the
target audience into buying, this focus entirely on the group conforms to common pop
genre conventions. The album name is sneaked in on the side casing on the front and again
uses thin almost italic style typography signifying the stand out star persona of the group.
The font colour is a vibrant multicoloured style which fits in with the creative and lively style
of the group and their pop-dance style of music.
The main image is cropped to just highlight each member and have them in the centre of
the cover all within the ‘power points’ of the rule of thirds to represent their independent
female star persona and make them the standout focus of the cover. The most prominent
colour on the cover is white which is used with a ‘black and white’ scheme backdrop to
signify something that is dull and bland, other pop artists. This contrasts to the bright,
supporting colours which the group members are wearing (blue, green, yellow, red and
pink) which represents the group as being standout in the pop genre and signifies their
lively, upbeat style which conforms to pop conventions. These bright colours to highlight the
band would engage the target audience who would be drawn in by the focus of the colours
on the attractive women which would meet male sexual desires and desires of women to be
like the group members.

3. The back cover of the album features a completely black background with the song titles in
the album displayed along with a bar code and other information such as the record label
and group website which meets the conventions of an album back cover. The colour scheme
of the front cover is met somewhat with a dull coloured backdrop (black) juxtaposed with
the multicoloured rainbow style font of the song titles which continues the theme of
reinforcing the creative, lively star persona of the group which would engage the target
audience and draw them into the product. The font in combination with the colours screams
‘fun’ to the audience but is not over the top and this therefore is a great mode of address to
instantly tell the audience that the genre of the album is pop as typical conventions are met
and the style is upbeat and feminine (which the rainbow colours signify).

4. The other panels of the digipak highlight each individual member of the group in their
coloured outfit posing on the steps. In each panel, the group member is posing in a
glamorous way which meets the empowerment theory as it is giving off the message that
the women are proud of who they are and their style and are not afraid to show it off. It
also fits in with the fun, independent and powerful star persona of the group as the body
language they pose with gives off a very ‘open’ and confident attitude and the fact that each
member is within the ‘power points’ of the rule of thirds in each panel adds to this feeling of
dominance. Once again the clashing colour theme of the digipak is reinforced with the
group members each wearing their individual coloured dresses (to distinguish members and
signal some individuality) in contrast to the white steps backdrop and this again signifies
that the group stands out which appeals to the largely female target audience who want to
subvert stereotypes of women being reliant on others and less important than men and
stand out like the group.
The CD of the album continues part of the ‘bland’ backdrop theme to the album with it
being black with very little colour on it. The only colour comes with small white font
detailing the group name and album name, which is in even smaller font. This again signifies
that the album name is of less importance than the group name and that the focus is on the
group and their fun and independent star persona which draws in the target audience. The
main focus of the CD comes with the background grey text ‘THE SATURDAYS’ which is in the
trademark style font which the group name is always wrote in and this covers the entire CD
and is not cropped so that some of the name is cut off. This creates an explicit focus on the
group name implying that the group is of most importance. This eye-catching taking up of
space on the CD somewhat signifies the feminine power persona of the group but also
represents the creative and fun side of the group as it is something different and engaging
which prevents the CD from being bland. The recognisable font style of the band name on
the CD is enough to appeal to the target audience who are familiar with the font due to it’s
use across media campaigns and across the digipak.

5. The poster highlights the same main image as the front cover of the album and this cross
media promotion using the same image allows the audience to easily identify the product
and group. The exact same style is used with the glamorous posing of the group members
which fits in with the empowerment theme which the target audience of girls look up to. In
addition, the same colour scheme of the black and white backdrop contrasting to the
vibrant colours of the girls is used to continue to signify the creative image of the band and
their lively and different style which their star persona is somewhat based on. This colour
projects the women as standing out which therefore appeals to the target audience who
want something new and fresh. Much of the shot types, angles and style are the same of
that on the album cover with the exception that there is less cropped out and more the
background is seen to fill up the larger poster. This just highlights more of the bland floor
and steps therefore adding to the representation of the group as vibrant and different. The
group logo and their font style for their group name logo is retained being the same as it is
across media campaigns which reinforces the groups image and style with the font’s
standout, creative style signifying the impression that the group are trying to give off that
they are creative and engaging. This and the album name are placed above the main image
whereas the secondary information ‘The debut album’, group website etc (conventions of
an album poster) is placed below in small font which reinforces the idea that the group and
specifically the image of the group are very important. Their glamorous but sexy style gives
off the impression that the group are fun and alluring as well as stylish and strong which can
apply to both the empowerment theory (focus on their independent style and strong
nature) as well as the male gaze theory with the focus on the way the women look and their
bodies which would appeal to men as their sexual desires would be met. The font colours
used throughout are either white, black or grey continuing the ‘bland’ theme which
contrasts to the colours of the group signifying their importance and stand out creativity
from other artists. In addition, the only piece of text which is remotely large is ‘The
Saturdays’ logo text which reinforces the focus on the band, their name and their image
over their album and possibly their music signifying that their star persona and image does
the talking in engaging the target audience into buying their records and listening to their
music. This would appeal to the target audience who stereotypically like pop music as a

6. genre convention of pop is that there is an explicit focus on the artist and that is what draws
pop audiences in. The only platform which is mentioned on this poster in relation to
information on buying the album is the group’s official website which is a good use of cross
media promotion to gain more website viewers.
The digipak and poster speaks to its audience through the colour scheme and style which
highlights the group’s star persona and style both image wise and musically to the audience
which would engage a typically pop-orientated target audience. Very little language is used
but where it is language such as ‘exclusive content at thesaturdays.co.uk’ focuses on
rewarding the target audience which would engage them more and positively reinforce
them to purchase the album. This kind of positive language gives off a positive feel with the
group and further establishes the group’s engaging and creative style. The main use of
iconography throughout are the use of colourful dresses to signify the creative and different
style and star persona of the group which sets them apart from the rest and is a unique
selling point to garner more buys for the album.