2. Which Existing Promotional Packages did you Research?
My group and I researched three different artists which all fit into the indie/rock genre. Within
this evaluation, I will be looking at digipaks(albums), music videos and websites.
The artists we researched:
● The 1975
● Jake Bugg
● Catfish and the Bottlemen
3. The 1975 The 1975’s general aesthetic is low key lighting and black and white filters - with a big
influence on photography over graphic design. Within their digipak, they have used a
neon board - edited with a black and white filter. The colour scheme remains consistent
between the other three panels. The use of black and white makes the indie genre easy to
identify for the audience. This neon theme carries over to their music video ‘The Sound’,
in which they use neon pink lighting during the recording of the performance section of
the video. Furthermore, the use of costume within the video follows the black and white
band identity, as does the low key lighting which enhances the ‘cool, chilled’ vibe which
the band are trying to give off. In addition to this, the band’s website again follows the
black and white theme, with social media having a heavy influence on the band’s interests
- as it is on the homepage. However the website has a sans font, as opposed to the serif
font previously used on the digipak. This may have been done to attract a younger target
audience, or it could be a type of rebranding.
The 1975’s products were a very big influence on our final versions of the music video,
digipak and website.
4. Catfish and the Bottlemen, again follow the cliche indie theme of using black and white for all
aspects of their aesthetic. This is seen throughout their costumes, the digipak, the website
and the music video. The album cover features original artwork, a drawing of a crocodile, with
the band’s name and a parental advisory notice in the corners. They are all featured in black
and white, which continues the trend/band identity. Advertisements can be found on the
homepage of the band’s website. This features another album cover/digipak which was used
for their previous album. Again, the older album (on the right) features a black and white
drawing, which continues the synergy seen throughout their other products. The theme
remains consistent within the music video, as they have used a black and white filter during
editing in post-production. Each of their products are fully linked through synergy - the black
and white filters coupled with the minimalist design.
The 1975 originally inspired us to use a black and white theme - however Catifsh and the
Bottlemen pushed us to be more creative with original artwork within the digipak - leading us
to implement wave drawings on two of the panels.
Catfish and the
Bottlemen
5. Jake Bugg
Jake Bugg makes it clear within his videos and his album cover that he is a musician - he usually
has a guitar present to ensure that people know what genre he identifies as. In addition to this
he uses low budget locations for his music videos, with the example in this case being an urban
environment. This is the perfect setting for an indie music video as it is low cost and it fits the
genre conventions. Jake Bugg does not have a set colour scheme. This may hinder the synergy
between his products, however synergy can be found in other forms. Another example of
synergy he has used to link his products is the cinematography. Within his website and album
cover he has used certain effects to enhance the image. In his album cover he has low key
lighting and then a large shadow which emphasises the guitar he is holding. On his website he
has used a black and white filter, possibly with further editing to create a more rugged effect.
In addition to this, he himself is seen throughout the products. This is because he is a solo
artist, therefore he is really selling himself to the audience in order to make a profit. This also
makes his products more recognisable and helps create an identity for himself.
6. How we incorporated this into our work
We took inspiration from all three researched artists in order to create our final products. From
the 1975, we took inspiration from and used a neon theme - we used this in the website for the
section headers and we also edited the homepage image to make it a brighter-pink colour. Also
in the digipak we had the band’s name and the song in the video in a pink neon font, as well as
adding pink elements to 5 out of the 6 panels - within the images as well as the text. The 1975
also inspired us to use black and white - however this was only seen in our digipak, where those
two colours were the main building blocks of the product. Catfish and the Bottlemen inspired us
to use original artwork in black and white - therefore we hand drew waves and then
manipulated them in photoshop to enhance the colours and make them more bold. Our
inspiration from Jake Bugg can be seen throughout all three products - starting with the
inclusion of our leads singer across them. He can be found on two panels of the digipak, all clips
of the music video as well as the cover page and band page of the website. We used him to
create a strong link between all three products. Furthermore, we used Jake Bugg’s favoured
setting, an urban environment. This can be found in the music video as well as the home page of
the website.
7. Synergy Between Products
Synergy is: the combined power of a group of things when they are working
together that is greater than the total power achieved by each working
separately. This is exactly what we did throughout our products to create a
stronger brand identity. The colour pink remains consistent throughout, which is
seen in 5 of the six panels on the digipak, as well as the headers and same font
used on the website, combined with the website homepage image which has been
edited with a pink effect. In addition to this, the feature of our lead singer is seen
in all products - on two digipak panels, the website band page, homepage and
music video. Furthermore, we used an off-black colour in the website and digipak,
in an attempt to make it look more interesting. The bands logo can also be found
on the last digipak panel, as well as the top left corner of the website. The use of
the band logo carried into the merch section. The heavy influence of a band logo
enables the audience to recognise the band easily - creating a brand identity. Also,
band logos make marketing in all aspects a lot easier.
