2. Homepage Layout:
Our home page has a photo of Sam Boyd in the background behind the text
represent the star image and to keep the colour scheme consistent (black +
white).
It was important that the digipack front cover was at the forefront of the
homepage along with a hyperlink where fans can pre-order the album ‘In the
Moment’. James Arthur’s website also adopts this technique. However, we have
also added quotes from radio stations, above the link to purchase the album,
encourage readers to listen to his music and find out more about him as an
artist.
Further down the homepage, the music video has been embedded from
YouTube allowing viewers to watch it without leaving the website, enabling
to spend money on merchandise or tickets to concerts. James Arthur’s
homepage has several music videos embedded as he is a more established
and has the budget to produce multiple videos.
Additionally, we placed links to his music pages on Spotify, Apple Music and
YouTube so that fans can add his songs to their playlists and stream the songs
meaning more revenue from royalties. Moreover, the final thing people see on
the homepage is a place for fans to add their email address for a weekly
subscription so people had the opportunity to receive news through another
platform as well as offering an artist interaction service which has worked well
rising stars similar to Sam like James Arthur. Overall, the homepage has been
out with the aim of spreading awareness across multiple platforms increase his
fan base, streams and number of sales for the new album.
It is similar the homepage of James Arthur in the sense that both are
themed which is popular amongst organic artists who tend not to use vibrant
colours. Names are in large block capitals in the top third of the homepage as
well as links to social media pages (Twitter, FB). Pictures of the artists behind the
text are essential in making the website eye-catching.
3. BOOKMARKS
• The design of our website required a lot of intense planning, we researched into
artists with a similar star image (James Arthur/Jake Bugg) to see how they had
designed and laid out their websites. Our design was mostly based on these
websites purely down to their clear layout and bland colour scheme which we felt
were important. Using the information from our research, we created the sub
sections of Home, Tour, Music, Shop, News, About and Contact as hyperlinks at the
top of our homepage.
• We had to choose only a handful of images to input into the background of
webpages. We decided on the photos which represented our artist most accurately
(bland colours/low focus/some with guitars). The images on the key pages that
could see us earn the most money (Home/Music/Shop) had to stand out so
attention would be drawn to this area. The less important pages had darker lighting
so the attention was more on the lighter pages.
• We used ideas from websites of a few similar artists as mentioned previously. For
example, we liked the feature on James Arthur’s website where you can watch the
music video on it however we did not like the sub section labelled ‘live’ as we felt it
was unclear so we used a sub section that Jake Bugg used. Overall , we felt that
having dull-coloured images in the background of the web pages would draw the
attention of viewers to the music as opposed to his appearance which could lead to
more sales from streams and albums.
4. COLOUR SCHEME/FONT
• Font and colour scheme are key factors in ensuring the website represents how the artist wants to be portrayed.
• Therefore, the font used is consistent throughout each page of the website. We did this to ensure it looked professional
and simple. The text colour is mostly black or white with a few exceptions. We did this as these are neutral colours that
would never clash with a change in lighting in the background as some of the images are different.
• Each subsection has the same title font to ensure continuity and a feeling that it is accessible.
• We had a very limited range of colours throughout our website. When planning, almost all similar artists followed the same
trend. Having a black/white theme would make it stand out and also conventional for the genre/organic artists.
• The bland colours make it relevant for the star image and the colours that would also be associated with the type of artist
that Sam is. Background images have been edited on Photoshop with reduced colour saturation to match the colour
scheme of the website.
• The colour scheme on James Arthur’s (Black/White/Yellow) and Jake Bugg’s (Black/White/Red) websites stayed consistent
throughout to match their digipacks similar to ours. However, our font stayed the same throughout whereas James Arthur’s
varied with different sub sections shown in image (top right) of his ‘LIVE’ sub section.
5. POSITIONING OF THE
ARTIST
• The positioning of the name/images of the artist can be crucial in order to portray the
artists image and genre of music.
• As shown from our homepage on slide 2, the name of our artist is positioned in the top
third, slightly left of centre in large black capital letters. Whereas ‘James Arthur’ is
positioned in the top third but dead centre of the page and covers his face in the
background image. We felt that seeing the artist’s face in the image was important so we
positioned the name left of centre and the image right of centre.
• We did this to make sure that both the name and image were clear although this may have
lead to them being less eye-catching than James Arthur’s which were positioned in the
centre. The colour scheme portrays the genre of music and artists image more than the
placing of the name/images. However, the positioning of the digipack does sell the artist as
organic (holding guitar).
6. MERCHANDISE
• A section selling clothing and accessories is great for earning extra revenue as an
artist. It especially helps when sales on the music are low.
• Our merchandise can be found in the ‘SHOP’ sub section and is clearly listed with
‘In The Moment’ clothing such as hats, hoodies and t-shirts. The prices are
reasonable and one click on each item takes you straight to the page where they
can be purchased – all whilst staying on the website.
• The colours of the clothing/accessories are black to a large extent to match the
colour scheme of the digipack and website. New items are updated every few
months in conjunction with the demand for each set of clothing.
7. CODES AND CONVENTIONS
Overall, in the design of the website, we feel we have referenced all three categories
in the code system:
• Technical – Lighting, Rule of thirds, Camera Angles
• Symbolic – Merchandise, Setting of Images, Colour Scheme
• Written – Font Styles, Layout, Bookmarks
All three categories have been carefully illustrated within the design of our website
and we feel it successfully represents an organic artist similar to James Arthur and
Jake Bugg and sells his image as well as his music. Conventions used within Sam
Boyd’s genre of music convey the desired impression for the viewer which can be
emphasised in the website feedback.
