2. Sandi Thom CD covers
This is one of Sandi Thom’s album covers for the Album
“Merchants and Thieves”, I believe that this is one of the
newer album covers due to the sophisticated appearance.
Within the album cover, Sandi Shows her trademark dark
hair and smokey eye makeup. It is a subtle take on her
genre, this is as Sandi Represents a merge of a country and
Punk Pop style genre.
The album cover itself adheres to Mulvey’s “Male gaze
theory” and doesn’t break convention, the shot is a close
up of Thom looking directly into camera, although this
would attract a male audience, the subtlety of the pose also
adheres to the female audience.
I also like the simplicity of the album cover, this Is as I think
that it looks sleek and sophisticated, and the font itself
stands out from the background due to the contrasting
colors.
I also like the typography of the font, this is as it looks hand
written and doesn't’t make the album cover as bold and in
your face as other bands. However, this may mean that the
album cover wouldn't’t necessarily stand out in a shop.
3. Sandi Thom CD Covers
This CD is the same one that our chosen track “Punk
Rocker” appeared in. However, that also makes this CD
cover 10 years old and I feel that the colors involved aim it
towards a slightly younger aged audience. Within the cover,
I like Thom’s pose and the fact that she is framed centrally,
it makes her appear more edgy, as well as that it makes use
of the full lower half of the CD. I also like the brick wall in
the background, however, I feel that it is too stereotypical,
and has been done many times before.
However, I do once again like the use of contrasting colors
with the pink in the font and the blue in the blazer, this is as
it makes the CD cover stand out, even though Thom herself
is small on the album cover.
Also, I am not keen on the font used within the album
cover, although I like the bubble esque font and the fact it
looks slightly like its from the 80s. I don’t think that it suits
Thom’s brand image- due to the country type feel to some
of her music.
4. Sandi Thom CD Covers
Within this album cover, I feel that it sports a completely different
genre, more of the grunge/ rock genre. However. I do like the
subtlety within the color palette. I like the fact that the green
underskirt is synergistic with the bottom half of the font. I also
like the cartoon style element of the cover and the fact that it is
on a white background, it makes the cover pop and makes it
appear vibrant. However, the album cover breaks convention, this
is as Thom isn’t framed centrally and is instead extremely to the
right, although I’m not particularly keen on the effect, It is a
clever technique, this is because it directs the way in which you
read the text, it makes your eyes flood from the left to the right of
the album cover.
Within the cover, it definitely shows you who the singer is as the
boldest text “Sandi Thom” is framed centrally, however although I
like the green in the lower half of the text, I feel that it makes the
album cover appear slightly disjointed, as it leaves a big white
space towards the top of the cover. Overall, Thom’s album covers
vary a lot, however, I feel that they are slowly becoming more
subtle and sophisticated.
5. Free Downloads
On Thom’s website, a free download appears on the
master slide, the bold green font in the text directs
your attention towards it, as well as creating synergy
between this and the third album cover. The use of a
free download makes the website much more
attractive to visitors, this is as teenagers today are
interested if they are benefiting from something- like
the free gifts you see appear in a magazine.
This idea is something we could use in our own
digipak, this is because CDs and albums in their
physical form are becoming more and more obsolete,
hence the bankruptcy of HMV, buy including a free
download or an interactive element in our CD cover,
it makes it appear more interesting and intriguing-
and forces the audience to buy the CD in order to get
the free thing that comes with it, this could be a
method of bringing CD’s back as it makes them more
appealing.
6. Sandi Thom Music Website
On Thom’s website, there is a whole page devoted to
her music, and on this page, you can listen to any of the
songs in her albums. This makes the website interactive,
and it also acts as a method of advertisement. This is as
anyone can go onto Thom’s website and listen to the
song, and then if they like it, they can buy the album,
also this acts as a downloadable, with CD’s becoming
more obsolete, people are more interested in having
downloads that they can store on different devices.
However, this leads to create more pirate copies, as
downloads of the internet can be reproduced over and
over again, and sold, the money going to the people
who produced the replicated downloads. Although the
modern era has its advantages, it has its major
disadvantages as well.
7. Sandi Thom Official Store
Sandi Thom’s website also has an official store page, where fans can buy Thom merchandise, the fact
that this is online, rather than in an actual store, makes it more accessible to people all over the
globe, Thom would probably be able to sell more merchandise online then if she had a small shop
somewhere in the UK. On this page, there is also reference to many of the other albums produced by
Sandi, with them all together, you can clearly see the difference between the different album covers.
This doesn’t therefore appear synergistic. I feel that I would like to make my digipak and
merchandise appear more synergistic.
8. Social Media Links
With the appearance of the modern age, social media have become a big
part in the majority of people’s lives, hence, it has also become a big money
making scheme fore many advertisers. By using social media, such as
Instagram, twitter, YouTube and Facebook, Thom can be in direct contact
with her fans and they can be in direct contact with her, this could mean
bigger sales and more downloads for Thom’s albums. However, It also gives
Thom access to audience feedback. Thom can find out what her audiences
think of her music, her merchandise, and where the most popular spots
would be for her to do more gigs and concerts. Social Media is now a key
part in advertising, you need to use social media to get noticed the majority
of the time.
9. Sandi Thom’s Gallery
Sandi Thom’s website also features a vast gallery
of photographs of herself, sporting her star image
and identity. This gives producers and institutions
and idea of how she appears on stage and the sort
of image she has. Hence, developers scrolling the
sites may see images of Thom and want to invest
in her music. It creates a leeway for the expansion
of Thom’s music. This is an idea I feel that we could
play around with within our digipak.
10. Tour Dates and News
Within Thom’s website, there
is also an advertisement of
news and tour dates, this acts
as a method of interaction,
fans know what is going on
with Sandi and when they can
watch her perform next.
Without this, Thom’s gigs may
be smaller as no one would
know when her gigs were or
when her new albums were
released.
I also like the use of the white on the black background, this is
because it is a contrast on the stereotypical white on black, it
creates a much more unusual and striking look on her page.
11. Sandi Thom Website
This is Sandi’s website, I love the color scheme used within the website as it provides a tranquil yet
relaxing type vibe, due to the connotations of the color blue, it also provides a more striking
background for the red new single. Within the website, I also like the use of the white font at the top of
the page, the font stands out, the same as a masthead would in a magazine. The spacing between the
letters also means that the font takes up the majority of the width, once again giving a more dynamic
and bold image.
