Artist website codes and conventions

1. Artist Website:
Codes and
Conventions
Jennifer Robinson

2. Image - including Mise en Scene, Lighting, Framing, Representation
Shot Type - Shot Length and Angle
Typography - including fonts, colour choices, size of text
Layout and Design - including relationship of text and image, use of linearity, use
of columns, use of edges, captions, empty space, sections, placement, sell lines
(don't forget date, price, barcode)
Language - Consider tone, register, techniques, word choice - also consider how this
relates to typography
Colours - This should be applied across Image, Typography, Language and Layout
Audience - In all cases, you need to consider how the codes and conventions appeal
to the target audience.

4. Image
Cover photo
The first thing you see on
the website, promoting the
artist’s most recent project.

5. Image
Cover photo
An artist's website will almost always
contain a large photo of the newest
album/single that has been released,
taking up the majority of the first
screen you see which attracts
immediate attention. This will most
likely be either close up or a full body
shot to make viewers familiar with the
artist’s face.
It will also be accompanied by obvious
incentives to listen/buy/stream it - an
example of digital convergence.
The rest of the website tends to work
around this photo with fonts and
colour schemes to make the website
look cohesive.

6. Layout and Design
Header
Used to make the website
easily accessible and look
clean – always seen when
scrolling through the page
Follows the theme of the
recent album/single that is
being promoted using font
and colour

7. Headers
Subheadings
Usually displayed on the
left of the header
Contains links to
streaming services, tour
dates, the artist’s merch
store and an option to
subscribe to the artist.

8. Headers
Social Media
Usually displayed to the
right of the header
Links social media profiles
of the artist as well as
streaming platforms –
digital convergence
Social Media
These links encourage the audience to
interact and engage with the artist on a
more personal level and helps the artist
spread their music.

9. Artist’s name
Usually centred on the header of an
artist's website, will be the artist or band's
name. The artist's name represents the
most recent project that is being promoted
on the website, for example, Conan Gray's
album 'Superache' follows a red and black
theme. The album cover shows him lying on
a bed of roses in a heart shape. Red roses
are signifiers for passion and romance
which is conveyed in the calligraphic font
and red colouring of his name on the
header.
Gracie Abrams' album 'Good Riddance'
contains a black and white theme that
follows throughout all of her social media
pages and her website. Her name uses a
white font on a black background for
contrast and uses a simple, thin, sans serif
font that mirrors the simplicity of the
album cover.
Typography

10. Layout and Design
Music promotion
A lot of the time, directly under the
homepage will be the music page with a
display of all recent albums/singles and
buttons encouraging viewers to
stream/download the records or to buy
them in CD, cassette or vinyl form.

11. Layout and Design
Tour, merch, audio-visual features
Continuing down the website, in
different orders depending on the
artist’s priorities, there will be pages for
tour dates, the artist’s merch store and
embedded music videos. These will
always be accompanied by links to buy
tickets or merch and to watch the
videos – which are all forms of digital
convergence.

12. Layout and Design
Newsletters and pop-ups
Artists will always have an option to
sign up for their newsletter to receive
emails about any new media from the
artist. This includes new music, new
merch, new music videos, new tour
dates etc. Newsletters encourage
engagement from the audience and
ensure fans always know when new
things are released, gaining more
streams and interactions for the artist.
The option to sign up for the
newsletter may appear as pop-ups
when you open the page. These create
more incentive to sign up.

13. Layout and Design
Video pages
The video page on an artist’s website
contains a collection of music videos,
behind the scenes clips and tour videos.
This gives an audio-visual aspect to the
website and creates engagement with
fans.