This is our research analysis of album posters. It will help us when we come to designing our own album poster.

1. ALBUM POSTER
ANALYSIS

2. PURPOSE
The poster is used to advertise to the
target market and audience to
persuade them into purchasing the
album. They follow different
conventions depending on the genre
but most of these poster follow these
set layouts of the poster. It becomes
more recognisable the more posters
you look at. Some bands and genres
chose to break the conventions and
this is often done by edgier genres
such as rock.
Conventionally the poster will include:
•Artwork or logos of the band or artist
•Artists name
•Release date
•Album name
•Known singles on the album

3. ARTIST NAME ALBUM NAME
The artist name is a form and is conventionally the largest
text on the page. It catches the attention of the audience and
people tend to notice it the most. It is conventionally located
near the top of the page and can vary is size on how much
poster it takes up. With the bright red balloon like font Katy
Perry font it has become associated with her personality, she
has grown this association so if a smaller niche band was to
The album name is also a form and is conventionally the largest text
on the page. More often than not the albums name is found nearer
the bottom half of the page and has it’s own font style varying from
the rest of the text and the artists name’s font. This font needs to be
cohesive with the actual album cover and is often transferred straight

4. IMAGERY RELEASE DATE
The imagery shown is what is likely to catch the attention of the public or
target audience. The imagery can either be a photograph or art work or a
mix of both. It needs to stand out to help sell more copies for the band. In
terms of genre rock albums often feature artwork that looks visually
interesting, sometimes controversial or disturbing but ultimately has this
grunge aesthetic. Pop genres often have the artist posing or staring into
the camera using their body and looks such as the Arianna Grande poster,
this is because sex sells and they are more likely to make more money than
the AR street album. The Kings of Leon poster is visually captivating and a
The release date can vary it is usually the use of simple digits rather
than writing the date out, its punchy to the point and more
memorable. However there are other posters that use a “Out Now”
rather than a release date. The date can be placed all over the page
there is no convention for this but on average 82% of release dates
are either dead center on the top or dead center on the bottom.

5. LANGUAGE TYPOGRAPHY
The language used on the poster is often very short and direct to
the point giving the facts and figures rather than having a
paragraph of text that people wont read. There is all the legal
documentation and copyright information found at the very
bottom footer of the page which isn’t really read by customers
ever but legally needs to be there to prevent theft of the artwork
or publication. The posters are often put up in shopping centres
or on billboard s and people don’t have enough time to read it
which is why the short direct points are important.
The typography of the poster needs to have the synergy of the album
cover. It’s often chosen to represent the band or artist and can mean
different things and again needs to be visually captivating. The
products need to work together in cohesion to make the package
work. Different genre use different typography to show off their vibe.
Its used to express they style of music.

6. Nirvana was an American rock band that was originated from
Aberdeen, Washington by Kurt Cobain. The band consisted
of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl.
This is the Nirvana poster advertising the release of the
‘Nevermind’ Album on it’s 20th anniversary, meaning this is a
rerelease. The album was released on 26th September 2011
on multiple different formats such as DVD, Vinyl edition and
Digital.
Nirvana were a notorious iconic band that were renown for
their grunge style and rock music. When the album was
originally released it cause much controversy amongst the
public. The album cover has a naked baby swimming after a
$20 bill with the genitals on show, this is what caused the
controversy due to the explicit image, it seemed innocent
enough but the media and public twisted it even though it
was just representing the songs on the album. The band
wanted this controversy and uproar as it shows their lack of
fear and rebellion which is why it appealed to the rock fans.
This rebellion is what they lived for and they found it
humorous and meaningful.

7. The typography must be cohesive and be the
same throughout the poster in like to the album.
The majority of font used is serif. The only
variation in font is the differentiation between
the bands logo and the album cover. The writing
is also all black with exception of the “Scan to
win” and the App store piece in the bottom
middle.
The colours on the posters needs to have an
association with the album cover and the
colour scheme picked needs to be eye catching
and bold. In this case the colours are the
underwater blue hues of a swimming pool and
the contracting black text makes it easy to
read, the white text at the bottom blends well
and makes it less visible and harder to read.
Album covers don’t need to feature on an
album advertisement, but without it, it would
be much harder to recognise the album
when in shops or online. Furthermore this
means the customer will need to be
dependant on the bands name and the
album name. The Nirvana poster uses the
image from the front of the album cover as
the background for the poster. This is a way
of synergy and allows the customer to put
one and one together. This will reinforce the
image of the album because it is exactly the
same and will be easier for customers to find
it due to its memorable and controversial
imagery.
The band's name needs to feature as part of
a poster so that it can advertise the band and
their music as a brand to their audience.
Publicity grows as it did with this iconic
band.
Interaction is often featured to heighten the
bands publicity. It appears to be drawn on in a
sketch like way which is visually appealing and
This is to aware the target market
there forms of the album are
available on Blu-ray.
This is another use of interaction and
tells the audience to download an app
and a special Nirvana feature can be
unlocked – this is a good way of
enticing the target market.
This is the clarification that it is a rerelease
and features the 20 years sticker but uses
the bands logo as the zero which was
authentic and interesting. The font used
still links to the typography used for the
bands logo and album name.

8. WHO CREATES THE POSTERS
These are the people
involved in making the
poster they will often
be the same when
creating the digipak.
Artist
Director
Producer
Photographer/ art
designer
Editor
Art director
There are also other people involved but work in
different sectors:
Design executive: give the approval or disapproval of
what the graphic designer does
Graphic designer – designs the bands visual identity.
Create a certain style and look that will blend into the
genre.
Costume stylist: plans what the artist or model will
wear
Hair and make up: do the artist or models face and
make up
Technical assistant: make sure everything runs
smoothly and to plan
Financial advisor : distributed the money and what will
be spend on the digipak or poster.