This document describes the design process for a band's music poster and digital packaging (digipak). For the poster, dull colors were chosen to portray a sinister mood. Simple designs with the band name and tour dates in the center were used. For the digipak, the designer initially tried recreating an artistic style seen in another artist's work but the results appeared unprofessional. They then layered band member photos in Photoshop with increased contrast and desaturated colors for a dark mood portraying the alternative genre. Conventions like band names, photos, and track listings were included across the designs following typical formats. Feedback was incorporated to improve the final products.

1. By Francesca Carter

2. This is our poster for the band which we have decided to use
for the final outcome. Posters are used as a marketing
strategy to promote the band and gain a wider
audience. We created this poster on Photoshop, along
with our digi pack. As our music video belongs to the
alternative genre we believe dull, simple colours worked
best as we are portraying a sinister mood in the
narrative side of our pop promo. Its also conventional
for a music poster to have a general code of colour
throughout the poster. Having a simple background is
powerful as it allows the text and image to stand out
more. So we therefore made sure it was essential that
we used the same colours so that they all linked
together and worked well. The main singer is central to
the poster and group photograph in the digi pak so it
makes him the main subject point and viewers can
identify that he is the main leader and the most
dominant one. The band name is also central to the
poster so its clearly stated who the band are. We took
images whilst we was filming the music video so we
could get the band in action. The musical instruments
present that its an alternative band so the audience
can easily identify the genre. We included tour
locations to make the poster appear professional, we
also gave the album a rating as this is a convention that
would be found on a music poster, the star rating also
promotes the band. We created a barcode to include
in our poster which can be scanned with a phone which
will direct them to the bands website, this is a
convention which is found on music posters.

3. When it came to making our digi pack, our
first idea came from the artist Silvia Pelissero.
We planned to interpret an artistic feel to the
image. Also because our band was
alternative we felt this would work really well
and be recognised in relation to fans of the
band. We decided to take individual images
of each band member, print the image out
on water colour paper and paint over the
image the same way Pelissero does.
We took the images with a plain white back drop and made each
band member central to the image this is so its clear the band
member is the main subject point of the image. The plain
background also took away any distraction so the band member
has the audiences full attention. When I captured these images I
used artificial lighting, the image also has a deep depth of field
which is clear as the entire image is in focus. Once I had taken the
images I opened them up in Photoshop to manipulate them. We
increased the brightness and contrast on the image. As we
planned to paint on the mouth we used the easer tool to slightly
erase the mouth so it was easier to paint over.

4. Once the images were
manipulated to how we wanted.
We printed the images on to
watercolour paper, this is paper
that we can add the water
colour paint too. We decided to
start the paint in blue and slowly
fade it out to purple. We created
the dripping effect like Pelissero
does in her work. We then used
the scanner to scan the image
back on to the computer so we
could carry on further
manipulation on Photoshop.
We asked for feedback
from people, they said our
work appeared as an art
piece rather than a digi
pack. They also said the
image seemed grainy. We
took this feedback in to
consideration and
changed the images in to
black and white to see it
decreased the grainy
appearance.
We wasn't happy with the way the image
looked so decided to try and create this look
on Photoshop, even though the grainy
appearance was gone we felt the image
looked fake and unprofessional. It also didn't
give us the effect we wanted, like Pellissero’s
work. We decided that this idea is not going to
work as images for our digi pack so we
decided to start a new idea for our digi pack
images.

5. Digipacks are a form of CD covering, that can be opened out like a book, or it can have three parts, so that one portion of the
packaging opens to the right and one to the left, with the CD in the centre portion.
As the first ancillary task went wrong we decided to just stick to the idea of manipulating individual images on to Photoshop. We
used the same images that we used when interpreting the work of Silvia Pelissero. On Photoshop we edited the images by layering
them together in to one photograph. The contrast and brightness was also increased to create a dark mood, portraying the sinister
mood. The colour of the image was de-saurated as we felt that because we was using dark dull colours it would appear a lot better
and compliment the colours if the images were de-saurtaed. This is the cover of the digi pack, which will be the first page the viewer
sees. Therefore we decided to include each band member with the band name central. This is due to the fact that's its a
convention to find the name and photos of the band throughout the faces on the DIGIPAK, as well as a list of songs that are in the
album which normally go at the back.
As our band belongs to the alternative
genre we also included instruments and a
microphone stand so the genre can be
identified by the audience.
We also had to take in to
consideration the font we
used, as its alternative we
believed a plain easy to read
font would work best. Which is
a convention of an alternative
digi pack.
Conventional to have the bands name
central to the image so they are clearly
identified. Its also conventional to have
the text bold and darker than the
background colour so that it stands out.
We made sure we used the same
colours so that it all matched.
Mise en scene-
We had to manipulate clothes on to the two
band members on Photoshop. This is due to the
fact when I took the images we didn't take the
mise en scene in to consideration and it was also
hard to find clothes that both people had in
order to be matching. There when it came to
editing clothes on to them we decided on a
jumper and shirt as its smart yet casual which is a
convention for an alternative band. We left the
main band member in his clothes as we felt he
already appeared smart / casual. It was also
good to have him stand out to present his
dominance of the band and that he is the main
singer.

6. Usually a Digipak would contain from 4-8 panels, depending on how much
content the artist would wish to include within their Digipak.
Its conventional for the back of the cd
cover to include, the track names how
many tracks there are so the audience
know the order of the songs, an image,
and a logo of the band and production
details.
The font is in block
capitals and is all the
same size. This portrays
the alternative genre
as its free spirit.
This is a record label we got
of google, we thought this
one suited our digi pack
the most as it appears to
belong to the
punk/alternative genre.
We have kept to a
certain amount of
colours so that the bands
image was maintained
throughout. We used
dark, dull colours as our
narrative is dark and
sinister. The colours reflect
the mood created.
The low opacity
image of the
instruments suggest
the band is
alternative. This is
due the fact that
alternative bands
use instruments.
Its conventional in a back cover to have the small print at
the bottom of the page. This is all information that the
audience is not interested in as its just about production
details. This includes legal information on copyright, record
labels ect.