Q2 - How effective is the combination of your main products and ancillary texts?

2. We found that the images used for existing indie
rock albums often included simple images that rarely
showed the artist, as indie rock artists are usually
more focused on the music than selling themselves.
The back covers often linked to the album
covers, either being an image of the same
person than on the front (like the arctic
Monkeys’ album), or a similar setting (like the
Kodaline album).
The album covers and advert both stick to a similar
layout and font in order to reinforce a brand identity to
the band. Using a similar appearance for both products
means that even without saying much on the advert,
audience will know what it is selling almost
automatically. So when we created ours, we used the
same image on our album cover and advert so that
audiences know what the advert is for.
As with the
Kodaline digi
pack and
advert, the
image from
the album
cover was
used on the
advert, with
similar fonts.
This also
creates a
brand identity.

3. The images throughout the digi pack
all work together to reflect the street
life and isolation associated with the
indie-rock genre.
By using a simple image for both our album cover and
our advert, it creates a brand identity to the artist and
their music because audiences can associate that image
with the album and the artist.
The same image is used for the album
cover and advert
The simplicity of
the image reflects
the artists’
ideology that the
music they
produce is more
important to them
than their fame,
as the image does
not focus on the
artist but distracts
from them. This
emphasises their
attitude towards
music, which is a
reflection of a lot
of indie rock
artists.
The lack of colour also
allows less distraction
and means there is less
to take in, making the
appearance of the album
and advert more basic.
The inside covers
work together as
one landscape
image of an empty
street. The back
cover is the
lamppost from the
same setting but at
night time to link
the images together.
This is similar to the Kodaline album cover
and back cover, as it goes from a daytime
setting to a night time setting

4. After collecting the results
from our questionnaire, we
discovered that more people
preferred a different image
to one of the artist, and
many said that they didn’t
mind. This allowed us to
represent our audience as
well as our artist as using a
simpler image would apply
to the audience’s
preferences.
^ 100% of people who answered our
questionnaire said that they would like to
see the album title and artist name on the
album cover

5. WHAT 3 THINGS DO YOU EXPECT TO
SEE ON AN ADVERT FOR A NEW
Price
14%
We made the decision to
not include the price so
that id the audience
wanted to have any ore
knowledge of the album,
they would have to
research it themselves.
Artist Name
29%
Album Name
Song titles
22%
Release Date
14%
21%
ALBUM
We decided not to include
the track list on the advert
as, although it was expected
of our audience, it was not
common in the existing
products we had researched.
It also meant that the
track list would remain a
mystery until the
audience purchased the
album or researched it
further.
We also took into account that, as our
target audience is about 15 years old to
young adults, they would be unlikely to
buy a physical copy of the album as
reinforced by our questionnaire results
(shown left). Therefore, we added icons
for iTunes, Google Play and Spotify on
the album advert for options on where
to access the music.

6. Digi pack and advert as
a package
When asked which digi pack and advert package they preferred out of other
existing products from indie rock artists, our audience mentioned the links
between the two products visually; whether that was the album cover image being
used in the advert or a similar layout or setting used.
Additionally, the use of the same font on both the album
cover, back cover and advert links all the products together
and becomes easily recognisable with the artist and that
album. It creates a visual identification with that album
and the artist.

7. After researching several indie rock artists like The 1975, Arctic
Monkeys, Alt-J and The Vaccines, we found that even those who had
become successful and even part of mainstream charts, still remain
more focused on their music than they do on fame or fortune.
This attitude is more
prominent in up-and-coming
indie rock artists
who have not yet been
recognised, and they often
believe in achieving
success in an honest way,
by working their way up
from the bottom.
We wanted to represent our artists as
honest and hard-working musicians who
are not focused on fame.
We did this by not including their faces
on our digi pack or advert so their
“image” as a band remains hidden and
they can only be judged by their music
and not be their appearance. This is why
we used simple images in our products.

8. Our video includes a lot of dark lighting, with
some scenes in black and white, much like our
digi pack and advert, which helps reflect not
only the indie-rock genre, but the nature of the
music as the song is quite sad itself. This means
that the print products also give audiences an
idea of what the music is like as the dim lighting
and lack of colour reflects the misery and
negativity in some songs.
All our products include
the iconography of
alcohol and cigarettes
as it is a typical
element in the genre.
The shadow on our
album cover could be
seen to resemble the
female from the ‘Lover’
video, and in each hand
she holds a cigarette
(left hand) and an
alcohol bottle (right
hand).
The settings in our video also
represent the settings in the digi pack;
the isolation and the night time.
The lamppost
is significant as
that is what
the female
character is
seen near once
she is shown in
her worse
state.

9. The images used in our digi pack and advert
emphasise the isolation and loneliness commonly
associated with people who like indie rock. There
are typically seen as the ‘loner’ type. This works
well with our music video as she is an outcast
character and is often framed alone.
The figure used in both
the advert and the album
cover is alone with
nothing surrounding her,
much like the character in
our music video,
reinforcing the
stereotypical ideology
that those who ae
associated with indie rock
are outcasts.