The document discusses the challenges of designing packaging and marketing materials for an indie band. The designer started with images focusing on the band itself but found they did not fit the band's indie-pop style after seeing their music video. The designer switched to only using plasticine models on the digipak and poster to create a fun, creative identity in line with the band's new artistic style shown in the video. Adding competitions and extras like a live CD helped market the materials despite the lack of band images. Ensuring consistency across the designs and linking them to the memorable music video helped establish the band's image through a cohesive cross-media campaign.

2. 
When producing my digipak, this was
where most obstacles occurred due to the
fact there are different types of indie artists
ranging from your typical oasis, urban
styled British band to Bombay Bicycle club
who expressed a more artistic style with a
lack of focus on the band themselves. I
started out with a distinctively British band
and featured de-saturated images of urban
locations, which I edited to make them
appear they were from the 90s giving them
a vintage/ indie appearance. I also
decided to feature images of real
people, however only having two people
to photographed conveyed the message it
was a duet as appose to band and frankly
the members just didn’t fit with the digipak
as they made it look distinctively pop.

3. 
Once the video was produced it
changed my perspective on the band
due to the fact it had more of an indiepop feel therefore I wanted to convey
this through my digipak through
making a more colourful and artistic
design. I wanted to make an identity
for the artist one enriched with being
fun and creative therefore I decided to
feature only the plasticine models on
the digipak. This was a risky move due
to the fact audiences are most likely to
purchase an album through relation to
age, or simply just the image of the
artistic on the cover. However, I took
influence from artists such as blur who
featured amazing experimental
designs on their cover which made a
identity for themselves and drew
audiences in through the fact it simply
looked visually appealing.

4. 
To make up for the lack of images of the bands
appearance I decided to add a unique selling
point, this being a competition to win a model
of the plasticine band members. From my
audience research it was clear the audience
had an attachment to the models and found
them ‘cute’ and stated how they ‘wanted them’
therefore I felt this competition would strongly
aid the consumption of the digipak as it offers
more than simply a CD. I also further pushed
the selling point of the digipak through added
a special live CD in which would appeal to
strong fans of the band and also added to the
indie genre as a whole due to the focus it put
on the band wanted to sell there music.
Also, assuming the audiences have already
seen the music video and as a result are
purchasing the digipak they are likely to have
an awareness of the bands image
already, therefore I felt it wasn’t extremely
necessary to feature the band on the digipak.
This also added to the typical conventions of
indie digipaks as they tend to draw attention
away from the artistic to ensure the focus
remains on their musical talent and often when
the band actually are featured on the cover
they are looking away from the camera or
captured in a long shot so people aren’t buying
into their appearance alone.

5. 
My next step was to create my poster which
again I had issues creating. My initial design
had a crucial error since it didn’t match up
with the music video and the digipak design.
This broke the overall theme of the artist as
the poster looked like it was designed for a
completely different band. Again, this was
brought on through the fact the type of indie
band wasn’t fully distinguished at this point
due to the fact it completely changed after
the video which shaped a new image of the
band after we’d seen the final production.
With the poster being a marketing technique
the main point of it was to sell the artist
therefore it would make sense to feature the
bands identity as the central image.
However, being an indie artistic once again I
felt I could get away with having the
plasticine men on the poster rather than the
band themselves, as I feel the music video
would be so memorable it would work as a
form of identity for the band and allow them
to stand out more rather than having them
compete with other bands who also just use a
simple image of the band identity.

6. 
This also ensured the digipak, video
and the poster looked very similar, in
terms of visual style allowing all the
combination of the main production
and ancillary texts to work together
as a cross media campaign to sell
the artist. On the poster I needed to
ensure it contained all essential
conventions to increased the selling
point of the artist therefore I added
various social media links since are
target audience are mainly
teenagers who use the internet as the
most accessible source of
information. I also decided to include
download links which although I felt
went slightly against the indie genre
as they tend to be more vintage and
stick to purchasing a physical CD I
felt this would appeal to the modern
generation who tend to download
their music as appose to getting a
CD. I then incorporated the standard
conventions such as the release date
and the fact it contained the number
1 hit bohemian like you, to inform the
audience on the most important
aspects they need to be aware of.

7. 
In terms of combining all my products together I feel they are
very successful in terms of the visual style they convey and
they fact they all link together due to the content being
almost identical. I feel this is essential as it makes an image
for the artist and keep up a sense of consistency for their
appearance. With all the image on my digipak and posters
being stills from the music video I feel a direct link can be
made as it means the ancillary texts and easily be defined as
being produced by Tonic as there is that linking present.