The combination of the main product and ancillary texts is effective because it establishes a consistent theme through continuity in color scheme, font, and imagery. The red and white color scheme and font style are used across the album cover, magazine ad, and digipak to make the products visually cohesive and recognizable as part of the same brand. Specifically, both the magazine ad and digipak feature the same central image from the album cover. Additionally, the use of roses as a symbol links the products to the music video's narrative and theme. While some elements diverge from conventions to make the products unique, such as featuring the singer prominently, the overall combination of continuity and variation across the products is successful at promoting the

1. Q2: How effective is the
combination of your main product
and ancillary texts?

2. I find that it is important to have an effective combination with my main product and ancillary texts as
it makes the final product look professional and unique. Having a continuity theme consisting of a
colour scheme of red and white in addition to the same consistent font in the style of the band name’s
font. The digipak would also stand out and appear as bold due to the strong red colour; this also
applies to my magazine advert and digipak. Having the singer featured in the centre goes against the
codes and conventions of the Indie genre because bands from the indie genre often stereotypically do
not feature themselves on the front cover. I also used a solid block colour for the background as this is
a popularly used convention for the Indie genre to make a specific feature of the front cover stand out;
in this case it’s the lead singer. On a whole, the front cover builds and contributes to the brand by
demonstrating continuity through my music video, magazine advert and digipak.
The composition of the model is central to the framing of the album in addition to the album and
artist name being in the centre as well. Furthermore, my album cover is not natural as it features an
artificial background of a solid block colour, however the front cover is still effective as the lack of
location allows the focus to be entirely on the performer in the centre of the frame. This is important
because stereotypically Indie bands have their subject in the centre of the frame therefore following
the codes and conventions of this genre.

3. Ancillary texts involve my digipak and magazine advert. My overall theme’s brand identity is the model
himself and the prop of a rose. This goes against the stereotype of using relatable props according to
the demographic of the listeners. I have however followed the convention of The Smiths themselves as
they use flowers as symbolism for love in their music videos. The consistent theme of my magazine
advert and digipak is consistent in it’s theme because I have used the same photograph from the front
cover of the album, in addition to typing the colour scheme being the same and demonstrating
continuity through the symbolism of the flowers to represent love. This links to my music video as well
as a love story is ambiguous and hinted at in my video’s narrative but never confirmed. This has proved
effective as it is recognisable that the magazine is promoting the digipak due to the same images being
used and using the same colour scheme.

4. Both the magazine advert and digipak feature the same image and pose of the front cover
from the digipak, this is deliberate to hint at what the overall digipak’s theme looks like to
a consumer. In addition to this, they both link to the music video because there is the
consistent use of the roses which are also frequently shown in the performance section of
the video.

5. The typography is consistent as the band’s logo is in the same font, it’s only difference is in
the contrast of colour; the band name in white, the album name in black. I created the band
name and album name in this font as it is very similar to The Smiths’ original logo, therefore
the customers would recognise their logo. The font follows the convention of simplistic fonts
featured on indie digipak’s, such as Catfish and the Bottlemen’s logo of simple bold white
letters. The white coloured font also stands out against the red background further allowing
viewers to recognise the band name.
The track list on the back cover of the digipak also consists of the same font. This is to
reinforce the continuity of the band’s style and theme.

6. In the digipak I have featured multiple photographs of the performer in a different
costume to the music video. This allows the viewer to establish the link between
the music video and the digipak. The two media products also show contrast
between each other however due to the change in costume This was purely to
gather more variation across my products to make it more interesting to the
viewer whilst still demonstrating continuity and consistency throughout the
products.