2. Riot! Was released in 2007.
The name on the front of the album is emphasised by the use of the hand scratched
font, in the colour orange. From the poster it is clear that this become the trademark
for the album, as it’s easy to recognize and stood out from the black and white colour
scheme on the album and poster. This also fit the ‘rock’ music style this album took
on, with every song having that feel. The colour scheme is one of the element which
is consistent with the album and poster. This makes the audience to easily make the
link between the two.
On the front of the album a high angle image is used showing the band. They are
surrounded by a white background and which acts as a slightly bordered. This
element adds emphasis to the band, and the members. On the back of the album
there is another image of the band by at eye level, the album is clearly building
emphasising the band members, so that the audience can recognise them. This is
key as they band is centre of attention after the album name on the poster. However,
unlike the album cover, the poster lacks a busy background which pull even more
attention on the few details on poster and the band image.
The use of the colour orange on the album cover is used to emphasis important
details, like the album name and the track list on the back. On the poster the album
name is the only text in orange which signifies how that is the ‘only’ important detail
on the poster. Even on the CD The ionic orange front is used again to emphasis the
album name again. The background of the front over also contains the album name
multiple times, on alternative covers the only word the background cover consists of
is 'Riot!'. The booklet background is similar to the album art and has the album name
constantly in the background, typically in a larger font size, like the front of the album.
The album is clearly trying to build a relation between the album name, and the band,
as they are the two key elements which are consistent between the two.
6. The Album or Artist name are not explicitly stated on the front of the album; however,
they have been made bold on the receipt which makes them stand out a bit more,
however from a distance it's not as visible. While not being wildly obvious, the album and
artists name on the receipt is in a font which closely resembles her iconic font she has
essentially branded. The font is bold, and all the letters are the same height, which
makes it stand out more. A number of her albums use this style of font, which makes her
name more recognisable visually. During the marketing for this album, she released
some of the songs as singles, which used this font, however it was more spaced out.
This became a consistent theme in all the singles released pre-the album. On the bottom
of the receipt there is a phone numbers. 13 days before the album was released she
tweeted "starting today, I'm premiering a 30 sec clip of each album track + talking about
song inspiration on the phone line call me 800-845-4022". This was the same number
on the bottom of the receipt, she proceeded to tweet a song from the album during the
build-up, and if you called the number the same day you could hear about the inspiration
behind it. This was a revolutionary way to promote the album.The receipt on the album
cover may be a referring to how she was actively touring while producing this album, as
she stated in an interview before it was released. The album art is very minimal; the
artist is not seen on the album cover at all. However, she is seen on the poster, meaning
if someone has only seen the album cover, they may not recognise her image. Like the
album cover the poster is also, very minimal. The artist's name is in the branded font,
however more spaced out, which matches the theme of the singles, as mentioned
previously. The font is also in a similar colour to the album art background, which is
another consistent element. The image on the poster shows the artist not looking at the
camera, and her hair partially covering her face. This can be signifying to her audience
how she does not what her appearance to be the main focus, this is supported the lack
of her image on the album cover.
9. The illustration relates to some of the songs on the album, which
refers to body parts. For example, 'how can you swallow so much
sleep'(mouth and throat), 'Your eyes'(eyes) and 'shuffle' (feet).
The use of paler colours, relates to the 'Indie rock' genre and the 'chill'
emotions it leaves the listener with. The white used is a slightly off
colour which fits with the paler colour scheme. The intricate design of
the album art also puts emphasises on the simple font used for the
title and tracklist on the back. The front of the album resembles
closely with the poster only with the slight addition on tour dates,
using the same font and colour scheme. This constancy makes it
easier for the audience to identify the band, the unique art style also
contributes to this. Before the album was dropped the band relapsed
the song 'Shuffle' and 'Lights out, words gone' from the album was
singles. The album work for the main album was focused on the head.
Looking at the artwork for 'Shuffle', the main focus is feet, which is
reference to the feet movement. For 'Lights out, words gone' the
album art was the anatomy for the body. If put together the artwork all
interlinks to a 'full' human body in the album's specific art style. This
shows how the art style was a consistent theme for this albums cycle.
The CD is a continuation of the art style, but with a much greater
depth of detail. This emphasises the bands indie rock style of music,
and the style of their lyrics. This also makes the band more remember
able with its unique illustration and colour scheme. The lack of the
bands image puts more emphasis on the details of the album art. The
CD could also resemble the 'inside' of the heads on the album cover.
12. The album art was significant as it was the first time the animated
characters were all together. These animated characters are used
in all their music videos and are a strong consistent theme of the
band. The lack of real band members has been one of the major
points of the band's history. This makes the characters an easy
identify for the audience. On the album art the characters look
serious, however once opened more 'goofy' images of the
characters can been seen. This is a more accurate portrayal of the
characters from the videos and shorts at the time. The album cover
is a reference to the album 'Blur the best of' by Blur, as the band
member Damon Albarn was also a member of Gorilliaz's. The
album art shows the four animated characters from a side view,
while the Blur shows the members in an animated manner looking
head on. The front album art only contains the band's name and
Album name. This draws more attention on the characters. The
poster is not very different from the album, this is good as the
audience can easily identify the poster with the band, due to
constant use of the album art and font. The back of the album
contrasts the front in being white in background. There is another
image of the band members, but in their more natural art style, as
they are seen in the videos and shorts. The font used for the
tracklist is different from the front, but is very bold and fits with the
theme well. The original logo is also seen on the back. There is an
image of a money on the back which is a reference to the song 'Fire
coming out of the money's head'.
