Final Website

Final Website

Click to view

Finished Digipak

Finished Digipak 

I have finished all of my Digipak Pages, and this is how they turned out. I like that they all fit together in terms of the mood and theme of it. 

New Back Cover

Back Cover

I changed a few things on the back cover after realising I got some things wrong. First I realised that I'd put 'Brokenhearted' in capitals and the rest of the songs weren't. So I had to change that first, but then I realised that I'd written the record company website as 'JLJ Records' when the logo says 'JLJ Productions'. After changing it I think it looks good enough to keep and I see no huge mistakes.

New Lyric Page

Lyric Page

  

I made a lyric page but the text was different to the rest of the digipak, and I know that usually digipaks keep the fonts the same throughout. So I went back and changed the font to match the track list. I thought that the title of the song could stay the same because the song title would have a different font as it is specifically the song on this page and not the album. I thought about changing the font of the back cover instead of the font of the lyrics because the font of the lyrics before were clearer to see but then the back cover would have been out of genre.

Final CD Tray Design

Final CD Tray Design

I finally decided on keeping the Cd design simple and not including writing. I used a picture of Matilda holding a balloon and decided to fade the edges out in pink. For the CD tray itself, I just cropped out a picture of the flowers on the graffiti wall and used that so that there was a running theme of flowers throughout the digipak.

Research on Digipak Disc Designs

Research on Digipak CDs

After looking at some examples of CD designs I found that overall, they aren't overly decorative, and a lot of them don't even have writing on them. I think I'll probably just put a design or picture on the CD, instead of covering it with warped text.

Beyonce

The Script

Katy Perry

Rihanna

CD for my Digipak

CD for the Digipak

This is the first draft for the CD to my digipak. It has a kind of 70's feel to it because of the warped text around the cd. I don't think it fits with the genre of the rest of my digipak because of this and I'll have to redraft it. 

Another reason I'm not using it for my digipak is that after talking it over with someone else, they mentioned that the design was bold, and if the design is bold that would mean that everything else in the digipak and my website would have to be bold and outgoing too. I think I prefer to stay simple with the design.

Spine for Digipak

Spine For Digipak

 

 

I wanted to use the flowery background for the spine of the digipak in order to keep the images consistent and I think it works well, but I don't like the font of the name, the album title and the reference number.

I'll have to download a new font for them to make them fit well. But I do like the way that the label name looks on the spine. You can't see it clearly enough so I'll have to put it on the back cover in a bigger size.



Production Company Logo

Production Company Logo

 

 

When researching digipaks, I found that most had the production company's logo on the back. I made one that was black and white because they rarely have colour because that way the don't merge into the background colour of the digipak. Some also feature the production company logo on the spine as well as on the back cover.

Completed Digipak Cover

Completed Digipak Cover

 

 

In order to keep Matilda as the focus of the album, I decided to blur out the background and keep her and the balloon in full colour. I also heightened the colour of her lips and the flowers on her dress to make them more eye-catching.

 

I think the warped text on the balloon shows her fun side and links to the smile on her face while she looks at it. I think it will be easier to make the rest of my digipack this way because now I can keep the theme of 'fun' and 'colour' through the rest of it.

Digipack Practice #3

3rd Digipack Practice

This is my 3rd attempt at photo shopping my digipack cover. I like the 'fun' vibe it promotes, but I feel like it takes a lot of attention away from Matilda, and in pop music, the focus is always on the star. I think if there was a way to make her stand out more that it could work as a cover. Maybe if I heighten the colours of her make-up it would emphasise her more.

Digipack Practice #2

2nd Digipack Practice

I played around with CS6 and watched a different tutorial that showed how to create a Lichtenstein-inspired pop art effect.

I like that it connotes something playful and enjoyable like a comic book, but I wanted the colour to play a big part in the digipack and this effect washes the colour out so that everything in the background is a lot paler than the foreground.

Digipack Practice #1

Digipack Practise

I have been watching tutorials on youtube to learn different effects that can be made in Adobe Photoshop CS6 and I found an effect that makes the photo look like it's made up of cubes.

I like the effect but I think the cubes connote more of a dance genre and we want something that looks like pop.

More Photos for Digipack

More Photos for Digipack

These are photos we took in front of the graffiti wall in Kingston that I think would suit the theme for the Digipack.



Photos for Digipack

Photos for Digipack

These are some of the photos we took that I think would be good to use for my digipack.

Website Research: Taylor Swift

Website Research:

Taylor Swift

At first glance, I really liked Taylor Swift's homepage. It has a lot of pictures but not an overload of information. It only includes links to the information, which means you can focus on the photos and the artist themselves. Taylor swift has a reputation for connecting with her fans like they are friends, and the homepage of her website shows that because even though it promotes her products like her new music video, her world tour and her new album, it isn't overpowered by self-promotion and plugs, and incorporates professional photos taken at red carpet events, but also selfies and personal photos taken of her with friends or at home. This makes the audience feel closer to her because she is sharing intimate photos with them.

The navigation menu is straightforward, and includes a hash tag like Katy Perry's page but one that isn't as blatantly self-promoting as hers. This works well with Taylor Swifts view that music is the most important thing, and not the fame. The menu bar has most of the typical pages like About, News, Events, Media etc. The one that stands out on the menu is the Taylor Connect page. It essentially has the same function as a Social page, but by putting her name on it, it reinforces the idea of a connection between the audience and the artist. The logo on websites is usually in the top left corner of the page, but hers is in the right corner. It is usually in the top left corner because people tend to look from left to right when viewing things. This is another show of music first-fame second.

Like everything on the website, her biography page is simple looking but interesting. Contrary to how other stars write their own biography page, hers is written by someone else. This makes her seem less self-obsessed because its someone else talking about how successful she is. It also doesn't say things about her personal life or her personality, it only talks about her achievements. This emphasises that the awards and fame aren't her.

The biography is impersonal so of course the bottom part of the page is dedicated to Taylor's Tumblr page. It is a collection of text posts, pictures and videos that come from her Tumblr page, which is (supposedly) run by herself, even though its common that many celebrities have people that run their social media pages for them. It makes her seem more authentic this way. 

Her news page looks quite sparse and there isn't a lot going on. The news stories are mostly recent awards, her place on the charts and titles she's earned like 'Female of the Year'. I think this is good because it doesn't overload the audience with  too much to take in. Sometimes simple is best. The style of the page reminds me of a scrapbook, which keeps with the idea of nostalgia that she presents with her new album '1989' which features a polaroid of her from nose to hips. I like the way that the website is consistent with the album in its theme but it differs in fonts and pictures.

When you click on the music page, it automatically shows the most recent album first and its track list with a button that plays the hook of the song for around 30 seconds, but it also has options to buy the album on Itunes, Amazon, Google Play and the Merchandise page. This is unique because most websites wouldn't have options to buy the music from all of these different platforms, but this website takes into consideration all of the different ways music is consumed these days.

Underneath the album and the track list on the same page is a list of Taylor Swift's album dating back to her debut self-titled album. When clicked on, they reveal the same layout and options to buy depending on which albums are available on which platforms.

I think the way that the music is presented on the website is clear and simple, and I also think that it does well by advertising the album for people to buy because it comes with bonus tracks like original demos and acoustic versions. This gives the audience incentive to actually purchase the album rather than listening to it for free on YouTube. Interestingly, Taylor Swift decided to remove all of her music from Spotify recently, which gives the audience more reason to buy it because they cant own it for free on Spotify.

Website Research: Demi Lovato

Website Research:

Demi Lovato

Demi Lovato's website has a feature different to many other pop artist websites. Before it opens the website's homepage, the page displays a personal 'thank you' from her to her fans for believing in her. Demi Lovato is like Taylor Swift in that she connects with her fans like they are close friends with her. This page is also a reminder that she struggled through rehabilitation after revealing she had an eating disorder and bipolar disorder, and another part of her image is helping fans of hers who are struggling in situations of their own. Just in this first page she inspires her fans by saying they are the reason for her success.

Another interesting thing about this website is that as well as a navigation menu at the top of the page, there is also a footer with social media sharing and music buying options. Both the top and bottom bars frame the screen no matter where you scroll on the page or across the entire website. I think this is good because keeping the top navigation means that the website is easy to get around and the bottom bar is advertising the music in a subtle way without drawing too much attention to it.
Other than that, the homepage includes many of the same features typical in a pop artist website - News, Tour dates, Biography, Videos, Music, Store, Photos and the Lovato Club which is an alternative to the contact page.

The News, Tour Dates and Biography pages on the website are similar to other pop artists, the  news page included newly released music videos, products she is promoting, events she attended, and also includes an instagram feature which shows her most recently posted photos, and a tour dates features which shows a few upcoming dates on her world tour. The Biography was written by someone else about her, her musical career, the projects she is involved in and her achievements. The tour dates are displayed on its page, but it doesn't show any other events like TV interviews and CD signings, which she instead shares with the 'Lovato Club'.
The music page has a typical layout, with the album covers and the track list next to it, and the ways you can purchase the album available too. Something that this page doesn't have is a snippet of the songs or lyrics. I think that this is a waste of a chance to gain more sales. Someone may not know what one of the songs sounds like and may want to listen to it to get a feel of it. If they like the sound of it they are more likely to buy it. However the link to Spotify is in the footer so they could listen to the whole album for free and decide if they want to buy it or not.

Demi Lovato has a fan club that she connects with, but instead of having a mailing list that people sign up to for free to get updates about concerts and news, you have to pay for a year's membership in order to get the benefits. I think this is clever marketing because they make it seem like people have a chance to gain a lot buy paying for the subscription, and dedicated fans would be willing to pay for it. In this way more money is made, but I don't think I would include a subscription that costs because it would feel like exploiting fans out of their money.

The style of the website matches Demi's most recent album, with its monochrome colours and slim blocky fonts. I can tell that this is a common technique used for most pop music websites. This means that it would be better if I modelled the website after the digipak.

Website Research: Katy Perry

Website Research:

Katy Perry

Katy Perry's website at first seems really simplistic and minimalistic. Everything is spaced out and small except for the hash tag in the middle over her face '#THISISHOWWEDO'. This definitely makes it the centre of attention because instead of her face being seen (like on most websites that are artist-focused) she is promoting her song on twitter. Twitter is an important tool in marketing and promotion because when lots of people talk about the same thing using the same hash tag it becomes a trending topic which means that the topic is seen worldwide. Katy Perry uses this to her advantage because even though she is internationally famous, she wants her album to be as popular as she is.

Her navigation menu is quite hidden, in the very corner of the screen and includes a news page, a music page, videos, images, updates and a store. The reason that the dropdown menu isn't easy to find is because there is a navigation menu at the bottom of the homepage and you have to scroll down to see it. I would prefer a website that has a clear navigation menu that takes you to separate pages, because it saves time scrolling through all the other content. On the other hand this could be a smart technique used to draw in the audience because while scrolling to find the navigation bar and the content that they want, they might cross something else that they find interesting, and stop to read through it. This way there is more of a chance that the audience stumbling across something that will encourage them to promote her album and increase album sales which in turn means success for her record companies and the people behind her public image.

On opening the homepage of Katy Perry's website, a pop up appears displaying information about a programme on TV that shows her 'Prismatic Tour'. Showing her tour on TV reaches an even wider audience than her Twitter fan base that tweet using her hash tag. Her promo for the TV slot means that she is working with more forms of media in order to guarantee that people talk about her. The audience of the programme will be people who are fans and have found out about it through her website or who have signed up for updates, but also she will have viewers that are flicking through channels and happen to find it. Then these people might listen and enjoy her music, and end up buying the album.

 Katy Perry's music page allows you to view all of her albums and live album recordings. When you click on the album it gives you the album's track listing and institutional information about the record label, its release date, the producers that worked on it, the musicians and vocals featured etc.

 When you click on a song title it displays the writers of the song, the lyrics and for some of them it even includes a lyric video.

For her most recent album 'Prism' she included play buttons next to the song titles, so that when you click them they play small snippets of the songs instead of having to go to another page to hear the song in full (even though that is an option). The option to buy the songs or the albums are on every page at the top. I personally like that the songs link to lyrics but I don't like that it takes you to a different page for every single song. I think that if the track lists were on the same page as the albums, and a pop up window showed up when a song was clicked, the website and navigation would be a lot neater. Of course, lyric videos are just as accessible on YouTube, but on the website, the lyrics come with more detailed information about the song, like the song's writers, for the more dedicated fans of Katy Perry.

The entire site uses Katy Perry's new album 'Prism' as a theme/motif. The cover photo is the same and the lighting and colours used in it is the same on different pages, even if the picture is different. The colours are pale and light to match her star image that she changed after the release of this album. Before 'Prism', she was known as energetic, bright and fun, but this album connotes a more vulnerable and honest side.

The layout of the websites follow the usual website conventions. The artist photo is the dominant focus, the tabs at the top for navigation and the logo in the top left corner, like any brand website.