Final Poster

CD Release Poster Analysis

This is a example of a poster that is used as a promotional material for a new CD release. This is the poster advertising the release of Taylor Swifts new album Red plus a new single. The first convention that most posters have is the typography and imagery is linked or the same as the album is, in this case the imagery and type is the same as the album itself. This is one of the key principles I must feature in my poster design. The next convention of a CD poster is the 'Included tracks' that is used as a USP (unique selling point) to help sell the album and draw people in who like the singles. This is very important and it must feature on my own design for BooSH's album poster. Another convention is the actual album cover featuring on the poster. In this case it doesn't have the album, it has the single cover that it is also trying to sell. Normally this would be essential on a poster of this nature, so I will have it feature on mine. The last main point that should be on a CD release poster is the date of the release or some telling the audience that that it is 'Out Now' just so that know and are able to buy it when released. This is definitely something I must include in my design. There are also some over things that this poster includes that are not as important with regards to the key conventions but with the audience I have (17 - 30) it is very important that they can access the content of my artist socially.There must  be social details on the poster i.e. facebook, twitter, email, web address etc that will be easy for today's young generation to access whenever where ever, which is, in a way, a new convention for the next generation. This is definitely also going to feature on my poster design.

Digipak Final Design

Above is my final digipak that i designed in response to the similar products I looked at and also the audience research I did on twitter and Facebook. 

Cover Feedback

Here is one of the ways in which I chose to get the feedback on the album covers. I felt that if I wanted to reach my target audience, I had to used a medium that would appeal to them. I also did the same on Facebook to try and get the most amount of people commenting on my designs. This method is a easy way to get results as it doesn't take a long time to get the necessary information. I collected all the data and tally up the totals.  This method proved successful so now all have to do is to continue to develop the idea that was chosen. The first idea that I made proved to be a hit with my audience as it had the most votes with comments like; 'stylish, I like it!' and 'I really love the design' which is the response that I wanted. There was also a lot of people who liked the second design which was noted as 'fun' and 'comic book style'. Although these are positive comments, this is not the image I am look to target my artist at. I want to attract the more stylised people (who generally have more money) than slight 'geekish' people who would be attract to the bubbly comic book design. Overall I am happy with the overall design.

Digipak: Idea 2 Developed

Digipak: Idea 1 Developed

Above is my first idea that I have taken to the computer and created digitally. I have only done this as a mock up just to get a picture of the final result. Overall I really like it as it follows the key convention of album covers. For the genre of dance is is difficult to follow any set rule of which you must follow when creating a design for an album cover so when I choose this I wanted it to be stylised and sharp so it would appeal to the majority of stylish audiences. I want the design to be transferable so people could understand it, be suitable to print on other merchandise (i.e. t-shirts) and also look its place in the dance music world among stylistic DJ's like Calvin Harris and Avicii. This was my sole purpose for creating this design. Overall I think it works well and I am debating whether to use this over my other idea. I have made sure I have not only got the look right but I have all the necessary convention, i.e. the track names on the back, the legal info on the back, the distributing and company logos and also the bar code. These are essential to a albums design because it is a legal requirement for CD's to have this information. Overall I am very happy with my designs and want to do a survey to my target audience to get a final decision.

Digipak: First Designs

IDEA 2

IDEA 1

Digipac Idea - Covers

Dance Rehearsal - Music Video

Digital Pack Analysis - Lloyd Banks

Above is a example of another digital pack from the R&B artist Lloyd Banks. The first thing I see is the hugh intertexual reference to money and the connotations of that. The dollar bill is iconic in the world for its gangster link and the fact that as a gangster you are constantly trying to get more money, legal or not. The idea that Lloyd Banks has chosen this style is to build a image for identify in which his fans of the him can look up to and aspire too. There are two ways of reading this pack. The first is the representations of youth and also in some cases black people and how they are shown in society, it is usually very negative relating to crime and violence that money could be the problem. The other way of reading the artwork is the fact that it could mean that it is for young people to have high dreams and could aspire to do as well as Lloyd and as the cover shows to make a lot of money. The colour scheme is very true to the gangster way of life and the dollar bill. Overall I like this digital pack due to it nature of building identities for the artist. With relation to my artist, we want to build a very light heart image and to show that the artist does not take himself too seriously.

Iconic Album Artwork

Digital Pack Analysis - Linkin Park & Jay Z