Research and analysis of digipaks, posters, website themes

When looking at various digipaks from all genres and styles I have found that a lot of them have images hidden behind where the disk should sit. Sometimes the image in the digipak behind the plastic case is the same image which is on the disk therefore you can still enjoy the artwork whether the disk is in the case or not. Other times the image behind the disk is different to the art on the disk. As a group we need to discuss what we want from our digipak as we need to take into account what we feel looks best and what will appeal to our target audience. As our target audience is of a younger generation ranging from 17 and below to 24 we feel that as they are still young magic and theatricality should be taken into consideration. Some of our ideas to include this might be to use optical illusions as they are often linked with magic as they trick the mind. As a group we feel this would be an effective idea to really attract the target audience as it is eye-catching and confuses you. Plus one of the most famous and old school Rock groups, Black Sabbath used this idea with their Paranoid single CD. If my group was to use an optical illusion it would attract the older audience as well as we don’t want to disregard any person, we want to appeal to all ages and by using the magic of optical illusion it could possibly work as the younger people will think its cool and creative and the older audience will remember Sabbath’s disk and think if Avenged Sevenfold are going for the same look they must be as good and then this will encourage the individual to buy the CD.

IDEAS

Digipaks

When researching the digipaks of Avenged Sevenfold I found that the album covers are drawn art rather than an image, therefore I will have to consider with my group what type of cover we could go for or maybe make an image looks like it has been drawn. However there is so much detail included in to these albums that it would be far to difficult to try and replicate any of the avenged album covers.Although there is the logo of Avenged Sevenfold which we could maybe include or play around with to include in to our digipak.The album art is quite dull in colour yet old fashioned in its style and detail, the art really shows the fame of the band as they can afford to have brilliant artwork on the front of their albums. The image is of a skeleton king which also includes the logo as the skeleton has the large wings, this links with the genre again as it is signifying death. As a group we have looked at maybe drawing something ourselves then editing it with effects through Photoshop to make it more of a professional standard. This way the artwork is our own and we can use this image in the same way that Avenged Sevenfold use their Death bat logo by including it in music videos, on posters, in the digipak and wherever the band can be marketed for example in merchandise.

PostersHere there is a poster of Avenged Sevenfold in the most popular rock magazine in the UK, Kerrang! As the poster is in a magazine the buyer will get this poster for free. This benefits both the magazine and the band because if fans of the band purposefully buy the magazine for the poster then the magazine will benefit through profit because more magazine’s will be sold. This is why Kerrang! Include good quality posters to their magazine and why they also do special editions all on one particular band , all of their hard work to appeal to the audience pays off as they have an extremely good reputation. On the flip side if the magazine buyer sees this poster they will check the band out to see if they are any good because Kerrang! Is well known form its reliable coverage of the rock/metal industry.

Here there is a basic Avenged Sevenfold poster which is the logo for the band, this is a popular poster because of the distinct logo to recognise the band. Everyone who knows Avenged Sevenfold will think of the logo instantly and this therefore makes the poster a basic and good poster to have. When thinking of creating a poster for my group I think it would be logical to include our own artwork because we are representing Avenged Sevenfold we should follow their ways on how to market themselves as they are extremely successful not only in their music but with the size of the fan base and how many people recognise the Death bat. This poster stands out straight away because of the bright blue colour smoke

coming out of the skulls mouth, again the skull is used as this is the logo/mascot for the band. The poster is for the single nightmare, which is the song my group will be doing therefore we may take some ideas from this poster such as the skull figure because this is how Avenged represent themselves in every video and image produced by them. The icy blue smoke coming out of the mouth links in with stereotypes of the rock genre as it looks icy it represents being hard and cold emphasising being alone. Although another stereotype may be that drugs are often associated with the Rock genre the smoke could represent crystal meth, this is most probable as the single was for the drummer, Rev who had died of a drug overdose. Therefore the band may have wanted to represent this in their poster. That drugs cause death as the smoke is coming out of the skeletons mouth.

Website themes

http://www.avengedsevenfold.com/

The opening webpage to the official site has a large image of the band logo therefore the fans can easily identify that it is the official page for the band. There is an icon to log into Facebook and share the website, therefore the band have joined with one of the biggest social networking sites in the world just to share their page, this promotes the band even further, attracting more fans all of the time especially because their target audience are teenagers and young adults. Teenagers and young adults are known for always using the internet therefore having connections with Facebook and websites really attracts a bigger audience as they ease of access is becoming increasingly easier because of developments in technology such as smart phones, tablets and laptops.

The official band website offers merchandise such as T-shirts with the bands art on, this will be a well trusted site because it is the official website they have to be reliable because this is where all of the fans will come to buy merchandise and the money will go straight to the band. There is a stereotype that the majority of young people are always on the internet whether it be via smartphone or laptop or any other device, therefore this is an extremely good way to sell merchandise as people can buy t-shirts and other merchandise on the go. This will benefit the company who makes the merchandise as they will have a lot of orders especially if new merchandise is available. Also the band will benefit from the sales of the merchandise whilst also benefiting from the increasing growth of the fan base of the band. To put merchandise on the website makes them so much more accessible.

The website also includes interviews with the band members so fans can stay in the know with all the latest news straight from the band members mouth. Furthermore, the fan gets to see their favourite band member answering questions and they get to watch them rather than just reading quotes from an article.