Tuesday 28 February 2012

How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product And Ancillary Texts?


Our Final Digipak Design:

Front and Back Cover
Inside CD Cover

The lyrics inspired our design for the Digipak as we wanted to portray the urban atmosphere which we believed was developed from the lyrics in the verses. Therefore we decided to have the graffiti background as the dominating factor throughout the Digipak as this artwork is associated with the urban style. Also we used the graffiti walls in the background of some shots of the rapper while he was rapping the verses in the music video, this helps reinforce the inner-city vibe as well as linking both media texts. Below is an image from our music video supporting this effect:
Throughout we use different graffiti walls as it adds visual variety for our audience, however it still relates with the Digipak as the graffiti style is the same. As well the colours are visually appealing to the audience, enticing them to watch.

By our actors wearing a naturalistic costume throughout it maintained the "relaxed" style of the Indie genre, therefore conforming to the Indie music conventions. 

This image is of the actor who was playing the role of Ed Sheeran, here his costume supports and continues this informal appearance from the CD cover as the jacket and hat is a typical piece of clothing which is used by Indie artists.

Above is Ed Sheeran who is wearing the similar clothing to our actor as well as being located in a similar location due to the use of graffiti. Therefore this emphasises how we have supported the Indie conventions in terms of costume and location as well as sticking to the styles of Ed Sheeran.

Our Final Website Design:

Here the main image still supports the Indie convention of the naturalistic costume as well as representing the urban style which is also portrayed in the other two media texts
The typewriter text used intially came from Ed Sheeran's '+' album as from my research this was a key font style which he used throughout. Therefore by using the same text on the disc in the Digipak it helps us link these two media devices together. The colours orange, white and black are also significant as these are the colours that our fans relate Ed Sheeran with, this helped us continue the theme from the disc in the Digipak to our website page.

 The lyrics theme is continued from our Digipak design into our website page as from my research into Ed Sheeran's own CD cover style I discovered that in the booklet available the lyrics were a key element throughout. Therefore by linking the two different media texts it means that the audience is able to relate to both as well as connecting with an existing feature of Ed Sheeran.

As we placed an image of the CD cover onto our website it helps us promote our artist to a wider audience, enabling us to try and sell the product as well as revealing the similar urban style in both media texts.

The website connects with our music video as we created the illusion that we placed our video onto the page by screen grabbing a shot from our film and placing into a youtube video template. Therefore making our music video more accessible to his fans and to a wider target audience.

All these media texts are related either in terms of style, promotion or technique however even though they have similar qualities they all have different aims. For instance the website is used in order to widen and connect with Ed Sheeran's fan base as well as promoting his other products while the Digipak is designed to appeal to his target audience.

Ed Sheeran's Website Page:


Ed Sheeran's website page helps promotes the artist's music, image and materials as shown in the screen grab above since the information to purchase or access any of his products is easy to access. Through this free advertisement his fan base will increase either by them watching his youtube video or deciding to become a Twitter follower due to these links being noticable to his audience.

The layout is simple and easy to understand therefore conforming to the other Indie artist's website pages. Also the colours black, white and orange are used supporting the reason to why we chose these colours as they are associated with our artist.

Since it is important that the audience has a more intimate relationship with the artist we decided to placed a tweet section on our page, similar to the one on Ed Sheeran's website, as this allows the audience to communicate with him easily.

Our website page and Ed Sheeran's have similar qualities such as we both promote our music video and our Digipak making it more accessible for our target audience's to purchase. Additionally the font text is that same as this feature was key in both his CD cover and on his website, making it a noticeable style of Ed Sheeran's.

Although our website is more colourful and busier than Ed Sheeran's we still kept the simple outline by not cluttering the page with too many features or pictures as we wanted to portray how his music is significant to the page, this was shown by the background consisting of the 'Little Lady' lyrics creating a connection between the website and his songs.

Ed Sheeran's Digipak Album '+':

Front Cover
Back cover

Inside CD cover

The cover of the '+' album sells Ed Sheeran's image as well as him creating an intimate relationship with his audience as he is "staring" at them. Our Digipak front cover sells both Mikill Pane and Ed Sheeran as they both artists appear on the front cover however we try to promote the style of the music as well as their image due to us using the graffiti background.

The back cover is plain and simple connecting with other Indie artists this helps sell his style. Although our back cover continues to promote the urban style as well as both the artists image by them appearing on the back, Ed Sheeran's album used the colours black, white and orange to sell his image making him more recognisable to his audience.

The inside cover portrays Ed Sheeran as being a "relaxed" artist since there is not a large amount of colour or design. We chose to use the orange, black and white colour theme on the disc side of our Digipak as we wanted to make Ed Sheeran's recognisable image connect with his music. The handwriting we used to write the lyrics on the disc was inspired by the typewriter font which Ed Sheeran uses in this album, therefore linking these products together.

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