Digipak

We created a template to get a rough idea of how things will be laid out and what will feature on the digipak.

After that we looked through our portfolio of images and selected what we thought would best suit the band. We then took the images and created a vintage wash that has become synonymous with the genre of music.

We also wanted make sure it looked completely genuine, so we made effort to include all the copyright information and include the people involved in creating the record.

The panel that states "Artwork Booklet" will have a small sleeve that will include a booklet of photos relating to and of the band.

Digipak Research

We looked at a number of digipaks and we noticed that there was running themes throughout them. They all adhere to a strict colour code and typeface. Other bands that are famous for having this are The White Stripes, Nine Inch Nails and The Hives.

We also realised that it was important to include artwork booklets and other extra perks to encourage the audience to purchase this as opposed to the standard record. Another thing we noticed is that in the modern day, CD cases are being pushed aside in favour of sleeves and jackets reminiscent of 1970 and 1980s record sleeves. So we want to make sure we incorporate this into our digipak, so this "new band" is up to date and on top of current trends.

We created some templates on photoshop to get a rough idea of how we would lay it out.

After discussion we chose the template to the right as it is a single we are promoting.

Album Artwork

For the initial creation of the artwork, I needed to find out the dimensions of the CD case we wanted to use. We chose to use a typical squared CD sleeve as we felt looking into different methods to create CDs was not necessary and would take us away from the progression of the project overall.

I will need to create the front and back of the sleeve.

Here are a few designs that I created, incorporating the theme we currently have for our branding.

1: Front

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1: Back

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2: Front

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2: Back

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3: Front

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3:Back

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Album Artwork Photoshoot

Here are a few of the pictures taken from the bands first photoshoot, we wanted some serious shots of them so the audience can establish who all the members are and see them all together properly for the first time. We have also taken some playful images of the band having fun. This is to show their personality, of which fits with their genre of music; Indie Pop

Continued Album Art Research

After looking at Good Shoes more in depth, we discovered the art work for their new single release. It is very similar to our original artwork concept, to ensure we don't mimic this theme completely, we plan to incorporate the collage idea that we also had earlier.

Also,to link with our video we are continuing the theme of Television in this artwork.

Magazine Adverts research.

Purely for a loose idea of how to construct a magazine advert, we decided to get a range of artwork from a range of different genres of music so we could understand what goes into making a magazine advert.

For example, for well know artists such as Gwen Stefani, her name is a very large part of the image. However, for an artist like Edwyn Collins, who is less renowned in a commercial sense, relies on an interesting arty image to draw attention to it.

Planning away from Blog.

Band Members

We now have two band members via our poster auditions to play Guitar(Sam Gillard) and drums (Joseph Gauci), we decided for the roles of bass and singer/guitarist we would boldly step in to perform ourselves (Kane and Jack) Now we have finalised this we will begin to start our photo shoot for digipak and our shooting of our video.

These are shots of the band members taken from their facebooks:

Actor Screen Test

After the success of the poster we created, we wanted to do an "audition". I used the word audition loosely as it was more to see if they looked right on camera and suited the band's music style and genre.

(this video never surfaced unfortunately)

Audition Poster

We created this poster to put up around college, to recruit actors/real band members to perform in our music video.

We wanted to hold auditions to find a variety of different people , that will help us decide the look of our band.

Casting

We decided that we would start to plan who would be starring in our music video. We intend to cast our band (one drummer,one bass player,one guitarist and one singer/guitarist or alternatively two guitarists and a singer) using viral marketing. As apposed to simply asking people, we intend to put advertisements around to college for people to 'audition' for each particular role. If this fails we will simply ask around and use friends for the band members.

Artist Branding Research

We feel that it is really import to maximize an artist's buzz (buzz referring to current popularity) by having a certain brand or image that will immediately be linked to the artists.

We studied a few artists who have very successfully used a form of branding to boost their buzz.

The XX

This band have a very bold, minimalistic symbol that, when seen, can be easily linked to the band and their music. They also have a very focussed public image that also leeks into there merchandise and music videos. Their image is very moody and dark and they have the colour black as a constant in all aspects of the band.

Hurts

Hurts too have a very particular image. The have inherited a "Pet Shop Boys" themed 80's style that they integrate throughout the range of their media. (Videos, Artwork etc)

I felt it important to include an image of the artwork as I am interested in the simplicity of the branding they use; it's all a bit clean cut!

Hurts use of Google search.

Something that surprised me is when keywords such as "Hurts" and "Better Than Love" are searched in Google, the sponsored link isn't a link to their Myspace or official website, but to their official YouTube channel. Which is a really interesting idea as it will instantly link them to official videos, making of videos and interviews which arguably is more effective than a link to a Myspace as the band's visual aesthetic and appearance is as important as the music itself.

Continued Album Artwork and Magazine Adverts research.

We also saw this album artwork by Eliza Doolittle and thought that we could incorporate the collage look with the vintage idea above. Using different vintage television images to create the collage.

A similar artist who uses this style but with a slight different technique is bristol based band, Malakai.

Album Artwork and Magazine Advert research.

As we intend to use an alternative indie style of band we felt a suitable idea for an album cover/digipak would be to use the similar technique that many modern artists in this genre use.

This is simply using a 'found' photo that is usually quite old giving it that 'vintage' / 'polaroid' feel.
Bands such as Wavves, Dum Dum Girls, Active Child, Best Coast and Wild Nothing. The most famous use of this idea is the 2009 album 'Contra' by Vampire Weekend.
Other styles of bands have started to incorporate this style recently such as Manic Street Preachers on their most recent album 'Postcards from a Young Man'

Audience Research.

We added Good Shoes on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter to begin to discover what their current fan base is so we can shift our current ideas for album art work and digipaks more towards a look that would be appealing to Good Shoes' current fan base.

From studying online, through their friends lists on social networking sites and from previous gig experience we have concluded that the majority of Good Shoes fans are in between the ages of 15 to 21. Of course this is not a fact but it is a good starting point for us to begin thinking about how to channel our products in the appropriate way.