Gorillaz – Demon Dayz
Overall
The colour scheme throughout is mainly black and white – this has proven to be quite typical of the alternative artists as I’ve found in the other RMA’s I have looked at that black and white has been used. This again hints at sophistication and professionalism with their attitude towards their own music. The fonts used throughout either match or are very similar. The fonts used are all in white and a all simple – again showing a want to not distract from the music with gimmicky over the top fonts and colours. It features a mix of cartoon and photographs from reality. This relates to the band “Gorillaz” as they are illustrated as cartoons – a cartoon band amongst reality – clearly represented here. It is also a folding one, which I may consider doing for my own.
Cover
The cover shows each character of the band from their profile, in a mug-shot-esque fashion. This is o perhaps connote the fact that the image of their characters are rebellious and against the norm, reflecting their genre – alternative music which could be seen by some as an anti-pop genre. Each character is given a different colour hue over their image. Yellow, red, green and blue have been used to represent the characters. This use of separate colours could have been used to represent the different aspects of each character, making them individual characters and personalities rather than focusing on one. The characters themselves have been based upon the look of what you would typically expect of an alternative band. There is a quirkily dress and rebellious lead singer on the top right (represented through his golfers hat and cigarette – both of these contrast and create an irony due to the mix of an “uncool”/silly/joke hat and the “badass”/rebellious cigarette). To his left there is the “brooding” bass player. He has dark rimmed eyes, a grimace and dark hair and clothes. This converts to the stereotype of there being a dark, controversial, broody member of the band. Below him there is a smaller weedy looking character, converting to the stereotype that there is a “weedy” guy in alternative/indie bands. He also wears a hat with a skull on it again representing that their music won’t be sweet and poppy. To his right there is a bigger character who represents the drummer in the band – this again converts to the stereotype that drummers are quite bulky as well as alternative music being a bit darker and stronger than other genres.
The band name is at the top in a simple font above the pictures – this allows the audience to immediately identify that this is the band they perhaps are looking for or have heard of. The title of the album is below the images of the characters, central to the band name, tying the cover together and making it look very sleek. This again allows the audience to know what album they are buying.
Page one
This mainly consists of the album’s tracks with acknowledgements and “rights” being shown next to each track. It then gives a short paragraph about the band, who produced, programming, recording information, who mixed, who the band are managed by. This is followed by acknowledgements to the artwork and design and publishing information. The last paragraph gives a little information about the record label before giving the band’s website. This should be something I look at when designing my own digipack and knowing what information to include and I will think about this further in my planning.
The fonts are very simple and the track names are in capitals matching the cover and allowing the entire product to flow together.
Page two
Page two shows an image of four cartoon demons with the album title “demon days” on the bottom left demon’s stomach. These help reflect the title of the album whist also relating to the cartoons that represent the band. This is also shown through the use of colour that has been used to illustrate these demons as they are colours very similar to those which are seen use on the characters of the band – red, green, blue, purple and yellow have been used in both sets of illustrations linking again the visuals of the CD leaflet throughout.
Page three
Page three shows an image of men in what looks to be a ghetto part of a town (due to the ripped posters in the background, which suggests a lack of caring for the environment of the town which you would associated with underprivileged areas) holding what looks to be baboons and hyena’s on leads, some with muzzles. These animals represent beasts/demons which again represents the title of the album “Demon Dayz”. The animals look demonic as they are bearing teeth ferociously or have muzzles – hinting that they need to be restrained or they will act out violently like one would expect a nightmarish demon to do. This real photograph with the running theme of the demon’s links the real life images with the cartoon demon images – this related to the band, connecting the cartoon visuals of the band with the reality of their music.
Nirvana - Nirvana
Overall
The colour scheme is completely black, white, grey and silver (for the cover) even the pictures are black and white. Throughout the inside pages the fonts used are all the same showing a link and structure throughout. There is also the use of the font used for the album title on one of the pages – linking the entire CD leaflet together. The images used are only of the band or of Kurt Cobain (the lead singer) on his own. This could be due to the fact this album is a “best of” and therefore doesn’t have a specific message or mood to represent. The pictures of Cobain could be to reflect the memory of him (as he had killed himself prior to this CD release), they also could be because Cobain is seen as an icon and the voice of a complete generation – therefore wanting to sell the audience on the idea of this revolutionary musician and lyricist.
It is done as a booklet probably due to the fact that it reads almost like a book on the brief history of the band.
Cover
The cover is very simple – black with the name of the band “Nirvana” in a shiny silver. This again gives a sophisticated and professional feel as it again suggests that the only thing important is the band and the music they have created. The fact that this text is directly in the middle also suggests that they are the main and only focus. The silver has a connotation with wealth, success and importance and again sophistication in comparison to gold can be seen as quite tacky and self righteous – which doesn’t represent the music of the band.
The font or the text is the font that a fan would associate with the band. It’s the bands logo font, again making the band seem more like an iconic band and brand.
Page one
Features the track list. The track list is very small and is in the middle of the left side, behind it is stretched version of the track list that doesn’t fit on the page. This is probably to show that the main focus is the music as it is spread out over the majority of the page (even spreading off of it) and is repeated.
The font is clean and simple, again looking sophisticated, professional and musically orientated.
Page two
Page two simply consists of a picture of the band in black and white. They are in a park/wood/neighbourhood environment (shown by the long grass, trees and road) this may be to represent their background and where they came from to show that they still related with their fans who are still in areas like their old neighbourhoods. Kurt Cobain is in the foreground and is the only one making eye contact with the camera. This is probably because Kurt was the voice of the group and the main lyricist and therefore the focal point of the group and main personality.
Page three
The next page shows two pictures – one has been cut off and is spreading onto the next page. One shows a picture of Kurt on his own in the studio and the other shows the other two members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic with their instruments facing the camera, whilst Kurt has his back to the camera with his instrument. This picture of the entire band let’s fans connect with the other two members (to some level). The fact that they look like they are all in a studio environment shows the fact that they create their own music and allow the audience to acknowledge the authenticity in their talent. The picture of Kurt on his own again is to show that he is the main focus of the band as explained above.
These pictures also help illustrate the history of the band that is featured on the next page (and throughout the leaflet) which starts, On Sunday, January 30, 1994, Kurt Cobain walked into Robert Lang Studios).
Other information helpful for planning
Acknowledgements are in the back for all the songs and also photography, art direction, marketing coordination and project direction, as well as, mentioning the record company on the back page.
Advert two
The only colours used in the advert are black and white. This is probably due to the band (Blink 182) being older and more sophisticated and grown up and not wanting to use lots of garish colours. It also gives the feel that they want the main focus to be the music and the lack of colour allows the audience to focus on that. It also ties in with the album artwork which is completely black and white.
The album artwork takes up over half the page, this will be to put all the main focus on the product they are trying to sell, allowing the audience to remember it’s appearance so that it will stand out amongst other CD’s when going to purchase it or simply when coming across it in a shop or online.
The font is simple but artistic. It is has many angles to it and points, making it quite a masculine font, showing that the band’s music is perhaps quite rocky, sharp and masculine sounding, rather than being light hearted, or chirpy and fun. It also might reflect the personalities in the band, showing that they too are masculine and harsh looking – which in a rock/alternative band is expected as they stereotypically might have piercings, tattoos, etc (in this case they do). The font is also different to the font they’ve had previously that big fans may associate with them, this could be a sign that they’ve moved on, that their music has changed.
There isn’t a lot of text, it is all in capitals and it is centered. This is to probably just focus on the main points – again keeping it simple, keeping it all about the music and the release of this music. The name of the album, band and release date are all the same font size and are all bigger than the rest of the text on the advert. This is probably because these are the main points they want the audience to remember so that they can purchase this album. The smaller text “THE NEW ALBUM FROM” and “FEATURING ‘UP ALL NIGHT’” are not actually necessary but are there to try to persuade anyone who goes in for a closer look. The address to their website is also there so people who come across this can get to know the band better, find out tours, other releases, buy merchandise to market the band further.
Logos of the record company/label are also in the corner to show that they are professionally signed and a quality artist. It also allows the labels to attract anyone who links Blink 182 if they are looking for similar music. It also encourages fans of the label to check out the bands associated with it (blink 182). Blink 182’s logo is also included, though it is quite small. This continues the branding and recognizable image of the band, as well as showing that they are authentic and still acknowledge their past (as they have reformed). The logo is probably smaller in this case because they are moving on from their past and they don’t want what they used to be to affect what they are becoming musically and as a band.
Advert one
The image shown here on this advert is the cover art of the digipack. It shows the main artist central with a lung necklace where her lungs would be. This links to the album title “lungs”. The fact that the lead singer Florence of Florence and the machine helps promote her as a personality and the main focus of the band. The cover reflects this even further with the girly, pink roses in the background – reflecting her own personal girly style. The font used for the band’s name is also curvaceous and feminine, again reflecting Florence’s style and personality. This image takes up the majority of the page/advert so that the image is recognisable for possible buyers to notice and know what to buy.
The colours used are black, white and dark green/blues which fits the alternative genre as it’s darker and more sophisticated of that of pop music. The font is simple, again, showing a sophisticated attitude to their music.
The main features are the title of the album, the numerous ways you can purchase it “CD. DELUXE CD. VINYL. DIGITAL.” Also in capitals to make it stand out. This is probably because they want the audience to know it is accessible to all and alternative audiences are more likely to have numerous way of purchasing this music.
The other things featured are the date of release – obviously so the audience knows when they can purchase this. It also includes information about tracks on the album, the main singles that have been released so that fans know that songs they may already like are on there, that the album will have a similar sound.
The website is also included so that fans can access more information about the artists, the album, possible tour dates and such. There is also the logo of their record company in the corner to show that they are professional recording artists and also it may attract people who are aware of that record label to give the band a listen or to listen to other artists from that label.
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