Ellis's Media Blog

To make the digipack I used a website called 'Canva' to put all of the images and text together.



After the focus group, I used their comments about the digipack to improve it and make sure it fit better with the genre and the other products. I decided to se a TV on the front cover instead of the skull because it fits better with the genre of our band, and less like 'death metal' or 'heavy rock'. The geometric style of the front cover fits better with the conventions of similar products, and with what the focus group suggested. The TV also fits with the other two products, making the campaign more cohesive.

I also took the skull off of the CD panel and put in the same geometric design on the front cover to keep the same theme running throughout the panels. I kept the photo panel and the back the same because they still fit with the other panels and the genre.

To make the TV I took inspiration from the ones in our music video and from some other ones online, and on Keynote I created my own design to go on the front cover.

Here's a screen recording of some of the changes that were made to the website just after the focus group:

Before doing the actual focus group, Phil and I went to show some of my designs to Matt (a rock fan). Matt liked the skull design and though that it did fit with the band's image, however, he didn't like the colourful red/blue logo (as did Phil), so I changed it to black and white before the actual focus group.

When talking to Phil (a non-rock fan) he thought that the skull may come across as too 'heavy metal', so we wanted to see what the actual focus group say before changing it.

There's a spectrum in the rock genre from indie/soft rock to heavy/hard rock, and each side has different iconographies. The indie/softer rock is more associated with romance and fun, whereas the other side of the spectrum is associated with death and violence. Our band is in the middle of the spectrum because they're not very light or very dark according to the video. If our digipack does come across as too dark, I may have to adjust it, because we need a cohesive campaign with a clear star image.

To prepare for the focus group I printed off 5 copies of the digipack in the right 140mm by 125mm size, and folded and stuck them to look like an actual album. I also wrote the questions that the group will be asked:

1. What are your initial thoughts after seeing the digipack and website?
2. What genre do you think the band is?
3. What bands do you think are similar to the one in the video?
4. Do you think the casting was right for the genre?
5. So you think the star image is similar across all of the products?
6. What do you think the narrative of the video is?
7. Would this video make you want to go out and buy the single or the album?
8. Is there anything you think we can do to improve these products?

Harriet prepared the website of what she'd done so far by sending the link to the focus group, and Phil sent the video to show the group.

THE FOCUS GROUP

Digipack:

The focus group seemed to like the look of the digipack and thought that it was 'consistent' in style and colours, and that 'each page is relevant to the previous'. I think that I will keep the same colours and themes running through the digipack as someone said 'it looks like it could fit in a shop', so the style is quite professional.
Having looked at the digipack and website, the focus group thought that the video would be harder rock, so the other two products should be changed match the tone of the video. To do this, I will change the skull on the digipack, and the website will be changed slightly too.

Apart form this, they liked the casting and thought that the star image was consistent across the products. They thought that similar bands were Royal Blood and Nothing but Thieves, which is what we were aiming for .

Having looked at album conventions for rock bands, I've had to change the front cover design a few times to make it fit better. here are some I've done so far (bearing in mind that not all of them are fully finished and that the band name changed):

This one didn't really look like an album cover so was scrapped.


This one was slightly better but I still didn't think it worked as an album cover.


This was the back of the album. The TV fits with the theme of the music video, but it looks a little too cartoon-ish for the band's star image.



This one is better as it showcases the band like a lot of rock album covers do, but the picture should have an effect on it to really fit the conventions.

This one is bright red and black but the band look cool. There's an effect on the photo to make it look rough and old.