Ancillary Research Nadine Reynolds

Album name, given in the same font it is on the album

Brand/Artist name

Social media links

Album cover(Latest product)

Short description of the album, naming the best selling songs and some features. Menu (links to other

pages)

Website Analysis• August Alsina is a popular R&B

artist’s who’s music is often slow and melancholic. The website portrays this aspect by its consistent black and white theme

• He uses a variety of fonts on the website. His album’s title “This thing called life” is written in cursive handwriting, as if he wrote it himself.

• His name is written in his trademark font which can be found on all of his albums and tour posters since he began making music- this is an important device in creating a consistent brand image that is recognisable to consumers and fans.

• The bottom of the website page has a white bar, which allows the user to navigate around his site.

• Despite the homepage displaying quite dark colours with an evident black and white theme, the other pages on the site are cream themed, with a black and white faded photo of Alsina in the background. • The same font is used across all pages and

there is a bar of social media links on each page. This shows how he is connected to his audience and their relevance in his success.

Brand/artist name

Dates and locations for the tour

Social media reference

Large image of theartist

Concert Poster• This is a poster from one of his 2014 tours. • Again the same, medieval font is used to

write his name (this can be found across all August Alsina merchandise, albums and posters)

• The theme of the poster is again, black and white, which expresses the same melancholic themes the homepage of his website showed

• Across all of his pages and posters is a picture of Alsina- most of the time in black and white. This indicates his strong presence over his audience as an artist and how he uses his image to appeal to his fans

Large photo of the artist staring directly into the camera

Artist/Brand name

• The homepage is largely dominated by a midshot of the artist. The colours around him are quite evening themed- with blue, grey or black bases. This creates a nostalgic aura around the artist.

• It also seems to be in a non-rural setting, this presents Omarion as a current, urban artist- a theme which is also displayed within his music.

• The mise-en-scene of the artist himself presents Omarion as quite masculine and tough. He stares directly into the camera, which creates a no-fear atmosphere around him and his personality, as well as this, he is wearing a leather sleeveless top. Leather often has connotations of macho masculinity as well as being quite current and trendy. His tattoo’s emphasise this stereotype.

• His earring also presents him as young and urban as older generations may stigmatise piercings, especially ear piercings on boys, this makes him seem like he is rejecting the norms and values that society is placing on him and this can help him appeal and identify with a younger audience.

• At the top of his homepage is his name written in black over a white backdrop. The simplistic theme presents Omarion as a sophisticated character, the use of capital letters for his name also highlights his importance and presence.

• There is a bar beneath his which allows his fans and users to look at other sections of the website, giving information about his music, tours, general news and him as an artist.

• Social media plays a key aspect in every artists career in today’s society and Omarion accepts this with his separate page giving ways for his audience to follow him on his social media accounts.

Brand/artist name

Collage of

albums/photo’s

Buttons to other pages

Social media links

• Trey Songz page has a less consistent theme as his page displays a collage of albums he has produced in the last 10 years.

• However, links can be made between a series of the albums and the black and white theme, as well as the prominent use of the colour red.

• The connotations of the colour red can represent Trey Songz as dangerous (a popular “bad boy” theme found within the R&B music industry) or as romantic- again a convention often found within the music industry and within his music.

• The black and white theme makes Trey Songz seem like a more traditional artist, and gives his work a more nostalgic essence.

Plain black backdrop

Tour poster

Social media links Logo

Buttons to other pages

Menu

• Partynextdoor’s website is a lot more simplistic than those of the other artists we have explored so far.

• His website has a clear dark theme and unlike the other artists he chooses a landscape photo of a sunset rather than one of himself.

• This represents how he is unique as an artist and his contemporary take on the genre- most other R&B artists use their own image to attract fans but PND expresses his feelings towards nature and the beauty in the world instead. This presents him as a less self obsessed character and more down to earth than other R&B artists.

• The image itself of a sunset has connotations of tranquillity and relaxation, so the audience do not expect his music to be very hyped or fast paced. The colours give off a friendly and calming atmosphere which may draw in his audience further.

At the top of his page he does have social media links, but unlike other artists doesn’t have a whole page for social media and his only other features of his website is a “Shows” page and a “Sign Up” page which can be found in the menu bar. This suggests that PND is very much about building a relationship with his fanbase through his music and shows rather than by showing off on his website and his simplistic theme creates a humble persona.

Tour name

Tour dates

Artist names

The tour poster for PND and Jeremih’s tour is very simplistic. It follows the same dark colour scheme that can be found on PartyNextDoor’s official website and the tour name is written over a backdrop of the album cover. There is again, no image of the artists advertised and there are also no social media references. The tour name is written in a rippled font, representing a water reflection- this has connotations of peace and tranquillity- however the ripple could suggest that something has disturbed the peace. The gradient in the colour also suggests has an optimistic essence about it, although “summers over” can be viewed as a negative thing (especially to an audience of teenagers and young adults), the fact that the writing is lighter towards the end suggests that the best is yet to come.

The tour poster is over a plain black backdrop, the simplicity of this suggests that the artist is not very complicated or interested in gimmicks and advanced marketing scheme’s- this again creates a persona for PND that he is humble, down to earth and basic. The artists names are written in a lighter shade, all in capital letters- this gives them an aura of importance and makes the names stand out on the poster. At the bottoms of the poster is tour dates and places, it doesn’t really give any advice on how fans should purchase tickets (e.g. ticketmaster web addresses etc) suggesting that the artists have a strong fan-base that are trusted to find this information out themselves.