Question 2

How effective is the combination of

your main product and ancillary texts?
 ‘brand identity’ and how it is
used
Having a brand identity is essential when tailoring to a specific audience where the
advertisement product is promoting the artist. This ‘identity’ familiarises the consumer by
including semiotic codes within each of the texts which are both visually appealing and
stand out to the consumer. This is present in artists logos which are heavily featured on
advertisements; from album covers to merchandise. This particular style, title or logo is
how an audience is able to identify the artist and creates synergy.

A key example of this brand identity is the logo for

alternative band ‘Artic Monkeys’ who are well
known for their logo. The logo consists of a san-serif
font title in uppercase and beneath is a sound
wave. This sound wave is also present throughout
the visuals of one of their music videos for ‘Do I
Wanna Know?’ which successfully creates synergy
both between the music video and the texts such
as album covers and poster advertisements.
 Creating a brand identity between
the poster advertisement and the
To conform to the codes and conventions of an indie-genre product and to tailor digipak
to the niche audience, the ancillary text that I created holds an artistic aspect
within it. Using digital art software, I illustrated the central image of the two hands
holding using a dry brush tool in white. I chose this tool in order for the illustration to
correspond to the masthead and layout of the poster, which features the band
name ‘Early hours’ and beneath in smaller text is the website link and the name of
the album being advertised. This same upper case serif font is used in the digipak
for the front cover, back cover, disc and for the inside covers. This was done in
order to create synergy between each of the products as well as to create a sense
of familiarisation to the target audience of the brand identity in aspects such as the
logo.
There is minimal text on the poster due to the general conventions of an indie-
genre product being informative and based more on the aesthetic of the layout
and the images used. Taking this factor into consideration, I used a vivid
photograph of the sunset as a background of the poster. I used this image as it is
similar to the images used throughout the digipak design as well as within my music
video where the time-lapse of a sunrise and a sunset are both featured consistently.
The reason for this incorporation of the ‘sky’ is because of the song name ‘Smells
Like Summer’, the sky is a suitable concept to feature throughout each of the
products as it is a reminder to the audience of the season and creates synergy
between the products.
The central layout o the poster is framed by the white simplistic border used for the
illustration and around the text. This is so that the layout does not look sparse and is
visually pleasing to the consumer. This layout also links to the other ancillary text as
the front of the cover has a white border surrounding the image and text. The same
uppercase serif white font is used throughout each of the ancillary texts so that the
brand identity I clearly presented and the synergy between each of the texts is
visually appealing to the audience, and makes the separate products easily
recognisable the audience that they are linked.
 Linking the digipak with the music
My digipak encompasses six pages; the front video and other ancillary texts to
cover, the back cover, the disc and the two
inside covers. Each of these pages contributes create a brand identity
to the brand identity of the indie band group
‘Early Hours’ who have recently debuted their
EP of the summer ‘Smells Like Summer’ which
amongst this song includes four other
soundtracks. The images that I have used in
the digipak link to the visuals in my music
video.

For the front and back covers of the digipak, I

have consistently used various shots that I had
previously taken of the sky as I wanted to
continue to create synergy between the three
separate products. As for each of the inside
covers, these images feature the two main
actors who are in my music video, and have
presented them within the layout of the
digipak so that the audience recognise the
narrative of the music video and the non-
diegetic soundtrack and how this links back to
each of my ancillary texts.
The music video of my indie-genre product featured key aspects which are also present
in both of my ancillary texts. The synergy between each of these products is created
through imagery, text style, and layout. In terms of editing, the footage from my music
video has been enhanced by contrast, vibrancy and saturation in order to emphasise the
concept of ‘summer’ to the audience and visually denote the vividness of the season. At
the beginning of the music video, the first couple of seconds of the introduction
introduces the title of the soundtrack, the band, and the director to the music video. I
ensured that I included the text to introduce the audience to the artists and the
soundtracks, as this is a general feature to music videos. The locations throughout the
music video are low budget which is a general convention of indie-genre advertisement.
This aspect of nature is also present in each of my ancillary texts which feature main
images of the unset. These images juxtapose to the footage throughout my music video
which features a time-lapse of a sunrise. I wanted to create enigma with the choice of
using various images of the sky in both my ancillary texts and main product, in order to
engage the audience and to create synergy between all three products.