03 Research - Website

(Complete)

In this section, I have looked at Production Inspiration of artist's websites and social media pages and analysed them, writing what I liked and disliked about them and create a Codes and Conventions section to say what I am taking from this research.

Production inspiration & Codes and Conventions

-Websites

-Social Media Feeds

Olivia Rodrigo

Olivia Rodrigo is an American pop singer. Her fanbase is stereotypically girls and women in their tweens, teenagers and young twenties and I believe that is well represented through her media presence. I really like the young feel to this website that is created by the animations and movements all over the website, specifically the video header. Along the idea of this stereotypical audience, there is a very consistent colour scheme, purple, and symbols, hearts and stars, giving her fanbase something to 'represent with' - I believe this would appeal to a younger audience because it seems attractive and almost immersive, allowing the audience to get involved. On this notion, I think the merch is presented really nicely and would appeal to her target audience with the moving pictures and videos, especially when you hover over each item. There's a lot of variety in merch, giving her fanbase a lot of opportunities to buy and promote her as an artist, which girls and young woman would definitely do, making her fanbase a community. Furthermore, I can recognise that being very active on social media, such as TikTok and Instagram, can promote her as an artist, showing her presence to even more to the tweens, teenage and young twenties audience, growing her fanbase.

Sabrina Carpenter

Sabrina Carpenter is an American pop singer, whose target audience ranges typically from women aged 18 to 25 years old. Her website, I believe, is very unique for a pop artist whose fanbase is typically young women as it's set out as a magazine. I really like the layout of this website, keeping moderately consistent with the colour scheme and layout. The style would appeal to my brief of 16–25 year old middle and up market audience of style-conscious people. There are various popups on on each subpage which are unique to her and I believe are really effective, and encourage her listeners to click to find out more and interact with the website. Her socials are very clearly linked at the top of each page, showing her presence online to her audience, who would use the apps she is active on. The only thing I am not a fan of on her website is the drastic change in layout from the Merch Page vs other pages; the theme of a magazine is dropped, unfortunately, and looks very different to the original layout. I do, however, like the merch and think it's suited to her target audience.

Suki Waterhouse

I have looked at the Instagram feeds of 3 pop music artists whose target audience is predominantly women aged 16-25 years old, meaning they are ideal for my to research for my own project. I checked their profiles, their photographs and their caption and they all seem to present as casual young women who post to seem relatable and liked by their audience. The three women keep a casual but also a stylish theme to their pictures, posting every day shots and more classy and style-conscious pictures that indicate that they are famous artists. I have a strong idea of what would appeal to my target audience and I would like to recreate an Instagram feed for my artist using my own images for the audience to engage with.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift's website is very simplistic in comparison to Olivia Rodrigo's. She uses very plan colours and an organised layout which could potentially be due to her large fanbase of predominantly millennial aged women; it may be easier for them to navigate around the website, presenting me with the idea that she understands her audience's needs for less media presence. This website seems to have a calm and "quiet" feel to it, not being busy and overloaded with popups and pictures and links. I think this can be very affective for her audience, potentially making it easier and, in turn, more desirable. I like the soft shades and consistency of the advertisement for her latest album "The Tortured Poets Department", specifically in the header of the website; I think the layout is very affective. I personally really like the Archive Section with all her albums in order of production, along with the names, and album covers- when you hover your mouse over each album, they appear. The 3x4 layout is very pleasing on the eye and I may use this in my own website.

Florence & The Machine

Florence & The Machine's website is very unique to them as performers. It focuses specifically on Florence Welch the singer, presenting her as the "main figure" of their rock band. The website has a "whimsical type feel" to it, using rustic colours and ideas, such as the the tarot card chapters, the merch designs and the borders on the main page. I like how it's fitting to their vibe and onstage presence and the sound of their music. The merch is very simplistic with clothes and posters. The target audience for Florence & The Machine is very vast and broad, appealing to any age and gender, but appeals to anyone who likes this type of rock music. I think this can be represented through the simplicity but uniqueness.

Adele

Adele is a very well known artist with music that ranges from jazz to R&B to soul and blues, and is liked by everyone, making her target audience very broad but stereotypically consists of majority women, specifically mothers as lots of her songs are relatable for that category. Her website is very simplistic which I think is due to her being so well known- her header is a large picture of herself on stage, while her name is hidden in the top left corner, conveying how known she and doesn't need her name plastered over the screen. Personally, I really like how the albums are presented (when you move the mouse they zoom in on each one) and I think it's very chic and modern. I could take the album idea for my website because I like how it's laid out. The website, I find, is difficult to navigate with little indication to her merch. I will make it clear how to navigate around my website. She hasn't got her social media linked anywhere, possibly because she doesn't use them to promote herself. I really like the dark colour scheme from her Header to her merch- it's very consistent. I think this website and artist appeal to my brief of 16–25 year old middle and up market audience of style-conscious people.

Hozier

Hozier's website is very simplistic in the sense that it has a front page with a promotional video to advertise his latest album and hyperlinks with his merch and tour dates attached. It's clearly laid out and rather simple. I prefer the websites with a more interactive front page and more things to engage with while having the ability to scroll, but I do like the way this website is formatted. I like the consistency of the colours of white, yellow, black and orange. The header is a very unique promotional video of his album with the singer covered in dirt and growing a glower through his mouth. I like the layout of the music videos on the hyperlink, I believe it's very affective and clearly presented. The target audience for Hozier is typically late teens and early twenties aged women, having music that appeals to a female audience, but can vary.

Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac's website is very consistent with it's older themes, with a vintage colours and fonts. The band's fanbase does range rather broadly but is more prominently those who were around during the bands prime, typically older generations. I think that's reflected through the old look and consistency of the video quality, merch and the website layout. I like their pop up because it's formal and straight to the point. I like the layout of the website, specifically the videos and music sections, and the fonts that are featured throughout the website because it appears established and professional. These music videos don't feature thumbnails, potentially because, being an older band, their target audience tends to be older and less interested in the media and promotion side of their music and prefer to watch them performing their songs live. Therefore, I will add thumbnails to my music videos because they are designed for a younger, more media orientated target audience.

Madison Beer

Madison Beer's target audience is typically young women aged 13-25, making her music ideal for this task. Her website is very similar to the other pop artists of her age with the consistency of the website, the merch and the layout, however, it also consists of two other pages that caught my interest: the news article collage page and the about me page. I think the 'news article' page is very affective for her fans who want to keep up to date with news and information on her music and latest events etc. I really like the 'about me' section and think I would complete one of these for my own artist for the website by making news articles and headlines for up to date information. I like the colour scheme and her videos seem to match that same vibe - making it very consistent which I like. I will make my website very similarly in hopes it appears consistent because if I like it then my target audience of my age could potentially like it too.

Lord Huron

Lord Huron is an indie rock band with a large appeal to the young and middle-aged adults. I like the layout of this website along with the rustic type feel to the merch and website which reflects the music. I really like the photo gallery and would like to create one of my own using behind the scene pictures and concert shots. There's consistency in the yellow font throughout the website and the albums. The albums are also displayed similarly to the other websites, using the simple layout which I have identified already liking.

Birdy

Birdy's website is very similar to the others. Her target audience is around 14-30, making her ideal for this task as my target audience is 16–25 year old middle and up market audience of style-conscious people. The website is consistent in its design and style with consistent colour themes and styles. The album covers seem to be different, perhaps demonstrating the different themes of music and different phases in her life as an artist. The website seems to follow the colour schemes and designs of the latest album. I really like the text and fonts used throughout along with the colours. I believe there isn't enough for her audience to interact with while in my brief it states I need to include web pages that must promote the band/artist to its target audience and enable fans to interact with them. So, I would add more for fans to get involved with, but I do like the overall layout of this website.

Codes and Conventions of Websites

Consistency in Colours and Themes

Every website appears to have specific themes they use throughout to reflect their music and media presence. The colours and themes stay consistent, giving their audience something to associate with the band/artist. I will stick to a similar theme with my own website, giving my artist one colour to stay consistent to, just as Olivia Rodrigo does with shades if purple and red. As for specific themes, I would create a logo or consistent title written in a specific font and colour to create a persona around my artist.

Layout

Typically, the artists have a home page/cover with their name, faces or most recent album covers across it to allow the viewers to see who they are and depict their own ideas of who the artist is. I like the idea of having a consistent layout that will be distinctive to my artist for my audience to resonate with. I will include a header with my artists name, an albums section, a media section with behind the scenes pictures and videos, a music video section and a merch section. I also liked Madison Beer's news and about me sections so I aim to replicate them in my own way.

Image Choice

I have noticed that the header of the artists websites typically haven't got the artist facing the camera or looking at the audience. The images appear to either have the artist busy with something, like singing or looking into the distance, or the artists are promoting their new albums and doesn’t seem to engage with the audience directly. I think I would like my header to have my artist featured so that the audience knows right away who it is and what their name is, and I will promote the other music and albums later on in the website through images of album covers. I intend to break the stereotype of the artist looking away from the audience because the whole idea of my artist is that she wants other young women to feel seen when she felt invisible. I want the audience to feel engaged with my artist immediately as they view the page, not to feel intimidated but to feel on the same level as her. I will use a colour grading and consistent theme to all of my images and decide on specific mise en scene with meanings.

Audio-Visual Aspects

The artists websites that I looked at all feature a media section where the artists promote their music videos or behind the scenes or photos, for example in a gallery. I will create thumbnails for other music videos for my artist to create an archive of activity in media. I will create a photo gallery too with images taken inside and outside in either film sets or on stages or interacting with fans etc.

Interactivity

-I have noticed that the other websites feature pop ups that encourage the audience to get involved and interact with the artist - this includes signing up to the fanbase emails and checking out the new albums etc. I will create one of these when users first open my website to promote joining the fanbase. Depending on the type of music and themed of my chosen artist, I will create things to increase interactivity. For example, if the songs feature sadder themes such as depression, I will create something to ensure the audience knows they aren’t alone and that there are platforms for them to reach out and talk to if needed, while if the songs feature more childish themes then I would add something for children to interact with.