Researched websites...

When starting to create the website, the first thing I did was look at real artists’ websites to learn the conventions and provide a basis for what I needed to put on there. Some “key ingredients” of a band website include:

• Fan interactivity
• Merchandise
• Videos
• Playable music
• News
• Purchasing opportunities for the music
• Tour dates
• Gallery
• Artist biography

Similar to 'Florence' and 'Paolo Nutini' Jack Johnson has created a very personal website that has significance meaning to him as an individual as well as an artist. I love the vintage layout of a rusted tin background with the use of images to create significant meanings to him as an artist. He has used images instead of written info about him, which I personally feel is risky but has a very effective outcome. The 'Old Fashioned' images act as the navigation bar, for example the small plant could have connotations of where he began and info about is journey making his way up as a solo artist. The camera obviously means images of him, my personal favourite is the two tin cans attached together with a piece of string, an old fashioned way of communicating, which suggests how can can get in touch with Jack. Cleverly the site has a small navigation bar at the top of the page, so that if fans/people do not understand the significance of the images they can use the written navigation bar.

This is another one of my favourite websites personally as a teen viewer. I have spoken about not being TOO graphic heavy, but there is something about the graphic, images, font and layout that makes the page so interesting. When you first click onto the homepage the large 'LIVER' is animated and pumps up and down, this links with one of 'FLORENCE AND THE MACHINES' album name 'LUNGS'. Music of Florence singing immediately plays when you enter the homepage which I thinks is a nice feature only if the viewer has access to turn it off and on. The site has a vintage theme which matches her style of music and vintage persona that she portrays. The site is very personal to the artist for example, her name is florence and she has added a vintage image of a flower, the site includes random little images and sayings, which makes the site easier for fans to get to know florence as an individual as well as an artist.

This is one of my favourite websites, I love the 'Mise en Scene' of the whole of the design. As this website is for a solo artist "PAOLO NUTINI", it's nice for the artist to make their website quite similar to their style of music and persona as an individual. For example 'Paolo' is very unique and has a very vintage, laid back approach as an artist, creating relaxed music to suit any genre and audience. As he has no specific target audience, his website has to be designed to suit any age. I feel that his site has really acknowledged that a range of ages will be going on his site as the design has played safely with a cream/vintage paper effect, with a nice animated feature of moving picture frames at the top of the page. The typeface of his name is his signature logo which is used on his album cover as well, this unique vintage font is easily recognisable for fans/people. The only criticism that I would have is that the site has no navigation bar, which again will confuse viewers. The layout is nicely full of different info and video's about the artist, which will keep the viewer interested.

I love how this website has kept a sophisticated, clear layout with the use of a vibrant 'SUNSET' themed colour scheme of reds, orange and yellow. The warmth of the colours create friendly, welcoming connotations. I like the fainted blurred out image of the band behind the font of the info, making the font easy to read over the image. My favourite feature of the site is the clear navigation bar made to look like a wooden strip across the top centre of the page. The only criticism that I would make to improve the page is for the homepage to include a signature logo of the band as the band do not have anything for their fans/people to recognise them, also company's would not have anything to see on t-shirts, album cover etc... so their advertisement side would let the band down. Although the typeface and white font of the name of the band "KINGS OF LEON" stands out well, I would have made the name slightly bigger, as they do not have a logo, they would need to make their only signature, their name stand out more. The layout is very similar to other sites, which is playing safe, and is what the viewer is used to, however the first information about the band is their 'TOUR DATES', as a viewer I would feel that I want to get to know the band a bit more before I decide to book tickets to see their tour, this is forcing a 'BUY THIS BUY THAT' effect on the viewer.

I love the vintage, simplicity of the "ARCTIC MONKEYS" homepage. The black, bold font and the cream background colour contrast nicely together. The layout is slightly different to the other currents sites as the middle sections is wider, which allows the page to include more info about the band. I like the immediate video, almost like an introduction about the band, and info about them, their music and their website. However much I like the page, the navigation is TOO small, similar to 'Snow Patrol', this would frustrate me as a viewer. I love the '60's' style typeface of the album name, although slightly to the left of the page it still is very noticeable. Similar to most sites, the page includes info about what the band have done and achieved and upcoming events that the viewers can participate in.

This site is very similar to the 'Mumford & Sons' homepage, due to the black background colour and minimalist layout of images and fonts. I like the unusual, unique layout of a green soldier anorak image of the left hand side of the site. The uniqueness could symbol the band members themselves and their music. It's unusual as an image of a jacket has no resemblance to the band what so ever, they could have gone for an expected image of a picture of 'DRUMS' to go with the bands name, however this would be too expected, so this image goes against audience expectations. This unique image and layout will also persuade the viewers to want to fond out more behind the unique homepage, 'welcome mat' of the site. However much I love the simplicity of the site, I feel that the blank black space on the right hand side is a little TOO empty, which could create a risk of boring the viewer as there is not much to grab their attention. This sort of website would attract a certain type of audience, which will not promote their music as much as other popular current websites. There is no sign of a navigation bar, which matches the uniqueness of the page, however difficult for audience to find what they are looking for.

I love the futuristic element that the homepage of the website reinforces. The logo image of the 'tabby cat' symbolises the album cover, which again is good way to make the audience resemble the band through their logo. The colour scheme of the edited image of the cat includes tints of purple, blue, green and black, which are very futuristic colours. The main thing that drew me to the cat is the edit of they cat's eyes, they have been edited an emerald green to create the scientific element. The band's name "TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB" is very clear on the site slightly to the left top centre of the page, where the eye naturally likes to see. The font of the name is very clever, and again like the logo resembles the band so that the audience can easily recognise the band from logo and typeface. Similar to "Snow Patrol" the navigation bar is very unclear, which makes it hard for the audience to find what they are looking for, that is the worst thing for a website, to make it confusing for the viewer, which frustrates them and makes them not want to spend time on the site. The layout is simple and easy to follow, however nothing really excited me as a viewer.

I love the simple, minimalist layout of the Mumford & Sons website. The black background creates a sophisticated approach, which is quite relaxing to the eye as it's not overloaded with bright colours forcing the eye to concentrate. The 'relaxed' colour scheme also matches the bands persona of a laid back group of men creating country folk music. I feel that the layout is one of the strongest features of the site. The large centred logo of a vintage symbol takes up most of the top page, which is a good advertisement technique so that the fans/people will remember the golden logo. Underneath the logo stands the name of the band, which again is vital for fans/people to see first on the homepage. The Gold logo contrasts well against the simple black background, with white font to stand out from the black and gold. The colours of black and gold resemble colours of wealth, which could create connotations of wealth of the band's success. I like the layout of the page with 'LATEST NEWS' as the first info about the band, as they are not throwing "BUY THIS BUY THAT" at the audience, they are simply informing them about upcoming events that the audience might like to participate in. In small font at the top of the page is a small audio button, to allow the fans/people to interact and listen to one of the band's songs, this is a clever way to promote their music without forcing the viewer to listen, they have a choice. I love the 'LESS IS MORE' approach that the website creates.

This website clearly conveys that the band has a significant signature of a 'Hawk' that they want their fans and people to recognise as their logo. The image of the hawk over the sun creates warm connotations from the sun, however animalistic, mysterious connotations from the hawk, recognised as a predator in the animal kingdom. The vibrant colours of orange and yellow contrast well against the light grey background of the website. The simple bold, black font of the band's name (very important that name stands out clearly) "SNOW PATROL" again, stands out well against the grey and orange. The homepage, 'welcome mat' of a website is not overly crowded which is important not to be TOO graphic heavy. Throughout researching current websites the 'navigation bars' are very clear and constructive so that the fans/people know exactly where to find what they want to know about quickly. The navigation bar on this site is very small and hidden at the top of the page, when visiting this site I had trouble finding what I wanted to know due to the small navigation bar. I like the simple layout of the site, almost set out like a 'Blog', everything in the centre of the page as you scroll down. Good immediate selling technique of first information on page "THE NEW ALBUM", however this could be argued that the band are forcing the viewer to buy their album before finding out information about the band, what they are like and what their music is like.