final website

Here is the final design for our website -



You can check it out by clicking here or by putting this link into your URL [https://ashenpage.wixsite.com/cigarettesaftersex]
Overall I believe the final design for the website works. Its clean and simple, continuing on our design ideas of the colour red and the swan, which maintains now consistent throughout the media campaign.
So why did I use a gif on the homepage?

I animated the [origami] from the cover to add a somewhat USP to the website, make it something that is worth sharing, which would be appealing for our secondary audience. This as well pulls the audience in, there is something going on, and with the constant stimulation we receive with the internet i feel this fits its trend.

The rest of the website I believe follows the conventions very closely of the similar products, and I wanted to keep it like this, as this meant it would be easy to navigate for all users as this would be a common layout for most indie band websites.

Overall I believe it fits the campaign and launches the star image of the band to appear original and talented and therefore i believe it to be effective.

website creation

Here is a short video I made on the creation of the website, starting from the prototyping stage to the final creation in WIX.

website draft mock up

Here we attempted to create the website in WIX. We wanted to experiment with the look and feel of the overall website and see if we could make something that fitted our overall campaign.

We followed the conventions of having the band on the front page, with the alert of the album being released. We as well integrated social links within the website which we also saw from the conventions.

We added the video, from our campaign.

Then tour dates, which we found was a major element used within indie rock band websites.

Then we had a small bit about the band.

Overall I think the design is nice but lacks character. Its boring and could be for anything, but I personally think it appears to dead to be for our band. Therefore in the next design I will start from the ground up, with a pen to paper prototype then straight into WIX to finish off the design, making something that is personal and fits with the overall design of our promotional package.

different conventions of homepages

To compare to my last post I am gonna right about different/unshared conventions to an Indie websites, by comparing Milky Chances website to Groove Armada's (who is a duo of electronic producers and DJs).

When landing onto there homepage the first thing you get top down is the name of the duo Groove Armada. Then you get a photo of one of them looking at the camera and the second member mirrored fancy either direction. Underneath this you have their social media links. Like the Milky Chance website it quickly establishes and advertises the artists, so people viewing the page instantly know what they are viewing. There menu is located on the right of the page and starts with the introduction to the website "Welcome" then you have their latest release, which is "Fabriclive 87" which is a compilation CD. Then you have there "Dates" of them performing. A "Free Download" and "Sounds". Then their instagram where audiences can connect to their lives. And finally their "Contact".

After there landing page you get there social media links and there email sign up instantaneously. Suggesting they are already an established artist that they don't have to sell anything before you wanting to sign up, suggesting that consumers will want to sign up even before they view the whole website.

Then we move onto their latest release, which has some text about the making of the product and what it means to them, then they have a quote, this will make consumers fill like they are being told a story and are more likely to buy into it as they have invested time reading it. Then they have links to purchase it and read more about it.

Under this it has there tour dates for electronic producers/DJ's this is the most important part of the website as DJ's will not be making money selling the few songs they have but playing live.

Then they have a free download which get you to input your email details which means even though you have got the free download you are signing up for more promotion from them.

Under the free download we are introduced to Sounds, this shows an embedded Soundcloud player with there recent mixes. This means audiences can get directly wired into one of there sets and here what they are up to either to continue the consumers consumption of their product or to introduce new audiences to their skill. Underneath this they have a link to Beatport where customer can buy their tracks.

Then at they have their Instagram again allowing consumers to by into their image. And finally all their contact details mostly for management.

shared conventions of homepages

Here is my investigation into shared conventions of a website homepage into similar genre. Here I investigated the elements that make up the Milky Chance website and why they use these elements.

The header of the Milky Chance website directly indicates there use of communication with audiences. The first thing down from the top of the page is there social media links, this will instantly encourage consumers to connect with there artists. Once the consumers is connected to the artist through social media there artists can begin selling more of their image which the consumers by into due to the incoherent star image. After these links you get the band name in big letters, this is the brand image. Under this you have the menus for the website, "Cocoon" is their newest release, then right on from that you have "Live" which shows the events that they are playing at, then "Videos" show the recent either behind the scenes videos or music videos they have created and the "Photos" section shows the images of them on tour.  The final element of the menu bar is the newsletter, this is similar to the social media links but it is more direct to the consumers inbox giving them constant reminders of the band.

(This is similarly shown on the Alt J homepage just in a different order.)

Anyways moving down the Milky Chance website you come across there most recent hit song music videos, this would be the music video for one of the songs that would have been received as most popular therefore they are trying to promote there best asset.

As you scroll down the page you find there latest release and for Milky Chance thats their single Cocoon. On this section of the website they have multiple links to where you can buy it and listen to it.

Next on from the release you get there live performances. This is the events they will be playing at and where consumers can go see them live. With digital downloads declining I am surprised that they haven't made more of an emphasis on live performances because thats how most artists make there money back now a days.

There video section is an interesting one, I expected that it would just be there  music videos but instead there primary video was the behind the scenes of the music video for their latest release. This is used to show the personality of the bands having some clips of them laughing and mucking about but as well being serious, this means that consumers can get to know and buy into their image. This is emphasised with there photos linking to instagram.

There newsletter sign ups consumers which I don't have much to say about it that I haven't said already. What I do find interesting is the footer of the page is the exact same as the header extra emphasising the fact that the audiences should be connected and following their artist.

why and how do bands use websites.

Bands and artists are now utilising the tool of the internet ever since the transformation to Web 2.0. They are able to connect, sell and make a statement with just one webpage.

A band/artist uses a website to not only advertise but also to gain a wider following and encourage their audiences to continually strive to make sense of the bands incoherent image. This can allow a following to begin as a bands website is the most up to date format of advertising for the band therefore it is a place and method of selling their goods for example music, concerts and merchandise, while keeping connected with their audience.

A website is an official way of establishing the band to the world and releasing the bands image world wide and accessible to everyone and anyone. This means that traditionally the only way a band image could be experienced is through concerts and albums. An example of the use of albums in a traditional method of brand image is shown in the Beatles band album developments starting from their debut album cover of the boys looking all friendly and nice and then looking more progressively serious till their final album of not even having a recent image of them. 

Here is a video analysis on that -

A website is a channel in which audiences can communicate with the band and other fans. Which is continued with the use of social media. Fans and audiences can receive live updates and what they are up to, in other words its the most updated advertising platform for the band. Its a key platform for enable global audiences.

The website is also a place in which professionals are able to book and contact artists for performances or for rights for films. 

[album artwork] our final design.

Here is the final digipak -

Here is the front cover -

Here is the back cover -


Here is the spine for the album -

Here is the inside cover -


Here is the CD cover -

Here is our final album design. In the end I went for a different’t approach and look then originally planned. I went for a lighter red, a more pinkish white colour, allow for a more female audience, that would generally appeal more to the gentle colours.

The front cover has Origami typed out a bunch and then Cigarettes after sex printed on top, creating a stylistic montage of text. While being a unique album design it strengthens the brand having the band name printed in large, putting the band into peoples minds on a subconscious level, making it more likely for them to come back and purchase a product due to familiarity. I followed the conventions of the Alt J album design and followed the creative path for the front cover instead of having a face.

The inside cover has the instruction to make an origami swan as planned, while I desaturated it to make it more neutral its multicolours I believed add to the overall album cover not becoming stagnant and therefore intriguing for audiences, and therefore wanting audiences to by more into their image.

The CD cover has the faces of the band members cut up making one face, because when it comes down to it all their unique realities make one unique sound. The faces have a pop art feel due to the cut out structure making it feel somewhat more organic. The faces reveal more about their identity and allow the audiences to buy more into their star image. For most of the similar products I found this section to be clean and simple and thats how wanted it, so I left it with just the image of the faces.

Finally the back cover. Through out the design process I found the back cover the most difficult. Most of the final designs were quite spontaneous in the small details, and this section I especially I found it difficult to make something I actually liked. I followed the conventions The Smiths back album cover, which was simple and clean, so I kept it like that and just added the swans because I took the swans off from the front of the design and I need it consisted.

Here is a video I made on the design process, with a special guest narration of myself -

[album artwork] creating the final album.

Here is a short video I made on the creation process of the final album design. It shows the variations of what I made to get to the final design and how I did it. Plus it has a beautiful narration by my self so yeah check it out below -

While creating the album design I kept in mind firstly our prototypes, music video and what message we wanted our overall campaign to give off.

Here is gif of me finding the right font for the orgiami background -

Overall I am pleased with how the creation process has gone, our development was super important to get it to this final point, but as well it was fun to experiment on the way. 

[album artwork] rough draft album design.

After the focus groups feedback and seeing the groups work, I began working away at my own designs. Here is a screen recording below of my progress.


And here is the front, which in the end i decided to not have any text as it didn't look very aesthetic, and what found in my research into similar products is that the Alt J album did the same, therefore it follows the genre conventions.

I have brail on the left and right which says cigarettes after sex which i think is a minimal and modern take to text on a album. Behind the bird I put the compilation of the faces which was for the back of the album but inverted. and then on the front I have the origami swan.

Here is the back cover - 

The back cover uses the compilation of the faces which I got from the video footage we had. Below this image we would have the text and the rights info etc. This is just a rough design of the back and front which is incomplete. Now I have created a theme I will try to delegate the task of inside elements of the digipack to the group.

the editing process

So for less then a month now I have been working hard on the editing for the music video. So here is a short film I made on the editing process.



While editing a music video there is a specific workflow to go by just in case everything falls through. Like in the production side start with a wide, then medium, then close up, in the editing stage we must start with the piece that is most necessary.

Therefore I started with the performance cut, because thats what the artists would want the most out over everything. I began by timing everything up with the clapperboard we recorded on the day and the timings in the timeline, making sure everything was in sync, I went on to cut the performance up so it flowed with the overall energy of the music.

Once I had done this I moved onto the narrative, which I mostly rushed due to the rough cut deadline, but it gave me a good structure to work from when I came back to it.

I did a lot of visual effects experiments to get the right look, some I had to let go do to it either not fitting the music video or looking awful.

Anyways hope you enjoy the video above which goes into this process in a bit more depth with sped up screen recordings of me editing.

the pickups

We only had one day to shoo the whole music video and I felt one of the most important aspects had been left out. The finally shot. The final shot in my vision was to have the girl who was dancing through out be shown in her real environment,  which would be a container. This is because the only relevance of the dancer was to indicate the next girl in line for these mens sick games.

So I got Cara back in to do the final shot of her in the container. I wanted to have a match cut from the dancing to cut to her in the container, so I directed her to do a spin and stare at the camera because in reality the person watching the music video is the real voyuer.

I used to red heads to light her. And used the blackmagics to film, with multiple prime lenses, 28mm 35mm and 50mm. I shot it in 4K and 50fps so I could slow down the footage but also scale out to fake a dolly move giving it a more surreal effect.

Cara is always great to work with and always gives great energy while taking it very serious. On the pickup shoot as I had the camera already set up. I decided to get some extra pickup shots of Jason (one of the old men) because I wanted to push my VFX shot of the camera going into the tv, into Jason's eye and then into the tv.

However, while filming Jason he was very difficult to work with mucking about and not taking it serious, and over all the shot just looked cheap when it came to the VFX editing stage.

[feedback] qualitative data from focus group

After showing the focus groups the rough cut and the album they had finished up there questionnaires and we began asking the focus group our open questions. Here is the video footage of their answers.

Here our are first set of questions about the digipak -

Overall I believe that the focus group liked the album cover, but has difficulty understanding the typeface and the origami swan looks a bit scrunched so for the final design it should be a better quality swan. They like the inside of the digipak ideas but not the designs.

Here our are second set of questions about the rough cut - 


my phone ran out of battery so we continued recording from Claudia's phone.

Overall from the feedback the focus group didn't understand the relevance of the dancer, this doesn't help that we haven't got the pick up shot. Another issue was that the audience believed the girl was hiding behind the tv. I would need to make it more apparent that the girls energy is being sucked into the TV I have vfx shot in mind. 

[feedback] quantitative data from focus group.

Today we had the opportunity to get our questions answered.  We where looking for feedback for our overall campaign and for our drafts and rough cuts.

We had assembled a focus group which is a group of people assembled to participate in a discussion about a product before it is launched, or to provide feedback on a political campaign, television series, etc.

We gave out roughly 20 questionnaires and this is the quantitive data we got back, after showing them the rough album designs and the rough cut.

First off here is the data back for the album artwork -

Overall I would conclude that this is very positive feed back about the album artwork, as you can see it is very clear that the album artwork appeared as it should and attracted the focus group. This is very much a success and I believe that we would just need to tweak it here and there to take it to the next level.

Here is the quantitive data for the rough cut -

Overall what I can conclude from the feed back is that overall the rough cut was liked by the majority, the majority liked the pacing and thought it was clear that the guys where in a band together, from the feedback I can move on with the edit and focus on critiquing the pacing and adding more of the dancer as the focus group seemed interested in that.