Conventions of artist(s) websites

CONVENTIONS OF ARTIST(S) WEBSITES

WHAT DO THEY ALL HAVE IN COMMON?WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES?WHAT ARE THE CONVENTIONS OF THESE TYPES?


COMMON FEATURES Heavy use of flash graphics whether minimalist or flashy Often bright or matching of the act, style is appropriate to the act the

website is promoting Usually an enter page before the actual site to promote most recent album Lyrics page One word navigation links for simplicity – ‘Members’, ‘News’, ‘Merch’ There will always be an element of imagination and innovation in the

design of the website, something to make it stand out from other websites Heavy emphasis on the theme, usually genre specific; text, graphics and

pictures will be in line with the theme Links for oncoming gigs, newsletter signups, merchandise

Examples of headers of websites to show themes:


THE MINIMALISTIC SITE


THE MINIMALISTIC SITE Simple, easy to read text, often using only full capitals Promotion of the latest album dominating the foreground, usually the

album cover or photo of the artist as the main picture taking up the majority of the space

Many use a fade to transition between webpages of the site Contrasting colour schemes – black and white, a bright colour and white Minimalist themes are common with indie bands There are unique and innovative features on each website eg. the ‘About’

page for The Temper Trap, the ‘Freespace’ page for Daughter (in which fans can download and interpret official Daughter audio and video files), the ‘App’ for The XX


THE GRAPHICS SITE


THE GRAPHICS SITE A form of ‘high design’ Usually have an ‘entry site’ page before the main website that is graphic

rich, such as Haim, Foals and Daft Punk’s websites Will have a constantly changing element to it – a transitioning background,

updating news/tweets about the band, or just a loop of pictures The abundant use of graphics tends to carry on throughout the website Often these types of websites will focus more on the graphics and thus lack

in content Navigation is usually more unclear than other websites After the initial interest with the graphics, the websites tend to be

incredibly similar to those in the minimalist category


THE BUSY SITE


THE BUSY SITE Overloaded background; this may be a picture associated with the act or

most recent album, such as Pendulum’s background mimicking their album cover for ‘Immersion’ Others may focus on the foreground detail rather than background,

such as Ke$ha and Plan B Contrasting colours are used to make each part stand out Contents split but usually displayed altogether – Plan B and Ke$ha Elements tend to move such as a slideshow of pictures or stills from a video Large banner at the top of the site Advertising for other products is common – possibly as a way of generating

revenue to pay for the costs of running the site Videos, news and wigits from social network sites are on the home page Merchandise is heavily promoted Band name heavily stylized


THE ALBUM PROMOTION SITE


THE ALBUM PROMOTION SITE Busy background; this may be a picture associated with the act or most

recent album Often the album cover will be incorporated into the website’s design;

Imagine Dragons’ background is the clouds from their album cover and Calvin Harris’ header is the background of his latest album If not, the latest album cover will dominate the contents of the site,

such as Biffy Clyro’s site Promotions for upcoming events, gigs and merchandise are advertised Rest of the site is usually fairly simple to draw attention to the album

information Usually much less busy than other sites so as to not overload the user with

too much information – thus again drawing attention back to the album

Entertainment & Humor

Conventions of artist(s) websites