OUGD504 Studio Brief 04 - Existing Digital Presence & Album Re-Launch Research

The best place to start the research for the unit was with the original album cover of which will be the feature album of the campaign launch. By looking at this original album cover I have chosen a few element of which will have to be taken in to major consideration when designing the launch website. The first of these points was the colour, the decision will have to be made to keep the colour coherent with the Wu Tang Clan style and use the bright yellow colour that they are synonymous for or to try to experiment with some other colours they are relevant to the album be it the link of the colours of the american flag to represent the artists culture or maybe a solo red colour to link the colour scheme in to the oriental feel the album conveys. 
Another major research point that I took for the aesthetic side to the design is whether to keep the historic serif typefaces that are used in all the old collateral for the artist and more specifically in the chosen album.

Now that the research in the album that was being re-released it was now time to partake in research in to the existing musical digital campaigns of which will become the inspiration and insight in to the standards and normals for this type of promotional music campaign work. I started by looking at the existing website of the artist chosen for the deliverables of this unit and here is a screenshot of it below…

Above is a screenshot of the existing digital presence of the artist who's album I am going to design the release campaign for and although this isn't strictly the best research I could partake in to gain inspiration for the layout and style of an album release website I thought it would be a good point to start by looking at the digital presence that already exists of the artist to see what themes they run and if there is any crucial parts of which I would have to take in to consideration in the creation of the launch website.

Like the album and all of the other collateral for the artist the existing website had maintained to use the simple back, white and solo colour theme and furthermore maintaining the iconic yellow colour that the artists are known for.

In contrast to the last part of the research they have decided to take a more modern feel with the digital side by the use of a block serif type font instead, this decision will have been made due to the fact that the original album was designed and released in 1993 meaning that it had become a little out dated, but I don't think in my opinion that this use or a modern style is appropriate for Wu Tang Clan.

From the research I have determined two very big points, the first of these is the crucial choice of whether to keep the colour scheme in keeping with the original theme of the album or to change the colour scheme to revitalise the following of the album by tying something new. This will have to be thought deeply about as although consistency in design is something I see as very important to build a brand as a whole but as the album has become slightly outdated a revamp and redesign in colour may be what is needed to regain not only the old followers but also to gain a new following of the artist and ultimately raising album sales.

The final important decision to be made is whether to remain with the sans serif style typeface used in one of the modern representations of the brand of which I don't believe is best representative of the music or even the traditional oriental essence of the album or whether it would be good to go back to the use of a serif typeface lending itself to the collaboration of the historic side of the album but the modernity of the rerelease, creating a harmony of original colours and old fashioned serif style typefaces with a simple colour palette and overall modern aesthetic creating the perfect balance of traditional and modern    for a new album digital re-release campaign.