One of the first decisions I made when approaching this task was whether I want the artists to be featured on the album or whether I wanted it do be more symbolic. Both options have different conventions, presenting the artist as either someone who makes their music to improve or manipulate their star image by appearing on the album as a selling point or if their true focus is within the music, which can be shown through not exhibiting themselves. I decided to use a photo in which you could see the artist in order to try and establish a closer link between the artist and their audience however, unlike many album photos, my artists isn’t looking or angled directly towards the camera, instead she is looking past the camera to the left creating some distance. Arguably, this could appeal to the second of Dyer’s paradoxes in which he states that an artist should be ‘both present and absent’. By having the artist as a feature, she is present yet there is an element of discretion as she’s not entirely open with the audience.
For For the background, I increased the saturation slightly to heighten the already bold orange and green colours which would attract the public eye as well as connote the artists originality and discretion as this contrasts to the colours that present her. Through the use of symbolic conventions such as her all black costume a colour that is often associated with a genre of music such as indie rock, she is presented as quite mysterious assisting the star image that I’ve created. The colour of her eyes and of her hair in certain places assists the background colours making the album appealing to an audience but also connotes the artists vibrant personality that would no doubt be reflected in her music.
For my artist, Tris Akyro, her primary target audience would be teenagers and young adults because not only do people within this age range amalgamate to create the largest consumer cohort, they are also the people who tend to choose indie rock over other genres. The conflicting ideas within the album cover would appeal to this audience as teens and young adults are, as Dyer thinks, more ‘rebellious’ and ‘anti authoritarian’ which can be seen by the dynamic contrast in colours but also the authoritarian font and how that contrast with the non archetypal angle with which the artists is being presented. The presence of the artist would attract women in this demographic as they stereotypically look for music that presents them with a star image that the can relate or aspire towards. People are attracted to albums sometimes just as they are to a book that has an interesting cover, if they see an artist that they like the look of, they will likely buy it without conventionally being attracted to that specific genre.
Overall, I think that as a first attempt, I created an album that presents all the necessary information as well as creating a positive star image for ‘Tris Akyro’. However, for my final product, I will need to take into consideration how even the slightest change can alter the genre perceived through the artwork. Anything such as the colour scheme or even the saturation of the predominant colours can alter it quite extensively. For this artwork I think I found a good balance between colours and through the composition, created an artists that attracts her target audience as well as appealing to certain aspects of a theory such as Dyer’s.
