This document analyzes and summarizes the packaging and promotional materials for Mumford & Sons' album "Sigh No More". It discusses how the faded color scheme of the digipak suggests their music deals with real issues rather than being purely upbeat. It also notes how images of the band members in a shop window and house windows give them a humble, indie image. Font choices and natural colors used are said to fit well with folk music conventions. An advertisement with overlapping polaroid-style band photos in a field gives a vintage, humble feel consistent with their genre.
2.
The digipak
The digipak has a quite bleached colour scheme, the whites and
yellows are all faded and make the appearance more real and
less forced to catch the audiences eye. This may suggest the idea
that their music is not all cheery and feel good, the themes of the
music will be centred around more real issues unlike chart
music perhaps. The focus on the shop/house creates quite an
indie look. We get the feeling that this shop window is similar to
vintage shops, which reach out to a specific consumer much like
Mumford and sons. By having the band in the shop window
they keep this indie look with the attire being typically folky,
however it also seems to be saying that they are selling the
genre. With folk not being a overtly popular genre such as pop,
the band are therefore used to sell their genre’s style which is
well represented through the manikin figures they are set up to
be.
The font is kept the same on all
three areas, Album art, CD and
song list. This consistency stays
true to the band and genre’s style
and allows for them to be easily
recognised through their logo.
The inside continues the theme of the window imagery, this time moving up to the
house windows with the band member in 4 separate ones. This suggests their
upbringing coming from a more humble background, much like most artists in this
genre. They look more natural in this image which gives me the idea that they feel less
forced when they are not being sold to the public which gives the perception that the
band is made up of humble members.
The CD is plain black with a
silver outline which to me,
resembles a vinyl record. This is
a very indie image and fits well
with the folk genre and their
very vintage image.
3.
Font
The traditional style of the font follows genre conventions as it connotes the folk genre, this is the font used as branding for
Mumford and sons throughout their branding in the sigh no more era. The connotations of this font allow for folk, hipster
and traditional reading onto their work. Where genres such as pop tend to have more vibrant, bold colours and eye catching
font to create a fun, happier perception of the artist and their music (Mika is a good example of this .)However
Mumford and sons use a less bold and outlandish font which is more subtle, which does suit their style and genre; Folk
tends to be more natural and therefore allows for this stylistically subtle font. The change in font between the ‘Mumford and
Sons’ and the ‘Sigh no More’ gives some difference between the artist and the album name. Though very similar in their
subtlety, the font for the album title is less of the focus as it is much smaller and even less bold. This creates a focus on the
artist which is typical for a folk artist as their audience is usually familiar with the band due to a form of cult following; they
tend to not reach out into new audiences as folk tends to have a smaller following.
The colours used in the examples on this
slide are all very natural, Gold, white and
black are very natural and traditional
which follows folk conventions and is
utilised in most of Mumford & Sons
branding.
4.
Advertisement
This advert is centred around the
four band members which gives a
focus on the band and their music
(because they are holding their
instruments) which advertises
them as a band who are in it for
the music, not the money or fame.
The pictures are set in a field with
a sepia filter giving a slightly
vintage look to the images. This
creates the natural and traditional
look that the folk genre seems to
be based around. The polaroid
style way of setting the images is
a good basis for what I could do
wit my own advert, since the
song is called photograph. The
overlapping and crookedness to
the composition of the images
gives the look that it is not
uniform which I feel creates a
humble attitude to the band as
they are not attempting to be
aesthetically pleasing just to sell
their image.
The reviews from magazines are kept very
minimal on this advert. Where most artist use 3
or 4 statements and reviews, Mumford & sons
have only used one. This further adds to the
humble attitudes and good image of the band
yet still allows for some form of
recommendation.
The use of black on the poster instead of
bleached white and yellow on the digipak
creates a contrast. By doing this we see the
band not focused on one image, they seem
to have multiple personas and perceptions
of themselves and their music. By doing this
they are making their genre seem more
interesting and diverse and therefore
enticing the audience to listen to their
music.
