Draft CD Cover: Audience Feedback

Research on Draft CD Cover
To enable me to design and create a CD cover that would truly promote my artists values and beliefs as well as successfully targeting an audience, I asked a group of students some questions that allowed me to gain some constructive criticisms to make better my front cover and also what I did correctly for the initial cover.

The initial responses to my draft front cover was that it looked more like a miniature piece of art rather than an actual CD front cover for promoting a band. Although the aesthetics were pleasing to look at, there was nothing that particularly promoted an unsigned band. Instead of having a range of patterns, there could be something more to promote the image of the band and that represent their values and beliefs. This, for instance, could be an image of the band themselves, that would show the audience who this new and upcoming band are. This could also allow potential fans to identify with the image of the band members which could draw more listeners into their music.

Another thing that was pointed out by a student, was that there is a lot going on in one single image which makes the image seem chaotic and unnecessarily cluttered. This led me on to think that although the final image looked cluttered, each individual pattern was distinct and unique and interesting, just as I wanted my band to be perceived, making them memorable. I decided that I didn't have to completely exclude these images but I could use them in other areas of the digipak that must be created as part of promoting the band. That way I can ensure that there will be more promotional features for the band on the front cover and can still keep the distinctive images without confining them all to one front cover.

I plan to include some sort of photograph of the band themselves in action, maybe whilst playing at a gig to gain enhanced realism and place the image on the initial green striped background there was. I have also decided to take the black and white checkered patterns out as they cause quite a lot of the clutter; there is a clash between the green stripes and the black and white checks.

Taking the time out to understand what other people thought about my creative ideas was extremely beneficial as it encouraged me to change certain things that may or may not have worked in promoting a brand new artist. Obtaining a different perspective on my ideas was very refreshing and it helped me understand what i really needed to do in order to efficiently promote and sell my band's music.