Sigh no moreSigh no more

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.

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.

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.