Vivian Oparah's Blog: 2. How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

Personally, I think all our texts work together synergistically to really showcase the artist we've created. All the texts were effective for a number of reasons. Before we started, Josh and I looked into our main inspiration for NTLS which was FKA Twigs, to see how she achieved this and summarised our findings in the following case study

Personally, the main stand out points I learnt from looking at FKA Twigs was the power of synergy. The brand she has created is so strong that it is instantly recognisable and she upholds this quirky futuristic nature in everything she does whilst making it clear what genre her music is from. From this we definitely were inspired by being as synergistic as possible.

STYLE
We have used NTLS costume in the music video and in their promotional photos to show their personal style. The uniqueness of the costume is then immediately associated with NTLS. Richard Dyer star theory discusses creating an image that the audiences eye can appeal to so we played on this by making their outfits interesting and individual.

The simplistic costumes were enhanced with jewellery and makeup. The makeup they wear is unusual for everyday society. However, considering David Gauntletts theory of role models, we wanted the dots to act as navigation points which encourage people to be individual and make bold style choices. We also thought this makeup style would become something the audience would put on themselves at concerts or even their own social events.

Examples of the facial dots

The awkward and unusual stance of NTLS in the promotional shots adds to the unnatural and other-wordly feel they are trying to create, similar to FKA Twigs. It is also quite typical of Alternative artists to look quite serious and awkward in photos so it connotes the genre.

The XX (Electronic Artist) Unusual awkward stance

SBTRKT (Electronic Artist) Unique pose

NTLS Promo Shots which feature on the website

PERSONA
When creating the personalities for NTLS, we were really influenced by Richard Dyers pop star theory with regards to the aspects of unattainably.

FKA Twigs video and audience commentary

We wanted the duo to come across incredibly unique and quirky as we know our target audience (fans of the Electronic/Alternative genre) respond positively to this and so happily buy into this (see screenshot below).

Richard Dyer also discussed how stars are promoters of certain ideology and so we thought that NTLS should be pioneers of the importance of creativity and individuality.

We carefully created their personalities:

We were influenced by Richard Dyers star theory where he discusses sculpting the artists image through what you put in the public eye about them. You see this a lot with the artist Rihanna:

Therefore we continue to show their cool, abstract and mysterious nature on their social media pages

Instagram feed

Twitter Feed

BRANDING
Consistent Style
To create a strong brand across all three texts we had to have a consistent style so that viewers could blatently see the link between all the 3 texts. We played off the simplicity of the track, going for a minimalist theme across what we created. The video is simple but strong and intense, in terms of movements, cuts and overall vibe.

The gallery shows a range of images from the video

with time codes showing the consistency of style in the video

The features on the website are also simplistic whilst still communicating all the necessary information and the same goes for the album cover. This idea of simple but effective is something unique to us and clearly consistent across all three texts. Further, in terms of colours the monochrome colouring can be seen across all three of our texts in different ways. The studio set ups for the music video were black and white and so were our costumes. The internal album artwork and other aspects of the album artwork are monochrome and the website features white text on a black background along with black and white in various other places- with the store only stocking monochrome merchandise.

Simple but effective

Monochrome

We also ensured that even minor things like the fonts were kept consistent. All pages of the website are in "Caudex" a plain sans-serif font. The font on the album cover is "Penault" which looks quite similar to the font used on the website but has an element of being handwritten which we liked.

Fonts

The only colour used is those which are present in the forestry, this is again to maintain the minimalisim. Our layout on the website is very geometric using primarily squares and rectangles. This focuses the viewer on the content by framing what they look at.

ICONOGRAPHY
Iconography was really important with making our texts work together because not only would they connote the genre, they would also need to be recognisable and individual to NTLS.

FACIAL DOTS
As previously mentioned in how we showcased their style, the facial dots can also work as iconography. In any text where the artists are seen, the dots on the face are also pictured.

FKA Twigs dancers, both with her hair style

Although for now they are only seen on the duo's face, in future videos this could be use for dancers just like twigs uses her unique hairstyles for her backup dancers.

When people see black and white dots on faces of fans or anywhere else, they will think of NTLS, the different positioning for male and female also really helps to push this.

Iconography like this will really help NTLS to be known outside their main fan base, the fact it is repeated across all three texts therefore strengthens this possibility.

MERGED FACIAL GRAPHIC

LOGO
For our merchandise, we had to consider what the target audience would wear and what they like and so we looked for inspiration for what is already successful merchandise amongst Electro-Alternative artists.

By altering the logo on the merchandise, either by enlarging, rotating or repeating the image we made the logo iconic. In high fashion brands, the logo is always looked at or remembered and so we thought by doing this on the merchandise, irrespective of whether it had been slightly altered, it would be recognisable to the band. Also, as the logo itself is very interesting, the target audience would buy the merchandise and so by them want to wear and buy it, it will promote the band itself.

LOGO SATURATION
The saturation of the logo across all three texts, not just the merchandise on the website, was essential in creating a symbol which was immediately associated with NTLS.

SYMBIOSIS
SOCIAL MEDIA
From looking at other sites such as Lewis Watsons, we saw that we could use social media as another way to market the brand. So, we created and posted regularly on a Twitter account. The instragram account was converged with Twitter and so our posts automatically were put on Twitter. The Instagram page was also embedded into the website GALLERY as a live feed so audiences could scroll through the pictures on the website, or they could go click the link and follow NTLS.

Instagram links posting to twitter

Instagram embedded in the website

We also created a Facebook page. This gave the opportunity for artists to see statuses or picture uploads from NTLS.

RADIO
We wanted to link our artist to Radio 1 as the radio station usually interviews and works with alternative artists who are all about the music, similar to NTLS:

Electronic Music on Radio 1