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I have decided to analyse the album 'Stoney' by Post Malone and compare it to other album cover designs.

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The shot type used here is a mid shot taken from a side angle. This shot type is effective as it focuses on 4 main features: hair, face, hands and clothing.

Hair - Post Malone is famous for his braids and frizzy hair. The braids represent him as an artist. When somebody glances at this album cover and sees the braids, they should be able to regonise who it is immediately. This is the effect that Post wanted to create for his fans. Being a good artist is great but having an audience that can tell who you are from your hair is remarkable.

Face - The camera angle and shot used shows only the right-hand side of his face. This creates a mysterious feeling about him and portrays him as an artist who favours promoting his music over the way he looks or his facial features.

Hands - I believe that the hands play an important part when portraying his image and creating publicity. From this shot we can clearly see the tattoos on his fingers and the back of his hands on both of his hands. This may interest people and so they go on to Google things like 'Post Malone tattoos' or 'what do Post Malone's tattoos mean' and each time a person searches things like these, it increases publicity for Post and he gathers the attention of his audience. With the world introducing Media 3.0 where internet learns about the user through cookies, items related to Post Malone will now be suggested to us. When clicking on google, an advert may pop up suggesting a Post Malone track to listen to or news related to him. As YouTube is a subsidiary of Google, videos will appear on your recommended list that feature Post Malone and even videos explaining his tattoos. This is the power of the internet.

Clothing - Post Malone is represented as an artist who has a very odd image. This image is portrayed very differently to the stereotypical rap/hip hop artist style that is represented on several different artist's videos and CD covers. Stereotypes include white vests, caps/snap backs and a large amounts of money. Post's style doesn't coincide with this stereotype as he sometimes wears normal, everyday clothing (like the black jeans and a black t-shirt in 'White Iverson'') or he sometimes wears floral, female type jumpers (like the one seen in 'Go Flex'). Some viewers may want to adapt this style as Post Malone is a popular, rich individual who can attract attention from the opposite sex. Certain people in his fan base will take on his image and embrace it which further publicises him and gives him free advertising.

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The lighting used on this album cover is called Chiaroscuro. This is the contrast of light and dark in one shot. We can tell that Chiaroscuro is used as half of his face is light; however, one of his eyes is in complete darkness. My interpretation of this is that his music inspiration comes through his eyes and as we cannot see his eye, we do not know what music or songs may come next. This lighting emphasises a feeling of mystery and obscurity. Post portrays the feeling that he doesn't want people to know about his life but more about his music. He'd rather you ask him the meaning of some lyrics than what his mother and father do for work.

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There are two reasons why Post may pick to have orange has the background colour for his album cover. The first reason is all about contrast. Post wants to have a colour that is calming and also one that fits in with his image on the cover. He wants the background to allow his audience to focus on him. The effect this creates is that our eyes are drawn to the orange and then when we focus on the album cover, our eyes are captivated by Malone. If he had chosen another colour, this may have contrasted with his clothing and the lighting used.

Another reason why he may have chosen orange is that it could symbolise something that means something to him. Maybe his approach was that he doesn't want to share his story with us; however, if you are a dedicated fan and know of his background, you may be able to see deeper meaning into the choosing of orange for the accompanying colour. When I think about the colour orange and Post Malone, a thought of Texas pops into my head. This is due to the mountain range and terrain which is a sandy colour. Texas relates to Post a lot as this is where he grew up and Dallas is where he is based. Orange is also a colour associated with tropical adventures and Post makes a couple of references to the Galapagos islands in the song 'Too Young'. The final symbol I think of is the fire used in 'Go Flex'. As I have described in my  'Go Flex' textual analysis, he may use effects of fire to represent the anger that he has bundled up inside of him. He could also be emphasising this anger by having the same colour of fire in the background of his album cover.

To check that I was sure on the background colour being orange due to the contrast, I decided to change the colour myself. I played around with a few colours to see if I preferred them to the original orange and here are the results:

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The yellow background I gave is similar to the orange but it is a lot brighter. This would provide a different feel to the album and could possibly even change the genre that would we would perceive it as.

The purple colour portrays the album as calm and relaxing. I think that if he used purple, it would fit in with his character as he shows off his feminine side a few times with the clothes he wears and by using purple it adds to the effect that his clothes give off.

By using blue it is a stereotypical colour used for boys; however, as Post's audience is of both sexes, it goes against these stereotypes and suggests that no matter the colour of his album, it should attract both genders to listen to it, which it does.

My favourite colour swap I did was the green. I used the eyedropper tool to get the exact colour of the word 'Stoney'. By doing this, I thought it wouldn't look right; however, I think this is the best one. It could possibly even beat the original colour of orange. As the orange has many symbolic references, it would be more appropriate to use that colour. This was a great task I did and it gave me a perspective of what it's like to be an album designer and how hard it can be to choose the right colour that will appear to the target audience, possibly have hidden meanings and one that will not contrast with the rest of the album design.

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The word 'Stoney' is sometimes hard to miss when looking at this CD cover. This could be due to the proportion of it in comparison to Post's body. This could have a positive impact on Post because if people can recognise his album by the colour scheme and his face, then that is a good sign that people don't need album names to attract them or for them to know who it is. On the other hand, some people may notice the album name almost instantaneously due to the colour contrast. The album is predominantly made up of dark browns and oranges; however, with 'Stoney' being written in a tropical, calm green, it draws our eyes to it.

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Other features of this CD cover include the 'Parental advisory explicit content' sign. Every song presented on this album is explicit. It is important that the sticker is on there as it could have detrimental affects if it is not. If a parent buys it for their teenage child and they begin to listen to it, they will hear lyrics such as 'Drankin' Henny, bad bitches jumpin' in the pool And they ain't got on no bra (no bra)' from the song 'Rockstar'. This could lead to the parent becoming angry and creating bad publicity for Post. Underneath the 'Parental Advisory' sticker it says "Strong Language" and "Sexual Content". This also adds to the point written above. He has addressed his audience to say that his album would contain explicit content but as every song includes expletives he has to emphasise that this album needs age restrictions. The final feature of this album cover is his watch. The gold watch could emphaise his wealth and also represents him as a n artist. As he went from having nothing to becoming rich rather quickly, it supports that being successful in music can bring luxuries into your life. It ties into the lyrics in his song 'Too Young' when he says 'Got rich quick'.

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The second album cover I am analysing is 'Discovery' by Tinie Tempah.

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The shot used here is similar to Post's album as it is a mid shot but it is taken from the front. The things that grab my attention are his sunglasses, the background and the miniature city that he appears to be holding.

Sunglasses - this item is the first thing I see when looking at this album. The type of glasses he is wearing were very popular at the time of this release which adds to the trend currently going around. By wearing the glasses that a lot of his target audience would wear, it gives him more publicity and credit as he will have teenagers saying things like 'I've got the same glasses as Tinie Tempah'. By having him looking directly at us, it feels as though he is addressing us directly and solely aiming the album release at us. The use of the sunglasses brings about a good use of audience engagement.

The background - the theme used is a purple nebula background. Like the sunglasses, these types of backgrounds were very common among teenagers and were converted into accessories like phone cases, t-shirts, caps, etc. By having this in the background of his CD cover, it will attract the attention of those who own accessories like the ones mentioned above. If some of the audience have a theme of nebula, they may want to buy this album so it fits in with the theme; thus, increasing his sales. This background style could also link to Dyer's star theory. It could symbolise that he is surrounded by all of these stars (celebrities) but he is still the main star and the brightest.

Miniature city - in this shot, the third thing I noticed is the city Tempah is holding in his arms. This city could represent that he is a rich and famous individual who's music can interest the entire planet. It symbolises that he can control what the globe listens to by producing another album. The use of CGI allows us to realise that holding this city would be very unrealistic but as it attracts a large audience, it is a good feature of the album cover. The other feeling this city creates is that when he releases his album, we all feel a part of it and like we are being addressed personally by him. A final thing I have noticed about the city is that he appears to be holding world-class, well-known buildings from all around the world. Examples include Big Ben (London), Chrysler building (New York), the CN tower (Toronto) and others. This could represent that he is known globally and has a mass audience. It implies that his music reaches all the areas of the world. This boasts about his fame but in a sneaky way as not many people would notice different buildings.

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The lighting used in for this album cover is possibly 3 point lighting. There are no areas of his body in the dark and it is his subject just lit up, as the background behind is quite dark. There is a white glow around his body which could emphasise his success and links to Dyer's Star theory. The white glow also surrounds items like his watch, his bracelet and his jacket. This could symbolise wealth and power. He is wearing expensive jewelry and a jacket which would cost quite a lot during the release date. This tells the audience that his songs and albums create a lot of revenue for him and he gets to spend this money on rich accessories and clothing.

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The font used for this album looks quite futuristic which supports the theme of the nebula, space sky behind him. His name is written in capitals to connote power and importance. The name of the album is also in capitals but is sized smaller to show that his image may be more important than the music he creates. There is a hyphen between the words 'Disc' and 'overy'. This could suggest to the audience what's going to be inside this pack when they open it. The typography used reminds me of a heart beat monitor used in a hospital which could represent that it gets the audience's hearts racing when we listen to it. The words are written in white which is similar to why the colour green was chosen for Post's album. As the background and the clothes he is wearing are dark, the white contrasts this and makes it more easily attracted to by our eyes.

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The final album cover that I'm going to be analysing is 'Rated R' by Rihanna. This album cover has a specific colour scheme that will be very important to talk about.

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The shot type used here is a close up. It allows the audience to focus on key features of her face and those that surround it such as her eye makeup, earring choice and face jewelry. Her eye makeup is a very thick eyeliner which emphaises the monochromatic theme. As she is covering her face with her hand, we focus on two things: the hand jewelry and the reason why she may be covering her face. The rings and chains on her hand were a very popular trend at the time. A lot of teenagers were wearing this image at the time of release which provides free advertising for Rihanna. Teenagers may wear this type of jewelry when they're out and about, if they are asked where they got their jewelry from and who inspired them to wear it, they'll say Rihanna and they will inspire several others to buy this trend or to listen to her music. The jewelry also symbolises wealth and fortune. It could be suggesting that her albums create a lot of revenue for her. The reason she may be covering her face is that she doesn't want to be revealed to her audience and she would like to remain dark and mysterious. She may not want to be connoted with the typical star image like other artists and therefore, covers her face.

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The album title is written rather small in comparison to the rest of the album it is also written in white. The word 'Rated R' doesn't attract the audience as much as her image due to the size and colour. Rihanna wants her audience to focus more on her and the image rather than the album title itself. The typography does fit in with the rest of the album's colour scheme as it is made up of blacks and whites which makes it harder for the audience to know the title. This could be done on purpose. Rihanna may believe that her fans will know the name of her album already without having to read it or her audience do not have to know the album name for them to love her music.

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The album cover is solely in monochrome. This album cover takes a different approach to her other album designs that she has used in the past. This may attract a different type of audience, a new audience or her usual audience. The darkness may represent her feelings or the mood she is trying to portray through the songs in the album. Her previous albums represent her as a sexy, confident and vibrant artist, but this album cover suggests that there is a different meaning behind her this time. The colour effects of this CD create a sinister, eerie feelings that may actually stop her fan base from listening to it. It depends on her audience whether they are attracted by the colour theme.

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The 'R' on the top right of the cover has sharp edges which makes her audience wonder why she has released an album that juxtaposes her previous albums. It could represent her strength and determination to create a new album after some negative aspects of her personal life have occurred. This whole album symbolises power in comparison to the sexy image she portrays in several other albums such as 'Music of the Sun' and 'Loud'. Rihanna wants to encourage her audience to be powerful and strong through negative times in their lives which portrays a positive message. This may increase her fan base and give her more credit which both increase revenue for her.