Band Websites

Bullet For My Valentine

The first thing you notice when you enter Bullet For My Valentine's website is the sites background, which is the cover of their latest album 'Fever', this is an affective design point as it immediately advertises their latest product to the site visitor. Secondly the site features a direct link to the bands store where you can purchase their latest work and/or any previous work they've made. The web designer has made the link to their store stands out by making the links font colour (red) different from the sites background and other site features (Green/Grey). The homepage also features a site navigation menu in the top right, which is also made to stand out so that the site user can find what they want with ease. Other features of the site include a live Twitter and news feed, which a very useful feature as it enables this sites visitor/ the bands fans to keep a close relationship with the band and know what they are working on. Further features of the site include an online mp3 player of the bands music which is a key features for a band's website as it enables the page user to listen and have a taste of what the band's music is like before they go on to make a purchase. Final features of the immediate page include a tour date feed and a variety of their music videos which has the purpose of allowing people to have a more visual experience of the bands style and image.

Beyonce

When I visited Beyonce's website I knew very little about the artist and nowI know a lot not only about her music career but her other careers in film and fashion too as well as much more. Therefore it iseasy to say that the website is very effective and is a success in it's purpose of advertising the artist in as many ways as possible. I will list and comment on the main conventions of the website which gave it such success. Firstly when you arrive on the website Beyonce's music automatically starts to play, which forces it's visitor to listen and enjoy her music. The theme of thesite is of her latest album 'I am... Sasha Fierce', with that album being in black and grey the website has taken on the same colour scheme. Also the homepage is titled with her latest album and has a running slideshow of pictures of Beyonce which feature on the album cover or inside the album. The site also features a menu bar to other aspects of her website which include: music, photos, fashion, films, a purchase section and many many more. It is helpful and effective that there are manydifferent section asit enables the site visitor to find what they want with ease. Other aspects of the homepage include a live news and blog feed which help her fans keep up with what Beyonce is doing, the homepage also advertises other products by Beyonce such as her own fragrance known as 'Beyonce Heat'. The site also features a poll for the fans such as their favorite song etc. having this allows Beyonce to get feed back from her fans and use it to construct further music.

Paramore

Out of all the websites I have looked at Paramore's website was the busiest, their homepage alone was full of great features. Just like previous websites the colour scheme of this one was matching to their latest album 'Brand New Eyes', how ever it is not apparent that the colour scheme is in relation to their latest album as unlike previous websites there isn't any advertisement for their most recent album on their homepage. The Bands title/logo (Butterfly) is heavily featured throughout their site, also the homepage is divided into sections that serve different purposes ranging from a merchandise store which shows the site is taking advantage of the modern technology in their marketing to a Twitter feed. The website also features a great feature called 'Paramore Mobile Stream' which has taken the highly used 'news feed' a step further by using their phones to upload pictures and videos of themselves too keep in touch with their fans.

Links:

http://www.paramore.net/

http://www.bulletformyvalentine.com/uk/home

http://www.beyonceonline.com/us/home