Website Analysis and Research 2: Sum 41

To help us when planning and creating the designs for our own homepages, we needed to look into the websites of other artists within our genre. The first artist I chose to look at was Sum 41, who are also an American pop-punk band. Here is a screen shot of their homepage:

Images and Logo:

With regards to images and logos, this is pretty much the main bulk of the homepage. The background is an image of what seems to be a grungey, dirty wall lined with graffitti which promotes the punk idea. In the foreground we get the band logo and a picture of the band themselves, followed by the name of their new album. The image is set out like a film poster, which is an interesting and effective way to promote the band and their new album.

Genre:

There are several factors included in this homepage that emphasis the conventions of the genre pop-punk. The dull colour scheme and use of ideas such as graffitti add emphasis to the punk side of this genre. Along with the costumes and over style of the band themselves, the black and white photoraph really boasts a pop-punk image that will appeal to their target audience.

New Technology & Links:

The inclusion of a mailing list is pretty much the only piece of new technology present on this homepage. It seems they've gone for quite a minimalistic frton page, which is perhaps why this is the only thing we see. Maybe when delving into the site further, there would be more evidence of new technology and links to external sites etc.

Colours & Style:

Typical of pop-punk, there is a grungey, neutral and dull colour scheme present, and the style reflects the genre very well with the presence of graffitti and such like.

Written Content:

There is very little written content. The promotion of the new album and the band name are used as the main bulk of the written content. Other than that there is some writing regarding the mailing list, but besides that there is very little text to be found on this homepage.

Font & Layout:

It appears there is a general overall font being used throughout, which is bold and striking. This in-your-face text could reflect the nature of the genre. The layout is central and uniformed which gives the page a very professional feel yet the use of background and other visuals still gives off a punk feel.

Target Audience:

I feel the target audience for this website is mainly fans of the band as there is little written content accompanying the homepage. I feel that it is assumed fans will be visiting the page, and therefore explanation into the album promotion and band itself is not necessary. They target the fan base by immediately offering up a mailing service which would only appeal to fans. It is assumed that fans of this band would be punk/skater types, likely to be associated and familiar with the graffitti and film poster aspects to this webpage. The visuals very much appeal to the youth.

Advertisements:

There are no advertisements as such on this homepage, however there is evidence of promotion for the band's new album, "Screaming Bloody Murder". Other than this, there are no advertisements present.