Tour Poster Research

As part of our coursework and digipak we are aware we will have to create a tour poster. We thought it would be a good idea to look, in advance, at the types of tour posters available in order to gain an insight as to what makes a successful poster. We looked in particular at Lana Del Rey posters and she is the artist we are taking our main inspiration from.

This is the poster for Lana's 'Open Road Tour' which took place in January 2013. This was Lana Del Rey's first album and first headlining tour and so I feel the reason behind the basic layout of this poster is largely based around the idea of fans being able to familiarise themselves with the artist herself and the tour- It is almost identical to the album cover and so fans will be able to recognise it immediately. I feel using the same artwork for both the album and poster is an interesting, risky approach because some may find it tiresome seeing the same image and text repeatedly. However, it also helps the image stick in your head and be memorable on first glance.

 Lana used the exact same font as the one that is on her album and has also repeated the use of her artist logo. I feel this is successful as it promotes a sense of continuity and looks professional. I do not feel it would be appropriate to change artist logo's frequently as this will make the artists work look disjointed - you want your fans to be able to know its you straight away. I feel the use of the colour read for the text  'THE OPEN ROAD TOUR' is successful as it stands out from the rest of the poster which is important otherwise the audience may think that the poster is just promoting her album on first glance. In addition, the use of the capital letters within the font is effective, it is as though it is screaming at the audience to read it, demanding attention - this is most certainly an idea we could incorporate into our own poster. I feel the portrait image used works well as although it is simple it makes a statement, Lana is making herself and her image known. The use of a plain white shirt is particularly clever as it means that no attention is drawn away from her face- looking at Lana's clothing has made us start to consider the type of clothing we want Lana to wear for our poster, we do not want her outfit to be the main feature of the poster, although her image is important it is not the most important feature. Having a repeated element of our album cover on our tour posters/digipak is something that has been bought to our attention from this poster. We feel continuity is key in creating a solid fan base. 

This second poster is the one used to promote Lana's new 'Endless Summer Tour 2015'. I feel that the visuals are particularly successful in representing the name of the tour due to the use of palm trees in the background which, quite clearly represent the season of summer. Similarly, palm trees can be associated with relaxation and peace, possibly connoting that her new music and upcoming tour is quite chilled out and will be a fun and stress free experience for all of those who attend. There also seems to be a use of the 'double exposure' technique apparent throughout the poster which I feel is extremely successful as it means that the composition is busy, making for a more entertaining poster which will keep the viewer interested. In addition to the use of double exposure, a variety of colour has been used used, both primary and secondary colours- therefore creating a more diverse and interesting image. 

A factor of this poster that I find particularly intriguing is the fact that the special guest support artist is featured not only in text but also within image. Conventionally, It has become apparent to me that the support act is never visually seen on the main tour poster. On this poster however, Courtney Love has quite a main feature (visually) on the poster. Although this is quite unconventional as the main artist usually is the main feature on the four poster, I feel it is effective as it represents Lana as a selfless character - she doesn't want to steal the spot light, instead helping other, not as successful artists. This makes her appear down to earth which is something fans will be able to relate too and may enjoy seeing within one of their favourite stars.

 The tour dates are written on the right hand side in a list.  I think is quite a successful layout as it is easy to read and the viewer will be able to locate their local city in a short space of time. I feel we will use a similar layout on our poster as it works so well. However, I do not feel the use of a bright yellow font is effective as although it matches with the rest of the poster and stands out to the viewer, it makes it quite difficult to read as the background is lighter in places.

The use of Lana Del Rey's logo as the main title means that the same font gets applied to all different types of media be it her album artwork or posters- this means that her style remains consistent throughout. 

The images selected are the exact same pose copied and pasted, layered over one another. I feel that this is successful due as it creates more of a structured, uniformed look which makes the overall poster itself appear organised, which is crucial for a tour poster. I feel that our group will take inspiration from the layout of the poster, with the artists name appearing large at the top and the dates in a list at the side. I think this because it will have more structure and the artists name will jump out straight away which is important as it will stand out to the audience. Similarly, we may take inspiration from the colour scheme used as we feel the wide range of colours used was effective, we don't want to focus too much on one main colour- gender roles may play a part in the sale of our artists concert and as our target audience is both boys and girls and we wouldn't therefore want to have a poster which is predominantly pink as it is highly associated with femininity so we should stick to unisex colours like Lana has. 

This poster is advertising another of Lana Del Rey's single events rather than a whole tour therefore it is not as complex as some of the others. It only features the name of the event/venue written in amongst another list of information such as the date of it, when the tickets go on sale and the artists name. Although this poster isn't for a tour, these details are still elements that we would need to include on our own poster. I feel that the use of a different photograph of Lana in place of her regular album cover artwork on 'Born to Die' on this poster is effective as it shows her in a different light. Although the audience would be more familiar with an image from her album, I feel that changing things up a bit can sometimes be more successful as the audience are kept excited. This could be another reason for us not to use the same photograph that we will use on our album front cover. 

In addition, I also like the fact that the artists' title, despite still being large and being her trademark logo for continuity, is positioned on the bottom second half of the poster as it is almost always conventionally placed right at the top. This makes it appear a little different from normal posters and encourages the viewer to read the whole poster.

 Another element of this poster that I find interesting is the fact that her debut album is also advertised below all of the other information regarding her upcoming concert. The mention of her album may cause for people to recognise the album artwork (featured as a thumbnail picture in the bottom corner of the poster) or name and then possibly realise they have the album and want to attend her gig.  

The image itself is heavily edited, there appears to be a mist which adds a sense of mystery, enticing the audience to watch the show.

I feel that after looking at this poster, we will most certainly consider advertising the album on our tour poster also as I feel that it is a great way of promoting two different products/events in one place. It similarly means that the audience will have the opportunity to see both which consequently will increase sales. I also think that heavily editing Nova on our tour poster will make it appear more professionally done so this is definitely something we will consider.