How effective is the combination of your main product and

ancillary texts?
The combination of my products together works to create a
clear star iconography that allows the products to be seen
together and be recognisable under a single artist, as
stated by Goodwin. The typical star iconography of the
artist I have chosen revolves around neo-nostalgia in the
way that images of old film and media techniques (eg.
records, VCR Camcorders and VHS video footage) is seen
to be a main theme. There is is also the clear use of similar
design throughout all of the products - from the continued
use of the hand-written font of the artists name used in the
title sequence of the music video, the heading of the
magazine advert and featured on the front cover of the
digipak. This allows there to be a clear logo throughout to
clarify that the products are all revolving around the same
artist. The ancillary text products also follow the same
colour scheme (light pastel pink, dark pink and white) to make it clear that they fit together. The use
of the same colour scheme is an easy way to reinforce the idea that the products all come together
to create a promotional package - it is quick and can be established at a first glance.

I have constructed a clear brand style that audiences can recognise and identify with. I have
achieved this particularly through the use of postmodern illustration which has become increasingly
popular over the last few years - characterised by simple childish designs that carry a deep and
adult message (such as that seen in the digipak of the "shark banker"). These illustrations, along
with the colour and clear thematic link of old media that is unique and can be recognised. I have
therefore used a bricolage, as suggested by Levi-Strauss, of techniques to create all of my
products (a mixture of illustration and video/imagery) and therefore creating a new iconography
that is unique to the artist. In this way the combination of my main product and ancillary texts is
clear and coherent as a promotional package through visual and thematic links. In this way the

promotional package is seen to be professional as the same fonts are

used throughout, everything is clearly low-fi and created by hand and
so efficiently follows an iconography.
There is a clear theme also in the use of low-fi and handmade means
by which the products all reference themselves in a way that is selfreflexive of each product as a constructed piece - the music video
shows the filming process through mirrors and reflections, the
magazine advert clearly shows the use of Photoshop (by incorporating
the image of 'lack of image' around the sign being held so that it is
clear that images were removed in the process of construction) and
the digipak in the way that illustrations are imperfect and messy and
so show themselves to be products of construction. In this way the
products are clearly referencing the hand-made theme of the antifolk
genre.

The promotional package overall can be viewed as postmodernist as it acts against the modernist
ideas of progress and grand narrative by regressing back in time to use old media and celebrating
vintage and imperfect means and breaking grand narratives of the expectations of a music artist. In
this way the products are also hyper-conscious and directly toy with the mediums in which they are
created - following Marshall McLuhans idea of the medium is the message and this is true for
these products. The medium of illustration is a message in itself, connoting the ideas of
construction, hand-made and low-fi works and so the promotional package overall can be seen to
fit together as a constructed collection and uniquely reflects the iconography of the artist.