The development of our website - Style & Layout

We started off knowing that we wanted to keep within the PBR&B genre and keep our website simplistic and with a strong theme of black and white.
We too examples from three main PBR&B & R&B artists

The Weeknd:

I liked and took inspiration from:

• His black and white style, with the items turning grey when you scroll over them or click on them.
• The fact that you were redirected to his sites e.g. Facebook, Twitter etc. and iTunes for music, so that you can follow him directly. However we thought incorporating that into the website would work better, so that you are not being constantly redirected. But this did show an effective way of presenting opportunities to follow him on social media, and buy his goods directly.
• The artistic photos throughout that give a real sense of artist style and identity.

Jhene Aiko:


I liked and took inspiration from:

• Her lyrics appearing - although not being the very first thing you see. 
• The poetic style of her website, we wanted to incorporate this with a 'About Me' type of page, with a poetic verse that the artist would write herself, on herself. This would give a sense of identity and give the audience a feel of an intimate, personal connection. This would be similar to the lyrical and poetic verse that first comes up.
• Her 'press' page that presents her as a celebrity, someone written about and photographed professionally. I especially like the fact that there were pictures of articles about her. 
• The fact you can listen to her music on sound cloud there and then on the website - for free. This presents her as someone really about the music, and not centred around profit, which we want for our artist as well. 
• Her 'read' page linking to her tumblr - again, a personal and intimate touch, connecting her as a real person to her fans. This ask encouraged her fans to follow her on here, and her various other social media.

Tinashe:


I liked and took inspiration from:

• The black and white style, with the items turning grey when you scroll or click on them.
• The 'news' page presenting her as a celebrity, but also showing competitions and chances for the audience to interact, which we wanted to incorporate.
• The opportunity to buy her music on iTunes, but also Amazon, catering to different needs, and seeming less mainstream.
• The chances to book tickets to her shows, buy her goods, contact (email) her and follow her on social media; with there even being a very direct link to Facebook, with opportunities to comment and share everything incorporated within the website, e.g. in a 'comment' box which is automatically linked to your own Facbook. This really effectively encouraged audiences to share and interact with her. She also had a 'Sweetees' page dedicated to her fans of the month, with a little message 'written' below. This again connected her to her fans, and stimulates her fans to want to feature on that page and so get involved with her in the hope that they will.