This is an analysis of the website homepage of the rock band, Led Zeppelin. We chose to analyse this website homepage as our audience research suggested that our audience listen to and value classic rock music, in particular Led Zeppelin.
Our first initial thoughts of this website was that it was very good, and very effective at contacting the audience. One thing inparticular was that it was all on one page, we didnt have to scroll down to see all of the content on the page. This is something we both found good as some webspages we looked at were very long, and boxed all the information, which resulted in an extremely long webpage, which gets very boring. We liked the fade to black from the images, and the style of images which they are, I.E the 'gritty' style black and white photos, which show the band members when they were younger. The brick wall behind them was effective, we felt that it gave us a feeling that they came from working in london clubs, which had the classic brick walls, which are a symbol of london. The envelope which is placed on the wall shows they came from smaller things, which may be an inspirational thing for young artists to aspire to, and it shows how far they actually have come since they first started out. We felt the index was very good as it was small, out of the way, and did the job it was suppost to do very well, as well as looking good and fitting in with the rest of the webpage. The logos at the bottom are good as they are the icons which the band adopted, so immeadiately fans know they are the led zeppelin site. The media player and video galley at the bottom are effective, as the media player plays automatically, and the video gallery has links to some impressive video footage. All in all the web page works very well, with a mixture of images and good construction, delivering an impressive , dynamic and attractive web page for the bands fans to enjoy. Now we will analyse the web pages individual elements in isolation.
To the left is the official led zeppelin web page. As the above said, it delivers a very effective and dynamic web page, which really catches the element of the band, and projects this to the audience. The mix between dark colours, rendering towards to lighter colours in the middle, offers a fantastic contrast which really catches the audiences eye.
To the right is the Ledzeppelin.com banner. It is a lot smaller to banners we have seen on other web pages. It is made up of the famous 'Led Zeppelin' named logo. This is iconic to the fans of Led Zeppelin as they recognise this logo, therfore would know they are definately on the Led Zeppelin website. The font they used for the name is relevant to the band as they have folk based roots, so this font is a sort of ancient England font. This represents the bands nationality, and also their folk based roots, since the lead singer, Robert Plant was originally a folk singer before he joined the band, and they often ventured in the realms of folk music. This banner works well as it is white writing on a black background, which obviouslt makes it stand out as it is majorly contrasted, and it also represents the band.
This is the index for the webpage. This is the same type of thing used for the banner. It is much smaller than other banners we have seen in most webpages. This is done becuase the page isn't very big, so they have saved space for the rest of the page, as well as drawing attention to the main part of the page. The colours of the index draw attention to it as it is a white/grey colour, which stands out against the black background. This is done so the index sticks out. The font it used is very clever. Making the index look slightly old and rugged seems to have a nostalgic effect on the audience as it shows it is ageing, such as the band, so it ages with the band. It will effect different audiences in different ways. For the fans of Led Zepplein who maybe went to see them when they were younger would recognise the font as the same type of font used to advertise a gig on a bulletin board for a major event, such as Led Zeppelin doing a gig. This will be very nostalgic to this audience so they will recognise this and it will make them think back to their memories of Led Zeppelin. This makes this index effective as it will make the audience want to return to the website to look for updates of the band etc. A younger audience, will also recognise this as the font used for major events on billboards, but they will be more excited by it, as it would be every young and old Led Zeppelin fans dream to see them in concert, so this can give them hope that one day it may happen. This attracts this audience back to the website as they will also want to check for updates.
This is the main section of the Ledzeppelin.com hompage. When the page first loads up it is just the brick wall backgorund which loads up. This may represent the London clubs which they would have played in their career, this is representative of their audience as a lot of them would have been going to these London gigs, and supporting them, so they would recognise this image. This is important as they want to keep these loyal fans happy. Shortly after this The "Yardbirds goodbye", which you cannot see in this image is layered on top of the brick wall, this reminds the fans where the band, and gives younger a fan information about the band. This is important as a lot of people are interested in band histories, not just for Led Zeppelin, but for any band, so having this is a nice way of doing that. After this a "Yardbirds break in two" newspaper cutting appears, this is effective for the same reasons as before, the importance of a bands history. A short phase after this a picture of Jimmy Page on a motorboke of some kind is layered onto the page. He is wearing a leather jacket, riding a motor bike, has long dark hair and is looking very relaxed. This images iconography, such as the leather jacket and the relaxed look while riding the motorbike are iconic rock images, which effect the audience and visitor of this website as they feel a part of a culture, which they recognise as the rockers. This makes them, in turn feel relaxed and at home on this website. Shortly after this image appears an image of John Paul Jones appears on the screen playing a guitar of some kind. This is icononic as he is a well known, all rounded musician, so it shows that he is devoted to music, and is always playing an instrument. This is important to the audience as it shows them what talented musicians he, and the rest of the band where. After this the telegram, seen in the above picture appears. It reads "Priority Robert Plant, Three men in a boat, Beechsale Estate, Walsall Staffs. Tried phoning you several times please call me if interested in joining The Yardbirds, telephone Gerrad 6671 - Peter Grant RAK Music Managements LTD. " This seems to be a telegram sent by the bands manager Peter Grant, to Robert Plant asking him he's interested in joing The Yardbirds. It seems that he was trying to contact Robert Plant urgently. They have included this on the website as it shows how the band may have not formed, and it shows even more history of the band. This gives the audience more information about the band. Next up shows and image of Robet Plant. He is in his usual dress sense, which may have been fashionable back then. After this an image of John Bonham appears in the same way as Robert Plant. These images of the band members, newspaper cuttings and telegrams build up the audience's expectation of the website as they are reminded how great the band is therefore, they would expect a greate website to coincide with the great band.
To the left is the logo which automatically appears at the bottom of the screen. These are the symbols used by the band on their fourth album, commonly known as "4 sticks". These symbols are icons of great music to classic rock, and Led Zeppelin fans, hence the reason why they used these symbols on the page is to remind the audience of the greatness of Led Zeppelin, in many peoples views, and it also is a symbol of rock'n'roll. The contrasting colours offer an east to see, effective and dynamic part of the website, one which delivers a message that this is the website, of a great iconic band.
This is the tab, which appears in the tab section of the Internet browser when the user is on the website. This has an image used by Led Zeppelin, known as "The Angel". This image was used as the image for Led Zeppelins record label, Swan Song, a division of the record label, Atlantic Studios, which Led Zeppelin originally signed to. It is common belief that this angel is a representation of Lucifer. The reason for this being that, it was notably associated with Acarus, the God of music and light, Lucifer, the fallen angel is also associated with the light, hence the name, The Morning Star. Jimmy Page is well known for his interest in the occult, and has often been portrayed as a devil worshipper, hence the theory that this is a representation of Lucifer. This would represent the audience of Led Zeppelin as a common representation of rock music is that it's listeners worship the devil, and they are part of a cult.
This is the link to the video gallery on the Led Zeppelin website. It uses the same layout as the rest of the website, and black background with grey/white writing on it. The image is a screen with an image of Robert Plant singing. On the live website, it is actually video footage which changes. This is an effective way of catching the eye of the audience to try and attract them to the video galley. This is important on a modern website, and the audience may want to experience what seeing the band live is like.
This is the register for email updates button. It is short, sweet and effective, once again using the contrasting colours, and having a small envelope next to it, which you click, which takes you to a new window. This is important on a modern website as fans will want to be kept updated about any news about the band.
This is the media player used on the website. It is simple, having a play button, which when the media is being played, turns into a pause button. It has a volume control level which is very simple and easy to use. The contrasting colours used are very effective as they make the media player stand out, and this makes it very accessible to use.
