Ed Sheeran - Analysis

Artist: Ed Sheeran

Album: +

Digipack Analysis: I’d say this album overall is pretty eye catching, one of the most noticeable aspects of it is the use of only shades of orange. By using this orange filter on the image you could say the designer has used Ed’s hair colour to his advantage. It almost creates some sort of branding related to Ed, whilst being fitting to his musical approach and styling. The way the colour scheme is neither male nor female dominating, makes it appealing to a much wider audience and would consequently influence more people to pick up his album.

Secondly, the imagery on this album is very simple, yet bold, consisting of only Ed’s face. The way the image is a close up of the artist and is easily recognisable, makes it needless for his name to be included on the cover – which if included may obstruct and draw unnecessary attention to an area of lesser importance. On top of the editing technique of an orange filter, this image has an effect which gives a subtle drawn and sketchy kind of appearance. I’d say this presents the artist as being more creative and individual, and allows his albums appearance to appeal to his teen/indie audience.

An element of this cover that would be something that challenges conventions of the usual, would be the size and positioning of the album name. To begin with, something alternative that’s been used is the symbol ‘+’ rather than the word ‘plus’, which allows the cover to look a lot more interesting and gives the imagery even more dominance across the front. The way the + is positioned in the bottom right hand corner rather than directly centred at the top, compels any potential viewer to scan across the album artwork to find its name.

Music Video Analysis: (Lego House) The first thing you notice when watching this video is the iconic Rupert Grint, known for his role in the Harry Potter films. With many people growing up with him on their screens, he introduces a younger/teen audience toward Ed Sheeran’s music and makes this particular video hugely recognisable.

Following on from the orange filter used on the album, the same colour scheme has been used following on into this video, where as well as the ginger hair, Rupert is also wearing an orange hoodie. This connects both the album and the video and makes them significant to one another.

Ad Analysis: This ad features a mid-closeup of Ed Sheeran; the way he is positioned looking down and smiling makes this advert a lot more welcoming and informal. It shows more of his personality and attracts readers to what it has to say.

The accents of orange have been used as a mode of recognition and branding for Ed, but also connects all of his video’s and the + album as they all contain this particular colour scheme. The lack of massive amounts of text make this advert very simplistic and not overcomplicated; possibly reflecting Ed Sheeran’s personality further and his approach to music.

The use of the album cover on this advert ensures that people will have an image of what it looks like in their mind, in the hope that they will go and pick up the album.