Designing The Band: Chapter One
June 10, 2004 | 
16 Comments
Before I get into this week’s post, I wanted to let you know I’ve created a permanent index page for Designing The Band.
Last week we began the process of creating the band. There were lots of great ideas, and some pretty awesome names thrown around. What I decided on was the basic idea of an all-girl goth band. I’ve taken ideas from a few of you and put them together to come up with something that I think is do-able and should make for a fun and rather interesting design.
So, without further ado, let’s meet the band!
Meet Beauideal
The name I decided on was Beauideal. It was a name suggested by Jason Marble and it’s defined as “perfect beauty.” I thought about this and how it would tie into Ty’s idea of an all girl goth band and this is what I came up with.
Beauideal is Two sisters, Jacqueline (vocals, guitar, keys) and Yvonne Marseille (vocals, violin, keys, programming), who are classically trained musicians and vocalists from Seattle. They’re backed up by the fiery Ginny Wayland on percussion.
The sisters “grew up” on 80’s wave and industrial and used to be very into the goth scene. They were in a band called “Lilith’s Children” for a few years durning high school, but quickly grew out of it. Now they’re in their mid 20’s and very into classical, indy rock, and traditional music. They’re looking to expand their horizons a bit.
They’re and indie band with big dreams. Described as indie rock with more than a dash of traditional and goth. They folksy, gothic and arty with just enough pop, just enough rock and just enough grove to be accessible. They’re often compared to another Seattle band, Sky Cries Mary.
Influences: Lorena Mckennitt, Enya, Bauhaus, New Order, Depeche Mode, Dead Can Dance, Chris and Cosey, Alice in Chains, The Pixies, Sonic Youth, The Pogues and The Cure.
Sound like: Sleater-Kinney meets The Decemberists meets Sarah McLauchlin meets Sky Cries Mary.
First Album: Dragonfly, on a medium-sized indie label, like Sub Pop or something. Their first single is called “Wayback” and getting college radio play.
A video is in the works and they’re going on a 8 city tour.
There you have it. Beauideal in a rather loose nutshell. Now that we’ve got our band, we need to get this project really started. We’ve still got a few things to do before we can get to designing; we need to set some goals, gather some materials and scope this project out.
Suspend Belief For A Bit…
The start of this project will be quite a bit different than what a real project would be like. In fact, in the absence of a real client and a real user base this phase is going to be a bit of a stretch. We’ll be relying on my best guesses, your input and a whole lot of assumption. In general this would be a big no-no.
There’ll be other differences as well. For example, I’m not going to take you through the creative brief, estimates, contracts or anything like that. It’s about design, so while I might mention those things a bit, I’m largely going to ignore them.
As well, as I’m only doing the design for a Web site. The identity and all of that will be designed along side and as a piece of the total design. I’m sure many Web projects don’t have the luxury (or challenge) of doing this all at once.
Next Steps: Research, Goals and Gathering Materials
The plan for this next week will be spilt into two basic areas: research and goals for the Web site and gathering the materials needed to begin our design.
First I’ll work on setting goals for the project and outlining what Beauideal will want to accomplish with their site. I’ll also draw up some user goals using my own experiences, prior observation and educated guesses. Obviously I’ve got no “real” user base to work with so feel free to chime in here if you have ideas.
From this, I’ll set some goasl, work out a simple project plan, outline a rough information architecture.
Feel free to comment if you have any ideas for goals, either client or user, just try and be realistic.
What I plan on doing next is taking a look at the competition. I want to get a feel for what other similar bands are doing on the Web. I plan on looking at a wide variety of Web sites and noting where they seem to be succeeding and where they fail. This will give me a basis for comparison.
This site should be fairly straight-forward. Were this a larger Web site this process would take quite awhile, be quite involved and hopefully involve real users. For our purposes it’ll be pretty simple: Goals, research, plan, then IA.
Now let’s talk identity, content and design. This is something that could very well be vastly different in some Web projects, but since we’re creating a band from scratch, we need to take care of this.
If this were a real band chances are they could very well already have some kind of identity developed. They may have a logo and a typeface, or have some signature colors and some photos.
Then again they might not. For the purposes of this project I’m going do my best to craft a very simple identity that will give us some basic building blocks to begin with for the Web design. I’m not going to get too far at this point, but I want to nail down the basics, things like a type treatment or logo and some basic visual building blocks.
I’ll want to identify a feel for the visual aspect of the band as well as try and see how we can differentiate Beauideal from the competition. Again, at this point it should be pretty basic as I’ll get to all the details down the road. Remember the deliverable here is a Web site and nothing more.
I’ll also begin to work on the basic content for the site. Again, as we have the opportunity to create this from scratch, and we’re just concerned with the homepage — this is vastly different from what a real project would be like.
Ok, so those are our next steps. I realize this first phase is a bit unrealistic and therefor might not be all that useful, but once we get past this into the design I promise the value of this exercise will go up quite a bit.
Any comments or questions?
Filed under: Design Project
Comments
1. Sean said:
Wouldn’t goal number one be: “Get our music to as many people as possible”?
Two step process: easily allow them to sample tracks and easily allow them to purchase albums. Now, I realize that we don’t have any actual music, but an unobtrusive music streamer (sort of like your SOW flash doohicky) and an easy way to purchase the album are a must.
Now, I’m no pro, so “easily” is up to you and the rest of the commenters ;). I know if I go to a site of a band a buddy mentioned, I want to hear them, and if I like them, I don’t want to have to search backwater music stores to purchase their album.
Posted on June 10, 2004 11:01 AM | #
2. Keith said:
Sean – Good comment. Those sounds like good goals to me.
Posted on June 10, 2004 11:04 AM | #
3. Rob Cameron said:
Maybe one of your adoring fans with some musical talent would be so kind as to create a few samples of some popular Beauideal songs.
Then you could have some kind of music player on the site so that visitors can sample some songs. At the very least you could provide a couple MP3s for downloads.
Posted on June 10, 2004 11:16 AM | #
4. Keith said:
Rob – That’s an idea. It’s a bit early to get into specifics like that, but I do think a music player will be a piece of the design. I know it’s something I wish, as a user, more sites featured.
Posted on June 10, 2004 11:37 AM | #
5. ssp said:
First of all - nice project. I am curious to see how ‘pros’ do this thing.
Up-to-date
Being interested in music, I have seen many band websites. The main point where many websites fail imo is up-to-date-ness. While I have seen bands have ‘tour blogs’ and such, I can understand that not everyone wants to go through the hassle of doing these. So I am not asking for that degree of being up-to-date. The other extreme seems much more common: The web-site is out of date, not having current tour information and such. Often it looks like the band either got the site made by a well-meaning friend or set up by by their record label. They may simply not be _able_ to update their site. So, both for the band and the users I’d find it important that the site can be updated easily afterwards.
Simple
Another point that frequently annoys me - but is a far lower priority than the first - is that many band web-sites want to be very artsy and clever. ‘This isn’t 1995,’ I tend to think in those situations. I don’t want fancy flash stuff. I don’t want to guess which link hides behind which fancy graphic and so on. I want information about the band quickly.
If a band’s website makes it hard for me to see their tour schedule, it’s more likely I’m going to miss their gig.
Touring
OK, let me make that point stronger. Making people go to see gigs should be an important goal. Both for the band who (hopefully) like playing their music to many people and for the fans. A website should make that information easily available.
I tend to appreciate bands offering e-mail notifications of newly confirmed gigs. If these are are rare enough and perhaps combined with some additional information, they can be very good. (Good example: Stereo Total who send rare e-mails and include stuff like a recipe. Bad example: The Raveonettes, who send marketing blurbs and whose unsubscribe link doesn’t work.) I realise this may go beyond the site design, but there should be provisions for it.
Personally, I’d also appreciate other means like perhaps a tour RSS feed or a web-subscribable iCal calendar (like Apple offer them for a few bands). Good ideas, although I am not sure how many people would actually use them.
E-Commerce
Concerning the earlier comment on enabling people to buy the music - I often find this very disappointing. If you do it, be sure to do it well. Well, meaning that you take into account an international audience. A link to amazon.com is silly if your visitors are in Europe or Japan. At this stage the same probably holds for most online offerings like iTMS which aren’t even globally available.
What is very satisfactory, though, are instant downloads of high quality files. (Check out the site of The French for a nice example of that).
Goodies
From a user perspective, I must admit that I am a sucker for little goodies that bands give you on their sites. This may be music (preliminary or live recordings, say, or perhaps that silly cover version the band didn’t dare to put on their record). In addition having desktop backgrounds or high quality cover art to decorate your ripped MP3 files with is always appreciated.
If the band has a video, I’d expect to find it on the site as well. And that’s in a non-streaming, locally saveable, high-quality version. If you really like a video you should be able to see it over and over again without having to refute to VHS.
Sorry for being long-winded and focusing mainly on my pet-peeves. Will you also discuss to which extent some of these points (video downloads or mp3 selling) will be influenced by money or legal factors? Or is that yet another topic?
Posted on June 10, 2004 12:36 PM | #
6. david g said:
To get the glaringly obvious out of the way, the main goals I have as a user when visiting band/dj sites are:
1. tour dates
2. streaming audio samples
other things that seem to be popular: direct online ordering, freebies like desktop wallpapers, icons and such, and links to media appearances.
Posted on June 10, 2004 12:36 PM | #
7. Keith said:
Great start, this is exactly what I was looking for. You all can help me represent the users as well as the band.
Nice work.
Posted on June 10, 2004 12:40 PM | #
8. Jon Kennedy said:
Tour schedules, Label information, and Genre explanations may be be helpful alongside music previews and biographical information. Perhaps even included on the front page. Reasoning: 3 types of people are bound to visit the site, Fans, Followers of the genre of music who were just informed of the band’s existence, and Newcomers to the entire scene/genre.
This establishes the userbase (roughly) of the website.
Fans need information on Release dates, and Tour dates/locations. Obviously, a short overview (blog entry) would suffice to keep fans updated on studio work, and a tour schedule as part of the navigation would be immediately accessible in a clean and easily accessible way. If the group is active enough or has enough resources, a mail-order or well done e-commerce section would fit nicely (cafepress is a quick solution, though most fans appriciate the “indie” flavor of a mail-order scheme, allowing a sort of “in touch with the fans” approach)
Followers of the Genre would have access to to song samples and the artist’s biography in order to learn more about this band they may enjoy. Label information is relavent here, as are external reviews of material.
Those new to the Scene may find the Biography interesting, as well as the Music samples. A link to the relevant Allmusic.com, Amazon.com, or iTunes store review of the group my prove useful for further explorations in the genre as well. Label and Distributor information could give the users an overview of the types of music offered within the genre, users may discover another band they already like fits within certain boudaries of the genre and would be pressed further to “discover” this new act. A sort of “Links” system in the form of a new HTML document or a sidebar entry could be implemented.
Obviously, there’s more specifics pertaining to the userbase that would need addressing, but this covers the most basic, rudimentary boundaries of most any Artist’s site while focusing solely on the users wants and desires.
(Non-Album “INTERNET ONLY” releases are a wonderful idea and are prevalent in great quantities of artist sites. You can make a great example of how to correctly implement those releases. Often-times I am led to a download which I assume is a studio recording, but turns out to be a FOH bootleg)
Posted on June 10, 2004 01:24 PM | #
9. Josh King said:
I’m not sure if these are useful in any way to what you have in mind Keith, but here goes:
User Scenario: (A)nthony
Anthony is a 20-something punk living in the Portland area. He recently started dating this goth chick, named Angela, and he’s looking for a good way to impress her. He heard about Beauideal from a friend who’s into indy music, but Anthony is not very musically in tune himself. Anthony decides that he’s going to take Angela to go see a Beauideal concert. He wants to find a concert that is close to them (his car doesn’t run that great), how to get there, if he can afford it (none of this Dave Mathews Band, $50 a show crap), and some more information about the venue. Anthony doesn’t have the best credit, but he does have a credit card and will use it if he feels it’s convenient.
Main Goal: Easy access to detailed information about show times
User Scenario: (B)etty
Betty is 14-year old who wants something more from her music than the pop all her friends listen to (she hates Britney). She is interested in finding out more about the band: who they are, where they are from, etc. Betty also wants to get a taste of the band, both what they look like and what they sound like. She gets an allowance and she has enough saved up that she could buy a CD if she likes what she sees/hears. The only problem is Betty’s mom is a bit over-protective. She won’t use a credit card on the Internet and Betty would laugh at the thought of being allowed to go see Beauideal in concert.
Main Goal: Learn about the band to see if she should buy their CD
User Scenario: (C)atrina
Catrina would be considered one of Beauideal’s groupies (even though she’s also a close friend of Ginny). She loves her girls and wants to meet people who feel the same so she can share her enthusiasm. Beauideal’s site has a community element built-in and Catrina is an active member. She checks the site at least twice a day and is usually just checking to see if anything has changed. When she uses parts of the website outside the community, she is typically looking for a specific piece of information.
Main Goal: Meet other fans
User Scenario: (D)ave
Dave is a successful music maven who works for a large record label. He just got off the phone with his talent scout from the Seattle area and one of the bands on his list is Beauideal. Dave is interested in finding out information that would help him make a business decision on whether or not to assign someone to keep an eye on the band. Dave would be interested contact info, who the band is managed by, which label they are on and other such things. He also wants to hear a sample of the band’s studio work (the quicker the better).
Main Goal: Find business-type info about the band
Posted on June 10, 2004 02:09 PM | #
10. Jeremy said:
I think the perspective has to be that there are only *TWO* types of visitors. Fans or future fans. While a band may be willing to wax rhapsodic about their influences, very few are interested in promoting other acts over themselves. Nor are they particularly interested in promoting a “scene”. Leave that for the forum (there will be a forum, right?) - fans can share recommendations, while forming a community around the band.
For a band site that works pretty well, check out (former SubPop recording artists) The Pernice Brothers’ site. There are some things I’m not totally keen on, but they cover the bases right up front: tour dates and a link to purchase their most recent releases (directly from the band/label). The discography section covers all their releases, with samples for the most current release.
Posted on June 10, 2004 02:25 PM | #
11. gilhoo said:
Beauideal means more Ideal Beauty than Perfect Beauty… And Jacqueline et Yvonne Marseille ???? Where did you found theses out of fashion names ?? The only personne that still have such a name in France are really old ;-) I know you want gothic girl, but don’t go to far, wich such a name there are more than gothic, there a close to death ;-)
Posted on June 10, 2004 11:52 PM | #
12. TheBard said:
I’m also very interested in music and visit pages of my favourite bands a lot. And there is one thing I always look for but rarely find:
Personal feedback.
I want the band talking to me, I want to hear how they liked playing in my town, want to read what they did and I want to know how their new songs are coming together. Some bands even have special personal subsites where they run a blog or something. “Knowing” the guys (and girls) who make my music really draws me closer to the band. Websites where some managers or hired copywriters post content are often shallow and uninteresting. You want your visitors coming back, do you?
Posted on June 11, 2004 03:42 AM | #
13. Timothy Uruski said:
I agree with ssp’s comment about ease up management. But I think that another question that should be asked is who is going to be running the site after it’s designed? Does the band have an official webmaster? Or is it just a web-savvy friend who’s going to be looking after updates? Or do they (magically) have enough time on their hands to do it themselves?
While it’s a little beyond the scope of visual and information design here, I think that the CMS – be it MT, WordPress, a proprietary system or good ol’ Homesite and fingers – should be considered.
As for my own personal experience with bands, I come for a handful of things:
Performance details: This is the most important information that band can offer. It directly informs me as to what I can expect from them in terms of live shows. When posting info about upcoming gigs, the more info I can get about it, the better.
Where is it happening?
When is it happening?
Where I can get tickets?
How much do tickets cost?
Who else is playing?
Is this an all-ages show or what?
Anything special about the show? (ie: Band-member’s birthday or 100th show)
Upcoming album details: Every fan wants to know when the next disc will be released, so give us any pertinent details. Is it going to be delayed? Tell us for how long and maybe even why.
Blog: This isn’t necessary, nor expected, but it’s always fun to get to know the band members by the stuff they write. But I do tire of bands which just us it as a forum to plug themselves. The blog should be more personal. The site news is where you talk about upcoming stuff. I would rather know your own personal reflections on touring and recording when I’m reading your blog. Hopefully that doesn’t come off as too snooty.
Nothing that hasn’t been mentioned, but I hope it expands on some of it.
Posted on June 11, 2004 08:51 AM | #
14. Todd Levy said:
A few years ago I had an idea for “Template Sites,” a sort of blog on steroids, which could be used by people with a range of technical know-how to create “good” Web sites. Each type of Template Site would solve a recurring, standardized need.
My first, and only, prototype was for a band site which includes a comprehensive public site as well as a forms-based administration tool and template tag system.
Though I’ve never done anything with it, I present it here as it may be a good starting point or at least spark some converstaions about the solution you are working on.
Here’s the link…
http://toddlevy.com/BandSite.Wires_2002.04.16.v01_TJL.pdf
I welcome and all comments and would be happy to answer any questions.
Take care,
Todd Levy
toddlevy (at) hotmail (dot) com
P.S. This was created in Visio so if anyone would like that version of the file I’d be happy to send it to you.
Posted on June 11, 2004 09:43 AM | #
15. Heath said:
I am an iPodian and so most of my music comes from the CD’s I have purchased or from music I have illicitly pilfered from the internet. Most of the time when I want the goods on a band I shy away from band websites and head to allmusic.com, which, I think, has the perfect arrangement of information: Albums, well-written reviews, discography and such. Usually if I want lyrics, then I head to the band sites.
Most of the time band sites navigation is so difficult that I give up and head to lyrics.com (I’m super web-lazy).
So I guess from a user stand point I really want a well built site, and I want to get to know the band.
Some bands that do this well (not really direct competition) would be ratm.com (their old flash intro was just amazing and literally inspired me to go out and buy their albums), another is radiohead.com, which has consistently terrible designs (like the current one), but is so inline with how I feel about them that I always go back.
Finally, the most important thing is the music.
For a new band, I think you need to consider if the band has signed with a major label, realistically if they have many things you would want to do would not be possible because of the contracts, otherwise I think as much music as possible should be available. I don’t know about anyone else, but I have never purchased an album or gone to a show just because I visited a website.
That’s one cent.
Posted on June 11, 2004 10:33 AM | #
16. Keith said:
This has been great everyone, you’ve given me some great stuff to work with, especially as it relates to user goals.
I did quite a bit of competition surfing this weekend and my main take away from that is that most bands sites are horrible, the goth type in particular.
I’m in the process of working everything out for my post Thursday. I’ve got some typeface / logo ideas, a persona in the works, some goals and an initial IA.
Thanks again for your help and keep it coming!
Posted on June 14, 2004 12:29 PM | #
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