GENERIC RESEARCH - Foals' Brand Identity

Foals

Foals 'What Went Down' Album Cover

Front cover of Foals' fourth studio albim 'What Went Down'. The cover portray's a lonesome sillhouette potentially bending down but it is not clear. The rest of the cover is fairly simple. The colour transition from the dirty green/blue at the top of the album slowly transends into a lighter blue. The name of the band and the album title are in the top left of the album.

Logo

Throughout the analysis of the band Foals I have noticed that since their second studio album 'Total Life Forever' they have used the same logo. This gives the band a sense of brand identity which is key in the music industry. As well as their fairly unique sound they also have their visual identity. The logo is very similar to that of the rock band 'Muse' which could suggest that they have been inspired by 'Muse' as they both have unique sounds. In 2008 when Foals released their first album 'Antidotes' they had a completely different logo and vibe. They portrayed themselves as fun and young as the typography portrayed this. The album cover's for all of Foals' albums are unique. The last 3 albums have been photographs of different things however their first album was a sketch rather than an actual photo. This shows the band have changed a lot since 2008.

Foals first Album with the different logo

There is a clear difference between the front cover of 'Antidotes' and 'What Went Down' as the logo appears in a different location with a different typography. There is also a photo rather than a sketch as the album artwork. As with many indie bands, Foals haven't included a photograph of themselves on the album anywhere. Other band's that have done this are The Courteeners with St Jude, Circa Waves with Young Chasers and Two Door Cinema Club with Tourist History.

Back cover including track list of 'What Went Down'

This is the back cover of the album 'What Went Down'. Again, it is very unique as the tracks are split up into a table. They also have the timings on the furthest right. The track names are in bold and all capital letters which is a running theme that Foals have. The credits, copyright notes and record labels are all together at the bottom of the table. The barcode is on the right side of the album. I will take inspiration from this back cover as it is unique, minimalistic and professional which is how I want my digipak to be. I will also include a barcode to follow conventions of a professional digipak.

The CD itself

This is the CD that comes in the digipak. It is black and very minimilstic. It has the logo and the album title in the same typography as on the front cover. It has all the credits at the bottom and then other details around the side. This is the only thing that let's this digipak down as it is almost too minimalistic and doesn't have much to it.

The website that Foals use is very simple to navigate. There are six tabs at the top which are clearly labelled. When clicked they take the user to the section that they have requested to view. The theme is continued from the front cover as the blue colour is the background of the website. This is a good brand identity because it shows that the website is for the band Foals. The band logo is present in the top left corner again and in the right corner there is links to their social media accounts.

Foals on the cover of NME 

This front cover from NME is a perfect representation of the band. The image used shows that there is a clear front man, in this case Yannis Philippakis. It is clear that the rest of the band are not as prominant as Philippakis as they do not have as much space on the cover. This cover represents the band as quite serious but also fun. They are all pulling serious expressions but the frontman is jumping and kicking which shows that they are a fun band. I feel as though this band have a very good presence as there is 5 of them and they are taking up all the space. The white background fits the minimalistic image that is shown on the album cover.

Foals are a unique band as they are possibly the first to create a 360 degree music video. This video is completely original and features the band all playing their instruments and singing in time with the song. The video is shot in black and white which gives the band a sense of brand identity. This video also gave them publicity as NME posted an article all about the video.

This artefact works brilliantly across all different forms of media as they all follow the same brand identity which reflects the value the band is trying to bring to their target audience. Their target audience would be indie/alternative rock fans as this is the sound they produce in their music. Foals have a unique sound which matches their brand identity as it is completely unique.