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Your help with.. well.. everything! (Video, EPK, Website, Booking, Setlist, more...)


Blackbird 13

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Our Video -


Our Website - www.brokebysunday.com
Our EPK (Audio Demo Mixes are on here) - http://www.jasonswain.net/brokebysundaysite/epk.html
Our Songlist - http://www.jasonswain.net/brokebysun.../songlist.html



So.. here's what I'm asking you guys. What things do you see that I can do to improve the band, overall, as a business? What songs would you add? What songs would you never do? What would you change about the video, the website.. the EPK? Realize that I'm working on a budget, but I'd love to hear opinions on how to make things better!

I wanted to be as straightforward as possible, and you guys are kinda the experts on this stuff.. so help me make 2013 better than ever, gimmie whatcha got!
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Quote Originally Posted by wesg

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This is probably not what you're looking for, but I find dark grey text on a black background to be hard to read.

 

Sure it is! Every little thing like that matters. Most of the site is in white text on a black background, not sure if that's what you were referring to, or if there was a part where I was an idiot and used dark grey.
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Your website looks great- it really does. Fix the following and it'll look better. You also need to pick an alternate color and stick with it. Sometimes you use yellow, sometimes you use red, sometimes you use green. Pick one. The biggest thing that screams fix me is your use of "centered" text on everything. I'm not sure why people think its an accepted practice in design but it's not. If it were you'd see it it on Microsoft's website, every CD jacket, all the text in newspapers, etc.

Home Page- Get rid of the "center" justified and just align left on all your text. It'll look more professional.
Calendar / Songlist -- looks good
The Band- get rid of "centered" again. Make band members names bigger and lose the underline.
News- keep it the same as the rest of the site. You cant even read whats under your news feed. Dark grey on black?
Audio/Video- Lose the centered text
Photos- Get a gallery
Presskit- looks great but whats with this infatuation you have with centering everything???
Contact- Can you guess?

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Quote Originally Posted by Potts View Post
Your website looks great- it really does. Fix the following and it'll look better. You also need to pick an alternate color and stick with it. Sometimes you use yellow, sometimes you use red, sometimes you use green. Pick one. The biggest thing that screams fix me is your use of "centered" text on everything. I'm not sure why people think its an accepted practice in design but it's not. If it were you'd see it it on Microsoft's website, every CD jacket, all the text in newspapers, etc.

Home Page- Get rid of the "center" justified and just align left on all your text. It'll look more professional.
Calendar / Songlist -- looks good
The Band- get rid of "centered" again. Make band members names bigger and lose the underline.
News- keep it the same as the rest of the site. You cant even read whats under your news feed. Dark grey on black?
Audio/Video- Lose the centered text
Photos- Get a gallery
Presskit- looks great but whats with this infatuation you have with centering everything???
Contact- Can you guess?

Gotcha! The "news" feed is a Facebook plugin (by design, a subtle "Add us on Facebook" type thing)... and THAT would be the dark grey text from above. Will fix that for sure.

The different colors were to be eye-catching, and to keep things from blending together. Kind of like the shouting guy in the late night informercial... he may irritate you, but you'll remember the things he was shouting about that product.

I plan on adding a gallery.. but it will be after getting the new bassist on board, and after getting pictures with said new bassist. What's there now is pretty much a placeholder.

You really think justified left would make it look that much better? I've always been a fan of "centered" text... but I have gotten an earful from design-oriented people about it more than once. If I were to change it.. would you change the Press Kit page as well (given the way the links for the individual mixes are)?
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So...youve heard to lose the centered text from design oriented people previously AND are hearing that AGAIN in this thread, and you went to the trouble to post a thread asking for help on your site...but you're not quite sold on changing that yet or not, because YOU'VE always been a fan of it?

Hmmm,...

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Quote Originally Posted by Potts View Post
KMart do you ever have anything nice to say instead of being a know it all?
Please explain what's specifically 'not nice' about my post.





Better yet, don't bother: I already know there isn't a single solitary item in it that's 'not nice'.
There also isn't a single solitary item that is specifically 'nice' either.

That's because the goal of my response wasn't to be 'nice' or 'not nice', but to perhaps help the OP see objectively what his post clearly showed he wasn't seeing (or possibly willing to see).

I missed the part where instead of actual valid advice, he wanted people to sprinkle pixie dust and happy thoughts on everything and tie it up with a pretty bow.
I'll look more carefully for that kind of direction from now on.
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I think you guys sound good, so to me, that's the most important thing. But, and I really believe this: You guys dress like a 300.00 a night bar band. You don't sound like one, but you look like one. Also, visually, there could be more happening. You guys are far from dead on stage, but just not really visually all that appealing in terms of movement on stage. Get some clothes that coordinate in some way that make you look like rock stars, work up some moves, and watch your income rise dramatically. IMO.

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Quote Originally Posted by kmart View Post
Please explain what's specifically 'not nice' about my post.





Better yet, don't bother: I already know there isn't a single solitary item in it that's 'not nice'.
There also isn't a single solitary item that is specifically 'nice' either.

That's because the goal of my response wasn't to be 'nice' or 'not nice', but to perhaps help the OP see objectively what his post clearly showed he wasn't seeing (or possibly willing to see).

I missed the part where instead of actual valid advice, he wanted people to sprinkle pixie dust and happy thoughts on everything and tie it up with a pretty bow.
I'll look more carefully for that kind of direction from now on.
Ironically.. I think I missed that part as well. I already took a few of Potts' suggestions and the site looks better for it.
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Quote Originally Posted by MartinC

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I think you guys sound good, so to me, that's the most important thing. But, and I really believe this: You guys dress like a 300.00 a night bar band. You don't sound like one, but you look like one. Also, visually, there could be more happening. You guys are far from dead on stage, but just not really visually all that appealing in terms of movement on stage. Get some clothes that coordinate in some way that make you look like rock stars, work up some moves, and watch your income rise dramatically. IMO.

 

This is exactly the kind of feedback I'm most after. I know stage attire is one area where we're a bit lacking, and it's in the cards to fix. It's just difficult coordinating without appearing too "canned".
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Blackbird- I haven't examined your whole site, but it's a great start. I'm slightly curious about part of the band members write-up: "gingers, infact, have souls"? ? Just a typo?

RE attire: IMO "cowboy" looks good on you! The hat contrasts nicely with the ''skull of death" on the tee, which adds a little "edge". Looks like y'all are ridin' hell-bent for leather, good luck! And I hope you consider adding a multi-instrumentalist of some sort somewhere down the road- just my personal preference.

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Quote Originally Posted by Piano Whore View Post
Blackbird- I haven't examined your whole site, but it's a great start. I'm slightly curious about part of the band members write-up: "gingers, infact, have souls"? ? Just a typo?

RE attire: IMO "cowboy" looks good on you! The hat contrasts nicely with the ''skull of death" on the tee, which adds a little "edge". Looks like y'all are ridin' hell-bent for leather, good luck! And I hope you consider adding a multi-instrumentalist of some sort somewhere down the road- just my personal preference.
The first part is a South Park reference and Internet Meme. Matt routinely jokes around about being "ginger" (dude's got fire red hair and is pasty white), and I'm figuring that more people than not will get the reference.

I like the cowboy hat look on me... mostly because it covers up my budding bald spot and forehead (at 29?!).

I would also love to add a keyboard player, or a jack of all trades guy.. but it's not in the cards for now.. the budget won't allow it!
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Quote Originally Posted by Blackbird 13

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The first part is a South Park reference and Internet Meme. Matt routinely jokes around about being "ginger" (dude's got fire red hair and is pasty white), and I'm figuring that more people than not will get the reference.

 

Ha! I'm sure that most will. I never got into SP.
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Quote Originally Posted by Blackbird 13 View Post
Most of the site is in white text on a black background, not sure if that's what you were referring to, or if there was a part where I was an idiot and used dark grey.
White text on black or dark background is called "reverse printing", and is considered hard to read by graphic designers. I only went to your front page, but if the site is mostly reverse printing, that automatically makes is more of a challenge and tiring to read.

The 7 most deadly sins of print advertising.
If you want people to read, understand, and respond to your print advertising, you must avoid these sins at all costs.


Sin #1: Using reverse type for body copy. Reverse type is when you use light colored text on a dark background, such as using white text on a black background. Research shows that using reverse type for the body text of your print advertisement will lower readership of your advertisement by up to 80%. The reason for this is using reverse type for body size text is extremely difficult to read.

From this site:

http://www.evancarmichael.com/Market...vertising.html
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Quote Originally Posted by rocket888 View Post
White text on black or dark background is called "reverse printing", and is considered hard to read by graphic designers. I only went to your front page, but if the site is mostly reverse printing, that automatically makes is more of a challenge and tiring to read.

The 7 most deadly sins of print advertising.
If you want people to read, understand, and respond to your print advertising, you must avoid these sins at all costs.


Sin #1: Using reverse type for body copy. Reverse type is when you use light colored text on a dark background, such as using white text on a black background. Research shows that using reverse type for the body text of your print advertisement will lower readership of your advertisement by up to 80%. The reason for this is using reverse type for body size text is extremely difficult to read.

From this site:

http://www.evancarmichael.com/Market...vertising.html
I've seen a few places advise against using black background/white text for that purpose. The previous design of my site had a black background and white text.

I don't at all disagree with the marketing experts.. but I do think that AT A GLANCE, the black text is a bit more aesthetically pleasing (although admittedly harder to read).

My decision to make the site black with white text was a deliberate one, knowing that it was against conventional wisdom. It makes the site look a bit more sleek than the previous one, different than the previous one.. and my hope is that the video speaks louder than the text anyway. Several pro-level bands I've found (west coast band Notorious - www.notoriousrocks.com ), (fellow Va Beach area band Vinyl Headlights - www.vinylheadlights.com ) use the same inverted scheme.. presumably for the same reason, it's a better "at a glance" visual, and stands out from the usual wall of text.


Still, thanks for the heads up, and any other comments or suggestions from you guys are welcome and appriciated!


And by the way, thanks for the comments you guys have already made. I've been tinkering with the site a bit (on my computer at the moment, hasn't been uploaded yet), using some of Potts' suggestions, and it does look a bit more pro because of it, my personal preference aside.
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Made the changes Potts mentioned, as well as a few things that Zeromus-X brought to my attention in PM and in person.

Still working on a solid band picture, and still coordinating the "dressing nicer" part, although that's also coming along. New bass player, so getting him up to speed on the set has been the major step right now.. but both of those things (as well as adding new songs) are in the works!

 

 

Any additional feedback is welcome.. on the press kit, video, songlist, or anything else you guys can think of that would help better what we've got going on!

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Regarding the photos on your website, I don't like the "ice scraped from a windowpane" effect that you have applied to all of them.  The borders are too busy, particularly on the photos page, and worse yet you have lines running through the pictures.  It makes me not want to look at them.  I appreciate the idea that you are going for, for the photos to look sort of distressed, but I'd do it in another way.

 

Also, the "gingers infact have souls" line-- cute, but you have a typo.  This should read, "gingers in fact have souls."

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deepflight wrote:

 

Regarding the photos on your website, I don't like the "ice scraped from a windowpane" effect that you have applied to all of them.  The borders are too busy, particularly on the photos page, and worse yet you have lines running through the pictures.  It makes me not want to look at them.  I appreciate the idea that you are going for, for the photos to look sort of distressed, but I'd do it in another way.

 

Also, the "gingers infact have souls" line-- cute, but you have a typo.  This should read, "gingers in fact have souls."

 

"gingers DO,in fact, have souls..." (I believe that commas are also needed)

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deepflight wrote:

Regarding the photos on your website, I don't like the "ice scraped from a windowpane" effect that you have applied to all of them.  The borders are too busy, particularly on the photos page, and worse yet you have lines running through the pictures.  It makes me not want to look at them.  I appreciate the idea that you are going for, for the photos to look sort of distressed, but I'd do it in another way.

 

Also, the "gingers infact have souls" line-- cute, but you have a typo.  This should read, "gingers in fact have souls."


 

Yeah.. although it was my idea.. I haven't really liked the photo effect since I've done it... I just haven't gone back to change it, and it does a good job of masking some of the more low-res images. Now that I have a few nicer pictures to replace some of them with... I will look at changing the effect. I probably wont even have an effect on the pictures that are on the photos page. Again.. kind of a placeholder. I know that sucks though. :)

 

 

Thanks for the heads up.. went right over my head! Commas will be used as well!

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We're working with an agent a lot now, and one of the things he stresses is creating an image for the band.  This doesn't mean "costumes" per se, but it does mean more than just jeans and T-Shirts onstage.  At first I was kind of against the idea, but I've gone out and watched several of the really successful cover bands in the area, and they all have one.

 

So I think we're going to be working on that for the first part of this year.  It might be something that helps differentiate you from other bands in the area.

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TrickyBoy wrote:

 

 

We're working with an agent a lot now, and one of the things he stresses is creating an image for the band.  This doesn't mean "costumes" per se, but it does mean more than just jeans and T-Shirts onstage.  At first I was kind of against the idea, but I've gone out and watched several of the really successful cover bands in the area, and they all have one.

 

 

 

So I think we're going to be working on that for the first part of this year.  It might be something that helps differentiate you from other bands in the area.

 

Definately something we want to look at.. especially since many of our area's top bands DON'T have any sort of "stage attire"....the question is going to be WHAT do we want to wear to differentiate ourselves.

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