A Bit About Genre
Gary Numan is mostly a punk rocker, though he has dabbled with New Wave. Interestingly, he could be classified as 'dark wave'. The dark wave genre is essentially new wave but with darker lyrics and undertones of sorrow. I don't think dark wave was really established at the time Psycho Killer came out, since they were only the early days of new wave itself. However, I feel that Psycho Killer could actually be classified as dark wave since the song is about a psycho killer and it can't really get much darker than that...
Now the Website
Like The Killers' website, Gary Numan's is dominated by the large promotional picture which advertises some element of the artists career. As with The Killers' this also has four in total that change every few seconds. The general colouring of the site is mostly black, reflecting the artist's gothic genre. The background appears to be a wall from an abandoned or derelict house, in keeping with Numan's recent videos. The nav bar includes the areas of the website which fans of the artist would be most likely to visit.
The colour red is used for links and headings as well as the section on the left to make it stand out. Red also connotes danger and fury, which again matches the genre. This website, like others I've studied, has what i call a 'Twitter Thingy'. This is essentially a part of twitter in this website. It shows Gary Numan's recent posts and encourages twitter users to follow him. I think this is a convention of these websites and something I should put in my own website. This allows for a closer relationship between the artist and his audience.
Another thing that has peaked my interest is the use of Soundcloud here. Most websites I've explored use iTunes, but I actually prefer soundcloud as it looks more visually appealing. I can't put psycho killer up on Soundcloud nor can I find the original on their, but perhaps I could create a video that looks like I have done?
As with many sites I have looked at Gary Numan actually has a separate website for selling merchandise. This site follows the same theme and aesthetic style as his main site. I think it may be worth me creating a second site, a very basic one, for the sole purpose of apparently selling merchandise (I probably won't be able to actually sell merchandise). This site also gives me ideas about what the term merchandise may include. Obviously I had thought about CDs and T-shirts but I had not considered posters or DVDs.
Aside from all the above, the website has the usual convention; News, music, videos, tours, store. However, it doesn't appear to have its own forum. I believe this is probably because it relies on Twitter, as proved with the Twitter Thingy.
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