Finished magazine advert

Here is our finished magazine advert

The reason we chose the font, background, and image is because they are the same on the digipak, this adds to the brand identity of the product and follows the convention of having the digipak front cover as the main image of the advert. Also we included the critic's rating because if it looks like an outside source thinks highly of the album more people will be encouraged to buy it.   

Analysis of a student's magazine advert

The past student magazine advert I'm going to analyse is for the Foo Fighters song "The Pretender"



I like the use of the animated characters, and a mix of red and black text on a white background as it makes everything stand out. However I do feel that there isn't enough on the advert, this causes the white background to hinder as well as help it. This is because the overall lack of imagery on the white background makes the advert come across as sterile and unfeeling. This isn't helped by the facial expressions of the cartoon band have blank slightly sad looking facial expressions.  I feel this is wrong as the rock genre is full of passion and feeling. This is evident when we look at the official video to "The Pretender".



The use of the animated band members is eye catching but I think they look amateurish and therefore lose some of their effect as if an audience see a badly drawn advert they often won't give it much thought. This means the advert can't promote the artist and album as well as it should. However including the animation does add to the brand identity of the product as they feature on the student's digipak, they also follow the convention of having the band in simple costume of jeans and T-shirts, this also adds to brand identity as the Dave Grohl cartoon has the Foo Fighters logo on his T-shirt.

Overall I feel this advert has potential that hasn't been fulfilled.   

Creating the magazine advert

We started with adding the main image and text to add to the brand identity the poster has the same text layout and main image as the digipak:

We then added links to the artist's twitter and facebook pages, as well as his official webite, www.bryanadams.com. After this we used the convention of having logos of specific retailers on the advert, in our case these were HMV and itunes. This is because using big name retailers offer suggestions of where to purchase the album but also if big names back the album it encourages more people to buy it as it's more avaliable and shows outside sources like the artist as well.

Finally we added a smart phone scanner and the logo of our artist's record label, A&M. We did this because are target audience is predominately 17 year old men meaning they have access to and understand new technology such as smartphones meaning we can promote the artist and album on a larger scale and gain access to more markets and more people. 

Final choice for magazine advert

This is the draft we have chosen to make in to our magazine advert:

We chose this draft as it was the most popular during the feedback session, it's also I feel the best overall out of the four drafts.  

Magazine advert drafts

Here our the drafts for our group's magazine advert:

Above is the first draft, the main image is the album's front cover, which fits a convention of magazine adverts, other conventions it follows are, having specific tracks mentioned in the advert as well as specific retailers and critics ratings. During the class feedback session this design was popular as it was simple but also eye catching.  

This design is again conventional as the main image and mentions specific songs, a secondary image is a photo of the artist that is used in the digipak as this adds to the artist's brand identity. After pitching it to the class they said that including a "promotional offer" on the advert was a good idea. 

This design doesn't follow the convention of having the album cover as the main image instead opting for a photo of the artist with the album cover as a secondary image. This design was not as popular with the class after the pitch. The feedback was that the layout of the text was wrong and their was too much going on overall.

This design also chooses a photo of the artist rather than the album cover as it's main image, breaking the convention. Conventions it does follow are mentioning specific songs, critic's ratings, and a release date. 



Analysis of a magazine advert #2

The magazine advert I'm going to analyse is for the Green Day album"21st Century Breakdown"

The advert follows the convention of having the album cover as the advert's main image, it also has the same colour scheme and font as the album cover,which is a graffiti style font and a colour scheme of red, yellow and white. This makes the advert really stand out and helps with the artist's brand identity as this image featured heavily in music videos and tours that supported this album. Also the grafitti style font and main image done in the style of graffiti artwork not only follows the convention for using artwork significant to the artist but it also reflects the themes of anarchy and unrest reflected in the album as well as highlighting some of the connotations of the word "Breakdown". This I feel makes the main image stand out more as despite it's connotations of anarchy and vandalism it's quite a loveing image which therefore shows a good contrast between the image and the background and makes it stand out.

 

One thing I feel is unconventional but works is the use of a tagline at the top of the advert "The wait is finally over". This along with the advert's overall layout and style of the main image makes the advert seem like a film poster rather than an advert for an album.

A convention the advert for "21st Century Breakdown" does follow is having a release date, a web adress for the artist's website, www.greenday.com and a reference to a specific song to increase brand identity and promote the single in general, in this case the song is "Know Your Enemy". 

  

    

Analysis of a magazine advert

The magazine advert I'm going to analyse is for "Only By The Night" by Kings of Leon.

The advert follows the convention of having the album's front cover as it's main image, this convention is then expanded as the advert's text is the same font and colour scheme as the album. This also adds to the artist's brand identity as if the album's cover is everywhere it makes the artist and the album more recognisable. However I feel using the font may be a problem as often magazine adverts are only glanced at and it's difficult to read the text like this, meaning the advert relies even more heavily on the main image to grab the audience's attention.

Another convention the magazine advert follows is having a release date, this is a different colour to the rest of the advert's text because instead of green or white the release date is red. The use of the red text on a black background makes the writing stand out more, therefore making the advert more eye catching. The advert also follows the conventions of having the artist's official website, www.kingsofleon.com and the logo of the artist's record label, which in this case is Columbia.

Finally. the advert follows the convention of highlighting specific songs from the album, in this case these are "Use Somebody" and "Sex on Fire"

  

Conventions of magazine advertisements

Conventions of magazine advertisements on Prezi

Brand identity

Brand identity is a logo, tag line, or image with an aim to instantly gain recognition for the artist and set the mood for the audience.

For example The Darkness album "One Way Ticket To Hell" has the band's logo in the top corner, gaining the recognition and the image of a train helps set the mood of a rock album with a fast tempo, as well as linking with the album's name. This image is then used in the Magazine advert for the album to add to the recognition and brand identity.

Second Ancillary task brief

As part of the promotion package design a magazine advert for the digipak (CD/DVD package)

Finished digipak

Here is the finished Digipak.

The final digipak differs from earlier designs slightly as the back cover and one of the inside panels now have a black background as oppose to a white one. We also changed the colour of the font on the back panel from red to white. The reason we made these changes is that the photos and text now stand out more and also the text is now clearer and easier to read.

We added a photo collage of images from various film shoots and video footage because it adds to the song's feel of nostalgia and looking back as well as linking with our use of a photo album in the video itself. The reason we have an image of the artist as the digipak's main image is because it's a generic convention of the rock genre to have the artist on the album cover.     

Creating the digipak

Creating the digipak started with designing the back cover:

Here is the draft:

To start with adding a black background to the cover and then a red font to the track list, in order to really make it stand out and grab the buyers attention. Next we added the conventional copyright  information and bar code as well as a smartphone scanner and web address for the artist's official website.

Here is the back cover after we'd finished. Next we took some photos to add to the digipak and felt that this one was the most appropriate for the back cover.

Here is the finished back cover:

We altered the contrast of the photo and laid part of the track list over it to make the text stand out even more. Overall I'm very happy with the back cover as it looks good and fits some of the conventions of the genre.

Next we moved on to the front cover. This is the draft.

The first thing we did was add text to the design with the names of the artist and album running down either side of the main image. We broke a generic convention here as all text on the front cover is the same size, this influenced what font we chose because if all text is the same it needs to stand out and we felt using bold black text on a white background along with the main image really makes it stand out.   I feel having all text the same size is a good idea because as much as the artist wants to market themselves they are still trying to sell an album and therefore I feel both deserve equal coverage. Finally we added a photo of the artist, the reason we chose this photo is because often solo artists, like Bryan Adams use photos of themselves on thier album covers to try and promote themselves to the best of thier ability. The reason we had Will pose this way is because often the main image is of the artist looking confident and laid back, this was a theme we felt fit the song and this photo was ther best option overall I'm very happy with what we came up with. 

For the inside panels the first thing we did was add two images.

This photo was then placed under the CD itself.

The reason we chose this photo is that often in rock albums you see photos of the artist in this kind of pose, with their heads down and leant against a wall, as it shows a deeper more emotional side to the artist and we felt it worked well with our front cover as it reflects the two sides of the artist really well.

We then created a photo collage of various photos from either the video itself, screen shots from filming sessions and photos especially for the digipak.

I thought this was a good idea as it links with the idea of a photo album used in the music video and it also fits a convention as the main image of the panel is artwork that's some how relevant to the album or artist.

Final choice for digipak

After sketching various drafts for our digipak and receiving feedback back the class we have decided to produce a digipak that is a blend of all are drafts.

This draft of the singer sat near or on an amp will be the main image of the front cover as it was the strongest idea during the feedback session and it's conventional as the main image is the artist.

This will be the back cover as it follows the conventions of having a track list, bar code and copyright information all on the back. Also out of all the drafts it's the most easily changed without losing the original idea.

This will be the inside panels because the design is fits the convention of having some form of imagery on the inside panels. We now know thanks to the feedback session that the digipak as a whole will be marketed as a single rather than an entire album, this means that the main images will be from the music video itself or footage that hasn't been used in the video as it links with the photo album concept from the music video. 

      

Analysis of a student digipak

The student digipak I'm going to analyse is "American girls"

THE FRONT

The front cover of the digipak fits the convention of having an image of the artist as the main image of the front cover, I also find the image interesting as the photo was taken at one of the locations used in the music video. Another thing I like about the front cover is the text used because I feel it links well with the video as it's quite a feminine looking font and therefore links with the song's title "American girls". However the text doesn't fit the generic convention of rock digipaks as the text is the same size and the convention is that the Artist's name is bigger than the name of the album.

THE BACK      

One convention that the back cover of the digipak doesn't follow is that there isn't a track list, however I feel this can be justified as the digipak is set out as a DVD of a specific song's music video so a track list would be unnecessary. To compensate the song lyrics have been written on the back cover, however this is also unconventional as if song lyrics are included in a digipak there are conventionally seen on the inside panels. One convention that is followed is that the main images of the back cover are photos of the band and images that are relevant to the band or album which in this case is a photo of the american flag. The convention of having copyright information on the back panel is also met.

  

THE INSIDE PANELS

The only feature of the inside panels is an image of the american flag, which is conventional as often the main image of the inside panels is orginal artwork that is relevant to the album. However it's also unconventional when used in this way as because it is the only thing in the inside panels the digipak neglects the conventions of having song lyrics and photos of the artist all in the inside panel.

THE SPINE

The spine follows the convention of having the names of the artist and the album however because the digipak is a DVD not a CD there isn't a record label logo instead there is a DVD logo and a rating certificate, however like the front cover the text breaks the convention of having the artist's name bigger than the album's name as once again all text is the same size.

Feedback to digipak drafts

 

 

After showing our draft designs to the class this is the feedback we recieved:

That the class liked our idea of using photos of the lead singer on the front cover and our idea to have the text down the side rather than the traditional top of the front cover. However the class did suggest that we have the digipak as a single rather than an entire album and then use images from the video itself for the inside panels. For example screen shots from the photo album or couple scenes.

 

 

                                  

Analysis of a digipak #2

The digipak I'm going to analyse is "Black Ice" by AC/DC.

THE FRONT

The front cover follows the convention of having the artist's name as the biggest piece of text on show with the album's name being smaller and also below the name of the artist. Another generic rock convention the front cover of "Black Ice" follows is having a colour scheme involving no more than three colours, which in this the case is a colour scheme of silver, grey and black. One convention that isn't followed is having an image of the artist on the front cover, instead the main images on the front cover are the band's logo and orginal artwork. However part of this orginal artwork is a picture of the band's guitarist (Angus Young)  striking a pose that is heavily associated with him, but as it isn't the main image of the front cover or a conventional photo I feel the convention is not followed.    

THE BACK

The generic conventions for a rock digipak that the back cover of "Black Ice" follows are:

Maintaing the conventional colour scheme of the front cover, (Silver, grey and black). However one thing I feel is unconventional is although they have followed the conventions of keeping the colour scheme and having the tracklist on the back cover, they haven't altered the text or the font of the tracklist to make it stand out against the background. This means that it can be difficult to read in certain light. Another convention that the back panel doesn't follow is that it doesn't have a photo of the artist instead like the front cover, the back panel's main image is orginal artwork that involves members of the band in significant poses, for example Brian Johnson leaning back as he sings.

A convention the back cover does follow is having the barcode and copyright information all on the back cover. As well as a link to the artist's offical website, www.AC/DC.com and information about the record label (Columbia) and the distributor (SONY entertainment).

THE SPINE

The spine follows the generic conventions of having the same conventional colour scheme as the rest of the digipak, as well as having the names of the album, the artist and the record label. The album's serial number being on the spine is another convention the digipak follows. One convention the spine of "Black Ice" doesn't follow is having the artist's name bigger than the name of the album, instead both are the same size.

THE INSIDE PANELS

Like the front and back cover the inside panels don't follow the convention of having an image of the artist, instead once again using a piece of orginal artwork of a band member, which in this case is the band's guitarist Angus Young. However one convention that the digipak's inside panel does follow is by having a booklet within the inside panels. These booklets conventionally contain song lyrics or photos of the band, in the case of "Black Ice" photos of the band are used. 

                            

Another convention the inside panels follow is continuing the conventional colour scheme to the poin where it's used on the CD itself.