Magazine Adverts part 2: RESEARCH

I was looking on Youtube for videos about to make a magazine advert on quark express. I didn't find any that were useful. So i looked again but this time for videos about to make a magazine advert on Photoshop and i found some really useful things. This video basically explains how a magazine should look and how to make it look professional. I really like how they took a simple picture and turned it into something fascinating and exciting. Admittedly, it isn't the best magazine cover that i have seen but it has thought me how to create a magazine cover. And i like what the person has done.

Adverts: RESEARCH

Even though for part of our media coursework we are designing a magazine advert, i wanted to see how all different types of adverts have been made for some pop/ r&b artists. I came across a few adverts that i like, which are promoting a digipak/album. The first one that i came across was The Saturdays "Headline" album. I like it because throughout the advert it has turned their still front cover moving one.

                                                                                                                                                            

                                       

Another advert that i came across was Rihanna's "Talk That Talk". I really like this advert because its fun, loud and exciting. All the colours really grab your attention and her album picture appears in it a few times. It shows a clip of all her most popular song from this album and it physically makes the public want to go out and buy the album.



I then found Lily Allen's "It's not me. It's you" advert. Again i like this because i it she's rearranging the letters of her name which the main idea behind her album picture. Its also good because it has quotes from newspapers and magazines such as The times and The observer music monthly which is something that i am going to be putting on my advert

The production of the two inside panels for digipak: PRODUCTION



Fonts Part 3: RESEARCH

I wanted the colour of the album name to match with the whole album so I went on to www.colorschemedesiner.com and basically just fiddled around with the colours that would go with the front cover. Because the original colour of the font was going to be red, I decided just to see what shades of red I could use and here there are many different types of red, bright, dark etc. I then clicked on to the fourth option and saw another range of colours and a turquoise came up and I thought that it would be nice to use it but then the colour Grey came into my head, since I used it previously for the track listing, so i tried out different shades and found the right one. In the colour circle there are different colours that can be used and its just a really useful way of getting inspiration and help, even though I didn’t use the exact colours mentioned, the other colours helped me make my decision.

Making the font and back cover to my digipak: PRODUCTION

These are the screen shots that i took whilst i was making the front and back cover.

This picture collage created with Smilebox

1. I first started off with the plain picture of Talia. Just like when I was trying out the fonts, I tried to see if they would look nice on the actual digipak. Again I tried to get the same colours of her top.
2. I was just looking at different affects that I could use for the picture.
3. I added the “glow affect”. I added this specific affect because I thought that it could bring out the picture more and make it look more original. So I went to “distort” and picked the glow tool, then changed the greyness, amount of glow and the amount of the clearness.
4. I then went on to do the back cover. I already knew exactly how I wanted it to look so I got straight to work. I used the same glow on the back cover as I did on the front. I made the track listing Grey because I think it looks co-ordinated with the tiles on the floor. I just generally like how the whole picture looks.
5. I changed the colour of the album name “crazy stupid love” because all the different colours that I wanted to use just weren't very conventional, so I thought to make it the same colour as her lipstick. Also the track listing font and title are the same.
6. Shortly after, my teacher noticed that the font wasn’t very clear to read and advised me to change it to a simple font. After thinking about it, I realised that what my teacher said made a lot of sense so I then changed the font and the colour of the album name for the third time.
7. I added the record label, bar code and all of the production information. I chose to use Capital Records because it’s the same record label that Lily Allen is signed to and since both Talia and Lily are within the same genre I thought using that record label would be wise.
8. . I decided to use the back cover as part of the spine, I may change this as I haven't made up my mind completely yet if I want to leave it like this.

Fonts Part 2: PLANNING

Here are four different ideas that I had for my digipak front cover. I wanted to try placing the artist name and album name in different places to see how it will look. The second to last image I wanted to move away from the pink writing and focus on the colour of the writing blending with Talia’s nails and lips. So I tried out different colours and in the third image these were the three that matched the most accurately. I'm now thinking of changing my colour scheme which was originally black and pink to white and one of the three colours above. I was also thinking of using all three colours for the album name so it would look like the last picture.

PLANNING: Ancillary Pitch

When I presented my mock up of my ancillary work to Osman we discussed how I could further develop my ideas and the themes I was going for. Firstly we agreed that to increase recognition for my artist I had to have her face on the front cover of the album cover. My first attempt at the front cover looked similar to this: 

Realising that the artist was hard to identify I changed it to this:

Back and Front covers

As you can see the artist's image is the main focal point instead of the text and I also decided to use aspects of the actual image as a theme that runs through all my ancillary products in order to boost recognition and also as a preview of what genre and style my artist is a part of.

Inner panels

We also discussed that in order to keep the focus on the artist then She would have to stand out. Therefore I chose to keep the background of the inner panels as black and white with the image of Talia in the centre and in colour. The name of the artist would also be very important in improving the artist's recognition so I decided  not to change the panel on the left. 

In my pitch I explained how the use of the colours and images would symbolise the genre of my artist and how I used similar existing products as an influence in creating my work. 

Advertisement

Osman agreed that the concept for my advertisement was very good so I decided not to change much. We discussed where this advertisement might be placed to which I replied: everywhere, On buses, Tube stations, music magazines, Newspapers, Poster walls etc. We also agreed that I should keep the grey/black/white theme continue in this piece as well.

Do's And Dont's For The production Of Ancillary Work

These are the Do's and Dont's for the construction of our digipak covers and magazine adverts

DO's:

• Use clear font
• Use appropriate sizes for images and font
• Use clear photos that are in focus
• Use photos that are the right shape for the page
• Use a layout that follows the rule of thirds
• Be careful where you place the font
• Follow the conventions of the three colour rule and use colour that is appropriate
• Use appropriate industry logos and conventions, properly positioned

DONT's:

• Stretch image, this will make them out of focus
• Use layer styles
• Use unnecessary effects. All effects MUST suit genre
• Place text across artists face
• Use a font simply because 'you like it'
• Feel you need a separate photo on every panel- be creative!!!

PLANNING: Mock up of advertisement

PLANNING: Mock up of album cover

Front Cover

Inner Panels

Day 1 Of Ancillary Production

 This is the image I was going to use, but decided not to, what I did is use the tool to clear out the background. However I noticed that this picture didn’t work so well like the others did. In my mock up this was my original picture as well as muddled up letters beside her , but when I tried that out it didn’t work so well.

For my front panel, I used a filter to edit the picture. I decided that the filter made my picture stand out more and it looked more effective then the original picture.  i also then had some trouble with the text , i wasn't sure on which text would look the best ,i was also struggling with the colour at first i choose a light Gray but then my teacher told em that it wasn't noticeable.

 

Then I went on and started editing my second panel, I also added a filter to this image along with a blur so it allows the track list to stand out more.  Then went on adding the record label and bar code.

Other inspirational digi pacs : RESEARCH

 I really love how powerful that image is, her picture really stood out to me. I love how the bright red lipstick illustrates her music video. Her theme was about poison I think she really did a good job in relating to that.

Do's and Dont's

Day 1 Of Ancillary Production Visualised : ANCILLARY PRODUCTION

Day 1 Of Ancillary Production : ANCILLARY PRODUCTION

I began by changing the colour balance of the picture that i would be using for my album cover. I wanted to create a cold autumn feeling and so added a red tint merged with a slight hint of blue. I was happy with what i had done because the picture looked even more professional. 

I then cropped the image into the size of the front cover of an album, I chose to include the middle section of the image because it is the most interesting and resonates well with my music video Doppelganger effect.

Now I came to the process of adding the artists name and album name. I decided to use the font 'copperplate gothic' as it is very simple, easy to read and quite elegant. The same font was used for the album name however I felt it was important to have a clear colour distinction and so made the Artist name Red and album title white. Late i changed the album name to Black as it could be seen more clearly from afar.

Now i began working on the back cover. I decided to have it in majority black, with the face of the artist being visible. I changed the colour, brightness and contrast in photoshop.

Opening the image in fireworks  I flipped it horizontally so that the text for the track-list didn't appear over the face of the artist. 

This is how it looked after flipping it horizontally

Adding the text for the track-list was quite simple, the names of the album songs were taken from Lily Allen's album. I used white text to contrast clearly with the black and the same font was used for continuity.

After I had finished the major design aspects of the front two panels, i was left to add on the conventional things that appear on a Digipak. I added the record label logo, barcode & copyright information. I intentionally made this all white to ensure it contrasted with the black again. I completed the front two panels by adding the artists name and album name onto the spine, along with the album code.

Ancillary products: PLANNING

This is the picture that I choose to use as my front panel, the reason why I choose this picture was the following. Firstly it is a very controversial picture really reflecting powerfully with the audience also allowing the audience to see her sort of lonely but crazy side. Secondly because it is not any close up it’s a close up that allows people to see her personality through the way she portrays herself. Lastly because it is an amazing picture I choose this picture from inspiration. When I started researching I decided to get inspiration from Rihanna and Jessie J these two artists have really shown many different sides to themselves and I think that’s something I would like our artist to do also.

I intend to use this picture, as my second panel. My aim is to crop out the background leaving me with just her body. What I love about this picture is that it demonstrates and reflects her lonely side; it sort of allows the audience to get in touch with her emotions.

 

Not quite sure which picture I may use as my inner panel , but have more chance in sticking with the first image.

Research :Ancillary

This picture really did influence me. I love the way Jessie Js lips stand out, the image I think is very powerful as it reflects her personality I also think that this image can s interpret the type of person she is. I also choose this picture as inspiration as her lips stood out for me I love the way it is unique. Hence the fact I choose this picture as I wanted to  go for that funky, crazy controversial look.

Fonts : research

As I was researching some Digi Pacs, I noticed how the font makes a big difference. I think the font should reflect the theme. So I intend to keep it simple, bright and bold. I want to have my artist name in capital letters (TALIA) so it don’t just override the picture its stays simple but elegant. I intend to place her name on the bottom of the Digi Pac. However choosing the font is the difficult part as I have no idea on what to settle for.

I also love the way lily Alan font goes so well with her controversial videos , her fonts are eye catchy exciting and bold.

These are some that I have tried out; I think they are all very similar to each over. So it’s hard to make an easy decision. However I do really like the first one because it has  a slight gothic touch to it and I think that goes very well with the personality of our artist , not only it will go very well with my picture also.

What I also researched was other Digi Pacs and how their fonts reflected their music video and their theme. I found allot of inspirational ones for example a Rihanna Digi Pac. i love the way her font is so simple but very eye catching as it dont override the image , this is somthing i am going to adopt. I intend to use a font like this across the bottom in bold.

Pitch for ancillary work

Last lesson I presented my Digi Pac and advert to Annabel , she gave me some advice on what would work better , like for example we discussed my front cover and how it may be best to include her eyes , as I decided to cut her eyes in the picture , so we can just focus on her lips. However that didn’t go so well due to the size as the picture must be a square in order to avoid resizing the image. I also let her know that I wasn’t so confident with my advertisement, and I may make some changes. Overall she was pleased and I intend to take on her advice.

Ancillary products: PLANNING

This is the picture that I want to use for my front cover. I chose to use this one because I feel like she is connecting with the audience and it sows a different side to her. I also like how bold her nails and lipstick look.

This is the picture that I want to use for my back cover. Im using this because I like the angle that I took the picture in and also when the track list is on there it’ll look as though she is looking at them.

Im using this for my left inside panel. I like how she looks against the flowers in the background and I want my digipak to show a range of different sides to my artist.

I was thinking of putting this picture on the CD cover but im still deciding if I should use it. If I don’t use it then im going to have a design on the CD instead. This picture and the left inside panel will be in black and white, I think it adds a nice touch to the album. 

This is the picture that I’m going to use for my advert. Im not completely sure that I want to use this picture but if I do then im going to cut her out of this picture and place her on a plain background.