Final Magazine Advert

The design I have chosen is below:

I chose this over the other options because all 15 people I asked preferred this design.
 I think the design fits perfectly with the album cover and the album booklet I designed for the band. I put the Rolling Stone rating at the top of the page because it's eye catching and will draw people's eyes to the name of the band beneath it. I put the text in slightly larger font so that it would stand out that little bit more, whilst not being too overpowering.

I spaced out the text and images on my advert because it adds to the minimalist style I was going for with the design, but also because it has a similar design to the front and back cover of the album.

I made sure the band's logo was the same size as it is on the album cover as to keep the consistency, whilst making it look intriguing as it's just that little bit smaller than the rest of the content on the advert.

The lack of information about the band and the release of the album was intentional, as it is more interesting and memorable. I put just the date on the album because it will get people talking, and hopefully make them excited to see what will happen on that date.

The QR code is placed directly underneath the release date so that it will be the next thing they see/read. The link will take people to a special page on the band's website where they can hear a short clip of the band's single 'Sweater Weather', and possibly the chance to download a free song by the band that won't be on the album. My teacher pointed out that it wouldn't work on an advert which is colour, but, as mine is in black and white, it fits with the theme and the minimalist design.

In the left hand corner is the 'Divinyl Records' logo, which is the band's management/record label. Every advert I researched featured this, so I had to incorporate it into my advert. I made the logo small but big enough to see, and it appears on all of my print products, so it will be easily recognisable.

Again, every advert I looked at as part of my research had a website address on their album advert, so I added one on mine. Just like the logo, I made the font small but large enough to read, which again fits with the minimalist design. The website address will attract people to find out more about the band, and is just the band's name, so it will make people remember the band's name more easily.

Magazine Advert Designs

I have made a few magazine adverts using Photoshop that I am going to analyse. I couldn't decide between the four designs which one I prefer, so hopefully this will help.

I like how plain and simple the design is for all of the adverts, as they're similar to the album cover and I wanted to keep the continuity throughout the print products.
The logo is the first thing your eyes are drawn to on each of them, so it makes it stand out more if someone is flicking through a magazine. The simple design and lack of information intrigues the audience and will hopefully draw them to look at the band's website, which will tell them more about what the advert is about.

I put the band's website in the bottom right hand corner, because this is what people will see when flicking through the magazine, and will catch their eye and intrigue them to stop on the page.

I chose the Rolling Stone Magazine for the rating because it is the magazine most likely to advertise the album because of the genres it covers.

Also, it is a well established magazine, and people know it by name without the logo being there, so I thought it fit perfectly with the style I am going for with my album. Moreover, people who listen to the indie/rock genre respect the Rolling Stones' decisions and ratings, so this will hopefully make it more likely that people will listen to it because of this.

I chose the 'Brit 2015 Critics Choice Award' for the top of my advert because it is a well respected award to win.

The nominees are artists who are expected to be big in the upcoming year, so for my band to say they have won it is a big deal, and will hopefully give them more publicity.

The album covers I researched in a previous post all featured singles from the album that reached number one or similar, so that was the main reason for putting it on my advert.

Another reason was that a number one single is a big achievement for an artist, especially for a small band just starting out, so it will be appealing to people who haven't heard the song yet, or fans of the song who don't know about the band's album.

As a last minute idea, I really want a QR Code on the bottom of the advert, and possibly one inside of the album booklet.

The one on the advert would take people to a special page on the band's website, where a short clip of the band's single 'Sweater Weather' would play, hopefully attracting more people to the band, or even a free song that isn't on the album, which may make people more likely to listen to or buy the album.

The QR Code inside of the album booklet would take fans to a page on their website with a video of the band thanking them for buying their album and possibly a competition to meet the band, which may make people more likely to buy the album.

Here are some examples of when QR codes have been used in adverts.

 

 

I am going to ask people's opinion of which of the adverts they prefer, and I'll post which one was the most popular.

Rough Cut Feedback

After reading through the feedback left on my rough cut video, I am going to aim to get another rough cut done by the weekend, depending on if I get enough footage filmed this week or not.


I am hoping to film the scene with at the end of the video with the couple playing with sparklers, and a few other clips here and there so I can speed up the editing.


I will post the new rough cut towards the end of this week.

Rough Cut 2.0

Below is the rough cut of my music video. It is missing a few clips here and there, but I will hopefully get the majority of these filmed over the weekend so I can add them to the video.

The 50 second gap in the song towards the end is the main chunk where the clips are missing, but these should be simple to film once I have the main parts filmed, so it shouldn't be long until I have the rest filmed and edited.

(And, yes, both actors are wearing clothes in the shot when they walk up the stairs! Their trousers / dress were pulled up to make it look as though the clothes they're throwing on the stairs were the ones they were wearing.)

Rough Cut Deadline

The deadline for the rough cut of my music video is tonight. However, there is a 45 second break in the song and I don't have enough footage for this yet and a few other parts in the song, due to my actor living over an hour and a half away from me, so it's not easy for him to get to the locations anymore.
I am constinuously working on editing my music video, and I have longer on it because I have finished the design of my Digipack.

With this in mind, I am going to post tonight what I have so far, and then upload another rough cut in about a week or two, once I have the rest of this footage sorted.

Band Interview

I asked my friend who's in a rock/metal band to answer a few questions I had concerning music videos and how his band go about promoting themselves and writing song lyrics.


Here is the interview...

Drake's Digipack Comparison

The main inspiration for the design of my album booklet was Drake's 'Nothing Was The Same'. It's simple but effective design was exactly what I was trying to achieve, which is why I got a few ideas from it.

Drake’s album cover is so simple; a black background, and white text in the centre of the page. The typography is kept consistent throughout the digipak, and everything is kept similar to this cover.

Because Drake is such an established artist, he doesn’t need his picture on the album for people to know it’s his, as they will immediately recognise his name.  Also, this is his third album, so he isn’t trying to promote himself anymore, but his music, and so he can get away with this simple design a lot easier.

 

For my album cover, I always wanted to have a black background with white writing as the design. The logo will feature at the start of each music video, making a link between the album and the songs so people can make an automatic connection between the two. The typography features throughout the album booklet, and the design is consistent.

Just like the front cover, the track list features the same typography, and has the same simple design; a black background and white writing in the middle of the page.

Again, I wanted to keep the same design throughout my album booklet, and Drake’s track list gave me the idea for this. I have centred the text and numbered each song simply to space out the songs a bit more.

The songs are not only in alphabetical order, which is another feature I have seen, but is subtle link to the Sweater Weather video, which is the first single from the album. The music video shows the couple's relationship progress over the course of a year, and the song lyrics, in alphabetical order, show the couple's entire relationship;

Afraid - They're strangers and they're both afraid to make the first move.

Bad Blood - They're worried that their pasts may mean that the other mightn't like them or that it may affect their chance of a relationship.

Carpe Diem - They're young and they want to act like it; they don't want to get into a serious relationship, they're just looking for fun.

Deja Vu - There are constant arguments in the relationship and each argument is a 'deja vu' of the last.

Gone - The arguments drive them apart and they're threatening each other with the end of their relationship.

Kiss Me - They want to 'kiss and make up' because their relationship means too much to them to let go.

Lovers - They're back together and they're stronger than ever.

Runaway - They want to run away and spend the rest of their lives with each other.

Sweater Weather - They're spending each day together in bed without a care in the world.

What We Were - Their relationship didn't last and now the guy is looking back at what was, wishing they were the same again.

The music videos for each of these music videos will portray the lyrics and the title of the song, and will each show a story of the couple's relationship.

Drake doesn’t have the lyrics of his songs in his Digipak, just the credits. He has done the same for every song on the album, and has kept the same typography and design throughout these pages.

The back cover of Drake’s Digipak has a lot more than mine, and he doesn’t have the track listing on. The large group of text on the right hand side of the page is a quote by Ross Valory, the bassist from band ‘Journey’. This quote is one which I have seen a lot online, and is one of my favourite quotes. It reads; “A lot of people get famous and then don’t want to be famous. You signed up for this you gotta pay for it. A lot of people just don’t know what the price is when they step up to the plate. The wear and tear is not physical. The wear and tear is a mental thing. You really just let go of a lot of relationships that require presence and constant nurturing. You say goodbye to people, people get sick and die when you’re gone, and a lot of things just go by the way side. Then where’s all the strife, and power, and money, and control.” 

He then writes something himself; “They’ll never truly know but thank you all who try to understand. Nothing was the same.” –This may have been where Drake got the name of his album from.

He then has more credits on the left hand side of the page, and has the logos of his record label, management etc. in the bottom corner, just like mine.

Instead, I chose to put the lyrics of the songs in my album booklet. I used the band’s logo and blurred it out so I could use it in the background, and placed the text in the centre and over the logo. I did this for every song, and used the reference points on the axis to make sure the logo is in the same place on each page.

 

 

The back cover of Drake’s Digipak has a lot more than mine, and he doesn’t have the track listing on. The large group of text on the right hand side of the page is a quote by Ross Valory, the bassist from band ‘Journey’. This quote is one which I have seen a lot online, and is one of my favourite quotes. It reads; “A lot of people get famous and then don’t want to be famous. You signed up for this you gotta pay for it. A lot of people just don’t know what the price is when they step up to the plate. The wear and tear is not physical. The wear and tear is a mental thing. You really just let go of a lot of relationships that require presence and constant nurturing. You say goodbye to people, people get sick and die when you’re gone, and a lot of things just go by the way side. Then where’s all the strife, and power, and money, and control.”

He then writes something himself; “They’ll never truly know but thank you all who try to understand. Nothing was the same.” –This may have been where Drake got the name of his album from.

He then has more credits on the left hand side of the page, and has the logos of his record label, management etc. in the bottom corner, just like mine.

I used the logo of my band on the band so that each page features my band’s logo, and placed it in the centre of the page so that it grabs your attention and is the first thing you see. I designed the track listing differently because I have seen it in a few other album back covers. I also thought it would help with the continuity of the album booklet as there is more black background than writing on most pages, and this design helped me continue this. I put the copyright statement in the bottom left hand corner, with the record label logo and barcode in the bottom right hand corner as this is a feature I have consistently seen with back covers of albums.

Below is a powerpoint with my full album booklet on.


I am going to voice record peoples' opinions on my album booklet and make a post with any changes I may have to make to the booklet.

Album Booklet