Magazine Advert Design

This is the flatplan of what I would like my music magazine advert to look like:

  

And here is my final music magazine advert design:

As you can see I have decided to keep the layout and colours of my magazine advert quite simple, this is so it represents the genre effectively. Acoustic/folk music is a very simple genre of music, so this is why I feel my magazine advert reflects that as well. Like I did with my CD cover, I tried to keep with the vintage/sepia style for my images; this is because I wanted to make them seem more 'natural' and less vibrant, like the artist's music. I wanted to make the magazine advert look sophisticated and mature, so it fits in with the sort of magazine it might appear in (for example, Q or NME), and so it represents the genre effectively.

Magazine Advert Images

For my magazine advert I have decided to use the same images from the photo shoot that I did for my CD cover - this way the images fit together better and look more similar, to help give the album a brand identity because people will be able to recognise it easily.

To see the images that I intend to use, please look back at the post named 'CD Cover Images'.

Evaluation of CD Cover

How has the research helped me in my final product?
My research has helped me gain an understanding of all the main conventions of a CD cover, for example, where the artist/band name usually goes, and the fact that there's nearly always a main image in the background which takes up the whole cover. The research has helped me gain an understanding of how a CD cover should be laid out, depending on what genre the artist is.
Doing this taask had also helped me develop more knowledge of the genre conventions; what colours, fonts and layouts to use when designing an advert that advertises a certain genre of music, so it appeals to the target audience.


How my CD cover fits into the conventions of the genre:
The images are of the instruments that acoustic/folk artists usually tend to use (acoustic guitar and piano). Images like this show the fact that James Vincent McMorrow is a acoustic/folk artist. Also, a lot of folk artists use close ups of instruments to emphasise the instruments they use, and to represent the fact that they're an acoustic/folk artist.


How my CD cover appeals to the target audience:
There's lots of different close ups of the instruments, which makes it more interesting than just an ordinary image of an acoustic guitar. The scrapbook effect makes it more interesting and eye catching.


The editing process:
I used Photoshop CS2 to edit all of the images on the cover. First of all I changed the colouring of the images to give it a sepia/vintage look, so it would fit in with the genre conventions. I then inserted all of the images onto the background, making sure they overlapped slightly, creating a scrapbook effect. I chose the font which I thought would look best, and that fitted the conventions of the genre. Then I inserted all the text (the album title and the artist's name) in a new layer on top of the images.


What went well and what could have been better:
I think the images that I took worked really well, because they fit in with the genre characteristics. The close ups of the instruments make the images so much more interesting, and represents exactly the  kind of artist James Vincent McMorrow is.


To make the CD cover better, I would make the font a little bit different, it looks too plain and out of place. I would maybe try and find a font that goes with the images a bit more, and isn't so bold. I would also change the colour of the font slightly so it blended in more with the rest of the cover.


What I have learnt from this and how that will help me in my next task:
From doing this task I have:
- Enhanced my editing skills on Photoshop . Before this task I never knew how to make images have a sepia/vintage look, but doing this task helped me gain knowledge of how to do that.
- Learnt the conventions of a CD cover, and the conventions of acoustic/folk music.
- Learnt a lot about the young acoustic/folk target audience, and what appeals to them.

CD Cover Deisgn

Here is the design of what my CD cover will look like:

And here is the finished CD design:

Looking at my final CD cover design, you can see that I have changed the design a little bit more since my draft design. For example, I didn't put an image in the centre of the CD cover, this is because I felt like it looked too crowded and didn't represent the artist and genre of music. Acoustic/folk music is seen as a very simple genre of music, so I think that a simple design would represent this very well.

I wanted to give the images a vintage/sepia look, this makes them look very natural, and the lack of colour doesn't make it so loud and vibrant. The genre of music is very 'natural' and quiet, so I think the images help to represent the artist and genre very well.

CD Cover Images

These are the images I have taken to use for my CD cover. The artist I have chosen (James Vincent McMorrow) is an acoustic/folk artist, so I decided to do close ups of instruments that he would use, such as an acoustic guitar and a piano. This emphasises the type of artist he is, the genre of music he plays, and the instruments he uses.
I have edited a lot of the images that I am thinking of using so they are either black & white, and sepia/vintage. I have done this because if they were too colourful I don't think it would represent the genre of music very well. James Vincent McMorrow's music is very soft and quiet, so it wouldn't fit if I used loud and vibrant colours in my images on my CD cover.

7) Artist and track I will be using

James Vincent McMorrow

The artist I have chosen to use is called James Vincent McMorrow; a successful acoustic/folk artist from Ireland.

He plays in lots of different venues to gain popularity, he even supported the famous acoustic/folk band City & Colour at the Royal Albert Hall in April 2011, which helped him gain the fame he deserved.





James uses the internet to promote his music; he has MySpace and Facebook pages, a website, and has music on Spotify and iTunes.

I will be using the song called "Sparrow And The Wolf" for my music video (see the video below). I chose this song because it's light and cheery, but also has a bit of an edge and darkness to it. I thought it would be a good song to use for my music video because I would also be able to give the video a bit of edge and character.

5) CD Cover Design

Cd cover design

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3) Having a 'niche'?

Having a 'niche'? on Prezi

1) Target Audience

Target audience powerpoint

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