Magazine Poster: Conventions

From the research I conducted, I identified the main conventions of a magazine poster as they all use common features with small differences. These conventions are:

• bold image- this includes using a bold image of the artist/artists to make them instantly recognisable to the target audience.

• large text- they also use large fonts in order to make the aldbum look attractive but again eye catching as this is a marketing technique.

• minimal writing- too much writing draws attention away from the main image, therefore it is better to use less writing and focus more on the image.

• stand out box- they also use a stand out box to draw out something which is a bonus feature of the disk again to attract customers into buying it.

• small logos- the logos used to show where the cd can be bought from are small in order to ensure they arent the focal point.

• strong colours- the colours used on the cd itself are portrayed into the poster to set a houstyle. the bolder the colour the better to draw attention to it and to ensure it stands out.

• silhouettes- there are also bits tht have been sihouetted in Rihanna's album to add texture to the image and again make it the point of focus.

now that I have identfied key features within an album poster, I can start drawng up ideas for how I will create my own.

Magazine Poster: Research

This album poster is quite plain as it only uses soft colours such as baby blue and beige. It has been produced to look like a notepad drawing, as the border on the side resembles this. This is a nice effect, however it is not very attractive as the colours arent eye grabbing. The text on the poster is quite large and minimal amount of writing has been included to ensure people looking at the advert are only focusing on the name of the artist and title of the album. The large image of Neyo is also eye grabbing as it attracts all of his fans and people are instantly aware of which artist this is, which again adds to the eye catching features of it. Furthermore, there is a small bubble with a song feature on the album, this is used as a marketing technigque as it is making the audience think they are getting a bonus inside the CD, therefore used as an attracting audiences mechanism. The way in which this has informed the production of my own poster, is that I am aware I will need to include a bonus like feature on the cover as it is an advertising tool to serve the purpose of the poster.

This poster is very different to the previous one as it is much more bold and stands out at it uses a large image of Rihanna striking a very dramatic pose. This is unconventional of her genre, as it is RNB yet she has used many gothic connotations varying from the excessive use of black colour all around the poster but also her make up is very heavy and gothic. I think this was created to ensue people were aware of the album and to attract the audience immediately as the bold colour draws attention to this making it stand out. The graphics use don the bottom, showing the logos of where the CD can be bought or downloaded have been made much smaller as they are not the focal point. Overall, this has informed my own poster design, as it has made me more aware that bolder colours are better and black almost silhouette images draw attention to the poster.

The poster shown below, is from a pop genre style music and Gwen Stefani's album poster.  This is very different to the two previous ones shown mainly due to the colours it uses. The colours are extremely bright mainly consisting of yellow and red almost creating a carousel theme to the album. This carousel theme is also shown in one of her videos, therefore showing the link here. Also. there is a large image of Gwen posing in a very dramatic way, again a common feature to ensure the audience is immediately aware of the artist. Agsin the logo of the stores its available at have been placed at the bottom as they are not the focal point.

Draft Three- Digipack Front Cover

This is my third and final draft version of the front cover in my digipack:

third draft of front cover

As can be seen, I have taken away the blocks of colour and just put one large block behind all three picture because I wanted the colour to stand out evenmore, However I do not think this makes a large change, therefore this final draft has led me to putting the shocking pink colour behind the whole of the cover for maximum emphasis.

Draft Two - Digipack Front Cover

This is my second draft of the front cover of the album: 

Second draft

As can be seen from the draft of the fron cover above, I have incoporated colour into the background of the images and taken away the thick frames they had on the first try out. I think this looks a lot more appealing and the colour really represents the group as they are bubbly and very "in your face" therefore the shocking pink colour represents them well I think.

I still think however, that it may benefit from a little more colour so it is even more bright and attracts the audience straight away, however it is an improvement from the first draft.

Draft One - Digipack Front Page

Now that my images are ready to be put into the digipack, I have experimented the different styles I would want for the front cover. This is my first draft of the front page:

First draft of front cover

This is the first design I created after manipulating the images and selecting the main colours I would use. As can be seen from above, I have also edited a pink nail varnish bottle to create an effect as if it is tilting over the frame and tipping onto the item which I think works quite well.

However, due to the lack of background colour I do think it looks a little dull and not as eye catching as I want it to be therefore I am going to try and change the background so it looks a little more fitting to the genre.

Font Research

these are all of the different fonts I researched before choosing the final one I thought fitted best within the designs I laid out for my poster and digipack. I finally decided that I would chose the one entitled "Birth of a Hero" as it was the one I liked best and I think it will help my ancillary tasks to stand out.

Source: http://www.1001freefonts.com/

Silhouetting Tutorial

Now that I have selected the images I need, I need to learn how I will silhouette my images to get the shapes I want. I researched tutorials on youtube and this was the one I found most helpful, alongside the help of my teacher.

Selected Photos

Now that I have taken all of my photos, as there was many to choose from below are the ones i will use for my digipack and poster. I ensured that we all made bold poses, as I will need these to be shown wihtin the pictures once I have silhouetted them in order for them to be effective. I learnt this when looking through the conventions of silhouettes (moodboard) as the majority of images which were the most successful had big bold positions so they were made to stand out therefore I want the same effect on my images.

Sam Left

Me left

Me down

Shiggy right

shiggy left

Photoshoot

Today I set up a photoshoot for my group, as I need to collect a wide range of shots in order to establish the better ones ready for manipulation on photoshop. 

The camera used here was a Nikon D3000, as this has a wide lens and allows me to experiment with different length shots, which I need to ensure my images are suitable for the proposed idea. 

Digipack MoodBoard

Today i decided to create a moodboard of the ideas i have thought of, using photoshop as I need to get used to moving images around when creating my final product. I based my ideas on silhouettes as I liked this when seeing it on previous digipacks i researched. I also like frames and positioning them at different angles in order for it to look unique therefore this moodboard has given me a lot of ideas about where to go next with my design.

MoodBoard

Research: CD Covers (Genre Specific)

I have also decided to conduct research into existing front covers of my own music genre which is RNB. As can be seen below, I have selected album covers from RNB artists.

Rihanna:

close up of artist

Ciara:

artist image and large title

Chris Brown:

collage of artist with large album name

Drake:

aspects of silhouette on the artist and close up of the face

Research: CD Covers (All Genres)

I have collected some CD front covers in order to give me ideas of what things I can include within my own front cover. These are of different genres, as I can gather ideas and intertwine them together to shape them into my own music genre.

Avril Lavinge



black and white wash



Beyonce:



black and white wash



Maroon 5:



grey- minimalistic image



Kings of Leon:



sunset, natural front image



Chase and Status:



very bright pink and black font colour



Researching Previous Digipacks

Before I can begin to create my own digipack I will conduct some research into previous digipacks and analysing their main features in order to help me identify what I need to include within my own product.

Starting Ancillary Tasks

Now that we have finished our editing, we will be starting to plan up ancillary tasks and individually decide what we will do from the three tasks set in the specification. I have decided to create a:

• digi-pack
• magazine poster 

I have chosen these as I want the task of being a little creative and designing something which will push my skills further than just the video production.