Magazine Advert Functionality

Using Photoshop, I used a template of a magazine I found online, in order to assess the functionality of the magazine advert I created. Here is a mock-up version of how the magazine advert I created would look if it were actually to be featured in a magazine:

I searched for a simple online template, as I did when I was looking to asses the functionality of the digipak that I created for the album, so I could Photoshop the magazine advert I created over the top of it. Fitting with my creation of the mock-up piece for my digipak, to create this piece for my magazine advert I had to use the transformation tool to re-size and rotate the image so that it was the correct size and angle to fit onto the magazine template. I also had to use the warp tool again, so that the advert effectively fit onto the template, and gave the impression that it was part of the magazine. As I had experience in using the warp tool at this point, I found that I could carry out this technique more easily this time.

Overall, I am very pleased with my magazine advert and I believe that it is for purpose. I like way I have chosen to position the main image, so that it frames the information I have layered on top of the image to effectively draw attention to it. I particularly like my use of the black coloured header and footer, as I believe these help to make the information I have included on the advert more clear, and that they help to segment it appropriately so that it does not appear cluttered. I think that the magazine advert comes together with the digipak and the music video to create a sleek and effective promotional package for the album; the typography I have used in the digipak and the magazine advert is consistent, and the image I have used in the magazine advert is the same as that used on the front cover of digipak, and this is taken from the opening shot of the music video my group created.

Magazine Advert Final Draft

Here is the final draft of my magazine advert:

What has changed since the draft?

Once I had created the draft version of my magazine advert, I received feedback on it from my teacher and from my peers; I also critically reviewed the piece I had created myself. I took this information and altered the design to created my final draft, which is pictured above.

I decided that the album and artist name needed to be prominent, and therefore, I attempted to make them more bold. To do this, I duplicated the title layer, and moved the layer very slightly out of line with the original. This created a bold effect, which I think will help to draw more attention to this particular area of the advert.

A change that I made to a few areas of the magazine advert was suggested by my teacher; she thought I should make certain elements of the text bold, to help to signify their importance. I took this advice on board and I chose to bold the following words/phrases: "out now", "Sorry" and "Amsterdam". I chose to bold the phrase "out now", as this is key information for the target audience. They need to know that the album is available for them to purchase at the time they are reading the advertisement. I chose to put the name of the singles "Sorry" and "Amsterdam" in bold, too. I did this as, although I increased the font size of them, I thought that changing the font to bold would help to draw attention to them further. It is important to draw attention to these names for reasons I outlined in my post about the draft of my magazine advert. 

When reviewing my magazine advert draft, I felt that the small image of the album cover needed to stand out more. Therefore, when creating my final draft I attempted to make this happen. I created a white square that was just a little bigger than the album cover image size, which helped to differentiate it from the black cover of the footer. To make it stand out more, I went into the layer options, and selected multiple blending options; 'contour', 'outer shadow' and 'bevel and emboss'. I thought these tools were effective in helping the album cover image stand out even further off the white square that I had created, as they helped to create the effect that the image was raised from the other layers.

One of my peers mentioned how I should also include the social media handles of the band, as this will provide ease to the investigate the artist. This is a convention that is commonly featured in magazine advert promoting albums that I had previously overlooked, so I decided that I should include this in my draft. I decided to include the Twitter and Facebook handles of the artist on the advert, as these are two of the most used social media platforms.

Magazine Advert Draft

Here is the draft of my magazine advert that I created:

Much like my digipak did, my magazine advert both coincides with and differs from my original plan.

The image I have used is the one that I outlined in my plan for my magazine advert. I decided to use the image that is on the front cover of the digipak, as this links the two pieces together very well. It is also part of the opening shot of the promotional music video we created, which ties the promotional package together nicely. Instead of centring the image like on the digipak, I positioned the image so that Hannah was to the right-hand side of the frame. I did this so that I could add text in the 'empty' space of the image, so that it would not get lost over the top of Hannah. I thought that this positioning of the image also helped to draw attention to the text layered on top of the image because it acted as a frame.

A key difference between my original plan and my draft, is that in the draft I have used two black shapes that act as a header and a footer to the poster. I took inspiration from the magazine adverts for Mumford & Sons album 'Sigh No More', of which most of which the image(s) were the focal point of the centre of the advert [featured to the left]. The album and artist names were featured in a black coloured strip/space above this, and other information was featured in the equivalent below the image(s). I thought this would be effective to use on my magazine advert, as I had found that the text had been disappearing into the image, which meant that it could not easily be read. 

I kept the album title and artist name the same as on the album cover, in order to make sure that the promotional material included all of the same typography to make the package sleek. However, the text needed to be visible on the black layer, so I had to change to colour of the font to white.

On the plan, I said that I would include the phrase "out now" layered on top of the main image, and that I would outline this with a box. When I was creating the draft of my digipak, I realised that simply saying the phrase "out now" would not be effective, as I had not specified what it was that was being released. Therefore, I chose to include the word "album" in this phrase to make this clear. I did out line the phrase with a box, as I thought that this was a useful tool to draw the eye to this piece of information.

I chose to include the phrase "12 new songs" as the purpose of this piece is to attract people to buy the album. This information is a tool used to draw interest of the target market by multiple artists in the existing magazine adverts that I have viewed. I did not include this in my original plan, as it was not something I had noted well as a convention of magazine adverts for albums at the point of creating the plan. However, once I discovered this was a common convention, I felt it was necessary to use this in my piece.

Fitting with what I outlined in my magazine advert plan, I said that I would include the information about the singles that were included on the album. This is a useful tool for promotion, as the target market (and possibly people outside of this, too) may have heard the most popular singles that were released prior to the album. If individuals liked these tracks, they would be inclined to purchase the album. However, if an individual has not previously heard the tracks, this provides them with the knowledge to research the songs if they so wish to, before deciding whether they will purchase the album. Also in-line with what I planned, I have made the text size for the names of the singles slightly larger than the rest of the sentence as this highlights them as the important information, and will increase the likelihood that people will focus on them.

I included the common conventions of a small image of the actual album cover, and of a web address, as I had outlined in my plan. The small image of the album cover allows it to be identifiable to the potential buyer, and the web address allows for individuals to find out more information on the band, and to find out their social media information, etc. I felt that both elements were getting lost in the main image, so when I added the footer, I felt that this allowed them to stand out more which was essential for them to be effective. 

I had originally planned to include information about how the album was available to be bought over the main image of the text. However, when creating the draft, I discovered that this information would have made the main image too cluttered. Therefore, I chose to still include the information, but I would do so on the footer of the advert.

Adding the footer also allowed me to include some extra information, without the advert appearing too cluttered. There was plenty of space for me to include some album reviews, which were a convention of magazine adverts that I discovered that I failed to include in my original plan. Positive album reviews by respected music magazines are important promotional techniques, as they reassure the target market that this is a good product, and that buying it will be beneficial to them. Using the star rating system also provides an easily interpreted review/rating of the album, without having to have to read any information. This is suitable for magazine adverts, as the star icons will draw the reader of the magazine to reviews, and when the ratings are high and are presented clearly, the reader will be more inclined to pay attention to the advert. Subsequently, the reader will be more likely to consider the album, and considered purchasing it.