Research into magazine adverts and CD digipaks

Research into magazine adverts -

There are multiple different ways in which we can represent our magazine advert. It is obvious that within an idustry such as music, that stereotypes will be created from the style that is shown by even the magazine advert and CD cover.
When looking at examples, we will need to look at specific artists that relate closely to the one we have chosen to create our music video for. We will also need to look at the typical codes and conventions of the magazine adverts to ensure that our imagery has similarity to that of existing products.

This artist has a similar sound to Frank Turner. It is useful to look at the styles that are represented here because it can allow us to see the style that our own advert should follow.
Looking at the advert it is very simple, using a large image to illustrate the artist to make him easily recognisable and using the effect of "balancing" the image. This means that the main focus, in this case Joshua Radin, is stood to the right hand side and technically "unbalancing" the photograph, adding the CD on the left hand side perfectly balances the image.
The writing used to draw the eye towards the image is also the writing that has been used on the front of the CD packaging, helping the style to be coherent.

It is clear to see that the font style is similar within both the advertisement and the CD. Also, the image used almost follows the style of sepia. This is a useful technique because the CD also shows this similar attribute. The reason the sepia style was used is because acoustic style music is typically viewed as being old fashioned and sometimes even outdated. Looking at the possibility of using this style may further enhance our work.
There is also the possibity that the image used on the magazine advert is exactly the same as that of the CD packaging. This is an effective technique because it allows the audience to directly relate the image seen on the advert to the CD when they see it in store. It becomes an effective marketing strategy because the audience is likely to recognise the CD having once seen the advertisement and will increase the chances of a potential sale.

There are also examples of adverts that have been presented entirely online. This can be useful because the links allow the viewer to find out much more about the artist and possibly even preview some of the tracks. The only problem with this type of advertising is that it is hard to distribute the information to the right people to ensure maximum sales.

Some of the adverts promote both the CD release and a CD release gig. It is increasingly popular to perform a gig for the release of a new CD because it boosts the bands/artist's image and allows them to attract fans and increase knowledge of the product. Although, this advert does not show a good example of what the CD looks like and it is difficult to understand the style of music through the style that has been shown within the imagery used.

It is apparent that within almost all adverts that the style of both the CD packaging and the advert must match one another. Within our own work we will focus on ensuring that the advert and CD packaging show similar attributes, such as fonts and images.

Research into CD Digipaks -

When looking at digipaks, we are simply looking at the design ideas that can be available to us, we will begin to look at how it can fit together and how it will fold at a later date. We have already noticed that we will need to ensure that both the CD and magazine advertisement match one another so we will be looking to create a style that we believe can be easily consistant.

It is clear within this CD packaging that the style is consistent throughout all the panels. The colour is mainly black with touches of oranges and reds. There is also text presented around and over the top of images, it is most likely that the text is actually lyrics of the artist - This is a typical code and convension of CDs. Although, these are usually presented inside the CD in a seperate booklet, the digipak aims to cut down on production costs by using the case as the booklet. Within in our work we will try to incorporate the lyrics into our work.

This digipak is much more difficult to see the inside of, but we have selected it because it is easy to see the front of the packaging and the images of some of the inside. It is clear to see that the image on the front of the CD has relevance to the inside of the CD. The image of the man walking on the beach in the sunset relates to the idea of going camping (The image inside) because it is something that people do. The idea of a sunset is also seen as an ideal setting for people because they find it visually pleasing and generally calming and relaxing - which may be an insight in to the type of music this artist is representing.

This CD packaging follows a clear colour theme of red and white. Although, this CD does not actually have any lyrics like the other CD examples we have found. This CD is remaining very simplistic and it does this through it's clever use of colour pop photography. We might attempt to use a simple photograph for one of our panels to see what effect this may have upon the aesthetic quality of our overall CD packaging.