Feedback for Advert

I uploaded my first draft advert that I had designed to twitter to ask my followers for their thoughts and improvements. This is one of the replies I received. I also uploaded it to Facebook and got some replies there too. 

Inspiration for Print Work

Research and Planning: Location and Heath and Safety

I have decided to shoot in a rural location near to where I live. I have several in mind. They are all public footpaths or public parks so I do not need to get permission to be on the land. As we are now well into the winter months I may have some problems with the weather. If it is raining I wont be able to shoot as I can't risk getting my camera wet. Also if it is foggy this may cause visibility problems however I think it could also have quite a nice effect. 

There are little things that could cause a heath and safety issue on my shoot I have listed 2 which may however be a problem and what I need to be careful of.

Research and Planning: Print Time Plan

These are the times and deadline I have set myself to complete by the 2nd of December. I am confident I will be able to meet these deadlines comfortably.

Research and Planning - Relevance of Digipacks and Adverts

Our world as we know it is constantly taking a digital shift. From records to tapes to CDs to now the digital download technology and music is constantly changing and with this change we are saying goodbye to the relevance of printed album covers. Less people buy albums then ever, most people turn to the digital download. This maybe eco friendly (less plastic and paper used) but it means less room for artists to produce a product you can actually hold. Many new artists cannot afford to produce a printed album so they are turning to iTunes because this means they can release their album with out a physical copy at a cheaper cost. However I do believe it is very important to have a good digital cover for an artists album because it is the imagery at the end of the day that grabs peoples/customers attention.

Research and Planning: Digipack Adverts - Print Research

Advertising albums is very important in these current times for the music industry because more and more people are turning to illegally downloading music. Advertising the album and showing special offers and offering hidden tracks will tempt more people to buy the actual product. 

This advert is for a album from a band called Battles. I think this is a great piece of design, its ever so simple but stands out is very unusual. The picture is hard to make out which means your eye is drawn to the strange shape and the bright colour. I think the target audience for this  advert is people who appreciate unusual indie music and interesting elements of design. I think its aimed at an older generation then say an advert for current pop band. The advert its self is half a page as they are an established experimental band. Due to the bright colours used in the photo, the font colours and choice are plain and in monochrome. The only information displayed is the release date, a review and a website.The advert is definitely redundant there is nothing unexpected. The band are not using their star image to promote their album as they are not present in the advert.

This is an advert for the album 'Rome' from Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi. This is a simple advert with no photography used, just graphics used to create a visual. The bold black heart makes the advert stand out on the page. The other colour that's used is red making the most important areas of text stand out, for example 'Out now' and 'Rome' very important details. This advert displays more information than the one above. To tempt people to buy it featured songs are listed on the advert. The formats you can buy the album in are noted and there is also a Amazon logo so you know you can purchase it there. The design and font used for this advert give no clue as to what the genre is. The image used has no relation that I can see to the title of the album. I had to google the album to find that it is infact an indie rock album. So from this I can conclude that it is an entropic advert. Again this advert was half a page.

Research and Planning: Digipack - Print Research

This is an album cover for Birdy's self titled album. The shot is a simple long shot of the artist, Birdy. Her star image is very relaxed she is seem as a genuine artist who is about the music not the fame and money, the simplicity of the shot, typeface and mise en scene reinforce this, she is not flaunting anything or trying to look like something she isn't. She is an alternative artist and I think her album cover matches this genre. The mise en scene is vintage and old looking which fits in with the alternative scene. The cover doesn't display any information other then her logo/name. This cover is definitely redundant, I can tell this from the way everything is related, her clothes are quite quirky and her posture makes her look innocent. The surroundings as I mentioned earlier look old and shabby and these things all tie into the indie genre which is what the music is.

This is the digipack for Paramore's first album. The shot of the sofa outside is dark, mysterious and alternative and this is relates to their music which is alternative pop/punk/rock. The back panel has a shot of the band, here it shows their attitude and star image as a young teenage band who just care about making music and looking like 'rock stars'. Again this back panel uses dark lighting which highlights that the genre is rock. On the front cover we can only see their logo and the name of the album and on the back we see the names of the songs and a bar code. I think the target audience for this album is young teenagers who are into the rock and roll scene and go to lots of gigs. It is definitely a redundant digipack the lighting, the shots and the fonts used all connect together to present us with the genre. 

This is inside the digipack it is using the dominant colour from the front cover the turquoise stands out however is a little plain because there is no imagery and it is simple it doesn't really tie in with the genre and the front cover. It does however display all the information on the record label and the thanks from the band in a clear and concise way which is nice. The actual CD its self is white which I find strange as white is seen as a pure colour and this is challenging the bands image of a rock and roll band who are edgy and rebellious. 

This is a digipack for a classical/folk street band. The front cover is just a picture of their instruments but I think this shows their star image also, it connotes the fact that they are all about their instruments and nothing else, it's all about the music and not them as people. This is very much how most artists are in this genre unlike pop artists who are used to advertise their music with their appearance. The font used on the cover is simple and colours used are bright giving a sense that the music is cheerful and relaxing. The back panel again doesn't directly show the artists it just shows their shadows but they are not without their instruments. The font on the back in simple and easy to read and displays all the information we need to know about the album. As this is a independently produced album it has no barcode, itunes link, etc.

This is the inside of the album we see the first image of the band and as you can see it is a distant shot, the editing of the photo makes it look old and rough looking which matches their style of genre. This digipack is definitely redundant because it is extremely easy to predict the genre and style of music. The design on the CD also ties in with the simple style I like the graphics used.

This is the inside of the digipack sleeve. We see another picture of the band but closer up, you really have to look hard to see what the band actually look like, they are very distant. I think it would have been nice if more of the information was displayed on the inside instead of the back panel.

Prezi Pitch

Summary of Feedback

After delivering our pitch to the group they all filled out a feedback form giving their thoughts and opinions on our ideas.


Suitability for stated target audience: All feedback we received on this point was very positive no one said they thought we had the audience and idea completely mixed up. Here are some examples of the responses we got - 'The target audience is correct fro their video' - 'Very good, showed the audience the specific audience and idea'. 


Originality of the idea: The general feedback on this section states that people think our ideas are really good however there is nothing original about them. We need to have a twist to make it different to other videos out there. Examples of peoples responses are: ' As long as it's not the same as other videos it will work well' - 'Inspirational and the idea is very good, simple but effective'


Logistical arrangements: On this particular question everybody mentioned the weather as the key issue. Jack and I have discussed this and we know that we can film in any weather except the rain, it doesn't matter if we film on a dull day and in some respects we definitely need a dull day to film some of the shots anyway to give it the urban feel we want. Another issue people mentioned was our idea of filming our artist in a boat. Jack owns a canoe and we know for health and safety reasons our artist will have to wear a life jacket but we have planned for this and are prepared to make this scene work. Some of the comments we received were: 'Could be cold to film outside' - 'The boat scene will be very hard to organise'


Technical aspects of idea: For this section most people thought our ideas were do able so we know we don't need to tone down our shots etc. Some examples of comments include - 'Seems achievable although could be difficult filming on the boat' - 'Will be really hard and take a long time to get right' - 'It seems suitable for the technology being used' 


Does the idea sound realistic: For this everyone again agreed and said yes they thought it was a realistic idea and will work well. Examples of comments - 'Yes, it may need a lot of live performance to make it really feel like a music video' - 'It sounds like its from the big 4'


Overall: Everybody seems to think our idea is exciting and achievable if we put effort and time in to it. We will take all the comments in and we have already created a plan b if our artist or the weather lets us down.