Group magazine advert

How did your group share your ideas and designs around?

After creating magazine adverts as individuals, we reflected upon our design decisions and discussed elements of each others work which we believe to be conventional therefore appealing to our target audience of young females. By evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each others individual work, it allowed us to combine the stronger elements into one final group magazine advert to promote the central product: the artists album (in addition to the albums digipak) 

The process in which we evaluated each others work not only gave us confidence in what we are capable of as individuals but also meant that we were in a good position to produce a final magazine advert as a collective that essentially served the dual purpose of being  conventional in addition to being coherent and linking with our remaining two products successfully in a way that promotes the artist and the Indie genre. We created our group magazine advert using the same software as we did as individuals: Photoshop.

 It was good to work as part of a team as part of creating the final product because each individual has developed particular skills regarding the software, therefore we could use each and every members individual skills to benefit the group for example one group member may be particularly skilful at inserting text whilst another may be efficient in cutting around the artist image to produce a professional looking outcome. 

Emma's magazine advert:

 What do you like about the magazine and  how is the magazine conventional to your music genre?

Emma's magazine advert has many highly conventional elements of our chosen Indie genre embedded within. Firstly, the image she has chosen to use of our artist Daisy is very conventional for many reasons and is the central focus for the audience. Within the image, the artists is dressed in a denim jacket which is traditionally associated with teenagers who listen to Indie music as it follows styles of the 1970's where Indie music was first introduced. The Indie genre is also reinforced with the use of the acoustic guitar of which the artist is shown holding within the image and the majority of our music video, therefore it is coherent with our various other supporting products which is easy for the audience to acknowledge. The use of the acoustic guitar also provides the audience with a profile of the artist which informs them of her talents expressed through her music. Emma has also chosen to use a brick wall background, an element in which the remaining group members including myself did not involve within their individual magazine adverts. This is an element we chose to use for our group magazine advert and digipak, however, because it enforced the Indie genre as it is organically portrayed whilst adding an edgy overall appearance of the magazine advert which contrasts other group members design decisions to not use a background at all. By using a brick wall background, it is evident that it is more visually appearing than a plain white background although it offers a more complex outlook as opposed to a simplistic and conventional outlook which could be considered more typical of the Indie genre in which we chose to explore throughout the construction of our products. Moreover, text is a very vital element included within any promotional tool as it serves the dual purpose of informing and persuading audiences to purchase the products. Emma has chosen to use more text than usually recognised within magazine adverts promoting artists. This is because in addition to stating the artists name and album title, she has chosen to include 'OUT NOW' followed by one of the singles (our chosen song: 'Noserings & Shoestrings') audiences would hear if they purchased the central product. By using the 'OUT NOW' text, it further informs the audience to buy into an exclusive and recent album which may be popular to many audiences who enjoy music from new and upcoming artists in the industry rather than mass audiences who may favour more mainstream/manufactured/artificial music from Pop artists. 

How can the magazine be improved?


Although Emma's magazine advert is successful in promoting the artist, genre and the album, there are a number of elements which could be improved upon to increase the overall professional looking outcome in addition to increasing the success rate of promoting the central products. The amount of text that Emma has chosen to use could be reduced to result in a more simplistic looking and visually appealing product. This is because it may alienate audiences rather than engaging them due to the amount of text displayed as it makes the advert look more 'cluttered' than it possibly would look if presented within a real magazine. Also, if I was to improve Emma's magazine advert, I would insert an effect on the brick wall background to 'dim'/lighten it as I believe it is initially too bright which arguably does not follow the genre characteristics audiences would expect. Therefore, by making the brick wall background stand out less, it would make the artists image increasingly sharper thus noticeable by audiences, which is one of the main things audiences are interested in as if they were to make a connection with the artist, they would be intrigued by her image and style. 







Ella's magazine advert:

 What do you like about the magazine and how is the magazine conventional to your music genre?

Ella's magazine advert has a number of elements in which promotes the artist, genre and album in a manner which would be appreciated conventionally. I particularly like Ella's choice of layout as I believe it serves the purpose of being visually appealing. I think Ella has been successful in removing the original background of the original image she has chosen to include of the artist, therefore it achieves a professional looking outcome. Also, Ella has used good positioning of the text she has chosen to include which would result in the audience focusing on the information. This would in turn engage them within the central product, the artists album, which would result in purchasing it. In regard to the image Ella has decided to use, it is highly conventional of the Indie genre we chose to explore and develop after receiving our brief. The image choice is successful for a number of reasons: mainly because she is in essence interacting with the audience through gaining eye contact. By doing so, the audience can begin to build a relationship with the artist, prior to engaging within her talents. Within this particular image, the artist is wearing a dark red beanie and denim shirt which follows the traditional Indie style and is very 'on trend' for the genre as it is popular amongst audiences who enjoy music originating from the genre. As the artist is wearing high-street/affordable clothing, it reminds the audience that she is far from extraordinary and has not let fame/the industry/her record label affect her, therefore, she is perceived as a more relatable figure. 


How can the magazine be improved?

Although there are a number of positive and visually appealing elements within Ella's magazine advert, there are a few things that could be improved to make it more successful and believable for the audiences consuming the product. Similarly to the advert I created as an individual (in addition to Millie's too), Ella has chosen to use a plain white background which is something that could be identified as a fundamental difference between our design choices to Emma's which fulfil conventions in different ways. Although the decision to involve a simple white background is just as conventional as the brick wall in which Emma has included, it looks a little too dull, therefore reducing the visual appeal from the audiences/consumers perspectives. However, myself, Ella and Emma made the decision to use a plain white background because it is coherent with our music video, in which audiences witness the artist performing to the camera in front of a blank white wall in a house location. Therefore, if we were to use this for our final magazine advert constructed as a group, it would be continous and flow with our video. However, for our final magazine advert, we chose to use a brick wall as it follows typical codes and conventions of the Indie genre (as recognised in our original artist, Nina Nesbitt's tour poster, which inspired us to experiment with designs) Lastly, another element which could be improved upon is the size of the text stating the album is 'OUT NOW' This is mainly because it looks a little out of place in comparison to the text remaining upon her advert which is noticeably larger. This would be an simple adjustment which would improve the success of her individual magazine advert, in addition to something we as a group have discussed to be aware of for our group magazine advert. 

Millie's magazine advert:

 What do you like about the magazine and how is the magazine conventional to your music genre?

Millie's magazine advert is highly conventional of the Indie genre for a variety of reasons. The image in which she has chosen to include is particularly conventional of our chosen Indie genre because it shows the artist wearing a denim shirt and dark red beanie, a similar image to Ella's but instead of a close-up shot it is a mid-shot which further provides the audience with the visuals of her holding the guitar in preparation to play and perform. Whilst the use of the acoustic guitar is most typical of the genre as Indie often involves this particular instrument, the outfit in which the artist is shown wearing implies she is a laid back and down-to-earth individual, in turn increasing the likelihood of the audience and artist building a relationship because she is presented to be relatable which audiences may engage within more than an artist of a Pop genre for example as they are often photographed in extravagant designer clothes with elaborate make-up and overly staged poses. The artist also gains crucial eye-contact with the audience which again, assists in the building of the relationship between the consumer and artist as they feel more involved within their career as part of this.  In addition to the image holding conventional connotations, the text also is visually appealing as it almost communicates the artists signature/handwriting; something that could be of worth to fans as it is evidence they have interacted on some level. This also makes the advert appear more personal to each individual audience member, also allowing the audience to connect with the artist on an emotional and expressional level. 

How can the magazine be improved?


Although Millie has a number of conventional elements within her magazine advert, an aspect of Millie's magazine advert that could be improved upon is the layout. I personally believe the advert looks a bit too 'busy', therefore complex which is not conventional of the genre as Indie promotions are often simplistic to appeal to audiences who favour the organic music which derives from the genre. Despite the fact the shoestring communicating one of the singles included within the album (Noserings & Shoestrings, our chosen song), I believe it looks a little out of place, and therefore irrelevant to the advert because many audiences will not at this stage be aware of the symbolic shoestring which suggests an implicit reference to one of the singles. However, it essentially 'breaks up' the advert because of the use of a vibrant red colour, which connotes to romance, one of the main themes/issue/topics addressed within the artists lyrics to the songs included within Misguided, her self-titled album. Although I am fond of the use of Daisy flowers scattered upon her advert, I believe the usage and size could have been controlled and executed more conventionally. If I was to improve this advert, I would vary the sizes of the flowers, similarly to the way in which Millie has done so, but instead of scattering them across the advert (which arguably detracts the focus from the information to the various images), I would form them into a frame, covering the circumference of the overall magazine advert which would in turn make it appear more conventional of the Indie genre as it would be more subtle as a result of the frame addition. 

 Which magazine will you submit and why?

After having an in-depth and detailed disussion as part of a group after constructing and reflecting upon our individual products, we come to a final decision to work on our final magazine advert as a collective group.

We believed by doing so, we could develop each others design in aim to increase it's visual appeal whilst conforming to Indie conventions we discovered through 

research. 

Our main aim was to keep many of the original elements from each members individual designs:

• Emma's brick wall background
• Ella's creativity in font selection
• Millie's daisy flower images

However, we altered these original elements:

• We selected a more subtle brick wall background to conform to Indie conventions more so than Emma's initial brick image decision
• Explore various other fonts, inspired by Ella
• Place the images of daisy flowers more strategically and less frequently 

(We also removed Emma's decision of the 'OUT NOW!' font because we felt it made the advert look 'cluttered' and 'too busy' which would decrease audience engagement and as a result of this, they may feel alienated and be persuaded not to buy into the product) 

Overall, we felt that Emma's design was most conventional to the Indie genre as it holds revelance to many components often found in Indie promotional products including the use of the brick wall background which is also seen in Nina Nesbitt's tour poster. The clothing the artist is wearing is also highly conventional due to the denim jacket and floral dress which follows the trend of what many other young females would choose to wear when they favour the Indie genre. 

The components Emma has chosen to use also directly link to our central product: the music video we created which had a huge influence over our decision. This is due to the outfit she is seen wearing appears in our music video during the final scene in which the pair argue about his worrying alcohol problem, followed by shots of him riding away on his motorbike which again is evidence of his misguided behaviour and lack of respect for not only his girlfriend but for authority too. 

We also believe that as a combination, our music video, magazine advert and digpak all link together and share many similar components which results in a conventional and coherent final product (3 come together as 1)