INSPIRATIONAL TEXTS: ALBUM ADVERTISEMENTS

 I love this advertisement as they have kept with the vision of how they wanted to present the album and have used a powerful image that was clearly an alternative from the other front cover so they have a constitent theme. The imagery looks very high fasion and like something that could be found inside Vogue magazine etc. yet it seems relevent to the representation of the album as the way she is standing makes her almost look statue like, something to admire as she is displaying power, confidence, beauty and pride. I love that it's very plain and is basically black and white but this has been developed so that the neutral background which is an off white location, is then contrasted heavily with the heavy black font and then of course Beyonce herself in all black attire. The album cover itself is actually displayed in the corner which is good promotion as it shows exactly what it looks like along with the title of the album which is 4 so it gives the consumer all the important information however I do think it would have been better to include the release date of the album but sometimes this could ruin the overall vision and imagery so it's understandable that no extra text was added.

This caught my eye because it's so theme specific and has been done with an existing idea in mind but obviously manipulating and tailoring it to be appropriate to Britney Spears' album Circus. It's something that is definitely a recognised theme as these infamous posters have been used to advertise and promote circus events for years but because the font is bold and eye catching enough we can tell straight away that this isn't an actual circus poster. I also noticed that as a common factor through album advertisement that the artist name is the main focus with the actual title of the album being a sub focus; this is for what I believe to be recognition purposes as the public will be more familiar with the artist than the name of the album. I also really like the way the date is on there as if to create a hype around this day and ensure people remember it so they go out and purchase the record.

I love the simplicity of this advert. The design is basically identical to the CD cover therefore creating a consistent theme that the public will become familiar with and associate with the product. The only extra is obviously that this image fades into black which I really like as it's done sleekly and almost seamlessly which adds a simplistic element to this otherwise busy design. I also like how the text gradually gets smaller moving down the page which directly indicates to the viewer what the important information is. This is definitely something I want to incorporate in to my album advertisement.

INSPIRATION FOR ALBUM COVER IMAGE

 This is Beyonce's look for one of the scenes in her If I Were A Boy video, one of which became her album cover. This is a very simplistic look were she has minimal makeup and the focus us more on her facial expression and body language. Her intense eye contact still shows vulnerability and the fact she has hardly any makeup on along with all of her hair off her face and the camera so close up to her face means she's very exposed and can't hide behind anything. This is very much a look that I want to go for and I want the album cover to essentially be just a face of my artist.

FONTS

I want to find  signature font for the artist that I can use on both of my print publications and that looks distinctive and can be recognised as their brand image. I really want it to be in capitals and a very bold, powerful font that will catch the eye of the public and will stick in their heads, I don't particularly want an intricate design or pattern on the font or for it to have an unusual shape but instead for it to be a thick and strong visual.

This was an example of the sort of title I want on my CD cover, I think it makes quite an impact and definitely contrasts with the background, I would maybe play around with the shadowing of the text or creating a glow so that it stands off the page and gives almost a 3D effect which will be more powerful and stand off the page. I want it to lay on top of a full page image that will be in black and white so I could have it be any colour but depending the tone of the edit the picture may be very light or really dark so that'll determine whether i can use white or black which is my initial preference. I'm also considering, as can be seen above, changing the background behind the text to inverted colour just to make it more unusual and so that it gives the blocked colour of the text another boost off the page. I definitely want the text to be matte and a single block colour so that it looks like it's almost been stamped on the page.

This was an example I did for the sort of layout I want my CD cover to take, I really like the idea of having a close up black and white portrait as the main image and for this to be the main focus point of the page. This is another reason that the text needs to be bold as the it's competing with the impact of the main image.

Rita Ora's latest album cover is definitely an inspiration and follows the look that I'm going for. I love how her skin is made even and relatively pale and then she obviously has quite strong features that are accentuated by darker makeup; since it's in black and white I think it's important for this drastic difference in tone as this comes across well when converted to black and white and it can always be edited further so that all the tones look right with each other. I love the strong contrast between the grey tones and the red font as although it's simple it's still powerful and makes a statement.

TARGET AUDIENCE

• WORKS/STILL IN EDUCATION/BOTH
• SOCIABLE
• 14-30 YEARS OF AGE
• GIRLS
• TAKE PRIDE IN APPEARANCE
• LOVES TO SHOP/ACTIVE CONSUMER
• LISTENS TO VARIOUS GENRES OF MUSIC,  RnB, HOUSE, POP etc
• LOVES TO GO OUT WITH FRIENDS ON WEEKEND NIGHTS
• WOULD MORE THAN LIKELY READ CELEBRITY/FASHION MAGAZINES SUCH AS LOOK OR MORE

SEPTEMBER

• Initial research
• Gathering inspirational texts for ancillary tasks
• Developing ideas on direction of the music video