Music Magazine Advertisement

Step 1I wanted to use an image of buildings for my music magazine advertisement, so I used one of my photographs of the London skyline which I took a few weeks ago. I edited the photograph so that the buildings were all black so that it was just a block colour outline of the buildings, with a white background. Below is an image of the edited photograph.

Step 2Then I put the photograph into photo shop and inverted the colours so that the buildings were white, and the background was black. I think this makes it more interesting and doesn’t make it look like a photograph, just an outline. This design so far suits the target audience of my artist and song, and also matches the colour scheme of my Digipak.

Step 3I then added text with the band/album name which is “Simple Plan” for both. I used a darker red font rather than a bright red so that it wouldn’t look tacky. I used ‘impact’ font, which is the same as on my Digipak. I put the font at the top in large lettering so that it stands out as it is the name of the band and the album. I used red as it is the same colour scheme as what I have used before.

Step 4However, I thought that the text was too plain just the red block lettering, so I wanted to make it look a little different. Using the paintbrush tool in black, I scribbled lines over the text so that it looks broken up and stand out a little less. I used black so that the lines did not show up on the background at all and so it looked like it was just over the lettering.

Step 5Next, I decided to put an image of the album cover I created on photo shop previously onto my advertisement, as it is advertising the album. I made the cover black and white rather than in its original colours because the reds were too bright and clashed with my title. Also, I think that the black and white looks quite effective with the colour scheme of the rest of the advertisement. I then outlined this in white so that it did not blend in with the background too much.

Step 6I then added text saying “out now” to advertise the album, as it is the main focus point of the advertisement. I did this in large lettering in the centre of the advertisement in white so that it stood out on the black background. I used the paint brush tool and wrote the writing myself to make it look like a chalk-board type style. I also wanted it to look quite messy and sort of like a doodle drawing, which would appeal to the target audience.

Step 7I then added the release date of the album, which was 12th February 2008. I did this in a number format rather than writing out the date, and used a different font. I did this to make it more interesting and also because it fits the style of the advertisement more and would appeal to the target audience. I put this in a smaller font between the title and the ‘out now’ writing, on the right hand side. It is not as noticeable as the rest of the advertisement, but it is not as important information as the rest, however it is still there, and matches with the colour scheme etc.

Step 8To finish the advertisement, I added a dark red line across the bottom of the building photograph because it is all white, so that there is a border so it isn’t ‘lost’ when printed onto white paper. I then added the track list in a small font in red along the top of the line. I did this because I thought that there needed to be some red colouring near the bottom, and also the target audience may want to know exactly what songs are on the album.

Finished Advertisement