Final Magazine Advertisement Design

Final DigiPak Design

DIGIPAK FRONT and BACK

DISC

DIGIPAK INSIDE PANELS

Final Magazine Advertisement Production

In our research we looked in depth at a variety of Magazine Advertisements. Our initial design idea for our ad. was agreed (as a group) a great interpretation which will relate to our target audience. We wanted a really simplistic design, using an obvious stamp-like style to make the foundations of our ad. Below is a quick insight into the stages we under went in order to create our Magazine ad:

.
STAGE ONE- To begin with we began planning simplistic concepts on paper. It was myself who done most of the drawing. The sketch above shows the final template we came up with for our ad design. We wanted to maintain the continuity with the Digipak, by using the same font as well as the image of Remi. We planned for this image to give the impression that our artist is standing in front of a poster/ billboard displaying the text.

STAGE TWO- We now had to construct this idea on Photoshop. We began by creating a blank A4 canvas as this would be the actual size of the magazine advert. We then incorporated the black strips which would act as a contrasting background for some of the text. Again, using the 'ROADWAY', we wrote the conventional information into each of the corresponding locations. This then gave us our basic backdrop for the magazine advert; nothing complex, but providing us with an bold/ impressive template.

STAGE THREE- In order to get the image of Remi to maintain the theme of the poster, we had to transfigure the image into black and white format. The image was then manipulated via the stamp tool which turned the darker aspects of the picture black, and the lighter parts white. This effect directly corresponded with the other aspects and maintained the continuity of the piece.

STAGE FOUR- The next stage was to add information which directly related to the song and was a conventional aspect of magazine advertisements. We simply added the the star rating and music company logos into the planned area of the piece. These were then turned to black by the fill tool. Again, using Roadway, the sale information was typed in white to make up the ads footer.

STAGE FIVE- In order to maintain the continuity with the DigiPak and video, we had to tranfigure the advertisement in order to give it that worn/ burnt effect. A simple diagonal orange fade colour overlay was created to go on top of the advertisement before the opacity levels were adjusted, just leaving behind the slightest colour disfiguration.

Final DigiPak Production

As a group we looked in a lot of detail at the first DigiPak produced and decided that the design was much to busy. We was as trying to link this design with our ideas for the magazine advertisement style and decided that the two components would not link together effectively.

.

Our third attempt at the DigiPak, which proved to be our final design learnt towards a very simplistic design style. This design was deliberately put together in a much more basic design, having no image of the artist at all (similar to some of Kanye West's covers). Instead, basic fireworks made up the foundations for this simple but effective design. Below are the stages of production.

We first created a new document w the dimensions being 12x12 inches

We then created our background layer, using fill tool on the document we created to make it black.

We now have our canvas. The next stage required us to find images of fireworks that we could then manipulate into looking like the clip art styled images we need.

We found a suitable image of a firework through searches on google. We then imported the said image into photoshop. First we desaturated it to make it black and white by clicking Image>Adjustments>Hugh/Saturation... We than applied the following settings:

Now the image had become black and white, we had to apply an effect that would give it the clip art like appearance. We chose the stamp effect by clicking Filter>Sketch>Stamp... We then applied the following settings:

Now we had the fireworks in place, it was time to add the text. We searched dafont.com for a suitable font and we discovered on named 'Roadway', we imported this font into photoshop and, following the rough layout of our plan, added the text to the image using the Horizontal type tool tool.

We then changed the colours of the text. To a pale orange and a very slightly orange tinted white. We also placed the text and changed its size by clicking Edit>Transform>Free Transform. Here is the result.

We then added a gradient to give an orange theme to the front cover. The gradient was added with the gradient tool on the sidebar and the following settings:

We also added the compulsory parental advisory logo into the bottom corner and here is the result:

The bulk of the work is now done, but we still need to add the effects that will give a professional look to our cover. First of all, I wanted to give the cover some paper texture so that it carried a similar style to the poster and our disc, which are all paper themed. I found that many of the photoshop effects available to me were not good enough as they were too neat and structured in their design, so i decided to find an image of paper texture through google. This is what I chose:

Once placed in the document, this image obviously needed some editing before it gave the desired effect. First we had to set the blending mode to overlay in the layer pallet so that the image would blend in with our cover. However this was to strong so the opacity had to be changed, these are the setting given to the layer:

Once placed into the cover image, these layers were both given the blend mode of overlay and each had their opacity changed to levels that suited us. Once we were happy with the result, we re-added the parental advisory logo and we were finished. Here is the end result:

SPINE
Creation of the spine was quick and easy. The spine is 0.8 inches wide and 12 inches in length. As with the front cover and the back cover, we followed a number of stages.
-background of spine set to black
-Roadway font, Horizontal Type Tool and Free Transform used to make the text span the entire spine as seen on many covers we researched.
- Text set to the same pale orange and orange tinted white colours as used in the front cover stages.
-Young Money record label logo imported from google and placed at the top of spine, as seen on other young money CDs.
-Finally, a firework image added on a layer over everything. The blend mode is set to overlay and opacity is changed, as before.

Here is the final result:

DigiPak Rough Designs

After looking at many different DigiPak design I began experimenting with possible layouts and ideas on photoshop. When designing the front covers I wanted to incorporate a reference to fire or fireworks in order to maintain the continuity with the song. My first attempt was a basic image on our artist aflame on top of a distressed background. Although this was a really cool piece to work on as a group we felt it was not Digipak material. The second attempt was a sort of textured/ cartoonized effect which had a very eye-catching style with a lot going on. Below are the steps taken to produce this design.

DigiPak Front- To start off I opened up the photoshop software and created a blank 12' 12cm document which match the dimensions of a DigiPak front. I then needed to manipulate a basic image of our artist so that it looked like a sketched image. In order to do this I had to desaturate the image before going to the filter tool and modifying the sketch settings in order to get the required style. I then started to experiment with the blending options before ending up with my final image. I then brought in a textured canvas style image which I used for the background. This gave the whole theme of the DigiPak is distressed feel which suits the target audience. I then created a black strip to act as a footer before putting the 'Parental Advisory' label in the bottom right corner. To give the 'Fireworks' title its effect I simply merged the text layer with the black footer before using the magic wand tool in order to just leave the impression of the 'Fireworks' text behind. The text I used was called 'Roadway', a very bold but simplistic text which makes a statement similar to DigiPak's of the same genre. I used a very simple outer glow from the blending options to make the text even more obvious.
The final step was to bring in the impression of some actual Fireworks. In order to do this I had to use tools such as the magic wand, background eraser as well as the hue saturation, opacity setting and some basic glow blending options. To finish off I duplicated the canvas texture and turned down the opacity in order to give all aspects (except the artist image) that textured style.DigiPak Back- To maintain the continuity of the piece I again used the same background image. The difference with this set up The photoshop canvas width had to be increased by 0.8cm as the spine of the DigiPak must be incorporated. I simply created another black strip with a smaller light coloured strip overlayed to act as the spine. Again I used the same techniques as before to create the black footer and the Firework template.
I then added the some basic features seen on nearly all DigiPak's into the footer; barcode, recycling logo and the disc logo. By added these keeps the conventions of a DigiPak. Again using the 'Roadway' text I added the album title and artist to the spine in order for the album to be easily distinguishable in a CD rack. I then incorporated the record label's logo and some basic information in order to make the piece look more authentic.
To create the tracklist I again used the 'Roadway' text to keep the piece flowing. I used a light colour from the background for the colour of each songs title as well as using black for any song that contained a featuring artist. In blending options I again used a light outer glow as well as using a drop shadow matching a darker aspect from the canvas background. I feel using these colours in the text maintains the theme of the DigiPak. To finish I moved the positioning of the tracklist to give it an unconventional effect.
DigiPak Inside Left- This very basic design again contained the same background and Firework Image, however in different positioning. I then created a simple black box with the opacity turned down in order to show the taxtured background. I then brought in the Young Money Entertainment logo into the document before using the magic wand tool and the outer glow setting to give the basic shape of the piece. I then decreased the size of our artists image before placing it on top of the record labels logo.
The text again in the 'Roadway' style was inserted first in a basic white format whcih works effectively with it's black backdrop. I then used the same settings as on the tracklist for the middle section whcih contains the message, in order to maintain the continuity with the DigiPak's back cover.
DigiPak Inside Right- For this section I used the exact same backdrop as on the inside left side. I felt this part did not need any more elements as it would have a plastic covering and disc masking it for the majority of the time. In order to create the plastic disc holder I placed a basic template on a white backdrop into photoshop. I then used the magic wand tool to remove the white background. I then brought in a plastic sheet image in from the internet before turing the opacity down. These layers were then meged together before I used the inner bevel in the blending options to give the piece a more realistic impression.

Magazine Advertisement Creation- Research

As part of the Ancillary task I also have to design a magazine advertisement for the release of my new DigiPak. To create the advertisement I have looked at some existing adverts in as shown below.
.

As a group, we began to discuss ideas for our Magazine Advertisement design. Sharing the same vision for our video, we want our magazine advertisement to be bold and easily recognisable to maintain the continuity to the style of the music. It has to evoke the same image that we will convey through our video. The above images are some examples of some magazine advertisements for DigiPak's found in magazines.

Features and Requirements

When creating our Ancillary tasks, certain elements must be incorporated into the design (especially the DigiPak).

.

Parental Advisory- In 1990, the US recording industry introduced Parental Advisory labels to identify music containing explicit language, including depictions of violence and sex. For consumers, the system has its drawbacks. Companies and artists voluntarily label their products, so consumers can't automatically assume that music without a label will be appropriate for all ages.

.

DigiPak Creation- Research

Before creating our own DigiPak we thought it would be a good idea to look at other DigiPak in order to discover suitable conventions for its front, back, disc and inside panels.

.

What is a DigiPak?

DigiPaks are a patented style of compact disc packaging. They typically consist of a book-style, paperboard or cardstock outer binding with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD attached to the inside. DigiPaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies. DigiPak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special edition versions of an album.

. The single covers below are generally that of artists that adopt the R&B/ Rap culture. Our genre of song falls into this category so the covers will be beneficial when designing our own. Each of these covers have a picture of the artist on them (abstract or not) which is one of many conventions which fall under our genre of music.

.

The images below are of the backs of DigiPaks. The main feature shown on the back of a DigiPak is list of tracks in which the CD contains. If you were looking at just a DigiPak for a single (one song) like we are then the majority of this type of DigiPak would show an average of three tracks consisting of: the original track, a clean track and an instrumental.

The CD's below are the sort of thing you would find in a DigiPak of today. Every CD has its own unique style or image even though the majority have the same criteria on them. As you can see some styles of CD are covered with an image whilst others choose not to have an image at all. However, most CD's have the name of the artist, the name of the single/ album and copyright information.

As shown below, most DigiPak's containing a single have only one disc, therefore will only have two inside panels. The left side will be open and therefore would normally have much more detail then the right panel as that will have the CD covering it most of the time. On the left panel there is normally have another track listing as well as having information about the writers and producers. At the bottom there also normally consists various music labels and logos.