Above is my magazine advert and digipak along side two existing media products belonging to Jay-Z. I have compared my products to that of Jay-Z as they belong to the same Genre. I followed the codes and conventions expected to be seen from the two media forms belonging to all genres but in particular my products should be most similar in terms of denotations to the one seen above as they belong to the same genre of Hip-Hop/Rap.
First I will discuss the Adverts, they both include the artists name and the album title, informing the audience of what the ad is advertising. Comparing my advert to that of Jay-Z's you could say I was challenging the positioning and order of my advert structure as the album and artists name title are positioned oppositely to the existing ads. I have placed my album title at the top of the page were as the Jay-Z one has his name instead. This convention varies within all magazine adverts depending on what the designer and production team feel is the most important aspect for their advert. Some adverts I researched showed the artist name and album title side by side, others parallel with the text size deciding which was most important. As long as they are both seen on the advert the positioning is completely based on what worked best with the design.
Next is the Release date, again seen on mine and the existing professional ad. This feature informs the potential consumer of when they will be able to buy the product being advertised. Sometimes digital copies or snippets can be downloaded online or off of iTunes and this date may be different so that would also be shown. As I have only created a digipak so the date I have included is only based on the physical product and not a digital copy because its not a must have convention as not all artists offer this.
There is also a main image on both of the adverts that shows a clear link to the artwork design of the digipak or album itself to not only act as a way of selling the product due to unique eye catching artwork but to also make it easier for the audience to recognise the product in a music store if they go to buy it. Sometimes, but not always, an image of the artist will be on the artwork cover as it will make the product instantly appeal to not only already established fans but potential new fans too if they find the artist attractive. A lot of the mainstream artists belonging to my chosen genre are now challenging this convention themselves by make their artwork more of a unique design rather than an image of themselves especially if they have their own clothing label as it also helps to promote themselves in that form too. It makes then individual and stand out from the rest. To make my digipak design work with both the expected conventions and the challenging conventions for my genre, I have taken an image of my artist but edited it to merge in with my design to place itself in between the two expectations.
My advert also contains extra information which can vary from advert to advert of existing products. Sometimes you see ratings or quotes from magazines which can sometimes help to sell a product as it acts like 'word of mouth' acting as an opinion from authority. People trust and believe what magazine writers are saying so if they think its good then the audience will want to see if it really is. I chose to add information about an upcoming event that Kid Cudi is performing at which is also commonly seen on adverts. This is multi-advertising, promoting both the album and an upcoming event helping the artist to gain popularity and more money. This extra information is seen in smaller writing to the rest of the advert as it is not the main reason as to why the ad was created but it is still big enough to be easily noticed.
Finally the advert contains continuity of both theme and font style. Not only is the continuity seen within the ad but it also is followed through to the album itself and the actual music video for the song. This helps to link all the forms together to show they all belong to one artist and makes it quick and easy to identify. Convention the adverts for an album are designed to match the album artwork as mentioned above. I have also included images of shots from my music video as it is a digipak I have created so there is more room for continuity and this is what is conventionally expected.
Above is my digipak and below is an existing one from the artist Kid Cudi both showing how they display the codes and conventions of the media texts. Both digipaks, similar to the ad display the artists name and the album title both on the front and spine of the product informing the audience of whose music they are able to buy. There is also a page that presents the design that was seen on the advert which forms continuity between the two forms acting as a way of selling the product. On the back cover of the digipak is the song list of what is to be expected from the product in terms of mp3 music. It is also an insight to upcoming mp4 music videos that will be created to illustrate the music by that artist. Also featured is production information including copyright laws for the physical music as well as the record label logo and a QR code that was created in 1994 but has greatly become popular and an expected feature for music albums in the 21st century. The QR code allows people who have a smartphone to scan the code and instantly gain access to a webpage or can act like a barcode so you can buy the product online through internet 3G and also now the new and much faster 4G. I added this as it is now a modern feature which reflects how technology can develop over a short space of time making media forms like this more accessible in a easy and fast way due to the growth in web 2.0. There is also other expected album logos that I have included for a more professional look and also I included the parental advisory logo to indicate some of the content on my artist album is explicit as this is a common appearance on albums from artists belonging to my chosen genre. Finally I included the highly expected barcode, typical of any product that you buy.
Above is my digipak and below is an existing one from the artist Kid Cudi both showing how they display the codes and conventions of the media texts. Both digipaks, similar to the ad display the artists name and the album title both on the front and spine of the product informing the audience of whose music they are able to buy. There is also a page that presents the design that was seen on the advert which forms continuity between the two forms acting as a way of selling the product. On the back cover of the digipak is the song list of what is to be expected from the product in terms of mp3 music. It is also an insight to upcoming mp4 music videos that will be created to illustrate the music by that artist. Also featured is production information including copyright laws for the physical music as well as the record label logo and a QR code that was created in 1994 but has greatly become popular and an expected feature for music albums in the 21st century. The QR code allows people who have a smartphone to scan the code and instantly gain access to a webpage or can act like a barcode so you can buy the product online through internet 3G and also now the new and much faster 4G. I added this as it is now a modern feature which reflects how technology can develop over a short space of time making media forms like this more accessible in a easy and fast way due to the growth in web 2.0. There is also other expected album logos that I have included for a more professional look and also I included the parental advisory logo to indicate some of the content on my artist album is explicit as this is a common appearance on albums from artists belonging to my chosen genre. Finally I included the highly expected barcode, typical of any product that you buy.
My digipak shows continuity throughout with repeated edited effects, colour scheme and imagery, even the cd designs match with the album artwork, advert and music video varying in shades to tell the CD apart from the DVD. The disks also contain my record labels website address so anyone interested in my artist can go on to the website and see what other artists that label manage to help grow their playlists. Just like on the back of my digipak were there is information about production and copyright laws more information like this can be seen around the edge of the disk designs as this was a professional convention i found in my research and that I copied from a real album belonging to my chosen genre Hip-Hop/Rap. All these features for my Music video, Magazine advert and Digipak are keeping in with the established codes and conventions and although I have slightly challenged some they were chosen based on what I have seen on existing products throughout my research which developed on to inspiring me to create my own media forms based within the music industry.
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