Group Magazine Advert

When planning our magazine advert, each group member individually created a paper version getting our original ideas on paper on what we thought a typical indie magazine advert should include. This way we were then able to share our ideas with ease to the rest of the group, discussing both the positives and negatives about each. We aimed to convey typical codes and conventions of an indie artist to target our niche audience between the ages of 13-25. Developing from this, we transformed our paper versions and created a magazine advert on Adobe Photoshop.

To have a greater understanding of magazine adverts for an indie artist, I took the time to research Nina Nesbitt's past magazine adverts, as well as looking at one from a more successful indie artist like Lana Del Ray. This assisted me when planning my own as I was able to understand what attracts a greater audience, which will determine how successful mine will be. Conventions I focused on were for example the background, text type and size, positioning of artist, iconography and so on.

Drew's magazine advert:

The group and I discussed who's magazine advert was best and we came to the conclusion Drew's was, alongside his digipak. I feel that his is the most conventional and innovative magazine advert in comparison to mine and the others. Conventional magazine adverts, again the group and I felt that Drew’s skills in Photoshop and use of editing techniques outdid all of ours in terms of quality and being edited conventionally, therefore going with his as our final. All conventions were followed in terms of using simplistic images, yet edited in a dynamic way, remotely to become eye-catching for our target audience. Within the magazine advert I requested Drew to include one of the photos that included Georgia, as well as her guitar. I felt that by including the guitar portrays more of Georgia's true emotions, as a guitar is often associated with deeper and more meaningful words. This will as a result build a greater relationship with Georgia and her target audience. The text is different, yet eye catching and I feel it is very conventional to his design and the indie genre, with the additional grungy appeal. The fact that the majority of the text is in white, makes it very clear it was well thought through in the way it stands out from the images and is in a readable font/size.


Georgia's magazine advert:

As well as the whole group, Georgia used Adobe Photoshop CS6 to edit her design, as well as using the pictures from our performance section of the music video. The photos used are conventional and follow genre characteristics, making the artist relatable and attractive to our target audience. Alongside this, Georgia has also included an old photo of a brick wall and compressed the two together by cropping the photograph, which allowed the brick wall to be visible behind it. Georgia used a font called 'chalkboard' in white which stands out from the images and is conventional alongside the brick wall, making it eye-catching and very indie. Obviously 'Georgia Ray', the album title, the release date and that it features our music video song 'The Apple Tree' is all made very evident in a readable font, in addition to this she has written a positive comment from the NME. This promotes her as a commodity in a positive light which is as a result reassuring and encourages our audience to buy our final product.
The General style of Georgia's magazine advert is urban/grunge which is not only conventional, but there are also elements that are unconventional, such as the dark tint making Georgia Ray mysterious. Through having unconventional elements it makes her that little bit different in comparison to typical indie artists which makes her stand out from the crowd. To conclude, I feel that the design is relatable to the indie genre and will attract that niche indie audience. With that grungy edge makes the design original and unique which could also attract people outside of our target audience, increasing our success rate.


Rhianna's magazine advert:

Rhianna has also used Abobe Photoshop CS6 to edit her magazine advert, as well as using the images we took during filming. Rhianna did not use the photos taken within the performance, but like me has used the ones from the Camden scene where she is dressed conventionally in a denim shit, with a tartan top tied around her waist. The light blue and burgundy work well together and are typical high street clothing seen in indie genre music.With Georgia being dressed in in high street fashion makes her relatable as her target audience are able to follow her trend with it not being overly priced and designer. Georgia's makeup is toned down, taking on a natural approach which relates to her music in the way it's pure and spoken from the heart. The text is simplistic, however does stand out even against the denim shirt and simply states the facts, her name, the album name and promoting its currently in stores to purchase. Rhianna has made the effort to cut the original background and place Georgia alone on top of a pink coloured brick wall, which in fact makes it a little edgy. The two images together are dynamic and unique, making our artist a little different in comparison to the typical indie artist. Georgia Ray is promoted as a commodity, however I feel that Rhianna could have included more editing techniques to show further development and knowledge of Photoshop.

My magazine advert:

To conclude, all magazine adverts had their positives, alongside the few negative but all in all we decided to go with Drew's. Drew's magazine advert was the most conventional and dynamic, showing off a range of editing techniques making it edgy. It works well alongside our final digipak as well as our music video as they all feature the clothing warn in the performance section.