Ancillary Projects-Ideas and Images

As part of our A2 Advanced Portfolio we have been asked to design

• An album cover (front and back)
  


• A CD/DVD Digipak



• A magazine advert
  

I have begun considering ideas over the past 2 weeks as to what I would like my album cover to look like. I started by researching past Oasis albums to see if I could find inspiration and guidance as to what an ideal Oasis album cover might look like. Here are some I picked out:

ALBUM COVERS:

Be Here Now:Whats the story morning glory?:

Definetely Maybe:

The Masterplan

What I noted from these is that each album is very unique which gives it a certain distinction. I think this helps when coming to distinguishing each album as they are all different. I think this is good because it adds a promotional edge to the album which is good in the long run for selling records. What I have drawn from each cover however is that although there are things going on in the background, the main focal point still somehow manages to be the band. This I think is also good and a very good selling point as although there are things happening in the background the familiar faces of Oasis are still the first things one sees.

Here is the single cover for Half the World Away:

Half the World Away (single):This follows a similar pattern to the album covers I mentioned as clearly the main focal point on this image is Noel Gallagher and when it comes down to it the image of the artist will sell records ahead of any other images on the cover. I like this cover very much as I think it is very simple yet very effective. It shows Noel playing a live gig with his adoring fans in the background. I like the idea of this and I would like to maybe use a similar method when it comes to constructing my album cover, with the image of David playing and having something else in the background. I think that using an image similar to the one from the cover for "Half the World Away" on an album cover would show a very effective combination between my print artefacts and my main product (the music video).


Something which I have also noticed from the album covers is that they usually follow the same pattern of an image, the names of the album or single and the oasis logo. I have noted that I will need to include these in my print aretefacts to sustain consistency and not destroy the illusion that what I am creating is an actual Oasis album cover and magazine advert.



MAGAZINE ADVERTS:
I have also looked at certain magazine adverts featuring Oasis and looked at the typical features are of magazine adverts. I have noted that the main aspects of a magazine advert is:

• The name of the band


• The image of the band


• The product they are selling


• The price of that product


• The magazine name or logo

Here is an Oasis magazine advert I have found:

Dig out your Soul-Oasis
This magazine has most of the main features I have mentioned. It has the name or logo of the magazine (NME), the band name or logo twice (Oasis), the product in this case the album (Dig out your Soul) and a picture of the band (Oasis). I think this magazine advert is very successful. As I have already mentioned I think the main promotional selling point along with the music is the image of the band. I think it works well that the two biggest images on this magazine advert are the band and the product (album). All that is missing I would say is the price of the album, which I think is a crucial piece of information to any fan wanting to purchase a new album.

My magazine advert:
I have given careful consideration to my magazine advert, and I would like it to consist of the 5 main bullet points I have listed above which I believe are essential to any promotional magazine advert. I think that the name of the band has to be one of the most important things on the advert so I would ideally like this as one of the biggest things on there. I then think that the picture of the album is equally as important as it is the new product you are promoting. I then think that the price of the album is important but a magazine is likely to want a reasonable chunk of the page to promote its magazine. These are the ideas I have gathered looking ahead to constructing my print artefacts.