Ancillary Production - Poster (Final Version)

There. Done. Hopefully now I will never have to look at my ugly mug in Photoshop ever again.

Changes since the previous version I went over in Photoshop yesterday:

• The error with the logo (not being aligned properly at the right) has been fixed.
• The font of the text at the bottom has been changed to be consistent with the text on the back of the digipak (OCR A Std). This a) looks prettier and b) helps develop imagery which is maintained across the brand. But you know that, because I've mentioned it god-knows how many times on this blog.
• This text has also had its opacity lowered a tad, so it doesn't look quite so obnoxiously out of place. Simple blending at its finest.

So that's that finished. Huzzah.

-HM.

Ancillary Production - Let's Play Photoshop

My Zero desktop is the best thing.

Ancillary Production - Poster mk. ii

As I posted yesterday that I've updated the front and back covers of the digipak, I thought I'd show off how I've fixed up the poster a bit since the mockup post from a while back.

I will note that this is not the absolute final version of the poster. The font used for the text at the bottom is purely placeholder; I intend to use the same font as used on the back of the digipak for the sake of consistency; I just don't have access to it on my computer at home. Also, I feel that I could do with a bit of colour correction on my face - it looks a tad too dark on (my) right side.

So - changes? Well, I've updated to the digipak PIP to the completed version - no-one likes having an obvious beta work sticking out on a final piece, do they? Unless it's Sonic '06 where the beta versions actually look more polished than the final product, but I digress. I've also made it a bit bigger, so the thing we want people to be buying is more prominent.

The big change (that stands out to me) is the brush texture in the background. Now, I -could- have just ripped the brush layers from the digipak .psd, but instead I decided to employ a technique which is actually rarely used in the music industry these days, which is known as "putting effort in", and making new layers using different brushes. My main reasoning for this is that whilst yes, it is a good idea to have a visual link between the different promotional materials (as I've mentioned ~9001 times on this blog...) I feel that this has been achieved already by using the same photo, logo and fonts - and on top of this, the digipak itself is present, so having the exact same image twice would be incredibly redundant.

Now, onto something else - "why is it so simplistic?", you may ask. Well, I've been looking at some professional posters, and from what I've seen, using content other than the album art and logos doesn't happen much. Fear not, people with a fear of text, here's some pretty pictures for you.

A poster I actually own! Axel Rudi Pell's Circle of the Oath poster, pictured alongside the digipak for comparison. The poster is literally just the album art, with the logo and album name relocated to the top.  I would take a guess and say that this is because the poster is a gift packaged within the album as opposed to one designed to be placed in shops etc., so the primary aim is to look cool (which it does).

 

The poster for The 2nd Law, the Muse album for which I have previously analysed the album cover of. As with the ARP poster, this one too is just using the album art but moving the text to the top out of the way.

If anything, mine is actually much less simplistic than these two covers - my justification for this is that my poster is promoting a currently upcoming album as opposed to one which is already out, so it should be informative to potential consumers.

Final version to follow shortly.

-HM.

Ancillary Update - Poster mockup

This is only an initial mockup, but it gives an idea of my mind stream (is that a thing? It reminds me of a time stream. Only I can alter it without causing any paradoxes...).

The idea is to have a very similar approach to the digipak's front cover; this will help promote my 'brand' and will make my face recognisable. The little PIP-style digipak overlap is to enforce the idea that beside all the flashiness, there is a product to be sold, and that it is a good idea to go out and buy said product.

Obviously I'm going to pretty this up a lot yet, but I thought I should show a rough idea first. The photograph is the same one I'm using on the digipak; I'm so grateful that the media department's DSLR cameras take high resolution stills.

-HM.

Ancillary Production - Dark Flame logo (with exciting business theory!)

These are two different concepts for logos which I created for my artist in Photoshop. The logo is to appear on both the digipak and the promotional poster for the album, so it will need to be something that once seen will be remembered. This is important when creating the artists brand, as it will make the promotional material more effective at moving potential consumers along the AIDA (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action) scale.

By my logic, having a strong brand (specifically in terms of the logo) will encourage the move from the "awareness", "interest" and "desire" phases to the final "action" phase.

The promotional materials such as the poster will probably be enough to move along the first three phases. People will see the poster up in record shops, the television ad on the music channel etc. with its dark, "cool" imagery and it's obvious rock conventions, making them aware of its existence. If this is their kind of thing, it will develop their interest, and create a desire to purchase the product. Then, if my theory is accurate (and I'm fairly confident in it), the logo will play its magic. People will see the album on the shelf (or digital shelf, if iTunes/Amazon etc. happens to be their kind of thing) and the logo will stick out to them. They'll subconsciously think to themselves "hey, isn't this the logo for that artist I liked the look of on that poster the other day?", and the "this looks really cool" mentality from said other day will come back to them, and they'll pick up the album and buy it.

As I mentioned before, for this to work, the logo must be something that once seen, will be remembered. Because of this, I believe the first of the two logos will be the most effective. This is because it is more unique - with the gloss and satin effects it looks much more interesting than the second. I worry that as the second is just plain text with a bit of red prettiness, it'd be forgotten about fairly quickly.

In addition to this, I showed both logos to my classmates, and there was a strong preference towards the first. This shows that it appeals to members of the general public (potential consumers), which is always a benefit.

-HM.