Ancillary Products

My chosen brief stated that as well as producing a music video I had to choose two ancillary products to create too. I chose to make a magazine advert (left) and a Digipak (right) for my artist.

Magazine Advert

During my research and planning phase, I identified that my magazine advert had to follow a set house style in terms of fonts and colour scheme.

This allows the product to look professional and realistic, like existing real life adverts.

The background image is the same image that appears on the front cover of the digipack too. This creates a visual connection between the products and helps to create a theme that the audience can recognize.

Conventionally ,the advert draws attention the new release. This s can be seen on my advert, ‘new album’.

The artist name is the largest text on the page, conventional of magazine advertisements within the indie genre. Often, the name is placed in the highest third of the page, functioning in a similar way to a masthead on the front cover of a magazine.

A place in which the audience can consume the product. In recent years, online streaming services have replaced websites and physical stores.

It is conventional to show the official website of the artist on a magazine advert. However, I have somewhat challenged a similar convention, as I have not included any social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

The name of the album is conventionally the second largest bit of text on the page, and is often placed in the bottom third of the page.

As with most adverts, the middle third is often empty, with just the background image. This helps the image stand out and directly engage with the readers of the advert.

The record label logo conventionally features on the advert, often placed at the very bottom of the page. I have somewhat developed this convention by including not only the subsidiary label, but also the major label.

The release date is one of the most common features on a magazine advert, informing the audience of when the content becomes available.

A review of the album is present which is conventional. The magazine that gave the review also suggests that the genre of the album is within the indie genre.

Digipak

During the research phase of this process I identified that most existing Digipacks use similar conventions.

On the next slide, these conventions will be detailed to show how my research directly influenced by ability to replicate existing conventions of my Ancillary products.

This cover uses the convention of displaying the artist name on the front cover. Typically the name of the artists appears before all other text on the cover.

The cover uses the convention of displaying the album name after the artist name.

The main image contains the protagonist of the music video. The image encapsulates the meaning behind the entire album, with the Reverend who demonstrates typical youth culture signifiers (cigarette/trainers/sunglasses) looking inferior in comparison to the church, which represents religion.

The record label logo appears on the front cover, conventionally positioned in a bottom corner of the page. Not all digipacks use this, though it is still very common.

Though the protagonist is looking at the camera, I have challenged the use of direct address because the sunglasses prohibit eye to eye contact with the audience.

The image is black and white, which may challenge conventional coloured digipacks. However, the indie genre is more custom to use of black and white, and the image links with the black and white format of the music video.

The colour scheme is orange, black and white. These link with the colour scheme in the video, and also the colour scheme of the magazine advert.

My magazine somewhat challenges conventions due to it’s main image. If the protagonist/artist appear on the front cover, they usually appear in the centre of the, in the middle third. However, my video slightly challenges this convention because the protagonist can be seen in the bottom third of the page.

It is conventional to show the album name on the spine of the album. It uses the same typography as it displays on the front cover.

The track list follows conventions because it displays numbers and goes down the page vertically. It is made to stand out using banners which are commonly seen on the back of Digipacks.

The digipack also adheres to the convention of placing the catalog number vertically down the spine. This is done to aid the distribution process.

The record label logo on the spine is another convention the digipack follows. It is usually found at the bottom of the spine. It also uses this conventional on the back cover panel itself, again appearing in the expected position (towards the bottom) The barcode is displayed in

the bottom right corner of the back cover. This is a conventional features of most Digipacks.

The small print consists of social media counts and copyright/ownership related information, which is typically found within the small print on most back cover panels.

The main image on the back cover shows the same character as on the front cover, though this is not entirely conventional and does not appear consistently on digipacks . My Digipak chooses to include the character again (deliberately without sunglasses) on the back cover, to reinforce the importance of the character. The lack of sunglasses highlights the journey the character undergoes through the video, initially overcome by youth culture yet eventually finding his religious backbone.

The back cover uses the convention of putting the names of the individuals responsible for mixing and producing the album.

My cover uses the convention of showing the artist name and name of the album on the disk itself. In order to keep the continuity throughout the digipack, the typography of both artists/album name appear just as they do on the front cover of the digipack. The artists name precedes the album name, just as on the magazine advert.

During my research, I found it was common for digipacks to display the name of the producer and mixer on the disk. I have used this convention on my disk.

It is not uncommon to see the track list reappear on the disk. I have somewhat developed this convention by placing the text in a circular path, something which not all album disks display.

The small print is often placed close to the circumference of the disk, and contains such information as copyright and music record label.

One of the ways in which my digipak disks challenges conventions is by not displaying the logo of the record company on the disk. This is common on most digipacks, but I was satisfied with the simplicity of my disk design, and featured the logo on the spine, front cover and back cover, as well as within the small print around the edge of the disk.

The colour scheme uses the same one present throughout all the products, though somewhat expands upon it, as orange becomes the primary colour of the disk. This is to make the disk stand out, and also prevents the digipack from becoming dull and overly serious when viewed as whole.

The catalog number conventionally appears on the disk. In my digipak, it is evident at the beginning of the small print text.

Image Continuity

My Digipack uses the convention of showing a seamless background between the 3 panels. This gives them a professional appeal. The white semi-circle shapes behind each disc are In the shape of a cross. According to Charles Sanders Peirce (1931), “we think only in signs” . The cross is a signifier and highlights the consistent theme of religion.