Magazine Advert - An Introduction

As part of the A2 media course, I am required to produce an ancillary product in the form of a magazine advert for the album.

What are they?
Magazine adverts are promotional devices, which are designed specifically to sell the product they're advertising to a specific target audience. All decisions regarding their creation and distribution are tailored carefully towards this specific target audience; such as which magazines they appear in, their size (wether they're double or single page spread), the iconography they exhibit, the graphics, the photography, the text, colour themes, etc.

Common Codes and Conventions of a Magazine Advert

Images & Graphics

• Will relate to the album and artist/band
• Images, Graphics, or a mix - will be appropriate to the genre of the music and artist/band
• A photograph of the artist/band is usually included (sometimes with artistic editing)
• Iconography 
• Will be appropriate to the colour theme

Typography

• Artist/Band name
• Album title
• Release date
• Reviews/Critical Acclaims
• Artists/Band's website Address
• Specific track names
• May include the names of other artists featured on the album

Additional Features

• Record label logo
• Album rating

Magazine Advert Analysis

1.) Florence + The Machine - Lungs (Deluxe Edition)

Above is pictured a magazine advertisement for Florence + The Machine's 2009 album, "Lungs (Deluxe Edition)". The genre of music this band deals in is an unusual yet spellbinding combination of pop, soul, and baroque; a unique twist which holds influence within the promotion of this album. 

In terms of the typography, this advert contains all the most important features of a magazine advert; the artists name, the album name, artwork that relates to the album, the release date, the artists' website, and the record label's logo. A slightly less usual feature it includes is all the formats (CD, Deluxe CD, Vinyl, and Digital) in which the album is available. 

With the exception of the band name at the top, the font used on this advert is Georgia (with the album title being the italicised variation), and is white so as to stand out against the black background; it's used as this italicised Georgia is the font that appears on the actual album cover. The white colouring also ties well with the colour theme of the image - a dark background, with light accents.

The band name, Florence + The Machine, is featured at the top of the advert in the band's signature font, again in a pale colour so as to stand out from the background. 

This particular magazine ad is essentially a reproduction of the album cover. Due to the genre and the nature of the music, a photograph has been chosen (as opposed to using graphics, or a combination of the two.) The photograph is of Florence Welch - the face of the band - features a style inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and was designed by photographer Tom Beard and art director Tabitha Denholm. According to this source, "Denholm created for the album cover a concept built around a pair of lungs". This concept relates to the title of the album, and appropriately, we see Welch wearing a set of prosthetic lungs (designed by Orlando Weeks; his intention with the design was to give the lungs "a Victoriana, industrial punchbag kind of look.")

 

Examples of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artwork. Note the similarity in the subject's expressions, and the colour compositions. 

2.) You Me At Six - Hold Me Down

This is the magazine advertisement for British pop-punk band, You Me At Six's 2010 album "Hold Me Down". 

As is the common practice, this advertisement uses the album cover of "Hold Me Down"; the artwork is a graffiti-type graphic, that uses bright, almost psychedelic colour accents over a dark background. The striking effect of this colour choice will draw the attention of an audience browsing a magazine, while the graffiti style is one that is commonly seen in album artwork for this genre.

The typography has all the text centre aligned, and written in a font similar to Avenir Next Condensed Medium. The band's name is featured centre with the album title in a small, cursive font beneath it, as it is on the album.

Beneath this, the album's release date is printed at the same size as the band's name and in an eye-catching yellow (which fits with the yellow highlights on the dark, muted green/blue background.) 

As is the norm for such an advertisement, the record label's logo is featured in the bottom right corner, the band's website link is featured in the bottom left, and the website address for the download is placed middle bottom. 

The alignment of all the text is set so that everything is aligned to everything else, creating a professional look.

This advert would've been run in rock magazines, and the bright explosion of colours is suggestive that it's aimed at a teenage/young adult demographic. The imagery of the roses suggests themes of love, while the wings could be freedom or death; all things that young people seem to preoccupy their thoughts with on a regular basis, thus making this ad more attractive to them. 

This is definitely an effective advert, something which I can confirm because I'm part of the demographic and am a fan of YMAS and when I saw this advert I made up my mind to listen to the album (I haven't been able to buy it yet though, sadly.)

3.) Rihanna - Rated R

In November 2009 Rihanna released her fourth studio album, Rated R, (with Def Jam Recordings.) Musically, this album represented a departure from her previous work; it features a "foreboding and atmospheric tone", incorporates elements of "hip hop, rock, and dubstep", and explores other genres such as "dancehall (in 'Rude Boy') and Latin (in 'Te Amo')." [Source]

The advert follows the conventions of such ancillary products as it mirrors the album cover used for 'Rated R'. The cover features Rihanna, staring directly into the camera (connecting her audience to her), and was photographed by fashion photographer Ellen Von Unwerth (a renowned photographer who specialises in erotic femininity). Unwerth explained the Rihanna was looking to create "something a bit new for the look of the album" and that Rihanna was also "involved in every aspect of the shoot and was ready to push content boundaries."[Source]

The black-and-white cover has since been compared to 1980's album covers for the singer Grace Jones.

Above: The album cover for Grace Jones' 1980 album "Warm Leatherette"
 ~ This cover does indeed bare a similarity to Rihanna's "Rated R" ~

British artist and director Simon Henwood conceived the brand and styling for 'Rated R', as well as being the creative director of the promotional campaign. Henwood explains of the design that "everything comes from the music, and this is [Rihanna's] most personal album to date - so everything draws from it in one way or another." The significance of this album being personal is that it was conceived after the serious physical assault Rihanna suffered at the hands of her then-boyfriend Chris Brown. This album - its music, its lyrics, its videos, its visuals - provided Rihanna with the "chance for her to express all these things without being specific/literal." ~Henwood 

The typography includes, the album name (in the place of where it appears on the album cover), Rihanna's name (in the largest font size) in the lower third beneath her face, and a capitalised Century Goth, with the letters being white over a black rectangular background. The exception to this is the featured songs - they're written in a different, almost graffiti-styled font in red.
This links to the style of the album in terms of its rock roots and the rocker style of clothing that Rihanna is seen wearing.
The black-and-white colouring of this advert connotes the dark themes of the album/music; while the choice to use red for the title for the featured songs "Russian Roulette" and "Hard" is eye-catching for the audience, with the colour red being associated with violence, anger, and danger.

The overall effect of the advert is that it presents 'Rated R' - a warning in itself - as being edgy and intense. While there is limited information in terms of release dates and where the album can be heard, it's not necessary, as this advert is really meant to serve as more of an informative statement. It presents Rihanna as edgy, and is designed to excite audience interest into her new, darker side.


Conclusions
In the magazine adverts I have analysed I can conclude that there is the standard presence of a varying majority of the codes and conventions I've listed at the top of this post.
While every magazine advert has to be unique to its artist, their is usually a general conformity to what's expected in relation to its genre, which not only helps with branding but with attracting the right audience.