Magazine Advert Planning

Brand identity is especially important for an unsigned artist such as the Plastic Dots who I am designing this promotional package for. For this reason, I intend for the advert to be a direct continuation of the design choices made in the digipak.

Looking at the planning for the digipak, I was particularly inspired by the psychedelic patterns featured on my mood board blog here. Reflecting the indie-psych genre effectively, the uniqueness of each design also mimics the unique, older-sounding vibe that this band possess. Looking back to my analyses, in the sketch below I have outlined conventional elements that I wish to include in this advertisement.

Looking back at my research,  The King Blues used a handwritten font to illustrate each track name to give them an individual identity. I intend for the digipak to be self titled The Plastic Dots as it is their debut album, but I have researched 70s typefaces in case I use this.

Whilst I like the idea of using a font with a traditional connotations to the 70s, both of these examples contrast against the band logo due to them all being gothic, bold typefaces. I intend to create a handwritten typeface for the thank you note in the digipak, so this may be suitable for the text in the advert. If not I intend to use the same Arial Black font from the logo.

Digipak Design Planning

When constructing this mood board, I considered both the music video and the indie-psych genre in order to strengthen the brand identity of this promotional package. I particularly liked the psychedelic patterns and faded aesthetic that is conventional of the indie-psych genre, yet I also like Bowie's uniformly monochrome digipak that I analysed. The idea of stripping back the digipak to monochrome, just as the song is stripped back to a retro, 60's sound.

Whilst I like the idea of having a minimal design, as this is for an emerging band, I worry that this bold choice will not impact upon potential fans. Because of this, I have decided to further explore imagery associated with the indie-psych genre, as well as that which can be linked to themes within the music video, strengthening the brand identity across the promotional package.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE MOOD BOARD BLOG

After collating these images together, the abstract patterns and harmonious palettes are something that appear in the music video, so in order to heighten the brand identity, I will try to create some of these patterns.

Constructing these patterns is something that I am fairly new to. Researching further into these patterns, I discovered that there are two possibilities for creating them, either traditionally using oil in water, or digitally using Photoshop. As I am confident in photoshop, I decided to give try this technique, varying the gradient tool and blend modes to create unique and unrepeatable effects. Below is a screen capture of this process:

Screenshot of Flickr Album
The images from this test are in this Flickr album HERE

After experimenting with the creation of these psychedelic patterns using Photoshop, I am quite impressed by the variation achieved in a relatively short time frame. Whilst this creates a fluid aesthetic that is comparable to the indie-psych genre, these can come across as quite processed due to their digital creation. Some of these patterns are also too varied, I personally prefer the more muted designs such as the bottom left version above. I shall experiment more with the creation of these gradients digitally, and should they not achieve the desired aesthetic, I will move to a traditional process, drawing upon my art skills instead.

Continuing layering gradients using Photoshop, this became difficult to predict, with each result varying from the previous. Keen to pursue this technique, using a paintbrush tool, I layered saying vibrant colours on the canvas, before using the liquify effect to turn it into the psychedelic pattern below. The bold, controlled palette possesses an indie-psych aesthetic that I aimed to achieve with the original designs, inspired by my research.

While I like this pattern, I feel that this is lacking the physical, hands-on element that the artistry of the indie genre connotes. I shall reserve this as a strong possibility, but I will try using inks - of which feature heavily in the music video - to create a psychedelic pattern, strengthening the overall brand identity.

Constructing the prints, with pictures of the mixed ink.

Interestingly, the ink designs below were just as unpredictable as the digital designs. Using mainly primary colours, I laid paper in the tray of ink, removing the paper to reveal the patterns below. Personally, I really like these, featuring texture and depth that I have consciously aimed to maintain within the music video. Such connections encourage me to develop these further, combining them with text to see how the digital and traditional designs compare with this addition.

Edited scans of prints that are to be developed.

After editing these prints in Photoshop, mainly to increase the vibrancy as the scanning dulled the images,  I combined them with the previously developed band logo to see if they could be adapted to form a front cover for the digipak.

Please hover over the white circles below for annotations of each image.

I personally liked the last two examples from above the most, but I feel that the photo of ink holds better links to the music video over the version I created in Photoshop, as well as aesthetically possessing greater depth and tone than the otherwise flat digital version.

Whilst I like the photo, I find that the variation in colour makes the band logo quite hard to read in places, distracting from this vital element in order for the audience to recognise the artist. Because of this, I used the layer blend mode luminosity in Photoshop to create a darker yet vibrant aesthetic that I personally really like. I intend to use this technique for the introduction, furthering the link between the ancillary products and the music video.

I also felt that the solid white logo appeared disjointed against the otherwise fluid background, so I altered the transparency of both the black and white versions in an attempt to blend it more with the image. The result achieved this, but they both looked slightly too subtle. The white version was more legible than the black, so when I refined this further, I decided to continue with the original white variation.

An increase in opacity resulted in the image below. This encompasses my design intentions, and in my opinion, if this was not successful as a digipak cover, this could certainly be part of a booklet design as per my original intentions.

Digipak Layout Planning

Looking at existing albums and digipak's that I own, all 5 featured the above dimensions. Considering that the size of the digipak is important as aspects such as the CD holder, inserts, and flaps are all dependent on it's overall dimensions. For this reason, I have decided to adhere to these conventions.

Flatplans

Referring to my research, I chose aspects from each digipak that I liked and merged them together to form the layout of my digipak. For example, I liked the inside left pocket on Bowie's digipak, especially considering that the band I am advertising is unsigned and independent, this allows for greater content, heightening the engagement of the audience. This promotion of a loyal fan base will also be reflected in the inclusion of a thank you note on the 'folded inside panel', adding a personal touch that I admired in Reckless Kelly's digipak.

In order to better visualise the digipak, I created a physical flatplan which I then annotated using After Effects below.

Satisfied by how the physical version came out, I decided to create a .gif to show even more clearly how the digipak will open up. As this has been successful in the paper model, this will be the layout I choose for the final digipak.

Track list

From my research a digipak would normally consist of 12 tracks. From looking at the band's Soundcloud, they have made just 7. Rather than imagine 5 more tracks, I believe that including exclusive or previously unissued content would be an added incentive for loyal fans which a digipak is aimed towards.

Referring back to my research, both digipaks featured exclusive content, with Bowie's digipak offering 3 'Bonus Tracks' and Reckless Kelly's featuring an alternative version of the main track. Considering the indie genre, I think adding acoustic covers and demo tracks will offer insight into their artistic process, of which is heightened within this genre.

I have decided on the track list above. This lists all of the tracks from The Plastic Dots' Soundcloud, with 'bonus tracks' those that I have created. With a live version of the main track that I used for the music video, and an acoustic version of another of their tracks, this strengthens the overall presence of the band. A demo of a new track gives insight into their artistic process, as well as giving a sense of potential that the fans can invest in. Two covers of older songs also suggests their influences, giving background information on the band which is a partial aim of the digipak.

Digipak Analyses