Planning Of CD Cover / Web Page / Magazine Advert

Plans for CD Cover Front Cover

Below are concepts which I drew to outline different ideas of front covers. I wanted the front cover to make a impact to the audience, and with the use of existing covers create something which was original, but would fit into the chosen genre of hard rock/metal. I also wanted to have a main subject object on the cover, after much research into different stereotypical objects of the hard rock and metal genre I found that a skull was the most menacing and impacted the audience more so than others.

Due to the bands name being 10,000 flames, I felt that the final cover and designs needed to include flames in some aspect as to compliment the band name and image. This allowed for bright and vibrant colours to be used on the front cover, which makes the final result more interesting and eye catching.

I felt that the name of the album should be 10,000 flames. This is a common decision made by artist with a debut album, as it allows the name of the band to be widly spread. It also allows for the cover to not be cluttered by text, which could confuse the consumer and instead focus on just one title.

This design shows a skull face at a side angle looking at the name of the artist 10,000 flames.

This design has a entire skull face engulfed in flames. The band name surrounds the burning skull with 10,000 at the top centre and flames in the bottom centre. This album cover is one of my favourites, as it has an entire skull face surrounded by raging flames and framed by the band name.

Two more designs. The left design has a skull face cut in half by the edge of the right edge, and band name to the right of it centered. There is also a background of fire ranging on behind the text of the artists name.

The second design situated on the right has simply the band title centered in the middle of the cover, accompanied by fire surrounding the text and also as a background image.

A set of two more designs.The left design has the band title 10,000 flames situated in the centre of the cover, and has two flames of each side of the title. The title is then underlined by a simple decoration which helps to make the title more eye catching to the consumer.

The second design on the right has a skull at the bottom centre of the cover, with a single flame coming of the right side of the skulls head. The band title is then situated above to try give the image that the skull is being beaten by the font with the fire being a effect of blood.

The Flames

The connection between the artist's name 10,000 flames and the ability to add flames to the CD cover and Magazine Advert made it was paramount that this theme was used, it allowed for a house style to be formed, which was highly linked with the genre and targetted audience. Below are my images taken using a digital camera of flames taken at night time. The decision to take the images at night was so that all the deep colours and illumination within the fire could be caught on camera , it also made editing the images much easier, as the background was entirely black and free from added sunlight. I wanted to take as many images as possible, focusing on different angles and perspectives to provide the best effect for the final products.

The Skull

The skull was just as important in capturing correctly as the flames, with it being decided as the dominant centre piece for my Front Cover it was absolutly crucial that correctly structerd images were taken to resemble the paper design. Below are my images taken with a digital camera of a real human skull which was owned by a doctor and used only for medical purposes. I set up a specialised photo area in which to photograph the skull, with using black drapes and lighting only focused on the skull it allowed me to get some remarkable images. I wanted to capture the skull in different viewpoints and angles so that it allowed for the best image to be edited and then used in the final products.

Plans for Magazine Advert

I wanted the magazine advert to be as intising and as visually striking as the album cover. This would be paramount in creating a realistic advert, as adverts are specificly designed to draw in the target audience. I borrowed themes from the cd cover, such as the flames and also the same red and black color scheme. These themes will help relate the two products together, so when they are put together they look like a extension of each other.

After looking at already released magazine adverts, it was evident that the majority had scores, or quotes from well known sources to help sell their product to the audience. I chose to use this idea in my own advert as I wanted it to look like it could be used on the market today, this would mean its conforming to the normal advert. But my main aims for the advert were to have a strong well thought out layout, the correct use of flames in a effective manner and to create a advert which draws in its target audience.

This design has spreading flames up each side, the title of the band is centralised and review scores are situated on the right. It also has the CD front cover situated on the left, engulfed in flames which is helpful so that the target audience will know what the advert is attracting their attention to. This is my favourite design as it allows for much variety and allows enough space for information and flame designs.

The design has the cover of the CD front cover situated in the middle of the page, with 10,000 on top and then Flames at the bottom. There is fire surrounding the front cover which then leads to further flame which is around both of the words.

In this design the artists name has been divided and placed on either edge of the advert. The CD front cover is situated in the middle, with flames framing of the image of the front cover seperating it from outer text. Instead of having reviews it has a "featuring can't get enough
".

This design doesn't use any flames, but instead borrows the skull theme. The skull is looking down on the artist's name from the top right. There is a box with "new single" and then underneath the name of that single, this is to help draw in the audience and explain what content is on the CD.

In this design the 10,000 part of the artist name is being blown up by the flames, the second part of the artist's name is situated beside to the right, underlined by a similar simple design used on one of the cd front cover designs