Theimageitselfhasbeenslightlyadjust-edwiththeHue/Saturaontooltofitinsmootherwithourchosencolourscheme.AllIdidwasslightlydarkentheredchannelbuttheoriginalbrightredclashedtooharshlywiththedarkgreybackground.Thefactthatthesameexactshadeofshadeofredremainsconstantacrossboththetextandimagerymakestheproductfeelcoherentandprofessional.Itemphasisesthefactthatthephotowastakenspecificallyforthisadvert.

Thisimagewasshotonfilmanddevel-oped/printedexternally.Adigitalscannerallowedustoscanthisprintontoacom-putersothatwecouldedititusingPhoto-shopandincludeitinallofourotherpro-gramwork.Ouralternavewastosimplytakeadigitalpictureoftheprintbutthiswouldhavelookedunprofessionalandsomewhatcheap,sowemadesuretohaveacompletely“flaened”imagewitharealscanner.

Thegradientonthistextwasprobablythemostdifficultpartoftheadvert,whichsaysalot.Wetriedhavingasingletonecolour(eitherpurple,pinkoryellow)butitstoodoutfromtheothernamesandfeltlikeabitofacopout.WeusedthegradientoverlaytoolandcolourpickedeachindividualtonefrfromtheInstagramlogousingthepipeetooltoexactlymatchthecolourschemeofthecompany.Thisisanextralilebitofpolishwhichmakestheadvertfeellikeit’shadsomeseriousthought,meandeffortputintoit.Itwouldhavebeenmucheasiertoskipthisstep,buttheextraeffortshows.Thesegenre-appropriateweb‘handles’havebeencolourmatchedusingthepi-peeandtexttoolstosharethesamecolourastheirrespecvewebsites.Thisisacommonfeatureofmodernadversing,asitmakesamuchclearerconnecontoshowwhichnameshouldbeusedforwhichwhichwebsite.Thefournamesarealsoar-rangedinadark>lightcolourgradienttolookmorenaturallyheldtogether

Thewebsitelogoshadtobedownloadedin.pngformatsoastoretainmaximumresoluonandclarityinthefinishedpro-ject.Wepreviouslytriedjusttakingscreenshotsfromtheweb-sitesbutwestruggledtocleanlyremovetheirbackgroundsusingthelassoandmagicwandtools.Google’sadvancedimagesearchallowedustosearchpresciselybyfiletypeandgetpre-madevector.PNGsofeachlogosowedidnothavetoremovethesebackgrounds,andtheycouldberesizedwithoutlosingclarity.Eachwaseasytoresize,movearoundandmergetothetextlayerofthewebaddress.Weusedthepipeetooltotakethecoloursfromtheselogosandapplythemtothetextsothattheyseemedathomebesideoneanother.Chang-ingthecoloursmanually,wecouldgetveryclosetothetargetcolourvaluesbutthisdigitaltechniquemadethejobfarsimplerandgaveabeerendresult.

SoundsphereisalocalmusicmagazinefromYork,thetownthebandstartedinandcurrentlyperformaround.Weac-cessedtheirwebsiteandreadanar-cletheyhadwrienonthebandtogettheira tudetowardsthem.Thisquotefeelsgenuineandbelievable(especiallywiththewiththefourstarrang)thankstoourabilitytodospecificonlineresearch.ThesestarswereactuallydirectlycutfromaQmagazinereviewofanoth-erband.Onestarwascopiedandpastedintotheprojectusingtheselecttool,thenthelayersduplicat-edandmergedtocreateaprofes-sionallookingeleme

Thisblurrededgewasputintocreateasmooth,professionaltransionbetweenthetlingandtheleadimage.Thepaernusedisactuallyarecolouredvectorofatornfilmedge,theideabeingthatitseemsasifthisphotohasbeentornstraightfromtheband’sperformanceandispresentedasaleerboxviviewintowhattheirmusicandperformancescouldbeliketoprospecvelisteners.Itgivesa“foundfootage”feelingtotheadvertwhichcreatesaninmacywiththeaudience.Thisinmacyisoenusedtomakeaudiencesfeelasifaproductwasdesignedspecificallyforthem,makingthemfeelspecialandincreas-ingchancesofinterest/asale.Wehaveem-ployedthisideaforthesamepurposeandIpersonallythinkitlooksverynaturalandcombinestheimageandtextinafairlyseam-lessfashion.Withoutthisedge,theadvertlookeddisjointedandrushed.

Thedifferenceintonebetweenthegreyofthegraphicsandthegreyintheactualimagemakethelaerfeel“setback”whenthefilmedgelayerseparatesthem.Thephoto’sshortfieldofviewhelpstomakeitfeelasifweare“peeringin”tothisadvert,andthecontrastofclaritytoabstractimagedifferenatesthemsoththemsothattheadvertfeelslikeaframe,showcasingtheperformance.

Itisdifficulttoknowwhatthiswillactualylooklikeprintedinamagazine,butphoto-shop’slayouthasallowedustoviewitalong-sideother“testpages”andadvertsanditseemstofitfairlywell.Luckilywithdigitalprinngwecanactuallyprinttheselile“tests”outinstantlyandseehowtheyfeeltolookatandhold.Asagroupwesaidthatthisadfeelsmorelikeaposterinsomeways,whichisavaluableinsightthatwecouldnothaveguessedfromviewingitaloneatitsim-propersizeonascreen.

Socialmediaallowedustolookbackintheband’sposthistoryviatheirFacebookphotofeedandseethattheyplayedatLeedsfestlastyear.Wethenlookeduptheirlisngatthefesvalandfoundoutwhichstagetheyplayed.ThisisanexampleofhowtheInter-netcanallowresearchtobecarriedoutfareasierandeasierandfasterthaneitherdirectcommu-nicaonorphysicalmediaarchivingwould.Socialmediaisaninvaluableresourceforreasonssuchasthis.

Thisboomhalfofthepagehadtobere-arrangedanalmostridiculousnumberofmes.Weknewwhatwewantedtoin-clude,butwedidn’tknowhowbesttopresentitall.Wemadeuseoftextalign-menttoold,rulersandsizematchinginPhotoshoptoprevieweachofourideasandpickourfavouriteaccordingly.

Theband’slogowastakenfromtheirFacebookpageandbroughtintoPhotoshop.Itisnotwrienina“font”,butratherahanddrawngraphic,sowecouldneitherretypeitoranyothertextinthis“font”becausethereisn’tone.Wecutthelogoapartusingthelassoandcopytools(itwasoriginallyonewordatoptheother)andputthetwopiecessidebyside.Wedeletedthebackgroundcoloursusingthemagicmagicwandtoolandchangedthecoloursoftheleeringusingthepaintbuckettool.Oncethishadbeendone,thelogowasduplicated,onecopywasrecolouredtoyellowandplacedbehindtheredversion.Thisaddedthe“shadow”strokeeffectwhichhighlightstheredtextandmakesitstandoutfromthebackground,whilstsllbeingmostlyadarktoneofred.Thiseffectisverydisncveandccarriesacrossalmostallthetextonboththisproductandthedigipak,linkingtheirpresentaonwithauniquestylis-cchoice.