As a group we constructed and sent out a Google Form to various classmates in order to gain constructive feedback on the second draft of our advert.

• The vast majority of people recognized that the advert represented a Ska band and thus the genre has been successfully communicated through the design and the construction of the star image.

• The band is seen to be very colorful against a monochrome backdrop which successfully draws the consumers attention.
• One person found the image to be very cluttered which may discourage some consumers.
• Others did not understand why the band members were reacting in an exaggerated manner highlighting the enigma code, however I believe this to be positive since it only creates intrigue and interest in the product and star image.

• The two most prevalent answers suggested that the advert clearly conveys both satire and that the band are carefree which is consistent with out aims.
• Some also thought that surprise was revealed by the poster as well as a relaxed attitude which is true per each individual reaction from the band.

• 6 people were on the fence or likely to purchase the associated products based on the strength of the advert.
• 2 people would certainly buy the album on the merit of our advert alone.

• We asked the respondents to suggest their improvement as we move to complete our final draft and the general consensus found that some items such as the record label and distributors logos are too large, we will use Photoshop to resize where appropriate. Also one person believed too many fonts were in use, but I feel like this unpredictability and non-conformity ties in well with the Ska genre.

Digipak draft 2:

Advert draft 2:

Using written feedback forms, we asked members of our class to evaluate the first draft of our advert. You can view our feedback forms below.

What went well:

• Overall the mise-en-scene was found to be popular and reflects the ideals of the genre well such as the distinct iconography found in our costume and the Vespa prop.
• The use of colours on the band and the review stars is effective and catches the eye of the consumers.
• The advert is fun and energetic.
• ICT has been skillfully.
• Some found the image to be too cluttered which may distract consumers attention.

Targets:

• Make the “out now” marking clearer perhaps with a bolder font and a black outline.
• Some did not like the black highlight behind pieces of text, we will reduce the intensity so it blends in better to the background image.
• We will also include the record label logo.

With a clear sense of what we wanted to achieve graphically from our hand drawn mock up we took to Photoshop to construct the first draft of our advert. We used the same images collated from our digipak shoot which saved us time and will ensure a continuity between our promotional print products. The advert can be viewed below.

In order to get a sense of how we wanted to graphically achieve our print advert we whipped out the pens and paper to construct a hand drawn mock up. This was important as to ensure we did not forget any crucial elements such as the website, reviews and commercial promotions such as iTunes. Our hand drawn mock-up can be viewed below.

Before designing my own print product of an advert to promote my band ‘The Beat’ and their album I delved into various Ska advertisements from other the years to find consistencies and what works when promoting the genre to the target audience. You can view my slideshow below.