Analysis of advertisement

To get inspiration and ideas before I started designing my own advertisement, I first decided to research into some.

This poster was for a band called Bastille. 

Their poster was a small segment in the back of NME magazine but it successfully advertised both their upcoming tour and the release of their new album. I think the poster achieved the aim of catching the reader's attention; you are immediately drawn to the the large, white lettering of the band's name against the dark background, and you get a clear sense of what sort of band they are (alternative indie pop). The use of the triangle instead of the 'A' was also cleverly used as it was a reference to the nickname they've given their Bad Blood, tour - "the triangle tour" (their tour takes them in a triangular shape across the map).

I think the use of the image is strong as it's easily recognizable that they're some sort of indie band. It's also conventional for their music genre to not necessarily show the band or artist's face in the image or album cover, so in this way it is very traditional. The photo itself is quite intriguing and mysterious because of the dark colours and lack of explanation. I think it works well because the band is fairly unknown, so it immediately has the viewer asking questions.

The colour scheme used matches the photograph. They stuck to the white highlighted in the road markings and have brought out the yellow, low-key streetlight through by using yellow font. I also liked the typeface used because it's continuous throughout all of their other album and single covers. They've managed to make it into something easily recognizable and distinguishable, which - considering they're a fairly new band - is very good for their brand.

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I also found this advertisement for The Stone Roses' tour. 

The advertisement is fairly simplistic using large, block lettering for the title. There is also only two colours used, black and red, which are a continuation from the colours used in the photograph of the cake. The use of the clear, bold red also immediately catches the reader's attention against the white background. The fact that the advertisement also took up a whole page so it immediately stands up.

Again, because The Stone Roses are an alternative rock band, it's unnecessary for there to be an image of the band. Additionally, because the band are quite iconic and well-known, the idea is that readers of NME would know the band immediately instead of needing an introduction, which, ultimately, is why they can get away with only having an image of a cake.

The choice of the cake as the image entirely is quite a good idea because of the fact that what they're advertising is, in fact, a reunion tour; the cake is a symbol celebrating how long they'd been together as a band. The use of plain primary colours (the red table cloth, the yellow icing) gives the advert a very child-like feeling.

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This poster was for Ladyhawke's Blues Eyes tour.

The advert immediately catches the viewer's attention because of the use of the artwork, which takes up the majority of the space. The artwork itself is the cover of from the lead single, Blue Eyes (which, coincidentally, is also the name of their tour). The colours are very bright and eye-catching - vibrant yellows, purples and blues.

I like the fact that the font then continues the colour theme by using purple font. It makes the purples in the artwork stand out much more. The important information is stated more clearly, for example the name of the tour and the months are in bold, as well as the artist's name which is noticeably large than the rest of the text and in broad, white lettering.

I don't think that the advertisement gives much indication as to who Ladyhawke is as an artist because the artwork itself suggests that she is maybe, instead, a band instead of a solo singer - at least, before researching, that was what I thought. You can get a clear sense of genre, however; it is easily to establish that she is an indie, singer/song-writer.

I like the fact that there's a small image of her album cover at the bottom because it is an easy way of sliding in additional advertisement for her album as well. The picture of her on the album cover (even though it's only little) is a good representation of her as an artist; the close-up of the picture, the fact that it's in black and white and that she is looking away, gives an impression that she's probably quite a mellow, acousticy artist.