Magazine Advert Analysis

This is the promotional poster for The Smiths This Charming Man record. Although it is not designed for a magazine it still features the conventions of a poster and gives the same details which would be included in a magazine advert. The first thing to look at is that it matches to the cover of the record. The image is that off of the vinyl cover, and the colour scheme and font is identical. Having consistent artwork and style for the release is definitely effective and something I will be using as it ties all the advertisement together; if people were to see this advert when flicking through a magazine then they would also recognise the record cover; this is what I will be aiming to achieve. The use of two colours is typical of The Smiths so again this colour scheme represents the artist well. It is important that the colour scheme reflects the music and style tastes of the audience. The image itself is most likely aimed at the album title of 'This Charming Man' in an ironic sense. I like the use of reflection in the water as it adds another element to the image, as opposed to just a man lying in water. The style of the man reflects the age of the photo. His style is that of the early 80's in which the record was released. The use of the camera looking down on the man reflects the image of the man being inferior as of course he is lying supposedly passed out in a on the ground with his face in a puddle. The image is the predominant feature of the poster, taking up three quarters of the page. However the other quarter includes lots of information. The artists name is written in the font always used to represent The Smiths so acts as a logo for them. The font is bold, easy to read and very simplistic. The colour matches that of the image and stands out well against the background, so would be easy to read from a distance of sorts. This is something to consider as looking a magazine, the audience could just be flicking through and that would catch their eye. The largest font on the page is the title of the record, this is what will stick in the audiences mind and so will make them more likely to listen to the song and then buy the record. Using the words 'The new release' or 'The new single' appears to be common on adverts. Using the word 'new' adds appeal as the audience are always looking for the latest thing, so advertising it a new would appeal to people who aren't necessarily fans of the band itself. Other details are in a smaller font, as of course they are less important. This is information that is read after the audiences' attention has already been grabbed. Below this is then the logo of the record label the band is signed to. This also appears to be something that is necessary to include on the magazine poster. All writing is central to the box in which it is contained and is fairly spread out, with more space left for the larger writing and smaller text bunched closer together. This achieves the effect of the writing not looking too crowded yet also not overly spread out so that there is just blank space.