Advert Research

Analysis of two adverts -


I chose this as one advert to analyse because the artist 'James Morrison' is considered to be within the singer/songwriter genre along with the artist of our song for the music video - John Mayer.



Firstly, the use of colour in this advert is striking as the green/yellow colours and tones all come from the same palette. They are pleasing to viewer as the colours are carefully matched and are in keeping with both the font and the image itself. Also following the advert from left to right the colours begin to fade as we are drawn towards the subject's face and what we can assume to the sun. These colours together a summery, bright sunset successfully reflecting the artist's own music. A nature-inspired advert coupled with his own acoustic music, which could be described as stripped back to basics, just him and his guitar.




The font type used is in keeping with the artists album, which affirms the idea mentioned in my 'Digipack' section of my blog - that both aspects (digipack & advert) must be linked in some way, as this means the audience can easily identify one with the other.
By making the text overlap onto the image the creators have made sure that the advert looks 'one' instead of two seperate parts e.g. an image, some writing, and also by making the font a few shades lighter than the image itself they have avoided the mistake of the font merging into the image or being difficult to read. This point is important when regarding an advert as adverts are something that people will look at fleetingly, therfore if they cannot read it or there is too much writing then they will not be interested and instead carry on, meaning therefore that the advert hasn't done its job.









Secondly, this is an advert for John Mayer's album - 'Heavier Things'. The font and colours used are simply black and white, but cleverly placed shading seperates the writing on the right and the image on the left of the advert. The basic sans serif font is easy to read, as forementined it is imperative in an advert, and contrasts agaisnt the black background. Although juxtaposed with the above advert, the two (text & image) do not converge and are instead kept very seperate, which I think heightens the overall simplistic design. In a way the advert could be viewed as a direct reflection of the artist - John Mayer's music, just him and his guitar - explicitly shown in the image itself. The clothes Mayer is wearing in the photograph are casual again reflecting his music style but also in a way creates a unique persona that is 'cool' and modern and seeks to appeal to a younger generation.


The absence of colour means that the viewer's attention remains solely on the picture of Mayer and the writing. Finally, I feel that the key aspect of the advert is that it has the right level of text - not too much or too little - an issue that may apply to 'James Morrison's' advert above.