The Final Advert & Reflection

This is my final advert for Fertility Magic....

Reflection: 

I like it that this advert actually looks a little old fashioned and out of date.  I enjoyed creating the oval images as this did remind me of bad portraits from my photo albums and how they used to be presented in oval frames.  I think the balance of the advert works well and the text explains the magic!  If there was much more time I would have spend much longer on this and added perhaps a background colour and messed around much more with the colours and compositions used.  I am looking forward to creating my own project as this means I will have more time to develop this artwork and create something in my own area that I am really passionate about...

Final Advert Creation

Now all the elements have been completed I can put the advert together using Photoshop.  I begin by creating a new A3 canvas at 300dpi so that it can be output if I wanted to create a high quality print version.

I then using the elliptical marquee tool selected the two images that I wished to use in the advert and added these and resized and moved to make this as balanced as I could in the advertisement.

I then added the text and kept the colour in keeping with my logo I used Britannica Bold to create the look I wanted throughout.

I moved the text and images slightly to ensure that everything lined up correctly and I also added a disclaimer to ensure that no liability could be placed upon Fertility magic if the magic did not work!

I saved this file is both psd and jpeg formats so that I could change if I wished and also upload where I needed to easily and quickly.

Logo Creation

I wanted the logo to be natural and to have all the properties that would appeal to women wanting children and so I kept this simple using a simple stock image as below to begin..

I then used photoshop to change the colour I did this using Adjustments and then Hue/Saturation - I altered the hue and saturation to achieve the colour I wanted as below.  I then added the text and changed the colour, I used the arc and adjusted this to create the halo effect of the text over the Mothers head.  

My final logo looks like this: 

I am pleased with this result - I am hoping the colour will work well with the advert - if it does not this can be altered later on.

Initial Plan and Contact Sheets

To begin I drew out a rough sketch of what I intended for the advert.  I intend to create a logo and call my company 'Fertility Magic' I will also take images of myself with a baby and pictures of the magical statues that I spoke of in my last post.

The Plan for 'Fertility Magic'

The logo I got from a stock image and will adjust on Photoshop to make my own:

I chose this symbol as the breastfeeding mother seems the most natural and closest in terms of showing a bond between the idea of mother and child.

Below are the contacts of all shots I have taken in preparation for the Advert  - the Mother child shots I took at home however these could have been improved by taking them in the studio or in natural light.  As I was short of time in terms of deadline for the advert I will see if these will work, if not I will reshoot. 

The Magical Statuettes I shot in the studio and I am very pleased with the results.

 Mother/Baby Shots 

Magical Fertility Statuettes

Creating My Own Advert: Ideas & Research

I have considered the kind of advert I would like to make and I wanted to make an advert on Fertility and Fertility treatment.  I looked at adverts for fertility treatment and the first one here was a surprise at it advertises a contest to receive treatment, many others offer ways to donate sperm or eggs in exchange for fertility treatment like the third advert below.  In terms of content and layout often they use images of family, biological images of the body, babies etc.  The logo is placed usually in one of the corners and the name of the clinic appears clearly in each ad. Overall the adverts are not overly exciting or innovative - the egg on here is probably the most effective in simplicity, message and composition. 

I have chosen to do this as when I first got married I bought from a flea market two African figures (you will see these in my next post).  The figures sat on the mantelpiece and the man I bought them from said they were fertility objects.  Every week I polished their little heads however with in a month of being married I was pregnant and I blamed these figures for this!   Thinking about this and looking into more research on these African figures it is thought that 'According to tribal legend, to ensure a couple’s fertility the statues are to be placed on either side of a doorway leading into a bedroom. If a woman or her spouse touches either statue as they enter the room, they will soon get pregnant.' (Ripley's 2018)  This related to their own statues that they acquired in 1993 and had become extremely popular as an exhibit however these magical African fertility statues are popular throughout Africa and differ from country to country in their appearance.  They are much sought after as fetish objects.  Therefore my advert will be along the lines of 'You have tried science - now try magic!'

Source: FTSF: Free Fertility Treatment

Source: Cocoon Fertility

Source: Agora Clinic

References

Ripley's Believe it or Not (2018) Legendary African Fertility Statues [Online] Available from: https://www.ripleys.com/fertility-statues/ (Accessed 5th October 2018)

Creating an Advertisement: Ideas and Initial Research

We have been discussing creating an advertisement and the Art of Advertising in class. The Harvard Business Review quotes William Bernbach (an advertising giant in the 1960s and 70s) as stating; “Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art.” (Ignatius A. March 2013). This idea of using text and image to persuade and affect people in their buying habits is an interesting task for an artist. Artists tend to have a fractious relationship with big brands and corporations on the one hand they would like to be paid money for the work they produce on the other they are considered to be 'selling out'. Whatever your views on this, there is no doubting that some ads are truly great and extremely clever. My favourite adverts are camera ads both historical and contemporary as they tend to be quite funny and also often quite sexist!

The first advert below is a contemporary advert for Olympus suggesting that by adjusting the filter you can have a new girlfriend everyday! The second from Vivitar and the instructions point not just to the camera but the girl, with statements like 'interchangeable hair available in 29 colours', pointing to the bra it just says' completely removable' and 'head tilts, pans, swivels and nods.' These adverts do exemplify that there is still the notion that only a man can handle a camera and that women are exchangeable and usable objects. However they do still make me laugh and whenever I am holding my camera I do think that I am in control and it is a powerful weapon....I am just hoping I use mine for good!

Source:

Olympus Reinforces the Male Gaze

Source: Huffington Post: Ad From Playboy 1967

References


Ignatius A. (March 2013) The Harvard Business Review, Advertising is an Art and a Science [Online] Available From: https://hbr.org/2013/03/advertising-is-an-art-and-a-science (Accessed 4th October 2018)

My Blog Buddy

Carrie Mansfield

My Blog buddy will be Art & Design Tutor Carrie.  I will be looking at her blog which is on Interior Design and she will post comments on my blog to support me and my work - looking forward to sharing!!!