Creating my Advertisements

Screenshots:

Advert #1 Billboard:

When I created my bilboard image I converted it to black and white on photoshop. I went to adjustment- black and white- and I then selected darken to create a deeper black and white effect. I then positioned my logo- which I got off Brandsoftheworld.com.

I then selected an image of a bilboard in Preston. Originally I was going to use one from my images around Liverpool as there is an American Apparel store there and there isn't one in Preston. However, I felt this was more of a reason to place my adverts in Preston as it could be for the opening of the store or for targeting a larger market as people from Preston often travel into the bigger cities such as Liverpool and Manchester. I decided to place it on a billboard with another, real billboard to try and make it look more realistic. I also thought the neighbouring billboard was quite appropriate as its slogan is 'SECS SELLS' which given all of the research I have gathered into American Apparel's provocative advertising I felt it was really fitting.

Something else I also did was to place a texture behind the image and change the opacity to give my billboard the appearence of having some wrinkles as the original billboard had a similar effect. I did this by placing a zebra print image behind the image insode the billboard.

I created shadows using the gradient tool and the drop shadow effect. I did this for all three of my adverts.

When i was happy with my billboard, I went onto Illustrator and added the text to say what advert it was, and I also placed the logo on the whole image again. I did this as I felt it really does suit the American Apparel style. Especially in the Urban environment which it is set in I think it is an ideal location for an American Apparel advert.

Advert #2 Adshel:

I created my image for my Adshel in the same way as I created my billboard image- except rather than going for the darker option in the black and white- I went for the red filter to give a lighter and brighter effect.

I chose to use an Adshel, again in Preston as I have decided to place all of my adverts here. I chose that specific adshel as I had quite a good shot of it and I thought my adshel would look effective in it. I chose to use the image of her winking as I think its slightly provocative and is quite fun and suited to the American Apparel brand.

One of the first things I noticed was that the original adshel image had a reflection on the glass. Therefore I copied a seperate image taken on the same road as the adshel and i pasted it into the cutout space of my ad-space. I altered the opacity and blended using multiply. My image for the adshel was then placed underneath this layer to give the illusion of a reflection.  

When I went into illustrator, I originally tried out having my image horizontal and having some information about my adverts at the side. However I was not happy with how this looked as it did not really match my other adverts final looks and therefore I changed it to fit in with those. One thing I had to do differently when applying my logo to the overall image, was to place a rectangular block of colour behind it as when I just placed it on the pavement it did not show up when I printed it out.

Advert #3 Banner:

I chose to go with the side of the Premier Inn in Preston to place my banner, as even though there original banner is more rectangular- there is enough space on the side of the building to create a more square banner that would suit my image. 

I cut out the Premier Inn banner and place a gradient behind it to create some shadowing for my banner. It also gives it the illusion the banner is being held by a board behind it, which I think makes it look more realistic rather than it just being a flat image against the building.

I think the image really stands out witht he stark white against the brick which is ultimately something that you want in an advertisement.

I again feel the urban surroundings in this image really suit the advert styling of the American Apparel brand and I feel like I have created three images that are suitable for my brands image.

I am really pleased with my final three advertisements. I think they stand out and are attention grabbing, aswell as fitting into my brands image. I have also enjoyed learning about the different ways you can rework images on photoshop to create advertisements and I have gained lots of new skills such as being able to skew and warp my images- which I had never known how to do before.

I have loved doing this project as I have really enjoyed delving into the brands image and identitiy. I think I chose my brand well as it was really interesting to find out about what drives their advertising and inspires them and I have actually really enjoyed learning all about it.

Something else that I really liked about this project was actually being able to use iages from a photoshoot and put them to a purpose. Being able to use all of my own original imagery- even down to the billboards and adshels has given me a sense of achievement that I would not have gotten from using images from flickr or Google. It made them look more realistic in the end and they are of much better quality and I am actually quite proud of what I have achieved on this project.

I chose to write this blog as I really enjoyed using one in the Fashion Appropriation assignment. I also felt that on this project I probably would not have looked as deeply into certain parts of the brand image if I was using a sketchbook as I probably would have just focused more on getting images of their promotion and sticking those into my sketchbook. Whereas with this blog I have been able to look more at other mediums such as the videos from Youtube and from sites such as trendland.

I will definatley be using a sketchbook on my next project however as I do enjoy the creative side of creating a sketchbook but I am thinking of using a blog as a timelog as I really do enjoy using them and feel that they really help with my time managemeant.