Billboard analysis

For one of my ancillary tasks I have chosen to make a billboard to advertise my regional magazine. Before I start I will analyse three current advertising Billboards used by Pepsi, Despicable Me 2 and Honda. I will analyse how each billboard uses colour, representation, layout and theory. 

Pepsi

The colour red connotes energy and joy. These are relevant concept to a drink like Pepsi as drinks are meant to be refreshing supplying the person drinking them with energy. If you then have energy you are more likely to have fun and enjoy yourself. Blue is meant to be associated with the mind and body, which again could relate to a drink such as Pepsi as it can link to a healthy and energetic lifestyle.  The colour white connotes goodness and perfection, which are themes a drink company such as Pepsi would like to suggest.

The product is represented as refreshing fun, relaxing and fun. I can connote this from the images used on the Billboard. The large image of the glass with the ice and was purposely taken like that in order to make it look refreshing and to make the audience viewing the Billboard want to have some. The large image of the woman smiling connotes happiness and joy which are key concepts of fun. This links to Hebdige’s theory of youth, which is “youth as fun”. Youth is a huge target audience for products such as Pepsi as these are popular brands for this age range.

The layout of this Billboard is very simple as it consists of mainly large images and very little text and the logo of the Pepsi brand. Brand recognition is a key concept behind this Billboard as the name of the brand is never actually used on it so the Billboard relies on the audience recognising the brand. This suggests that they are a very popular brand as they have no need to advertise the company but only advertise the product which they are selling. The consistent red, white and blue colour theme is vital to the brand recognition to work as almost everyone can recognise these as the colours for this particular brand. There is very little text used in this Billboard which follows the “General rule of thumb”. This rule uses the concept that it is better to show more than tell. The lack of text also makes the Billboard more interesting and more memorable as the audience doesn’t have to take a lot of information in.

Despicable me 2

The yellow and blue colours of the Minions characters are iconic and can be used as basic brand recognition. The colour yellow connotes joy and happiness which are key themes to the target audience for this film, which are young people. Again this can link into Hebdige’s theory “youth as fun”. The colour blue used alongside yellow creates a high impact, vibrant colour scheme. These again will appeal to and attract the target audience for this film. The orange used can be used to connote energy and happiness which again are key themes to the target audience but are also key themes in the film as these are they key traits of the minion characters within the Despicable Me franchise. The colour white connotes perfection which may be used to suggest that that the film is a perfect family film. The colour pallet is full of key themes for the target audience of these films and are good colours to use to advertise it.

The characters on this Billboard as used to represent the film as being fun as they are playing with one another which suggests the film itself will be fun. This will appeal to the target audience of young people as Hebdiges theory says “youth as fun”.

Similarly to the Pepsi Billboard it used the “general rule of thumb” which again appeals to the target audience.

Honda

This Billboard uses a dark colour scheme consisting of red, black and white. The colour red connotes energy and passion. These are key themes to products such as motorbike because energy can be used to talk about the fuel used to power the bike and the excitement and energy of riding it. The red can also be used to represent the passion the company has for their bikes and the passion of those who ride them. The colour black connotes power and elegance which again are important themes to products like the one shown in the Billboard above. The power aspect of this connotation may be used to represent the power of the motorbike itself making the audience interested and excited about it. The colour black may be used to connote the elegance of the design again making it appeal to the audience. The colour white can connote perfection. They may have used this to suggest that their product is one of the best out there and near to perfection making the audience want to purchase it.

The bike in the Billboard is being represented as powerful. This is not only through the use of colour but because of the way in which it is displayed in proportion to the text and other features used on the billboard. The image of the bike is by far the largest component featured on the billboard making it seem more powerful and making it the most important part of this advertising it. This may connote that the bike is powerful itself making more interesting and exciting to the audience viewing the billboard. This links into Stanley Halls 1904 theory “youths must have excitement”. This advert may be used to appeal to young adults. Hall’s theory suggests that they will seek excitement wherever possible meaning they will have an interest in high powered motorbike which will make this advert appeal to them.

The layout of this billboard is again similar to that of the other two which I have analysed. Like the others it uses a large image and very few words, and follows the “general rule of thumb”. However unlike the Pepsi billboard, the company logo is used frequently on this billboard. This suggests that they are not such a well-known brand so feel that they have to advertise the brand as well as the product in order to attract a wider customer base.

Double Page Spread Draft

Contents Page Draft

Cover Draft

Here is a draft copy of the cover I began to construct.

Double Page Spread Construction

I started with an image which I wanted to use as the background for the double page spread. I chose this image because it featured people of a similar age to my target audience doing activities which my target audience would like to do. this should attract them to the article.

I then put in the masthead for this double page spread. I chose a fun font with an eroded feel because I thought that it would appeal to my target audience because it could be seen as fun and could relate to the theme of the coast, with the water and seaside attraction.

Finally I put in the text for the article in a simple font and colour, which would stereotypically appeal to my target audience. I positioned this text in a way which follows the conventions set by professional publications.


I talked to a group of people who laid within my target audience categories asking them for feedback on this product, and soon discovered that they wanted me to change the layout of these pages.

The first thing I decided to do was to sort out a more fun yet simplistic layout which would appeal to my target audience. For this I decided to make one side of A4 white and place an action shot of a surfer on the other side of the page which is something which I feel my target audience will find exciting. 

I then decided that one of the things which will draw my audience to an article is through a fun and exciting title. I chose to use a blocky font as this is something which will stereotypically appeal to my  audience. On the right hand page I chose to use a black fill to hide the image and then crop out the shapes of the letters for my title in order to create the effect which can be seen above. The image is shown through the text, making the magazine seem fun and exciting. 

I then chose to use the original image chosen for this product but make it smaller and as a secondary image. I thought this was a good idea as during my audience research I discovered that my target audience likes seeing a lot of images. This image also shows a busy beach scene which my audience may find appealing. 

I then positioned the text for my article in the white space on the left hand side of the double page spread giving it a simplistic yet sophisticated feel. 

Finally, in order to follow conventions set by professional magazines I added my name as I had written the article and taken the image and featured a page number in the bottom right corner of the page. 

Contents Construction

I started off with an image which I wanted to use as a background for the contents page. I thought the image featured a fun object which would appeal to my target audience. The positioning of everything made this image ideal for use as it would allow me to position all features of the contents page around it.

I then added a masthead in for the contents page of a similar style and colour to the one used on the cover for the magazine as to keep a constant theme running through the magazine.

I then applied some shapes over the top in order to create a fun style to the contents page similar to ones used on professional publications. I also used the background colour the show through the masthead to give the masthead a fun feel to it. The positioning of these shapes make the positioning of the text seem simple yet sophisticated and easy for the audience to read.

I then put the text into the spaces created for them. I used a font which was simple which again I felt would appeal to m y target audience. I chose to include content which would specifically appeal to my target audience and would attract them to my magazine.

Finally I chose to put a slogan down the side of the page in order to make it appear more fun and I also included a page number so that my products followed conventions set by professional magazines.

After getting some audience feedback I made some minor changes to my contents page. With this I chose to include an image in the background where before it was completely white. I chose to do this because it made the contents page come across as more exciting and would therefore appeal to my target audience better. 

I also chose to include some more image in order to attract the readers interest and to appeal to a wider range of people. 

Spindrift Cover Construction

I started off with an image which I wanted to use as the background for my cover as this is something which I knew would appeal to a young target audience. I chose this image for this product because it featured a family with children of a similar age to my target audience which would help my audience to relate to my target audience.

I then typed the name of my magazine in a font which I know that my target audience. I knew that this would appeal to my target audience because I asked a group of people of a similar age, ethnicity and social class to my target audience to choose from a range of fonts asking which one they preferred.

After I had done this I applied some effects to the text in order to make it look more attractive and appealing to my target audience. The first effect which I added was a gradient effect which gave the masthead a range of different shades of blue which I felt made it come across as more fun for my target audience. The next effect which I applied to this masthead was a black stroke which made the masthead stand out from the rest of the cover. 

I then started in putting in the main coverline on the cover. I colour matched the text colour to a colour of one of the objects featured in the image as I felt it made the cover look more professional. Here I chose to use a simple font which I thought would appeal to my target audience. 

I then put in a brief description about the article because I felt this would allow my audience to see whether or not the story would appeal to them, giving them a good insight into the sort of stories which I was going to include within the magazine. I used the same font for this part because I thought it would make it look more professional as it follows the conventions set by a lot of professional publications. I chose to make the font smaller and thinner so that the main coverlid would stand out better.

I put in the rest of the coverlines to show the audience some more articles which would be included in the magazine, which again was because I wanted my audience to see the sort of content featured in the magazine. This also follows conventions set by professional magazines of this genre. I used the same font but made the font smaller in order to make the main article stand out from the rest.

I then applied the issue date underneath the magazine masthead, in order to follow conventions et by professional publications.

I finally added a barcode onto the bottom of the cover because this is what the retailers would use to sell the magazine. Here I included the issue number and the price of the magazine. I did this because it followed the conventions set by other magazines of this genre.


After talking to a group of people within my target audience categories I felt that some changes needed to be made to my cover.

The first thing which I felt needed changing was the cover image. Although it followed conventions set by professional magazines of this genre, it wouldn't necessarily appeal to a young target audience because it could be seen as 'boring.' Instead I have chosen to use an action shot of a surfer at a typical Cornish location. This is something which my target audience will stereotypically find exciting and will therefore be attracted to my magazine. 

Here I made space ready for the minor articles and the rest of the content for the cover. I placed banners at the top and bottom of the page as I felt that this created a fun and simplistic layout which should appeal to my target audience. 

I then put in all the text content for tis cover. I put in the main article title and made it stand out from all the other text on the cover. I used a combination of colours and font style to create the fun and interesting design which can be seen as fun. I feel that this is something which should appeal to my target audience because anything which can be seen as fun would normally  appeal to  young audience. I then put all minor articles and other text in the banners which I created previously to continue with the fun yet simplistic layout design. 

Finally I included a new barcode with the issue number and price of the magazine. I did this to follow the conventions set by professionally published magazines and to make it possible for the reader to purchase my magazine.