A Farewell Post.

To the Examiner, 

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my blog from start to finish and seeing how i got to creating my final Cover, Contents and Double Page Spread. I have personalised my blog with a music player on the right hand side of the page, this playlist was made by me and has the type of songs on it that fit the genre of my music magazine. I have also labelled each of my posts to make it easier for you to navigate around my blog.

I have spent many hours on my coursework, researching ideas and posting them along with playing around and experimenting with all of the new software that i got taught to use. 

Throughout task i hope you can see the improvement that i believe i have made from start to finish.

Enjoy marking my blog :) 

Emma x

Final Cover

Final Contents

Final DPS

Question 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For the masthead I developed the convention of a real media product by using a thick but simple Font, I found this font on www.dafont.com called ‘Bebas Neue’. I used a thick font to make sure that the title of the magazine was clearly seen.  I got inspiration for the masthead of my cover from Billboard magazine. My masthead is not exactly the same as the billboard one but is similar in the way that it is quite simple and bold. The colour of my masthead is black, I chose to make it black because it was included in my red, white and black colour scheme and also because I found that on the faded grey background it made the most impact and still looked professional. By using such a simple font it didn’t take away from the other features on the magazine.

The layout of my magazine is mainly conventional of what you would expect to see on a real muscic magazine, with a few unconventional twists mixed in. For example, I have placed the masthead at the top of the page on my cover; this is conventially where the masthead is placed on many magazines. I also have used a strong image with the model looking straight towards the camera; this is conventional of the type of image that would be placed on a magazine. However I have used a ‘Handwritten’ font for the cover lines of my magazine, this is unconventional because usually the cover lines placed on most magazines are thick but simple, whereas mine is more curly and thin, I think this has worked well because it makes the look different from others which would catch someone’s eye if they saw it. On my contents page I have took elements from Q magazine in the way that the page is laid out, for example I have used red boxes to highlight the headings such as ‘Live Reviews’ and ‘New this week’ I however slightly adapted this and made the boxes on my contents page thicker than on the Q Contents page. On all of my pages I have placed the page number in the bottom right-hand corner; this is conventional of where the page number is placed in a magazine. For my double page spread I looked at many interviews in magazines and first decided to have my interview go across the bottom third of both of the pages, when I tired this out I realised that this didn’t work as well as placing the interview in columns on one page and having a big image on the other, I also found that I have more room for my article if I placed it all on one page. On the layout of all of my pages I added a red banner, I added this because I thought that it enforced the colour scheme of red black and white, and it was also quite eye catching. Overall I would say that for some aspects I have challenged the conventions of the layout as it doesn’t look like a typical Indie/ contemporary magazine. 

For my magazine the props and costumes used are conventional of what you would see in a music magazine, my model was dressed in plain black leggings and a white top with a red heart on, however the main focus of her outfit was definitely the leather jacket that she is wearing as I think the rest of her outfit seems quite mainstream but the leather jacket adds a bit of an edge to her appearance so that she doesn’t blend into the background. Her outfit also reflects the genre of the magazine well as my genre is mainstream chart music with Indie mixed in and the leather jacket on the model represents the indie ‘Edge’ of the magazine. I also chose the costumes to reflect the colour scheme of my magazine as the model is wearing White, red and black. There was no props used in my image, this is because I wanted to keep the image quite simple but powerful and eye catching and I didn’t want to clutter it with lots of props as I thought it would take away from the impact on the image.

When taking the shots for my magazine I chose to use a plain white background, I chose this because I wanted the background to be simple and not busy. I also thought having a white background would give the pose of the model more impact. I think this follows the conventions of a magazine.

I have found this cover from VOGUE that also uses a white background and I find with this one that it does make the model stand out even more.

I have found this cover from Billboard that has the same style background that is on my cover, I used this for inspiration as I thought this background colour made the main image look very powerful, this is what I hoped to re-create when I made my magazine. 

 

To take all of my test shots I used a small Kodak digital camera and took many photo’s trying out different expressions, poses, outfits and angles. I then sorted through the photos and chose the images with the poses that I thought would work and discarded those that didn’t work so well. 



I chose the masthead from www.dafont.com, it appealed to me because it was a big bold simple font and stood out. This is very conventional of a masthead as mastheads on conventional magazines are simple and bold.  For the cover lines I chose a more ‘Handwritten’ font from wwwdafont.com, this contrasts with the masthead and is more unconventional of a magazine. I however like this contrast and feel that it makes my magazine stand out from the rest.  For the text on the contents page I have used the same 2 fonts as on the cover, I thought carrying the fonts through to the contents would keep it consistent. For the article I used a simple font as I found that in the magazines I looked at they all used a simple font.

These are the two contrasting fonts that were used on the front cover and contents page.

 

The main genre of my magazine is mainstream chart music with some indie influences. The cover suggests this with the type of artists that are placed on the front such as ‘Adele, Biffy Clyro and Jessie J’ after reading these cover lines the reader would be able to recognise what sort of genre the music magazine features, this is very conventional of any other music magazine. The genre of my magazine also comes across with appearance of the model on the cover; she looks like a mainstream/indie music artist rather than a ‘Rock’ or ‘R&B’ artist. It is also very conventional of magazines to have the model reflect the genre of the magazine through the costume they are wearing and the type of pose/expression they have.

My artist in my magazine is quite conventional and looks like a pop/indie artist.  They are represented through the type of fashion she is wearing which is very mainstream and what you would expect a pop/indie artist to wear. Also with having a female on the cover with a stereotypical style of a pop/indie artist it allows the reader to recognise that the genre of magazine is mainstream chart music with indie influences. Also the readers are more likely to be interested in a young new artist and would want to find out more about her.

The Colour scheme of my magazine is Red, White and black. This colour scheme is very conventional and can be found in magazine such as Q and NME. However for the genre of my magazine the colour scheme is quite unconventional, this is because more Rock magazines tend to use such bold colours as red, black and white. I chose to use this unconventional colour scheme for the genre of my magazine because I found these bold colours made the most impact, and made the pages stand out. 

Question 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 

I have chosen to use this cover from Nylon magazine to compare to my cover image. This magazine is similar in the type of social group (mainly females aged 14-24) that would be attracted as even though one is a more fashion magazine and mine is music, it would still represent a similar social group, i think this because they both have a young model on the cover which they could relate to and they also have the same sort of style.


 I have chosen this image because they both have the same sort of facial expression and are both looking directly into the camera, this makes the picture look more powerful and has a bigger impact. Also the stance that the model has on the Nylon cover is very similar to the pose that my model is standing in, this pose where the models have their hands in their pockets adds more of an attitude to the shot rather than them looking boring if they were to be standing with their hands down by their sides. In addition both of the models are wearing similar costumes, as they are both wearing jackets and wearing a white top with dark trousers. Both of the images are mid shots as in both pictures you can’t see the bottom half of the models legs. Also the background setting is very similar as both of these shots would have been taken against a white background. Overall I think that by using a young adult for my model it would attract an audience of around the same age, as the audience feel they would be able to relate more to someone of around the same age, rather than someone older or younger that are going through different things.

Question 3-What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think using Prometheus Global Media to publish and distribute my magazine would be would of the best companies to use as they are the company that own Billboard magazine, and Billboard magazine is the magazine that i used for most of my inspiration when creating my magazine.  i would use them because they are already experienced in publishing and distributing a chart magazine such as Billboard, and readers would be more inclined to buy a magazine that is owned by a recognised company that owns such a big magazine as Billboard. Also a big company such as this will already have the contacts needed to get my magazine well known throughout many countries, and their marketing techniques to get my magazine known will be big campaigns such as posters, tv adverts and advertisements on the internet. 

They would want to distribute my magazine because they own Billboard which is a similar magazine, so they would already know the best ways to advertise my magazine and get it on the shelves of many well known shops.

 However, because my magazine is similar to that of Billboard magazine i could also look at using a company such as IPC Media, they publish and distribute NME magazine which is of a different genre to my magazine 'Acoustic' . This therefore would target a different audience, which means IPC Media would be more likely to publish my magazine as it would add a broader range to their company and is something different to what they already have. 

Question 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

The target audience for my magazine is people aged from around 14 to 25. And is supposed to appeal to both females and males, I’d say it may be slightly more bias to females. 

Always listening to her iPod

Likes mainstream music/ chart music

Into high street fashion like Topshop, H&M, Zara etc.

Loves listening to radio 1 live lounge performances/Acoustic versions of songs.

Likes going out with friends, and partying.

Interests in festivals.

Constantly downloading new music.

Spends lots of her time at home on her laptop, on websites such as Facebook and YouTube.

Has a small part time job and nearly all of her money goes on buying new clothes and paying for going out with her friends.

Question 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

On each of my pages in my magazine there are lots of thing I have used and done to try and attract the audience to my magazine, below I have annotated each of my pages in my magazine, highlighting the particular parts that the audience have commented on and why this will attract my audience.

Question 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

What have you learnt about technologies from the

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Question 7- Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

After looking back at my preliminary task I can see that my skills and knowledge of using Photoshop have increased considerably. On my first attempt at using Photoshop my skills were limited and I didn’t really know how to use it, I also had no previous experience of using Photoshop, which made it even harder as I didn’t know what most of the tools were used for.  After playing around with it and experimenting I started learning what you could use all of the tools for etc. for example I found out that to remove any background from around an object or image I could just select the magic wand and pull out the bits of the image that I didn’t want, I found this very helpful as I used this tool quite a lot when creating my magazine. I have also learned how to use layers more effectively which overall has improved the layout and whole appearance of my magazine. Also from doing lots of research and planning I learnt all about the conventions of a magazine and what features make a magazine effective to the audience.

I feel that throughout the research and planning stage of my coursework i have learnt a lot that has helped me develop my skills and creativity when it comes to making my magazine. In the research and planning stage i looked at lots and lots of different genres of magazine and picked out parts of each magazine that i liked and thought about taking through to my magazine. I also learnt a lot about the coventions of magazines, what is conventional of a normal magazine and what isnt so conventional. One of the biggest aspects I learnt about through my research and planning is the layout of a magazine. I would say this was the thing that I found the hardest when making my magazine, I wanted to make sure that my magazine looked like a 'real' magazine and was effective to the audience. After getting feedback from my drafts it was clear this is what i still had to work on, so i went back to the research and planning stage of my coursework and looked at all of the layout of these magazines that i liked, i found this helped me a lot when making my final magazine. after looking back on my research and planning stage i have learnt that if i hadnt done as much research that i did i wouldnt know half of what i know creatively about magazines and i also wouldnt have had any ideas about how to create an effective magazine.

I believe there is a great improvement from my preliminary task to my final magazine, and I feel that I have done well considering that before doing this coursework I had never used Photoshop before and know I have used all the skills I have learnt to produce a cover, contents page and double page spread that looks professional.  

The Changes i made to my magazine

I have made a lot of changes to my draft magazine to develop it into my final cover, contents and double page spread;

The first thing i did was change the colour scheme of my magazine from navy, grey, white and black to red,white and black. i did this because after the feedback from my drafts i realised that the previous colour scheme looked very plain and lacked impact at first glance of the magazine. Whereas with the red,white and black i find particularly that the bright red stands out more and would have a bigger impact on the audience. Using red white and black for my colour scheme goes against the conventions of a typical mainstream/chart magazine, as you would be more likely to see these colours in a rock magazine, however i still think this will work effectively as my magazine is supposed to have a bit of an indie twist to it, and with it looking slightly different to the usual chart magazine it will intrigue the audience and make them want to read it.

I also changed the font of the masthead and the cover lines on my front cover. I did this because the font used on my drafts was very boring and didn't work effectively, i also used a more bold and simple masthead, i chose to use a simple font after looking at many magazines and realising that nearly all of the mastheads used were very simple and bold.

I changed the image on my cover, i chose an image of my model looking straight at the camera, she is standing with her hands in her pockets, i like this photo as i think the way she is standing and her expression adds some attitude into the image. this time i chose to keep the image in colour , i did this because her outfit matches the colour scheme of my magazine perfectly and also because the black and white image on my draft lacked impact to the audience.

My Contents page was changed dramatically, in my final contents i have decided on a conventional layout, i got inspiration of how to lay out the page from lots of different magazines, but finally ended up taking most of my inspiration for it from 'Q' magazine.

on my DPS i also chose to change the layout. instead of having the interview going across the bottom 3rd of the page, i have chosen to have it placed all on one page with a big image on the other.After looking in lots of magazines i saw that this is the most common layout for an interview, i also found that i could fit the interview on the DPS when it is all on one page.

Market research.

1) Is the colour scheme kept consistent throughout?
2) Do you like the style masthead i have used for my draft?
3) Does the magazine flow together?
4) Is my article enjoyable to read?
5) Name one thing that you would improve based on the way that my article is written
6) Does the magazine lack impact to the reader?
7) If so what changes would you suggest i make to give my magazine a bigger impact?
8) overall name 3 things that could be improved with my first draft

Self Assesment of First Drafts.

I have looked at my draft front cover against the mark scheme and have decided on what i need to improve on.

At the moment i would say that my front cover is basic and needs lots of improvements to be made to it.

Firstly i need to change the picture on my cover, i used this picture from the first set of test shots that i had took, from looking at my cover now i have realised that this photo doesn't work effectively. I find that the image being in black and white makes the whole cover seem boring as the rest of my colour scheme doesn't include very bright colours so i have decided i need the image in colour to make my cover stand out more. I can also see that the image wasn't cut out particularly well by me and that i need to improve my Photoshop skills. I also need to change the layout of my magazine and choose a font that stands out more.After looking at my colour scheme i find that the colours used are all dull and for this reason may not make my cover have a good enough impact so I'm going to re-evaluate the colour scheme and may change it to make my cover have more of and impact on the reader.

Overall i think my cover needs a lot of work , and i feel it looks rushed and very basic, i will improve this when i do my final cover.

After looking at my draft contents page i can see that the layout on the page doesnt work and needs to be changed. I am going to look at more contents pages and take some inspiration for a more effective layout. i also need to choose another font for all of the text on the page because on my draft the font doesnt really fit in with the theme of my magazine and it looks quite random. i also need to add more text to my contents page and change the no.'s so that they go up to a higher number rather than 25.

Some of the things that i think work quite well on my contents page are the 2 banners that run across the top and bottom of the page as i think this looks effective. I also like the headings as they match the masthead on my front cover , i also like them because they look like they have been drawn and i said in an earlier post that i would like to use a handwritten style font.

Out of all the pages this was my favourite. I am planning to improve it by changing my columns so that they are more aligned and look more professional. i may also need to change the layout slightly because of the page fold and where it goes through the page, on my draft it goes straight through a photo and my middle column of my article so this will need changing.

Although i like the banners on the top and bottom of the pages i need to change the page no.'s as they look blurry and messy.

I like the text used for 'Hope Tyler' as i think it contrasts well with the headings i have used on other pages.

Overall i think i have a lot of changes that need to be made on my drafts especially with the layout of each page as this seems to be a recurring issue with each page. To get inspiration for a better layout i am going to look at other magazines that are out on the market and look for layouts that i like that i think i could use elements of in my magazine. 

Drafts

More Test Shots..

These are some more test shots that I took for my magazine, I decided on most of them i wanted Katy to be smiling as this would suit the type of artist I want her to be and also the genre of music that she sings. In these shots there is a mixture of Long shots mid shots and close up shots, this is because I am still undecided on what type of shot I would like to use on my cover and inside my magazine.

Draft Article

Article

Artist Profile

Test Shots

These are some of the Pictures I took for test shots, this was to help me get more of an idea of what type of shot I wanted on my front cover (Mid-shot, Long shot or close-up) . 

It also gave me an idea of what sort of poses would work effectively with my magazine. I plan to take more pictures for my draft magazine and try out different ideas for my cover, contents and double page spread.

Mock Up - Double Page Spread

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

Mock Up - Contents Page

CONTENTS MOCK

Mock up - Front Cover

MOCK COVER

Inspiration for Magazine

I have found this layout of a magazine front cover and double page spread. I really like the way it has been set out on the cover with a close up shot with half of the models face cut off. I have took some inspiration from the way that the colour of the models eye and lips are in colour and stand out against the black and white of the rest of the picture and i would like to try and apply this to my main image on the front cover of my magazine. I also like the way that the images go from left to right across the two pages with the article underneath, i am also going to think about including something similar to this layout on my double page spread.

Underneath there is another picture of a double page spread from Vibe magazine that i have took inspiration from and i am currently deciding on whether to use a layout that is similar to this; With the images of the featuring artist laid across the page with them creating different poses in each photo.

Evaluation of Feedback From Pitch

The feedback that i received back from the rest of the class was mostly positive, Many people liked the name of my magazine being 'Acoustic' but thought that it didn't match that well with the genre of my magazine being Pop/Indie/Contemporary music. Having thought about this i have decided to keep the name of 'Acoustic' and change the genre of my magazine more to indie but with some chart music mixed in. I have decided to still use some chart music in my magazine as it would allow me to target a bigger audience with my magazine.

The class liked the idea of me using handwritten style fonts for my magazine as they thought it would make my magazine stand out. However, they thought that i could possibly lower the age of my target audience to 14 years. I have thought about this and have decided to use their advice and lower my target age to 14-25.

From Doing this pitch i have also made a decision that i want my magazine to go against the conventions of an indie/Pop chart magazine, i will do this by using handwritten style fonts and some black and white images included in my magazine, this would not be typical of especially a Pop magazine. As i am going against the conventions of a typical Pop/Indie magazine i will have to make sure that it is still identifyable to the audience what genre the magazine is.

My Magazine Pitch

Music magazine pitch

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Magazine Name

For my magazine I wanted to choose a name that would represent my magazine and match the genre and audience I am aiming at. I have managed to come up with 3 possible names for my magazine these are;


Acoustic- I came up with this name as it is a music related word and means to play and create music by solely using instruments. Also when I think of the word 'Acoustic' it reminds me off a small intimate live music session such as BBC radio 1's Live lounge. The only drawback to using this name as their may be confusion with readers because the music featured in the magazine will not just be acoustic music and will be any contemporary music.


Lyric-  I thought of this name to use for my magazine as it is a very simple word  and therefore I thought many readers would be able remember it and recall the name. I also like it because it is obvious that the magazine would be a music magazine. This word could also represent any genre, as most music has lyrics to it.


Interlude- this is more of a less well known word but is still music related. I found this term when looking through a music vocabulary website, this word caught my eye as I though it was something different and sounded quite quirky. 

I have finally decided to call my magazine 'Acoustic' as I find I like this name the best and the name implies to the reader that it is a music magazine.

Audience Profile

Experimenting With Colour

These are some colour palettes I have made to help me decide on what house style I would like to give my magazine and what colours to use. With magazines I particularly like the use of grey in a colour scheme, this is why a lot of grey appears in my colour palettes. I currently favour the Navy/Black/White and Purple/Black/Grey/White colour palettes and will consider using one of these for my house style, I also find that using these colour would fit the genre of my music magazine.

Mood board of Ideas

In this video I have used images as a visual representation of ideas and inspiration I could use to help me when creating my magazine. 

The covers and contents pages I have used all appeal to me in some way or another, whether it is because of the colour palette they have used, the Style of fonts or a certain pose that has been shown. I have also included into my video some of my favourite fonts that I may choose to use in my final magazine, along with them is a few pictures showing who my magazine is going to appeal to and what other interests people of this age have.

Inspiration For Covers

[Click to Enlarge]

I have created this mood board of magazine covers that I like and have found ideas and inspiration from, this will then help me when I come to design my front cover on my magazine as I can use this as a guide. 

I have found myself more drawn to the black and white monochrome covers or covers that feature grey scale images, this is something I have decided that I would like to experiment with further when I design my magazine cover.

I also like the magazine covers that have very strong eye catching poses on the for their main images, I think is because it would catch the readers eye (like it did to mine) and make them take a further look at the magazine.