Contents Page draft 1- Feedback

Based on feedback, I will now have to change the colour scheme and remove sections of red.  The image of me will be made smaller also.  The competition section will need to be smaller to fit the convention and the font for 'CONTENTS' will need to be changed to fit more with the target audience of the magazine.  Plus, I am going to add a small column for 'Reviews' which also fits with the target audience.

Contents page- Draft 1

Contents Page- Draft

This is my contents page draft.  I have included listings relevant to my target audience and the colours that I have used stand out.  Red, green and black are the main colours, however the competition section a the bottom uses yellow and light blue so that it catches the audiences attention- letting them know that it is a separate part of the page.  I feel that I have achieved an effective colour scheme and have used relevant images.  As it is a draft, I realize that some changes may need to be made or that certain things will need to be added.  I found the contents easier to design than the front cover, despite there being more to consider.  The magic wand tool is something I am beginning to find easier.  It is important that I use this to make the images look the best that they can.

Front cover draft 1- Feedback

The feedback I received on this draft was that the masthead should fill the top of the page and the image needed to be cut further and be more dominant.  Also, I was told that the font use was limited and that overall, the cover felt bare.  From this feedback, I will retake the image and widen the range of fonts.  The final cover will look different as it will look bolder and realistic.  The headline and strap line will look much more appealing as they will have a much more unique font and the colours will look virtually the same.

Front cover- Draft 1

Draft- Front cover

This is my draft of the front cover.  Being able to go back and improve it is helpful to me as it means I can make things more appealing and change things that have gone wrong.  I am pleased with the colour palette and the composition, however I am not very happy with the image as it does not fit the screen.  I will have to retake this image so that the finished cover is suitable.  It does not need anything added to it as it includes the conventions of a magazine front cover: masthead, sell lines, essential information, headline, strap line and even a buzzword. I have used alliteration (results revealed) and exclamation marks which engage the reader before they read the rest of the text.

Blog Posts Feedback

The draft of my blog was marked by my lecturer and there is some work I will need to do it:

- Explain the reason why certain tasks are relevant and useful.  This includes tasks such as the Mood Board and the assessing of previous students' work.
- Create a timetable to help me with my time management.
- Explain how certain tasks would help me when it came to constructing my own  magazine.

There were particular things that were regarded as strengths.  These included:

- The integration of videos
- The deconstructions were detailed.

Photos for main task



These are the pictures I have taken for my magazine.  Not all of them will be featured in the final product and I will say why I will not be using them.  The ones I have chosen are also featured here and I will explain why I have chosen that image.

Front cover image

The image on the left does not look right for a front cover as there is not enough space between myself and the guitar.  The middle image will be tried out on my first draft, however if it is not suitable, I will use the image on the right instead.  The last photo would definitely work as it would fit well in the middle of the page.

Contents page images



The first image of myself will not be used as it includes less colour than the picture on the right.  This image will be used instead as it includes green and blue, not just green.  The images of the guitar and piano are perfect for my magazine as they have the right amount of lighting to make the props stand out.  The guitar will need to be cut around however as that is all that needs to be focused on.

Double page spread images

   





The first image at the top is not suitable for my magazine as it does not show enough space, whereas the image on the right does, therefore that is the one I will use.  On the bottom row, the image on the right is the one I will choose because, once again, it shows more space and having me facing my right looks better considering it will be on the right sided page of the double page spread.

Image Gathering

This is the area of my house in which I will be taking the picture of the piano.  The image will be taken from above and the flash on the camera will increase the brightness which means that I will not need to rely on the light from the window which the piano is next to.




The guitar is limited in its colours, making it fitting for my cover as it will not take a huge amount of attention away from the rest of the items on the page.




This is the area of my house where an image will be taken of me for the contents page.  Only the wall will be visible to give the impression that it is outdoors, connoting the sociable life of artists.

Organisation contacts

This is evidence that I have contacted a relative about lending equipment and props.

Recce and Photoshoot planning

The Recce photo shoot planning

 

Photo shoot planning

 

 

 

 



 

Types of shots for my images

The cover image will be a medium shot as it is conventional of magazines to do this.  It puts emphasis on the actor without distracting the reader from the rest of the items on the cover.

The image of me on the contents page will be a medium shot as the colour of the clothing will add to the appeal of the magazine.  The piano image will be a close up to make the page more varied and interesting.

The main image on the double page spread will be a wide shot because it is essential in selling the article, especially as it is going to be taken outside.  The smaller image on the double page spread is going to be a medium close up in order to stick to the 'up close and personal' concept that is carried throughout the interview.

Flat plans and rationale for main task



Flat Plans
Below is a flat plan for my front cover, contents page and double page spread.  This will help me when designing my product as it will act as a guide.

Rationale

This rationale describes my decisions and explains why I have made them.

Colour Usage- The cover will use the conventional three shade colour scheme.  It will be green, blue and black.  These colours work well together.  The masthead will be a darker shade of blue to match my clothing.  My contents page will have the colour scheme of red, blue and black to give it its own identity.  The colour scheme on my double page spread will be blue, green and orange, but will have white lighting on an image so that it looks more like a real magazine.

Image Usage- The single image on the cover will be taken indoors but the background will need to be cut as the front cover has a white background.  I will be holding a guitar in this image, plus it be a close up shot.  The guitar will also feature on the contents page so I will have to edit the background of that image too.  Another image on the contents page will be of a piano.  Props such as these anchor the genre of magazine, as does other connotations of music, which I will display in my article through use of a microphone.

Text Usage- The title 'Vocal' belongs to music terminology.  As is conventional, the sell lines and content listings will engage the audience and speak directly to them.  The main sell line on the cover will stand out more and will hook in the reader through use of buzzwords.  My article will be in the first person- with the interviewer asking the questions.

Layout and Font- On the cover, the sell lines will be placed on the left and right with the image in the centre.  This puts focus on everything on the cover.  I will use a typewriter font called 'Veteran Typewriter' for the masthead and a more basic font for the sell lines and the contents listings.  I am placing the images on the contents page further to the top so that it is easier to navigate.  The dps will use a basic font for the article, but a bolder font for the headline.  I will use the conventional three columns which will look effective over the bottom image.





Colour and font samples

Reader profile

This reader profile utilizes the findings from my surveys.  The images and text show my audiences likes and interests.

Survey Analysis 2

For my qualitative research, I conducted a number of interviews in order to gain a better understanding of people's ideas and preferences.  I asked them the questions from my paper-based surveys, but I wanted them to provide more detail about their choices in order to gain a better understanding of their preferences.

The first person I interviewed was an 11 year old female.  She said that fashion magazines are her favourite because they have better images.  It is clear that things like clothing and make-up improve the images in fashion magazines.  She said that Pop is her favourite genre as it is good to dance to, so it is obvious that pop music is most popular amongst young people.  I found out that she listens to music after school and at the weekend- meaning she listens to it a lot.

The fact she said images drew her into a cover the most tells me that she likes the image to be appealing to her- preferably someone she is familiar with or is a fan of.  Another one of her answers was that she buys 2-3 magazines a month, but will only pay between £2.00 and £3.99.  This helps me because I think it would be safer to put the price of my magazine as £2.99.  Finally, my interviewee said that her favourite part of a magazine was real life stories.  My article is going to follow what the response was- finding out about people's lives.        

     

                                              

My second interview was with a 40 year old female.  They preferred 'women's magazines including celebrities, health and beauty and real life stories- which she said was her favourite thing in a magazine.  Evidently, women prefer fashion magazines because of their appealing images and colour.  This means that my product will be targeted more at males.  Like in the first interview, pop was this persons favourite genre.  She said it had always been her favourite, meaning my product stands more of a chance of being successful.  She told me she listens to music everyday, so pop music is clearly something she would be very interested in reading in a music magazine. 

                        

This person is also drawn in most by images.  I have found out that people find a magazine more appealing if it features someone they know with colours that you would associate with that person.  I was surprised to hear that my interviewee bought around 6 magazines a month and was willing to pay £4.00 or more.  She said that she would pay this if there was a gift inside.  I have taken from my surveys that including something in the magazine is a good idea.  I will not charge up to £4.00, but I will have a prize available to win instead of a gift.     

Survey Analysis 1

These are my results from my paper-based surveys for my quantitative research.  They are presented in either a pie chart or a bar chart.  There is an explanation below each chart which analyses the results and says how the feedback will impact on the decisions for my project.


Although listening to music was the most popular choice, the people who said that they read could very possibly read magazines.  Going out with friends was also a popular choice.  They could possibly be going to gigs, which is a popular social activity.  Even exercising has a link to music, as many people listen to earphones whilst jogging.  This has affected one of my decisions as I am going to take an image of me supposedly recording music in a sound studio.

As colour, text and images are what really grab your attention, I was not surprised that no one chose the 'other' option.  The responses have affected my decision as I think it would be a better idea to increase the size of the cover image and place part of the sell lines over it.





If the majority of people are only buying one magazine per month, then it either means that they buy an expensive one or that they will only buy one if they are strongly drawn to it.  Based on my research, I realize that I must base my product on a pre-existing magazine in order to make it profitable.  I got the same result for 2-3 and 4+.  Evidently, some people only read magazines occasionally, however for some people magazines replace books.

I guessed that Pop would be the most popular genre and it was.  Indie and Classical got the same result.  Indie is very popular as it is not always massively different to pop.  The people who chose classical music also said film was their favourite type of magazine, meaning they probably like the use of classical music in movies.  Overall, I know that my magazine appeals to a large audience as it would have a lot of people buying it and would have a high readership.

I was surprised to find that Real life stories was the most popular inclusion of a magazine.  I was expecting it to be Interviews.  This makes it clear that people are interested in people's lives- especially females who were the only ones to choose this option.  This has affected my work as it means that my article will need to include interesting text.  It has also taught me that people feel the same way about images, reviews and interviews- but a good enough story will hook them in much more.  This is especially achieved by the use of enigma codes. 

Clearly, people are prepared pay more for a magazine- possibly because there is a gift inside or something you can win.  My magazine will possibly have a prize.  If so, it will be advertised on the cover and the details will be on the contents page.  Despite this, I will still charge between two and three pound.

Music magazines were the most read by my audience.  I was only going to use the guitar on the cover, but the response to this question has made me think that including it on the contents page too, it will better address that it is a music magazine, therefore more appealing to my audience.  Only females chose fashion and only males chose sports, so clearly there is an equal division of gender readership. 

The people in the age group 11-20 were similar.  For example, they all liked pop music and they all listened to music.  The age group 21-30 chose these options too.  The people in the group 31-50 chose listening to music as an option and said that images drew them in to magazine the most.  The people aged 41-50 only chose the same option once- that they preferred Indie music.  This indicates that people over 40 prefer more sophisticated music.  The one person over 51 said their favourite genre was pop, so not only young people like it.  Looking at the results, I can see that a more solid target audience for my magazine is 16-30.

Photography

I have learnt a lot about magazines and how audiences view them.  In this post, I am going to say what I have learnt about this.

Magazine front covers include essential information such as a barcode, issue number, date and price.  There may be enigma codes to tease the reader and make them want to read the actual story.  Sub headlines are used for cover lines.  The colour palette usually follows a 3 shade colour scheme.  My front cover will have a white background with black, green and blue as the three colours.

There are four poses which are used conventionally for women.  An 'Invitational' pose suggests mystery and is used to intrigue the reader.  'Super smiler' involves the model smiling and demanding attention.  'Romantic/sexual' has the model hinting at availability, but not necessarily in a smiling, happy way.  The final pose is 'Chocolate box' which is when there is a full or three quarter shot of the face.



Super Smiler

   

Romantic/Sexual

Invitational

Chocolate Box

Covers are the frontline of an increasingly competitive marketplace.  The point of sale comes when you are holding the magazine in your hands, so the cover will need to be eye catching for you to pick it up in the first place.  Magazines have a niche market because their target market depends on topic and genre. 

It is effective if only one image is used on a front cover, especially if it's bold and dominant.  I am going to have only one image on my cover.  The main article of the issue should be privileged, whereas information that is not used to sell the magazine (e.g. barcode) should be kept out of the way.  Sell lines should be justified to either margin.  They should be on the left and right hand sides.  I am going to keep my sell lines to the side and the barcode will be at the bottom- out of focus.

One way of deconstructing texts is to consider them as a sign.  These signs work together to create a code.  These are known as semiotics.  Producers encode signs, whereas the reader decodes them.  Denotations are what can be seen or heard.  They are factual and can be agreed by everyone.  You cannot argue with them.  Connotations on the other hand, are an opinion and can be argued with.  There are also codes to follow when looking at magazines.  Primary codes include language and images.  Secondary codes include fonts, colours, logos, layout and background. 

Institution research

Emap- A British media company.  They specialise in the production of business-to-business magazines and the organisation of business events and conferences.  Based in London, the company was founded in 1947.  It was renamed 'Top Right Group' in 2012.  Magazines in their portfolio include: 'Architects Journal', 'Construction News' and 'Nursing Times'.

Natmags- It was a British magazine publisher based in London.  It started in 1910, but in 2011 it merged with Hachette Filipacchi Medias UK to form Hearst Magazines UK.  Their portfolio included: 'Cosmopolitan', 'Good Housekeeping' and 'Men's Health'.

Conde Nast- A mass media company headquartered in New York.  It was founded in 1909 and is a division of Advance Publications.  They launched Conde Nast Entertainment in 2011 to develop film, television and digital video programming.  They also own Fairchild Fashion Media.  Their portfolio includes: 'Vogue', 'Golf World' and 'The New Yorker'.

TimeIncUK- Previously called IPC Media, it is a consumer magazine and digital publisher based in London.  They have been in business since 1947 and have a large portfolio- selling over 350 million copies per year.  Magazines in their portfolio include: 'Chat Passion', 'Ideal Home' and 'Cycling Weekly'.

Future Publishing- Based in Bath, Somerset, UK and founded in 1985, this media company publishes over 180 magazines in fields such as film and photography.  It was ranked the sixth-largest media corporation in the UK in 2006.  Their portfolio includes: 'Total Film', 'Digital Camera' and 'PC Format'.

Bauer Media- A large European based media company that manages a portfolio of magazines, digital products, radio and TV stations.  It headquarters are in Hamburg, Germany and was founded in 1875.  They have a radio portfolio of national radio brands such as Kiss FM UK.  Their portfolio includes: 'Empire', 'FHM' and 'Heat'.

I have decided to choose Bauer Media to publish my product.  The reason for this is that they are a large company that don't only manage magazines- they also manage radio stations.  This is suitable for a music magazine as people who listen to music regularly listen to the radio, meaning my target audience use Bauer Media.

Preliminary task feedback

 

This feedback has helped me to understand how to make my main product look.  I now know that I will have to work on composition, image quality, fonts and colour.  My cover image needed to look more appealing, something I will keep in mind when I come to taking the pictures for my main task. My contents page on the other hand needs to have more articles listed and the layout will also need to be appropriate.  I can see why these comments have been made and I will refer back to them when designing my flat plans and my final magazine.

Review of preliminary task

Reasons behind my creative decisions:
- I wanted an image of people reading books and an image of computers so the stereotype of young people not reading would be ignored.
- The sell lines were positioned according to the outline of the image in order to prevent dead space.
- The animatic font on the contents page anchored that it is a young people's magazine.

What went well:
- The lighting on all the images was very good and helped highlight the main focus of the picture.
- There were books and magazines in the reading area so there was a mixture of props.
- It had a well organised layout and the colour scheme did not ruin the look of the pages.

What I would like to improve on:
- I did not take the images from a range of angles, which could have gotten me better final images.
- The colour and font will need to look more professional for my real task.

Difficulties I encountered:
- At first, me and my group took videos instead of pictures, which was soon resolved.
- Some images were blurry and even the image I chose for my cover could have been better.

What I have learnt from this task:
- I have gained a wider understanding of Photoshop.
- The requirements for camera shots are clearer to me now.

Preliminary Task and unused photos

 

This is my Preliminary Task.  It consists of a front cover and contents page of a college magazine which I have titled 'Life in College'.  The images were taken in the building using professional, efficient cameras.  

 

Unused Photos

I took more pictures than I needed so that I could choose the best one to include in the magazine.  Even if an image was just right the first time it was taken, it was still a good idea to take more as they could be even better.

This image was blurred therefore could not be used.  The image I chose was very clear.  I cropped it to increase the focus on the main part of the image. 

This image was not as professional as the one I chose as bags were visible on the floor and chairs were turned.  The image I used was cropped to enhance the presence of the computers.

Flat Plan and rationale for preliminary task

Flat Plans

Above is my flat plan for my preliminary task, in which I will be designing a college magazine.  The first plan is for the front cover and the second plan is for the contents page.  Flat plans allow you to design with a guide of what the finished product should look like.



Rationale

Colour Usage- Green and orange will be the main colours on the front cover, though there will be a minor amount of blue.  These colours will brighten the page and will connote a warm environment, so the magazine will be positive.  The use of blue will cause a contrast in colour.  I will use different shades of colours to make the page look less bright.  There will be images on the contents page too, so less colour is better.

Image Usage- The image on the front cover will be of myself reading a book in the college.  The contents page will have two images- one of people sitting and one of a computer area.  My front cover image will be a mid shot, in which I will use a book as a prop.  This image will connote that the college is a positive learning area.

Text Usage- The sell lines will have a key word in each of them, e.g. enrichment.  Each of the listings on the contents page will have a teaser, with detail on that particular listing below it.  The sell line placed at the bottom will hook the reader in as it will be invitational.  The slogan is going to be underneath the masthead which will say: 'Your weekly college news'.  I am also going to include the Sunderland College logo on the cover too.  Some of the text on the contents page will link to the images as it will explain their purpose for being included in the issue.

Layout and Font- I will use a bold font for the masthead.  The sell lines will use a similar font.  The listings on the contents page are going to look slightly animatic.  The use of this sort of font welcomes the reader to the issue.  The sell lines on the cover will not be in a row; this will make the layout more interesting.  On the contents page, the images will have a page number on them to assist the audience.

Marking previous work task

This was a group task that involved looking at previous students work, assessing it and then giving it a grade.  Some of the areas we looked at included the layout, the relevance of images and the use of language and register.  It has made me consider the images I use and that they must be relevant and creative.  

Taking a shoot on location instead of all the images being taken in front of a wall makes it more diverse and interesting.  The contents page needs to have a lot of listings so that it has a more professional image.  The images I use on the cover and double page spread will be of me, but the contents page will include others.  From looking at previous work, it is clear that the contents is vital in hooking the reader as it relies strongly on persuasive text.

Above: A picture of the group conducting the task

The example our group looked at was graded C/B.  It was satisfactory, but was let down by its contents page and poor lighting.  Some of the images did not seem relevant or purposeful either.

Looking at this example of work alongside the mark scheme helped me to understand how good the quality must be for a certain grade.  I can see from looking at the requirements for the top grades that a lot of work must go into the design and that the tools on Photoshop must be used effectively.

Evaluation of Photoshop task

For my practice on Photoshop, I designed a magazine called 'Loud'.  I found the task difficult as I have never used Photoshop before.  Despite this, the finished result was satisfactory .  The colours worked well together and certain conventions were followed.  For example, I placed the barcode in a small space and the sell line were positioned on the right of the page.  The 'Magic Wand' tool was helpful in creating the finished image.  Changing the text allowed me to look at different fonts that I could use in my real work.  

The difficulties I encountered included the colour.  I had problems with this as changing the colour of the background and the text did not always work.  For my real cover, I hope to develop my skills of editing images and improving my knowledge of editing colour.  As I had never used Photoshop before this, it has helped me gain a better understanding of the software.  Being able to play around with the tools means things will not be so new to me when I create my proper magazine.

Developing and highlighting proposal

The music magazine I'm going to be creating will be on the pop genre.  The focus of the issue will be myself.  I will be an artist whose work is similar to that of singer/songwriter, Ed Sheeran.  Magazines such as 'Clash' and 'Q' inspired me as they featured just one artist on their cover and it looked better. 

Both males and females would read my magazine, but the target audience would be mainly females as they are the biggest fans of pop music.  It will focus more on subtle music and singers- not just excitable, extravagant ones.  The audience would also enjoy going to gigs and music festivals.  I will follow the conventions across the cover, contents and d.p.s.  The cover will include a masthead in the top centre.  The sell lines will be situated on the left and right.  The headline will be over the image with a strapline below it.  The barcode, date, price and issue number will be out of focus.  The contents page will have the essential list of features and articles and the double page spread will have an interview.  The actual interview will be on the right page, whilst the dominant image will be on the left page alongside the headline.  I might not necessarily use a lot of buzzwords, but they are not a major convention anyway. 

Images in the magazine will not be overloaded.  The cover will have one picture of myself with a guitar.  This is highlighting the article on the double page spread which will use similar images.  The contents will have images showing off other features of the issue, which I will need to take into consideration when conducting my photo shoots.  One of the contents images will be of me as the editor of the magazine.  Because there may be some difficulties, such as losing documents, I will need to have a computer saved version of the document and a copy on a memory stick.  This will mean that my work is safe, especially if it has also been uploaded to my blog.

Introductory survey post

My questionnaires will be conducted by handing out sheets to a group of people, who will have to tick a box to answer the question.  I will also conduct a number of interviews.
I will be asking people questions like:

>What kind of magazine do you read the most?
>What do you do in your spare time?
>What genre of music do you like most?

From this investigation I am hoping to find out what peoples attitude is to the magazine aspect of the media.  Audience research is vital as it allows you to alter your product to suit peoples' tastes.  I will review and evaluate my findings in order to make sure that the demands of my potential audience are addressed in my magazine.

This is what my paper based survey looks like:

Proposal Form

This is my Proposal Form which documents the ideas I have for genre, target audience, conventions and images.  I also said what I will do to prevent losing work or files.  It outlines my plan for the creative project, which I can refer back to in the design process.

Generic Conventions

In this post, I will be looking at the conventions of a typical music magazine and discussing how I will apply them to my product.  The magazine example I am using is 'Vibe'.

Masthead: The name of the magazine stretches across the width of the page.  My masthead will be in the top centre, but will not stretch across the entire page.  It will however be in capitals like this example.  I will also follow the concept of covering some of the masthead with my image.

Colour: It is conventional for covers to use a scheme of three colours.  I will use three colours on my magazine cover: blue, green and brown.  The guitar I use will be brown and there will be different shades of blue and green.

Composition:  The sell lines are on the left and right side of the page, but there are also sell lines across the top which fill in gaps to make the magazine more appealing.  I will do this in my magazine but with the headline and strapline to the right side of the page.

Sell Lines: The sell lines differ in size and font.  I am going to do this myself and use puffs to further involve the reader.  'Vibe' uses a puff in the bottom right hand corner which is small but acts as a unique selling point of the issue.

Image: There is only one image on this cover which connotes it is mature and does not need to add more to sell copies.  In the image on this cover, Drake's body language is not basic which is how my cover image will look as I will be turned slightly to the side, holding the guitar.

Colour, font, costumes, hairstyles and props

This research covers what I have found from looking at colour, font, costumes, hairstyles and props.

Colour Schemes- The use of different colours on front covers does not always mean that there are a wide variety of them.  From research, I have found that colours are used in different shades alongside colours that fit their category.  For example, blue could be used for cover line subheadings, but a lighter shade of blue could be used for the information below.  Because blue is classed as a colder colour, the magazine will not include 'warm' colours like red or orange on its cover.  Instead, it will use types of blue or black for the clothing or masthead.  This can be seen on the picture to the right.  Personally, I will use green, and blue.  This is because green is the main colour on Ed Sheeran's new album 'X'.  Since he will be part of my magazine, it seems only right that green is my dominant colour.

Fonts- From looking at the website, 'Dafont', I might use a typewriter font on my double-page spread.  There were various different designs on the website, but the one that I found to be the most appealing was called 'Veteran Typewriter' which had a modern, yet old look to it.  You can see what this font looks like below.

Costumes- For the genre of music that I am looking at- 'Pop', I have looked at how male solo singers dress.  Ed Sheeran typically wears very ordinary clothing such as t-shirts.  This subtle idea suits me better, whereas magazines which have pop singers such as Nicki Minaj have more organized photoshoots to accommodate more unique clothing and hairstyles.

Hairstyles- In pop music, hairstyle is an important factor.  It is often extravagant in music videos and in photoshoots.  Singer/Songwriters are known for their subtlety in magazines, due to the fact that there appeal comes from their obvious passion for music.  The main image of myself will have me with an ordinary hairstyle.

Props- The singer/songwriter, Ed Sheeran has appeared on numerous magazine front covers such as 'Billboard' and 'Brink'.  He plays the guitar in his songs and lots of images and photo shoots of him include his guitar.  I am planning on using a guitar for the image on the front cover, to refer to Ed Sheeran's trademark prop.  I will be holding it, however I may also take a picture of the guitar to include in the double page spread.