Completed Piece

I asked peers for a review on my first and second attempt of a cover,and they said that the style of my masthead did not fit with the style of magazine i am trying to create,and so i changed to one of my other mastheads 'mood' and changed the colour scheme with it. I have now asked for peer feedback on my final attempt of a magazine cover and found it to be mostly positive,and so i decided to stick with it and not make any more changes.

 

When i looked back at my previous attempt of a contents page i realised that i had used found images,and so i used a photo which i had taken myself of the MMLP2 album cover,this is the only other real change from my previous contents page attempt.

 

This is my final attempt of a double page spread where I had acted on all of the feedback given to me and altered it appropriately.

Draft Double Page Spread

I have done a number of initial attempts of my double page spread, and will use feedback from my target audience to adapt and alter my magazine.

This was my initial design for a magazine double page spread, with a layout i had replicated and altered from Q magazine, and the text that I wanted to use on my double page spread. I did this so that i could see how the page would look based on layout alone, and i liked the idea of it.

I then added in a background and photo's to my plan,too see how it would look. I asked my peers about this and they told me that the black font in the centre was hard to read,and the page looked dull and boring.

 

 I then used my new colour scheme which i have included in my cover and contents page. My peers said that they liked the colour scheme as it made the spread look more interesting, but it needed more.

I added a logo to my double page spread,just to fill in that final bit of space.My peers told me that this contents page was good but the shape in the background could have been changed to match the rest of my products.



Draft contents Page

I have done a number of initial attempts of my contents page, and will use feedback from my target audience to adapt and alter my magazine.

This was my first attempt of a contents page. I decided to do one contents page for each cover and decide which set I liked the most, and so kept the layout and colour scheme relevant to one of each of my covers. I asked my peers for feedback on my first attempt of a contents page, and they said that there was too much dead space along the right of my page and in the centre, which is the first place that you see when you open the page. They also said that again the colour scheme was too dull and so I decided to stop using the colour scheme and changed it.

This is my second attempt of a magazine contents page, with a different layout used as I tried to make my magazine more conventional. My peers told me that this layout was better although there is again too much dead space down the right of my page, and they also told me that they thought it was hard to see the link to the PlayStation.

This is my third attempt of a magazine contents page, and I have taken my second attempt of a contents page. My peers said that this contents page was an improvement on my previous attempts as it has a stronger colour scheme allowing the text to be read more easily. However the design of the contents background becomes distracting over time. I was also advised to put all of my text on one side of the page as it is then easier to follow.

For my fourth attempt of my contents page I changed the colour scheme again to suit the feedback I had previously received, and adjusted the layout so that my text was in one block on the side of my page. My peers said that one solid line of red through the page made it hard to read and so advised me to change the pattern of my background.

Draft front covers

I have done a number of initial attempts of my front cover, and will use feedback from my target audience to adapt and alter my magazine.

This was my first attempt of a final magazine cover, with my edited photo. Chosen masthead, and chosen fonts included in the magazine. When I asked my peers about this they said that the magazine was too dark, dull and boring, and that they found parts of the text harder to read.

This was my second attempt of my magazine cover, with a different colour scheme used. This meant that I had to change the colour used in my masthead also decided to use a different version of my photo, to add a bit of colour back into my magazine. I did not however change the font used on my cover as I wanted to see how the change in colour would affect it to see if it became easier to read, and my peers told me that it didn't.

Magazine conventions used

Mock up double page spreads

My double page spread was said to be well laid out and arranged, with the font and text colour making it easy to read and allowing it to stand out on the page.



Mock up contents pages

 

 



 



 

For feedback on my contents page I have generally been given the impression that my font was too big, but I will be sure to change this for my final piece. I have also been told that the colour scheme I have used is a little confusing with regard to what is on each page.

Mock up covers

 

I have asked my peers for their opinions of my cover pages, and have gathered feedback for improvements.

Peer one said that my cover follows the same colour scheme and is very suited to the text. The layout of the page is also good as it is easy to follow and not overcrowded.

When asked about this cover they said that the background suits the text as it allows it to stand out and is easy to read, it also follows a single colour scheme which gives it a professional look. However, I was advised to consider removing my kickers as they did not look professional with the background clashing too much.

For this my peers said that the text suits the style of background I have used, and snoop looks like he fits in with this type of surrounding. The colour of text is also important as it makes the more important information stand out in the text. One criticism is that the background is a little too dull. 

 



Image editing

 

This is my first attempt of editing a photo, and I have used the website pic monkey for the first time. I have however noticed that I unintentionally added colour back to her arm when I did not mean too, and so I have re-done this edit

Initial photo shoot

 

These are my intial photos that I have taken for my final piece of coursework

Colour pallettes

I have tried to use an original colour pallete for my created media products. From my questionnaire I was advised to use a darker background with brighter colours used in it, so I used a black and red background. This allowed me to use white and silver for my text with no colours clashing. The only other colour I used was yellow, across the top of my page to highlight a special offer to draw in the reader’s attention.

Language in my magazine

When I analysed existing magazines I found a mixture of formal and informal language used depending on the style of the article found that the regulars of the magazine used more loose English and slang whilst the special features on the bigger artists where more formal and used stronger grammar. One exception of this was in the interview with Robbie Williams in Q which used a lot more slang, to represent Robbie’s personality and mannerism better. I thought that this was effective, and so tried to use a mix of it throughout my article with the switches to make the reader feel as though they can go and talk to the band themselves.

Magazine layout

The layout of my double page spread was inspired by an article in Q magazine, as that is a close style to the magazine I am trying to replicate, and I liked the idea of the photo's joining up at the top of the page. A bonus to this was that it allowed me to see the basic conventions I should be trying to use in my magazine. For my contents page and cover I used an old issue of mojo magazine as it may be from a slightly different genre but it is also a relaxed style of magazine, and I found the cover appealing.

Representation in my magazine

In my magazine I am trying to represent younger people who enjoy listening to rap and urban music, and who come from poorer areas with less to do. I am trying to show that these people who have been labelled as 'hooligans' or 'thugs' do actually have a passion for something and are not how they are made out to be, and actually have a pass time that they can partake in peacefully without disruption.

Potential Masthead names and fonts

These are the three magazine names that I have chosen, in the three potential fonts that they would be written in.

I have now asked my target audience which of the three mastheads they prefer, and collected data of the results. Out of the 20 people I have asked,35% said that they liked the idea of a name 'Roller', but did not like the font used, and so only 15% actually voted for it, 'mood' collected 55% of the votes, and people told me that they thought the masthead looked 'cool' and 'chilled' ,reflecting their style of life. 30% of my target audience chose 'Urban Covers' as they said that the name was appropriate, and looked like it would fit into their neighbourhood spray painted on a wall.



My Target Audience

My Target audience of my magazine will predominately be teenagers, but will range from 13-22/23. I have chosen this age range as these are the people that will listen to the more modern style of music, which is my magazine's chosen genre. My target audience will show a mixed gender but will mainly have adverts in aimed at males. This is because the chosen style of music is mainly listened to by males; although I have recognised that there are some female listeners.

I have created a questionnaire on survey monkey to find out what my target audience like about music magazines, and some of their interests.

Click here to take survey

From my survey I have found out that my target audience is as suspected, male dominated and they listen to a similar style of music, mainly modern rap and pop. I can also see that they are from a similar age range, running from 14-18, as I first thought.

My Chosen Genre Of Magazine

For my magazine I have tried to work in a neutral genre as much as possible, to appeal to everyone and fill a gap in the market realised that this would however be hard to replicate and was only really done by Q magazine, limiting what I can use for inspiration and base my magazine off. Because of this I decided to go for an urban/rap based magazine and add in other genres at various points through the magazine.

Analysis of existing magazines Double Page Spread

This double page spread has a very dramatic and excitable effect to it, as it shows us a mid-action shot of a man heroically running up the side of a mountain with his skateboard. This links in with the very inspirational title of "What Dreams May Come" which may be the movie title, but is also quite an inspirational saying, as is reflected in the use of the long shot in the picture, which makes his quest seem even more dramatic and thrilling. This idea not only does the page a favour in making the audience want to read the text, but also helps out the film, as it publicises and encourages people to go out and watch it as the text is all contained into one block on the right hand page. This is effective as it allows the reader too see the whole of the action shot and get a real feel for his environment and just what his situation is, as well as making it easy for the reader to follow the text, as opposed to it being dotted around the page, with the reader having to guess where to look next for the story to continue.

The footer of the page is a banner advertising the next few pages of the magazine, and informing the reader of what is coming up, this is a good addition to the page as the reader knows where to look for a certain thing, and if they are close in the magazine to it, or if they need to skip on a few more sections. It also follows the colour scheme for the rest of the page, with a white background the same colour as the title, and black text continuing from the page above it.

One criticism I would have of this page is that the white writing under the main title is difficult to read due to it blending in Witt the rocks which surround it. This may cause the reader to struggle and turn the page, swell as making the magazine appear unprofessional and lowering its reputation, swell as losing its icon as the higher end of film magazines.

Analysis of existing magazines' Contents page's

 

 

By using a solid black background with white text and cream coloured squares, the contents page appears really bright, fun, and almost seems alive. The chosen font is also simple and clear, keeping it appropriate and making it easy for the audience to read. The photos have also been edited to add bright colours, which makes the page more appealing to the reader, and will make them more likely to stop and look at the page when they are flicking through the magazine. The photos are also relevant to the text, and this is clearly displayed by the arrows pointing the photos. This is useful as the reader will notice the photo and become interested, and then the next thing that they will see is the page number, and description of the page.

Another good feature is that they have not put any extra description into the regular features, but have used more space on the extra features, telling the reader exactly what the articles will contain and what they can expect. The way that they have labelled the 'Features' and the Regulars' compliments there regular readers, as they will already know which of the features they prefer and which too skip out, as well as being able to see instantly what it is that makes this issue unique and what they can read.

 

This is a very simple, yet very effective contents page for a skater magazine, which we can tell from the photo of someone on a skateboard in the background. The idea of keeping the page black and white gives the page a sort of retro effect, and reflects everything skaters see in their sport, in one page. The background of the photo shows the clouds rolling over the skater, but has no disruption in it. This continues the idea of a peaceful, friendly environment, where people can be happy and relaxed, again reflecting what the skaters, and so more than likely the readers, believe in. The style and type of photo used makes the whole page seem kind of dramatic and special, leaving the idea that the magazine which teach the audience thing which could potentially have a large impact on their life, and they too could do something as dramatic and cool as this. The whole contents page seems to be based on an advert poster for a film of a movie's credits, with the actual contents being written across the bottom of the page much like a cast list would be, making it the last thing the reader see’s, allowing them to take everything else in first. One thing which I personally don't like about the cover is the lack of colour, as the page appears dull and boring too me, and I would be put off the rest of the magazine, but the magazine is not aimed at me and so this is not really a massive problem. The complex and fancy text used in the actual page numbers shows which articles are more important than the others, by the size and boldness of the text, helping readers pick out key parts of the article.

 

This contents page is set over a double spread, and so has more room to work in than the other two. This extra space has not been used as effectively as it could have been, with lots of the page just being blank white. Too improve this they could have put colour on the background that would have worked well with the border of the page, and helped to make the page more appealing. One good effect to the page, is how they have written the appropriate page number onto the photos, so if a reader likes the look of a certain photo linking to an article, they can go straight to the page rather than having to read the whole contents page to find out where the article will be. One negative to this is that the reader will no longer reader the contents page, and so will not know what else is contained in the magazine, and something which may be of interest to them but is not featured in a photo may go unnoticed and so may not get read at all. I also like the way that the cover story has been given its own section in the contents page, and so the reader can go straight from the cover and find out where they can continue to read straight on, without having to read through the rest of the contents page and struggling to find what they want.

Analysis of existing magazines' Covers

 

From this magazine cover we can instantly tell that this issue is about Katy Perry and an interview with her. We can instantly tell that she is at the centre of this magazine not only from her being the only person to appear on the front cover, but also because she is allowed to overlap the company name, showing that she herself is bigger than the magazine, and this was done for her. Also, her name is written to the top corner of the magazine, and so will be visible whilst the magazine is still on sale on the shelf, suggesting it will be a major selling point for the magazine.

The lace of colour in the background again causes the audience to focus on Katy, and the fact that the font colour scheme is the same as her outfit, showing again that she is the main part of the magazine and that the magazine is worked around her.

The subheadings decrease in size as they get lower down the page, suggesting that they are of a much lesser importance than the others, and drawing attention away from them, straying away from the typical Z shaped layout commonly used in magazines. The chosen fonts do not use any Sans Serif, suggesting a lack of formality and telling us that the magazine will be more laid back and relaxed. This will make the magazine appear more attractive to teenagers and will draw them into buying it, helping them too increase sales too there selected target audience.

This cover of a magazine follows a very specific colour scheme too suit David, again leaving that impression that the magazine is built around him. This is again backed up by way the text is arranged around him, with the only text overlapping him being the magazine name, which too some extent still fails to overrule him, as the colour matches his hair and causes it too blend in, and instantly makes it less noticeable. The use of a long shot type allows us to see the whole of divides body and shows us he will be present throughout the whole magazine. His pose is also somewhat relaxed and chilled out, telling us that the magazine will be a relaxing and easy, leisurely and enjoyable read, swell as reflecting his style of music which he produces.

The size of font on the cover shows that Bowie is the most important part of the magazine, and his content is all written in larger text than the rest of the magazines articles in an attempt to exaggerate his presence and attract fans of David to the magazine.

This cover shows a near nude gaga, in an attempt to pull in some of the male readers of the magazine, with the majority of her fans being of a female gender, as that is her specified target audience. She also partly overlaps her own name, swell as the magazine logo and the header to the magazine, allowing her to really grab people's attention and draw them into the magazine, giving the idea that there will be more to follow inside.

She also appears on a long shot, showing her rough, messy hair and spiky trousers and gloves along with the rest of her body, this is done in an attempt to add to the idea of sex and attraction to her, whilst using a basic and rough, informal text to match this appearance. The colour scheme consists of white, red, and black, three very basic but loud and effective colours, which attract to both genders, and give the idea of her being herself once more.

Evaluation of the Preliminary Exercise

In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a school magazine?

My Magazine uses forms and conventions of a school magazine in a number of ways. It does this by using a simple and traditional magazine layout, and not over complicating things. This is good as it will be more appealing to the audience and will have a resemblance to magazines they are used to reading.

My magazine develops the conventions of a school magazine by using patterns in the background to make the colour scheme appear more appealing and attractive to the young readers. I have also boxed off my text at angles to take away the formal approach of a magazine so that teenagers are not put off the magazine. I have also placed the background to my masthead on an angle, which develops the basic conventions of a school magazine, and allows my magazine to stand out.

How effective is the front page of your magazine in focusing on the ethos of the school?

I think that my magazine is effective on focusing on the ethos of the school, as it follows the sixth form colour scheme for the uniform, as is reflected in the photo on my cover. This links my magazine to the school, and will allow the students to relate to it and feel comfortable reading it. On my contents page, I have also used a photograph of a student’s grade sheet for their final GCSE’s. This will again allow the students to relate to the magazine and feel that at least one of the articles is relevant to them.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From my audience feedback I have learnt that I have too much dead space around my fonts and titles, which means that I will need to find more things to put on my actual magazine cover, or that I will need to arrange them better. My masthead has also received a lot of criticism and as I have put it at a slight angle, and have not faded the masthead into the background. This gives makes the masthead look less professional, and is something I will try to avoid in my final product.

The photo that I have used for my main image also clashes with the background colour, and so does not stand out enough. In addition to this, it makes my cover appear to have more dead space, and is not as eye catching as it could be.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the research planning and construction of my school magazine cover and contents page, I have user a number of media technologies and applications. For my research I mainly relied upon Google images to supply me with examples of contents pages and covers. I then used blogger to add, annotate and evaluate them. I also used my iPad to take photos of some double page spreads for me to annotate, and again did this on blogger. One other programme I used was macro media fireworks which allowed me to design and construct my cover and contents page, as well as editing the photos I needed. The final thing that I have used was a website called DaFont which allows me to install a selection of fonts to my computer, which I can then use on my preliminary tasks, allowing me to make them unique and finding something which suited the style that I wanted on my cover.

Preliminary cover and contents page

This was my initial attempt of making a school magazine cover. I have since been advised to put boxes around all of my text to make it look more structured and professional,and so have done this.

 

 

 

 

Semiotics

Potential magazine fonts

 

The reason i have chosen this magazine is that it looks professional and smart, and it is appropriate to my magazine style, which will be smart and formal. I also liked the way that this font underlined the school name, making it stand out from the rest of the title, and publicising the school name.

I like this font as it appears smooth yet sophisticated, and is available in three different styles, as shown above, with all appearing professional and still looking nice. One criticism i would have of this font, is that the tails on the letters may make the letter appear confusing to readers, and cause them to struggle with reading.

 

Masthead fonts

I chose my final masthead because it was a simple font that was easy to use, but looked modern and smooth, reflecting the style of my magazine. I also thought that it looked sophisticated and would reflect the school.

Layout

I have selected this layout for my magazine as it is simple yet clear and attractive to my target audience. I also thought that it looked appropriate for the age range that my magazine was designed for.

Image Plan

Colour Scheme of the Prelim task

For my preliminary task I will try to stick to a basic, neutral colour palette that will reflect the school, or at least part of it into the magazine. For this reason I have decided that I am going to use the colours of the school sixth form uniform, red, black and white.

Target Audience of the prelim task

The target audience of my prelim task will be students that attend my school, and potentially their parents if they take a keen interest in the school and want to know about it. It will there for mainly be aimed at people of both genders aged 13-18. I will also however make it suitable for older readers such as teachers and students parents.

Analysis of existing magazines

This magazine cover looks very smart and professional, as there are a number of clever techniques and ideas included in the cover. One technique which gives the cover a professional appearance is the way that the badge fades into and matches the student’s blazer, and becomes part of the student. One criticism of this would be of the main header, as it blends in with the background and is not easy to read. The same thing has happened with the white sub-heading on the students shirt collar, as the colours clash and it becomes almost impossible to read. The text is also too small and leaves too much dead space around the model in the photo, and should instead be larger and in a different font to catch the audience eye and interest them.