Final Magazine Pages

My contents page is different to previous versions because I unfortunately lost it from my flash drive so I had to re-make it from scratch. This time I made the design much closer to that of Terrorizer, one of the magazines I researched.

Magazine Audience Feedback

The question I asked about my cover were met with a fairly positive response from the two I asked. They thought that my magazine reflects my genre well with the fonts and layout used. They also saw that it grabs attention which is what I was going for.

When asked about my contents page, I found that the aesthetics were to their liking. They thought that the font fitted well and the colours used made it clear. They didn't seem completely enthusiastic about it, which leads me to believe there is more that can be done with the colouring.

Finally, I double page spread also received positive feedback. They thought it reflected my genre well thanks to the fonts and layout. The informal mode of address was also well received.

Contents Page Progress

 My contents page has a slightly more in line layout as this is what I found works best from my research of other contents pages.

 To work on this efficiently, I decided to work in a columnar way, rather then adding stuff in order of importance. I added my editor's note next, beneath the word contents.

 Then I added the double page spread picture with its page number, as both contents pages I researched use at least one picture for their main articles. I also added a regulars section so I could add in two pages I knew would definitely be in my magazine.

Then I added the date and the interesting page numbers down the side of the magazine. Both magazines I researched so not list every single page in the magazine, only the ones that are interesting. 

Finally, I added a competition at the bottom for some extra puff. I also divided up the articles with lines to make they layout more organised looking, similar to what my contents pages I research showed.

Magazine Cover Progress

 After completing the masthead, I created a slogan to go with it, positioned above the masthead, "the ultimate in metal news and reviews"

 After that, I moved to the bottom of the cover and put the coverlines and puff in place, this gave a rough outline of the boundaries of the cover.

 Next, I decided the slogan at the top would look more prominent on a black background. Then I put the splash on the cover to get a rough idea of how large it needed to be. I also added the bar-code in, and moved it from the top of the cover to much further down, similar to "Metal Hammer".

 I decided the splash was much too small, so I made it larger. I also moved it further down as the two covers I researched had their splash on the lower 50% of the cover.

I added in a small price tag on the cover so it is easy to quickly see the price of the magazine. I think this is necessary because the price is cheap. I got this idea from "Heavy" magazine, one of the covers I researched. I also removed the space for the publisher logo, as this is not necessary

After adding my picture, I realised the current layout did not look right. I removed the large price tag and moved my puff to where it was. This made room for my cover lines to spread across the bottom. I'm much more happy with this layout as it seems less cluttered and more like to covers I researched.

I then added a background to my cover lines, as I thought they looked too much like they were floating in mid air. The background integrates them much more comfortably with the rest of the cover because they have their own space. I used this idea because one cover I researched, "Heavy", uses this for its cover lines.

I made a few small final adjustments such as moving the barcode and centring the background of the cover-lines. I am now finished with my front cover.

Photoshoot Ideas

For my photoshoot, I want a shot of someone in action. My idea is that they will be playing the guitar and be concentrating on that rather then the camera. I want this so the photos seem more natural rather than posed. One of my magazine covers I researched presents the members of a band each doing a different action, rather than simply posing.

This cover photo will have to tie in with my double page spread, so I think the photo should be similar in style to the photos used in that article. Since the shots will be in action, I will use long shot framing to draw attention to their entire body rather than just focusing on their face.

I want to set the photoshoot somewhere that looks the opposite of pre-set and professional photoshoots. I want a natural feeling because this symbolises the carefree and rebellious feeling I want in my magazine.

This is the kind of pose I will try and capture, more zoomed out than this so it is a long shot. Clothing does not matter because i'm trying to be as natural as possible. 
I will set in an outside urban environment because the lighting will be better than inside and the background will be more interesting.

Progress report

First off, i finally managed to breach the obstacle of finding people to give me a feedback video. With that out of the way, I was able to make some real progress with the other components. I managed to complete my style sheet quickly and put it in place on my blog. I finished the mock ups of both my cover and contents page, and I've finalised the design of my masthead. Of course, there is still much catching up to do. I must finish the mock up of my double page spread and begin planning my photo-shoot. The photo-shoot is extra important because that was the weakest aspect of my preliminary task, so I am determined to make and improvement.

And maybe, just maybe, get that B.

Masthead design process

 First off, I started by picking a suitable font for the masthead. I chose this font which is the same font the metal band Megadeth use for their logo, instantly making a connection with my chosen genre.

 I then moved the masthead further down the page and made it larger so it has a bigger appearance on the cover.

 After i was happy with the position of the masthead, I had to decide on the colours. I used the conventional red and black colours as this is what my research shows as a popular scheme

Finally, to make my masthead stand out and look extra original, I layered a second copy of the masthead text over the first. I then inverted the colours of the outline and the fill. This gave the text a 3D effect and also made it much more eye-catching thanks to the extra colour.

Style Sheet

This is my style sheet, it covers basically the ideas for the style i will use throughout my magazine.

Magazine Mock-ups

Cover: This is the mock layout which i will use when designing my magazine cover. From my research I gathered that the masthead should have a dominating presence on the cover, especially on the top half. I also found that my audience prefers a less formal layout, so everything on the page will overlap the central image and the splash will be rotated slightly to give it that "non-conforming" feel. These colours in the mock up are just so you can easily tell each part from one another, they are NOT a representation of the colour scheme I will use in my design, this is purely for layout purposes.

Contents: My contents page has a heavy focus on the double page spread article, the image to the left which will relate to this article takes up about a third of the entire contents page. The layout, while perhaps appearing more formal than the front cover, still follows an informal apprach. Many things will overlap, as you can see in the image above the word contents overlaps the actual contents box.

Double page spread to follow soon

Magazine pitch and Video feedback

Time Management

My time management has been poor. This is due to the fact I am not doing enough work in my own time to keep up with what I have missed in lesson. To fix this, I will need to improve on my effort to work during my own time at home, as well as staying at college to get work done.

I absolutely must finish my pitch and receive feedback on it, as this feedback is vital for future work on the design of my magazine. Therefore, finishing the pitch is my top priority. However, due to a recent lack of access to the necessary tools to finish this, such as the internet, I have been unable to do this. This could have been avoided if I put the extra work in, but it is too late for that now. I skipped ahead and began my mock up plans, I finished the front cover using InDesign and will continue on to the contents and double page spread in free periods.

1. Complete pitch done
2. Receive feedback for pitch done
3. Complete Style sheet done
4. Continue with mock-ups

Double Page Spread Analysis

Contents Page Analysis

Tc analysis from Tommuz

Front Cover Analysis

Initial ideas for Music Magazine

The magazine I am going to create will cater towards a more niche audience. It will consist of hard rock and metal bands, a sub-genre which is popular with its own audience but not as popular as other genres on the mainstream as a whole. Some examples of this sub-genre are popular metal bands like Disturbed and Slipknot, to some lesser known bands like Machine Head and Divine Heresy. This way, metal fans of all levels can enjoy my magazine.

This will use an informal mode of address, as this connotes rebellion and non-conformist, which are things this sub-genre is usually stereotyped as. The layout will follow the same style, informal and rebellious, as will the font used. Colours will generally be darker but certain things will be lighter to highlight them, such as text and image borders. Perhaps a yellow and black scheme, for example.

Plan of Action

Week 1:

• post initial ideas
• institution research
• front cover analysis

Week 2:

• Analyse 2 contents and DBS pages
• Start pitch using Prezi

Week 3

• Complete pitch
• Complete further research into chosen sub-genre

Week 4

• Present and post pitch with audience feedback
• Complete mock-ups
• Produce brand identity/house style sheet
• Organise models, locations and props for photo-shoot.

Week 5

• Develop front cover

Week 6

• Further develop front cover
• Make adjustments according to feedback

Week 7

• Develop contents page

Week 8-9

• Develop double page spread

Week 10

• Finalise all designs
• Begin draft of evaluation

Week 11-13

• Evaluation
• Final blog check

Main Task Brief

My main task for my AS media coursework is to create my own new music magazine. This will consist of a front cover, a contents page and a double page spread.

Evaluation of Preliminary Task

Evaluation

From the masthead to the puff, my magazine represents a informal and free-form layout, which connotes young and relaxed. The cover lines and splash are angled, not confined to a certain alignment or trying to fit around my central image. Many magazines use this style if they are informal as it expresses how relaxed and informal the magazine is. My colour choice is consistent and I have used a single bright colour (red) with two duller colours (black and grey) to make the red more expressive and outstanding. My chosen fonts are both sans, which is a less formal looking style of fonts, the fonts are more fun and interesting, connoted by the artistic styles of the fonts.  The mode of address I use is as relaxed an informal as anything else, including lots of exclamations and simple wording. In combination with my font choice and colour, the magazine seems like it will be much more appealing to a younger audience as intended.

The content I have created for my magazine represents students, mainly around the teenager age. It is not directed to any gender in particular. The articles inside cater to a range of different hobbies and interests, making sure everyone enjoys the magazine. This represents students as people with a broad range of interests, and the more covered, the more chance of sales. For example, my central image shows a student male playing a guitar, connoting creativity and appealing to those musically inclined. However, the splash also contains video games and movies, so you can immediately get a feel for the contents of the magazine. Text is kept short and simple, as I feel people of this age would rather not read heaps of text on a small reading session of the magazine. I do not intend this magazine for people to sit down and spend an evening reading, as I see that as something older people would do with magazines that cater to their interests. The text I have used could be seen as stereotypical, saying all teenagers are into video games and music etc. and there is not a single mention of a book or other medium people may enjoy, but what I have put on my magazine caters to the majority.


I think I would like my magazine to be purchased within the college, as this would mean a higher chance of students seeing it, and that is who the magazine aims for. It would have to be on sale somewhere more interesting than say, the library, or the front desk. An outside company could possibly publish it, one that is linked to other magazines that this audience is interested in, such as Bauer media group who publish “Kerrang” magazine. However this may be more expensive. It should still be sold in college rather then shops though.

In the process of creating this project, I have learned a great deal about things I never had any knowledge on before. This is the first time I have used a Mac computer to construct a project. In the end, I still prefer the PC, but it did help me learn how different, and how similar, Macs function to PCs. InDesign, the program which I used to construct the final design of my magazine cover and contents, was actually quite simple to use once the basic functions were learned and I had ease creating with it. The layers system helped keep the work organised, especially with the large amount of separate text boxes near one another. I do remember the program having issues when the file was crowded, simply moving an object slowed the computer right down to a near full-stop, making precision placement of object near-impossible. The Photobooth application was also new to me, but again was very simple to use and achieved exactly what I wanted, the files were easily placed onto the blog post with no issues. The main thing this taught me about was Blogger. I had never read a blog properly in my life, let alone create one. Blogger was incredibly easy to use but was also extremely effective with its system. Blog posts are easy to find, read and create. The only annoying thing was the method of getting the InDesign work and Word Processor work onto the blog. The file had to first be converted into a PDF file before then being coverted again into a JPEG. This was easy to forget how to do the first few times.

Magazine cover and contents page

Experiments with mode of address

From the research I did on what the target audience would want in a magazine, I have opted for a less formal, colloquial style of writing in my magazine. This will also be sided with a small amount of formal writing which addresses important subjects or issues which demand a more formal style of writing, such as charity explanations.

To accompany this, the title of my magazine will be 'Your life'. This connotes that the magazine is focussed on you and what you want. Students will see by the title that my magazine covers the things they want to know. The central image will always consist of a person who is the same age as the target audience, so they can instantly relate upon seeing it.

Target audience research

The target audience for my magazine is college students aged 16-18 and above.

Questions to ask my target audience:

1. What kind of stories and articles would you like to see in a magazine?
2. How much would you be willing to pay for a magazine?
3. Would you rather a less formal or more formal approach?
4. Would you rather a bright, stand out or a duller, more mature colour scheme?
5. What kind of layout do you prefer? More clutter or more structure?

I asked these questions to a group of college students to gather their input.

Experimenting with fonts and colours

Initial Ideas for my Student Magazine

House Style

• Basic pallet of colours - 3-4 max
• Subtler brighter/less dull colours like red
• 2 similar looking fonts - Impact and Trebuchet
• Font with outlines for easy reading

Masthead

• Top of the cover
• Bold
• Large
• Outlined
• Contrasting colour

Central Image

• Subject looking at camera
• Medium/Medium close-up framing
• Maybe a slight tilt
• Posing not too forced
• Depth of field effect creating blurred background  

Name

Trying to connote college, education, fun, friends, future.

• College and You

Contents

• Main articles accompanied by pictures
• Main articles contain subtext
• Table of contents title at the top matching the font of the Masthead
• Articles listed in alternating colours
• Pictures dotted around relevant to certain articles
• Top main article relates to central image
• Articles relevant to target audience

Generic Conventions of a Student Magazine

Textual Analysis of a Student Magazine

Brief

Brief

Part of my AS media coursework requires me to create a front cover, contents page and double page spread of a music magazine. The purpose of this blog is to track and record my progress as I make headway with this task.