Evaluation

The product that i have created for this piece of courswork was a music magazine. it consists of a front cover, a contents page and a two-page spread about a features artist. I completed this task individually, I did all the research, planning, photography and the actual creation of the pages on the computer by myself.

The sub-genre that I chose for my magazine was 'Pop'. I decided on this as it is an extreamely popular genre of music with a very wide range of artists that currently produce this style of music in the industry today. I also thought it would be a large audience of readers who would buy it and make the magazine a financial success.
My initial idea was to link the theme of the fashion industry into the magazine to give it a different feel and edge. Due to this I chose my primary target audience to be women of 16+. I thought this would be a good group as it is one of the lagest consumers of magazines and through my research i found that fashion magazines, such as Elle and Vogue, are the most popular and sucessful magazines across the world today. I thought that because they are such a large group it would work well as it is something new and eye catching for people to buy. I think that it is vital for something differernt to be available to people because variety is always needed to keep the market busy. If more an dmore ordinary music magazines are being produces it becomes boring for the readers and therefore sales decrease and money is lost. It is clear to see however, that my styleof music magazine already selects a certain type of female audience, women who are interested in fashion, have a disposable income and interested in the current generation of Pop music.

Creation of the magazine

Before I started to make my magazine i had to first do a preliminary task which i have posted onto this blog and analysed. When taking the photographs for the task i learnt how to use the Rule of Thirds and how it would make my image more appealing.

If in a picture the model's face crosss one of the points in the middle then this is where the eye focuses when you look at the picture.

The pink dot on this grid indicates where my focul point was on the image I took.

I edited my image to smoothen it out and make the model's complexion look better. I think this was needed as I wanted the magazine to look a high standard.

When creating each page of the product I had to think carefully about the codes and conventions that i needed to include and what would appeal to my target audience. I chose to use the photograph that is on the front cover as it looks high fashion and interesting with the close up shot of her face and the outstanding pink lipstick. After noticing this i decided to use the pink colour from the lipstick and make it the font colour of the text that I put on the front page. I think this works well as it keeps the two things linked, it stands out and also it gives the magazine a feminine feel. I have also used the white font to break up the page so that there isnt too much pink. With my contents page i have tried to keep a simplistic feel to it. I got this idea from looking at different fashion magazines, and they all seemed to have this look about them. I have kept this theme running thoughout my pages including the two-page spread.
I researched the difference between a two page spread from a fashion magazine and from a music magazine. In the fashion magazine there tends to be the photoshoot of the featured artist on the previous pages and then the text following. Music magazines however seem to cmobine the photographs and then text together on the same page to create a busy and jam packed with information page. For my two page spread I decided to try and include half of each style. I have still kept the simplistic look with quite a plain font but I have also included the small images at the top of the page and the image in the middle to give it a 'pop' feel. Again i have kept the pink lipstick colour in the text to make it contunuous throughout the magazine.
Adding more detail to what i have previously said about the contents page I chose to do the title 'LA' in the same style as 'LOGO' on the front page to again keep this feeling of continuity running throughout. I also added 'new beginnings' to the title to give the reader an insight of what the article is about. By putting this in a classic, italic font it adds something different and makes it stand out on the page. I think the layout of the page is appealing to the eye as it is clearly set out with questions from 'LOGO' and the answers from the artist marked out in the familiar pink coloured font.
Overall I think that i have achieved a lot with my magazine, I have researched what would attract my audience and tried to achieve that with my final piece. I think that the main strenths of this magazine are; the image on the front cover, it is eye catching and effective and keeps the theme of fashion linked into the magazine. Also I think the minimalist style has worked well and makes the magazine look sophisticated and modern, appealing to the audience that i wanted. I think i have made my two-page spread look appealing by placing my text and images in enough space so that it doesnt look cluttered. I have made it look interesting with the two types of font in the title and the images on the music bar at the top of the page to show that this artist is serious about music yet fun with the images. The only downfall that i have noticed with this page is the main image being placed in the middle. I have realised that if this was to be published it would be distorted by the spine and ruin the image. This is something i would change if i was going to make it again. I think the article works well as it is a chatty style, for example 'we have seen you with James Morrison recently, nothing going on there?' which women would like as it is like a normal conversation that they would have with their friends. Also the interview makes it personal to the reader by engaging them into the conversation as if they are in the room whilst the interview with the artist is taking place.

I have created my magazine using many different programmes on the computer. The main one that I used was InDesign, this programme allowed me to import my text and photographs and edit them such as cropping, enhancing and resizing. Looking back at my preliminary task I can see a huge development in my progress. For my preliminary task i had to create a front cover for a college magazine. I used two students to be on the cover and took pictures of them outside college. This image was a very simple head shot and wasn't very eye catching. From doing this I have learnt to explore different camera angles to make images more appealing. Also the font that i used on the front cover was Times New Roman, a very plain and boring font. I think that the font I have used in my final product attracts the reader to buy the magazine.
When doing researh for my project i used many resources such as the internet to find out th information that I needed. I looked on the websites of the popular magazines such as Vogue, NME and Elle.
Here are some screen shots of the websites;
(vogue.com)

(elle.com)

(NME.com)

The questionniare that I handed out to my target audience, asking them what their thoughts and ideas were about the magazine generally showed that they thought the genre and sub-genre worked well together and that the appearance of the magazine was right for them.
These are the questions i asked;

Q1. What is you first impression when looking at the cover of LOGO?

Q2. Do you think that the photograph used suggests that this magazine is about both fashion and music? Please explain your answer.

Q3. What are the main features on the front cover that you think work well?

Q4. What do you think of the layout of the contents page?

Q5. What do you think could be changed on the contents page?

Q6. Do you think the layout of the two-page spread makes it clear and easy to read the text?

Q7. Are there any other questions which you would of liked LOGO to ask the artist?

Q8. Is there anything that could be improved on the two-page spread?

Q9. Overall which page do you think looks the best, the front cover, contents or two-page spread?

Q10. Would you buy this magazine if it was published? If not please explain why

The main response that i got from the questionnaire was very positive and my target audience seemed to like my magazine. One thing that they did comment on was in reply to question two, 'do you think the photograph used suggests that this magazine is about both fashion and music?'. They said that the front cover looks more like a fashion magazine than a music magazine. When thinking about it this is true as the magazine i have created isn't in the style of a music magazine and i did want to link in the theme of fashion. If I could do this again i would probably include something within the image to suggest that it was about music such as a guitar.

My target audience is women ages between 16 and 25 and I think that my magazine represents particular types of social groups. For example the magazine includes music artists and focuses on one in particular, therefore the reader would be the type of person who is interested in the music industry and what is current today. They would most likely be interested in fashion and celebrtities as this is included in the magazine.

I also think that not all types of social groups would buy this magazine. For example I think it would be a largely white dominated audience, British women of the middle and upper classes. I think the readers would be in the C1 and C2 band on the social ladder, meaning that they are semi-professionals, white collar workers but maybe a percentage from the B band, the professionals and the senior managers. However there will be a large amount of buyers from the 'E' band, students with no regular income but aspiring to be high earners. The target audience will be able to afford to buy the magazine on a regular basis and be loyal to their favorite magazine which is why they are right for my magazine financially. I also think that there would be a secondary target audience such as boyfriends, husbands and also younger girls who read the magazine for inspiration.

I think what makes the readers pick up and buy this type of magazine is the appearance. With the modern and sophisticated look, this magazine would attract the women that I have aimed it at such as a young, trendy student. I have represented these types of women through the codes and conventions in the contents page. All the artists that are included in there are ones from this generation and it is the music that this group would most likely listen to.

Annotating the pages.

Cover

I think that the image on the front cover is what makes it obvious to the readers that fashion is included as it is a high fashion shot. This has been proven from the answers to my questionnaire. A new twist is created with this image as it is of the music artist, Lauren Alix, yet she looks like a fashion model. This creates a youthful and fun, yet serious about music image. I got this idea from looking at other magazines that include a music artist on the front cover such as Vogue.

Here they have used Cheryl Cole who is currently a member of the band Girls Aloud, a well known band of today. I think this is a good comparison with to my magazine and I have tried to portray this with my work.

I chose my title LOGO because I thought it would be rather significant as it conveys the iconic image of the magazine. This is because a logo is something that brands a company and that everyone is familiar of such as Nike and Coca-Cola. The title Logo makes this magazine something that everyone should know about. The storylines that I have used on the front cover such as 'need-to-know' guide to the best festival fashion', grabs the readers attention because this is something that interests them today and it is all about following the trend as well as the music at festivals. Also the artists that are mentioned in the contents page do the same, as they are what makes the cirrent music of this generation.

I believe for this type of genre my audience would expect to see a gloss finish, fashion style magazine on the shelf. In my research I looked at magazine like this and what they have represented to the readers. Here are some other examples of fashion magazines that inspired me;

Contents

The lauguage style of the contents page is kept minimal so that it doesn't fill up the page and make it look too crammed with information. This makes the reader want to take the time to read the contents page. Also because of this I have had to provide the readers with something interesting and intreuging to make them read on, such as 'Pharrel V Mischa, let them entertain you'. Also the editors letter is something to make the magazine personal to the reader as if they are being guided through the magazine. I like the black and white image that i have used of Chris Martin, a member of the band Coldplay, who I have used as a feature in the contents page. I think it looks sophisticated and classy and works well on the page. The use of the pink font again links the whole magazine together and I have made the title the same as on the two page spread with the LOGO sign and then the italic writing to give it edge.

Two-Page Spread

I like the final look of my two-page spread, it is what i hope for it to look like and i think it works well. The most creative thing on this page is the music bar at the top - instead of using notes i used pictures of the featured artist. Also the image in the middle is eye catching and again looks like a high fashion shot like the cover photograph.

The seperation of the questions and answers with the titles works well as it is clear to the reader and makes it easy to read. In some magazines the text is too cramped and there seems to be too much and this makes the reader not want to read it.

I have researched different magazine publications that are similar to the style of magazine that i have tried to create. I did this to decide who would be likely to fund my magazine if it was published. The company I looked into was Conde Nast Publications Inc. who publishes extremely popular magazines such as Vogue, Elle, GQ and Allure. These are fashion and lifestyle magazines. There are also other types of magazines that this company publishes such as family,food,travel,technology and finance.
I think that this company would fund my magazine as its genre includes fashion and also adds something extra with the music side of it. The stylee of my magazine is very high fashion glossy, and would fit right with the other upmarket magazines they have published.

EVALUATION?

Go back to Jan 13th and include scan that you mention.

To pick up marks, could you add your pages again into the body of the evaluation and annotate them as in the original reasearch?

This needs a lot of additions to avoid throwing away marks.

Mrs. R

Final Product

This is my magazine completed. Overall i think it has worked well and i have achieved what i wanted.

Problems that occured and changes that i had to make.

Once i had finished making my magazine i had to look back and see if anything needed changing to make it look better. There are the things which i edited;

- At first my text on the front cover was all white apart from the heading, i decided to apply the pink, that was used for 'LOGO', to some of the other text that was on the page. This made it look more interesting instead of just plain white.

- I changed the image of my feature artist, that i first placed on the contents page, to a picture of the lead singer from Coldplay, a band that i have used as another feature. I found this image on the internet and decided to use it as i was not happy with the original image.

- With only one image on the two page spread i decided to add a music bar to the top of the page to link the theme of music, however instead of putting notes on the bar i put small images of the feature artist. I think this looks very effective and makes the page look more interesting.

Review of the project.

Overall i think that my project went according to plan, there were some things that i had to change as i have mentioned above but what i planned originally seemed to apply to what i finally created. One thing that i would manage next time is timing, i underestimated how long it would take and didn't make enough time for the editing of the magazine. Also i would take a wider variety of pictures so that i had a lot of choice.

Contents Page

Front Page Draft
(put scan of front page in here)

I decided to do a draft of what I want my front page to look like to show my ideas and plans. As you can see on this sketch i have used the rule of thirds to make what will be my image of my artist the main focus on the page. I have put the heading 'LOGO' in the top right hand corner so that it wont overlap the image that I will use. In the top right hand corner I have included the date, the price and the issue number of the magazine as these are commonly found on magazines that are in the market today. I have used small font so that it is discriet and doesnt take away the focus of the image. Also i have included a barcode in the bottom right hand corner as this is a necessity for a magazine. I have spread the layout of the text across the page at different levels on both the right and left hand side of the page. I think this will work well as it won't make the page look too crowded.

Before creating my draft of a contents page i decided to analyse an existing contents page from the music magazine NME.
These are the key features that i found;


- The NME logo was at the top of the page, this makes it familiar to the reader as it is a well known logo.
- The magazine is down-market tabloid style rather than up-market gloss. This appeals to the type of audience they are aiming to attract.
- The purpose of the contents page is to guide and inform the reader about the rest of the magazine.
- The features are catagorised with columns, this breaks everything down and makes it easy to read.
- The features list gives you an insight of what is inside, this draws the reader in to buy the magazine.
- The main feature of the magazine is highlighted on the page and made clear to the reader where it is.
- The editors note makes the magazine seem personal to the reader, they are addressing you.
- The signature and picture also adds to this, the photo gives eye contact. Also the italic font makes it a different viewpoint and is eye catching.
- Offers 'save 33%' help the readers save money but also help the magazine to get regular buyers.


These are the things that i am going to take into account when drafting and making my real contents page, I think these are the things that you must include.




This is my scanned draft of my contents page:

I also decided to do a rough draft of what I want my two page spread to look like. This is the scan of my sketch;
(insert scan here)
I would like to have a big title at the top of the page to make it stand out to the reader, also i have put the image in the middle to make it the main focus with the text around it. I think this will work well as it will break the text up.

preliminary task

To show that i understand the basic ideas of a magazine cover and that i can use the programme that i will create my magazine with, i have done a preliminary task which is an example of a front cover of a magazine. 

I have created a front cover for a student magazine.

Criticisms of my front cover

- The first thing that i notice when looking at the cover is the clothes that the models are wearing. I think the problem is that the colours are juxtaposed with the light colour on the right and the dark on the left. I found that this was a problem for the colour of the font that i was using as I couldn't seem to find a colour that stood out on both of the background colours. 

-I think that the font is quite boring and it is a classical style. On my final design i will use a more modern font that will suit my target audience more and attract them to buy it.

-The overall colour of the front cover is quite dull. I think the colour pallet is cold and to make it look more interesting i I will use a warmer pallet and more bright and vibrant colours. 

- I think that the mast head would work better if it was included in the image, either behind it or over the top. This would be without the block colour behind it. 

- The capital letters make the magazine look formal, for this audience I think i would change it to make it seem more of a casual read.

Please see us re. layout of blog. Mrs R

Your research and analysis is good, but I think you've got to give a much better explanation about why you want it to look like a fashion magazine. Perhaps this will come out in the analyisis of the visual style of the covers? Mrs R