Final/Improved Front cover

I have again decided to change my front cover. I have changed the title, making it stand out more, making sure that it is the first thing that hits the readers eye. I did this by making it much bigger and making sure that it goes more or less all the way across the top of the page. I did this because, on my last attempt of a final front cover, my title was the same size as the 'TULISA' near the bottom of the page, which wasn't a good effect. It made the title a lot less appealing, as the first thing that caught the readers eye wasn't the title, which should be and is on every successful magazine.

I kept everything else the same and now am happy with my final product of my music magazine front cover.

Final/Improved DPS

I have decided to change my DPS as I feel the one I had before did not work very well and actually did challenged conventions too much decided to stick with columns, like a typical magazine would, and also to brighten up the background, as on my previous one I had a boring and dull colour for my background and felt that it didn't go very well with the colours of my front cover and contents page and just feel that this one does, as it it a bright colour and looks more appealing, as my target audience want to see something that looks good, as well as something that looks appealing to them.

The conventions that I stuck to on this final design, were the columns; that have made my DPS look so much more professional and more like an actual magazine.

I decided to stick with the red font, as it, again made it more eye catching and appealing, as it really stands out with that particular colour background. I kept the idea of the text going around the artist, which I feel has a unique effect and makes the dps much more captivating and unique and make the reader want to read the article.

I kept the Pictures going down the side, as I feel it makes the DPS more appealing to my particular target audience and without this, my magazine would look really dull, with only one image on the DPS. The quotation on this page is in a salmon colour, which I feel covers the empty space behind it. I decided on a salmon colour because it goes really well with the brown wall she is leaning on.

I completely changed the font and the font size of the heading and sub heading, because I feel that a DPS should be introduced with a big, bold title standing out from the page, making it look professional and more of a successful convention that you would see in a typical magazine.

I kept the picture of this particular model, because it is a unique image and I feel just makes the DPS look like more of a Rap magazine but it also gives off a Pop genre vibe, linking into the magazine I wanted to make quite nicely.

Evaluation - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Preliminary task

Looking back and comparing my Preliminary task to my media product of a music magazine, you can tell that my skills have improved a significant amount. I have learnt so much from when I did my school magazine. One of the things I have learnt is the importance of equidistance. If I got this wrong it could have quite easily made my magazine unsuccessful and not look at all organised, not looking like a professional magazine.

I have improved a considerable amount as you can see from the images. I understand more about what my target audience want in a magazine and have much more knowledge around the area, which allowed me to make my products look much more better and allowed me to appeal more to my target audience. Overall I am pleased with my final products of for my music magazine, as I feel that they represent the Pop/Rap genre very nicely, therefore appeal to my target audience.

Final music magazine (Front cover, Contents and DPS)

 

There were many problems with my school magazine front cover. Starting with the font. I used a plain Times New Roman font, which was not at all appealing as it made my magazine look really boring and plain, not standing out to the audience. As well as the text being simple and not vary in meaning and nothing stands out to the audience.

The colour scheme I used was not in the slightest bit appealing. They didn't at all fit together, they were a really bad match of colours, which would certainly dis-attract the reader from wanting to read on, as it looks very unappealing and distracting with all the bright colours on the page. By the colour scheme not being constant, it actually makes the page look unorganised and like not something you want to read.

The title in the school magazine is not bold or doesn't catch the reader's eye in any way, therefore making it stand out less, automatically becoming boring and dull.

The main image on the school magazine again is not a image of a successful magazine front cover. It was taken with the camera on my phone, therefore it didn't turn out very professional. I took the photo with  green background and tried to make the green a black background, which proved to be unsuccessful, as you can actually still see some of that bright background, which really stands out from the rest of the page and looks very unprofessional and disorganised and not at all like a successful magazine cover.

The background is another thing that made the front cover unsuccessful and not look professional.  This is because I made it a very dark background, which did not at all contrast well with my images, or even my text and especially my sell line in the bright yellow star. By having a black background, it made everything on the page stand out, which was not at all a good thing, as it made everything look really disorganised and unprofessional.

The images on the contents page did not go very well with the background  this is because I decided to have a black background and the images were all very brightly coloured, which made it stand out awfully.

There were also many problems in my contents page of my Preliminary task of a school magazine. First of all, I again chose a black background, which just by looking at the page, you can tell that this decision was a bad one, because it made the page look really dull and too dark, resulting in a unappealing contents page, that no one would want to read, especially the target audience, who were in fact students of a primary school. I should of thought more about what my audience wanted, which would of been bright colours and a full and cluttered page.

The contents page had a lot of dead space around it, which is the feature of an unsuccessful magazine, as it straight away dis-attracts the reader from reading the rest of the page, looks dull and boring and doesn't look at all professional.

The images on the contents page were also not a very good touch, as it didn't seem to fit in with the page. This is mainly because the images were of all different sizes, which made the page look really messy, and unprofessional.

Overall I feel I have improved drastically and have learnt so much in progression from my preliminary task of my school magazine, to my final product of my music magazine. For example I now know how to use Pixlr and know how to add effects to my images making them look effective and stand out, catching the reader's eye, whereas before I didn't have this skill and just put the image straight onto the page, without adding any sort of effect to it. The most important thing, I feel that I have learnt is how to make my magazine look professional and  how to make it appeal to my target audience. I have gained knowledge of research techniques, being able to use a questionnaire to my advantage of making a successful magazine of what my target audience want to see in a magazine.

What made my final product much better that my preliminary task was a whole range of things that I have gained knowledge and skill on. For example on my front cover, contents page and DPS, I stuck with a convention of every successful magazine in my genre, which was a three colour scheme. This definitely made my front cover look more professional because it really came together nicely and catches the eye the reader and I feel it was one of many features that made my front cover and contents page successful.

My sell lines on my final product compared to the one on my preliminary task has improved a lot. It was thought out a lot more in my final product, as I actually linked it to what my target audience wanted and made it appeal to them, so they would buy the magazine, as well as making it look much more appealing.

The structure of my final magazine was, again thought out so much more than the structure of my preliminary task. I didn't have much text on my front cover of the school magazine, creating a lot of dead space, making it look dull and where I did have the text, it wasn't positioned right, I made it go around the main image, not making the page look interesting, as well as the font not being at all appealing. However in my final product I thought it through and actually made the structure of the front cover, contents page and DPS appealing to my target audience, not making it formal by just writing in boring columns, I made it quite informal, just what my target audience want, making it eye catching, fitting in with my magazine more, making them actually want to read on. With my DPS I did use columns for the article, however I believe that is a convention of a successful magazine. I didn't completely stick to this convention, I made it look more appealing by making the text go around the model on the page, allowing it to catch the readers eye and for them not to lose interest, like I feel my target audience would if I did it in straight columns.

With my final product I thought it through so much more than my preliminary task, and gained the knowledge on how to use a digital camera, which took a much better image than the images on my school magazine, that was taken on my phone. I thought about the Mise-en-scene in my final product, for my front cover, contents page and DPS. I thought through what the models were going to wear, the props used and the backing scene area in so much detail, whereas I didn't at all think about any of this whilst doing my school magazine.

I now feel more confident producing a music magazine, as I have a lot of knowledge around this area and how to use all the particular software's. I have more understanding of how to make a magazine that a particular group of people want and how to create a interesting, appealing and eye catching magazine from nothing. As you can see through comparison from my preliminary task to my final music magazine, I have improved and have gained so much more knowledge of how to create a successful music magazine.

Evaluation - In which ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In which ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Before I started even planning the front cover of my magazine, I did a huge amount of research around the genre of magazine I was going for, which was originally pop, but I decided to change that quite early on, as there were a huge amount of existing pop magazines and I wanted to create a unique magazine, so I decided to add a twist of Rap to it, making it a Pop/Rap magazine. The magazines I decided to base mine on were a mixture of 'Top of the pops' and 'Vibe'. I chose these two genres because I am extremely into the
se two types of music and know a huge amount about them, which I thought would help me a great deal when coming to making the magazine. 

I searched up a wide range of existing pop and Rap magazines, allowing me to follow particular codes and conventions, which helped my attempt of making a music magazine successful. I came across a range of magazines that fitted my genres. However there isn't a existing Pop/Rap magazine so I had to separately search each one of them. Doing two different genres allowed me to actually challenge forms of conventions of existing magazines, as I added particular things to my final front cover that you wouldn't typically see in both pop and rap magazines.

This is the masthead of my magazine. As you can see I stuck to a genetic positioning, going all the way across the top of the page. Most magazines have this particular positioning, including my two genres. The masthead is a convention that I stuck to, as by positioning a masthead here allows it to be clear to see, eye catching, more recognisable and most importantly the first thing you see on the page, as well as not creating any empty space, which would not appeal to the audience of my magazine. I also stuck to the convention of making my masthead big and bold and by the capital letters used, which is furthered by the fact that I used a standard sans font. However, by not sticking to just one colour for my masthead challenged the conventions, as a typical Rap and Pop magazine would have only one colour in their title. I decided to challenge this convention, as I wanted my magazine to be vibrant and something different, not uninteresting and boring.

In terms of the name 'HOT OR NOT' I wanted something to appeal the whole of my target audience, which was a challenge because I have two completely different audiences, however I decided to keep it simple, as I wanted to be easily remembered and recognised. I couldn't choose between two, one of them being 'HOT OR NOT' and the other one being 'Just music'. As result of not being able to chose myself, I did a one question survey, allowing my target audience to choose for themselves. 'HOT OR NOT' won ten votes to one. This title definitely fits into both of my chosen genres.

I followed the conventions of sticking to three colours on the front cover of the magazine to make it simple and eye catching. By sticking to a three colour scheme it makes the magazine look a lot more organised and actually easier for the reader to read, making them want to read more.

The bar code was another convention I stuck with, this is purely because it brings the magazine together, giving it that more professional look to it as well as it being a feature of a successful magazine.

Using images besides my main image on the front cover, challenges conventions for the Rap genre, this is because most magazines only actually have one main image and the rest would all be text, crowding and filling up the magazine.. However, as I'm doing two genres of music, this was also a convention, as pop magazines are normally cluttered with other images scattered all around. I decided to add a few images, but not too much that it would challenge the Rap side of my magazine hugely.

With the text, I decided to challenge conventions, as during my research I found that both of the genres I am basing my magazine on, the text seems to go around the main image, not overlapping it, just clumped all around the model on the cover, which to me, doesn't seem very appealing and doesn't really catch the readers attention, which is why I decided to challenge this by placing the text all over the main image, covering some of the model on it. This is really appealing and eye catching and allows the reader to take in what is inside just by skimming the page. I did however make the colours on the cover different and not one consistent colour, which stuck to conventions, as both Rap and Pop magazines stick to a three colour scheme regarding the text, which makes the magazine look a lot more interesting and will hook the reader more, as it it instantly looks appealing and really catches the eye. Another convention I have stuck with, regarding the text, it the font. During my research, I saw that the text on Pop and Rap magazines stick to one font, which varies in size. I decided to keep this the same, as it looked really effective and is one of the qualities in a successful magazine. I used one Sans font and, as you can see by the image above, I varied the size.

 My contents page challenges conventions of an existing magazine, by firstly the layout. Most magazines structure their contents a lot different than mine. Thy are normally a lot more cluttered than mine, filled with a lot more, images, text and even sell lines. I decided to go for a less cluttered contents, without it having any dead space or looking boring and lifeless. I made the text and images fit around the main image nicely, looking not too cluttered but not too empty.

By adding more than one image on this page, it shows that I stuck to a convention, as existing magazines tent to have more than one image on their contents page, which makes the page look a lot more appealing than just having one main image.

The title on my DPS is a convention that I decided to stick with. This is because I believe that every successful magazine has to have a big and bold title, that would capture the readers eye straight away and would be the first thing they would look at. However, the font of the title is challenging the convention of an existing magazine, fitting in with my two genres, as they tend not to be in a Sans Serif font and tend to be more bold and a much more thicker font. I decided to challenge this convention because I felt that a bigger and thicker font made the page look very unprofessional and not very appealing. I felt that this particular font fits in with my DPS a lot more and makes it look like a successful page, that my target udience would like and want to read.

Another convention I stuck with on my DPS, was the page numbers on the top of the pages. I feel that having them on the page makes it look more professional and more like a successful music magazine.

I stuck with the convention of columns on my DPS but decided to develop it slightly. I originally didn't want to have columns, as I thought that they made the page really boring and dull and didn't appeal to the target audience. However I created a DPS without columns and it proved to me that a DPS without the convention of columns, didn't look like a successful DPS, it looked unprofessional and didn't really fit in well with the pages. I decided to use columns but develop on it, to make it look less dis-attractive. I did this by instead of having straight columns, like most magazines do, I made the text go around the model on the page, making it look much more appealing and like something my audience actually want to read.

The size of the text is another convention I stuck to, as in most Rap and Pop magazines, the article tends to be written in a very small font size, making the page look a lot more attractive and making the reader want to read the actual article and not just to look at the images.

Existing magazine

I challenged conventions with my main image, as in a existing magazine you would normally have the image on just one side, covering the whole page, then have the text in straight columns on the other page. I challenged this convention, by making the model on the page spread out, hitting both sides of the DPS. This made my magazine a lot more appealing and unique and more importantly, what my target audience want in a DPS.

Evaluation - How did you attract/address your audience?

How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted my audience in a number of ways, using different tactics and techniques to draw their attention to my magazine.

As my target audience are 15-19 year olds I decided not to use formal language, as there would b a risk of losing their interest, resulting in them no longer not purchasing my magazine. I kept the language informal, as I felt a if my audience could relate to the magazine more, grabbing their attention. I actually used sang in the magazine, as this is the language my target audience are familiar with and can relate to and it assures them that it wasn't formal boring person that wrote it.

The font is another way I attracted my audience. Although I only used one font throughout the making of each page of my magazine, with exceptions to my contents page. I feel doing this made my magazine look much more in range with my target audience, I changes the size, colour and made it bold. This made the magazine look more interesting and appealing, catching my target audience's eye and them actually wanting to read on, rather the being put off with lots of different fonts, making the page look overcrowded and confusing for the reader, getting distracted and losing interest by the different fonts on the page.

I tried to draw my target audience in by adding a competition that is  brightly decorated on my contents page, making sure it is one of the first things the reader comes across. Because my questionnaire showed me that a huge proportion of my target audience buys these magazines because of the competitions they can enter, and as being a 17 year old myself, I know what my target audience want and Wireless Festival is one of the biggest event of the summer, that most teens want to be involved in. I added the official wireless logo,  so people could recognise it, which allows people more people to be drawn in and continuously to buy this magazine. I added the chance to win the tickets in my contents page, as I wanted my magazine to get better and better as the reader reads on.

The main image on the front cover is a picture of a teenager, the same ages as my target audience. The fact that she is looking at the camera, allows the audience to be drawn in, addressing the audience. This is a popular convention in magazines, as most successful magazines do this to address to their audience, drawing them in to buying the magazine. I have also added images at the bottom of my front cover, making it appeal to the audience more, as I feel that just having one main image would not address my audience and they wouldn't be drawn in as much and may even find it boring and not want to read on.

The main image on my contents page is the same teenage artist holding a guitar with her headphones on, looking as if she is really enjoying playing and listening to music. This is very effective as it allows the audience to feel as though they can feel what she is feeling by reading this magazine and fulfilling themselves by reading all about the music and the rest of the content in the magazine. In my contents page I also added further images of that same artist in a 'Exclusive photoshoot'. This shows the audience that they have a whole article on that particular artist that they can look forward to and enjoy. It also makes the magazine more appealing to my audience as, going back to my questionnaire, my targeted audience said that they preferred a page with more than one image but not too cluttered, and I feel as though the images I added to my contents would hugely appeal to my target audience.

The image on my double page spread I feel would appeal to my target audience because it is actually quite a uniquely laid out. I feel this would address my audience and draw them in, making them want to read the article on the page and find out more about the artist on the page, her story so they can understand the image more, allowing them to know why it is that she is looking that way in the main image on the page and really getting to know the artist and maybe even gaining an interest to her.

I again added a few more images at the side of the right hand page, again linking back to my questionnaire, my target audience want to see more than one image on a page, so I added a few more, allowing my magazine to attract them, making it appeal to them more and allowing them to enjoy my magazine more.

The masthead of my magazine front cover, is very unique and eye catching. This allows the magazine to catch the attention of my audience. I used three bold colours, making it stand out more, but not too much that it makes my magazine look too overcrowded and not appeal to my audience. I also made it as big as I could. I did this because I feel that every successful magazine has to have a big title that really hooks the reader into reading the magazine and makes the reader recognise that particular title.

I feel that I have been successful in the making of my magazine, as I have took on board the feedback that my target audience have given me, as well as trying to make my magazine look unique and making it one of a kind, which makes it a lot more interesting, as my audience wouldn't have seen it done like the way I have done it before, which would make it more interesting for them making them want more of the same style.

Evaluation - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

During the time of opening a blog to now, I have learnt so much about all sorts of different technologies. Before starting making my magazine, I didn't even know how to switch a camera on, but managed to progress by practising and taking pictures, long and wide shot, close and extreme close up.  The camera I used (In the picture) proved extremely helpful, as it allowed me to take, clean and clear photos.  The fact that the camera that I used was digital, allowed me to see the image I had taken on the screen, and gave me the option of keeping or deleting it, if it came our wrong or blurry, however my camera comes with a lot of space, so I was able to keep every photo on there, until I uploaded it on the computer, which is another thing I learnt how to do during the process of making my magazine. For this task I actually went and brought a camera, so I could learn more about how to use it and to develop my knowledge on it. I have learnt how to zoom in and out, how to focus on a certain product, to blur the background and how to know what is the best angle to take the best possible picture is from. The main thing I learnt about this camera, when I actually got to grips with the camera and how to function it, was how to use the features of the camera and how to get different effects for my images.

Before starting this course I had never opened a blog before, so I was new to the whole thing. This allowed me to learn about how to use blogger and and allow development to occur, within my knowledge of how to blog, how to create a post, to follow people, to publish and how to add pictures of my final design to a new post, ready for deconstruction.

I used a editing software called Pixlr. I had done nothing like editing or photoshopping before, so I had made very slow progression. So I could get used to it, I edited some pictures or artists first and can safely say, without doing this I wouldn't of got the hang of it, at all. In the process of constructing the magazine, I did so much on Pixlr, which included: Cropping, highering and lowering the saturation, contrast and hue, Changing the colour of a background, removing unwanted objects off of a image, photoshopping, adding effects, adding text and how to duplicate an image. Using Pixlr allowed me to develop my product and allowed it to have a different and unique effect to it, making it more interesting and in some way successful. An example when photoshop was crucial,was when I had to make my two images look like they were taken in the same room, I had to carefully edit the background, making them the same colour all around. Without this, the images would of looked very odd and extremely uneven and would not have resulted in a successful magazine.

The internet was extremely helpful during the making of my magazine, because it not only helped me with my research, and allowed me to deconstruct other magazines of my chosen genres. Another aspect of the internet that allowed progression and development to occur was being able to blog. This showed me the skills I have gained and allowed me to keep track of my progression but it also it helped me during the development and creation of my blog, allowing me to document and publish my work, showing me the new skills I was gaining. The internet allowed me to look at forms and conventions of magazines, which helped me look at what made a successful magazine. 

Overall I feel that technology has helped me with the creation on my front cover, contents page and my double page spread. Without these technologies I would of never been able to create a successful magazine, or progress in these technical aspects and wouldn't have gained and further skill or knowledge in this are.