As Media Main Coursework - Blog 10

Feedback
When finished with my magazine i printed it out and asked people in my target audience what they thought of it.
I asked 10 people aged between 15-18, 8 people said that they would buy the magazine if they saw it on a shop shelf, they said that the masthead gave them a clear view of what the magazine was about. The two that said they wouldnt buy it said that it wasnt their style of music and they were more into hip hop. I asked a few more peolple and they said they would but it but only if Kerrang or Q had sold out because that was what they always bought and didnt want to change. Overall my feelings from the response i got waqs i think that my design attracts people to read it but will never compete with the likes or kerrand and nme because its a big label which people are used to buying on a weekly basis. I think that they would actually be more inclined to buy it because its something new and interesting and get someone to buy once if they like it can become regular sales.

As Media Main Coursework - Blog 9

Final Evaluation

Front Cover - http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B0F30i__8QHBNDExODdkYjgtZmQ5MS00YmIxLTgzZmEtM2JiOWFkYWMyMTMw&hl=en

Contents & Double Page Spread - http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B0F30i__8QHBYjFmYmI4ZDItNjhiMy00NTgyLWI3NmItNmRmNmViMDAyYjk2&hl=en

When designing my magazine i found that the skills and experience i gained from the preliminary course helped me alot, i am pleased with my final design and pleased that it looks the way i pictured and drew out on my flat plans. When designing my magazine i did make a few changes here and there e.g. layout, i moved pictures around to where i felt they looked best, i also changed the colour because i wanted it to all blend so that the colour could also be used as a reference to know what part of the magazine the reader was using. When choosing my images i wanted the models to to be over glamoures and just to look like five average people so my audience could find them more relateable. I decided to not have them smiling but to have a kind of smug look so that the headline of them taking over the would relate to the picture. I chose the name IROCK for my magazine which is a abreveation for indie/rock, this is the genre for my magazine. The main layout for my magazine is conventional and has the masthead at the top and main image covering the page which magazines like kerrang and nme use on theirs. The main insperation for my magazine design was a mixture from nme, kerrang and Q magazine. I didnt copy and ideas but just encorporated some of their features into my magazine such as the facts box. The way my magzine is different because it doesnt look out of touch with reality and i feel people will look at the images and story and be able to relate directly to the band and images. When making decsions about my magazine i wanted to have a really broad age range of target audience but feel that it is between 15-22, of a middle class, mainly students, any race or gender. However i feel that nme and kerrang also aim at this market so competion for sales would be difficult but what makes mine stand out is i think that people who look at the magazine will immediatly be able to tell that its a youthful magazine aimed at indie kids and this will bring them directly to my magazine. If it came to selling my magazine i could see it being sold at all local newsagents because i feel that its not a specialist magazine and they would chose to sell it because its got a wide target market and be sold esasily. The magazine itself uses a fairly relaxed approach to language and uses slang language here and there so that the audience could relate more because its how they would have a chat with their mates and talk in their everyday lives.

When using in design, at first i found it fairly difficult to use because it waas all new to me, however i found that after a few hours and lessons using it to construct a basic layout was fairly easy. When desiging my product i found i had to make changes to my original design because either the software couldnt do it or simply i just didnt know how e.g. cut page in half and change colour of one side. Now i look back at my design though i feel that i prefer it now i have made the adjustments. Compared to my preliminary task, i think this design is so much better because i knew more about the software and had alot of ideas to play around with. My preliminary task was very simplistic and feel this task is really well done and to a good standard, with alot more advanced design. I think this magazine design has been sucessful and i am really pleased with my final piece.

As Media Main Coursework - Blog 8

Planning and evalutation of article

My magazine is a indie/rock genre, so for research i looked at articles in magazines of a similar genre e.g. kerrang and Q.

Kerrang uses a variety of methods when writing a article e.g. interviews and reviews. When doing interviews they use a Q&A method, show the question and response. Kerrang do it right to the point, no pretty designs just pure facts. I think this is good because it shows clearly what happend and if u want to know something specific when reading you can just look for the question and get straight answers. i thought this was a good method and encorporated it into my magazine a little bit. Q magazine is slightly different when they do interviews, their method is slightly more relaxed like having a chat with a friend and more pictures and design on the layout.

The language used is fairly similar in these two magazines but was quite surprised to find that Q magazine uses more slang than Kerrang, because Q seems like a more like it would appeal to a higher class then Kerrang would but Kerrang used sophisticated language and very informative.

This is a question from kerrang.

This is the Layout for kerrang, looks more information oreintated and factful.

Question from Q, you can see that its language is

slightly different and use more slang.

Layout of Q, Decorative and questions arent as in your face.

When doing my article i used variety of methods, but i mainly used a review layout and a few facts, just a story about the bands journey. After reading articles of similar genre i disconverd that i could use slang language if i chose so i did change some sentances because then it becomes more relatable because the audience who im aiming my magazine at will understand it and will be more familiar to them.

As Media Main Coursework - Blog 7

Photo Editing

When deciding on what pictures to finally use i messed around with ligh settings and colour effects but preffered my pictures the way they already were. Although i didnt change their setting, i did combine images into one.

These are the original images before i altered them.

This is what i did to the originals, i combined them into a verical tile like style, i did this because i wanted to use this picture on my contents page as a desciption of what the band is and look like. I also slightly brightend the image so the lines between the images wasnt as obvious.

As Media Main Coursework - Blog 6

Photos

In my magazine i decided to use pictures of a band i already knew, ranging from 19-24. They are a indie/rock band which i thought is perfect for my magazine IROCK (Indie/rock). With their age range and genre, they relate to my target audience.

I used this picture for my front cover, i didnt ask them to wear any specific costume, just what they would wear to do a normal gig. I left enough space at the top and down the left side for my masthead and cover stories. I think this would relate to my target audience because they are middle class boys and not overly dressed. I wanted to have something else in the image and as my cover story was going to be about the band climbing to success, i had them climb up this structure to make more of a statement.


When deciding on a picture i took a few more in this place too have a variety to see which was better.

I decided not to use this picture because it didn't leave much room to put my text and other stuff on so i went with the other picture, i kept the layout kind of the same but had some looking away from the camera.

When taking the pictures for my double page spread and other areas, i wasnt completly sure what imags to use so i took a variety of different pictures.

I thought this picture would be good for my double page because it shows them all clearly and people will be able to see exactly what they are like, i didnt what a busy background but didnt just what a plain colour. I decided to go for a brick wall, it gives it a bit more of a grungy feel which relates to the genre of the magazine.

I also took a black and white image just so i could have a choice and slighly changed the poses but still the same background.

I took indiviual pictures of all the band members aswell just in case i decided to use them, i took them all in black and white to give them abit of a darker feel and abit strange to keep it in touch with the magazine.I used the inside of a pub, with some of the pictures infront fire exit door to give it some kind of danger and warning signs. which can relate to the target audience of the magazine and had them all lookin at the camera.

With this picture i made it slightly bolder then the others with his hands up to make him stand out abit more because he is the front man in the band

I think these images will relate to my target audience because they are all young lads in the same age range as my readers and dressed like typical 20 y o men. All of them could be just a average joe and easily can be related to.

AS Media Main Coursework - Blog 5

Fonts

In my magazine i didnt want to use simple boring fonts, i wanted to use one that my audience could relate to. I decided to conduct a feedback form for my main masthead for ages between 16-18 so i could decide which one was best suited for my magazine.

This was my feedback form, and the majority vote went to the first one. I think that this is because it is unique and funky, i can see why this would appeal to my target audience.
I also asked around to find out which font was easy to read and looked better out of sans-serif and seirf typeface. People said that serif was easy to read but sans-serif looked alot tidyer and neat, i took this into account and decided to use myriad pro which is a sans-serif typeface on my main body text.

AS Media Main Coursework - Blog 4

Flat Plans

Frontpage

This is the front cover flat plan to my magazine, i have used a fairly conventional method of layout but feel ive added a unigue touch. My masthead is instinctivly the main attraction, big, bold and eye catching. I have a strapline across the top with a little bit of information telling the basics of what u might find in the magazine. Data and issue number is in the top left over lapping some of the masthead. The slogan is used as a underline of the masthead. I feel my masthead is ideal for my target audience because its modern, punky and fits in with the genre. My main image is going to dominate this page but will not be the instant eye catcher. I want people to notice the headline so im going to make this big, colourful and bold. This is in fitting with the audience because young people like bright and eccentric stuff. Im also going to have sub-headings so once they have seen the headline there a little more information to entise them in. The sub headings wont be as big as the headline, they will just be a taster so they want to find out more. The price of my magazine is going down vertical on the left hand side of the masthead and the bar code vertical down the side of the page. My strapline is horizontal across the bottom of the page. This will have abit more info of what you can find on the inside. I feel that this front page has a mixture of all current magazine which are on sale now but has that little bit exrtra. Compared to NME i feel that mine will be more attractive. I want to use a fairly simplistic solour scheme similar to Q magazine but mine will be abit more modern.

Contents page

This is my contents page, i haved tried to make the whole page unigue. Ive carried my masthead though and used it on this page so people know exactly what they are reading. I have the date and issue. I would like to think i have broke away from the coventional method of layout on this page. I have done this by divinding my page into two parts; Info and contents, images. On the left i have what is inside and images down the right. The images have page references on them so you can relate them to the story on the left. I have boxes at the bottom just with the small extras that are in the magazine. The main subjects are in the contents part. I am going to use alot of decorative effects on this page which i think my target audience will relate to. kerrang has a similar format e.g. organised mess but i think i will be slightly more sophisticated.

Double page spread.

My double page spread is similar to many magazines when they are reviewing bands. My headline is across the top in bold, bright writing. With a small sub heading below. Im going to have the band name as the title. My body text is going to be in 3 collums covering only onside of the page spread. A few important facts about the band in a box spreading across both pages. I think this page will be relavant to my target audience because they wont be too much writing to bore them and if they just want the important stuff then they can glance back at the facts box. On the other page im doing to use a image to cover the whole page. I will use a picture of the band. Im also going to use a pull quote from the main text a put it over lapping the image. Alot of magazines use this and i think its a good touch. NME show it in blog 3.