Final Front Cover

Final Contents Page

Final Double Page Spread

Reader Profile

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does my media product use, challenge or develop forms and conventions of real media products?

As I've highlighted in the presentation, I used basic conventions while breaking others to create a product that is professional, looks like a real product, but has a unique look.
 To enable myself to apply convention, I first looked at other magazines and identified where there are similarities.  I also looked for differences to discover where conventions aren't strictly followed.  This would allow me to create a product that is unique and stands out from the rest  but not look so different that it's unrecognisable that it's a magazine.

  A consistent colour scheme is a convention, however the colour scheme itself can sometimes vary from product to product.  However, as exemplified by the screenshots below, pink and purple are hardly used as a colour scheme on the front of widespread rock magazines Kerrang!, NME, Mojo and Classic Rock.  The most common themes are black, white, red and yellow; with some exceptions.  I decided to break this convention because I wanted to create a product that looks different from the rest.  Furthermore, rock culture is about trying out new things and embracing the unique; therefore I thought it would be fitting to have a non-conventional colour scheme on the front of a rock magazine as it would reinforce one of the ideologies of the genre.  

I did, however, stick to conventions regarding layout, font styles and representations of the audience because I had to keep those things consistent with the genre to ensure that it was evident what it is.  This also allowed my magazine to adopt a professional look as it looks similar to other already existing products.

One thing that I think could be adjusted to make the front cover look more professional is to make the main image bigger/take up more space because I feel that my magazine has more blank space that other magazines.  Also, the artists' faces, on existing products, are bigger on the page than on my magazine. I think this is to allow potential buyers to see the artist more clearly which would be more likely to attract an audience as people want to read about their favourite artists. 

 To improve this, I would take an image in which the artists are closer to each other, allowing me to take a closer shot and still get all the people in the frame.  For instance, I would have one model stand slightly in front like on the 'Green Day' issue of Kerrang!  This way, more of the space would be filled and it would have a more professional look as it would follow conventions more closely.  

Evaluation Question 2: How does my media product represent particular social groups?

When designing my media product, one of my aims was to create a magazine that appealed to fans of all different kinds of rock; from classic to modern; from metal to indie; as I felt that there was a gap in the market for an all inclusive rock magazine.  NME mainly appeals to fans of 'indie' rock, Kerrang! appeals to metal/modern rock fans, Mojo and Classic Rock appeal to older rock fans.  I, myself, am a fan of all different types of rock, so I decided to make a magazine that I would buy to make it easier to relate to my target audience; thus appealing to my target audience more affectively.

So, on the cover, I used the image of the models to reflect the 'typical' rocker; unnatural hair colour; dark clothes and makeup; tattoos etc. 

Here I've drawn some comparisons between aesthetics and stereotypes of my 'band' and those of already existing bands.  This way, the audience will be able to identify that the people on the cover of my magazine are a rock band and therefore will be drawn towards picking up the magazine, knowing that what they like may be in it.













This slideshow allows you to see how I've put my models in a similar pose to the ones in already existing photos/promo shots of bands.

• Stood in a line
• Frontman in the middle
• Looking at the camera (mostly)
• Stern facial expression
• Interacting with each other in some way (arm around shoulder)
• Facing towards one point (not facing away from each other)
• Comfortable body language
• Confidence

I chose this photo because it possesses all these qualities therefore has the look of a real band photo.  This represents social groups in terms of musicians.  Some of the readers may be musicians themselves so this is an accurate representation of them to.

http://www.leedsfestival.com/photos - this link directs you to a gallery of images taken at Leeds festival; a popular festival for rock fans to attend.  (The line-up at Leeds is always centered around rock music and has many types of sub genres playing there.  I therefore conclude that my magazine would appeal to many Leeds festival goers for this reason.)  In the gallery you can see a range of rock fans/artists represented; a significant amount having alternative style, coloured hair, tattoos, piercings etc but all interpreted in different ways e.g. Punk, bohemian/indie and electro.
 This way, the models wouldn't appeal too directly to any particular rock sub genre, and in turn wouldn't particularly exclude fans of certain sub-genres.


Furthermore, I've made my magazine inclusive via the use of a Band Index on the contents page.
This alphabetically lists all the bands that would be mentioned in the magazine and the page number on which they feature.  The bands I've listed are a wide range of styles.  This way, people can see that the magazine probably has something that appeals to their taste by looking at the band index.

Also, the album covers shown under the 'REVIEWS' subtitle shows that albums with varying music styles have been reviewed.  This demonstrates the inclusive ideology I've adopted in an obvious way which will easily appeal to my audience.  

Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?

I feel as though my magazine would be best to be published by independent publishing company TeamRock.

 

I feel this because the ideology of my magazine and of this company match more that IPC or Bauer; the  publishers of other similar magazines NME and Kerrang!  Although I've used NME and Kerrang! as my main sources of inspiration for designing my magazine, I want the ideology of my publisher to be different to that of IPC.

For instance; IPC Media also publish magazines such as Nuts, Woman's Weekly, Marie Clarie etc.  This demonstrates the mass audience for which IPC publishes.  To me, this suggests that their ideology is more one of making money and appealing to the masses.  Of course, there are advantages to this, in that my magazine will reach a wider audience.  However, readership counts show that Classic Rock, the biggest magazine published by TeamRock, sells more copies than the NME. 

TeamRock seem to have a much more down-to-earth approach and have more passion behind what they're actually publishing.  I believe this is because they only publish Rock Music magazines, so are able to consolidate all their passion and effort into this.

On the about section of their webpage:

"TeamRock is a company that combines the best of traditional media with the boldness of new media, corporately speaking.

We've spotted a gap in the rock music market, it's called "the rock music market" and we've noticed that rock music fans aren't getting the right access to the content they want, the way they want it, so we're changing that. Along with the recent acquisitions of Classic Rock & Metal Hammer magazines, the plan is to keep growing and delivering the content that you want, any time you want it.

...

Everyone who works for TeamRock is a rock music fan; from the newly divorced IT guy on the window ledge, to the Van Halen fan in accounts that always shouts "Jump" - we live it, we breathe it, all day every day."

To me, it's obvious that a passion for what you're publishing is important when creating a music magazine.  I would want my magazine to be published by people who know what rock is about.  If you're a fan of the music yourself, you're going to know what to put into the magazine. Furthermore, the ideology of TeamRock matches the rebellious ideology of rock music; being independent, individual, and having a true passion for music.  

  Another advantage of having my magazine published by TeamRock is that the other magazines they appeal to an older audience due to the genres of music that they focus on.  (Classic Rock, Prog Rock, Blues, Melodic and Heavy Metal)  This is good because my magazine is more likely to reach the older audiences that I want to sell to, but also because it won't be in constant competition with the other magazines that TeamRock publishes.  My magazine tries to appeal to both a younger and an older audience.  This fills the gap in the type of magazine that TeamRock publishes, which would in turn be economically advantageous for the company as their sources of profit would be expanded to a younger market.  It may also be advantageous to publish a magazine with an ideology like mine; uniting rock genres in a magazine institution and creating a sort of synergy between audiences.  

Evaluation Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

The prezi explains in detail how I've attracted and addressed my audience.  Attracting and addressing the audience is important as it makes them want to buy the magazine.  It also means that a community is created through the magazine because the it doesn't just appeal to anyone; it appeals to other people with similar tastes and perhaps lifestyles.  All of this helps to not only create a sense of identity within the magazine but also with the readers within themselves and also with the magazine.

Evaluation Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the making of this product?

The presentation above shows how I've become more confident with using technology, in particular PhotoShop, throughout making the product.

I've not only learnt about technology through making the product itself though.  I've learnt about using different media formats during the research and planning parts of the project.  For example, before this project, I didn't know about different media formats such as Prezi, SlideShare, GoAnimate.  Now, I'm not only able to use these technologies, but I feel confident in using them, in particular Prezi.
Even the process of constructing this blog itself has been a learning process.  I've learned how to manage posts, embed codes into the HTML's of posts, change publishing schedule dates and edit my blog's theme.
I feel as though, despite the things I've learnt regarding technologies have been fairly specific, I've picked up some transferable skills in the duration of this project.  For instance, I may have learnt how to construct a blog on blogger.com, but this knowledge to some degree will be transferable to creating websites and other internet accounts and blogs. (E.g. embedding codes, post management etc.)

I've also put into practise safe data sharing.  For example, using a memory stick.  To ensure that none of the information becomes corrupt or lost, I always make a conscious effort to 'eject' the memory stick before physically removing it from the USB port.  This way, none of the data stored on the memory stick gets 'lost in translation' so to speak.

Evaluation Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

As I've learned more about PhotoShop and DTP, I started to think of ways to make the text stand out more.  On my music magazine, you can see that I've used an opaque box to make the main sell line 'pop' out from the rest of the page.  It provides a more plain background for the text to prevent it from blending into the background.  It also helps to establish a colour scheme which in turn aids the following of a convention.  This example demonstrates how I've applied the skills I've learned about DTP and applied my new learned PhotoShop skills.

You can see that I started to look at the conventions of contents page layout during the preliminary task.  However, my draft contents page was very simple and bland, and I also didn't follow the invisible 'margins' around the page when placing different text boxes on the page.
  To create a more engaging layout, I identified different features of several magazines, focusing on two in particular.  This gave the page more elements and therefore made it more interesting to look at.  However, I made sure that the page didn't look too busy and unorganised by using margins to make things easier to follow.  In the creation of my contents page, I learned how to create a neatly structured layout, and how this balances the application of many elements onto the page.

Double Page Spread - Draft 3

Here is the 2nd draft of my double page spread which I was quite happy with, although there were a few problems which needed fixing.  

The text was too blocky before, which might be off-putting because it would look like a lot of text to read in one go.  So, to make it look more manageable, I put in a pull quote which makes it look like the text is more broken up.  A pull quote also has the advantage of 'pulling' the reader in and making them want to read the whole article.

Furthermore, the picture in the top left of the right page looked a bit out of place, so I moved it downwards in line with the box in the bottom right corner, and replaced it with the social networking details of the band.  This makes the magazine more appealing to modern audience because many bands have an internet fanbase which crosses over with the whole fanbase.

Minor changes to the front cover

A few last adjustments...

I've aligned all the sell lines to the end of the page and with each other to make the layout more professional.

I've moved the plug and spread out one of the sell lines

I've also gotten rid of the 'Want to design album covers..?' sell line because I felt it looked out of place and clumsy, thus giving a less professional look.

Minor Changes to Contents Page

I've added the social networking details at the bottom left hand side of the page which makes my magazine more appealing to my readership.
To quote my reader profile;

"The average readers uses he internet for around 2 hours per day, particularly on sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook."

The addition of these details makes the magazine more compatible with the lifestyle of the reader, as they will be able to receive updates from the magazine, such as behind the scenes pictures, videos etc from interviews; more offers; bonus articles; links to new music videos by artists that the magazine supports etc. by following the accounts.  There could also be tasters of what's coming up in the next issue which may entice readers into buying it.  

Furthermore, the magazine's web administrators can find out more about the readers via the use of Web 2.0, as readers will be able to make comments on the magazine's posts.  The magazine could also post questions and polls on it's account for its followers to answer, and the replies could be featured in future issues of the magazine.  The administrators could also survey the (public) information that's on the followers' profiles to find out what else they like and which other accounts they follow.  In this way, the readers are having an influence on the product that they are consuming, which creates a sense of community within the readership and a more close relationship between the magazine and the readership.  

  Another advantage of social networking is that the magazine's accounts could also attract new potential readers.  On Twitter, for example,  each account has a list of other similar accounts at the bottom of the page.  Our magazine's account may feature at the bottom of other magazines' pages, thus gaining more attention from potential followers who could, in turn, become potential readers. 

DRAFT 3 front page

This is my third draft front cover.  The only changed I've made are adding more sell lines, as in retrospect, I felt as though the splash looked a bit empty compared to other magazine front covers.

I've made a conscious effort to use different but similar font styles to make the splash dynamic but co-ordinated. 

Drafts for marking

Front Page Draft 

Contents Page Draft

Double Page Spread Draft

DPS Draft 2 with improvements

Here is a second Double Page Spread draft with the improvements in place.



First draft - (before)

Second draft - (after)

Contents Draft 3

I forgot to post this, but this is my third and (I think) final draft of my contents page, with which I'm very please!

Making of my first DPS draft

1) Plain lilac background

2) Floral pattern added
>divide blending mode
>reduced opacity

3)Grunge background added
>multiply blending mode
reduced opacity

4) Main image added
>White background erased with very soft edge eraser tool

5) Text added
>Shaped around image
>Key words made bigger

6) Drop shadow effect achieved by adding key words under
the white text but in different, darker colour

7) Article text added

8) Opaque box added behind text to make words stand out

9) Other images added and another block of text with box behind to help it stand out

Finished!

However, it can be improved.

• The block of text is too big and wide, which makes it less enticing to read as it looks like a whole lot of text.
• > To improve, I'll section it into columns

• The fold line is down the middle, meaning that the main image is on the fold which would look bad when the article is published
• > I'll make the image smaller so it doesn't fall along the fold line

• The article lacks an introduction and editors/photographers detail
• > They will be added in

• There are no page numbers
• More images and general 'stuff' on the page

Contents Draft 2

Here is a second draft of a contents page.  I tried a slightly different layout to the one I used before, however not too different because I quite liked the one in the first draft.  I've also made some of the improvements that I identified from my first draft, by;

• adjusting my layout 
• adding a band index 
• adding a picture with the editor's note
• adding the editor's contact details
• including the magazine's website address
• giving credit to photographers
• shrinking the size of the 'CONTENTS'

My first draft was good but could have been better

Second draft, improvements on the first
have been made

However, I prefer the subtitles of the contents in the first draft because they stand out more...

Here I've done a diagram to illustrate the things I've drawn from other magazine contents pages.  I've circled the 'cover story' markers because I want to add those to my next draft

First Contents page draft

This is my first draft of my contents page.  I'm pretty pleased with it, although I know there are some things I could possibly improve on. 

I took inspiration for my layout from an issue of K! that I posted a few weeks ago...

Comparing the two layouts, I now see that the text that says 'CONTENTS' is maybe a bit too big and dominates the page more than it should.

Furthermore, when reflecting on the contents pages I made a comment about using markers to emphasise the  cover stories, which I didn't end up doing.

When I make improvement on this draft, I'll use the markers and adjust my layout

Improvements on my first draft

After making adjustments

Before making adjustments

I've moved the masthead further to the left to make it look more like a magazine front cover and less like a poster.
To make the main sell line stand out more, I've added the purple box behind it.
I've moved the teasing contents panel to the bottom as I thought it might just look a bit better there instead of further up.  It also helps to bring more attention to the main sell line, along with the purple box.
I was also informed that the masthead didn't seem to match the style of the rest of the front cover.  To overcome this, I changed the bars behind the text from grey to purple to bring it into the colour scheme. The same thing would be done with each issue, depending on each individual colour scheme.