Tuesday, 17 March 2015
Monday, 16 March 2015
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to your final product? (contents page)
My preliminary task resulted in me creating the bog standard; unprofessional contents page for a magazine. I took a few aspects I liked from the magazine and changed a lot of aspects I didn’t in order to create my final contents page which I think achieves a more professional look.
I only featured one image into my preliminary task and that photo was taken with a poor quality camera, for the final contents page I used a camera with high quality capturing. I cut the model out in the preliminary task with the polygon lasso tool; this was an unprofessional method as it left harsh edges that weren’t realistic. The model’s hair also faded into the background which I didn’t like, I noticed this and changed my contents composition so that all images didn’t need cutting out yet still looked professional. I did however like the experimentation with camera angles; I snapped the model in the preliminary task at a low angle: I also done this for the main image in my final contents page as I wanted a range of interesting photographs to keep my young audience interested. Another aspect I took further into my final product was the “regulars” section. I liked the bordering idea I applied in the preliminary task and advanced this in my content page for my final piece, I made the border a lot tighter so the text was structured and didn’t get lost within the boundary. I applied my colour palette too; this was to reinforce my brand identity. I noticed a couple of grammar and spelling mistakes in my preliminary task: “school internext” this typo could really affect the readerships views on my magazine’s professionalism and so I checked my final product numerous amounts of times to ensure there were no mistakes. I liked how I had a mini heading for each listed page then some further information on the heading, I processed this idea into my final piece and used a bolder font to apply contrast instead of applying colour as I didn’t want to overuse my colour scheme. I noticed that on my page directory I hadn’t listed what page number these features are on, this would have been costly in the magazine industry as the contents page isn’t doing its job. I used the font I used for my masthead for these numbers, along with the date of the issue to keep to my house style.
The magazine improved drastically however I did think it was important to do the preliminary task as it acted as a guide where to go with my official product.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to your final product? (front cover)
My preliminary task is visibly a much weaker product in comparison to my finished magazine front cover. These two images work in contrast to each other to prove how my media skills have developed over the process.
One of the most important elements in magazine design is the masthead, on my preliminary task I layer my standard – boring white font on top of a boring yellow, firstly these two colours do not work well together, the yellow is too light for the white and this doesn’t make the masthead standout. I used this yellow as part of my colour scheme on the preliminary task, I used this yellow for the majority of assets such as the cover lines, banner, pricing, date and boarder of price: I have over used the colour this results in not achieving any contrast, the colour palette is meant to stand features out from the background however it doesn’t. The masthead on my finished product is much stronger, the font I chose is extremely appropriate as it will attract my target audience. I also applied my colour scheme into the masthead in a more constructive way. In my finished product I attained 4 different colours in my palette whereas in my preliminary I only used 3 which is why I over used the emphasising colour too much ruining the effect. When glancing at my finished product I added my colours more effectively; instead of writing all text in the colours I only applied colour when I wanted a particular word or name to stand out which caught the audience’s eye more. The audience should read “new album” as it is in the main part of red surrounded by white, after they read “new album” they will automatically want to know what band is bringing out a new album an automatically be interested in my magazine, I applied my colour scheme to achieve contrast, contrast is a principle in design. I captured my model with a high quality camera in my finished product to achieve a professional look, in my preliminary task I captured the image with a phone meaning the image was of low quality, proving a less professional magazine. The model in the preliminary task was flicking through a book when I photographed him; this resulted in the camera capturing this motion and worsened the quality of the image. I made sure my model was as still as possible whilst maintaining a relaxed look on his face. However I did like the way the model in my preliminary task was looking in direct address towards the audience; I applied this technique in my finished product and believe it works well. Underneath the image in both magazines is a banner sealing off the bottom of the images. I didn’t include anything in my banner on the preliminary task however liked the composition that came with the banner; therefore I included it in my final product. I decided to include a feature article from my magazine on the banner to take advantage of the space, I also did it to show it is a segment which is different to a standard cover line article therefore I applied it in a different manner. I minimised the sizing of the pricing on the final product as in the first task the “50p” was too big and took attention away from cover lines and the image. It was also done in a font I have included in my house style. Lowering the size of the price gave a more professional appeal to my final product.
Overall I think it is clear that my skills have improved over the process. I also think the making of the preliminary task was a key part to the success in my final product as I took forward the ideas I liked and substituted the ideas I didn’t and analysed why I didn’t like them and changed it in favour of that reason.
What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing your product?
Images are extremely important in representing your demographic in magazines: from the quality of the image, models code of dress, code of gesture and code of expression. I used a high quality camera to take all my images as I wanted professional looking images to dip into the middle class category. I took most of my used images outdoors as the backgrounds were more interesting to look at and there would have been too much white space on my front cover for my audience. I also took images in the studio, also at different angles as I wanted a large range of images to choose from for my final pieces. To place these images into the magazine I used Photoshop.
I created the 3 media products on Adobe Photoshop CC 2014, this is an extremely diverse programme which I confident on, this helped the speed in which my work was completed in. Photoshop is a huge advantage to this process and despite already having a wide knowledge of the programme I believe I have learned even more on the programme after this project. I took advantage of the programme as much as possible: using levels and curve tools to bring out the best image in my photographs, I also took advantage of their layers asset and played around with composition until I got the best possible layout. My main text I used for writing I edited in Photoshop using the spacing settings, this font would now be iconic to my magazine as it is unique to my brand – no other brand uses it.
I created my main body of text font using a font in Photoshop and adapted it myself, however for my masthead I found the font of dafont.com a website that lists fonts made by designers and they upload them to the site for users to use within regulations. If I were to publish my magazine I would have to pay the designer for the rights to this font, after getting in contact with the designer it would only cost £3.38 for the rights to this font and to publish it in my magazine, it would be worth it for the icon it brings to my magazine.
It was my first time using I have had to complete my coursework online and Blogger was a great site for it. The site is nicely laid out and it was simple to add tags and find work on my blog to see what I was missing. This site was an advantage as I could search for the tag and see what work was incomplete appose searching for sheets of paper in a folder facing the risk of tearing pages when swapping them around or transporting my folder home which could get wet in the rain, it was much easier to just log in.
How did you attract/address your audience?
My front cover of my rock magazine is designed to attract my target audience, I have purposely designed everything to appeal to them, and this should result in them liking the aesthetics on the front cover enough to buy my magazine when it is placed on the shelves of a shop. I would keep my design features consistent to a house style every issue to gain iconic features that my audience will associate with my brand, this is important in case my audience only saw s glimpse of my magazine for example my masthead, the iconic don't would automatically be recognised and that is all they would need to see to know it was a Mosh magazine. The overall content inside the magazine is what the audience are primarily after: the latest news on rock bands will be articulated interestingly to give the fan base what they want; this means I will apply Uses & Gratifications Theory as
I made my magazine eye catching in many ways to grab the audience's attention. My masthead sits conventionally at the top of the magazine: the font I chose would represent rock music and this would purely entice rock music fans, which is who I'm after to look at my magazine. The colour scheme is also introduced purely from the masthead, white, black, red and yellow are the only four colours visible on my masthead and the only four colours I feature in my colour scheme, this helps me keep to a house style and therefore gain professionalism. Underneath my masthead is the main image of a band member looking in direct address towards the audience - this eye contact draws in the audience as they would feel more include in the magazine an hopefully aspire to be part of it. Surrounding the image at various forms of cover lines which introduced featured content in the magazine – most noticeable would the "vote for your best rock single of the year" as it is in a unique form of a circle, I rotated it slightly to appear as if it has been stamped which is a cool effect which my audience would like. I highlighted the word "your" on this with a grungy backing to the word, not only does the grungy background appeal to them but the use of the word "your" asks the audience on a personal level, the editor and the reader should develop a relationship from this. One cover line reads "Queens of the Stone Age Exclusive!" the use of the words "exclusive!" Creates a sense that the audience are bettering the deal of purchasing the magazine, the exclamation mark flares some action into the magazine which is needed as there is a lot of energy in rock music. “Free guitar pick" is written inside a plectrum shape that I created in Photoshop, the "free" item would definitely appeal to the grab the audience’s attention as I have included the yellow from my colour palette as background for the black writing, when these two colours are combined together they work in contrast to each over to make the writing stand out, I didn't make this aspect too big as I didn't want my magazine to come across too cheap.
Who would be your audience for your media product?
I believe this how a stereotypical member of my target audience would look. Rock music is in connotation to rebellion; these three images provide aesthetics of an alternative style resulting in my target audience fitting into the “Young Alts” social group. These three men age in the range of my target audience – from a teen, to a young adult, up until a middle aged man. They are all dressed in black clothing which could represent anger, an emotion heavily related to rock music. I think tattoos would be common among my target audience as they are viewed as a sign of rebellion. Tattoos resemble strong feelings as the ink is permanent; this passion runs through to the rock magazine as the magazine is primarily all about rock music. Their hairstyles are fairly scruffy and would not be considered “smart” haircuts, this could also be a sign of rebellion not fit in with the mainstream which also dips into the indie culture, and this culture isn’t a culture I would rule out of my target audience. I would say their occupation would range to something quite creative like a job in the arts for instance a graphic designer to a stereotypical “mans” job like a welder. I think their whole music taste would range over rock, indie, metal, heavy metal etc. I think my audience would mostly enjoy action/thriller films as this fast action packed could relate to the loudness and aggression in rock/metal music. A stereotypical buyer of my magazine would be male, 20 years old, rated C2 on the socio economic scale.
To assist with finances and conventions I would include advertisements in my magazine, of course the other company and I would want appropriate circumstances with similar target audiences to maximise the possible synergy. Business I would consider having advertisements featured in my magazine would be All Saints: this clothing brand is popular among my target audience and All Saint’s. Marshall is one of the most popular amplification manufactures today and from my audience research I noticed more of the audience made music or would like to make music their selves and this piece of equipment would be extremely appropriate to advertise in my rock magazine. Xbox would be a company that is suitable for my audience: not only would it attract my younger audience due to the gaming available but Xbox now offers TV shows and films therefore would attract my older audience. Upcoming festivals like Download and Reading & Leeds would be suitable advertisements as these festivals aim at a very similar demographic and host bands I believe my target audience would like.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
At the beginning of looking into these magazine distributers I decided Mosh magazine would be best suited for the company Bauer. I have now changed my mind as in my further research I realised Kerrang! – a music magazine with a similar target audience to mine is already published by Bauer, because of this I would now choose Future PLC to publish magazine as they often publish for a young audience and as I mentioned in my earlier annotation of the company they sell magazines with a specialist interest, the sub genre in my magazine of art would fit into this along with the music side. They don't sell anything at the moment like my product and it would be suitable for their demographic. Both Mosh and Future PLC would benefit from this partnership as Future PLC the knowledge to get the magazine noticed and how to attract an audience whereas Mosh would provide the material that the attracted audience would want to buy – there would be much more success for both companies with this synergy. I don’t believe this would be the limit to success. Nowadays it is common for successful magazines to branch out further in terms of media platforms: I believe my young audience would enjoy some sort of e-media platform for the media if the magazine became successful enough, the idea of convergent media often widens the audience approachable.
After assessing all other current distributers it was clear Future PLC was most appropriate for my magazine. Conde Nast is a media distributor: I looked into the company to see if it was a potential distributor for my magazine, after looking into it I decided this company wasn’t suited to my magazine and it’s audience: its existing products had a readership of middle and upper class, despite wanting to fill a gap in the market this was not a suitable institution due to our different audiences I don’t believe they could promote my magazine to its full potential. As I already mentioned Bauer Media already publish a magazine similar to mine and therefore there wouldn’t be a gap for my magazine in the market with that publisher. NME would also be claimed to have a similar target audience and music genre as me and that is distributed by IPC Media, because of this I could not be in synergy with this company. I had thought about self-publishing and weighed out the pros and cons. The main advantage of self publishing would be that I would get have the overrule and my instinct would get published, however after thinking about Future PLC and their 30 years of experience I would have confidence in them and confident in what changes they decide to make as their changes are suited to my target audience and that is who I’m trying to please.
Future PLC attracts mass audience in their niche area: rock music and art culture would be the niche areas and all of this demographic should be attracted to buying this magazine if I were to have Future PLC as my distributer. Despite selling what would be considered niche audience magazines Future PLC do draw in many customers and I believe the specificity of magazine is what people confuse with niche. Future PLC sell such a diverse genre of magazines the company theirselves appeal to almost every demographic therefore it is existing products that attract the more specific audience and the company that attract mass audience. As my product is specific – rock music and art, my magazine would fit nicely with their current partners, I just believe it would appeal to a wider audience which is a good thing, they thrive on offering specific genres – not attracting a small audience.
How does your product represent particular social groups?
To attract my target audience I had to use imagery and text which they could relate to, this was generalised to reach mass audience however specific enough to bring in the correct age group. I represented a young demographic within a total age range of 12-30. I had a fairly large age range as my main theme being music and the genre of rock is liked by most ages. The sub theme I included in my magazine is art and this is also appreciated within the range of ages in my target demographic which was proven from the questionnaire. My magazine presents for both male and female however I believe it would edge more towards the male gender. I purposely didn’t include any purples or pinks anywhere in the magazine as I knew the females I was trying to attract would not be attracted through stereotypically “girly” colours. I did however use a boy on the front cover of my magazine, the boy is young and I used him to apply female gaze to the magazine, girls being interested in boys would be stereotypical for females, I had to juggle what would and would not attract my female audience carefully. I didn’t just use the boy to attract females – I believe this young successful band member would be what my male target audience aspire to be like and would look up to him and the direct mode camera shot would help the boy believe he could achieve what the musician has. I had to represent my target audience in a positive way so they would like the magazine and develop a relationship with it. A lot of the cover lines and mentioned features are all about rock music rather than other subjects; this specificity represents my audience as being strongly passionate towards their interest, this is a really strong trait to have as a person and through this suggestion I am representing my demographic in a positive way. To attract the younger side of my target audience I included a feature on my contents page which covers the story of a boy who uploaded a video of him playing a difficult guitar song perfectly to the internet, this hints that my audience are up to date with their technology and would have the knowledge and access to get onto the internet to watch this clip, I am re-representing them as having good technological knowledge. The men I targeted as my audience wouldn’t not be classed stereotypical men, that is the reasoning for not including any sports information anywhere on my magazine - sports are in connotation with men in the media’s eyes. My target audience would be classed as in between working class and middle class on the socio economic scale, my design features were based to attract these groups. My masthead’s typeface Tranquilla had scratches over the lettering, this scruffiness not only reflects the rock music genre but also the working class, the working class are sometimes viewed as “rough” I don’t think this would put my audience off as they often are proud that they are not upper class. The layout of the magazine isn’t scruffy and is in juxtaposition to the masthead, I believe this combination would attract in both working class and the middle class successfully. My demographic would balance more towards the working class, because of this I decided to include a free guitar pick – this would gain audience satisfaction as in my questionnaire I asked if freebies would entice the audience to buy my magazine, the majority answered yes, the majority also answered yes to when I asked them if they play any music themselves therefore the guitar plectrum was the perfect item to give away; the use of the work “pick” instead of “plectrum” would attract a younger demographic as this terminology is what they would know this item to be called. I believe my magazine products represent their demographics successfully and the target audience would be attracted to how I’ve constructed the magazine.
In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and convention of real media products?
To make my magazine attain both an interesting and professional appearance I had to stick to the conventions of popular magazines that are a successful in their area. To really tackle the challenge of creating my own identity for my brand I also had to steer clear of some conventions as I want my magazine to have iconic features that are consistent every issue and my audience can instantly recognise my brand.
A masthead is the most iconic feature to a magazine, as it is such an important feature I decided to stick to the convention of placing my masthead at the top of my magazine, covering just less than one quarter of the top of the page. I also presented my magazines colour palette in my masthead: white poses as the background in the masthead while the lettering contains colours of black, red and yellow – thus attaining my four iconic colours which I will keep as a theme throughout my magazine. As I was creating a rock magazine I needed to portray this genre through the typeface, I believe the font I used done this well, the eroded styled lettering posed as imperfect, much like the rebellious lifestyle of the rock stars characters I would be covering in the magazine.
I only featured one image on my front cover, the amount of images on the front cover ranges therefore there is no strict convention, however the manner in which I presented the image did stick to conventions: my model takes up the a third of the page, this is a convention to magazine front covers. I photographed my model to pose as a musician in a band, as this is how a musician would be presented on a front cover, a natural pose medium shot. I layered my subject over the lettering of the “o” in my masthead as I didn’t want the model to get lost with the surrounding cover lines. I also got the model to pose in direct mode to the audience therefore the audience can relate to him. His code of dress is fairly relaxed; along with his code of gesture and expression, I wanted the whole mise-en scene to appear natural and not too forced.
My cover lines did take up a lot of the area surrounding the subject model however I think I calmed them down with the font I used – it was a very simple legible font which I adapted myself. The way I have worded the cover lines are typically short and to the point, I also used key language to draw in my audience: “Queens of the Stone Age Exclusive” simply states the name of the band which would be instantly recognized by my target audience, followed by “exclusive!” which implies the audience is getting something extra which will have them believe they are getting the better. I like how I included my colour palette into my cover lines – not only did I apply the emphasizing yellow to “exclusive!” I applied the red into the “new album” and the speech marks in which the artist described this new album, I thought this would be a good way to show what he said about this new album through using the repeated red highlighting the key elements.
Keeping my pages to a house style is extremely important to a professional looking magazine; the main ways I achieved this was through using consistent fonts and colours. On all three media products I created the same 4 colours (black, white, red and yellow) dominate over other colours, these 4 colours are part of my house style, helping relate all my pages together. I used both of my fonts in all 3 pages, again to maintain my house style.
All 3 products are conventional however I think my feature article is the most conventional to magazines; I achieved this by including a kicker; drop cap, pull quote and sidebar, four important elements for a conventional feature article. I applied them in a stylish manner which carries potential to become iconic with my magazine brand. Other aspects also helped me create this conventional layout: columns are extremely common among all print media products and magazines are no exception, I used tools on Photoshop to help me create the columns, the pull quote is placed inside the blocks of text and the way the text surrounds it has a stylised look to it which makes it all look related which is what it needs to look like.
Thursday, 12 March 2015
Thursday, 5 March 2015
Wednesday, 4 March 2015
Thursday, 26 February 2015
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