How I have progressed from my preliminary task to my full product?

The two designs are obviously very different, they are aimed at a completely separate audience and for a very different purpose. Whilst they are very varied in their purpose and audience, you can see by just looking at the two pages from a distance that my main task is much more striking and eye catching than they preliminary task. So it is clear to say I am much happier with my main task when comparing it to my preliminary. It seemed so long ago that we started working on our preliminary task and I have learnt a great deal about a number of different things and now am a lot more confident and knowledgeable about magazine design.


Reflecting on my preliminary task I can see that I didn't use the space around the image as well as I could. There are 4 sell lines and they are balanced on either side of the page, which is something I established also when creating my music magazine. However it is clear the colour scheme was not chosen extremely well in my preliminary task. The red, green and grey colours may have linked with the school logo, but they didn't contrast each other enough to grab the attention of an audience and therefore this does not immediately draw you in as an audience. When then comparing this with the main task I can easily say that I have learnt such a great amount about conventions and layouts of magazines to create the best impression.


My main task is immediately eye catching due to the contrasts of the colours; I established this colour scheme as it isn't gender specific and conventionally existing music magazines used a 4 part colour scheme with two colour that contrasted. This is something I have definitely reflected in my final product. There is a clear main headline that could also be considered as a burst, this is something that my preliminary task failed to achieve. I can see that the quality of the photo in a lot better in my main task, the lighting is a lot more natural.

With my contents page for my preliminary task I was and still am quite happy with the quality of the page. I am happy with it mainly because considering all the factors that I have now improved upon, the contents page is still quite good and has a clear structure. Obviously I am much happier again with my main task, but I
believe that for the conventions I had established and knew at that time compared to now, I am proud of it.


The title of the school magazine is much less eyecatching, it is in a dull red and the font is quite simple and uninteresting. The preliminary task is similar to the main task contents page as the  colour scheme from the front cover is used again in the contents page and as I have already said the colours of the preliminary task are very dull and not as bold as the main task. Looking at the prelim task contents page I believe that there may be too much text on the page, although it is structured well, there need not be that much writing. I have learnt since my preliminary task that imagery is important and can tell a lot more about the contents. As you can see the main task has much more imagery and less text, this is something I noticed was conventional to contents pages as the images draw the attention of the audience more successfully than text. In addition on the main task I varied the size of the images to represent stories that would interest the target audience the most.




I have learnt a great deal about conventions and the importance of particular features throughout the magazine since the preliminary task. I was able to learn this and put this in practice because of the extensive research I completed into existing music magazines for example textual analysis. I didn't undergo as much research for my school magazine as I did with my main task, this shows that using research and analysis you can create a better and more professional magazine. This lack of research may have been down to the shorter length of time I had for the preliminary task.
The improvements between the two tasks are also due to my improved knowledge about the technology and editing software I used. I used the same sofware (Adobe Photoshop Elements 7) for both tasks, however for the music magazine I had learnt a lot about the software and was much more comfortable using it than in my preliminary task, as this was one of the first times I had used it.
Not only is the importance of research a reson for the difference in tasks. For my main task I was constantly comparing my drafts of the front cover, contents page and double page spread with those of existing magazines, Doing this allowed me to develop and change features on my pages. This is something I felt I couldn't really do in my preliminary task as there were less school magazine available for me to compare it with.
Reflecting on the preliminary task, as there was less time to complete this I was unable to complete several drafts of the pages, which is something I could do in my music magazine. This enabled me to compare with existing magazine as previously said, but it also allowed me to recieve target audience feedback on the pages and I could therefore develop the different pages. This market research was another important factor to the improvement of the magazine.


Overall I have more detailed in depth knowledge about different factors. For example I know much more about media institutes and how eachy magazine represent ideologies of that genre, implicitly or explicitly. We did not complete a double page spread for the preliminary task therefore I do not have an exact comparison between the main task and the prelim task for this. Although I can tell you that all the same things would apply for the reasoning for improvements. I have learnt that in the magazine industry there is a great deal of work that goes into each edition. It has taken me months to research into conventions and to create a final product that is as professional as possible, however I do realise that existing music magazine companies already recognise the conventions therefore not needing to research these. Also I had to complete and produce the magazine all by myself whilst there are a great deal of people working with and for these companies. 

What have I learnt about technology during my construction process?

What I Have Learnt About Technology

View more presentations from chloef123

How does my magazine attract or address my audience?

How did I attract and address my audience? on Prezi

Who would my audience be?

Social Group 

As my target audience are most likely going to be students, therefore they are in a fairly low social group. Due to the fact that some of them won't be earning money, and others will be at university. Obviously some of them will be in the middle or higher class, but it is likely that this will be small in comparison to the majority of the target audience. However the audience will most likely be from a family that is in a middle class, this is because the content and language of the magazine will attracts this audience.

Age

The age of the audience for my music magazine would be 16-25 years old. This magazine is for a young adult audience and as I previously said they will most likely be in education, I believe this because generally the acoustic and independent genre typically interest a older teenager/young adult. Looking at research and asking people between this age group; those that are interested in this style of music are in university, I think it's because they are able to go to see gigs. this  age group is therefore one that I believe works well with my magazine as they are attending sixth form or college and then going on to university.

Gender

Although when I first began and looked at my target audience I wanted it to not be gender specific. However I don't think that now, looking at my final product, it is unbiased toward either gender. In my opinion it leans towards more of a female audience. This is something I could therefore improve upon because looking at the National Readership Survey it show that more men buy music magazine like 'Q', 'NME' and 'Kerrang!' However it could therefore work in my favour as my product could be a music magazine that attracts more females than males, making it more successful.

Ethnicity

The ethnicity of audience for my music magazine is not specific, as any ethnicity could read it and not feel excluded. However looking at the typical person that listens to the genre, I would say generally they are of British origin, as are the artists of this genre (and my magazine). This is because it is a very British sound, like RnB is linked with USA, my genre seems to be British. So although the ethnicity of my audience does not seem important, it appears it was when knowing what images to include in the magazine.

Lifestyle

As I previously said, my audience are most likely to be in higher education. This highly effects their lifestyle, because of attending an university, they will probably be quite used to the night life and going to parties. Also they may have the time at weekends and evenings to attend music gigs in the student union or in clubs/bars around. This means they will be very interested in their music and not so much about celebrity gossip and they will like music from quite unknown artists that they would have seen at a gig.

Also, in addition to this a music impresarios could also be within the audience of a magazine. These are people who organise and maybe even fund music events. An example of this type of person would be Simon Cowell and Andrew Lloyd Webber. These may be looking at my magazine in order to find new artists for them to sign, and as I have already said acoustic may be increasing in popularity but there are not a great deal of artists that are signed to particular labels. Due to this the music companies may therefore be looking for these artists to fill the gap in their markets.

Overall this is the typical audience of my music magazine, however clearly there are going to be other people outside the general readership looking at the magazine, these people can be referred to as penumbra. These people will be reading the magazine because like in ideologies from 'Blumler and Brown' and 'McQuail' they could be reading it to fill time or as a diversion. Also the music impresarios are example of these penumbra.

What media institute would distribute my magazine?

Looking at my magazine to other magazine on the market, it is quite unique whilst still holding most of the conventions of a magazine like NME because of the Indie genre.


I would say a media institute like IPC Media who distribute NME might distribute my magazine. I think this because historically NME was quite edgy and unique and it has developed into a quite mainstream magazine. This shows that they are willing to take a risk with their products therefore I would like to think because my magazine is quite unique it might work well if IPC media were to distribute it. However it is slightly different to there usually publications, this is something that needs considering as the only other acoustic magazine is about acoustic guitars mainly. Although IPC media do seem to have the edge of the independent and unusual artists featured in it.

Another institute who may distribute my magazine might be Bauer Media Group because they are distributors of both Q and Kerrang which are both very different styles of music. Also it seems to be behind a number of music channels like 4music and The Box. Therefore it appears they are very interested in music and as acoustic and indie artists are becoming quite popular with my target audience then they might be willing to distribute the magazine, it provides another kind of genre in their collection. Also they are successful in most or even all the magazines they distribute, and obviously you should strive to make it as effective and popular as possible.





Both IPC Media and Bauer Media are media conglomerates, this could mean that the magazine is greatly successful however it would also have the negative views, such as the magazine could possibly be adapted over a period of time to create a more mainstream magazine. I think that this magazine would work well with either of these distributors because of the rising success of the genre; this will then make it a magazine that would hopefully grow in popularity. I believe that looking at the history of the two different magazines that Bauer Media Group may be more successful is distributing my magazine.  I believe that they would be better as they have a music magazine for a maturer audience featuring a wide variety of artists, a rock metal magazine and it will then allow them to try a different direction with a music genre that is becoming more popular.



When looking past which distributor would work best with my magazine, my magazine would need to be sold in a number of different retailer in order for it to gain success. I believe supermarkets are an important place for my magazine to be sold as they have a large number of customers everyday and would therefore allow them to be a great success. Also a large variety of music magazines are sold in places like Tesco from 'Top of the Pops' to 'Kerrang!', this suggests that a wide group of people, with a variety of musical interests visit these supermarkets.
Another retailer that may also be suitable to distribute my magazine is WHSmith, they also have a very wide variety of very different magazines. Similar to the supermarkets.

How does my magazine represent particular social groups?

How my Media Product Represents Social Groups? on Prezi

How do media products use, develop or challenge conventions of existing magazines?

Used, Develop and Challenged Conventions of my Media Product

View more presentations from chloef123.

Final Pages for my Magazine

Change to the Final Draft

Initially I was planning on using my fourth draft as my final front cover with the image added onto the front cover. However when I decided to try this out, the image I was going to use of another model I had taken did not look as good as I had hoped. Therefore I changed from a image to an eye-catching burst to hopefully grab the attention of the audience. Also the black font of the sell lines were something people said they struggled to read when I asked my target audience.

Fourth Draft of Front Cover

Third Draft of Double Page Spread

Third Draft of Contents Page

This contents page I am quite happy with therefore there are slight adjustments I am going to make (for example the positioning of the boxes and the border around the page) these will hopefully make it look more professional.

Third Draft of Front Cover

This has a 3 part colour schemes with orange, black and white. I would prefer to include one other colour on the front cover to contrast the orange, a colour like blue will probably work because it contrasts but does still work.  Also some of the sell lines are hard to read as the black writing blends into the background, therefore I may need to either change the positioning of these or changing the colour of the font. Another thing I would change is that the bottom of the page has nothing there and it is all positioned towards the top of the page. I do like the font of the title because whilst it is quite simple, it still has an edge that works with the genre of indie acoustic artists. However this does not have a tag line which is again something that is conventional therefore I will look to include in the final front cover.

Different Font Styles for My Title

 1.

 2.

 3.

 4.

 5.

 6.

Out of these fonts, I asked people which font they believed was the most suitable to the genre of the magazine. Font 2, 4 and 6 came back with the most results with people saying they fitted with the acoustic whilst also having a connotation of indie/ different. Out of these three I choose to use 6 as I personally believe it did this the best.

Second Draft of Double Page Spread

Second Draft of Contents Page

Second Draft of Front Cover

My second draft of my front cover is how I first imagined my music magazine to look like, however comparing this to a real music magazine I have now decided on a few things I would change. For example I would keep the original image without cutting out the background and although the model is holding a guitar it is covered by a main headline therefore not making it clear to the audience immediately that it is a music magazine. I like the menu bar along the bottom of the page as it keeps the whole page even and the sell lines are quite equally spread out. The title of the magazine links with the music theme however it is quite hard to read from a distance, and will struggle to attract a clear audience.

First Draft of Contents Page

David Carson

In today's lesson we looked at the David Carson and how he influenced the cover designs of music magazines. He is an American Graphic Designer and is most commonly known for his innovative magazine designs. He became art director of Ray Gun.

I believe although his designs are extremely creative and unusual, they are too different that of conventional magazines to work successfully. The designs are aesthetically pleasing however do not convey a particular house style therefore making it difficult to establish and maintain an audience.

Questionnaire

Music magazine questionnaire

View more documents from chloef123.

Focus Group of target audience

Ask questions to different age groups in the area of my target audience

First Draft of Double Page Spread

This is the first draft of my double page spread for my music magazine.

In this there is a very clear and basic colour scheme throughout the text.

First Draft of Front Cover

This is the first draft of my music magazine front cover.

There are many things I could improve on for my final front cover. Firstly the main image needs to represent the genre and theme of the magazine, this image does not fully encapsulate the genre of my magazine. To do this I could ask the model to change her clothing and appearance to look like a typical acoustic artist., also I would like to take more photos of a different model holding a guitar. Also the model needs to be looking at the camera, in order to look like they are directly addressing the audience, I have noticed this is very conventional to most magazines therefore in my next draft I am hoping to do this.
Also with this first draft there is not a clear and eye catching colour scheme; this is something that is conventional to the front cover of a music magazine and generally links to the house style of the magazine. For example the title would be the same colour and font for every issue. Another thing I would like to change about this front cover is that the image should be central. I thought I would try and place the image to the side of the magazine instead of central, but looking at my first draft I would prefer this to be central for my next draft.
The title and the font are both still being developed as I ask and explore what my target audience would want from this magazine. So before I finish my next draft I would hope to have established a clear title that works with the genre and hints at it.

Editing Photos

The photos I have taken are quite simple and conventional. However I believe to make this more conventional I would look into editing my images, I am planning on using Adobe Photoshop which I have on my laptop to alter the tones and contrast of the images. I have used Adobe Photoshop now several times and am therefore comfortable using this software.

Photos For My Magazine

These are all the photos I took for my front cover, contents page and double page spread. Some of them are more suitable than others.