Finished Magazines

Audience Research

 I created a survey using SurveyMonkey to learn more about my audience and ensure that the magazine I design focuses upon an appropriate music genre.

The results of the above questions mirror my target audience, teenagers to young adults. I initially wanted my genre for the magazine to be Rock and the audience feedback shows that Rock is their preferred genre - evidently improving the popularity of my soon-to-be magazine.

From the above answers I have gathered that the audience would be willing to pay between £2 - £4 for a magazine, I will take this into account when deciding on a price.

The majority of the feedback of what content the audience would prefer was an interview feature. Taking this into account I will definitely use an interview for my double page spread.

What attracts the audience the most is the main image and colours, due to this I will strive to ensure that the main image is eye-catching and the colours are bright and vibrant.

The research also reveals that the audience prefer their content to be a mixture of both text and image or slightly more images than text.

Analysing Previous Student Work

Analysing Previous Student Work

Name of Magazine	Strengths	Weaknesses	Grade I awarded and reason
Infidele	The magazine contains all the key conventions (masthead, images, coverlines, essential information, colours, and subheadings). Image is in good resolution	The front cover is very overwhelming as there are a lot of images used (taken from online which is not in the criteria) there is nothing eye catching about the front cover and the colour/layout is not continuous.	D. Magazine seems very unprofessional  due to the ever-changing font and colours
Printed Beats	The magazine contains all the key conventions it should as mentioned above. The colour schemeused a red, white and black colour scheme throughout the pages. The layout is very simple, clear and easy to understand.	There is too much white in the background of the pages, the images are the too dark and not the best of quality. The pricing isn’t very realistic.	C
Shade	The magazine has included a colour scheme (blue, white and black) It is very contrasting and the student has shown skills of Photoshop. The text is clear and the main image on the front cover has related to the article inside.	The photos which have been used look like they have been taken from a social networking site. There are too many sub images on the contents page.	B

What have I learned from looking at last year’s student work?

·         Captions should be used when images are connected to the main article ·         Page numbers are essential in the magazine, even numbers should always be on the left ·         Sub articles can be used if necessary ·         Colour scheme is important in contrasting with the images ·         Photographs should be thought about in detail and not taken from a social networking site, no online images are allowed. ·         Important to use consistency throughout

How will I apply this to my own work?

·         Use a maximum of 3 columns per article depending on my target audience ·         Drop caps will be used to guide the reader into the opening of the text ·         I will ensure I do not overpower the reader by having too much text or too many images/photographs. ·         A strap line underneath my article title is essential to explain the teaser and add more information to the title.

Main Task Flat-Plans

 

Front Cover

 

Double-Page Spread

 

Contents Page

Magazine Current Progress

Preliminary Task

 For my background I opted to go for a page size image of the College, I did this as it is a magazine published about the College so it was appropriate to it plastered on the front. I posititioned the camera in a way so that the sun can be seen shining from the top of the College, this is with the intention of creating a is fresh feel and give the impression that the College is bright and full of life. I have opted to place masthead in the top right hand corner - I deliberatly left a space there when shooting the image so the masthead could reside there. The colour blue used in the Masthead is intended to mirror the Gateshead College colours and as blue has the connotations of a calming nature, it gives a nice feel to the magazine and what will be inside. In my headings I used a black text box, with white writing, the WOB effect was used so it is clearly noticable - I also decided to highlight certain words in red to further highlight them - to catch the readers attention. I included all the neccissary components of a magazing i.e: the barcode, issue number, date and price.
For the contents page I tackled the often seen concept of overcrowed, image engulfed pages by choosing a more simplistic design. I have chosen to have the index of pages on the left hand side of the page (as the reader tends to read from left to right) with an image seperated from the text, residing on the right hand side of the page. Also, a series of advertisements are cemented at the bottom of the page - all in all I feel this layout gives off a clear, fresh and simple feel.

However, I did make the mistake on the contents page by differing too much with the font size that it gave off an uneven - out of proportion feel. A mistake I shall not be repeating when it comes to designing my very own music magazine

Double-page spread analysis

 

 

 NME double page spread, in this instance the subject image helps convey a sense of gloom and depression, (which fits in well with the article – interview) Due to the sizing of the photo and the fact it has been positioned on he left side of the page, the audience are immediately draw to it due to how we read from left to right.

Adjacent to the photograph is a quote from the interview in huge font, alternating between the colours black and grey the black highlighting the words that they want to stand out the most. The colour scheme is consistent throughout the page, the colour scheme uses simplistic, neutral colours. All the text on the page is in a very dimly lit grey or black and even though the background is lit with white it is still a very grey like shade to go along with the overall gloomy feel generated by image and the interview itself.

The image and article are also seperatated which is convient for the readers and gives off a sophisticated feel.

 

 

 

 

The image of Jay-Z takes up one page of the double page spread and as a result it establishes his presence on the article - a visual representation of what the article on the right will be about. 

 

This double page article left page is a whole image of the artist featured in the magazine and the right page is of the article, this makes the double page article look sophisticated and mature as it separates the text from the artist, the reader’s will see the image of the artist first and decide whether they want to read the next page.

The left page is very plain as it little text. In the image he is wearing sunglasses inside, concealing his eyes which could be an indiciated that regardless of what the page on the right says there is still more than meets the eye to the image, very mysterious. On the right page, the colour scheme is very plain, the only thing which stands out is the large drop capital featured behind the article text in red, something which compliments the red artificial light used on the subject in the image.

On the right top hand corner there is a sub heading of the artists name, albeit in small text. The columns consist of small text and of a large quantity, giving more sophistication to the text and may appeal more to the older reader as younger readers do not particularily want to be inundated with text.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The text is much more organised and in a consistent sans serif font, with a bold "I" to signify the start of the article. This is almost the house style for NME, judging by their logo. Her name is highlighted in red in the blurb like text underneath the quotation, emphasising that the article is about her.

 

This magazine spread uses three main colours, black, white and red. For all the readers that know of Lily Allen will know what type of charecter she is; very loud, bold and 'in your face.'

 

The main image on this double page spread is of Lily Allen (who this article is about.) This image is near the right hand side of the article, leaving the rest of the page to hold the text, however she slightly interferes with the text, mirroring her 'in your face' personality.

 

Her body language and facial expression shows that she has something too say, this is supported by the headline 'people think im an attention seeker, but im just honest' this headline is obviously a quote from what Lily herself has said. This headline is shown to be made out of letters from newspapers, giving the impression that they are the one ssaying that

 

The subheading is bold compared to the actual article itself, having 'Lily Allen' in red compared too the rest of the sub-heading which is in black shows the reader what this article is about. The article is set out in colunms, making it easy to read but still holding all the infomation it needs.