Evaluation Question 1 Continued

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


FRONT COVER:
My title is short, direct and punchy alike to many other music magazines on the market.

The positioning of my model is direct and centre to make her have the most impact. This is a convention of music magazines as it draws attention to the feature artists, which is often the main focus of that specific issue.

I used three columns to make my magazine cover appear neat and more pleasing to the eye. This is often used by music magazines as it ensures the artist is still the main focus but other features in the magazine can still be easily viewed and draw in the reader.

CONTENTS PAGE:
I used the rule of thirds again to make sure my page was balanced and look more professional. This is a convention of music magazines as it makes the page appear more organised and the text is easier to read.

A convention of chart music magazines such as, 'Billboard' , is to include a music chart table which displays the current chart topping, popular singles. I included this as I thought it added detail to my piece and would attract my target audience through allowing them to see what the latest hits were.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD:
I was heavily influenced by conventions of music magazines such as, columns, having a photograph on side and including a pool quote especially on this piece. This was due to me wanting it to appear professional and correlate with other music magazines, whilst also appearing aesthetically pleasing through my layout. I was loosely influenced by a 'Q' magazine article on Lady Gaga which correlated with my house style and appeared sleek and modern. However, to cater to my younger audience I made it younger and less sexy.

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 7

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

I thought the most effective way in showing how I attracted my audience was to record individuals in my target audience and ask them what they were attracted to in my work:

Ellie Condon, 18:

Lauren Boland, 17:

The main things that attracted them to my work was the colour scheme due to the colours complimenting each other and the red gaining their attention due to its bright colour. Moreover, on the contents page they said the black and white pictures were their favourite part due to it looking modern, whilst the chart table was also mentioned as it kept them up to date with the latest music. On the double page spread the layout was noted as attracting them to the piece. I found this unusual as it was not something I thought that was important compared to what was written and the picture, however, they said they liked how organised and spread out it made the piece look. In the future I plan to focus on the layout more as it was an obvious attractor to the piece and obviously made the double page spread more aesthetically pleasing.
Furthermore, I personally felt as my music magazine often correlated with other chart magazines it would attract my target audience more. One aspect of this is my chart music table, which is also on 'Billboard' magazine.

I felt this would attract my target audience as it would make my magazine even more chart music centred and would allow my target audience to keep up to date with the latest chart music, as stated by Lauren. In addition, my register I felt would also attract my target audience as it directly addresses them making them more likely to be drawn in and would catch their attention. The layout, as stated by Ellie and Lauren, also attracted my target audience. This may be due to it being quite spread out on all three pieces meaning headlines and text are more easy to see and the pictures are more noticeable.
I have also kept to conventions of music magazines, meaning it is more attractive, such as having a mid-shot photograph, three columns on the contents page and a predominant photograph on the double page spread. This make it more attractive to my target audience as it correlated with music magazines they already would buy and these tactics are often used my other music magazines to make them more aesthetically pleasing, so mine will be do.
Moreover, my USP (unique selling point) is also a potential attractor to my target audience. My USP is that my chart music magazine is only £2 and is gender neutral. There is not another well-known chart music magazine that has both of these qualities. For example, 'Billboard' is a popular chart magazine, however, it retails at £3-£4 as it is only produced monthly.

This would be too out of my target audience's price range due to their age and lack of funds, however, my magazine offers a solution to this. It is only £2 as it is produced weekly, meaning it is well within my target audience's price range, making it more popular amongst them. Likewise, another music magazine 'Top of the Pops' is cheap but predominantly aimed at girls.

My magazine is gender-neutral and cheap, meaning it offers a solution to boys who want to read a chart music magazine, but not one aimed at young girls.

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question Three

Evaluation Question 2

Final Front Cover and Contents Page

I feel I made good progress on both of these areas due to learning more about layout, text and photography. Layout was a key part of this as my earlier pieces often had a lot of white, unused space. However, with these pieces I learned where to add more text to fill in spaces and to make pictures bigger and bolder to detract attention away from those empty areas.Additionally, the layout was something I had to work on as often my work was not balanced. I solved this by sticking to a strict column system in both pieces of work. In addition, I felt I have implemented a house style, something I struggled on before, by sticking to a colour scheme, using the same fonts and through small design details such as , including 'The Buzz, Weekly Edition, at the bottom of each inside page.Moreover, my skills in photography have improved through using a more appropriate model compared to my first photoshoot and directing the models in the best way to pose.

Contents Page Construction

• I made my contents page in Photoshop. This is due to it being easy to edit and manipulate text and pictures without much difficulty. 

• After making a background copy by pressing command J,to ensure I always had a backup, I then put in my title. I did this by pressing the text icon at the side and making a new textbox. I then typed my text in. I wanted to make the title one of the main focuses of the page to ensure the reader knew where they were. To achieve this I made the text 45pt in Telegrafico. I chose a text that had already been used on the front cover to maintain a strong house style. 

• I then placed a picture in of a different artist to the one on the front cover. I did this because in my research I noticed most music magazines contents page featured a number of different artist, not just the artist featured on the front page. I added the artist in my dragging her into Photshop on a different window. I then made background copy of the picture by pressing command and J. This background copy was then dragged onto my actual contents cover page and placed where I wanted it.

• The picture was too dark for the contents page. I solve this my clicking its layer and then going onto the brightness and contrast button at the top. I then altered the brightness and contrast until I was satisfied by sliding the tabs along the bar until it was bright enough.

• To make my magazine feel more edgy and modern I decided I wanted the pictures on the contents page to be black and white. To do this I clicked onto the picture layer on the tab and then, once it was highlighted, I clicked the black and white tab to make the picture black and white. I made sure the black and white layer was placed above the picture layer on the chart so it would overrule the original colour of the  photograph.

• I then added in my other pictures and made them black and white using the techniques prior mentioned. 

• To make the contents page look more professional I added design elements of borders around the pictures. This would also help draw attention to the pictures, which tend to be a main focus of the contents page as my research shows. I did this by pressing the line icon on the far left of my screen and making a line of the correct length and weight by dragging the pointers and the end and middle of the rectangle. To colour the shape I used the small colour box on the bottom far left colour and chose a dark red with the same colour settings as the red on the front cover. This is to implement my house style, whilst the red contrasting with the black and white contributes to the young, modern feel making the magazine more attractive to my young target audience of 'Townies'. 

• I then continued to put lines across all the borders of the pictures to complete the effect using the aforementioned techniques

• I then put another line across the upper right hand corner to add another design element. I planned to put the issue number across this banner to make the reader aware of how many issues were , and in my research I noticed a lot of magazines placed what issue number that magazine was. However, I did not want it to be a main focus of the page only a subtle piece on the page. To achieve this I clicked onto its layer then , once it was highlighted, clicked onto the opacity tab on the hart and decreased its opacity until it was faded. This would ensure it did not gain much attention. 

• I then added the text by making a new text box through clicking to text icon on the far left side then typing in my text. To make it slanted , I licked the adjuster button in the middle of the text box and turned it sideways until it fitted inside the banner. I made sure the texts layer was beneath the rectangle shapes layer this made it have a faded look ,  which again ensured it did not stand out too much and made it look more professional. 

• I then realised the large white space at the inner corner of the banner to cover this up I placed another picture of my front cover in the corner. I did this by opening my front cover onto Photoshop on a different window , making a background copy by pressing command and J, then dragging that copy into the contents page using the selection tool on the far right side to select the picture. The next step is to resize the picture to make it small as the picture is its original size meaning it covers the whole page. I did this by pressing command and t whilst holding shift and then dragging it to the size I wanted. Once it was set I then clicked 'apply transformation' on the pop up box. I pressed shift throughout to ensure the picture remained in proportion. To make it appear behind the banner I moved the layer below the text and banner so it would not hold precedence over them. 

• I then began to add my text into the page. I chose to make heading in 'Channel Slanted' font and continue with a red colour to make a solid house style throughout my magazine. I changed the font by highlighting my chosen text then clicking on the font tab and scrolling through it until I found my specific text. I then clicked this and my text font was changed. 

• I then put in my lower text which would title the headlines featured. I made this text smaller so the title would grab the most attention. To make the magazine easier to get around I put page numbers by the article. I put the page number in a seperate layer and text box to the text so they would be easier to move around and I could alternate my page more easily if necessary.

• To create interest for some articles I decided to put a bit of text below with rhetorical question or phrases creating excitement so the reader would feel more intrigued to read the magazine. I did this by making a new text box using the 'T' icon on the far left side and then typing my text in. I kept the font as 'Telegrafico' to maintain a strong house style as this was a font that was also used on my front cover. I also felt it had a modern feel due to being sans-serif and in a simple style

• I then put my remaining text for other features along the column, I noticed with my research that most magazines used three columns for their contents page to give it a more organised appearance. I ensured that I kept to a column appearance through putting a grid on the background so I could see clearly whether things were in line. I did this by clicking the 'Options' tab at the top of the screen and clicking on 'Extras'.

• Using the same technique I put in the rest of my text, leaving space for my chart table to be placed on the right hand side. 

• I then put in my chart table to make my contents page more interesting and related to my chosen music genre. I did this by making the table in Word, I then highlighted the table and dragged it into a different window on Photoshop. I then made a background copy of it by pressing down Command and J. I then dragged this background copy into the contents page by pressing the selection tool at the far left side and selecting the box and dragging it. 

• However, when I had highlighted the table on Word it was not able to highlight one borderline on the left side. To make the border line again I pressed the line tool on the left side and drew out a line of the same height and thickness of the other one using the pointers at the end and middle of the rectangle. This made my page look more professional as now both sides matched.

• I wanted to fill the white space above the table by putting in a title for the table. I chose to use the 'Channel Slanted' text again as it would maintain my house style by blending in with my headers and front cover. Moreover, I made this text big with a 19.55 pt text so it would draw attention to the table and help to fill the white space. 

• In my research I noted that on the pictures featured on the contents page a page number for which they were featured on was placed at the side of the picture. This was to make it even easier for the reader to navigate to the main features in the magazine. To do this I made a text box using the 'T' icon at the side of the page and then typed my text. I again made the font 'Channel Slanted' to continue with my house style and I felt the font suited the picture the most as it was still modern but added detail to it by being slanted. I kept the colour the same by highlighting my text then colouring it red by using the small colour box at the lower left side. 

• To keep my magazine modern and keep with usual magazine tactics to maintain a strong brand through franchising into the internet I added a website and Twitter hashtag which readers could easily access. I did not want this to be a main focus so I only made it 8pt and placed it in the corner. I did this by making a new text box by clicking to 'T' icon and then typing my text into the text box. 

• I wanted to strengthen the house style to increase the branding of the magazine to make it more noticeable to the reader as so far only texts and a colour scheme had been used to implement a house style. I did this by deciding to make a footer at the bottom of each inside page of the magazine. I did this by drawing a line using the line tool across the bottom of the page, then colouring it in using the small colour box on the left hand side to make it the same red.

• I then added text on the bottom and the top in the font Telegrafico as this had already been used on both my front and contents page so would help to continue the front page. I felt it also made the page look more professional due to it being a little detail that would often be included in other magazines. 

• To fill in the white space to make my page more professional I added lines under all titles. I did this by clicking on the 'T' icon, making a text box and then typing in a full stop. I then enlarged this by clicking the text size bar at the top and scrolling to the size font I wanted which was 30pt for the main title and 10pt for the smaller headlines. 

• My final contents page

Double Page Spread Construction

The first video is of my designing my article on inDesign, whereas, the second video is of me editing my photograph.