Test Shots

Box Mock-Ups

Here are my box mock ups for my front page, contents page and double page spread. By doing this, I benefit from having a better idea of the layout of my magazine and where each convention would go.

Photography Used in Magazines

Demographics

Focus Group

Focus Group

I have made seven questions to ask my focus group which relates to my music magazine. These questions will help me decide on things such as the feature stories and price.

These questions are:

• Do you buy music magazines, if so why?
• If you don't why?
• How much would you pay for a magazine?
• What feature stories do you enjoy to read and why?
• What would encourage you to buy a magazine?
• Do you think a magazine should be cheaper if it is online?
• How do you buy music?

 

Response

 For my focus group I used 3 girls and 1 boy aged 16-17. This is because mainly girls read pop music magazines and is the right age for my target audience. This focus group interview was useful because it has enabled me to see what people really think about things such as price and feature stories. It has helped me to decided on a price of the magazine and what type of feature stories I should include. I found out that some people don't buy magazines at all and what makes them want to buy one. This focus group interview has confirmed to price of my magazine.



Costume

I have created three looks that would represent my genre. The pop genre has a wide range of looks and so I have put together three outfits that would be usually seen in this genre. The first outfit is a black dress with blue heels which would be used for a more formal look to the magazine and to reflect the artists personality. The second outfit is quite rock and roll so reflect a fun, edgy vibe around the magazine. Finally the third outfit if very girly and is mainly pink for a feminine look and also a summery look because people love summer.

I got my inspiration from watching video's on YouTube of celebrities talking about their fashion sense or clothing lines they have made. Here are some of these video's to show you what I mean.

Colour Schemes

Colour Schemes

Font types

FONT TYPES

Here are 8 different font types that I would consider using on my magazine. Each one is different to show a variety I can choose from. I chose each one because they has that 'pop' look, they are modern and funky fonts which reflect the genre.

Reader Profile

Mood Board

Mock-Ups

LIIAR Analysis for a front cover, contents page and double page spread for a music magazine.

Front Cover:

Contents Page:

Double Page Spread:

Genre Research

Examples of Pop Music Videos:

Here is one example of a pop music video. It is by Little Mix and it's called Move. This music video appeals mainly to younger girls who aspire to be like Little Mix.

Here is another example of a pop music video. It is by JLS and it is called Billion Lights. This music video appeals to both younger and older people because their fans range in ages.

Magazine Conventions

Front Page

Contents Page

Double Page Spread Conventions

Brief

 

  To design a front cover, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, a minimum of four images must be used.



Final Product

Evaluation

My final magazine product uses conventions which include a masthead, main image, anchorage text, sell lines, a barcode and a skyline. The reason I have followed conventions is so it looks professional and it is what you usually see on magazines. My cover has developed the conventions by placing the conventional features in the right places for example the masthead is in the top left corner so it is easily seen.

 

My final product represents a particular social group of students. This is represented by the language of this magazine. First of all the main image is of a student and the mise-en-scene is the student sitting in a computer room which connotates this magazines audience is for students that could also be interested in IT. The way he is dressed also represents what type of social group this magazine represents as he is dressed casual (e.g. denim jacket, t-shirt and his earphones are visible). The reason why I didn’t want the main image dressed in formally is because I wanted to represent normal college life.

 

The audience of this magazine would be students aged 16-18 which are in college. This is because the genre of the magazine is news, gossip and entertainment which are all very helpful for students because they will want to know what’s going on and any other news that may help them. Also to an extent this product would also be targeted at teachers to inform them the latest news in students’ life right now so they are aware of what’s going on for example exam stress.

 

I used the language of the magazine to help achieve my target audience. For example the colour scheme I used was purple, green and black. The reason I used these three colours is because purple and green are the college colours which help the magazine connect to Wyke itself. I have used black to contrast against these colours which helps emphasize the main stories and features. I have also used the composition of the main image to attract the audience. I have done this by placing the image in the centre of the page and the size of it is large and takes up the full cover. By doing this it attracts the audience and informs them that this magazine is targeted at them because of the model being similar to them.

 

I have learnt that Photoshop is the best programme for this task. This is because Photoshop allows you to edit the image in so many different ways such as crop and text to fit around the image. Whereas if you tried to complete this task on a programme such as Microsoft word you would be restricted to certain ways to edit the image. During this process I have also improved my Photoshop skills and been able to make my final product more professional by using different techniques such as drop shadow and glow to emphasize the text. These techniques helped contrast the text from the main image and made it easier to read.

Looking back I can already see a total transformation in my two final products. I can see from the perfume task that my Photoshop skills were at a low quality which reflected on my work but throughout this task I have learnt how to improve my skills. An example of this is editing the image, on the perfume image I erased too much of the models body but on this task the only edit I have used on the model is enlarged it. I prevented editing to photography because I put for thought into the composition of the image.

 

The thing I would do differently in this task would have taken a wide range of images but with a different model. The reason for this is because it may have been nice to see a different outcome of the magazine if the model, for example, was a girl stood outside of a building in Wyke.

Unused Images

Digital Mock-Ups

(Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread)

Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Research

This is my research of existing magazine covers. This has helped my to understand the conventions of a magazine and how different institutions challenge them.

Initial Ideas

Shot Types