Development of skills and understanding

Since the preliminary task of creating a college magazine I feel my understanding of how to use Photoshop has progressed as I now know how to use many more tools and function on Photoshop to my benefit to help create my final three products. I have also learnt the need for research in to the products I made by looking at and analysing existing products. This helped me giving me ideas for my own products, how they should look and the content of them. I also undertook research to find out about the target audience and what they want from a new music magazine. This helped by giving me ideas for the house style, colours, content and the genre of music listeners I would aim my magazine at.

Technologies

From this project I have learnt about new technologies used to create media such as magazines. I have developed an understanding of how to use Photoshop, and how it can be used to manipulate images and alter them. While taking the photos I learnt the importance of good lighting as it can change how the images comes up and how it can connote different things such as dark lighting, looks more dull, dingy and mysterious whereas bright lighting seems more happy and enthusiastic. The scenery where an image is taken can change the effect, as a picture taken on the streets would look rougher and could be related to crime whereas a picture taken in a more luxurious setting would connote a life of glamour and wealth. On each of my photos I used Photoshop to adjust them. For example on the contents page I used a gradient in the corner of the picture as I had cut round the person, and added a red background, this made the corner of the picture look empty but the gradient gave the effect that it fades in from the border as the gradient is the same colour as the border. On other images I adjusted the brightness and contrast to make them stand out more and add more colour to the magazine. I made the images brighter as the light I took them in was not ideal, so this effect help bring them out.

Addressing the Audience

From my research I found that from the people I asked most of them preferred the music genre of Indie. I also asked what tone they would like the magazine to have and they answered a chatty informal register, but not too jokey. I put this in to my magazine by using an informal tone and register and by not keeping it too formal. For example I have used exclamation marks to make it seem more informal and casual. I also used the cover line, ‘the hot new act’ to attract male members of my target audience by giving them an interest in the female artists on the cover. It also has a slight chatty tone to it.

Target Audience

The target audience of my music magazine are Indies aged 16-24. They are young have their own individual style, including skinny jeans and plimsolls. They have a neat yet rough around the edges and slightly scruffy organised style. Indies attend gigs, festivals and live events. They spend money on mp3s such as ipods, downloading music, alcoholic drinks, and other various electrical gadgets. This will helped me to determine the content of my magazine. I would also sell advert space for typical products which my target audience will buy such as CDs, mp3s, gig or festival tickets, clothing and other products. In my audience research I did not think to ask which products they usually buy and this would have helped to know what adverts for products I would use.

Institution

Bauer is the largest publishing company in Europe, it publishes in countries such as France, Germany, UK, US and Mexico. IPC is a multinational media company and is part of Time Warner; it publishes the music magazine NME. Dennis is a smaller publisher, but still publishes over 50 magazines including Men’s Fitness I would prefer a middle publishing company such as Dennis to distribute my magazine rather than a small or big. If a big one such as Bauer published it there would be a large distribution of my magazine but the publisher would have a large amount of power over what is printed. However if a small publishing company distributed my magazine then it would have little distribution but I would still have power and choice over the content and what is printed. I would not self-publish my magazine as it would be difficult to distribute it and it would be hard to get it in the bigger distribution companies such as WH Smiths.

2.Reresentation

My media product creates a representation of the Indie social group. I used dark colours and ripped the edges of boxes to make it look like an un-glossy, scruffy and urban lifestyle. I took pictures of people wearing typical Indie style clothes to help connote the target audience and attract them. I took one picture of a town at night to connote the night life of this life style. The pictures I have taken the people have blank and slightly miserable facial expressions, this represents youth as being miserable or as not wanting to show their emotions. I took the pictures in a house, making the band look more friendly and homely as they are perched on a window sill, making them look more down to earth, rather than taking them on a street.

Forms and Conventions

My magazine is aimed at the sub-culture group, Indies aged 16-24. It is a music magazine so the content is music related. The front cover of my final three products includes the masthead, M.H (music head) the name of my magazine. I named my magazine this as it is a music magazine and the head part is related to the fact that you listen to music through ‘head’phones. For the mast head I used a font that looks like hand writing, to make it look scruffy and non-glossy. Underneath the abbreviation M.H, I wrote the whole name, music head, so the reader knows what it stands for as it is the first issue. If more issues were produced then this may not have to be put on the cover as the magazine already has a regular buyer audience. The cover lines on the front cover include ‘win tickets to Glastonbury’ and ‘exclusive sneak peek at this years festival line ups’ also ones including band reviews and interviews. These are on the front cover as they are targeted at my audience and are something which the target audience would be interested in. The colour scheme is dark colours, as this goes with my target audience. Overall I think my front cover is ok but needs more cover lines to intrigue the reader and make it look more ‘busy’ to help connote Indies lifestyle. The contents page I like as it looks simple yet effective with the white text on the black background making it stand out and eye grabbing. I like the border effect on the two images as it looks retro. The page numbers are on a yellow box in black font and look like warning signs. The black background keeps in tone with the theme of the front page; this creates a house style for my magazine as dark colours indicate the dark nightlife. On the double page spread I like the white text on the brown box and the red font the questions are in as it separates the text more making it easy to follow. In between the boxes of text are gutters, these I used to separate the columns of text. I prefer the black and white and other effects on the main image on the double page spread I used on it as it look vintage and goes better with the style of my target audience. Originally I planned to make my double page spread a lot different, with images down the side and text across the rest of the page. I changed this because I thought a big image would look better by drawing attention to the picture and then down to the text. I then added the three individual images along the bottom as an addition to the text to draws attention to the bottom of the page. The white space at the top then draws the eyes back up the page over the text, and back down the text so it is read. In white-space the page numbers are located, this is to make it easy to see which page you are on when flicking through the magazine. I placed the main title of the article across the white space to make it look lie the white space and blue background are not completely separate. In the white space is also the logo of the magazine to remind the reader of the magazine they are reading. The white space has a ripped edge to connote the un-glossy and un-commercialised life of the Indie style.

Double page spread

Double page spread
Originally uploaded by sarah412

Finished Products

The are the original un-edited images i used in my final three products.

Drafts of initial ideas for my final products

Contents

contents
Originally uploaded by sarah412

Double page spread

Double page spread
Originally uploaded by sarah412

Click to View

As research for my music magazine I carried out a questionnaire to find out what my target audience requires from a music magazine:
To begin with i asked peoples age to check they were in the age range of my target audience and found that they were mostly 16-18 so this will be the specific age range of the target audience. I then asked the audience if they currently bought a music magazine and if so how often. The majority replied as monthly, so I will make my magazine monthly

Next i found how how much they are prepared to pay, the main response was between £2 and £3, therefore i will make my magazine between this price range. Then to find out what kind of audience i am aiming my magazine at i asked what genre of music they preferred and found that the majority liked indie music the best,so i will design my magazine to be aimed at this type of audience.

To find out what content this audience would prefer i asked if they attended gigs or festivals and how often, and what they would most like to see in the magazine. I found that roughly equal amounts wanted new release reviews, gig/festival reviews, artist reviews and artist interviews and with slightly more, gig/festival guides and info. This will help me decide what to put on the cover as cover lines to make the audience want to buy the magazine and what to use as content for the centre fold as i know what they are looking for in a music magazine.

I also asked if they tend to buy magazine that comes with free items such as Cd's, posters, or gig discounts and competitions. The majority replied with Cd's and gig/festival discounts so this also helps me to know what to put on the cover of my magazine to make it suitable for my target audience. Finally i asked what colours appeal the most to the target audience to see what kind of colour scheme is best suited to my target audience.

Blender

blender
Originally uploaded by sarah412

mixmag

mixmag
Originally uploaded by sarah412

Rocksound

rocksound
Originally uploaded by sarah412

Research

To research a college magazine I looked at existing magazine covers and did a market research questionnaire. From this I found what the target audience demands in a new college magazine:
·To see college news, events, local band and gig guides, Gossip and reviews of technology.
·The target audience is prepared to pay £1
·For it to be issued Fortnightly
·The magazine to be a bit more expensive and colourful
·To address the audience in a jokey and chatty way.

I also found from the people I asked that:
·The majority like pop, RnB, and Indie music the most.
·Their favourite past times are music, Shopping and sport.
·They bought the magazines: Vogue, Heat and Nuts.

I analysed the existing magazine, ‘The national Student Magazine’ from this I could see what was already on the market for my target audience and how it was laid out and the style of it.
By looking at the existing student magazine covers and my market research I can see what to include in my new student magazine and how to style it.

Original Image

College Magazine Front Cover

This is my finished College Magazine Front cover. From my research i found what is appropriate for the target audience and included it in the finished product. For example one of the cover lines reads 'Gossip.News.Music.Sports.Gadgets', from my market research i found that these are the topics Which my target audience would like to see in a college magazine. It is also very colourful such as the mast head which has a bright background and font colour this connotes happness and fun, which realtes to college life.
Overall i think the pictures framing the magazine look good and they would attract my attention. I also think the bright colours would attract attention but the colour scheme could be changed as it is too bright and to me it looks more like a celebrity gossip magazine. I think the fonts are good as they look simple but could also be change to make them look more unique. The cover lines down the side are all in different coloured fonts this suggets a mixturre of things as there is a mixture of colours.
From doing this task i have gained a good understanding of how to use photoshop to edit images and to create items such as this magazine cover. I have also found that be researching existing products and a target audience you can create a new product suitable for them.

College Magazine Contents Page

National Student Magazine cover

National Student Magazine cover
Originally uploaded by sarahtaylor2317