When I first started this music magazine project, I knew straight away that I wanted to go in the opposite direction from the last magazine project I created, I produced a busy cover and contents page with lots of colour, so this time I decided I would use less colour and have more negative space. Looking at a few music magazine such as KERRANG and Q I decided that Q was more suited for this opposite direction idea, the cover I observed featured many great artists of rock and indie but one thing I noticed more than anything was how much negative space was on the front cover, the white helped the artists stick out more and the masthead (red and white) was more intense as white helps colours be more fresh and vibrant. I wanted my magazine to be very professional, clean and sophisticated.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Key ingredients of a music magazine would be interviews, information of current albums or a top chart, images of artists and bands, a front cover which features an artist or band, a good colourful masthead, easy to use contents page.
FRONT COVER - With the front cover the main aspects which should or could be included is an image/s (important to pull the readers in, depending on the background depends on the colour of the photo, for example a light background would have a darkened image to make it contrast and stand out). With my magazine I have used a silhouetted female holding a guitar (linking to the rock genre of the magazine), I then had a plain white background so it contrasted with the black photo and allowed it to 'pop' from the cover and be striking to the audience/readers.
A Masthead which is gripping (the name of magazine needs to link with the genre), needs to be big and easy for the audience/readers to see and recognize. With my masthead I have used a serif font (gives it a sophisticated and professional look), the background of the masthead is an intense red (striking and noticeable) with the name of my magazine, UNPLUGGED in white, the white of the font allows the red to stand out more.
Coverlines are important to lure the audience/readers into buying and reading the magazine, quick and easy to scan over coverlines are the best. With my magazine, I have included 5 or more coverlines on the front cover, I have placed them on the left hand side of the cover. The size of the font is small but still visible and able to read, some of the words have been bolded and highlighted in red to make them stand out, the audience/readers will scan over the coverlines and these words will stand out for them to see.
Straplines are useful on magazine covers, they can promote the magazine such as, “Number One in the UK” or they can advertise a competition inside the magazine. In my magazine, I used one strapline which I presented at the very top of the cover, “The UK’s Best Selling Music Magazine”. I used the serif font, ‘Times New Roman’ (very sleek and sophisticated) in white font against a plain black background, it makes the text stand out.
Small little details such as a barcode, price, issue number and even the magazine’s website. With my magazine, I had the barcode and price and issue date, I made the barcode small at the bottom left side of the cover (where it is not in the way of anything else) and the price displayed just above the barcode so it is easy for the audience/readers to find.
Banners can be found on many magazine covers, they help to promote a featured article or subject in the magazine, or to highlight a certain celebrity, artist or band in the magazine. For my magazine I never used a banner, I felt there was no need to use one as it would simply cover the bottom half of the picture and would take up room which was needed for the photo to be seen. can be presented on the front cover.
CONTENTS PAGE - For Contents pages the main aspects which are needed are of course the contents listed but also page numbers, perhaps images of some of the featured articles, the masthead of the magazine presented somewhere and the page title.
With the Contents listed, it needs to be quick and easy to read so that the audience/readers can simply glance through the list, find the page number for the article they wish to read and flick to it. The contents is an help page, so one thing which is cannot do is confuse the audience/readers, they need it to help them so it should be easy for them to locate around. On my contents page I have presented my articles in a straight line going down, they are quick and easy to read.
Page numbers are very important for the audience/readers to locate around the magazine, and the page numbers are all displayed on the contents page next to the article listed. With my contents page and the page numbers, I have bolded and highlighted them in red to make them stand out more, with the white background of the page the red really does look striking and interesting.
With Images, they are not important for contents pages but they can be helpful for the audience/readers to see straight away what some of the articles are in the magazine. I have used two images on my contents page, the first one is on Elliot Turner (a made up artist) posing, the same image is found on the DPS for his interview. The next image is the same image from the front cover but it is shown with a quote for the 'Anonymous Music Writer', the two images feature their page number on the image so it easier for the audience/readers to locate the article.
On the Contents page, sometimes the masthead from the cover is presented somewhere, so I decided to present my masthead on my contents page. I didn't want it to be too large but big enough so it stood out at the top left hand side of the contents page, the colour of the red background against the white background of the contents page makes it very noticeable
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD - With a double page spread, it depends on what the topic is about, it is usually an interview so there should be the interview, the name of the artist or band, a photo or two and quotes.
The interview is the most important aspect of the DPS, it is the whole point of the article, with my interview I used sub-headings (which I bolded to make them stand out), I also spaced apart the questions after each one of answered. I made the interview so it was very casual and layed back, some of the questions were about the album and others were very personal and funny (asked by the fans of the artist).
The name of the artist is important as the audience/readers need to know who they are reading about. With my DPS, I had the name of the artist is large serif font (same font as the masthead), the font colour was black, having it against the white background of the DPS made it easier for it stand out.
The photo/s for the DPS can be small photos of the artist or band or they could be a large one page photo which is more striking and forward. For my magazine I used a large single photo which featured the artist (Elliot Turner) posing and looking at the camera (good so it connects the audience/readers with the artist). I increased the contrast and brightness to make it more striking and impacting for the audience/readers.
This image was edited using GIMP, I simply increased the brightness and the contrast to make the photo have more shadows and intensity. Now the photo is more impacting, it stands out from far away.
Quotes are a good way to take a funny part of the interview or important part and highlight it to the audience/readers. For my DPS, I took two interviews and placed them at different parts of the DPS, the first was before the interview, just underneath the title of the artist where it could be easily found. The next was a caption (quote) on the photo, I put the font in red so it stood out against the photo.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
For my magazine, I’m representing teenagers to adult (16 – 30), the magazine is not really for young teenagers, it is more for the mature (the cover doesn’t have much colour so it doesn’t really relate to young children or young teenagers). The genre of music which I chose is Rock and Indie, with this a lot of mature teenagers are fans of rock and so are adults in the age range given. The teenagers are represented in the contents of the magazine, such as the Elliot Turner interview, he is an 18 year old new artist who plays rock, he relates to a lot of newly 18 year olds. The ratio of images with text is more on the text side, for example in the contents page there is more text than photos as there are only 2 photos on the page and not much colour.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The targeted audience for my magazine are both females and males from mature teenagers (16) to adults (30). The profile for my audience would be rock fans who love to read about the world news on rock and Indie music, so concert lovers and fans of featured artists such as Katy Perry, Pink and Ellie Goulding. The audience for my magazine might be at university and this would be the perfect magazine for them to buy and discuss with their friends and fellow students (If I was a university student I would buy a magazine like this, just because it show maturity but also it is not about the look of the magazine but the information inside which is the major focus).
How did you attract/address your audience?
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
With this music magazine project, I found it harder to present my work as I didn't use Coral Paint Shop Pro X at all unlike in my last student magazine project. For this project I used mostly publisher to create the layout and add in the photos and text, but then I had to copy the page/s onto paint and save them as a jpg before I could add them onto my blog. I did use GIMP a few times to edit the photo for the Elliot Turner interview for my DPS, with this I used the smudge tool, this made the background go Grey and look very professional. I then used GIMP again to make the image brighter and more contrasted, so it impacted more on the page. I was going to do a VLOG or maybe a podcast for my evaluation but due to being ill I had to do it on my blog instead but if I had, had enough time after being ill I would of made a video.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
With this project I think I have come to understand that magazines, especially music magazines don't have to be full of images and colour, but less can mean more in the terms of looking professional and sophisticated. The student magazine was just a starting point for me to get to grips with making a magazine, so this time round I was going to make the magazine the complete opposite, make it more mature, clean and professional.
I am glad with the three outcomes that I have ended up with, I did experience problems throughout the project (especially with the photos) but I managed to overcome them which I am glad because the outcomes are more than I could of ever expected.
For my magazine, I’m representing teenagers to adult (16 – 30), the magazine is not really for young teenagers, it is more for the mature (the cover doesn’t have much colour so it doesn’t really relate to young children or young teenagers). The genre of music which I chose is Rock and Indie, with this a lot of mature teenagers are fans of rock and so are adults in the age range given. The teenagers are represented in the contents of the magazine, such as the Elliot Turner interview, he is an 18 year old new artist who plays rock, he relates to a lot of newly 18 year olds. The ratio of images with text is more on the text side, for example in the contents page there is more text than photos as there are only 2 photos on the page and not much colour.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
With my magazine, it is inspired by Q Magazine and so the company who create Q Magazine are Bauer Media Group, who also do KERRANG magazine. With these two magazines, they are completely different, with Q they are more Rock and Indie music, but mostly all around music magazine whereas KERRANG is a focus rock magazine. Also, KERRANG is mainly for the teenagers but also adults (not as many adults as Q). However, with Q it is more mature and expensive than KERRANG. With my magazine it is directed at the mature audience so it gives both teenagers and adults a chance to catch up with music and their favorite artists.
The targeted audience for my magazine are both females and males from mature teenagers (16) to adults (30). The profile for my audience would be rock fans who love to read about the world news on rock and Indie music, so concert lovers and fans of featured artists such as Katy Perry, Pink and Ellie Goulding. The audience for my magazine might be at university and this would be the perfect magazine for them to buy and discuss with their friends and fellow students (If I was a university student I would buy a magazine like this, just because it show maturity but also it is not about the look of the magazine but the information inside which is the major focus).
How did you attract/address your audience?
The first thing that the audience would look at is the front cover so it has to be interesting, striking and capture the audience's attention and make them buy this magazine. One thing which is most striking about the front cover on my magazine is the contrast of the colours, the dark silhouetted female against the intense white background make it 'pop' from the cover. The red background of the masthead with the contrasting white font, like I said before the white of the font and background of the cover makes the red seem fresh and bright. The whole style of the magazine is a sophisticated, mature, clean and professional magazine (with audience feedback: "very simple but the limited use of text, font colours and styles have made your design very professional, similar to that of Q") which was what I was going for. With most music magazines you think it the cover would be full of colour and images but busy is not always the answer, sometimes too busy is too much and the audience would not buy the magazine.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
With this music magazine project, I found it harder to present my work as I didn't use Coral Paint Shop Pro X at all unlike in my last student magazine project. For this project I used mostly publisher to create the layout and add in the photos and text, but then I had to copy the page/s onto paint and save them as a jpg before I could add them onto my blog. I did use GIMP a few times to edit the photo for the Elliot Turner interview for my DPS, with this I used the smudge tool, this made the background go Grey and look very professional. I then used GIMP again to make the image brighter and more contrasted, so it impacted more on the page. I was going to do a VLOG or maybe a podcast for my evaluation but due to being ill I had to do it on my blog instead but if I had, had enough time after being ill I would of made a video.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
With this project I think I have come to understand that magazines, especially music magazines don't have to be full of images and colour, but less can mean more in the terms of looking professional and sophisticated. The student magazine was just a starting point for me to get to grips with making a magazine, so this time round I was going to make the magazine the complete opposite, make it more mature, clean and professional.
I am glad with the three outcomes that I have ended up with, I did experience problems throughout the project (especially with the photos) but I managed to overcome them which I am glad because the outcomes are more than I could of ever expected.
