Evaluation 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

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Evaluation 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Unedited images

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Evaluation 5. How did you attract/address your audience

When I posted this photo up online, I received such a helpful response. Alot of people gave me constructive criticism, which really helped me use different techniques, try out different background such as black or white.

I have used the social networking site Facebook to my advantage because I posted a picture online of the first draft of my contents page and the response was really good. Therefore, I had an idea on how I wanted mine to look like.

The fact that I have used social networking sites to receive feedback from two pages, the contents and front cover, shows that people, mostly my target audience are instantly attracted to image, Even though I did not upload the finished versions of all three of my products, family and peers show interest in my product because they constantly urge a keep them updated.

Evaluation 4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Media audience evaluation

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Evaluation 3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

My media product can be distributed by various media institutions such as Bauer and major supermarket retailers like Tesco's and Morrison's.

Bauer media group, distribute well established magazines such as Kerrang and Q. Therefore I think Bauer will be perfect for distributing my magazine Forward, for the fact that my magazine will attract a potential market that Bauer does not have, which is Rnb, Hip Hop. Even though Bauer does not sell physical copies of Rnb and Hip Hop magazines, they also own a 50% stake in the British Television Company, Box Television, which produce several musical channels. Artists featured in Forward magazine will have the ability to be reconsigned by the potential audience because several music channels will promote the selected artists music.

Alot of supermarket retailers sell magazines. There target audience is all shoppers because even though the magazines chosen target market will purchase their products from the chosen supermarket, there is also another potential market, impulse purchases. This is where shoppers buy a product, which is not needed however desired. The way impulse purchases happen is when buyers see something attractive and eye catching. Forward magazine uses bright, vibrant font colours and letterings which enhance the aesthetics of the product.

Evaluation 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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Evaluation 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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Unedited Images

Unedited images

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Here are my unedited images for my three documents:
-Front Cover
-Double Page spread
-Contents

Front Cover:
I used the brush tool in order the take away all the background area, making image more powerful and stand out. I also used the posterize tool to give a cartoon affect.

Double Page Spread:
At first, I used six images, five colour, one black and white. however, I realised the page was too busy, therefore i cut the images down to only three, then converting them into black and white so that there was a balance  between colours.

Contents:
The image I used has only been posterized, creating a cartoon affect.

Final Double Page Spread + Initial Designs

I designed my double page spread using advanced software, Adobe Indesign. The software in school Serif PagePlus, had many restrictions however the programme I used is enabled me use more fonts and tools. My double page spread was influenced  by looking at various magazines, such as Vibe, NME, Q and Kerrang. I realised that every double page I analysed had similarities, such as having a powerful image that attracted the reader and were aesthetically appealing. I started off by using the same font I used when creating my front cover,  'Defused' in black with a yellow stroke around the lettering. My double page spread was about DJG and I used big bold lettering to make the text stand out. I split the page 50/50, with the first half being images of DJG and the second half being the article. I aligned the text in three columns and sized the text to 9, which made it large enough to read and small enough to fit on the page correctly.

As you can see below, I have changed my double page spread many times, this is because of peer feedback and teacher feedback.

The hardest part of creating this document was choosing what images to have and what they represent. For example, my first design had only one image of three males standing together. DJG is in the middle with two friends. they are all posing and the person to DJG's left has no facial expression, representing fear, which will make the reader want to read the article and find out. However, I realised that this picture had to be changed because it was too pixelated and stretched, which made the aesthetics unappealing.

I then chose one image, which showed DJG at a gig. I made the image large because it was in black and white and related to the article; he was a DJ. I then chose six smaller images, all of variable sizes that also related to the text, for example the Louis Vuitton sunglasses represent wealth, being a very high priced item and are well recognised in music culture as one of the must have items. Artists from Birdman, Lil Wayne and Kanye West have been seen wearing them. The other five images are of things that DJG has obtained throughout his career, such as a BMW M3, nice trainers and a Louis Vuitton briefcase. All these images back up the 'Ragz to Riches' theory. I also inserted a quote from the article, which I thought was really effective because it made readers think about to their school days. The font colour was white which stood out on a dark background.

However, these six images were not in the right place, because there were too many white gaps, which made the document look unprofessional. Six images also made the document look too busy and  the fact that the smaller images were in colour made the document unbalanced. The quote also needs to be moved because normally, the quote is in the middle of the article. Therefore, my final double page spread, which you can see at the bottom of the page has the same quote, however I have moved it in the middle of the article. This has made my document look more professional. I have gave the lettering a slight yellow stroke, which makes it stand out. I have also used three images, instead of the original six. The three images are now in black and white, which makes the document balanced. I have kept the the first original image, being DJG at gig and kept the image showing his Louis Vuitton sunglasses. I chose another image, DJG and a female posing together, representing the benefits of being in the music industry, beautiful girls and wealth.


Here are my initial designs, in order. At the bottom of the page I have my final document:





Final Double Page Spread:

Final Contents Page + Initial Designs

My contents page is one of the easier documents to create because whilst designing, I have been looking at different magazines such as VIBE magazine and NME for different ideas. I thought looking at these two magazine would be ideal for me because they both target my potential audience. 

I started my contents page by editing the main image, which covered the whole page. The image shows a music artist looking down, symbolising concentration and determination. The fact that readers cannot see his eyes also creates a mysterious atmosphere. I used the posterize effect in order to achieve a cartoon affect (I have used this same effect on my front cover image), I thought this enhanced the aesthetics of the image. 

The heading 'CONTENTS' is in the same font as the front cover, 'Defused'. There is also a yellow stroke around the lettering. I have kept this font throughout all my documents the same because it stands out and is consistent.

I came up with six sections for my magazines, for example 'Gigs', 'Win' and 'Reviews'. I used the font Myriad Pro, which looks simple and professional. By looking at many magazines, I realised their contents page is simple yet effective. the first draft of my contents page had only the section titles aligned against the left side because I thought this would be the first place where the readers eyes become attracted to and by aligning the text on that side, the image becomes more powerful because readers can see his jacket.

The second draft has more text, however one thing I realised when receiving feedback was that my font size varied magnificently. For example the words 'DRAKE 2011' and 'DJG' stand out from the rest of the text, although this was intentional because they were both front cover story's, it made the document look unprofessional. i also numbered the section, in white white font colour with a red stroke, which enhanced the aesthetics. I also added a slight yellow stroke to the lettering of the section titles, which attracted readers.

For my third draft, I made the text size 12 so that readers can read the document without becoming confused. The story's that are not covered on the front page, are in the white font colour and the sky blue colour for the story's that are. By using the brush tool, I was able to produce a star symbol. Also by putting them in the bottom and top corners of the text is effective because it enhances the aesthetics.

For my final draft, which can be found at the bottom of the post, I have kept all changes from the third draft, however I have placed the magazines name at the bottom right hand corner of the document to create brand recognition. 

Final Contents Page

FORWARD NOT FORZARD

Many of my peers seem to think my magazine masthead is called FORZARD OR FOR 3 ARD. 

The masthead clearly states, FORWARD with a rotated 90' clockwise 'W' with a thicker stroke outline then the other letter therefore attracting the reader.

Final Front Cover + Initial Designs

Designing this document has been really enjoyable because I have had the ability to further my understanding of the software, Adobe Photoshop. I chose to use this software because the the interface is easy to use and images can be edited much further with more advanced tools rather then programmes like Serif PagePlus.

I started by thinking of a name of my magazine. I thought of much music has affected today's society and tried summarising it in one word. I came up with the title 'FORWARD' because these days, the music industry is moving our society forward, with the help of iPods, iTunes and festivals such as Glastonbury. Once I had the name, I thought about making it unique and original. I rotated the 'W' 90' clockwise and made the font size larger. The reason I had done this was to symbolise the fact that music is moving forward. the rotated letter looks like an arrow. 

The font I used for the heading is called 'Defused'. I downloaded the font from http://www.dafont.com/, which is a legal website where anyone can download a variety of different font. I chose this font because it stand outs and will get the attraction of the reader. I plan to keep consistent with this font throughout the headings of each document. I also have black font colour with a yellow stroke around the lettering. 

My house style is black and yellow, a modern colour combination coming back into fashion. 

I downloaded an image of an arrow off the internet and placed the behind the text, below the letter 'F' symbolising the heading 'FORWARD'. 

The image I used for my front cover was taken by me. I have chose to make the artist, DJG a signed artist because it would attract readers. I used the posterize tool in Photoshop to give the image a cartoon affect. 

I think the image used is powerful due to many reasons such as:

-The artist is wearing expensive items of clothings such as Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton and Nike. This symbolises the high class and expensive lifestyle. 

-It is quite large, in that it takes up most of the page. 

-The artist is looking directly at the reader, getting them involved.

From my music research, I found that all front covers need:

-Masthead

-Barcode

-Lures

-Image

-Price

-Issue number & date. 

I have realised that other magazines in the hip hop market are using all those key words, so I incorporated that within my own magazine. 

My first lure was vertical text, in turquoise. I thought it was a good idea at first because it was unique, however as I received feedback from my peers, I learnt that it was unusual and was not suitable for my magazine. The price was also unrealistic and place within a explosion shape. my third draft does not look professional. due to the unsuitable lures and pricing. I decided to change the white background to a gradient background between black, yellow and grey. Although my magazine stood out, it was not what my potential market was looking for. I found this out by asking my friends and family. 

I then decided to change the background to plain black, which stood out because the text was in different colours and sizes. when readers look at my front cover, they will realise the consistency and the fact that not every word is the same size, or same style. 

By simply increasing the size of one word and decreasing the size of another I have the readers attention. I have also made certain words bold and certain words italic, for example 'Top', 'MP3', 'Month'. 

I have also made the pricing alot more realistic at £2.20. This will enhance the quality of my magazine. 

Final Front Cover:

Double Page Spread Analysis

Contents page analysis

My magazine will be targeted at readers who enjoy Rnb/Hip Hop. Therefore, I have looked at various contents pages so I have an idea of what reader will expect to see. I have looked a variety of magazines with different genres.

Contents page analysis

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Music magazines research

Before Designing and producing our music magaazine, me and my colleague will carry out research on three well known music magazines. They are KERRANG!, NME and Q. The reason for researching into the current market of magazine is to see the competition and know what to include in our magazine in order to make it aesthetically appealing to the reader.



I have shown my research in a simple, yet effective Powerpoint presentation using Microsoft Powerpoint 2007

Here is my Powerpoint Presentation:

Music magazines research

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Me and my partner have brainstormed ideas of our target audience, the name, theme and house styles:

Preliminary Task

Before starting my unit 1 foundation portfolio in Media Studies, I will be undertaking a preliminary task where I have been asked to produce a front page of school magazine using desktop publishing and editing software. The majority of the magazine will be created within school on a programme called serif. At first, getting to grips with programme seemed a challenge because the interface and tools were new to me, although i soon realised serif is similar to photo shop, therefore it did not take me long get used the software. I am currently working with a colleague, therefore we can both have an input on the aesthetics of the magazine. 

Me and my colleague have only just started our magazine cover. We will make alot more changes and I will note each step down in this blog.

Firstly, I captured various images using my Blackberry smartphone. Before me and my colleague decided on which image would be suitable for our magazine cover, we picked three potential images that caught our eye and stood out from the others. 

This was our first choice, showing a wide shot type. the subject, being our classmate is standing formally, not looking directly at the camera. This is because we wanted the reader to focus more on background which includes the 'Hitchin Girls' School' main entrance board. The purpose of the board is to inform and attract the visiters attention, therefore we thought it would portray the same message across to our magazine readers. There is also a plant pot, which will attract the readers attention by being colourful and vibrant. However, overall the image is not busy enough and looks rather plain, therefore both disagreed on not including this image on the front cover of our magazine.

This image is similar to our first choice. It is a wide shot type showing three people, instead of one. We decided to still keep the board and even include the front entrance doors, symbolising anyone can enter, be it girls or boys which is what this image is based on. There are two boys and one girl, who is placed on the left. I placed the female on the left because she is in the centre of the image, also attracting readers. However we again both disagreed on this image because it was to pix elated and the image was taken from too far.   

I really liked this picture because it stood out from the rest. It had character and was also unusual because you hardly ever capture the moment when students let the pressure overwhelm them. I chose to take this photo because it would attract the reader into opening the magazine and finding out what happened. Initially, I thought this would be our front cover however after discussing with my colleague and the teacher, we realised it would not be eye catching and appealing for a front cover main image. So instead, it will be placed  on the front cover as a 'Lure' which is a smaller image around the cover, attracting readers.




After debating over the previous three images, me and colleague chose a suitable image that would be featured on our front cover. The image shows four of my classmates placed in a diagonal line. There are three boys and one girl. The female, who is placed second, attracts most of the readers attention because the ratio is 3 boys to 1 girl.  The shadow of each person emphasis's the size of my class mates.  The image creates the illusion of distance because of the each person stand behind each other. It is also busy and the facial expressions of each person is vibrant and happy.

However, whilst designing my front cover I realised the chosen image needed to be cropped, so it is detailed enough to see whilst being able to include the essentials such as background, shadow and people.


                              Draft cover:

The name of our magazine is 'Consortium' come from the fact that our magazine will consist of pupils from Hitchin Boys' School and Hitchin Girls' School, which is the consortium. My colleague and I realised that the title did not stand not enough. I filled the text black and used the embossing effect to create a unique look. 


There are various articles that I could include in my magazine such as:

• Staff reviews, which would interest parents.
• Fashionable styles, which attract sixth formers.
• Information on the school disco, appealing to the younger pupils of the school.
• Photos from recent school trips, attracting the younger pupils so they have an idea of what to look forward to.
• Exam results, informing parents on their children's achievements  

My magazine will be mostly aimed at school pupils aged 11-18. Although their will be a market for parents and teachers who are interested in the school.


The articles will be coordinated, written and edited by me and my colleague.  

Me and my colleague found out that we could not have our chosen front cover because, although it looked suitable, the brief states that the front cover image can only be medium close up.

Realising that we had made a mistake, we both came up with changes that were to be made to our magazine. Firstly, the chosen photo was wrong, therefore we will take a new photo that will meet the brief specifics, i.e medium close up.

Looking at our magazine now, it is blank. there will be more text needed, in order to attract the readers attention. we will used brighter colours then our original cover, because it is dull and in order for the magazine to stand out, there needs to be contrast. The text will be a speech bubbles and shapes filled with colour in order to grab the readers attention. 

'Lures' are needed in order to inform the reader what the content in this magazine will be. It tends to be smaller then the front cover image because it is not meant to keep the front cover busy. We already have one, showing a sixth former who is struggling with there work.

We wil also include a competition which will be targeted at the whole school. Students will get the chance to win a brand new iPhone 4. It will cost £1 to enter and a the winner will be decided by a lunch time draw. Having a competition throughtout the whole school will bring in more money for the school and alot more people will be interested.

 We will have bright bold text around the picture, which willl attract the reader and make them want to open the page.

We will also keep the masthead 'Consortium' because the magazine appeals to all three schools. To represent that further, we will place images of all three school bagdes.

The target audience is 11-18 year olds because they are the pupils of the school. It may also attract parents.

The price wil be 50p because it is cheap and will help the school raise funds.

Draft cover 2:

 When we realised that our chosen image could be used, we decided to first play with the other images we had taken. The image of three students at the top, could not be used on its own because it was to big and became pixelated once stretched. Therefore we decided to also use the original image and the new image, however crop them in order to match the brief. The overall outcome of this magazine cover was not good. Me and my colleague both thought it was too busy and did not look professional. the masthead was covering one of students head. it did not look professional.







After deciding the contents of the the front cover, me and colleague needed a new image that matched the brief, which included a medium close up of a student. We used a picture of one of my peers, which was taken quickly and effectively.

Final Image:

This photo is effective because it uses a plain grey background which does not distract the readers attention and the image also uses a attractive young lady, Whos facial expression is happy and welcoming. This makes the reader want to find out more the magazine, therefore opening the next page. This girl is also popular amongst her peers therefore, students in the entire school will want to know the story behind her being on the cover.




Looking closer at this image, we realised once again it is not quite a medium close up shot. therefore me and my colleague cropped the image, to make it suitable.

Final cover:


As you can see, we have kept the masthead, because of its originally. It will give us brand identity.

 We have also used 'Lures' which attract the reader. Cleverly, we have also added text going above the image reading 'Work getting you down' in a size 14pt font size and pearl white. Then having the last word, being 'Down' which goes down the side of the image, this emphasises the fact that sixth former's head is down in her books, symbolising she is struggling.

The next image is a competition, asking if readers are interest in receiving a new gadget, iPhone 4. This little picture will attract alot of readers attention because they have a chance of winning a new product. The image shows another one my peers from Hitchin Boys' School holding and iPhone 4, clearly showing what is up for grabs and has a cheerful facial expression. There is a speech bubble, filled in white to stand out on the page, with purple text asking if this person could be you. By aiming a question at the reader, they become more involved. Purple text on a white background works well and really compliments the whole front cover. We have used capital letters in the 'YOU' because it will catch the eye of the reader.

Me and my colleague chose to add all three badges of the consortium schools because that is who our magazine is aimed at, hence the masthead being 'Consortium'. They each had a white background, however we used the transparency tool to remove the white background.

Lastly, we included the price, in purple text which was situated within a white filled star. Keeping the same scheme as the image above. Readers will become familiarised with the consistency.

After completing this task, i have learnt that there are various aspects to take into consideration when creating a magazine front cover. I used lures in order to attract the reader however there is not enough detail overall. I have left alot of blank space because i wanted the readers eyes to be attracted to the main image because this magazine is targeted towards high school kids. Therefore, having an image of a young girl with a happy facial expression will give off a warm, happy vibe to the readers.

When creating my official magazine cover, i will consider my target audience and use more detail.

Me and my partner also created a contents page. It was a quick draft:

Me and my partner wanted to create a simple yet effective page, meaning it would stand out and attract the reader. we used large images and a question, engaging the reader. We also used slanted text to identify page numbers, which made it aesthetically appealing for the reader.