My Final Products

7) Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To The Full Product?

Overall I have learnt to use softwares to enhance my magazine such as Photo Shop. This enabled my magazine to look less simple causing it to be more eye catching.

6) What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing This Product?

PhotoShop

Throughout the process of constructing my product I used PhotoShop to create the full thing. I also developed my skills by manipulating images such as brightening colours of clothing. I learnt how to use many things on PhotoShop such as changing the saturation of an image. Using this online application had a few flaws as I was unable to access it at home. The application itself is also very complex and caused confusion a few times but I was able to overcome these problems.

Internet

The Internet played a huge part in constructing my product as I used it for all my research. I was able to find existing indie music magazines to work from to develop my creation. This was very helpful as my magazine would lack a few conventions causing it to be unsuccessful. I also used the Internet for online websites such as:

• Prezi

This website was new to me therefore I learnt how to collaborate the information to present my work in a more fun and unusual way. Prezi was very challenging and difficult to get used to which was a problem I faced, unfortunately I only used this website once for my blog but the I was still able to post proof of my experience using it.

• Survey Monkey

Survey Monkey was a brilliant website as it contributed to the creation of my product a lot. This is because it enabled me to set my own questions for others to answer. The website provided a mixture of different ways to ask a question such as tick boxes, bar graphs and pie charts. The questions I set provided me with a bunch of information about my audience which allowed me to create a magazine to fit my audience's needs. Using this I learnt to save time by sending a singular email to a group of people at once. Survey Monkey did not cause any problems as I had my own login details so I did not lose any unfinished work.

• Blogger

Blogger is an online document provided by Google where I have posted all my work. Blogger has taught me how to create a presentable blog packed with information and specific detail.  I had no problems with this document and was able to access it on any device as it is run by Google. By having a username and password I knew that my work is secure.

5) How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience?

To attract my audience I used bright bold colours on my front cover such as different shades of yellow. This is because it will be the most eye-catching magazine on the shelf when placed next to others. I decided to use the conventional plug to attract the audience by creating a competition. The words 'win' and 'tickets' are written in bold; attracting the readers attention. Once they notice that purchasing the magazine could give them a chance to win a competition; they immediately want to buy it. I created a survey for my audience to get to know their interests, the results showed that most of my audience are female therefore I used a male model for the main image. The model would portray a teen heart-throb to my audience, as he would be a popular artist; the image of him would attract his fans which would increase my audience.

To address my audience I needed to use my research to see my audience's interests. I used their favourite bands and promoted their events on my front cover, as shown in the image blow:

4) Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?

By creating a survey I was able to find important things about my audience. I had found that most were female and all were between 14 - 18 years of age. This was great as most indie music is targeted for teenagers. The genre indie does not aim towards a particular gender so, luckily, my audience is a mixture of each gender.

Through research I came across NME's reader profile where I could collect information from them as their genre is indie like mine. By taking note of this, I found out the basic information about the complete genre's audience from gender to average age. NME's reader profile also stated what devices their audience use and how they access music. I had taken this idea for my own reader profile so I could get to know my audience more. By doing this, I could make my magazine more interesting to fit my audience's needs.

My Reader Profile

 Existing Reader Profile

3) What Kind Of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product And Why?

2) How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

Through research I have found that models on existing music magazines that the artists create an uncaring look as their facial expressions are serious. It is unusual for an artist to smile for the cover image.
I have used an indie stereotype for my magazine through clothing. I insisted the model to wear baggy clothing to create a careless look enabling him to fit with the indie criteria; connecting to my audience. After taking my survey, I found that 100% of my audience were ages 14 to 18 and mostly female. I decided it would be a good idea to use a male model to act as a teen heart throb for my audience making my magazine more approachable.

1) In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

Existing Magazine Cover

My Magazine Cover

Masthead

My masthead follows the conventions of existing indie music magazines such as NME. This is because they tend to use bright colours hence I used the colour white for my masthead. The colour of this convention is very important as it is the first thing to catch people's attention as the magazine sits on the shelf. The font is usually bold for a indie magazine, I noticed this as I researched existing products. Luckily I did this as my masthead started off as a thin font which was hardly noticeable, this wouldn't have been successful as it was not following the conventions of existing products. I was able to change this through PhotoShop to create a bold font which stands out. The capitalisation of the font used represents maturity which also enables the audience to read the masthead without confusion. Many indie magazines vary on their masthead capitalisation as some are fully capitalised whereas some are lower case. I decided using my audience research that I did not want a font too childish for my magazine. 

Main Image

My main image follows the conventions of existing indie music magazines as I have used one person to fill the full page. I had found through research that existing indie magazines had used a medium close up as their main image. I had developed from this as I had taken many images which were potential main images, I had used a variety of shots to close ups to long shots. As a result I decided to go independently and use a long shot as my main image. Overall this was a great idea as the model was able to use the body language I demanded. The model's body language shows confidence which fits perfectly with the 'indie' (independent) genre. The models used for existing magazines are showing their true colours as they may be wearing unusual clothing or using rare body language which I have worked from. The model used is perfect for my target audience as he can be seen as a teen heart-throb as he fits with the age range of my audience. 

Plug 

My plug is used to give the audience a change to win a competition. This challenges other existing products as not many indie magazines use plugs for this manner. I have designed the plug to be bright yellow causing it to stand out from the page. I used PhotoShop to manipulate the image to create a border forcing it to stand out. It also catches the audience's attention as I have written the word 'win' and 'tickets' in bold which will increase the interest in my magazine. 

Secondary Stories

Secondary stories are regularly placed on the side of the main image so that the reader does not get confused between the secondary stories and the main feature story. The selection of colours I have used follow the conventions of an existing indie product as I have used a bright colour; yellow, to contrast with a dark colour; black.

Feature Cover Story

My feature cover story follows the conventions of an existing magazine as I have used a name in bold. The name usually belongs to the person whom is the main image, which is what I have done. I have used a bright yellow border as bright yellow is within my chosen colour scheme.

Secondary Images

Through research I found that it is rare to see secondary images on an existing indie music magazine as they keep their magazines so simple whereas indie music magazine: NME are a little more complex. This particular magazine uses a secondary image on almost every magazine they publish. I took an interest to this and decided to follow this convention. I took note of the styles they created the secondary images such as the borders around them. The polaroid affect was popular (designing the image to look like a printed polaroid photograph) which inspired me to use this. As not many other indie magazines use this convention; it gave me the chance to challenge them.

Double Page Spread Drafts

Draft 1

Draft 2

Final Product

To improve my double page spread I rearranged the page and changed the choice of image to use as the background. I started with the background image and a secondary image but decided that I didn't particularly like the background image as it didn't give much information about the model which would have linked it to the story. I then experimented by using PhotoShop to expand the secondary image to make it the main image. In my opinion I disliked this idea a lot as the image lost focus and the colours merged with the the colour of the text. To improve this fault I looked for a landscape image such as this one. This worked well as it did not stretch when I edited it. I used PhotoShop to cut out a chair in the background which was overlapping the text. I also spaced out the title so that when the page folds in half; the title is still readable.                                                                  

Front Cover Drafts

First draft

Second Draft

Third Draft

Throughout the process of designing my front cover, I made plenty of changes. Some of these changes included the title as I decided it needed to be thicker as a bold title is a main convention of a magazine. The most obvious change I have made is the cover image. I decided to change this completely as the title ran across the models head, this could not have been used as the image would have been useless. Changing the image completely is a disadvantage as the first image included a musical instrument which is the iconography of my magazine. Instead, the model for my final outcome is portrayed as a singer by his indie clothing. I have also added images of the previous model holding a guitar to assure the audience that this is a music magazine. I improved my magazine by adding more cover stories. This made my magazine look more packed with stories and interviews for the audience.



I chose to take plenty of images for my cover image so that I could experiment as the model is changing positions. This was a great idea as i was able to learn which position suited best for an indie magazine. The clothing the model was wearing were perfect for an indie magazine as his shoes represent his youth which connects him to my teenage target audience. The coat he is wearing fits in the indie criteria as the bagginess gives him a careless/rebel look.   

Framing Shots Including And Excluding Elements As Appropriate

This is a close up image for my magazine front cover. The close up is of an electric guitar to show the audience my magazine is a music magazine as a musical instrument is iconographic to music.

 This is an example of an image with bad lighting. This is bad lighting because the image is very dark and will not likely to be noticed by the audience as much as a bright image which would stand out. The dark colours in this image are dark representing many negatives therefore this lighting is not recommended for a magazine front cover because it will not grab the audience's attention.

This image is an example of a badly framed image. This is because the model or prop is not clear or noticeable as we can only see parts of them. This would be a bad image to have as a front cover because the audience may not know what genre the magazine is. The image is also not interesting as there is no full central object/model to focus on. The audience may dislike this image causing them to ignore the magazine.

The images below could be used for my magazine as they have great potential. This is because the guitars show that the magazine is associated with music. The shots I have used are mainly medium shots. This is because many music magazines are a medium shot of an artist. The clothing the model is wearing also relates to the indie theme as he creates a casual look. I have found many images of indie clothing with casual looks like this. His messy hair look represents his independence (hence 'indie'). I have yet to manipulate these images by changing many things such as the lighting, the background and the colours. I am going to do this to fit my audience's needs.

18th December Deadline Plan

Google Mock Ups   - Using images that aren't mine. (To do before original photographs) *COMPLETE BY DECEMBER 3RD*
Front Cover
Contents Page
Double Page Spread

Original Photography - Images taken by me.
*COMPLETE BY DECEMBER 9TH*

Placing The Photos Onto Your Front Cover
*COMPLETE BY DECEMBER 9TH - 11TH*

DECEMBER 18TH - FRONT COVER FINISHED

Google Mock Up Ideas

Using existing images from the internet, use Photoshop to create 1x mock up of a front cover, 1x contents page 1x double page spread.

Contents Page House Styles

Look at 3 contents pages from the same magazine (different issues) and explain how images and text (fonts, and sizes) are used to create a ‘convention/house style’ for that product

Colour Scheme Ideas, Name Ideas And Feature Story Ideas

-Choose a variety of name ideas (at least 12) for you magazine and explain your choices. State what your final choice is for the name of your magazine and the reasons for this. Colour Scheme I have used colours such as black and white as I found that they are used for the title of almost every indie logo, for example; the images below. I liked the idea of pink and grey as 66% of my audience are female and pink is stereotypically a girl's favourite colour. I have decided to use the top right colour scheme as yellow is not categorized as a certain gender colour. Feature Story Ideas ''10 New Faces Of 2015'' This will grab the audience's attention as a list of new Indie singers will be specified. My target audience would like this as my reader profile research shows that 91.67% listen to music every day. This shows they would be willing to seek new singers to listen to. ''Catfish And The Bottlemen On Tour'' This feature cover story will fit with my target audience as Catfish And The Bottlemen are an Indie Rock band. This story will appear on the front cover of my magazine gripping people's attention as they would like to know more about this tour. They would purchase this magazine to read more. ''Unseen photos!'' This feature story idea is teasing the audience as they now know that this magazine contains unseen images. This will grab their attention as they feel like they need to see these images. They will purchase the magazine to find out more which is why this feature story idea is successful.  Name Ideas I have used my reader profile research as a stepping stone for the name ideas for my music magazine to suit my target audience.  ''Arabella'' Arabella; Latin for 'yielding to prayer' also meaning beautiful, lovable, graceful, is a name of a song by Arctic Monkeys; an indie band my target audience listen to. This also fits with my target audience as 66.67% are female. Arabella is a great choice for my magazine name as it does not only include a ladylike meaning, (beautiful,) it relates to a famous indie band.  ''Independent'' Independent is a good choice for my magazine name as my theme (indie) is a shorter word for independent. It also suits my target audience as 75.00% listen to music through their mobile phone showing they have their independent playlists. 0.00% listen to music dependently through the radio. ''Daily'' ''Daily'' suits my target audience as 91.67% listen to music every day. Although I do not think this name idea is as effective as it is a dull and boring name.  ''1'' Using a number for my magazine creates a unique effect which would grab people's attention. 1 could mean the 1'st best magazine around.

Double Page Spread House Styles

Look at 3 double page spreads from the same magazine (different issues) and explain how images and text (fonts and sizes) are used to create a house style.

Branding Logo Design

Serif  Examples of font: Times New Roman - Traditional Magazine example: Q Use of typeface: Body, Display Connotation: Traditional, Established  Genre: Classical, Jazz Sans Serif Examples of font: Areal Magazine example: NME Use of typeface: Body, Display Connotation: Modern, Fresh, Clean Genre: Indie Rock Block Serif Examples of font: Rockwell Use of typeface: Headline, Display Connotation: Modern Genre: Pop Punk, Rap Decorative Examples of font: Chiller Magazine example: Kerrang Use of typeface: Display Genre: Rock Script Examples of font: Harrington Use of typeface: Display Connotation: Bold, Regular, Italic Genre: Classical, Indie Websites Used For Fonts: 1001fonts.com // dafont.com I have used colours such as black and white as I found that they are used for the title of almost every indie logo. Examples shown underneath.