How my final layout has expanded from my original designs

Mastheads

This is the background colour I later used for my final design when making the Masthead, it is a very deep red and black surface with a rough edge to it, I believe this bodes very well with the genre of music my magazine is revolving around. It also fits very nicely with the rest of the page, and later the double page spread where I continued the same graphic style.

 This is the Advertisement I used on my banner, as the banner is not a completely straight figure across the top of the page I placed this pop out 'bursting' out from the top right of the page, at a vertical angle - almost cross cutting through the masthead itself. This effect is used on many magazines within this genre of music, especially Kerrang!.

This is the final masthead for my front cover. As you can see the masthead is being cross cut through by a picture and almost by the 'EDITION #007' effects I have implemented. However I still believe it is a very successful masthead.

As in a previous post, this is a masthead I designed and later went against. This was due to many reasons, the background image did not suite the rest of the magazine, it would have been at too much of a contrast to keep it as it is. However if I would have simply changed the background, the shade of blue, the 'FREE' writing and also the picture, would all have looked out of place, and the overall masthead did not look well presented. Hence why I created a much simpler masthead that I believe delivers a much more potent effect to the front page of my magazine - providing the viewer with all they need to know about 'freebies' and also the information about what they will receive within the magazine.

Front Covers

This is a front cover I originally made very early on when first starting my project. It provided me with a lot of vital information when I eventually came to making my final front cover piece. Many effects that I used on this rough copy I genuinely followed through with and used on my final copy. Such as the band name almost 'splashing' in from the left, from research and analysis I concluded that this was a very attractive feature, and the contrast of colour it brings to the background and main graphic style makes it a great addition to any front cover.

This is my final front cover, and the expansion from my initial design, I believe, is monumental. It provides much more impact on a viewers eye with a varying contrast in colours, all of which maintaining a similar graphic pattern. The pictures are manipulated much better, and the font is at a maintaining high standard throughout. The masthead provides more information about advertisement and freebies and the title stands out a lot more, as one query I had with my initial design was that the title was not potent enough within the page. However I believe that now the title is very much the main attention grasper for the cover, bringing a simple yet vibrant colour to attract the viewer.

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

From this, you can see a clear difference in the quality between the two, in both my Front Covers, and Contents Pages. The double page spread, as one was not necessary within our preliminary task I did not produce one, however the Double Page spread for my finished product I believed turn out fantastically. The front cover for my preliminary piece lacks various features relevant for that of a music magazine; the title of the magazine is not clear, it lacks information and the pictures are square, block images, with no contrast to the background image. Also, the text present throughout the front cover is very bland, it does not extract any sort of attention from the background and hence making it useless. With my finished product I have tried to eliminate these factors, making a large, obvious title for my magazine, bursting out of the page in a 'PUNK' font, with the colours in relation to that of the background, although with a slight differentiation to make it stand out from the rest of the cover. Also many other features such as the images, I have used Photo shop to extract various images from their background and place them unto more suiting backgrounds for the style of magazine to which I have taken upon. Other features such as the bursting images as a teared background to the band name, from the left of my finished product front cover, set it in a different standard to that of my preliminary piece.


















In relation to this, with the contents page for my preliminary piece, it has various features that I genuinly believe suite the style of magazine in which it is portraying, for example, the boxes outlining the various page numbers and cover stories within them are a great asset to the page. Also the variation in green/yellow along the bottom, also contrasting with the text along the bottom and top (the title/main cover story) along with the smaller story in white along the bottom, make for an overall good look. However it lacks originality and the factor of belief. If this magazine was placed on the shelves it would not generate a fan base, its potential target market would not be interested due to its lack of images, and also due to the fact that its too block coloured. However with my finished product, again I have become neglegate to block colours, I have used various texts, along with colour schemes to create a contrasting effect. Also, the main image itself has been extracted from its background to set it aside from the rest of the page, pulling it out of the background. The promotional posters on the bottom right have been specifically cut and enhanced using a horizonal adjustment feature on Photo shop. This sets them aside from the rest of the magazine, making sure none of the features blend together as not to make it boring.

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

Before constructing this product, I had yet to be introduced to the wonders of photo shop - how dissecting an image could be made one hundred times easier through much simpler tools. I also learnt how to make media effective, for example, when creating such a project as a magazine, it is not necessarily what you enjoy - it is mainly what the potential buyers of the magazine enjoy. Research helped me find out what people within the bracket of the target audience for my  magazine desired, and the technologies I was introduced to within this project helped me to accomplish and meet these desires. Photo shop (CS5) has many features which enabled me to meet the requirements and targets set from the potential market for my magazine. I didn't use many other programs aside from Photo shop when creating my magazine pages, although other programs have been helpful, I used 'Paint'; to take effective, high quality screenshots and post them through my blog. This brings me on to my blog, blogging was a new phenomenon to me at the start of this project, and having never blogged before in my life, the concept of sharing your ideas and thoughts through a 24/7 available system was genius. As I first started blogging, I came to realise the possibilities that it possesses. With features available such as editing previous posts, posting images and videos and commenting on other peoples work and taking ideas you like and don't like to help with the progression of your magazine.

How did you attract/adress your audience?

Addressing a potential fan base for my magazine was no issue for me, as the target market for my magazine revolves around youth, ageing from 16-22. This was ideal for me as the pupils at my school ranged through these ages and a little below. However when referring to the 21/22 year old bracket. I focused on the era that my brother possesses, for him and his friends are greatly interested in this genre of music I asked them to be part of my surveys/evaluations. Therefore all areas of my target audience were met.

When attracting potential buyers/readers of a magazine of this genre I did various things, I went along with my brother to certain Gigs (mainly involving Death of an Artist) and took the views of those people who's lives revolved around this style of music/media. They all gladly participated in answering the questions within my questionnaire which helped me to take an overall view from all ages within my target audience. I also posted notes throughout my facebook page, using web 2.0 interactivity, to help people find the band's page, once again recruiting more people to help me with my evaluation and research.

Who would be the audience for you media product?

My music magazine mainly revolves around post hardcore/rock. This; however, limits the potential target audience for my magazine, it also, in many retrospects increases the potential fan base for a magazine like mine, this is due to an increase in the number of people interested in local, upcoming bands, which again, is a unique selling point to which my magazine revolves around. Much research has been looked into the speculation that a magazine will not gain a large fan base, unless it includes global music affairs, however I have decided to go against the grain of this statement, by keeping my magazine as a mainly promotional magazine, with certified features including other larger bands, relating to playing in smaller venues locally - this attracts a specific type of reader.

The age group I have targetted with my magazine, would be ranging from 17-22. I have stated this throughout my research as I feel people of this age are most likely to be open to the possibility of upcoming bands progressing through a wider fan base. A significant amount of the creation of my magazine, was based around the feedback I recieved throughout the research stages, and then after its completion. I revolve everything I do to do with my magazine, around feedback, as I see it as the most essential part of a magazines success in its bracket.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media product is clearly targetted at a specific audience, as it as one unique selling point alone - the music. The bands promoted within the magazine are better known as 'Up-Comers', and therefore are not known on a large public basis. This means that the only people interested in reading my magazine, would be people genuinely interested in the promotion it possesses, and the music to which it is promoting. The images and text I used; however developing upon already established, globally recognized magazines, do not target a specific audience, the questions are fairly personal and could create a large amount of media attention.

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

I think that the distributor I would choose to distribute my product would be 'Ditto Music'.

This is a company globally known throughout the music industry which target local and smaller areas of Britain and the US, to promote smaller magazines and bands alike. This company would be ideal for my magazine, as the magazine would be shipped to 700+ smaller cities, towns and companies to promote its ideas. From here I could look into promoting my magazine further, although as it does not revolve around affairs involving the public, it may not reach a higher public fan base.