For this assignment the brief was to produce a cover, contents page and double spread for a music magazine.  

To identify media forms I considered features of the text in the reflection of our previous experiences and knowledge of media products. For a magazine cover it can be recognized by the characteristics it shares with other media products and by the codes and conventions used that signify it belongs to a particular genre. My music magazine ‘SPLAT!’ relates to the existing examples of these media forms as the codes and conventions I used signify,  that it is a representation of a emo/rock genre.

For my final main task, I decided to create a magazine cover, contents page and double spread, for the theme of music. The reason why I choose to do the magazine task  was due to the creativity that goes into making it. After completing my last cover, I found it very challenging and fun. 

The music theme can vary greatly and I chose initially to do a whole band as my cover and double spread and to include some of the images along with others in the contents page. However,  after doing vast amounts of research on magazine covers and double spreads I found that there was mainly bands. After seeing that the market mainly dealt with bands as a whole, I wanted to take my band that I had chosen,  and pick the female artist among them to work with. The reason why I chose a female is because of the lack of them on rock magazines and generally all music magazine covers. 

With my idea of a theme for my music magazine based on a female artist I then had to take photographs of the artist. Luckily the artist had her own studio, which was great fun to work in and I managed to get some ‘up close, medium’ and ‘creative photos’. As you will find posted on the blog, I have picked the best photos and posted them. (www.steph90.wordpress.com)

After doing a lot of planning, which you will also find posted on the blog, I decided to start with then double spread. I took the opportunity to interview Gabriella Jones whilst photographing her. I was recording the interview but could not upload the file onto the blog, so I wrote out the whole interview. The interview conversation and questions are posted on the blog. I chose an interview for a double spread as I wanted writing mixed with photos. As the post on the blog show, initially I worked on a picture of Gabriella, which was a medium close up shot. However I found that there was nothing linking one page that the picture was on to the second page of the double spread. Therefore decided to create an elbow that extended onto the other side of the spread. I worked too long on creating an elbow but I was very pleased with the end result. I had to take an elbow from another existing picture of Gab and place it roughly where it would normally be then use the smudge tool and the spot healing tool to make the skin the correct tone and realistic. On my blog I have taken screen shots of the process so that there is a clear indication of the process that I took to create this elbow and arm. 

However after working for many sessions on this arm, I felt that it was not good enough and I could not make it look anymore like an arm without it looking plastic. So with this I went back to my original images and took a few to work with. After working with one of the images I felt that I needed an image to contrast. As the interview was about Gab and her real life behind the scenes of  music, I wanted an image to show this contrast. 

I then asked Gab for a day to take photos outside at her own home (which conveniently was a farm). I had the opportunity to take more photos for the second time. From a successful photo-shoot I had chosen two main images. that I was very pleased with and I had two favorite images, which are posted on my blog. I used the image of Gab on a trampoline, which is a shot that I  felt was very creative and showed a major contrast from the other photos that I had previously taken. You can see the images posted under New images of Gab, on my blog.

After finishing my double spread, I was very happy with the outcome. I then worked on the front cover of the magazine. I had come up with a few different titles and had constructed questionnaires for random people to fill out and find which title they could read clearly enough and which stood out to them the most, and also which one they would mostly pick up if the title was catchy enough. Much like magazine (Q) in my research page,  most of my target audience read the magazine. The questionnaire is posted under title questionnaire for font and style of title. 

The picture I choose was taken in colour in a very bright room, I then decided to make the image black and white, using the contrast tool. I then only wanted the image and none of the background instruments on the cover so,  using the lassoe tool,  I cut around Gab to make her the main image. The edges were refined and feathered to create a smooth and realistic texture to the photo and to create that professional finish. 

The background I choose to work with was white and the reason for this is that my main image was black and white and to get the image to stand out from the background white was best suited. After standing back and looking at the start of my cover I felt that no more images were needed but there needed to be something other than writing. So with the stamp tool, I used a print of a start in red in the background of Gab. This worked really well once I had put the writing onto the front cover, I used the (FX) tool, and created a red outer glow on the writing that could only be seen on parts of the cover that were black. For instance Gab’s leg is black and the writing that scrolls across her leg goes from a black to a black with red glow once on the black background. 

With the contents page, I researched many, and found that I liked the whole theme of bold backgrounds behind the writing and then making the writing opposite colours. With this idea, I then created boxes in the theme of black and white much like the front cover. I had tried to take photos of  yo-yo, however I struggled to capture the image with out all the pixels becoming out of focus. So I researched on google images yo-yo’s then created a shadow behind the yo-yo and placed a line instead of string to give it a firm  appearance. After I then decided that the line that was creating the string needed a shadow. 

With the magazine cover finished after many changes I was very pleased with the outcome of my cover. The image of my front cover follows the conventions as the front cover image is a medium close up image which is used by most emo/rock magazines such as Q, Kerrange, NME etc. This relates to the media forms as many ema/rock magazines have medium close ups to be able to show the body language and facial expressions. It also shows emo/rock attitude’s this to me is a key theme in magazines, by which they use the body and the facial expressions to create the style of the magazine. There is always some kind of pose which shows ‘bad’ attitude.  Initially I started with a photo of Gab on the drums and was building up layers of sub headings around her. However when I showed my focus group they said that the image was poor, and that the writing smothered the image. With these comments I then went back to a blank page and started again. My second attempt was a success, I used the image that I was happy with, I used quotes from the interview on my cover and made sure that the image was clear  along with the writing. The main cover is posted on the blog. The image that I used has been cut/feathered, made black and white using the contrast tool, smoothed and edges sharpened. The background that I used was plain and white, the reason for this was so that I could build up on effect rather than having to much colour. I then used a brush tool behind my main image of a star, the relation of the star being on the background of the cover, was to create the aspect that that being famous leads to being a star in the music world. I thought this would also be a catchy symbol for every magazine of SPLAT published. 

The choice of writing style had been chosen due to my focus group and questionnaires. As the creator I followed what target buyers would prefer to see and most likely pick up to purchase. 

 I was happy with the previous cover that I had made but after speaking with people who actually buy music magazines and would be potentially buyers for mine, I had to do what they target audience demanded. The link that I have copied and pasted below, I found very helpful whilst creating my magazine. 

 http://magazinepublishing.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_start_a_magazine

The changes that had been made to create a perfect cover would obviously impact on my audience so with the finished cover done I made time for another focus group session. This time the comments were a lot more positive and gave me a good feeling about my cover. This time I felt that I had created the right impact on the audience rather than the opposite. There is one session that I have uploaded on to the blog, this was the session for the final cover. 

When considering the genre for my cover, is music and the type of writing style is aimed at those who are interested in music. Much like my target audience, the audience for a magazine like mine, is either male of female and interested in rock/punk genres of music. With the genre being music, the effect that I intended my magazine cover to have was, bold, creative, insightful, original and most of all fun to read. 

With these effects in mind, I asked my focus group “what words jumped out at you whilst looking at this cover?”. One commented “I find this cover far more detailed and original than the last, also is very bold, very eye catching” I then new I had created a cover that met my criteria.

I attracted the audience of my magazine by using a bold colour, red in this case, so it would stand out to audiences. Also I put the title at the top of the page so it is visible on a magazine stand. I tried to keep the cover as simple as possible so it wouldn’t put readers of buying it. Whereas with the contents page I made, I tried to put more information in than the cover because audiences would see the cover look at the contents and see all the articles included in the magazine

The double spread as a finished piece I am very pleased with. There are images used from the first photo shot and from the second. The images that I used help to create the contrast for the interview and show a clear medium close up shot. There was two other drafts for my double spread both posted on my blog. I did feel that image of Gab, were I had created an arm and elbow was very creative, but with comments that showed me I could do better I decided to keep it but use another image instead. I feel that I wasted alot of time on the double spread of the arm but I am glad that I did it. If we had more time to create another double spread I would have used it and spent a longer amount of time perfecting the little bits that made it not as strong. With the finished double spread and the comments that I received made the hard work worth while.  

With the double spread I constructed an interview and once I had the interview down in paper I then went to my focus group again and asked them the parts they’d most like to read about on a double spread about this particular artist.  The interview that is written on the double spread is the choice of both mine and the focus group and what we felt to be suited to the magazine, over all very pleased with the outcome. 

With any magazine the contents inside has a huge impact on the audience. I carried out research, to what extent does a magazine have an impact on the audience and how much?

In 2006 Magazine Publishers of America launched an initiative to improve magazine audience measurements. This paper will provide an update to allow people to know about what is the intentions of the magazine upon the readers. Although the magazine is not published in the UK, the sight that I found this artical on was very insightful the link is as followed :http://www.magazine.org/advertising/measurement/update-magazine-measurement-initiative.aspx

With researching how and why magazines have such a big impact on the reader, I new now what my target audience wanted to know, and what they expected to read. 

The contents page that I have created is very creative. The finished product, I am very pleased with. I used three of my original images to link the pages with the writing and used a colour match theme to match the cover, and contents.  The contents page has a mast heading which is placed in one of the boxes that are spread around the contents page. The contents is a sub heading which is meant to look as if it is being dragged down the page by the yo-yo. I wanted to create something interesting for the reader visually. The stair case layout of the boxes was used to make the page look like it is going down in stages and once you reach the bottom you can see the pictures that you will find during the course of reading the magazine. I used the yo-yo’s twice, and the second yo-yo is cutting into the text box, the reason for my choice of rough edges, was so that the reader gets the sense that the yo-yo is cutting into the text box as it goes down the page. The contrast of the text being white on black and black on red, creates a contrast much like   I do on my contents page. I wanted create a theme through out of contrast. 

The reason why I choose to use a bold capital font was to catch the readers eye, from reading many magazines and purchasing many, I found that I most likely would buy a magazine that has bold font, that catches the eye. If the magazine has small font, with colours that do not stand out, I most likely wouldn’t see the magazine or think that it looks boring. As mention previously I used a questionnaire to find out people views on four styles of fonts. However after getting feedback on one that people found suited the criteria, I decided to create my own font using a website:  www.dafonts.com  I new that the font was readable and it matched the style of my magazine more than the existing previous fonts styles. 

They style of the font I used is not like any other I have seen, however this is one of the aspects that I as the designer wanted to create. This would be something different for the market/shelf.

My design and drafting was an important process because it planned how each step would go and how everything would fit in. Therefore my draft layout were very important. In each case there were some alterations due to images not looking how intended and fonts not working with the style of the magazine.
Managing my time properly was very important, I found that in previous experiences I lacked time and could have easily prevented that by managing my time properly . I had set a plan out for each week and I new what I wanted to have complete by the end of each week. 

During the research stages of my process I found many magazines that had useful information for my magazine and other magazines that had good ideas to attract the audience. Once I started to make my magazine I found myself referring to my research a lot, the research really helped me in the first stages of development, if I was to carry out research again, I would get more magazines than I got for this project. As I found them very useful. 

My media product uses, develops and challenges the forms and conventions of real media products. I did this by paying attention to the detail of different rock magazines and using some of their ideas in my magazine that I produced. I also challenged the forms and conventions by using the ideas from other magazines,  but displaying them in a different way. Overall in my media project I used conventional methods to present my work but in some of my work I did try and use unconventional methods to see what it would look like. My media production challenges many real media products because of the way I used features, that I found from analysing real music magazines. I used headings and cover lines on my magazine so it had the best effect as I found from analysing existing music magazines. This is using real media conventions and also challenging them as I tried to make and use them to the best effect.

The social group that I was aiming my product for are groups interested in emo/rock. They generally are interested in dark and bright colours. My cover complies with both of these, red being bright and black being dark. This social group that I aimed my magazine at will listen to the style of music that I have chosen, the bands that are generally published in existing magazine, are bands that dress within that social group and portray the look of that social group. 

When considering institutions that may publish my magazine I looked at Q, they publish a magazine every week, detailing most of the articles that I have produced in my magazine. I had the idea that they could use my magazine as a free complementary gift for the first few issues to get the magazine heard of then, then to eventually distribute the magazine at a set cost price, using the same market. I also think that the following institutions are most likely to distribute my product: Social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo,  Digital publishers, Music stores such as HMV, Newsagents and convenient stores,  Gigs and festivals, I believe that music stores such as HMV are the most likely to distribute my product as it would target my particular target market better. Gigs and festivals are also a good way of targeting my social group of “emo/punks” as that is where

 the social group is more likely to socialize. Digital publishing is now becoming more popular with 17% of magazines now available online; therefore this would enable my product to be distributed on a larger scale if this method was used.

Looking back at my Preliminary task (practice cover and contents), I feel I have learnt about the various ways you can make a picture what you want it to be. I approached the preliminary task, not knowing how to use one of the programs which gave me doubt but I was able to learn quickly and produce a practice cover and contents page for the drama part of the college magazine. Before starting this task we had two lessons where we learnt how to use the program, Photoshop. We were given a booklet about Photoshop and what tools were to be used for certain things. Whilst doing the preliminary task I found unsuccessful and successful ideas.

If I was to repeat the whole process again I would add more pictures to my research and reflect on them more. I have managed my time but I feel that the time scale was not long enough to complete the task to my best standards, however I do feel that I wasted time on a part of the work that I new that I most likely would not use. (the arm) Overall I am very pleased with my finished products and feel that the magazine that I have produced will challenge the market. 

The first stages of my final task was to gather information about contents pages, front covers and double spreads, mainly focusing on double spreads. I had researched many covers for my last task, but I felt that I needed stronger research. The double spreads that I have posted on my blog are just some of the many that I collected. I have prepared a folder of other double spreads that I purchased. I found it very difficult just to find double spreads on music, this is why I purchased some produced music magazines that are on the market. 

After researching existing products I had to find a model, I had in mind the type of person that I wanted to photograph after seeing examples in magazines. I am close friends with two bands which made it easy to find some models. My many photos of both bands which you can find on my blog, I decided to go with Gabriella Jones. She had a great studio to work with and also had alot of time to spare. I took around 200 photos of Gab all together, and picked about 10 for my main images to work with for contents, cover and double spread. I also managed to get an interview with her, this was then my idea for my double spread.

The main reason why I choose to use a female as my model was due to the lack of women on the front cover of music magazines. I found with my research that there was alot of men, and mainly double spreads of men. I have also noted this in my blog. 

After gathering many images and researching the market I then made a start with questionnaires and samples to show my target market.

Interview with Gabriella Jones, on the 21st of febuary. The interview took place in Gabriella’s studio.

Write up:

Hi, how is the band going now you have two new members?

Very well, Joe and Sam are such great musicians and really boost the band. Plus they are great fun to be around.

Is there a chance that you will settle done soon?

(laughing) Not a chance, 

Have you ever thought were you would be in ten year time?

I dunno really, I take every day as it comes, I do think sometimes that my music career has to end some day, but to be honest I think I’l still be creating great music.

Have you ever looked at some of the other performers that have had some sort of plastic surgery already at such a young age, would you??

It is temping but I hate needles. Although every girl just wants perfection, I think people should just be themselves- Bet you here that alot.

Do you think you and your partner are long term? 

Well I’d like to think so, we have even talked about marriage. The whole rock wedding would be quite something. ( Laughing)

We see alot of pictures of the band, and some which are quite strange, do you care what you see in the papers?

No!, papers pick and choose what they want, much like what you will do with this. But some people do take some good ones. 

Well thanks for your time, and I hope you like the pictures that I took 

Any time,