Evaluation

Overall i am very pleased with the turn out of my music magazine. I was happy with the finished products; my front cover, contents page, and double page.

I am pleased i chose the name FUEL for my magazine, as i like the way it has an interesting meaning behind it, but it is also catchy and looks good on the page, thanks to the font i chose. The majority of fonts that i used were from http://www.dafont.com/. This site was very useful, as it gave the magazine a more realistic feel as the text was not written in a well known microsoft font. I tried to use various but similar fonts throughout the magazine that fitted in well with each other, and i think this worked, as the fonts used did not become boring and repetative.

I chose to use a similar colour scheme on each page ( cover, contents and double), as this would link the pages together making it more recognisable as a magazine. I opted for a more simple colour scheme of black, white, blue and a touch of purple on the double page. This worked well also as the pictures stood out nicely.

The magazine was aimed at an audience of 16 year olds, and upwards which i think was a good choice. By this age the readers will be attracted more towards classier looking magazines rather than busier bubble text covers. Also, the stories, bands, and style of writing would probably appeal more to this audience, than it would an audience of 13 year olds.

To produce my pages i worked on Photoshop and Publisher. I found Photoshop much easier to use than publisher, as the editing of text, images and the overall look of the pages was helped through the wide selsction of tools available on Photoshop. I used this for my front cover, and contents page as it helped give them a more realistic feel. I was therefore not as pleased with my double page because publisher could not give this, but continued to use common techniques of other magazine double pages to give it a believable touch.

I was happy with the the style of the images i used, but left the planning of the photshoot a little late and was forced to use myself in the image on the cover, therefore i had to have similar images on the double page which i was not completely pleased with as they were rushed. The colour scheme of the images fit in with the one of the magazine well. I felt that the front cover image stood out well, and was set out in a managable place. Therefore text and shapes were pretty easy to position around the image, still leaving the photo visable, and the main feature of the page. I also used some images from a gig i had been to, which i think fit in well, as it was images from an actual event. I edited each image i used very little. I slightly altered the brightness of each and used grayscale on the the double page images, which looked effective.

If i look back on my preliminary task i can see the huge progress made in the quality of each piece. My preliminary was very simple, and not very realistic. The fonts and colours used were very commonly known, and looked slightly tacky. Although, i was very happy with the image we used, as it was very effective, and eye catching. I learnt from this that i needed an eye catching image for my cover, but also to use colours, fonts and a magazine name that would appeal to the reader, aswell as looking attractive and realistic.

If i were to repeat this task of producing a front page, contetns page, and double page i would definatley spend more time on my double page, but also maybe use a more varied colour scheme, because if a whole magazine followed a restricted colour scheme it would become slightly boring. Also i would take more time to plan my photoshoot so i had a wide variety of images to use, not including myself. I am very pleased with the complete look of my magazine though, and think that it looks quite realistic.

Construction.

Front Cover

I began by selecting a suitable photo and resizing it to fit the page. I also increased the brightness of the image to make it clearer, and stand out more. I selected a bold font for the title of my magazine, FUEL, and placed it in the top right. Underneath it i placed some small print, specifying the issue number, price, date and magazine website details. I decided on stories that i would feature on my cover, selecting fonts that fit with my theme, aswell as fitting in with the story. I decided not to use the same font for all my text, as i thought it would look boring, and not as interesting as it would if the fonts were varied. After i decided on the placements of the text, i chose to add effects on them to make them more attractive. For example i used stoke, in varied widths.
I then began to fill up the page, first with a black strip across the bottom right corner, with text inside. Then another thin black strip across the top of the page, also including text.Next i added a white circle in the top left corner with black text inside. On each shape i used the drop shadow effect to give a more 3D style to the images. The main story which was going to feature in my magazine was placed just off centre of my cover, in blue, and in a very different font to the others on the page. This was to make a point of this story, and ensure it was one of the first things the reader would notice. Including the band name in this text would give more reason for the reader to want to read the magazine.


Contents Page
To start my contents page i began by blocking out sections on the page, with overlapping boxes in a variety of blues, black and white. I again used drop shadow on the boxes to give a 3D effect. Next i added the main cover stroy image in the top left, and added the relevant text in the box beside it. I then began to fill up the boxes with features and stories , making sure i had included all stories featured on the cover. I also used a black strip across the bottom of the page to highlight a particular feature from the cover. After i had decided on all the text i added a few images that were relevant to some of the stories on the contents page. I resized and edited these to fit in with the style of the page.
Then i decided to make the page numbers more appealing, so i used small white circles with the numbers inside. On the shapes i again used stroke and drop shadow. I then slanted the shapes, and when placing the page numbers, overlapped the box edges. To finish off my contents i filled the last remaining space with 'Fuel Contents' to specify the purpose of the page to the reader. It broke up the space nicely as it was a reasonable size and in an interesting font.

Double Page

Before beginning work on my double page i decided on the text i would be using. I wrote out the interview with the band member using word, ready to insert into publisher once i had organised the columns, and layout of the page. I arranged six columns on publisher, aswell as blocking out a space for images. I linked the columns and inserted the text from word. To begin the interview i highlighted the first letter by changing the font, size and colour of the letter 'G'. I also highlighted the questions, and initials of the interview participants. For this i used a bold font, and changed the colour to blue, matching the colour scheme of my magazine. I used black fill colour on the last column and added white text. This was slightly seperate to the main interview, and would be a regular section to the magazines interview pages. Below this was a small amount of text informing readers of the interview next issue, and also on how to view past interviews via the magazine website. For this i used a variety of fonts and colours to make it more interesting. I also introduced purple to the colour scheme so it would not get too boring for the reader seeing the same colours over and over.
I then inserted the main image into the blocked off box, above the start of the interview, and then added three smaller images down the side of the larger one, to give the impression of a photo booth strip. I edited the images and changes them to grayscale, which looked quite effective. In the bottom left i added text, including a headline, the band name, and a small introduction to the interview. For this i used black and blue, and puple for a thin strip across the bottom of the image to add more colour to my double page. I then added ther same strip in blue to the edge of the last black column.
To break up the text i used two black heart shapes, including pull out quotes from the interview. I coloured this text with blue which looked attractive on the black background of the hearts. I placed these between the text, close to where the quotes had come from. To finish off the page i added 'Fuel Interviews' in the top left corner or the main image, in purple. I did this to follow the similar idea i had when using ' Fuel contents' in the final space on my contents page.

Planning

Before starting work on my cover, contents and double page i had to decide what i would be featuring in my magazine. I decided that the cover photo would be related to the double page, which would be an interview with a band member from a new successful band. I took a range of photos so that i had plenty photos to use not only on my cover, but in my contents and double page aswell. I also had to decide on the layout of the cover, which was hepled by my research on Rolling Stone magazine. The fonts i used would be important as they had to be readable yet attractive, also fitting in with my classy theme. The colour scheme developed after i had decided on my cover image, as it was mainly black, blue, white and grey.

Print - Music Mag

For my Print coursework i will produce the cover, contents page and double page spread, of a music magazine.

I will call my magazine 'FUEL', because it implies that music is needed to keep you going, like fuel is needed to keep a car going. I have looked at a variety of fonts to use on my cover, and for the name of the magazine itself. They must look effective but clear aswell.

The magazine will be aimed at 16 year olds upwards. I will try to give my magazine a classy look, and make it appealing to my audience.

The magazine will focus on a range of genres, mainly mainstream rock, and indie.

Before begining work on my magazine i researched other magazines such as rolling stone and NME. I especially liked the simple but attractive layout and presentation of the rolling stone cover. Layouts of magazines such as NME have helped me decide on layouts for my contents and double page, as i will probably use a constant colour scheme throughout.After looking at these magazines it showed that the cover must stand out, be clear, and grab the attention of potential buyers/readers.

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