Evaluation

Stephanie Buck - Evaluation

For the final piece I have created and developed a front cover, contents page and double page spread for a new music magazine.

Before I started my magazine I researched different things that were important for a music magazine such as, fonts, pictures the actual layout of a magazine, colour themes, images, text/information and price range and issue range. I developed my magazine by adding interesting effects such as different images that you don’t usually see. I chose an upbeat ‘indie/electro’ theme to my work which consists of bright colours and eye-catching images/logos.
Researched logo's helped me to cretae my own.

My own logo (FTM) was created by developing and adjusting the NME logo for a music magazine.

The magazine is intended for a teenage audience from the age of 16-19+.
This is the audience that NME and other weekly magazines are aimed at. I tried to include many differences in my magazine but I have also tried to keep to the ‘packed’ layout/information that NME has. NME uses many bright colours, so I tried the same and liked the end product. But other magazines such as Q sometimes tend to write over the top sentence and the structure if often more educated. I think my magazine is more ‘laid back’ in its speech and phrases used which i think allows the main target audience to feel comfortable with the interview and the audience could also relate more to the magazine and bands/artists portrayed.

I think my magazine is based on a teenage audience. It represents this audience very well because of its enthusiasm and attention-grabbing layout. It represents the wide-spread variety of teen music and it also helps to portray the wide selection of teen personalities. I think my magazine represents teens as different to each other with individual styles but all having the same ideas of music in general. It’s for girls and boys of an ethical, race or social class to enjoy. It is different to say pop magazines because the social groups they aim for young children. Where was uncut and NME urge for an older response.

The audience for my music magazine would probably be aimed at a teenage audience, who are into music of a large variety from indie to electro to rock. I have based my intended audience from other music magazines such as NME, KERRANG and Q. The audience will be quite widely based and will therefore appeal to the many teens from the age of 15-19 who are in college/university. I think this is a good intended audience as the number of teens who are interested in music is broadening and growing all the time.

I think my music magazine would be published and distributed by the same people who distributed magazines such as NME and Uncut- IPC MEDIA. http://www.ipcmedia.com/

This is because the magazine needs to be widely spread and based weekly or monthly like above magazines. My magazine would probably be sold in all major supermarkets and shops, like corner shops also in many music/book stores such as WHS. The function of a magazine is to deliver audiences advertisers so the print, colour, costume text and fonts need to be carefully planned. I would say that my magazine would probably be out once a month as it would be packed full of features. IPC MEDIA makes its money through a front cover, and the person on it. It gets audiences attracted to the image, which encourages them to buy the magazine.

When I was creating my music magazine I have learnt many things to do with technology. I have learned how to operate digital cameras. I used these when I did my photo shoot.

I learned how to adjust the camera settings to get varied images contrasting with brightness ECT. I also learned how to use Microsoft’s Photoshop when editing images and creating my actual magazine pages. It was really useful because you could delete or rearrange images to get them perfect. I then opened and images on Photoshop by using filters and the adjustment menu.

I adjusted and experimented with fonts from www.dafont.com and used then on my magazine cover, contents page and double page spread. I downloaded the fonts then opened the documents I then opened Photoshop and arranged/experimented with the font so that they became eye-catching and interesting. I could experiment with text layers which was extremely useful. When I was doing my contents page I came across problems with the layout of my background image. I edited the image of Photoshop by using the ‘cut out background tool’ and continued to edit with brightness and contrast methods and I also used hue and saturation. This made the contents page more striking and made the image almost ‘pop’ from the page. When I was creating my double page spread I learned how to develop my skills in Microsoft publisher. I learned how to group text boxes so all my text information could be linked and moved easily. This helped a great deal as I could directly move the text into areas and specific places. I think that these processes and technologies helped me to create my magazine and to deepen my knowledge on the techniques. I think that my music magazine final piece is ten times better then my preliminary task magazine. On the preliminary task my magazine was quite basic with a basic image and colour scheme. I didn’t use Photoshop skills to develop the image and the background was not effective and eye-catching. The contents page of my preliminary task magazine was extremely basic. The detail of circles made the whole page look basic and unfinished. From the preliminary task I have learned how to layout a page and make it to its full credit. I have learned to design the image and background so that it is interesting and I have learned how to link a theme through my front page, contents page and double page spread by colours, fonts and basic layout.

My preliminary task :

The audience feedback I got was generally good. The main opinions that came across were that the magazine was bright and eye-catching which would grab their attention if they were in shop. But they also said that the magazine looks quite busy with very compact information. They said that my final contents page was the best because the layout and use of coloured blocks were different and classy compared to the contents pages of NME magazines. Overall they thought my magazine would grab their attention and the images used were good because they represented the music ideas in the magazine.

These are some quotes of feedback i got from the three sections of my work:

Sam: ‘The contents page is probably the best, it looks quite professional.’
Eleanor: ‘I like the front cover; it literally caught my eye in a second.’
Joe: I like the layout of the double page spread. It busy in some ways but more relaxed in others.’
I was extremely pleased with my end result. I practically like my contents page and i feel that is what most of my feedback commented on.

Overall I am happy with my music magazine and have learned a great deal about media consumption, construction and planning and technology and representation.

Production of Front Cover, Double Page Spread and Contents Page - Image and Description

Prodcution of Double Page Spread

Double Page Spread – Stages of Production

I created my double page spread on Microsoft Publisher, which is different to the making of my contents and front cover on photo-shop.
I originally blocked out and highlighted areas where I would like images and text and clearly labelled the basic structure. However this changed slightly when I was creating my double page spread. It included a space for a title, photo shoot, interview and little extras. I then edited the background to orange to highlight the grey, black and white theme of the front cover and some of the contents page.
For the columns for my interview, I linked the boxes so the text shifted from one text box to the other automatically which helped a lot. I created an introduction before the interview and I made the first letter a header. This showed it was a formal interview and the layout worked well. I then arranged the text and changed the font sizes to highlight main areas of the text in the interview. I then placed photographs of Polaroid’s in the text; it didn’t interrupt the text and made the page look more realistic as a double page spread in a music magazine. I changed the questions to bold black, plain font and I left the answers in the same font and size, just without boldness.
I then changed my type on the title for ‘Do the Nasty’. I got my text from dafont.com and it helped with the indie/electro vibe. The text was called ‘stencil 09’. I simply made the text black and it stood out against the orange background.
I placed the Polaroid shots along the bottom of the interview section, but I knew that on the right hand side I wanted to lay out the best shots from photo-shoot 2. I simply placed them underneath the title on the page on the right hand side. The images were quite big, but they dark images stood out against the orange background. It helped to represent the band. I used an ‘urban font from dafont.com to help me write the text and quotes from the interview.
I added extras on the page such as blocks of irregular blocks of darker orange to give the page depth. I placed them behind the text and I stopped them at the images of the right hand side of the page. Other extras I also included as I developed to get to my final product.

Production of Contents Page

Contents Page – Stages of Production

When I was developing my contents page I chose to go with a basic look. This is because I felt that the front cover was very packed and striking and I wanted the contents page to feel more relaxed. This could link in the music genre as the different pages of the magazine represent a different feel from each type of music feature in the indie/electro magazine.
I started with an image from photo-shoot 1. I chose just to remove it from the background by the ‘background eraser tool’ and to change the opacity and fill. This is because I wanted the image to be less ‘in your face’ and more blended into the grey background of the contents page. I stuck with the colour scheme but instead of black as the background I toned it down with grey. I then realised that I wanted just 1 image on the contents page instead of a lot of little ones. I wanted to focus on the text and font on the contents page to make it seem like a different feel then the front cover but yet links between them were needed.
I develop the title ‘contents’ at the bottom of my page. I changed the size of the font by clicking on ‘window’ then ‘character’, from here I could then edit he text to create the final look.
I then decided to create blocks on my page. Instead of the usual contents page layout I chose to use the headings ‘front’ ‘middle’ and ‘back’ to layout the pages of information for the audience. I then plotted a column on the right hand side of the page. This would be for the extras on the contents page. Main points would go underneath the ‘front, middle and back’ headlines. I chose to colour them yellow to help make them stand out.
I then added information and page numbers in red. They were smaller then the main headlines but I then added white writing saying what the article was about. Underneath that in black I added d more detailed account in smaller text. The fonts were the same but varied in size and colour. I thought this was basic and plain and overall very effective. They were quite tightly packed together which made the contents page look more effective in my opinion.
On the left hand side I added blocks of orange and blue to add a bit extra to the page. I think it finished off the page well. I then added in all the extras like smaller versions of the FTM symbols and the issue and date.
I had some problems with the contents page such as whether it would be to plain. So I filled the page with text and one main image. I kept the colour scheme to a minimal and the layout of my text was edited numerous times to get the right direction and angle I wanted.

Production of Front Cover

Magazine Cover- Stages of Production

To create the right look for my magazine, I used a striking and edgy image from photo-shoot 1 with Eleanor. The image was strong a against a background, but I wanted the image to be on its own against a black background so I used the ‘eraser tool’ held it down and selected the ‘background eraser tool’. From here the tool cut out the image from the background. It also costume of the dress and made it quite scattered. I really liked this effect because I felt the dress could allow some background to show, and could create the effect of her popping form the page. I feel this image is strong and bold enough to hold its own.
I placed the image to the left hand side of the page. The image has her leaning with her left arm so I thought this layout would be striking and allow the audience to think she is leaning off the magazine end cover. I edited the image by using photo-shop. I developed the image by changing the brightness and contrast to make Eleanor look bolder and stronger. The photograph was quite dark so I edited using the photo-shop tools. I used auto format then auto contrast. From there I then edited the hair. I used the ‘eraser’ tool and carefully edited some of the lose ends from the hair. The lips on the image were not bright enough so I used the brush tool, highlighted a redder colour and zoomed in on the image. I then carefully went around the lips and made them brighter for effect.
Once the image was edited I started to add the FTM label and headlines that would look effective. I chose the text and fonts carefully. I made the choice to go with an orange and black theme which highlighted the genre of music in the electro sense. I thought this would look good combined with both photo shoots.

My background suffered many complications when I was creating my front cover. I couldn’t decide on the colour or whether it needed more then just a colour as a background. I experimented with different backgrounds with my image and main FTM headline. I grouped it with some headlines and started to arrange the angles they should be placed at. I was still arranging the colour and typography of the texts to add to the theme of the magazine. I was still unsure about my background so I decided to develop the atmosphere of it. I went to dafont.com to try and get some image ideas. I then developed one image idea- tapes. I added different size tapes- white and orange- against a black background. I altered the layout several times and then when I was happy I placed the image of Eleanor on top of the tapes. I though this effect of the tapes cutting through the dress was effective and eye-catching.
I made FTM bigger and put the ‘Do the Nasty interview’ larger as well to grab the headline. I did this for all the other headlines and main important bit. I then added an explanation as the smaller texts underneath the headlines and I also kept to the colour scheme. I added an image from photo-shoot 2 underneath the ‘Do the Nasty interview’ headline and explanation. This showed that the main section of the magazine was based around them and also showed the audience what they look like.
I added bars and strips to the magazine to highlights main points to the front cover. Finally I added a bar code near the FTM logo. I turned it on its side and made it smaller to fit the size of the FTM logo. . I thought the page would look too cramped if I kept the bar code on the bottom of the front cover. I then added the date and the price to the front cover,
My front cover took a long time to create, mainly because I struggled with the background and trying to incorporate the image, but I think its final look is effective in portraying the genre and representation of this type of music.

Production

Photo shoot/Models/Sets/Costume for my Magazine

I have chosen my model for the front cover and inside spreads. I wanted the model to be young and quite fashionable with new and outrageous clothes that could relate to the new, varies types of music within the indie/electro magazine. By combining two sounds you can combine two different costume ideas.
For my photo shoot I chose to do a band named ‘Do the Nasty’ which consisted a 1 girl lead singer and 3 boy on instruments and backing vocals. I thought I would use the girl on the front cover and contents page because she was the most well known form the band. I was then going to use the band images on a double page spread on the inside.
For my main photo shoot I chose the girl to be extravagantly dressed with a silver dress and yellow tights. In the original shoot we went into the bathroom against a white tile wall to express the background and grittiness of the image. I think this worked well. We chose awkward angles to shoot so that the band/artist seemed interesting. I didn’t use any props in my shoot because I felt the extravagant outfits would be eye-catching enough and sometimes less is more. Eleanor has the right edgy look that portrays the certain attitude and passion I need in the photo-shoot. Her make-up was dynamic and extravagant, especially her eyes.
We experienced some problems on the first shoot such as the lighting being to dark so I decided to alter them on photo-shop. I used the magic eraser to get rid of bathroom sinks and other features so the image was completely focused on the artist. I have chosen the best images of photo-shoot 1 and shown how I have edited them.

I also did another photo shoot for the band for the double page spread. I chose a dark black background to highlight the band. I think this was effective but could have been better with a white background so show the clothes worn so the target audience could get the bands style and image. I have picked out some of the best images from the second photo-shoot and shown how I have edited them.

I liked this image because I could use it on the double page. Although it hasn’t got the whole band on it represents the males well. I edited the image by changing the brightness and contrast of the image. I used photo-shop and edited the opacity and fill of the image. I also edited the image by making the background lighter so you could see the 3 males.

This is an edited version of one of the photographs. I really like this image as it captures the overall energy and feel of the indie band. I think the costume is good because the photo shoot reflects their casual fashion look.

I think this would look good on the double page spread . I have chosen my models to be young to relate to the target audience of the magazine. I think the lack of props and background helps to identify with the band and allows the audience to relate to the images. I think the costumes in photo-shoot 1 are effective because it shows the extravagant side of the band whereas photo-shoot 2 just see’s the band being everyday normal people. I think that is what the audience would like to see. An eye-catching front cover and then a casual interview/photo-shoot they can relate to- which shows the best of both worlds.

Media Blog - Research

Magazine Research

I have decided to produce a music magazine cover, double page spread and contents page. I want to base my magazine on the indie/rock/electro music that is vast spreading. I would like to research magazines such as Q, NME and Uncut and one different magazine to help me to create my professional look.

This music magazine (XXX) cover suggests a hip/hop or rap theme. The use of the rapper ‘Lil Wayne’ helps to suggest this genre. The representation of the image allows us to believe it is a hip/hop magazine. This is because of stereotypical views of rappers. For instance the tattoos of the rapper and the mean facial expression could represent aggression which links with the hard expression of hip/hop. The ideology of this music magazine links in with the stereotypical brash and violent portrayal of hip/hop artists. Society’s attitudes, have allowed this ideology to change over time, but it is different in different cultures. What the readers of XXX think helps to keep consuming as the rap culture obviously is wide spread and vast. The design of this magazine is really quite simple. The main image is strong enough to carry the page. The lack of text highlights the main text in blue and black on the main image. The layout is quite spread across the page, which draws you to the main image.

NME music magazine is an Indie magazine. It is quite different to the XXX magazine, as its design is packed and full of colour and information. The typeface is bold and doesn’t even have to be seen, it’s that noticeable. This catches the eye of buyers. The representation of the indie theme is ‘cool music’ ‘cool clothes’ and ‘cool behaviour’. This magazine highlights the positive representation of indie behaviour and highlights the cool side of the music. It represents teens, male and female, and of all ages. It highlights their behaviour and the stereotype of the music magazine allows for its huge audience because they can relate to the music and artists within the NME magazine. The Gossip are upcoming icons in the indie world and buy using Beth Ditto and her controversial ways, we can see that NME have obviously chosen them to be on the front cover to help with income and buyers from their audience. The ideology of this magazine is that it is ok for women to talk about sex and skins. The institution has changed over the years as has representation and ideology of women. The music mag is bright and the fonts used help to grab your attention. The page is packed but helps clearly to show the ideas and representation of the magazine. I have noticed repetition throughout, and keeping to conventions. Many of the indie/rock magazines use strong contrasting colors such as NME which uses black, red and white. This could symbolize a variety in the indie music or could represent the good and bad views/attitudes on the music- the drugs, sex, rock and roll and the music that is produced by the artists.

The contents pages of a music magazine are important because it tells you the information about what will be inside. It needs a lot of text, clearly portrayed and also it needs to be bright to attract viewers. These contents pages have small images to help make the page more interesting. Its representation and ideology is the same as the front cover and the theme should carry on through the magazine.

Target Audience + Research
The target audience for a music magazine is very important. The magazine has got to get in touch with its themes and issues to reach their intended audience. Things such as color, type fonts, images and the overall layout are very important. Also the music magazines theme/genre, whether its hip/hop or indie the magazine needs to portray that into the magazine, so then the indented audience can relate to the magazine. I developed questioners to help me with the layout and genre of my magazine. I asked questions that could relate to a potential target audience, as it is important to relate to the buyers. I asked a number of people about specific audiences such as ‘Indie, Rock, Grunge, Punk, Chav, and Grime’ and many more. I came to the conclusion that many people are in the selected ‘indie’ theme. This is because indie covers such a vast audience of controversial and upcoming new music covering rock, electro and many more types of music. By having a specific group I can individualize it and make it my own and still reach out to the selection specifically. I feel that my potential audience is vast but helps to represent a selection of music fusing together. This representation could link with my magazine as I could merge indie genres together still supplying for a vast audience. I think my intended target audience is teen ranged form 15-19+. It’s quite an awkward selection but the ideology and representation has changed in the past years and now music is vastly influential to this age range as the dominate ideology helps to create this. I think this age range would befit my magazine because when I asked my random questionnaire to all ages, many put themselves in the 15-16 categories I had created. I feel that creating the magazine to an age range of 19 or + helps because music is still a big influence to all teens. For my target audience I am hoping and intending not to leave any race or sex out of my magazine. I believe that this magazine can be for both sexes and all races, it’s purely about the audiences interests. By using an indie magazine it could fuse social groups together, which could make this interesting. In my questionnaire I asked my audience about colours, text and images. My results came out by highlighting the fact that they would like a bright look that would catch their eye and something new and interesting for the layout. I feel my intended target audience would try and capture a non-discriminating view on nay race. I think my target audience would involve any race as I feel like leaving out or discriminating another culture is not an option. Social class will not affect my magazine as my target audience is vast and for a lot of people and music can bring people together.
Sample of my Questionnaire, for a target audience and their needs.

1) What type of magazine would you usually buy?
-Rock
-Punk
-Rap/Hip hop
-Pop
-Heavy Metal
-Dance/Hardcore
-Electronic/Experimental
-Indie

2) How much would you pay for a magazine?
-£1 - £1.50
-£1.50 - £2
-£2 - £2.50
-£2.50 - £3

3) Would you prefer a bright couloured magazine or a dark magazine?
-Bright
-In-between
-Dark

4) What age are you?
-13-15
-15-16
-16-19

5) What do you expect on a front cover to a music magazine?
- 1 large image
- Little text and hardly any information
- Lots of little images
- Large text but hardly any information
- Few headlines
- 1 main storyline
- Catchy title
- Colour scheme


From my questionnaire I got vital information about my target audience and their needs. Such as, many of the randomly selected people would not buy a magazine over £3. Also they would prefer a bright themed and coloured magazine. And the overall theme would be an indie/rock and electro vibe. This helps me to create and later my magazine to fit the criteria from my potential target audience of 15-19+.

Internet Research
I have gone on some websites that can help me look at the design of a magazine then link it to my target audience. These websites have helped me to see the design and layout of a magazine and how it became big. It shows the representation and ideology of a magazine at a present point in time.
http://www.magforum.com/glossies/music_magazines.htm
This website showed me the different types of music, their design/colour/theme/text ECT. For example I looked at a music magazine called Barbed Wire. It followed punk-inspired music artists from 1978-1980. The copies were sold in record shops and schools and colleges which help to represent its target audience of teenagers.
It was 30p for 20 pages and as you can see it still followed the ‘usual look’ of a magazine with a title and 1 main image. Also it helps to represent the genre by the image and the brightness.
This website helped me to see the varied magazines that exited, and you can see how they were portrayed in that time when dominant ideologies were shown.

I also looked a publishing companies and their link with the music magazines they produce.
http://www.ipcmedia.com/brands/
This website shows the brand and the different magazines they produce over a wide spectrum.
IPC MEDIA produce NME magazine, Guitar and Bass magazine and Uncut magazine. IPC MEDIA is a main company involved in the music magazine area. Here is some information I discovered about what IPC MEDIA does:
IPC Media is a leading UK consumer magazine publisher. IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone. (Our 80 magazines)
Our digital properties include NME.com, the third largest commercial music website in the UK and housetohome.co.uk, the UK's first homes portal. IPC's brands are very simply at the heart of the UK's cultural life IPC is owned by Time Inc., the publishing division of Time Warner Inc. Our business is split into five distinct publishing divisions: IPC Connect, IPC Inspire, IPC Ignite, IPC Southbank and IPC TX. Alongside these is Market force, the UK's leading magazine distribution business. This shows that big media companies have some control over the magazines they produce and websites they own nation wide.

By looking at these internet resources I have developed more information about target audiences and the actual media companies involved in the magazines. I think they are beneficial and to me and to audiences because the publishing companies know what is ‘in’ at this time and they know the dominant ideas/genres that most of the population are interested in and this is listed in the magazines they chose to publish.

My Magazine
I now know that I want my magazine to defiantly feel like an indie magazine. So I am linking in rock and electro to my magazine to add in and bring in different areas of my target audience.
I have started to list some main points that magazines regularly do.
The title should be short, snappy and catchy. It should be bright and eye-catching and the texts should have key features that would make someone interested in the subject.
The images should represent you genre and should be eye-catching and effective in portraying the ideas and maybe stereotypes within the genre.
I started to come up with some magazine title ideas.

-SWITCH ME:
I thought this was quite effective as magazine name. It strikes you quite hard and helps to represent music well. I feel it would be bright and energetic which is what I am looking for. It has an edge to it that the rest of the magazine would have to follow. I like this idea but I would prefer something more sharp and snappy to help represent the genre in the magazine.
-PUMP:
I thought this was good; it gives some connotations such as the magazine would ‘pump more music around’ and that the music being portrayed in the magazine would be pumped fresh like new and upcoming music. I really like this for a title as it portrays good ideas. I think though the magazine would have to go for a blue/black theme which I don’t think works that well, because I need bright colours.
-FTM: (Face the Music)
I really like this title for a magazine. This is because it is short and it relates to magazines such as NME and Q because it uses single letter to make the connection with music. I really like this idea because I feel something short will benefit the magazine.
Overall I am going to chose FTM for my magazine name. I feel a lot of fonts would look good in this format and because it is a short abbreviation it could be placed anywhere on the magazine that looks effective.

I tried out various fonts with the FTM name
I used http://www.dafont.com/ to help get a different variety of fonts.
I used these fonts:
-Stencil fix
-Urban tool
- Twist round
-DX
-Tom’s written handwriting
And many more to help create the right look.

AS Group 22