Feedback From Target Audience

In class we printed off our draft front cover, contents page and double page spread. This was important to do as we needed to all see our drafts as hard printed copies, I think even from printing it out I could already tell what I seriously needed to change.

From here as a class we all walked around and gave feedback to each persons work on things that were good or that needed changing, I made sure that I took a picture of the feedback that I got from my peers and thought it was essential to put up on my blog!

 

 

This is my draft FRONT COVER

The feedback that I got from this image was.

These are the changes I need to make to my front cover:

1. The background needs to be edited, as the pink doesn't look right
2. Her head has been cut off at the top, therefore I need to make the picture longer
3. I need to use a much smaller barcode, as this one takes up most of the page.
4. As well as the barcode I need to make the icons much smaller.
5. I need to make the image much clearer.
6. The "Ireland's biggest music magazine needs to be a different colour.

 

For my CONTENTS PAGE

 

Unfortunately I couldn't print out my contents page in colour, which meant that it didn't look as well as It could, that being said I did manage to get some good feedback from my target audience.

1.  More images need to be put on the page
2. There is too much space around the page (lots of white) therefore I need to put in some extra things to fill up the page.
3. Different fonts should be used throughout the page
4. More colour needs to be added-  colour should be added to the background
5. I need to add more images of different people and different things to the page

 

For my DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

 

As for my Double page spread, I knew that it was still In a major working progress, therefore it didn't look as good as I had wished for the first draft, my audience feedback said:

(what I'm going to change)

1. There is too much white space around the main image
2. More text to be put on the page
3. More colour and Images and different font to be used
4. Drop caps to be added

 

 

 

 

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

I have been deciding on how I can make my double page the best and most professional it can be. I looked over the original dps flat-plan and decided I would draw it out again with all of my new ideas this has helped me with my contents page as  can see exactly what will fit and look right.

 

 

I have also changed the "50 FACTS" to 20, my reason for this was that having 50 took the full two pages and I wanted to have a question and answer interview piece on the article which I think would not only make it more interesting but not as long to read

 

 

 

It is clear that the DPS was just looking very bland and extremely boring, therefore I am working on the new context that will go into box 1 and 2.

My inspiration for this is coming from a range of different magazines that are not only "Q" magazine- the magazine I have been mostly focusing my inspiration from, but I wanted to look at a wider range of magazines.

 

 

Inspiration for Contents Page

For my contents page I have already made small changes, but I feel as if I need to really make it the highest mark band so I decided that I would look at different magazines with the same colour scheme as the one I am using, to see if I could make any drastic changes.

 

The first second and third one is from the music magazine "Q" this uses the same colour scheme as I am using, I plan to make changes to the writing I have used on my contents page to give it a more sophisticated look.

 

 

 

 

 

 This particular magazine I found on google was another students, I like the way this is laid out and I will hopefully make mine look something similar.

 

 

 

 

CONSTRUCTION WORK, FRONT COVER, CONTENTS PAGE, DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

For my first draft of my contents page, I needed to redo my flatplan on a A4 page so I could have a better Idea as to what space I was working with, I went onto my blog and found my original flatplan for my music magazine and from there drew it out again,

This is the quick sketch I drew to prepare me for the digital document on "INDESIGN"



Changing My front cover image

As my front cover image that i want to use was in a landscape image it wouldn't fit properly on an A4 page.

I have had to make some drastic changes to my over all image, for example; strectching the image out to be longer, the other changes that i want to make to this image is changing the masthead from the side to the top of the page.

Front Cover Draft 2

 

For my second front cover image (draft) I really wanted this image to contrast with my first draft, as that was bright and colourful with the red lipstick, I wanted this to have the black and white element with the lipstick still remaining red.

 

 

This was the image with being touched up with a black and white filter and a saturation to make the red lipstick remain red.

 

 I found that I had to play around a lot with the different themes to get the perfect black and white filter as most of them really darkened the face to give an almost dark grey dead look,

 

Although I chose for this image to be black and white, I still wanted my model to look bright and fresh, I fell like this image below has what I wanted.

 

The next thing I played with was to try to accomplish a black background as opposed to plain white, as I had in my first draft front cover, I found my using the "Bucket" effect and black 

 

Front Page Draft 1

For the first draft of my front cover I decided to keep the picture that was quite plain and simple, this was one of the pictures that seemed mostly popular compared to my other pictures, therefore I chose it to be my first draft front cover.

 

With the use of Photoshop on this image I have been able to create an eye-catching image that was originally a very plain and quite bland image.

 

I used this picture to edit on Photoshop as I felt it was most helpful with this particular image. 

that being said, I feel as though this image was still very plain I could have made a lot more effort with the text surrounding and as well as the icons such as the "twitter, Facebook, Instagram" app icon, the barcode issue number and the date, therefore I decided to spend more time on my second front cover and add these into it.

 

The changes that have been made image to image are very slight and mostly unnoticeable, for instance, the difference between these two images are, I made the saturation higher and the girls hair seems more highlighted. as well as this I added some text around the image.

 

 

The changes between these two images are quite noticeable as the bottom one is the original image with just flash, it is clear that in this image the girls red lipstick and light brown hair isn't bright and really doesn't make a statement, therefore I decided that I wanted to make this image as bright as possible without making the face look to pale against the red lipstick and hair colour.

Using Photoshop

For my first and second draft of my front cover i decided to use "PHOTOSHOP" instead of "INDESIGN" my reasons for this was simply because I preferred photoshop as it seemed to give more options for my colour scheme as well as text, i tried to work with indesign and did my first draft on it, but later descovered that i wanted to redo it on photoshop to see if it would possibly turn out better, i did so and was much happier with the result, however i will definitely use indesign for the contents and double page spread.

 

 

Music Magazine Research- Q Magazine Front Covers

Q Magazine Front Covers

 

I wanted to see the typical house- style of Q magazine, I decided that It would be good to make a collage of Q magazines front covers together to get a good idea of what I should be talking about when I come to analyse the latest addition of Q.

 

 

Music Magazine Research- My Inspiration

For my first piece of different ideas, I thought that it would be good to create a prezi presentation as I could show all my ideas and pictures in one form of a media platform, in this presentation I have things such as pictures that I think I could take inspiration from, I also have ideas where I could take these pictures, I still have a lot to think about for my magazine, like what I will call my "artist" what her "story" will be e.g. what songs she sings, where she is from, her famous friends etc.

I also still need to think about what I a going to call my magazine, font, layout and what cover lines and graphics I will use.

Also the other people that I will feature in my magazine, I will use this post as my ideas post, that I will go back to and update with new things that I want to put in my magazine

https://prezi.com/vceoyrff7mm7/inspiration-for-my-music-magazine/ 

 

Selfie Video

The video explains my detail n what I want my magazine to look like, I go into details such as, my cover photographs, my ads on the front cover, the articles you will find inside my magazine etc..

School Magazine Photo-shoot Plan

 

 

My magazine photo-shoot plan consists of the shot type, lighting, backround, positioning and editing, this will give a rough idea of how I will create my magazine pictures from start to finish, and this will help when it comes to the final decisions, as I can see what I originally wanted it to look like.

Prezi Presentation On My School Magazine

This is my Prezi presentation, on my ideas of my school magazine.

http://prezi.com/ajbfxuv42clf/masthead/

Questionnaire For A School Magazine

What gender are you?

• Male
• female

What year are you in?

• Year 8-10
• Years 11-12
• Years 13-14

How often would you like to see the school magazine to be published?

• Every month
• Every 6 months
• Once a year

How much would you be willing to pay for the magazine?

• Nothing
• 20p
• 50p
• £1

What colours would intrigue you to read the magazine?

• Pink, blue, purple
• Red, yellow, green
• Orange, red, black

Would you prefer a formal or informal style to the magazine?

• Formal
• informal

What would you like to see more in the school magazine?

• Information
• pictures

What gift vouchers would you like to be included in the magazine?

• ITunes voucher
• Trim-Print voucher
• Bagel bean voucher
• New look voucher
• Topshop voucher

What would you like to see in the magazine?

• School trips
• Recent school achievements
• Revision tips
• Upcoming events
• Agony Aunt

What would you like to see on the front cover?

• Teachers
• Students
• Different themes, e.g. Halloween theme, Christmas theme

What would you prefer the magazine to focus on most?

• My year group
• Whole school

Prep School Magazine Analysis

I have decided that it would be best to not only analysis one school magazine, but two, this magazine is a completely different age group who are mainly based in the front cover, verses the other magazine that I have just analysed, I thing that it is good that I have two opposite magazine, as I can see different things to look out for when I come to creating my own.

 

Continuing on with the further part of my preliminary task, I have chosen “prep school” magazine. The masthead that is used in this particular magazine, is an instant eye catcher as it is in large enticing font, the masthead is a clean printed in a formal font to present the school in a prestigious way. The word ‘Prep’ immediately shows us that this school could possibly be a pre-school, early years primary school or a preparation school.  The magazine attracts the students of the school along side their parents. The mix of the blue and white colours of the masthead is associated to the other features of the magazine; the overall colour scheme for the magazine is blue and white. The bold white writing stands out for the blue background which has been purposely done to grab our attention.

The colour scheme has been chosen to most likely symbolize the schools uniform, which can be seen in the main image. The colour scheme is bold and bright to highlight the positive features of this magazine. The colour for this magazine ties together well as the main image further carries on the white and blue colours. The blue banner is clear-cut and formal looking.  The house style of this school magazine is formal due to the blue banner and font of the headings and coverlines around the main image. The spelling and punctuation is correct implying that this magazine is formal. Dues to the formality of this magazine the circulation would probably be more popular among the older age, for example the teachers and parents. The way the magazine is present may not attract younger readers.
There is no indication of a price of this magazine which indicates that this school magazine is free; encouraging more sales. However on the skyline it states the year printed and the issue number. This highlights the fact that the magazine is an on-going magazine most likely printed annually or termly. Due to the presents of the issue number we can indicate that the contents of the magazine will highlight the positive things that happened since the last magazine. 
 The slogan of this magazine is printed under the masthead, it summarises the statement that the school carries proudly, “reflecting the best”, this highlights to us that the school must receive good results either with academic results or the students are very bright young people. The slogan emphasizes to us that the school is a prep and junior school i.e. for younger children, before high school. 
The main image is spread across the front cover; the image is displayed behind the coverlines and the advertisement shown at the bottom of the front cover. The main image illustrates young children with iPads; this highlights an issue which may be written inside in the magazine. We can guess that the subject in this issue of the magazine is to do with IT and how it will positively impact pupils; we can indicate this as the students are smiling with iPads in their hands. We can further perceive the subject matter of the magazine on the coverline which is displayed on top of the image. It reads, “A focus on IT”, this suggests to us that IT is the main story in the magazine.

School Magazine Front Cover "XHIBIT"

I have decided to look through some samples of school magazines that other schools have previously done, by analysing a few different front covers it will prepare and guide me to create my own, I choose this on as I felt it was relatable with the magazine that I will be creating, as I want to focus my magazine on A-level students, immediately from the front cover of this school magazine, I can tell that these students would have just received their results, this gave me lots of inspiration for my actual magazine.

 

School Magazine Analysis

The masthead of this school magazine is called “XHIBIT” The headline is a play on the word ‘Exhibit’ and the shortening of the word makes it more user friendly for younger people. “ Xhibit” has connotations and associations of exhibiting new articles, new thoughts and new developments in the world of young people.  Reading down through the articles one quickly discovers that this is a magazine which specialises in the latest events, developments and shows in the world of art, drama, music and creative activities such as cooking. 

Exhibit essentially means to show or display so the masthead means to display what is going on in the front page or what is to follow in the magazine, so the reader would be enticed to see what articles are going be in the magazine.

 The competition that is highlighted on the front page is also related to this world with the chance to win tickets to a West End show.  This competition is displayed in the graphics as a jagged solid shape Graphics that is commonly used in cartoons and animations.  The typeface that is white letters on the solid orange background ensure that the reader can quickly see the competition prize that is being offered inside the magazine.

The tonal graphics draw the line across the page and the yellow of the ‘x’ is lifted up in the yellow of the GCSE results the yellow connotes a cheery and joyful attitude.  Likewise the orange tones of the ‘H’ are used in the ‘win tickets’ promotion and again provides a balance with the title of the magazine.  The colouring of the clothes of the taller student in the photograph likewise balances out the colouring of the last four letters as she is wearing a pink top and blue cardigan.  This ensures that the reader will look at the cover and recognise patterns of colour and patterns where font is reproduced.

The two students in the cover are situated slightly to the right of the photograph allowing for text to be sited on the left hand side of the page.  This is a very common layout of a magazines front page as we read from left to right in this part of the world and also read from the top of the page to the bottom.  However, the type cast for the article on ‘The GCSE geniuses’ clearly sites the word ‘GCSE’ in the centre of the page and sites it also across the two students which indicates that the two students are the ‘GCSE’ geniuses.  The colour yellow signifies positivity, energy and brightness and is therefore apt for this article and the reader would clearly be drawn to this story to find out more about these two students.  Furthermore, the students themselves are dressed very casually and appear to be very approachable, this means that the magazine’s audience can easily identify with them and would therefore be open to reading about them and how they succeeded in achieving such good results.  The students appear happy and excited with their results and the camera in the photograph would suggest that one of the students has undertaken courses in either media, moving arts or photography.

The articles that are featured on the front page relate to talent, creativity and performances.  ‘Young Talent’ which is featured in orange print – one of the colours used in the mast head describes an event which will feature local students’ art, drama and music.  A play on words ‘Bugsy at Burghley’ provides a link to an article which reviews a play and one would guess that the play is ‘Bugsy Malone’.  This film initially starred young actors playing the part of gangsters and would lend itself to a play which could also be performed and appreciated by young people.

The magazine cover also promotes environmental issues and subtly uses the green colouring on the word ‘green’ in going green as a means of reinforcing the environmental issue.  This is a subtle and yet effective manner in introducing this topic and would attract the reader’s attention. The block across the magazine is used to anchor the page and is divided in to equal parts each denoting sections within the magazine.  The magazine promises something for everyone whether it be art, drama, music, cooking, photography, competitions or events.