Magazine Evaluation

Magazine Evaluation

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Finished project

Today is the last day for altering my media coursework. I have been altering my front cover, contents page and double page spread for a couple of weeks now and i am finally happy with the colours, format and pictures i have chosen. I need to do a few alterations on the contents page to make the writing stand out more, and i need to change some of the writing on my front cover. One thing i have not included in draft is a big heading on my front cover of the artists i am using in my double page spread. Today i will include this and change some of the positions of the titles.

Above are all my mood boards which i put together before i decided on the layout and look of my magazine. All i did was cut out pictures from various magazines which i liked the look of and i thought would go well with the electrical/pop look i was trying to go for. 

I have now uploaded my pictures onto the computers. My main feature artical is based upon a new, upcoming band, LAYDZ. There are only two female members in my band and their genre of music is mixed, from Electro, pop and rock.

The Photoshoot

For the photoshoot my friend and sister modelled for me. I dressed them in three different outfits. The first outfit was very bright, with neon colours which i think go with the electro genre.

The second outfits were big tee-shirts. One of the girls wore a black one and the other a white. And the third outfits were two dresses which were very similar but very bold. One of them had black and white strips with pink roses on and the second was blue with green and blue flowers patterend on. I liked these dresses as they were similar and show the fun side.

Feedback 22/4/09

Good Sophie, Keep blogging on your progress and upload your rough sketches for your pages and your mood board, props and costume lists and location lists too and any photographs you have.
Miss McNulty

I have now changed who my target audience will be. At first I was going to specify my magazine to just a female audience. But I now see that thats too specific and to get a wider audience need to include males.
So my magazine will have a variety of Band/Artsits who take particular attention to Electro/pop, for example; Ladyhawke and Lady GaGa.

I have created a questionnaire for six people between the ages of 16-25 lto find out what they listen to and what kind of person they are. I am then going to use this information to put together my magazine. Here are my questions and results in a tally:

What genre of music would you prefer to listen to?

Electro/Pop-5

RnB

Dance-1

Would you read an Electro/Pop magazine?

Yes-6

No-1

How often do you go to gigs?

Once a week

Once every couple of weeks-2

Once every six months-1

Once a year-3

What shop do you spend the most in?

Topshop-4

River Island-2

Marks and Spencers

Charity shops

How often do you go out with your friends?

Once a week or more-6

Once every couple of weeks

Once every couple of month

Which band/artist in each pair would you prefer to listen to?

Goldfrapp-3

Rihanna-3

and...

Crystal Castles-4

Girls Aloud-2

and...

Moby-4

Craig David-2

and...

Pendulum-5

Mcfly-1

and...

Hot Chip-3

Coldplay-3

and...

Ladyhawke-5

Wigan Pier-1

and...

Dragonette-4

Miley Cyrus-2

and...

New Young Pony Club-4

Pussycat Dolls-2

Feedback 26/3/09

Good Sophie - have you done any audience research/questionnaires? This needs to be included - link to your target audience.

Also look at some magazine covers, contents pages and double page spreads using the conventions of magazines - there is a PDF of these on the AS Media Moodle site under the foundation portfolio section.
Miss McNulty

Above is the contents page for my SMC magazine for my prelim task. I would like to split the pages up under titles and reproduce the idea of the passport like pictures down the middle of the page.

For the preliminary task I had to create the front cover for a college magazine. I took the image of my friend looking stressed as one of the main stories in the magazine is about being stressed. Once I had uploaded my image onto the computer I opened up 'Photoshop' to cut out the background and round off any edges on the image. I then opened up the cut out image in 'InDesign', where I created my front cover and re-sized the image to the correct scale. I then added many conventions of a magazine cover, including a big bold title 'SMC!', a barcode and stories featuring in the magazine. I think the image which I used was successful and the colours which I used went very well together. I think there was to much white space on the cover, although some of the magazines I have looked at are very minimal. I also don't like the positioning of the writing, and think it's a bit all over the place.  

Feedback 10/3/09

Excellent research Sophie - yes you can use other magazines because what you are exploring are the conventions of magazines (not music magazines.)

For your magazine idea - yes a female target audience would be good but your secondary audience should be male. I believe only having female artists is too limiting - female audiences do generally like male artists (sex symbols etc..!) This would also maybe neglect important artists in the Electro/Pop genre/scene too.
Miss McNulty

My magazine which i am creating has to contain a contents page. I have found this page from the fashion magazine 'Vogue'. Although it is not a music magazine, i still like the layout and would like to use some of the ideas used. Such as the big, eye catching pictures with page numbers in the corners, and the different headings to split all the magazine up. 

The second image is of a music magazine. I like the vibrant colours used to catch the readers eye. I like how the contents page is simple and might use this idea in my contents page.

Blog Entry 5 (5.3.09)

I have researched magazines which are based around Electro/pop and here are some which I have found.

The first magazine is more electro club than anything. The cover shows lots of the conventions been carried out. There is one main image of a girl who is looking into the camera, big headings and writing about the contents of the magazine around the image. 

The second image is a cover of the magazine 'URB'. This cover breaks many of the conventions, as the main image shows a girls face looking sideways away from the camera. The cover also doesn't contain much writing, only a little at the bottom which is pretty uncommon on a magazine cover, but makes it unique. 

The last cover is from the magazine 'Remix'. This has an image of Alison Goldfrapp, who is part of a band 'Goldfrapp' who are known for their British electronic music. I like the colours used on here as they all compliment each other and create a calm image. I like the purple pattern which is around her, and the writing around, which fulfills the conventions of a music magazine cover. 

Blog Entry 4 (5.3.09)

Reader Profile 

(A reader profile is basically a description of the person who is most likely to be reading my magazine)

Occupation- Student 

Economic Status- D/E 

Sex- Female

Hobbies/Interests- Going to gigs, clubs and socializing with friends.

Fashion- Funky, fresh and fashionable  ♥

Blog Entry 3 (5.3.09)

I have changed my idea of doing Acoustic/pop to Electro/pop. My target audience will be from around 16 to 25 year olds. To make my magazine different, the only artists it will feature are females and so will be targeted at mostly females. My audience for the magazine will be 'individual', who are into young, cutting edge and different music. 

Blog Entry 2 (5.3.09)

Above are designs from a fashion magazine called 'Pop'. Although i am not creating a fashion magazine, i would like to use something like this for my layout.  

The magazines are fairly minimal. They do have one main picture dominating the page which is one of the conventions of magazines. But the writing around the images is quite minimal, whereas in a music magazine there will most likely be quite a lot of writing describing what's in the magazine to lear the audience in. 

The top image is breaking one of the conventions, as the girl is looking away from the camera. Most magazines have the artist looking straight ahead, so that the reader is leered in as if they were looking at them. 

I like how the word 'Rave' is typed down the side of the front cover, this relates to the genre of music i have chosen, so would be a good convention to use. 

The last image is very minimal with one main picture and just a little writing. What i think works for it is the colours (greys and pinks) and the big writing 'Love' which is 'Courtney Love's' second name. 

Blog Entry 1 (2.3.09)

For my media coursework I am going to create a music magazine. I have chosen this option because I am already producing a film clip for my Film coursework and wanted to do something different. 

The genre of music I would like to focus on is Acoustic/Pop, which I think targets people from the age of around  sixteen to late twenties. I would like to focus my magazine on individual artists rather than bands, and maybe just female artists? (still thinking about this). 

Before starting my magazine I am going to produce a number of audience questionnaires, which i will give 16 to late 20 years olds to fill out. The reason to doing this is to see what people want to see in a magazine and what people don't want to see or read about. 

I am also going to analyse a number of music magazines of the same genre and outline the things that work and the things that don't.  

Above is a spider diagram i have quickly sketched for ideas for my magazine .