Fonts

Digital design drafts

I started to create some magazine drafts of what I would like my images to look like. Here is a double page spread mock up that I made featuring an image of Rihanna:



I would probably have the model in the place that Rihanna is in, in my magazine so that I can place text on either side of the page but also have room on the right hand to focus on what the artist is doing now and where you can see them in concert. I would probbaly created a faded box for the text to go in to make it stand out more from the background and I would also probably put the title/quote in a solid block shape. I would perhaps leave more space above the artist's head to out the title instead of it coverrng their head and I would also maybe try and leave space for more pictures at points in the page.

Target audience and pricing

Since there is also a pop magazine out there with a target audience of young teenage girls, I want to make my magazine available to a wider audience. I don't want to just target adults because I don't think as many adults would buy the magazine compared to teenagers but I would prefer to target an audience of 16 - 21 year olds. This way I would targetting a teen audience without making it too ideal to be a 12 year old girls magazine.
The magazine would have to be fairly cheap as the age bracket that I am targetting does include university students who would probably not be able to afford a £3 magazine every week. The magazine would have to be a weekly magazine as the music industry is always changing and  if it were a monthly magazine, other companies would probably be likely to get the information out to it's audience quicker.
There is also now added competition in gossip magazines (such as Heat) as they are also covering artist interviews and information and giving their own ratings on albums and singles so I need to create something that looks more serious and more like something that people are going to want to get the opinion of. I need to create a magazine that would be credible in the music magazine world.

Textual Analysis 1

L - The first thing that I notice about this magazine cover are the colours. Light blue, black and white and the only colours used on this cover. The most prominent colour of them all is the blue. Although it is a bright colour, to me, it gives off very negative connotations. Normally the colour blue has connotations of calmness and serenity but this blue reminds me of coldness and ice. The icey blue colouring on this magazine straight awayn gives off the impression that it is not going to be a happy and fun article. The NME logo has become such a recognisable institution that even though the logo is being covered by the artists head, you know what it is. You know that it's NME. This could also be the reason why the logo is the same blue colour as most of the other text. It blends in with the rest of the cover and doesn't make any attempts to stand out and be a standalone feature of the cover just because it is so recognisable that it doesn't need to be loud and bold, people will already know what it is.

The picture of the artist that has been used on the front cover has been edited so that it has the same cold blue tint to it as the text. The blue in the picture here lies in the shadows indicating some kind of darkness about that article. Then you see that the main article title is 'The Haunted and Mysterious death of Elliott Smith'. This is where the whole theme ties together. The cover looks dark and mysterious even though the colours aren't that dark at all. The artist isn't looking towards the camera which adds more mystery to the story and because he is caught in a mid shot, it makes you feel like you are close to him and that you want to know what happened. The models hair is wet, or has a wet look which also gives off the feeling that he has been drenched in icey water or something. The fact that there are only three colours used here (and the way that they have been used) make you feel like the artist is isolated in the cold. All because of colour.

The article teasers have been designed in the way that there are different colours for different parts. So for example blue for the title and italic black for the description. This has been done so that everything that needs to, stands out.

I -



Final choice of genre

When thinking about which genre I would choose, I originally looked to the genre of music that I like the best which is Musical Theatre. I kept trying to think of ways that I could make it work but in the end, I decided that it was going to be too hard for me to do. It would be like making a music magazine for Alternative Reggae and Folk Dance Euro Pop or something.
I decided to stick to normal conventions of a magazine and choose something that would sell and that people would be able to give opinions on easily and something that I would be able to find out a lot of information about (i.e. statistics, target audience) where I wouldn't be able to find anything like that out for a Musical Theatre magazine since one doesn't exist.

The choice that I originally decided to go with was pop. I thought I would like to do this style because there weren't many pop magazines around but when I tried to think of magazine names and picture styles for a pop magazine but everything started to come out with rock/indie features. I then thought of the name 'Anthem' for the magazine name and I really liked it but that also reminded me of a rock magazine so I decided to change the magazine genre from pop to rock.

Music genre initial research

Before I choose which genre I will be making the main focus of my music magazine I want to explore what kind of music would feature in a magazine of a certain genre and what kind of things those genres include in their magazines. I will also be looking at target audiences and looking into who actually buys certain magazines.

A lot of artists mix in their genres (for example Rihanna is an artist of both pop and R&B genres) so I will choose artists that specialise only in that certain genre.

I will analyse only main genres and not sub genres. These include: Pop, R&B, Rock, Classical and Alternative.

Pop:


After a lot of research into the pop genre, there aren't many magazines out there that cater solely for the pop genre. There are magazines such as Sugar and Vibe in the UK but there aren't many more. I have seen Sugar in shops but I have never seen Vibe. When I found the magazine on the internet I didn't think it was familiar but I thought I might have just missed it but when I looked in 3 places that sold magazines, I didn't come across Vibe at all.
With only one mainstream pop music magazine, I think the industry could benefit from more, or at least one more. I think there would be an audience for it too. To me, Sugar looks as though it is targeting 12 year old girls and I know that no adult is going to want to walk around or even admit to reading Sugar if it looks like it is made for teenagers.

R&B:


This genre is where I also place rap and hip hop. The rap and hip hop artists tend to be R&B music. R&B artists tend to be associated with gangster images and contemporary pop artists.

Rock:


The Rock genre already has magazines such as Kerrang! and Classic Rock. These magazines have been around for a long time (the the rock genre) and have devoted fans that will buy the magazines weekly and constantly support the music. Other genres have this too but this one seems to have less of a wide audience because people  who don't usually listen to rock would usually want to steer clear from it. Whereas, with the other way round, most other genres are played in the mainstream much more (on the radio) so rock lovers would hear it everywhere. There are also rock centric radio/music channels that are dedicated to the genre more than there are of other genres because most other stuff (pop, r&b, indie, etc.) is so mainstream.


Classical:

Like rock, most classical music is not mainstreamed so there are specialist channels, magazines, radio stations dedicated to the genre. Most classical music is covered over and over again so I believe that classical music isn't a genre that people want to read about. The artists cover the same songs and it gets quite boring. The target audience for this genre is also not very broad and the magazine would have to be very specific to cater to a very small audience.

LIIAR interpretation of the brief

L - Front covers of music magazines usually feature: Masthead, strapline, image of an artist, article teasers.
Contents contain: images of music artists, list of contents, letter from editor.
Double page spread: image of the artist in focus, interview, what they are doing now, where you can see them.
I need to include all of these things to make my magazine fit in with the normal conventions of music magazines. I think that for the front cover either a mid-shot or a full body shot would work. I think the mid shot would work better on the cover as the full body shot would probably work better on the double page spread. To fit in withn other conventions of magazines, my magazines logo will probably be placed in the top left hand corner (which is where most logos are placed).

I - My music magazine needs to give off a positive feel to make people want to buy it. It is a pop magazine so if I make it rocky and gothic then people are not going to want to buy it.

A - ^^ target audience above

R - My artist needs to be represented positively which is a usual theme in music magazines. An artist is not going to do an interview to be ridiculed. This means that the images and the quotes and the interview needs to be positive and not anything that would make the audience not want to read it. I want the target audience to be represented positively because people can feel patronised easily and it feels like we are trying to spoon feed the audience the information then they are not going to want to read anymore.

Music Magazine Brief

To produce the cover, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by you with a minimum of four images.

Critical Feedback of my Magazine design

After talking to some students, I showed them the designs that I had come up with and then asked them to write about what they thought. I asked them about what they liked, what they thought could be improved and whether they think the magazine would appeal to other students/parents. Here are their responses:

#1 on Magazine Cover:
"It's attention grabbing. I like the title and picture, it shows Wyke is a nice, happy place to be judging by the background image and the smiling students.
The banner colours could be different to the heading font but it looks fine as it is."

#1 on Contents page:
"I like how it's varied from the Oak to Ash building, and a close up smiley face from a student. Once again, the font colour for "contents:" could differ but that's not a big deal. I like the listing and page numbers. Perhaps a little more colour."

#2 on Magazine Cover:
"It's simple which looks effective and draws thwe eye as it's not cluttered. The photo makes the college look like a nice, friendly place to be with space to sit outside.
The title could be slightly brighter to stand out from the black outline."

#2 on Contents Page:
"I like how it's different from the cover and shows off different buildings. I also like how the contents have been numbered. The colours could be varied."

I think the overall impression of my designs is positive but I could have varied the fonts and the colours a bit more. I will consider this when designing for other projects.

Evaluation of final magazine pages

Most of the evaluation for my magazine is in the blog posts that I have already written.

Final magazine pages

Planning for college magazine

Work in progress (click links to enlarge):

1:

Before I start to create any design, I like to try and start out with a simple template. Using colours that I found were mainly featured on the Wyke website, I created the simple grey background with the purple header and footer. This design is one of the ones that I had been thinking about in the first place but at the moment is just a simple design.

Potential pictures for my magazine

These pictures are all of the ones that I took as potential pictures for the magazine.
I obviously chose not to use them all as there are so many pictures but I will be giving my reasons for not using them here:

Possible names for Wyke Magazine and article names:

The magazine names that I have thought of so far are quite generic and not that original; things such as Wyke News and News at Wyke.
I want to go for a magazine name that will stand out from other magazine titles that are available. Obviously it wont be a mainstream magazine but I need to choose something that makes the magazine known as a college magazine and not a celebrity magazine. The magazine title will also need to relate to the people who will be reading the magazine. The target audience for this college magazine is students of the magazine and possibly parents of the college students. For this reason, I will be adding in things in the contents that will relate to parents and students. For the parents, there will be an insight of what their child is doing in college in lunchtimes, and study periods, etc. and statistics (including exam results and coursework grades) with important dates for college such as open days and consultation evenings. The magazine should be important for Parents to read since most students probably wouldn't tell their parents about consultation evenings and things.
The other audience, students, will be the main target for this magazine and they are going to want to read it because, firstly, it is a free magazine, and, secondly, it will have everything that students need to know about what is going on for them around college such as the parties and events that are going on in college.

Product research for college magazines

After evaluating other college magazines, I have found the following conventions that most other college magazines follow:

They have articles that students will actually want to read. They don't have anything that is irrelevant to college life, college work or college itself. Some people's magazines that I have seen have added gossip sections and style sections and I don't think that this is at all relevant to a college magazine. College magazines tend to be educational but not explicitly so. They do it in a way that will make students want to read without really knowing that they are being educated, they create catchy headlines and slogans to draw them in.

They have relevant images. They show pictures that are to do with the college (campus pictures, classroom pictures, sports pictures, college trip pictures) and a lot of students would want to know whether their picture had been featured in the magazine so this would also make them want to read the magazine.

They are free. No students are going to pay for a 10 page college magazine that they're not really interested in. If you give them a free magazine, and they 'have nothing to do', they will read it and see if there is anything interesting/anything that they are interested in, in it. They would definitely not pay for the magazine since they probably wont read it again after they have read it the first time. This is where college magazines differ from music magazines. People will want to read them over and over again and since college magazines are educational, people aren't going to be interested enough to pay.

All of the conventions that are followed are all to get people reading the magazines. Since most are free, they have to get numbers of people reading the magazines to get the funding that is needed to print them.

Fonts and colours

I researched fonts for my magazine using the existing Wyke College logo:

And found that the font used for the main purple Wyke text is called SohoPro Heavy so I obtained this font and started messing around with different colours that I found as part of the Wyke College website house style.
I am going with the working title of 'W@W!' so these are the things that I came up with for the publication:

The colour that I use will depend on the image that I put on the front of the magazine and the placing of the logo.
I am also testing whether to have the logo on a background or a lightly faded square of the page. I plan to have the logo in the top left hand corner of the publication as this is going with the normal conventions of a college magazine.

'W@W!' stands for Wyke @ Wyke, at the moment, but I might try and find something else that starts with W to substitute the first 'Wyke'. Something such as Word @ Wyke but I am not sure.
I want to keep the WOW thing going on because  it does look like WOW and I think it is quite eye catching. 

More contents page possible designs

I created some more mock up designs for my contents page ideas. I have explained why I like them or don't like them under the cut!

Colour connotations

The colours that mainly feature on my magazine include:

Purple - Purple is usally associated with royality and wealth. It is also a sign of nobility and superiority. I chose to use this colour because of this fact, and the fact that it goes with the Wyke College house style. Purple is also used to boost morale, imagination and creativity. Is it also eye catching and would definitely encourage people to read this magazine, especially since the purple house style runs all the way through.

White - White is featured a lot in my magazine; in the pictures, text and in the backgrounds. White symbolises perfection, goodness and purity. It is probably something that people notice sub consciously and they probably don't even realise they are realising it. White can also mean safety as opposed to black which can have a bad connotation.

Green - Green is the colour of nature. I plan to have some natural light and possibly outdoor scenes in my magazine. It would be best if my pictures were taken in the sun so the nature can come out of the pictures. Green is a really light colour so that will help aid the brightness of my image on the cover. Brightness on the cover will help me to attract more attention to the magazine and it will make people want to read it.

Possible design ideas:

The space underneath the mastheads would be for the full page portrait pictures. I am not planning to use landscape pictures as they wont fill the whole of the page so it would just look odd. 

College Magazine analysis

New magazine design

After reading the brief, I don't want to mess about with the pictures that I use in a big way. I originally planned to use four pictures on my front cover but with a new design I have thought of that follows the normal conventions of a magazine I have decided that I will use only one mid-shot picture on the front cover. 

My new magazine design is: 

I still plan to use the colours that I originally planned which are the Wyke colours that are used on the website and in their newsletters. 

I am thinking about looking through their old newsletters to get some inspiration for the content of my magazine. 

Planning for Wyke College magazine

For my prelimiary media College Magazine I need to: think of a magazine name, think of article titles or features to put in to the contents page, create a letter from the headteacher and get a picture of the headteacher to put on the contents page.
My ideas for the pictures on the front page are pictures of classes in the arts area of the college. I will be asking my own performing arts class if I can take pictures of the class in dance and drama classes, and then I will be asking to take pictures in art and music. In my performing arts class, we are currently putting on two plays so I could easily take pictures of a rehearsal of that and I am a member of Wyke Dance Company and two different dance classes: ballet and, currently, choreography so taking pictures of a dance class will be easy too.

For the music picture, I am thinking of having a picture of someone singing next to a piano reading music on the piano with a pianist. I also know people who study art so I will be able to take pictures of them working in their art lessons to put on the front cover. An example of how this will look:

I am thinking of having the four arts pictures on the cover inside a circle, each in one quarter but I may change this idea if I can think of something better.
I am also thinking of using the college colours which are used as a theme on the college website so it would fit in with the college design in print and also if it was online in .PDF format.

I have looked at the Wyke College website and the main colours that are used are:

These are the colours that I plan to feature as the main colours in my magazine. Another highly featured colour is white which I will also be using.

The Brief

The Brief for the:

Preliminary Exercise -

Using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of DTP.

My Media Work

This is my first piece of Media coursework. It was part of the induction task of the AS Media Studies course at Wyke College.

Jack Beedle Aftershave project evaluation

Before I started to create my project design, I had to choose which product I would be advertising. At first I thought about designing an advert for a woman’s perfume because it would have been easier for me to find a girl to take a picture of than it would have been to find a boy.

Planning for Media Induction Task.

This work goes step by step on how my work developed and changed through the two week period of figuring out how the final product will look.

Induction Task Brief

AS Media Studies

Induction Task

You are a new employee in an Advertising company.

Your company has just been asked to produce a magazine advert for one of two new products.

Choose either: