Final Magazine.

My final magazine front cover

My final magazine contents page

My final magazine double page spread

These are screen shots of my final magazine, as you can see I did a front cover, a contents page and a double page spread. I used the same colour scheme for both the front cover and contents page, I did this because I thought it would make my magazine look more professional as most magazines do have a lot of consistency in each issue regarding the colour scheme and layout.

Evaluation - Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

This is my preliminary task college newsletter which I called Edge Bede. I did this around september time, I had no knowledge of making a newsletter and I created it on Microsoft Office Publisher, which is a basic program which is not used to create professional magazines. I made this newsletter without any help from my teacher or any further knowledge of the conventions of magazines.

As I have already said, when doing my preliminary task, I used a Microsoft Office Publisher to create my cover and contents page, this meant that the quality of my finished task was not as good and professional as my coursework music magazine. This is because for my coursework I used Adobe Photoshop which is a piece of software that professional editors of magazines use. This meant that I could make my magazine look very professional and to a high standard. I did this by editing the photos that I used and even just by positioning things in different places, which is one of the things that I really struggled with when using Publisher as it is very limited as to where you can put things.

I also used effects on the text throughout my magazine which really helped to give it a professional look and feel. I have also learnt how to work with layers on Photoshop making the finish of my coursework to a higher standard as it allowed me to place things on top of one another.

All in all, I think that I have made huge progress from my preliminary task to my final coursework magazine, I have used better a better program to produce and edit my magazine and I have used the feedback I was given from my first task to help me in the production of my music magazine, this has helped me make it into a good final product 

Evaluation - Question 6

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
In order to create my music magazine, Flow, I had to learn how to use technologies that I had not used before, and make use of things that I already had. All of these things contributed to my end product of a cover, contents page and double page spread for my magazine which I think had a professional appearance.

CAMERA - photography

The camera that I used for my photos was not my own camera, I used the models camera as it was much better than my own which is an Olympus VG-120, 14 megapixel with a 5x Wide Optical Zoom. Although this is a fairly good camera, I wanted my photos to be of a better quality so this is the camera that I used to take my photos, it is a Canon EOS 1100D Digital SLR Camera which is 12.2 megapixels.

PHOTOSHOP - editing and making

As well as using physical equipment to create my magazine, I also used the software on the computers at college in order to both edit the photos and create my magazine. The main program that I used was Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.5 which was the edition which was accessible at college. I used Photoshop for two reasons: to edit the photos for my magazine, and also to create the actual documents. I had not really used Photoshop before and I did not know anything about it so it was a totally new experience using it to create my magazine, but I soon got to grips with it and I feel it has enabled me to create a professional looking magazine.

NME magazine cover analysis

NME's audience would be aimed at both genders aged 15-30. We know this because this age range is fairly young and people this age tend to have a strong interest in modern day music. We can also see this by the colours which the magazine uses which are orange, grey and white, so that it isn't too masculine or too feminine and they are colours that work well together but still stand out. The text is selling updated news of the music industry show the readers what in and what not, it also shares musical knowledge to the readers and keep them up to date with the latest and best bands and artists. The main picture on the cover is obviously LCD Soundsystem and he looks very cool and laid back, I can tell this because of the head tilted back pose which makes the reader look like they are looking up to him.

Magazine Front Cover analysis/inspiration - (Homework)

This is the cover for Q magazine from August 2010. I picked this cover because although it is very simple (like all Q magazine covers) it made me want to buy this magazine. I had never bought Q magazine before and then when I saw this cover I decided to buy it. I think this is because it is so simple and looks very classy and professional.


The colours used are red, black and gold which is the classic colour scheme of Q magazine; almost all of their covers feature these colours. This is so that you immediately know that this is Q magazine. This is one of the things that I like about Q magazine, it is always very consistent. It always looks well finished and well put together. 


This magazine cover inspires me because it is an example of “less is more.” It doesn’t have a lot on it but it works very well and it is very appealing due to the classiness of it. I like the way that “KASABIAN” is written across the cover in gold so that it stands out against the grey and the colours of the band members’ clothes. Another thing that I like is that the band members are right in the middle of the cover and they are the main feature and it gives a strong indication as to what is going to be the main feature in the actual magazine. 



This is the cover for Cosmopolitan magazine from October 2011. I picked this cover because although it is colourful it is very simple and not too fussy. This is what I would like my own magazine to be like with a simple layout and colour scheme. I buy Cosmopolitan magazine every month because I like the content and the layout. 


What makes this magazine so simple yet so effective is that it has the layout is always the same. It has the masthead at the top saying “COSMOPOLITAN” in block letters. It usually has a simple colour scheme, for example on this particular months cover the colour scheme is magenta, black, white and green (the green being used on Fearnes clothing.) Cosmo also always has sub headings and sell lines which are always at the side of the main image or even on top of the main image. I like the main image on this magazine because it is very sexy yet subtle; this is the classic chocolate box pose with the lips slightly parted focusing on flawless beauty. 


This magazine inspires me because although it has a lot of information on the cover it is not too messy or uncluttered. You can still see at a glance what the main stories and features are in that particular issue. I like how Cosmopolitan stick to one main colour scheme for the months issue and they use it not only on the cover but all the way through the magazine. The colours used always complement each other and fit well together. 




This is the cover for NME magazine from  10th April 2010. I picked this cover because again it is extremely simple, probably the simplest one I have ever seen from NME. This was a special edition cover; it is one of ten possible covers. You could choose from a number of music artists and an array of colour schemes. I chose Jack White because I like him and he appeals to me. I think the way he is dressed all in black contrasts against the yellow chair he is sitting on and the yellow masthead. 


The main colours on this cover are silver, yellow, black and white which all fit well together as the yellow is so bright it stands out against the other colours. NME is another magazine that has a main image with sub headings and sell lines to the sides of it. Although there is a colour scheme on the front cover, it does not carry on throughout the magazine which I would not do in my magazine. I would like the colour scheme to carry on throughout the whole magazine. I do like the simplicity of this cover as it works so well and you can see at a glance what is in the magazine. It is obvious that it is a music magazine and a music magazine only which is the effect I’d like to create with my magazine. NME always has the same logo as well which is something that I like a lot, the font never changes even if the colours do. 

Evaluation - Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

I have attracted my audience by making my magazine stand out. I have made it stand out because a typical music magazine would use bright colours and it would be very "in your face." This is a good thing because it catches peoples eyes, but the problem with it is that it means that it is no different to all of the other music magazines on the market. I have made my magazine stand out and be individual, I have done this by using soft colours on my magazine front cover and sticking to a maximum of 3 colours. These have been light green, white and grey. I have also made my main image of Bekah Dale to be in black and white. This gives the magazine a vintage look which is a selling point as vintage is very fashionable at the minute.

I have also used sell lines to tell my audience what will be featured in the magazine. These are familiar and recognisable things such as english festivals such as Leeds and V and The VMA's which is an awards ceremony for artists.

Another thing that I have done to attract my audience is to have a competition to win festival tickets of their choice. This attracts the audience because obviously it is a music magazine and people who read it will be interested in music and therefore in going to a music festival.

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking as a teenager, I know that when I have money, I want to spend it on things that I need, or that are worth while, and therefore I tend not to buy as many music albums as I used to. On the occasion that I want to buy some new music, I would much prefer to read some reviews about the album, and see what other people either my age or older think about it before I spend my money. I usually rely on NME magazine's 'Reviews' section to inform me of this information, and that's why I thought it would be necessary to include a 'Reviews' section in my magazine. When someone picks up my magazine and flicks to the contents page to see what will be included, they will find that there are a number of reviews which will inform them of which albums are rated highly by professional critics and whether or not to spend their money on them.

Evaluation - Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media product represents particular social groups because it is very versatile and laid back. My magazine is called "FLOW" and it's slogan is "the way it goes" which reflects the laid back attitude that I was trying to achieve. I also did this by making sure that my magazine covered a lot of different genres of music such as rock, pop, indie rock and alternative. This represents normal people as most people do not just stick to one genre of music and they just listen to whatever they like regardless of what genre it is, they "go with the flow" so to speak. My model is very good looking and she is wearing very fashionable clothes throughout but she is not overdressed. She looks very casual even though she is meant to be a number one selling british artist. I like to think that this also represents my readers as I think that this would make them understand that although someone is famous they are just like everyone else.