The progression I have made from my prelim task (scrapbook pages 6, 7 and 8) right up to the end of my music magazine production, I feel has been huge. When I was creating my prelim task I did very little research or preparation. I did not have specific target audience and then when I was in the production stage itself I did not have a good detailed knowledge of Photoshop or Indesign. I think this showed and I did not create a good product.
When I created the music magazine I progressed on all of these points which I had trouble with before with the prelim. Before I knew what type of magazine I was creating, I researched music magazines and the music magazine industry. I found what conventions look good on magazine and what look bad. An example of this was when I created a spider diagram (scrapbook page 9) of the typical convensions of a music magazine. I looked into what typically makes a music magazines look good and what all music magazine have. Aspects like where the image goes on the front cover and the typical contents that are found inside the magazine. I the started the initial idea stage. I had not come up with a highly detailed initial idea stage for my prelim task. With the music magazine I made a mood board and bullet pointed ideas about it.
As well as researching magazines and making an initial idea stage, I then started to research target audiences which would be interested in my magazine. I took a lot of time over this stage as it was vital in deciding what type of magazine that I wanted to create and what I would need to include in my magazine. Over all I did far more preparation before making my music magazine than I did for my prelim task. (Scrapbook page 45)
When it came to the production stage I found it far easier this time to create the magazine as I had longer to learn how to use the software and more time to try out different layouts. As for feedback from my target audience, I did not get very many people's feedback from my target audience for my prelim task but for my music magazine I went out and conducted a focus group to find out what my target audience thought of the magazine.
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Technology lessons...
I have learnt a lot about different computer technologies whilst making the magazine. Before I started creating the magazine I had a very basic knowledge of Photoshop, Indesign and Adobe Ilustrator. To create the look for my images I needed to use Photoshop heavily to edit them. To do this I got help from experts and then practiced at home by downloading a trial version of Photoshop. I can now take the background out of a image which is an very difficult procedure on Photoshop.
I can also edit the basic look of a photo with fills and adjustment layers. Evidence of this can be found on the deconstruction of photo manipulation in my scrapbook on page's 37, 38 and 39. I have learnt from making a magazine front cover on Indesign the ways in which magazine front covers are constructed and the difficulties that can be encountered and then the ways in which to solve those problems. One example of this, which I encountred was how to get an image into indesign from another program or saved place. I found that I needed to use the PLACE tool. The place tool enables me to find images from other places on the computer and put them into my front page with out the high resolution or quality being lost. This was very important to me when placing images in my pages.
I used Indesign to create all three of my production pieces as it is the industry standard for making magazine pages. I found that it was very good at creating layouts and changing them too.
I also found it good for creating layouts, which for my magazine was very important to the professional so that it fitted well into my alternative magazine genre. An example of me finding it useful for creating layouts, was when I was creating my contents page. It uses lots of lines and different shapes to make it look ineresting and different.
As you can see it uses lots of lines and shapes to create an interesting look to the page. I also rounded off the photo edges so that it did not look difficult to look at with sharp corners.
I also used Adobe Illustrator to create my masthead and some of the fonts I used through out my magazine. I created the Masthead on this programme as I felt that I had much more flexibility in creating mastheads on this programme. I was able to increase the size and weight of text easily and also change the colour as well if i wanted to. I was also able to to change the space between letters.
Altogether I think that from the beginning of starting the coursework until the end of the production process, I have learnt a lot about how Photoshop and Indesign work, and essential skills in using both the programmes.
I can also edit the basic look of a photo with fills and adjustment layers. Evidence of this can be found on the deconstruction of photo manipulation in my scrapbook on page's 37, 38 and 39. I have learnt from making a magazine front cover on Indesign the ways in which magazine front covers are constructed and the difficulties that can be encountered and then the ways in which to solve those problems. One example of this, which I encountred was how to get an image into indesign from another program or saved place. I found that I needed to use the PLACE tool. The place tool enables me to find images from other places on the computer and put them into my front page with out the high resolution or quality being lost. This was very important to me when placing images in my pages.
I used Indesign to create all three of my production pieces as it is the industry standard for making magazine pages. I found that it was very good at creating layouts and changing them too.
I also found it good for creating layouts, which for my magazine was very important to the professional so that it fitted well into my alternative magazine genre. An example of me finding it useful for creating layouts, was when I was creating my contents page. It uses lots of lines and different shapes to make it look ineresting and different.
As you can see it uses lots of lines and shapes to create an interesting look to the page. I also rounded off the photo edges so that it did not look difficult to look at with sharp corners.
I also used Adobe Illustrator to create my masthead and some of the fonts I used through out my magazine. I created the Masthead on this programme as I felt that I had much more flexibility in creating mastheads on this programme. I was able to increase the size and weight of text easily and also change the colour as well if i wanted to. I was also able to to change the space between letters.
Altogether I think that from the beginning of starting the coursework until the end of the production process, I have learnt a lot about how Photoshop and Indesign work, and essential skills in using both the programmes.
Audience feedback
I wanted to make my magazine work for a wide range of different people. The type of people I primarily aimed my magazine at was people aged about 18 upwards to 40 of any social class, group or race. I feel that because the magazine covers so many different aspects of what music magazines bring to its audience, it could represent this wide group. I also feel that because it could cover such a wide variety of genres it would be able to appeal to a very wide range of people too. I think I was successful with getting my target audience to like the magazine as when I did final target audience ideas (scrapbook page) they gave positive feedback and said that they would be interested in buying the magazine if they saw it in a shop. A comment that came up a lot whilst doing this is that they liked the lines and way that the pages were layed out. People also said that they liked the article as they thought it sounded 'proper' and "like it was out of an actual magazine."
Who would distribute it?
I looked in detail at the four different types of marketing / distribution companies which control most of the UK's market in music magazines. These were IPO, Conde Nast, Future PLC and Bauer. I already ruled out Bauer as I felt that it had to much of a mainstream feel to it. Another company I ruled out very quickly was Future PLC. I felt that it had a far too specific choice music magazine collection. out of the finale two left I decided that IPO would not be write to distribute my music magazine as it had, again, to many mainstream music magazines. I would have chosen it if there had not been Conde Nast. I felt that Conde Nast represented magazines that were a lot like mine. I felt that it would have been a company that would have been interested in distributing my magazine as it already had magazines that were big-named and aimed at large target audiences under its name. Magazines such as GQ and Vogue . Both these magazines attract massive target audiences. Another reason I chose Conde Nast is that Conde Nast publishes many high quality magazines. I feel that my magazine would be high quality so would fit in well with the portfolio they already have. The only doubt I would have with them is that they seem to be represent a lot of male and female specific magazines. This might mean that they find it difficult for them to target a magazine which does not have a heavily single gender audience.
Who is it for?
I wanted to create a music magazine that could represent a large range of social groups. By looking at magazines such as Q, I saw that they had picked out the Indy rock social group and had aimed their music, advertising and finally feel of the magazine directly at them. I wanted my magazine to be read by as many people as I could so that it would be able to work well in the market gap I had aimed it for. Therefore I decided that I should aim it at Alternative rock / dance social groups. These are the two primary genres of music that my magazine was aimed at for the issue i had created. Ultimately if the magazine was in production full time I would want the social groups to alter each month as the different genres of music are represented. I think this would be a very interesting way in which to alter the social group representation.
What is my magazine?
For my music magazine I wanted to create something that was different to other music magazines. I wanted to try and create one which would be able to be sold with very current and big magazines like Q and NME but at the same time have an alternative feel to it. To try and complete this feel and ideology for my music magazine I researched both these topical sides of music magazines. I looked at NME which is a very mainstream music magazine which reports weekly on the goings on of the mainstream music world. One of the parts of NME that influenced me was how they did not conform to one type of music. They report on all the different mainstream popular music which most of the big music magazines do not bother doing. Q magazine is another mainstream magazine which I was influenced by. I like the way that they lay out their magazine. It is very simple, with very straight lines and simple shapes separating the text well from another. I used part of this influence in my music magazine with all of the produced pieces. An Example of this would be my front cover.
As you can see if you look closely, there are lines separating up the page up. I like this effect as it helps to give a much stronger awareness of the space that the magazine has. It also helps to focus any potential buyers attention on the different parts of the magazine. I then focused on looking at alternative music magazines. One that I came across was i-D magazine. I liked this magazine as it was quite well known with in the alternative music magazine world and it had a very special and different look other music magazines have.
the second of my two alternative music magazines was Blag. I found Blag in Borders bookshop as I was browsing through looking for potential ideas for my magazine. The photography caught my attention especially as it looked very different to any other magazine on the shelf. This kind of front cover is a look I was aiming for as it grabs the readers attention - like it did mine. I feel that if my music magazine was published it would be a middle point between the massive commercial market of the big music magazines and then the little, alternative and interesting music magazines . I think that aiming for this gap in market would work as I cannot find another music magazine that conforms to this area of the market. I think that this helps my magazine challenge the form and conventions of normal music magazines.
As you can see if you look closely, there are lines separating up the page up. I like this effect as it helps to give a much stronger awareness of the space that the magazine has. It also helps to focus any potential buyers attention on the different parts of the magazine. I then focused on looking at alternative music magazines. One that I came across was i-D magazine. I liked this magazine as it was quite well known with in the alternative music magazine world and it had a very special and different look other music magazines have.
the second of my two alternative music magazines was Blag. I found Blag in Borders bookshop as I was browsing through looking for potential ideas for my magazine. The photography caught my attention especially as it looked very different to any other magazine on the shelf. This kind of front cover is a look I was aiming for as it grabs the readers attention - like it did mine. I feel that if my music magazine was published it would be a middle point between the massive commercial market of the big music magazines and then the little, alternative and interesting music magazines . I think that aiming for this gap in market would work as I cannot find another music magazine that conforms to this area of the market. I think that this helps my magazine challenge the form and conventions of normal music magazines.
First Thoughts
I had a lot of initial ideas for my magazine. One idea that really stuck out though was to do a magazine that focused on new music and many different genres of music. This would include genre's like dance, electronic, Indie rock, Acoustic, underground bands and alternative.
I started by creating a college magazine called the Talker. It was a magazine based primarily on my College's life. The reason for the this task was to families me with how magazines are made. Once I had finished it, I started researching other music magazines and seeing what type of magazine I would want to create. I found this particuly hard because I could not make my mind up on what type of magazine to create. So I decided that I would try to create Music magazine that had the best of two types of music magazines, Mainstream magazines like Q and NME which are very popular as they report and review mainstream and popular music and alternative magazines. I liked this idea as it gave me a wide base from which I could build my magazine.
I started by creating a college magazine called the Talker. It was a magazine based primarily on my College's life. The reason for the this task was to families me with how magazines are made. Once I had finished it, I started researching other music magazines and seeing what type of magazine I would want to create. I found this particuly hard because I could not make my mind up on what type of magazine to create. So I decided that I would try to create Music magazine that had the best of two types of music magazines, Mainstream magazines like Q and NME which are very popular as they report and review mainstream and popular music and alternative magazines. I liked this idea as it gave me a wide base from which I could build my magazine.
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