Teacher's feedback on my music magazine

Today my teacher gave me constructive feedback on how to make my magazine better and much more conventional. She gave me feedback such as making the barcode smaller, less writing on the cover and more. 

Evaluation plan

My cover page, contents page and double page spread for my H.I.T music magazine

Cover page continuation

On my cover page, there is a blank space next to my masthead on the top right hand corner, after taking advice from my teacher, I put another shape there to fill in that space, however, I do not like how it looks and prefer it empty.

Continuation of cover page

In today's lesson, I continued working on my cover page using Adobe Photoshop. I've started to add in my cover lines and fitting them around the page to fill in the spaces.

Continuation of cover page

In today's lesson I continued working on my cover page by adding the barcode, price and website link. I changed the text slightly so that it is not over the cover star making it easier to read the text as it seemed to clash before. 

Continuation of DPS

In today's lesson I continued working on my double page spread. I added the mast head, the date and the page number at the bottom corners as I containers working on how I arranged the text to make it all fit nicely so that it is readable and presentable. 

Double page spread in progress.

In today's lesson, I finished my journalism for my double page spread, and all I need to do now is add the page numbers and fix it up based on the feedback I receive from my classmates.

Double page spread in progress

During my break, I started creating my double page spread on Adobe Indesign. I started writing up the journalism in word and putting it into Adobe Indesign once I was happy with it.

Contents page

In today's lesson, I managed to complete my contents page. I will be asking my classmates and my teachers for feedback later on in time to gain some advice on how to make it better.

Cover page in progress

In today's lesson I continued working on my cover page by adding a cover line and a puff.

Cover page in progress

During my break today, I started to work on my cover page. My last start on my cover page got deleted so I had to start again on Adobe Photoshop. I edited the picture making it brighter and managed to add in my my masthead and the shape of a puff.

Continuation of contents page

In today's lesson, I continued working on my contents page. I managed to add the date and my masthead in there, and I added more text. My teacher gave me feedback and advised me to make the picture on the bottom left hand side brighter in order for it to be clearer. I managed to do it successfully and now the text as well as the picture is clearer. I haven't thought of the name of the 'upcoming duo' as of yet which is why I have put underscores there, once I think of one, I will fill in that space.

Continuation of contents page

In today's lesson I continued working on my contents page. I moved the pictures around slightly and added more regulars.

Contents page so far

In today's lesson I continued working on my contents page, by editing the pictures on photoshop to my desired lighting, and adding them to the contents page.

Music magazine cover page

In today's lesson, I started to make my cover page using adobe photoshop. This is what I have produced so far, all I have done is edited the picture to make it brighter and vibrant, as well as adding in the mast head, and editing that in behind the cover star's head.

Contents page so far

In today's lesson, I started to create my contents page for my music magazine using Adobe InDesign. So far, I feel confident with it since I am using my plan to guide me on where to place things.

Masthead

This is my final masthead. I may change it later on in time to further fit the cover of the music magazine. In order to make it, I used Adobe Illustrator, which I am familiar with due to the workshop we had, making it easier and faster for me to make.

Double page spread layout

This is my layout for the double page spread of my music magazine. I will use this as a guide for when it comes to making it.

Contents page layout

This is my layout for the contents page of my music magazine. I will use this as a guide for when it comes to making it.

Music magazine cover layout

This is my layout for my cover of my music magazine. I will use this as a guide for when it comes to making it.

Photography

These are the best pictures I took for my music magazine. Some were taken in the photography studio, and others in other locations (including other areas of the college and brick lane). I have chosen 7 of these photos, that I find are the best to work with in my magazine.

Call sheet

Call sheet

Call sheet

Music magazine proposal presentation

In order to make this presentation I used Prezi, which is an online software that allows you to make presentations with any layout you desire. I tried to make sure I made it very visual by adding pictures and not much writing, as I didn't want to seem as if im reading off the board. I felt as if I could deliver my idea's to the class by using this software as I am comfortable with using it due to the many times i've used it.

I  feel that my presentation went smoothly, and everyone understood my ideas behind what I have chosen to do in my magazine. These are not set idea's as there are things I may change such as the the pictures in my contents page, who my double page spread will be about, the colour of my masthead and my set colour scheme. Something I could have included is a few ideas of how my masthead will look like and included my flatplan to give people a better understand of what my masthead may look like, and what sort of things will be inside my magazine.

Someone in the class pointed out that my name sounds a bit like the genre pop, however after further discussion with the class, they pointed out that it doesn't sound pop but sounds a lot more like my genre which is Hip-hop/Urban.

My music magazine proposal

Flat plan of my music magazine

Photography workshop

In yesterday's lesson, we had a photography workshop, where we learnt how to use all the equipment on the studio room, and how to use the lighting to get nice effects and good shots. 

We learnt most of the names of the equipment inside the studio such as soft boxes, snoot, reflectors etc. 

It was a fun experience and now I feel much more confident in using the studio for when it comes to take pictures for my magazine. 

We also learnt how to use the DSLR camera and which settings to use to get good pictures, depending on what we want. For instance, how to set the ISO, F Stop etc. 

Magazine proposal

I will name my music magazine ‘H.I.T' and it will be a hip-hop/urban genre.

House style: my colour scheme will consist of red and yellow. The mast head will be right at the top and will be red, it will be bold and will behind the cover star’s head. I choose to do this as it makes the masthead of the magazine stand out and eye-catching, also by putting it at the top and behind the cover star’s head, it follows the conventions of a professional music magazine. I will choose a simple but fun font, maybe something like Arial for my masthead, and stencil STD for the cover lines.

Layout of the cover will be the cover star in the middle, with about 3-4 cover lines around them filling up the page. The contents page will have 2-3 pictures placed around the page(s) and will have an editor’s note on the side. The DPS will have a picture on one page with the title at the top and will have the article on the other page next to it with pull quotes. My cover star will be a girl (this allows the male gaze theory to take place, as this attracts more of a male audience) and she will be giving direct address. She will also be in the contents page along with a few other people.

I am not sure who I will be photographing yet as I have not made that decision yet. In my contents page I will have things like an interview with the cover star page number, gossip page number etc. 

My publisher is Townsquare Media. I chose them as they have a high reputation, and are well known for owning magazines and radio stations that are hip-hop/urban related. Also, they don’t have a British hip-hop/urban magazine that is targeted at a young audience in the UK so there is room for my music magazine in their company.

My audience is both males and females, ages 15 and up. This is because of the artists that will be featured in my magazine as well as the content (gossip, competitions, latest tracks etc.). However, there will be more of a male audience targeted due to the pictures of females I will be using to attract them, also, most songs will be by artists that attract mostly a male audience. 

Magazine news stand

I went to my local Tesco, to have a look at how magazines in general are displayed in a shop. As you can see in the picture, the magazines are divided into sections to show the genre, making iteasier for a customer to locate the type of magazine they want. The magazines have been stacked in a specific way. They have been stacked over each other, making only the top of the magazines visible to see. This allows the mastheads to be seen easily, allowing customers to see all the different brands, and so they can find the one they want much more easily. However, this can be a disadvantage as whatever else that’s on the cover cannot be seen e.g. cover lines, cover star etc. This makes it impossible for the customer to know what is inside the magazine unless they take it out to view it properly. All of the magazines follow similar conventions of having a masthead, cover lines, cover star, having direct address etc. This picture shows that these conventions not only apply to music magazines but to all magazines in general. All the magazines use different colours as you can see in the picture, some using dark colours and some light colours, which allows the magazines to attract the right and the appropriate audience they are trying to target. The main difference of each magazine, is the way it has been laid out/structured. Which has clearly been done to again, attract the right audience. 

Distribution of magazines

There are many forms of distributions that most if not all magazines use. One includes online distribution by offering subscriptions. Both VIBE and XXL offer subscriptions, however XXL offer a digital subscription rather than through the post. Magazines do this as it makes it easier for audience to receive the magazine as they don’t have to leave their houses to purchase it. Also, people prefer subscriptions as they can get discounts rather than paying full price for each copy.

Another way of distributing magazines is by selling them in stores, which can have problems. A problem of this can be some magazines not being purchased by customers, so the store is forced to send them back to the publisher. This is a disadvantage as it is a waste of money, as well as paper, making it harmful to the environment.

In addition to this, another way of distributing magazines is by giving them out for free at tube stations, allowing a wide range of people to receive the magazine, and possibly attracting more people to the magazine.

Both music magazines use social media to generate readers. They have their own pages, which keeps them up to date with artists and new songs/albums etc. they provide competitions, quizzes in order for readers to feel a buzz and excitement.
https://twitter.com/xxl

https://twitter.com/vibemagazine

Learning how to use Adobe Illustrator

Today in class, we had a workshop where we learnt how to use Adobe Illustrator. During this workshop, I created this practice masthead using different features and tools in Adobe Illustrator. It was difficult for me at first as it was my first time using it, however, I feel more confident now in using this software and I had a lot of fun playing around with it.

Music magazine ideas

In class today I started brainstorming ideas for my music magazine. I have chosen all my ideas based on the genre of the music magazine, using my case studies to help me with the conventions needed for the magazine and the genre. 

College magazine contents and cover page evaluation

In order to make my cover and my contents page, I used the software Adobe Photoshop. I used many different tools to achieve my cover and contents page such as the move tool, eraser tool, magic wand tool, horizontal type tool, gradient tool and more. I wanted to achieve a very professional magazine by having a mast head at the top of the page and the cover star to be covering it slightly, to have cover lines, puffs, barcode and a colour scheme, which hits all the conventions of a magazine. I felt as if I could do this with Adobe Photoshop as I am more comfortable with it than any other software, and I feel as if I can do much more on it than other software’s.

In my opinion, I feel as if I have done a good job with both the cover and contents page, however there are also some improvements and adjustments that can be made to make it even better. I like where I have placed my mast head, as I have put it behind the cover star’s head. This allows the cover page to look much more professionally made. I’m also happy with the way my cover star(s) in both my cover page and contents page are smiling as it allows the pages to look enticing towards students, as the cover star(s) smiling connotes their enjoyment of college and education. I’m satisfied with the colour scheme I have chosen for both the cover page and contents page as they are all neutral tones but have positive connotations. However, I feel as if the contents page has too much writing which may make students not want to read it, I could do a double paged contents page to improve this. I also don’t like the flash/puff on the cover page as it looks unprofessional.

Natasha 6 October 2015 at 06:08

‘The content page is very well layed out with consistent font and colour scheme. The photography of the image was taken at a good shot/angle. For an improvement, you could add a few more images.’

Rehan Mughal 6 October 2015 at 07:00

‘I like the layout and think that the colour scheme works really well, I like the way the LSC magazine is placed behind the contents title and I especially like the red signature and the way it stands out. I think that the signature would look better if it had more space’

I appreciate both the comments that my peers have left me on my blog, as they have left me with very constructive feedback on what they like and what could be improved. I agree with the feedback they have provided me with, and I will make sure to keep them on board for when I start creating my next magazine pages. Also, I realized too late that I was supposed to do my contents page on InDesign, and will make sure to do that for my next magazine.

There are many ways that I could improve my cover and contents page to make them look even more professional:

       Direct address: the cover page would look more conventional if the cover star was giving direct address to the readers. This would allow the readers to feel as if they are communicating with the cover star and would allow them to feel the positive vibes that the cover star is sending off.

        Font: the font size is inconsistent throughout the cover lines as some is bigger and some is smaller. This takes away the professionalism of the cover page. If they were all the same size, then this would allow readers to read all the cover lines, without missing some out, and would make the page look much more professional.

      
Space: there is a lack of space on the contents page, which is a problem as readers who are teens, stereotypically are known to be put off when there is too much writing on a page, making them flick to the next page. This could be improved by making the contents double paged. Also, if there was more space, I could add another image in to attract readers to the page. 

College magazine contents page

This is my college magazine contents page.

College magazine cover page

This is my college magazine contents page.

Task 2: XXL media kit from 2008

Based on the media kit, we can see that the average age to purchase this magazine is 29 year old’s. The highest percentage of ages to purchase the magazine is 25-29 years old’s. Also, there is more percentage of men that buy the magazine copy than women, which makes sense based on XXLs genre being rap, which stereotypically, is listened to more by men than women. Also, due to the genre being rap, the percentage of the highest race that reads the magazine is African-Americans. XXL are published by Townsquare Media started being the magazines publisher in 2014. The company is based in the U.S with over 310 radio stations in 66 markets. They also have the reputation of being the third largest am/fm company in Connecticut. 

Task 2: VIBE media kit from 2014

This is the Vibe media kit from 2014. It shows that the median age to buy this magazine is 34 year old's more of them are males than females. Black/African Americans are the highest percentage of race to purchase this magazine, which makes sense for them to be American as the magazine is an American company and it is issued in America.

Spin media is the publisher for vibe magazine which bought vibe in 2013. They also own idolater, buzznet, the frisky and stereogum. They are a U.S based company who are known for digital publishing. 

Task 2: Double page spread analysis from VIBE

This is my double page spread analysis from a VIBE magazine.

Task 2: Double page spread analysis from XXL

This is my double page spread analysis from an XXL magazine.

Task 2: Contents page analysis from VIBE

This is my contents page analysis from a VIBE magazine.

Task 2: Contents page analysis from XXL

This is my contents page analysis from an XXL magazine.

Task 2: Cover page analysis from VIBE

This is my cover page analysis from a VIBE magazine.

Task 2: Cover page analysis from XXL

This is my cover page analysis from an XXL magazine.

My college magazine so far

I have started editing my college magazine using Adobe Photoshop in class. I have managed to make the picture brighter to make it look more professional, and I have managed to put the mast head behind my cover star in order to make it look professional and like other magazines.

Contents page and cover plan for college magazine

This is my plan that I will be be doing for my college magazine (contents page and cover).

Photoshop test run

In our media lesson today, we started practising how to use Photoshop. Since I am quite familiar with it from GCSE Media Studies, I kind of managed to make a magazine cover, however I have forgotten how to do many things on Photoshop, making it quite difficult for me to use at the same time. I enjoyed making this practice magazine cover, and I now feel much more confident on using Photoshop than I did at the beginning of the lesson.

College magazine analysis

- The mast head is big and bold, right at the top so that it is easier to spot, and follows the idea of reading from top to bottom. The colour is like a light greenish colour, which is a neutral tone, allowing the cover to look more mature, but still appealing and eye catching at the same time.
- The cover lines all have a consistent font, size and colour. This allows the cover to look more professional and serious. The cover lines allow the readers to have an insight of what is inside the magazine, allowing the readers to be pulled in to find out more about the key headlines.
-The cover star is smiling and looks happy. He is holding books in his right hand and is giving us direct address. This could connote that the cover star is happy with being in college, enjoys his studies and is having a good time. This is something that tends to be in all if not most college magazines, making the cover stars more likeable by the readers, and giving positive vibes to the readers about college.
-There is a consistent colour scheme of white and a light greenish colour. This makes the cover automatically mature but fun at the same time, due to the green colour.
-The shot type is a mid-shot, it is a studio photo shoot picture, instantly giving the cover a professional vibe.
-There are two main things we can see on the cover star's body, which is the cross necklace he has on and the books he's holding. This could connote that the cover star puts both his faith and his studies bot on the same level, meaning they are both very important to him. This could possibly give the readers some inspiration.
-There is also a flash which is a bright pink colour, making it stand out to the reader.

Final product of my induction magazine article!

This is my final product of my induction magazine article, which I created using InDesign. It is about how technology may or may not be killing music magazines.

Thanks!

-I

Using InDesign to begin my magazine article!

I have started my magazine article using InDesign for the first time, and I have started to add in pictures and my journalism.The article is about how technology is supposedly killing music magazines, and other peoples opinions on this, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of both print and online (based on lots of research). This will be shown through the text in the article as well as the pictures.

Thanks

-I

Media Production Schedule: Timetoast

First Blog!

Hello everyone and welcome! On this blog I will be posting developments of my work in AS Media and I will be posting all the activities I will be doing in the near future. Stay updated with all my approaching work! Thank you and goodbye!

-I