Final Evaluation

Front Cover
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B0QNSAHIClA-ZWJhN2I5MjQtNWU0NS00MjE0LTg4NmYtM2MzNThkNDRlNGRk&hl=en_GB

Contents Page
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B0QNSAHIClA-NzA0ZWIyNDMtZWRmOC00YmM2LWE3OGItZDRjYzdlMDNiYjlm&hl=en_GB

Double Page spread














I have completed the coursework and overall believe I have been successful in creating an exiting and eye catching magazine. At the top of this blog you will find links to my cover and contents page which can be found in google documents. Unfortunately I had some technical issues with uploading my double page spread into google documents therefore I did a simple screen grab which can be clicked on to make larger.

The basis of my magazine is around the dance music genre. I conducted weeks of research into music magazines comparing the covers,contents and articles as well as trying to establish whether or not there a was a trend between the genres of magazines. I work in a newsagents at the weekend so I found this useful when researching. I noticed that all of the dance music based magazines, contained loud colours, bright pages and lots of packed content. I took two magazines into the staff room at work and asked the opinion of my colleagues to which magazine i should choose as a basis for my study. They guided me towards mix mag magazine which is by far the largest magazine basing itself around the dance music genre. I then looked at past issues of the magazine on blackboard as well as conducting my own research into the monthly issue of the magazine. I choose a similar format which matches mix-mags design. The picture I have put into the blog is the cover which my final piece is most inspired by. I opted to include a large image for my cover star striking the same kind of pose as Calvin Harris in mix mag, as well as a similar colour format choosing two colours and sticking to the design throughout the magazine. I differed it slightly because mix-mag choose black and pink, however I feel that pink and green on a black background matches the genre of clubbing. The colours are based around glow-sticks which obviously can be found in many clubs.I also included a tag-line for my magazine similar to mix-mags. Mix mag chose to use, "The worlds biggest dance music and clubbing magazine", whereas I chose to use "the music magazine that's lighting up the nation". This obviously is a connotation with the title of the magazine which is "Strobe" based on strobe lights.


When designing my cover as well as incorporating ideas from mix-mag I built upon my own ideas. I conducted research through using my facebook page putting two drafts into my photos and requesting comments from my friends and family. The feedback I was received was positive and used it additionally for deciding what to use for my cover shot and double page spread. For the double page spread I decided on using black and white images. This is because I noticed many artists now are being portrayed in black and white images and I felt as if it adds a modern and trendy feel to the article as well as matching the needs of my target audience. I decided to stick with the idea of the green writing on the black background as I believe it works effectively. In the whole of the planning process for my magazine, I have always been considering my target audience when making decisions. I wanted to create a magazine which is perfect for the social grouping I am aiming for. When producing my double page spread, I thought it best to include questions which will be interesting and informative to the social grouping I am aiming for. Subjects such as fellow famous DJ's and the use of social networking sites such as twitter are all touched upon in the interview, things that members of my target audience will want to read about and be familiar with. When deciding on which questions to us in the Q&A, I decided to produce a short-list of questions and allow my class-mates to pick the best 10 questions to go into my magazine. I made this decision because there are some people in the class that are from the target audience I am aiming at. This led me to think that the questions they would like to hear, could more then likely be generalised across my target audience as they all share similar interests.

When choosing the design elements of my magazine I tryed to take into account how it would stand out on the shop floor of a newsagents. I used elements such as bright colours,large photos and contrasting backgrounds to text, making it aesthetically pleasing. When considering what type of newsagents will stock my magazine, I would like to think the magazine would be suitable for most top newsagents and be success full among these stores. As i mentioned earlier on in the blog I worked in WH Smiths which is one of the largest magazine and news retailers in the country. I work within the magazine department and spend a lot of time at weekends doing magazine orders as well as delivery and sending back old issues. I have noticed in terms of dance music magazines, there are not many to choose from, compared with rock and instrument magazines. Therefore I feel a gap in the market is appropriate for a dance magazine aimed at the younger generation. Dance music's fan base is every growing, therefore more magazine should start to be created to appeal to the growing audience it is attracting. To visit WH Smiths website and check there stock list please click this link http://www.whsmith.co.uk/Magazines.aspx.


Over the course of producing this coursework, I feel my skills on both in design and photoshop have improved. When starting the coursework , I had never used either program before and I feel my preliminary reflects this. Throughout the coursework process I have learnt many things such as how to edit my photographs, how to import my own fonts, how to create a pdf file as well as how to upload them into google documents. I found the help-packs provided by my teachers very helpful and used them to teach myself the skills needed to create a piece that I was pleased with. At first I had trouble with the magnetic lasso and cutting out images but after using it a couple of times found it easier and became more efficient. At first it would take me almost half an hour to cut out a simple image. My idea of having a green glow around my front cover image was something I wanted to do from he start of the coursework, after being shown how to do this I was very happy with the outcome and pleased I had been able to incorporate this idea into my work. Since the preliminary coursework I have learnt many other skills which hopefully will be called upon again at some point in my academic career. Also I planned a lot more work before starting it in my final piece. The research I conducted I found helpful and I feel if i had of done this in my preliminary piece, that I would of finished with a better result.

After finishing my coursework, I again used my facebook page to upload the images into an album and ask for reviews from my friends on the social networking site. Here are some of the reviews I received...

"Decent work Luke, you should be really pleased"
"I would definitely buy that magazine mate, looks awesome"
"Colours are great, love the green and the pink together"
"Photos are brilliant, look really professional"

Unfortunatley I did not recieve a large amount of feedback of my facebook, therefore I decided to create a questionnaire to hand around the class. The feedback I recieved from the magazine was really pleasing and I was thrilled with the results I was getting. Overall in my own opinion, I am happy with the magazine as a whole, due to it being my first time using the programs required. As well as my own opinion, it has been supported by my friends and family who also believe the magazine is of a high standard and would be succesful in the magazine industry. I have really enjoyed completing this coursework and have learnt a lot about the industry as a whole as well as the differing target audiences. I believe that hopefully the final piece represents the amount of effort I have put into this coursework and has potential success as a magazine.

Planning and evaluation of the article

This is a double page spread design taken from the dance music magazine "mix-mag". I have chosen to use mix mag because it is a magazine of the same genre and target audience as the magazine I am creating. The first page element which stands out to me is the fact that the article, which is interview format, has a large picture of the artist being interviewed which takes up a whole page. This is an element used by the writer of the article to obviously show the reader who is being interviewed and also put a face to the person they are reading about. The large picture is also accompanied by a small caption which takes a small passage of text from the article. This caption, i have noticed whilst researching double page spreads, is usually something an artist has said throughout the interview which is either inspiring, informational or shares an opinion. Usually a caption is put into place to make the reader want to read on, therefore I should consider what part of my double page spread to use which follows the same format as other articles i have previously seen. The text almost takes backstage in this article because it is very picture orientated. This is possibly because of the fact that the artist pictured is considered to be attractive or simply because they are a big star in the industry. The language takes an informal tone and is easy to read and digest, without too many facts or polysyllabic phrases clumping up the article. Phrases such as, "She invites mix-mag into her mini studio, hardware hogs most of the space", this is a phrase which i feel follows an informal approach, this allows the reader to feel more comfortable when reading it. The interview follows an informal approach and is not a Q&A styled piece of writing, it is unstructured and takes the form of more of a conversation then a formal interview. This could potentially allow the interviewee to be more at ease and reveal more information to the interviewer.

The next magazine double page spread i have analysed is again taken from an earlier issue of mixmag. It follows the same format as the other article I looked at from the same magazine however its picture focus is even larger then the earlier double page spread. This specific article is based around a two artists and dosen't focus entirely a specific artist. The language does take a more formal approach due to the fact it is based on being informative therefore dosen't use the informative interview tone as the other article. It dosen't contain captions like the previous article and its section of texts are smaller. I believe mix-mag as a magazine focuses more on image and presentation then the actual wording within the article.

I have started to consider ideas for my double page spread, i conducted a small survey within the class and my group of friends to aid me in deciding what format of article to choose. I settled upon the Q&A format with the interviewer asking the questions and the artist (DJ Fortune) answering them. The reason i have chosen to do this is not only because i was recommended to through my survey, but also because when reading magazines such as music magazines, if i see a star on the cover I want to read the article to learn more about them. My opinion is that the Q&A format is the best type of article to adopt when looking to find out information about an artist. My language choices will be informal because I want the Q&A to feel more like a conversation and conservations are not usually conducted through using formal language. I plan to do some drafts of my article then get feedback through asking the same people who recommended me to choose this type of format. I will then use the feedback to make additional changes to the draft before producing it.

Photo editing

This is a image that i edited to go into my magazine. I basically took the original image and added an outer glow to allow the image to stand out more against a black background. It also fits in with the connotation throughout the magazine with a strobe light. Due to the magazine being named strobe I chose to incorparate this design into my work on my front cover and my contents page. The front cover image is the same design as I felt it necessary to include the same colour schemes throughout the magazine.

My cover image was exactly the same as this image only larger and had the same green glow but a bit thicker. To create this effect I first used the magnetic lasso tool to cut around the edges of my image. I then dragged the image onto a new page and created a new layer. I changed the background colour to black and then selected my image and clicked the layer tab, then selected layer style and outer glow. I experimented with different colours and sizes for the outer glow, eventually settling on the one used in my article. This was the same process I went through for my front cover image and my contents page.

For this image it was more simple to edit. I wanted my double page spread to take a modern feel and through research noticed that some magazines used the black and white imagery in thier articles when interviewing. I used two images in my double page spread, both were in grayscale, however to keep with the theme of the magazine the font was in green. For this image I simply opened the image in photoshop, then click the image tab, click the mode button then down to grayscale. For the second image however, I used the magnetic lasso to cut the picture out onto a different background before applying grayscale.

Photos

This is the picture I am planning on using for my front cover. I believe it is suitable because its an appropriate camera shot and captures the key features of the artist. The camera angle is a mid shot but slightly close up. When planning this photo, I ensured the person I was using in the photo wore the appropriate clothing as well as taking up a correct pose. I used a set of headphones that I owned to create the link with a DJ and the dance music industry. I thought it would be a good idea for the artist to be pointing at the camera because my plan for the front cover is to be a connotation with the famous photo from American "your country needs you". The headline I am planning on using is, "DJ SKULL KANDY needs you". Therefore the picture is appropriate for what the front cover is going to be portraying. I plan to edit the photo before using it on my front cover but will discuss this in a later blog.

This is a second option that I was going to be using for my front cover image. I decided to experiment and try and take photos using different levels. I got the person I was taking the photo of to stand on top of an object and see what the photo came out like. I wanted to give of the impression that the artist was tall and therefore was going to use the headline, "DJ SKULLKANDY towering to new heights". I am still unsure about whether or not to use this photo as part of my front cover, I feel the one above is the stronger photo and therefore slightly edges it. However I plan to edit this photo, by changing the background to a club scene to see what it looks like with a differing back image.

This is a photo I took which I am not happy about. I will not be including this image into my final piece. The image is not suitable for a front cover of a magazine because you can not see the artists face. The idea of attracting consumers to buy your magazine is being able to show a cover image which would attract them. It is difficult when buying a magazine to make a purchase if you can not see who is on the front of it. The picture is also wrong because the image is disorienatated and the artist looks as if they are not ready for the photo. Having the hands in the pockets is often seen as a model pose but im my opinion it just looks lazy and therefore I would not use this image in my magazine.

Font Possibilities

In this blog I am going to be discussing all of the fonts i am considering for my magazine front cover and body text, all of the fonts I am going to be analysing are from http://www.dablog.com/. The first font I am considering is the one on the left which is known as blockface. This type is simple and therefore could be useful on my front cover when considering things such as sub headings and headline stories. The text in itself I feel represents the dance music genre. This is due to its technological feel and modern style. If i was to use the text, it would be of a different colour, such as green which would be more suitable. Possibly it could also potentially look better with a green glow coming around the outside of it but this is something I would have to edit myself.

This is the font I am considering for my main title on the front cover of the magazine. I like the idea of it because the design, again is suited to the dance industry. The font instantly stood out to me because it is named clubland which is obviously a type of music from within the dance music genre. It also looks as if it is made up from lots of light bulbs which links in nicely with my magazines name which is obviously named after the strobe light. I am also planning on using this font for my contents page.

This is a font I came across that I think will again be best suited for my front cover. When considering what article/picture to put onto my front page I did some research into dance music artists and had a look at thier logos/fonts etc used on magazine and CD covers. I noticed that artists such as tiesto, darren styles, all keep the same fonts on all of thier products and very rarely change them. Therefore the DJ who is going to be headlining my magazine is a fictional artist called " DJ SKULL KANDY", I will be using the above font for DJ SKULL KANDY all the way through my magazine when using his name.

All of my fonts above are as a result of a survey I conducted with consumers of the dance music magazine genre. These were the most popular and therefore I will be using them in my magazine. I conducted the survey so that I can be certain my magazine would appeal to my target audience, as I believe strongly a magazine should be based upon what the consumer wants to see to be successful in the market.

To ensure I was making the right decisions I compared my fonts with the fonts from mix-mag which obviously has a heavy influence on the production of my magazine. I was sure to not differ my fonts to vastly from mix-mags because it is a popular magazine within the dance industry and this is how I would like my magazine to be. Therefore all of the fonts above that have been analysed are popular within the target audience due to the survey and similar to mix mag which is already successful.

Flat Plan Designs

This is the front cover i have designed for my music magazine. I spent some time contemplating what name to choose for my magazine. I wanted it to be attractive and catchy with a slogan that will be remembered like all other magazines from this particular part of the market. I settled with the name "Strobe". I made this decision because the term strobe is often associated with a strobe light which can be found in most clubs. Therefore the link between the two is instantly noticeable and the title is a memorable one. Alongside my magazine title I wanted to incorporate a slogan which will be associated with the title. The slogan i have chosen is "the music magazine that's lighting up the nation", despite the fact it may be slightly cheesy I feel that it will work well in helping people remember the magazine. The title is the main part of the front cover as it is important when selling a magazine to make sure the title is easy to see and read from a distance, because when on the shop floor it is important that the magazine title stands out so that it can be spotted and bought by the consumer. Therefore as well as the title being large i am also thinking of the colours on the front page being luminous yellow or orange to help it stand out more. Also these colours link in with clubbing and the rave scene so are therefore relevant. I positioned what is in the issue above the title. I thought this would be suitable because when picking up the magazine and looking at what its called you can instantly see what is in the issue. I made sure when positioning elements onto my page that the pictures are the main element of the page because visual elements are more attractive to a consumer then lots of writing. I did however decide on having a relatively big headline to allow to the reader to establish what is in the issue.


This is my contents page that I designed. It is basic because it is a flat plan and not much detail has been put into it. Originally i wanted a normal contents page typical of any other dance music magazine. With simple listings of whats in the pages. But i feel a more suited contents page would be a more modern and designer one but still keeping with the dance music theme. I decided to have my contents page with lots of different shapes containing headlines and pictures. Due to the fact i have filled the contents page it gives the consumer the idea instantly that the magazine is full. The main articles have been placed into larger triangles with them getting progressively smaller in the order of preference. I have placed the word contents at the top of the page so that it is instantly noticeable that it is the contents page, as I believe it is an important part of any magazine and should be easy to find for the reader allowing them to establish what is going to be in the magazine. My original idea was to have it littered with pictures but for my main design I want to give it a more formal feel making sure the idea of the headlines being easily seen is kept.

With my double page spread i have decided to incorporate the idea from my contents page by keeping with the jagged shapes. A magazine is usually modelled around the same type of design and font, so this is what I intend to do in my double page spread. I also noticed when looking at other magazines from the dance genre that they all follow similar design throughout. Another thing I have noticed that they all include are quotations and lots of pictures to visually entise the reader.

Analysis of existing magazines

I have chosen two magazines to analyze they are both from the music genre, I will be using two different front covers, however I will be analyzing the contents and two page spread from MixMag. I will be comparing and contrasting the two covers and looking for ideas to use in my magazine.

This is a front cover from the magazine mix-mag. When looking at the cover, instantly the image stands out to me. It is an important factor to consider when producing a magazine. A huge selling point of a magazine is what or who is on the front of it. For this issue mix-mag have chosen the artist Sam Sparro. This is a wise decision as Sam sparro is a worldwide reknown electro/dance musician, therefore the more popular a person on the front cover the more likely a regular consumer is to buy. And due to the artists popularity mix-mag have chosen to have a large image. The colour scheme is visually pleasing and is maintained throughout the cover, ensuring the colours are not clashing. The layout is intresting, contrasting with the classic design of a front cover. All of the headlines and sub-headlines are facing inwards in different directions and adds a slight informal feel to the cover which i think is what the publishers are trying to achieve. Also at the top of the pages there are two small captions about whats in the issue, "Free Armin Van Burren CD- Huge club guide 1,203 nights out". The language is focused on causing the reader to read on more, with words such as Huge and using the figure 1,203. The figure is also highlighted in yellow as it is the main part of the sentence this is the same with Almin Van Burren in the other caption.


The next cover is from the magazine DJ MAG. DJ Magazine is,as of Janurary 1991 ,a monthly magazine dedicated to Electronic Dance Music and DJs. The magazine has styled itself as "the world's largest selling dance music magazine and currently claims sales of 27,500. The magazine cover differs to mix-mag's in the fact that it has a lot more going on in the cover. It follows a colour scheme just like mix-mag however it dosen't seem as suitable. When looking at the cover it is difficult to distinguish between articles and pick out words from the background. It also packs more articles onto its front cover, with the main article being smaller then mix-mag's. I can only imagine this is because the main article involves people who arn't too well known to the public. It has more packed onto the cover then mix-mag this could be because of the fact that it isn't as popular as mix-mag and needs to entise its audience further by adding more onto the cover that could lead to someone buying it. The language is basic and dosen't use persuasive language. It is different to lots of other magazines due to the fact it has packed a lot of colours and pictures onto its front cover, however this is good because it would stand out on a shelf in a shop.

This is the contents page from mix-mag, when looking at it firstly. It dosen't appear to take the usual format of a contents page, it has a large title at the top which has nothing to do with the genre of dance or signifys that it is a contents page. The picture is the main focus of the page. Without reading the magazine, it seems that the picture is irrelevant to the dance music genre. The stories and sections are clearly highlighted down the left hand side of the page but take a back seat in the layout of the page. At the bottom highlighted in a blue box it reads "All the hottest releases reviewed and rated". This is possibly because it is a key part of the magazine or the main article, therefore it gets a box of its own. This is likely to be down to the fact that consumers mostly read this magazine for the album and venue reviews. In addition the magazine comes with a key in the top right corner in relation to the magazines grading system for albums and tracks. This is a good place to base the key as it is one of the first things the consumers sees when opening the magazine.


This is the two page from mix-mag. It is layed out suitably and despite having large images there is also the content with blocks of writing. The way the blocks of text have been layed out is intresting and despite having lots of it, it takes an informal style across the two pages. There is a colour scheme throughout the page which is suitable to the magazine. However if someone was looking at this without knowing what magazine genre it was from, it wouldn't be instantly recognisable as dance magazine. It looks as if the page has 3 different perspectives of the same story which is effective when keeping a reader intrested in the magazine. Overall it is an effective layout and looks modern and visually pleasing.