Preliminary Task: http://l-fennelly.blogspot.com
Main Task: http://94laurafennelly.blogspot.com/
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Evaluation (Laura Fennelly)
If my magazine were to be published I would choose to be produced and distributed by IBM Media. I have done research on this company and I believe they effectively market NME magazine (similar to our product) so therefore can attract the audience we are aiming for. IBM Media also create NME's website, which we found out from our questionairre that our target audience use the internet to access a majority of their music information, this could be useful in the growth of our product.
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Indigo Magazine Front Page Draft Design (Laura Fennelly)
I have created this draft design for my front page of my
magazine from idea's collated from a variety of previous NME front covers. I
have decided to use a photograph to create the main background of my front
cover, this means that my photograph of the band will have to be striking and
define my key demographic to entice the reader.
magazine from idea's collated from a variety of previous NME front covers. I
have decided to use a photograph to create the main background of my front
cover, this means that my photograph of the band will have to be striking and
define my key demographic to entice the reader.
I will put the title of my magazine at the top of the page as
this is how most magazines set out their front pages. As a magazine trying to
establish itself in a market I think it is important to make the title
memorable, in a font and with a name that iseasily recognisable.
this is how most magazines set out their front pages. As a magazine trying to
establish itself in a market I think it is important to make the title
memorable, in a font and with a name that iseasily recognisable.
My band name will mirror the title, it will remain central and
in a large font, this is important as this band will be the main feature of the
magazine.
in a large font, this is important as this band will be the main feature of the
magazine.
I realise that my magazine front cover will be simple and may look quite bare but
I think this stylsed, minimalist way of working appeals to our target audience.
I am keeping text, short and concise and featuring with a large photograph
(which we know from our questionarre is popular.) I think with the correct
photograph and appropriate colours this could be a really effective front cover.
I think this stylsed, minimalist way of working appeals to our target audience.
I am keeping text, short and concise and featuring with a large photograph
(which we know from our questionarre is popular.) I think with the correct
photograph and appropriate colours this could be a really effective front cover.
Evaluation 7 (Sophie Lane)
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
My preliminary task lacked any real skill during the construction. I didn't really know how to use the software that well as I was new to Mac computers so it turned out to be a bit disappointing. However over the time I have vastly improved my skills on the computers and with the software I chose to use. If I could go back and do my preliminary task again I would change the way I did it. I would have used simpler programmes that I already knew how to operate so I could produce better looking images and a more put together magazine cover that looks more professional. I also would have set aside more time to complete each section of the task so that it was easier to complete it more thoroughly.
My preliminary task lacked any real skill during the construction. I didn't really know how to use the software that well as I was new to Mac computers so it turned out to be a bit disappointing. However over the time I have vastly improved my skills on the computers and with the software I chose to use. If I could go back and do my preliminary task again I would change the way I did it. I would have used simpler programmes that I already knew how to operate so I could produce better looking images and a more put together magazine cover that looks more professional. I also would have set aside more time to complete each section of the task so that it was easier to complete it more thoroughly.
Evaluation 6 (Sophie Lane)
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Before we started this I already knew how to use Photoshop from using it for brief periods in the past. However I have learnt a lot during the course of construction. I have experimented using different types of software. I was unaware how to construct a magazine cover and edit it in the ways I did. As I already mentioned, I used Photoshop to make the cover, I improved my skills on this a lot and I am now confident using it. I also tried out a different type of editing software called Corel Paint Shop Pro (shown below) which I had on my home computer. This allowed me to edit images at home as well as at school.
Before we started this I already knew how to use Photoshop from using it for brief periods in the past. However I have learnt a lot during the course of construction. I have experimented using different types of software. I was unaware how to construct a magazine cover and edit it in the ways I did. As I already mentioned, I used Photoshop to make the cover, I improved my skills on this a lot and I am now confident using it. I also tried out a different type of editing software called Corel Paint Shop Pro (shown below) which I had on my home computer. This allowed me to edit images at home as well as at school.
I have improved my skills on other software as well as Photo editing programmes. I have improved my knowledge on Powerpoint, Mac computers, SlideShare and online on Blogger. Before the course I was unaware of the online resources I ended up using. I used SlideShare for my first evaluation answer. This turns Powerpoint slides into a slide show that can be posted onto my blog and can be easily view and controlled. I never knew about Blogger either, but after the first few times of using it it became easier. It is a very good way of storing files online and has made communication between student and teachers much easier as they can easily view your work online without having to print every piece induvidually. All of the programmes I have used to create my magazine have been very useful and I will probably end up using them a lot in the future either for more school work or even for other projects.
Evaluation 5 (Sophie Lane)
How did you attract/address your audience?
Before constructing our magazine we had to think about who/what we wanted our target audience to be. This is where the questionnaires came into play. We handed them out to people our age by hand and by email who were in our ideal age group 16-21, both male and females. This meant that because we handed them out to such a wide variety of people a lot of different people gave back a large amount of ideas and suggestions. After finding out what our audience wanted from our magazine we worked around that to construct and satisfy the audience. We chose the most popular genre and styled the magazine around that. Our magazine is based on what the audience wanted, this helped it to relate to the audience. Instead of our method we could have created our magazine, then shown the audience. We didn't do that idea because we thought that more people would be interested in a magazine that was designed by the ideas of the readers. By looking at our questionnaires it is clear that we asked their opinions on; contents, price, when it is issued and genre. Which are all major factors of the magazine. This helped us to keep the audience happy. Which then would encourage sales of the product. We also know from experience that people between the ages of 16-21 can easily get bored of seeing the same thing over and over again, so we keep a good variety of features and topics in our magazine to keep them hooked and interested.
Before constructing our magazine we had to think about who/what we wanted our target audience to be. This is where the questionnaires came into play. We handed them out to people our age by hand and by email who were in our ideal age group 16-21, both male and females. This meant that because we handed them out to such a wide variety of people a lot of different people gave back a large amount of ideas and suggestions. After finding out what our audience wanted from our magazine we worked around that to construct and satisfy the audience. We chose the most popular genre and styled the magazine around that. Our magazine is based on what the audience wanted, this helped it to relate to the audience. Instead of our method we could have created our magazine, then shown the audience. We didn't do that idea because we thought that more people would be interested in a magazine that was designed by the ideas of the readers. By looking at our questionnaires it is clear that we asked their opinions on; contents, price, when it is issued and genre. Which are all major factors of the magazine. This helped us to keep the audience happy. Which then would encourage sales of the product. We also know from experience that people between the ages of 16-21 can easily get bored of seeing the same thing over and over again, so we keep a good variety of features and topics in our magazine to keep them hooked and interested.
Evaluation 4 (Sophie Lane)
Who would be the audience for your media product?
My magazine is aimed at teenagers ideally between the ages of 16-21 years of age.
We wanted our magazine to be;
Up-to-date
Stylish
Informational
Casual
Fun
Edgy/Risky
Combining all of these ideas was hard enough, then we had to apply them to our target audience ages. Baring in mind that a 16 year old will have complete different interests to a 21 year old, it was challenging. But we managed to forget about making it age suitable and focus on the genre, because if everyone is interested in the genre and topic of the magazine then that should be enough to keep them reading, buying and recommending the magazine to others. So even though the diverse age differences may cause problems, the category will bring them all together into the same stereotype and make them feel that their differences no longer matter.
Our magazine, because it is targeted at a young audience will have to be affordable and suitable to their lifestyles. For example it will have to be easily accessible and could even be shown online for ease of access. As people this age will be leaving school and starting careers it is reasonably sensible and grown up.
Most of our audience follow the Indie/Rock crowd, as that is the genre of the magazine. however the magazine is easily suitable to any other readers. Our readers dress, act and hang around with people from the Indie or Rock crowd so will all share a passionate interest in this type of music. This will also help upcoming bands which are featured in the magazine to be heard by their ideal target audience.
My magazine is aimed at teenagers ideally between the ages of 16-21 years of age.
We wanted our magazine to be;
Up-to-date
Stylish
Informational
Casual
Fun
Edgy/Risky
Combining all of these ideas was hard enough, then we had to apply them to our target audience ages. Baring in mind that a 16 year old will have complete different interests to a 21 year old, it was challenging. But we managed to forget about making it age suitable and focus on the genre, because if everyone is interested in the genre and topic of the magazine then that should be enough to keep them reading, buying and recommending the magazine to others. So even though the diverse age differences may cause problems, the category will bring them all together into the same stereotype and make them feel that their differences no longer matter.
Our magazine, because it is targeted at a young audience will have to be affordable and suitable to their lifestyles. For example it will have to be easily accessible and could even be shown online for ease of access. As people this age will be leaving school and starting careers it is reasonably sensible and grown up.
Most of our audience follow the Indie/Rock crowd, as that is the genre of the magazine. however the magazine is easily suitable to any other readers. Our readers dress, act and hang around with people from the Indie or Rock crowd so will all share a passionate interest in this type of music. This will also help upcoming bands which are featured in the magazine to be heard by their ideal target audience.
Evaluation 3 (Sophie Lane)
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Companies such as Seymour or EMAP would be suitable to distribute my media product. Seymour is an international magazine distributing company that publishes thousands of magazines every year. This would be ideal for my magazine as it is not too big, and not too small. Therefore my magazine would be sold in the best magazine shops nationwide. EMAP would be a very good distributor to use, however they are a very large company and I think would be too large for a small magazine like 'Indigo'.
Another possible company is the BBC, however they do not have a very good track record when it comes to magazines. In the past they have tried, and failed to create, produce and distribute mainstream magazines. One of their well known media products 'Top of the Pops' was released and was up against a lot of competition and was very successful for a while but eventually larger, more popular magazines such as NME and Kerrang have taken over the music magazine market in the last few years. Any new upcoming music magazines will have to offer something extra to even be seen amongst the current music mags. Even though BBC do have very successful productions on TV and the Radio, I think that magazines was probably one of their weakest areas.
Companies such as Seymour or EMAP would be suitable to distribute my media product. Seymour is an international magazine distributing company that publishes thousands of magazines every year. This would be ideal for my magazine as it is not too big, and not too small. Therefore my magazine would be sold in the best magazine shops nationwide. EMAP would be a very good distributor to use, however they are a very large company and I think would be too large for a small magazine like 'Indigo'.
Another possible company is the BBC, however they do not have a very good track record when it comes to magazines. In the past they have tried, and failed to create, produce and distribute mainstream magazines. One of their well known media products 'Top of the Pops' was released and was up against a lot of competition and was very successful for a while but eventually larger, more popular magazines such as NME and Kerrang have taken over the music magazine market in the last few years. Any new upcoming music magazines will have to offer something extra to even be seen amongst the current music mags. Even though BBC do have very successful productions on TV and the Radio, I think that magazines was probably one of their weakest areas.
Evaluation 2 (Sophie Lane)
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our magazine genre is ‘Indie Rock’ so in order to attract this type of audience the front cover and contents of the magazine had to fit this style. This was done in many different ways. Firstly, the language used inside would have to match the language the typical reader is used to. So for example we would say ‘Check out this new hot band’ instead of ‘Have an insight into the lifestyles of this famous trio’. By doing this we are already relating to the audience. By the look of my magazine cover you can easily see which genre/stereotype it is aimed at. As you can tell by the images ours is very different to some other magazines which are aimed at different styles. Below is a cover for a completely different target audience. This cover compared to my cover shows that both are made to be appealing to different styles and stereotypes.
Our magazine genre is ‘Indie Rock’ so in order to attract this type of audience the front cover and contents of the magazine had to fit this style. This was done in many different ways. Firstly, the language used inside would have to match the language the typical reader is used to. So for example we would say ‘Check out this new hot band’ instead of ‘Have an insight into the lifestyles of this famous trio’. By doing this we are already relating to the audience. By the look of my magazine cover you can easily see which genre/stereotype it is aimed at. As you can tell by the images ours is very different to some other magazines which are aimed at different styles. Below is a cover for a completely different target audience. This cover compared to my cover shows that both are made to be appealing to different styles and stereotypes.
My magazine also sticks to a theme throughout this shows consistency. When I was researching into other brands of magazines I noticed they kept the font and colour scheme roughly the same. This brings the whole magazine together and looks more professional. If I was to change my font and colours a few times it would make my magazine look less attractive and other magazines would then be one step ahead of mine.
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Tuesday, 19 April 2011
Evaluation of thumbnails (Emma Stroud)
These are the all of the pictures that we took from out photo shoot. When doing our photo shoot we all had to very organized as we needed to find a room that was big enough for all the equipment, had blind so that we could shut out any natural light and most importantly that was not being used! Our group didn't own any lights, backdrops or flashes that we used during the photo shoot but we were lucky that our school provided us with them, again this involved us being very organized as we had to make sure that we had the right equipment and used it appropriately. When beginning the photo shoot none of us were very confident in how to set the shots up to get a good composition so we just practiced for a while until we became confident. We envisioned what our magazines would look like so we all spent a lot of time setting up our shots so that they would look very strong and would reflect all areas of our magazine.
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Front Cover Draft (Sophie Lane)
Here is my first draft of what my magazine cover will look like. I wish to have a big bold title in the centre at the top. This is so readers can easily see what the magazine is called. On the left of the cover I plan to have photographs of famous bands or artists. This will draw people into the magazine and promotes what the magazine is about. on the other side of the page there will be headlines, informations and announcements as is stated on the diagram. This could be anything from a band going on tour, or tickets being given away. At the bottom of the page there will be the price, issue number and a barcode.
Contents Page Draft (Sophie Lane)
Above, is my original draft for my contents page. I decided that I wanted there to be a large title at the top. Then on one side there will be bullet points which state the page numbers and the topics per page. On the right of the page, I plan for there to be a few pictures of whats inside of the magazine. Either of Bands, Venues or Clothing.
Double Page Spread Draft (Sophie Lane)
This is my initial draft of ideas for my double page spread, it is a simple outline of how I want it to look. The top left-hand corner, there will be the title of the page. This will state what is on the page. For example; Interview. Underneath this, there will be a written interview both answers & questions. On the right-hand side of the page there will be a short introduction at the top will follow on from the title. To break the page up I will be adding a photograph on the right side.
Photographs for Cover, Contents & DP Spread (Sophie Lane)
^This is the image I chose for my magazine cover. I picked out three main possible images to use and after a lot of thought i decided to go for the one above. I chose this image because it has all three boys in, so this would represent the whole band being there. If I chose one of the others as the cover image, readers might assume that 'Euphoria' is only one person. I like this image because the black and white strongly contrast against each other. The image is clear and strong and their faces are highlighted. In the middle is the original image. I edited three images in the same way, so they all look similar and follow a theme. I was worried that the images having a black background would appear too dark on the front of the magazine, but by using light fonts the over all image of the cover is brightened. The the right is the complete cover, this shows what I did to lighten the image. e.g using coloured fonts.
Again, the first image (on the left) is the image I chose to be on the double page spread. I chose this image because i liked the pose he was doing and, after editing,Ii liked the way it looked in black and white. The central image was what the photograph looked like before and the image on the right is my completed double page spread.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
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