Evaluation of the Finished Magazine

Evaluation of the finished magazine

For my final magazine I used a futuristic font, called DeLarge, which was almost identical to the one I designed on my flat plan. I chose a futuristic font as the genre of my magazine is electro and the sounds in this genre are always compared to quite futuristic sounds e.g. synthesizers and keytars. This font is used on my contents as well. I did this to keep my magazine consistent like an actual music magazine like NME. For my main image on the front cover I chose to take a conventional picture with my model making eye contact with the camera but, it is different to similar magazines as my model was wearing full body paint and glittery eye make up. This would make my magazine stand out in a magazine shop for its individuality. The glitter and the body paint on the black background stands out giving my front cover visual impact. My magazine also doesn't have any main sells on the front cover which is different to a conventional magazine. I think the image and its masthead are strong enough to sell the magazine to the reader. Plus I have done the conventional banner at the bottom to show what bands the magazine includes. Like the NME one below. However, by not having main sells it could cause problems because some people may not expect it to be a music magazine as it does not have any obvious indication of it being a music magazine (like images of musical instruments) apart from the banner which may not stand out as much as main sells would. This could be a flaw in my magazine. If I did it again I could possibly have an image of my artist with a musical instrument or a piece of musical equipment like a synthesiser. Another improvement I need to make to my front cover is that I decided that my bar code and price would be on the back of my magazine and the date and issue number on the spine. But this wouldn't be clear to someone who picks up my magazine in the shop. So if I was to do it again I would put the bar code, price, issue number and date on the front of my magazine, rather then the back and spine.

My contents page includes a band index just like similar music magazines like NME.

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It also includes a letter from the editor which is not that common in music magazines but it is displayed in some magazines like gossip, fashion or an art magazine. As the genre of music I am looking at is often paired with art, I think this letter would fit in nicely with the theme. I am fairly happy with my contents page but I originally wanted to try something creative and different with the pictures. However, due to time and space, it didn't work out. If I would do it again I would leave a gap between the pictures or add a border to section them off from each other. I would also try and get another intresting picture on there like the one from my front cover, making it look like I have had a photo shoot with the artist and make the magazin emore consistent. I may also add another colour to the contents as the grey, black and white could be seen as a little dull. I think i would have made the background white and the writing black, like magazines like Kerrang! and NME as these Contents pages always look eye catching and more organised. I would also add something about subscribing to the magazine in the contents and any special deals there was on subscribing.

My double page spread is very similar to most interviews in music magazines. The layout is a simple two column structure, with two images and drop quotes. It is very identifiable as a music magazine. I think the content in my interview covered most areas that a fan would like to know about. I asked the band about touring, influences and festivals and the interview gave an in depth cover of these areas. For some reason when I posted the links to my double page spread on the blog, the left hand side piece looks like it has a different colour background to the right, however both are supposed to be black and this was just a computer malfunction. Maybe another improvement I would make to my double page spread was to put a border around the pictures or make them look like they are in a Polaroid format. I think this would look better as the moment they look a little unprofessionaly plonked on the page. I am, hoever, very happy with the title on the spread. I think my use of overlapping on the first letters makes the title look punchy and matches the style of the band I am interviewing.

The typical reader of my magazine are quite into individual style, like the music, so my front cover would appeal to them as it is unconventional and the artists image and attitude would attract their attention. The language on my front cover are words associated with electro/indie/pop music so the reader can relate to this and help them realise the genre of my magazine. The artists in the banner at the bottom also helps the reader realise the genre. The image may suggest that the magazine would appeal to the younger generation who are into outlandish and different music. The image shows a lot of attitude which is associated and stereotyped with the younger generation. The contents does not have a lot of colour and the masthead is written in the same font as the Front cover. The lack of colour is because the contents is meant to inform more then excite the reader. The images on the contents are there to excite the reader. The contents does convey the same electro pop attitude as the front cover. The use of language, like censored swear words and the language used in the editors letter suggest that the magazine is aimed at the younger generation as demotic language and some of the language would not be understood or seen as offensive by some of the older generation. This is the same for my double page spread. The images in my contents are all of live events and portray instruments used in this genre of music helping readers to understand it is aimed at people who are into the electro pop genre. The images on my double page spread, however, are unconventional. There is no eye contact made by the artists and in some cases, no faces on them at all. The artists are wearing makes and dressed in a style which teens can relate too and their posture and poses show attitude typical of the genre. The poses used would appeal to fans of the band I am interviewing as these pictures are influenced by the bands single covers, so the reader would relate them to the band. However one of my models is of the wrong sex, but I couldn't find a female model willing ot have pictures taken.

I think publishers like IPC media or Music Magazine Publishers Associations could publish my magazine for me. I know that IPC media publishes NME so I would approach them first on publishing my magazine as they are of similar genres and target audience. I could see my magazine being stocked in WHSmith as they have a large music section which stocks many different genres of music magazines. I could also stock my magazine in HMV as then it would be with other music magazines and music fans are more likely to go to a music shop and see it then a newsagents. This is the same for most music shops.

The audience for my music magazine final product would still be aimed at students or young people aged between 16-25 like I originally planned in Blog 2 of my main coursework task. I still think my magazine will be aimed at the socio economic group of BCD. I think that as the magazine will be similarly priced to NME this socio economic group makes sense for my magazine. It would probably be brought more by students with a part time job or young people who work full time as full time students have a lower income then them. My research into other magazines at the beginning of my project showed that employed people were more likely to buy magazines like NME, meaning that my magazine will too have a similar audience.

I attracted my audience with my bold main image on my front cover. I am proud of this image as my choice of face art and body paint really helped increase the boldness and eye catchiness of it. I also think the font used is interesting and different to magazines on the market today, making it yet again more appealing to my target audience. My mode of address to the reader was through the eye contact of the artist on the front cover. Once drawing their eye to my magazine, a bold banner at the bottom informs them of the artists my magazine includes. And if this genre appeals to them would make them purchase my magazine. My contents includes pictures which are taken from a festival which readers may have attended, making them relate to them more and be more interested in their purpose. My letter to the editor would then give the reader a sense of who was producing the magazine and see that it is someone passionate about the same genre as them and not just someone out to get their money. My double page spread catches the readers eyes with punchy drop quotes which would make the reader want to read the interview, even if they were not familiar to the band it's about.

I posted my magazine on http://www.facebook.co.uk/ to get some views and criticisms from my peers and people who might actually buy my magazine. Some criticisms I did get were about how much I put on my contents page, some people described it as slightly cluttered and maybe could have involved less or been set out slightly differently. Another criticism was that only the band index included page numbers. I agree that this could cause problems and would defiantly change it if I was to make my magazine again. Some positives people found were my use of images. They agreed my front image was bold nad owuld make them want to buy the magazine and also my photo editing on my double page spread impressed people. A friend even said it reminded her straight away of the image I had been trying to recreate.

From creating this product I have learnt many new skills on programmes such as InDesign and Photoshop. Photoshop allowed me to create the illusion that my artists had no faces and that the brick wall covered their faces. I would not have been able to do this without Photoshop. Photoshop also allowed me to change contrast and problems with colour and backgrounds which I would have either had to change by retaking the photo or tried to do messily in Paint. I had a few problems with InDesign at the beginning as I had not used the programme before and it is not the easiest site to navigate round or do what you are trying to do. I found that it took me a long time to even work out how to fill a shape with a colour as the colour option was tucked away at the side. Also I had problems with layering objects in my project because the programme was not able to do as I pleased. This meant I had to make some changes to my product so it would work in InDesign.

I feel I have learnt a lot more since my preliminary project. I have now learnt how to download fonts onto my computer from websites such as dafont.com, where I would have print screened them and copied them into paint before, giving me a grainy finish. I have also learnt a lot more terminology over the past months meaning my blog has improved vastly as I can talk about the media behind the initial magazine properly, things such as demographics and socio-economic groups. I have also developed my skills in InDesign and Photoshop through trial and error and guidance form my teachers. Things like exporting things as pdf's and converting them into jpeg's through Google documents. These skills I can use in future tasks in media studies. I have also learnt to plan more thoroughly for blogs and my magazine through making flat plans and brain storms of ideas. This I can remember and use in the future. My time management has also been tested in this project, meaning I now know how long processes can take and can plan better for the future.

I do think I encountered some problems in my blog due to the website I have had to use to make it. I found that my blog has looked messy in place because I couldn't make all the writing the same size or font. Also it is very hard to get the photos where I want them or the writing. This is annoying but of no fault of my own.

Planning and Evaluation of the Article

Planning and Evaluation of the Article

These articles are taken from NME and Kerrang! which are two magazines of a similar genre to my magazine. Both these articles are interviews with artists. The NME interview is with two different but similar artists, Kate Nash and Regina Spektor. This interview is of a different topic to the Kerrang! interview. The NME interview is about showing how similar these two artists are and showing a bond between them whereas the Kerrang! interview is about the artist (Jared Leto)'s favourite songs.

Kerrang!'s interview is much more serious as it is about a subject close to the artists heart and his feelings. He uses quite formal language with lots of emotive language. The NME interview is quite different. The language is informal and chatty and includes swear words unlike the Kerrang! interview. It is more of a conversation between the two artists with the interviewer cutting in every now and then, setting the scene and explaining what is happening behind the conversation. This interview is more like the interview I am using in my coursework. I wanted an informal look at one of my favourite electro bands. I researched the bands attitude in interviews and tried to incorporate it into my made up interview.

"Murder, blank looks on girls, knives and loads of E." I heard the band say this was their influences on a TV interview so I reworded what they said and used it as a drop quote. I used questions that would have got emotive responses from the artists. I knew that their live gigs were what the band was most known for so I made this the main subject in my interview.

After reading the two similar articles I made changes to the start of my interview, so that the narrator set the scene to the interview more then it had before. I did this because I liked the effect it had in the NME interview.

Photo Editing

My main edited pictures are in my double page spread. I had to use Photoshop to edit my photos to cover my models faces with bricks like in the Crystal Castles single cover. I didn't want to copy what Crystal Castles did for their single cover but I took theirs and made it my own. That way when people see my magazine they can identify that the band is supposed to be Crystal Castles. I thought this editing went really well and thought the end product was really successful. The second photo for my double page spread didn't need as much editing, it just needed cropping and the colour of one of my models socks changing as I hadn't noticed he was wearing different coloured socks when I was taking the pictures. Once again I used a idea from a CC single cover but used the same actors as in my first picture. I kept the backgrounds consistent as this way the readers can identify they are from the same photo shoot and as the backgrounds are consistent there is no confusion when people see the double page spread and it will not look messy.

For my front cover image, I changed the colour of the background to black because I thought it brought out the fact I had painted my model yellow making my image more bold and eye catching to the reader. Another reason why I decided to change the background to black was because my original plan was to scan my front cover and put blue glitter on the first two letters of my title as I thought this would look effective. On trying to do so though it made the black less bold and the glitter didn't come out as I wanted it to so I decided to stick to the plainer version of my front cover. The only other editing I did to my main image on the front cover is touching up his gold body paint in places on his arms as in places it had been missed making it look badly made. For this I used the Colour Sampler tool and the Brush tool.

Here are just a few of the tools I used on Photoshop. The first image shows how I used a magic wand tool and the brightness and contrast option to change my models sock colour as I had failed to notice my model was wearing odd socks. And my second image shows how I changed their faces to become bricks. For this I had to take a picture of the wall on its own and a picture of my models in front of the wall. I then layered the photos on top of each other and used the Healing tool to make the bricks go over the models faces. It was a new technique for me and I was very happy with the end result. The last image shows the polygram tool which is similar to the magic wand tool. I used this to go round my model so I could change the entire background to black. Once I had cut my model out with the tool I filled the background using the filler tool. These techniques were new to me and I wasn't very experienced with Photoshop. But I'm happy that I've learnt new skills in photo editing which will help me further in my second year of media.

Photos

I wanted to take around thirty photos for my magazine so that I had a huge choice to choose from. My first idea for photos was my model with his hands in front of his face, blocking his eye contact with the reader. I thought of this idea because it is different to the normal magazine photo and I felt it worked with my magazine as it is a slightly different genre and the abstract picture worked. I painted the face of my model yellow and put a blue glitter eye mask on him to add to the abstractness of it. I took a few photos of him dressed like this in different framing. I took a few head shots with him doing different things with his hands and some with him making eye contact with the camera. I then had some medium close ups with my model holding a candle. I chose a candle to see if the light made an effect on the picture, taking photos with the main light on and off. Once I had done this, I then took some face on photos of my model from the waist up with him making eye contact with the camera. I asked him to wear his own clothes because my model enjoys the genre of music my magazine is about and therefore his clothing would match that of other readers, giving readers something to relate to. I liked these half body shots the most out of this mini shoot because I loved the attitude that came across in the photos, and it helped me change my mind about not making eye contact with the reader, because I then understood how much more powerful it could make my front cover if my model did make eye contact.

I then took some pictures of myself posing as a artist. I backcombed my hair and gave myself quite over exaggerated black make up. I was trying to portray a darker image for an artist. I tried pictures with me making eye contact and pictures were I wasn't. I preferred the pictures with eye contact because they drew you in whereas the other ones were more arty and i didn't think they were as appropriate for a music magazine.

Another idea I had for pictures was a band. I collected some instruments, typical of the

genre of my music magazine. I then used me and two friends as models. I took the pictures with the self timer on my camera. My first pictures i took in the street outside my house during the night time. I took the pictures at night time because the darkness meant that less attention was on the surroundings then on the "band" i was trying to show. I used a Greek photography method where you put the subject of the photo in the bottom right quarter of the photo as this is supposedly where people's eyes are drawn too first. I dressed my models in normal clothes typical of my genre. I then took photos of my "band" with their instruments in front of their faces. This made the photo more abstract and unusual for a magazine.

For another idea, I thought about remaking the look of some bands in my genre. The first band I tried to recreate was Fannypack, a American comedic band. They are known for their bright clothing and risque lyrics. I dressed my friends up in my brightest clothing and gave them some comedy props like a Elmo bag, over sized glasses and big hair bows. I made them pose with quite fun poses like making a peace sign, big arms and funny facial expressions. I liked these photos but I think I should have used a better backdrop as the shed didn't match the band in the image therefore ruining my picture.
The second band I tried to recreate was Crystal Castles, who I used for my double page spread. These pictures don't look that special when they are unedited but my plan is to edit them so that the bricks go over their faces and the second is that they are looking downwards. These poses are similar to CC's front covers of two of their singles. I was very happy with how these worked out. The only criticism I have is that I would

have liked a man and a women instead of two boys in the picture because CC has a female in the band.

I went to a festival during the Autumn and took some pictures of the bands I wanted to include

in my magazine. The pictures of Marina and the Diamonds was the best because I managed to get to the front of the crowd, meaning their wasn't waving hands in my photo and you could actually see the music artist. I am going to include these pictures for my live performances section on the contents page as they portray live performances. Also these photos are very appropriate because they are of the band my magazine advertises.

Fonts

I am still a bit undecided about the font I will use for my front cover but I have three possibilities; Hydrogen, Pulse Sans Virgin or Astigma. I am planning on writing Digital in one font and Distortion in another but I will have to test this first because I do not want it to look messy. I asked some of my peers their opinion on the matter and there was a mixed response. Some thought it would look good but a couple were unsure and thought it would look unprofessional. The font choices I have chosen remind me of synthesizers and digital type music and also show energy, so I think they will appeal to my target audience. For headings to articles and interviews I am going to use a bold sans serif font like Ariel as it catches the readers eye and matches the bold feel to my magazine. As for main bodies of text I am going to use a serif typeface because it is easier to read large portions of writing in this typeface.

Since writing the first part to this blog, I then did some further looking through fonts on www.dafont.com. I found a font almost the same as the one I have designed for my flat plan. The font is called DeLarge and I plan to use it for the whole of my title on the front cover as well as the contents title. By keeping the font consistent I think it makes my magazine seem more professional. The font works for my magazine as it looks slightly digital as well as unusual. And I think this will appeal to my audience. When asking peers for their feedback on my font choice it was 100% positive and everyone agreed it worked in my magazine. I have also looked into some simple fonts for my main text and have decided on using Franklin Gothic Medium. I didn't want to use Aerial because I thought it was too boring and plain and if I used a different font it could be identified to my magazine if seen elsewhere by the readers.

Flat Plans

FRONT COVER
From my flat plans you can see that for my front cover I have chosen to cover the front page with a large image of an "artist". This will take up most of my front cover. My Brand logo will also be larger then some conventional magazines like NME or Q. But it is about the same size as Kerrang!s. Also for my front cover I am not having any main sells like a conventional magazine, instead I am going to rely on my bold image to sell my magazine. On my flat plan I have left room at the bottom for text which I might include. This would just be a small list or strap line of bands that my magazine will include, as they do on the front covers to NME and Kerrang! otherwise readers might not straight away guess the genre of music my magazine is. The image I will use for my front cover will be bright and colourful so that it appeals to my student/teen target audience. It will portray energy and fun but with an air of seriousness which relates to the genre of music my magazine is about. My barcode and price will go on the back of my magazine as I want the fornt to seel by just the image and look simplistic. I would then put the date and issue number on the spine of the magazine. This is different for a magzine but could confuse someone who was to pick it up in a shop.
CONTENTS
For my contents I will have Contents written in the same font as my brand logo aswell as the name of my magazine shortened to DD before it says Contents. I will then have a band index down the right hand side of my page. Then down the left hand side of my page I will have the contents of what my magazine includes with page numbers. The contents will be fairly vague but will tell you all the main articles and interviews in the magazine. The rest of the page is taken up by 3 images of a band. Over the top of these images will be some lyrics from one of their songs. The layout to this page is fairly similar to the contents of NME that I analysed but I will be using more images with less information.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
For my double page spread I will be using two large images which are joined. These images will take up the whole page but there will be space down the middle for text or the interview. The title to the article will be central and there will be a quote from the interview running across the page. The two images I am using are my versions of the bands front covers. I am planning ot remake them in Photoshop. I would also like to scan glitter or sequins into the corner of my double page spread to give it a unconventional twist, catching the readers attention.

Analysis of Existing Magazines

2 Magazine Covers

The first magazine cover I am going to analyse is an NME front cover.
The New Musical Express gives the impression that this magazine is more like a newspaper for new music as it uses the word express, more normally used with newspapers. This title lets readers know that this is the magazine you should read if you want to learn about new music first.

For this front cover they have used their normal block outlined print for its title. They have then used a mixture of bold and italic writing for the main flashes as well as mixing sans serif and serif font. This gives the main flashes a punk like feel to them which matches the text. The subheadings are written in a bold sans serif font.

The main colours on this front cover are reds, blacks, whites and yellow. These colours are all very bold and contrast each other. The use of bold colours matches the bold picture and message that this artist is giving off. All the colours match the image for instance, the red in the main title matches the person in the images lipstick. They have then used this colour for the main sell and for some of the smaller sub headings, as well as the background on the smaller images. Apart form these 4 colours, there isn't really the use of any of colours, they have kept it simple but bold so that it will catch the eye of a passer by and make them want to pick it up and read it. The colours used are not only bold, but quite unisex colours, which helps the magazine relate to one if its key demographic groups of males, (69% of NME readers are male.) and females.

The language used in the main sell is informal and is supposed to have a punk/teen feel to it, "Kiss my ass!". This appeals to one of NME's key demographic groups, where 50% of their readers are between the ages of 16-24, meaning they can relate to this young slang. The rest of the text is mostly names of artists, meaning that readers are to have an assumed knowledge of some of the bands and that these bands will appeal to its audience.

The image on the front cover is supposed to be an "in your face" picture. Beth Ditto has posed in a pin up style way which is normally only posed by the stick thin models in men's magazines because she wants to let people know she is proud of her larger size image and wants to flaunt it. Also you do not normally see nude pictures on the front of music magazines, so this image would catch readers eyes. Her facial expression is the same as you would see in a pin up style photograph. This magazine cover was extremely popular because of its distinct cover and helped Beth Ditto become very popular in other aspects of the media.

The main sells on this magazine is the interview with Beth Ditto, New Music Posters and the Kaiser Chiefs interviewing Paul McCartney. The magazine also has a bar code in the bottom right hand corner, a date and price of £2.20 next to the bar code, as well as NME's website (http://www.nme.com/) underneath it.


The magazine has the name Kerrang! because it is a rock magazine and Kerrang sounds like a guitar when you strum on it. A guitar is the most common instrument in a rock band. The tagline is then written over the top of one corner of the title. It reads, "Life is Loud". This matches the genre of the magazine and matches the main title.

The title and the main sell is written in a bold, fractured font. The title size is similar to the main sell size which isn't always that common on magazine front covers. Other fonts used are a bold, sans serif font for all the subheadings. The font and boldness gives you an impression of what genre music the magazine writes about (rock/heavy metal, e.t.c).

The main colours on the front cover of this magazine are red, black, white and yellow. The use of yellow as the background to some of the text matches the yellow lighting in the main image and the red matches the outfit that Matt Bellamy is wearing in the main image. The White and black is used in the main sell and the title. These are the two boldest colours and catch peoples eyes when they look at the cover. Also all the colours contrast each other, helping it look bolder. These colours are also unisex, this helps as Kerrang!'s readership is of the male majority but does have a high female readership. I have looked at figures from NRS.com to discover what the main demographic groups were for both magazines.

There is a mixture of formal and informal language used on the cover. This appeals to the main demographic group of 16-44 year olds as informal language would not appeal entirely to an older audience. The magazine uses mostly formal apart for when they are quoting an artist. There isn't much text on the cover. Most of the text is names of bands and artists. This also means that the magazine assumes that readers have a understanding and knowledge of its music as these bands are supposed to catch people's eyes.

The image on the front cover shows a live picture of Matt Bellamy performing with Muse at one of their concerts. There is other small images down the left side hand side of other bands performing live, like My Chemical Romance, Greenday and Metallica. These images all match the main sell of, "100 greatest gigs ever!". The images they have used are not posed and all have natural facial expressions as the artists are photographed performing. The artists used on the cover are all quite large stars internationally which would encourage people to want to read it. The main sell is "100 greatest gigs" and there is a smaller subheading of, "The Black Crusade Vs Taste of Chaos".

On the front cover there is a price of £2.10, a date, a bar code, a issue number and the Kerrang! website. These are all int he bottom right hand corner in a white box.

Contents Page

The NME contents page is very clear and detailed which is how a contents page should be. It is supposed to be a simple and easy to follow as it gives the reader information on what is inside the magazine. It is split into two sections. There is a bands index of which bands you will see on each page and then there is a more detailed contents on what interviews/articles and features there is in the issue. The band index is for the convenience of the reader and for first time buyers as the bands in the index could appeal to that reader.

There is a medium sized image in the centre of the page which illustrates a event from the week with a very small article underneath describing something interesting that has also happened this week. This isn't a main article and isn't from the same shoot as the main image on the cover but it illustrates some importance in the magazine.

Underneath that is a medium sized advertisement for subscribing to NME. The advertisement is white and yellow writing on a black background so that it stands out to the reader and helps the magazine gain possible subscribers. Some things listed int he contents have arrows to the right of them to indicate that these were featured on the front cover.

The colour scheme is consistent with the front cover but the colours are more plain and less bold as this page is more informative then eye catching. It uses a bold, sans serif font for text on this page.

Double Page Spread

This is a double page spread from NME. It uses a pull out quote from the interview for the title which dominates just under half the spread, with the other half being covered by a medium close up shot of Lily Allen. This is the only image on the double page spread. The drop quote is written like a newspaper headline that has been cut up and swapped around. The font for the feature headline/pull quote is the same style and font as the main cover line on the front cover. It gives a sort of punk look to the title which matches the image of Lily Allen. Lily Allen is wearing tartan and her short, quirky, black hair matches the punky feel to the photograph. This is also portrayed in her thick black eyeliner as well. Lily Allen has her wrists positioned in a way that shows off her tattoo, which shows her rebellious side. Lily Allen is making eye contact with the camera which is normal for magazine photos as it draws the readers attention and her face is quite expressionless connoting that she is strong and independent.

There isn't much of the interview text on the page but the text does start with a drop capital and the interview does continue on the next page. The spread mainly uses black, white and red as the colour scheme. This matches the main colour scheme that is per usual throughout NME magazine (where this double page spread is from). The text is in four same sized columns separated with gutters. There is a white, uncluttered back ground which helps make sure the reader keeps their attention on the text and the photo. This double page spread would appeal to teenagers which is the target audience for NME as Lily Allens music appeals to the younger audience and the general layout and rebellious feel to it also helps engage the teenage audience.

(All demographics were taken from figures on www.nme.com/mediapack/ or NRS.com)