2. House Style The colors that I have decided to use through my
magazine are some very unique colors for this genre. I used a dark
red for masthead in the table of contents. I also used the same
dark red for the cover story dividers on the cover page. The only
other colors that I used for the fonts were black and white. I used
the white on the table of contents page because I thought that it
tended to show up the best with the photos that were behind it. I
used a plain black font on the front cover page in order to
continue with the simplicity of the main cover and not to make the
reader dizzy with many colors annoying them.
3. Critical Reflection Questions #1 My product challenges the
conventions of a magazine by ignoring the rule of thirds and
keeping a majority of the cover lines towards the top of the
magazine. By doing this, it will attract the readers attention
because many magazines are stacked upon each other in a staircase
fashion and this will allow for the reader to always see the
featured articles in the magazine and be enticed to buy it in order
to learn more. My magazine will be different from many magazines
because they do not analyze and get a personal interview of how the
life of that specific artist came to be. Many music magazines just
talk about music but dont really talk about the person behind the
music, this magazine will help fill that gap for this missing
criteria.
4. Masthead: I chose to place the masthead here, because it is
the most logical and appropriate place according to the conventions
of a magazine. The simplicity of this masthead will engage the
reader to want to buy it and read it. Date: I decided to place the
date here in a small simplistic way because it is discrete, but
still noticeable and attractive. Cover Stories: I decided to place
the cover stories at the top of the magazine and go against the
rule of thirds because many magazines are displayed in a staircase
form. I put it like this, so that in that way of layering the
magazines at the store, the cover lines may be noticeable. Puff: I
have placed this puff here to catch the readers eye in a simplistic
way without being too obnoxious. This is a serious magazine and I
would like the tone of simplicity and seriousness to continue
throughout the magazine. Main Image: The cover image is a photo of
the main story of the article. When taking this photo, I made sure
to leave enough room at the top of the photo in order for the
masthead to have enough space to be displayed. I dont agree with
other magazines covering their masthead with the main cover photo.
I think this takes away from the branding. A rival company
billboard does this and I think this is what will make it stand
apart from rival music magazine companies. Barcode: I placed the
barcode in this position of the magazine because like most
magazines it is at the bottom, but as for my magazine it is placed
here because it is out of the way and not bothering the main image
and isnt sticking out like a sore thumb to the readers. Dividers: I
have placed these dividers here in order to create a division
between the stories without any confusion. The simple use of these
plain lines, helps reinforce the theme of simplicity throughout
this magazine.
5. Table of Contents I went against the rules of conventions
here. (1) Instead of aligning the numbers in an organized fashion,
I decided to space them out in a curvy way that would be appealing
to the reader. Even though this way may not look organized, it
still is containing the theme of simplicity by using a plain color
such as black for the font and nothing wild. (2) Also for a change
in order to contrast with the background, the masthead was changed
in its color, that color was the same color as the red stripes from
the guitar, I think this helps accent the guitar and also gives a
great contrast to the picture and makes the masthead stand out a
little more to the readers eye. 2 1
6. Double Page Spread I think many elements from this piece
will attract the reader, (1) such as the colorful picture
contrasting with the dark collage of pictures. (2) I used two
columns because I think 3 is too much and doesnt go with the theme
of simplicity of the magazine. (3) I chose this picture for the
cover of the story because it shows a very serious side of the band
presented and (4) the white simplistic font adds to the tone of
seriousness and helps the reader become more engaged with the
intensity of the article. (5) By adding the pull quote to the
article it attracts the readers attention to that one specific
quote and helps put emphasis on that specific quote from the
speaker and gives the reader a sense of familiarity and connection
with the musician and makes the article more personal. 1 2 3 4
5
7. Engaging the Audience My magazine will engage the audience
by making each article very interesting with facts and stories
about all the famous artists who have made it big in the music
industry. Other music magazines such as billboard just give the
charts and the popular music, but dont actually sit down and get
the story behind the music with the artist. My magazine will tackle
this issue and resolve this problem by interviews new and old
artists each week about their personal life and music career of how
they came to be in the music industry and the road it took to get
there, these are all exciting things that viewers are looking for
in a music magazine and would love to read about their favorite
artists.
8. Production My production skills have improved greatly
throughout this project. I am now able to fully function the
workings of Photoshop and know the conventions of a magazine. I
have also tried to use InDesign but I did not enjoy it as much as I
do Photoshop, to me it is much easier to use. With the easiness of
use of this program, I can easily take a photo and make it so that
it is magazine ready and will be attractive to the readers eye and
will encourage them to read the magazine more and more. In the
cover of the magazine I was able to improve the cover by sharpening
the image a little and changing the masthead to a more
sophisticated font. In the table of contents I kept rearranging the
numbers and the articles because I couldnt which fit the best, but
in the end I think it turned out for the best. I had to do several
corrections on the cover story article because I kept finding
things to fix and add, such as the title above the story and moving
around the pull quote and shifting the paragraphs.
9. Technology I integrated a lot of technology throughout this
project such as Photoshop, edublogs, InDesign, research on the
internet, and much more in order to complete this project. The use
of technology is a probably the only way to make a magazine,
without it, there wont be many magazines without computers and
printers. I dont know how I would complete this project without
technology, hence Media studies. My favorite tool in Photoshop
would have to be the eye dropper tool because I like to take colors
from the photo and then use it in my fonts.