41. Evaluation

By Jordan Sibley

My Completed Music Magazine : Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Process of Music Magazine Production

Pre – Production mood boards ( bands, styles,

magazines, styling, photo shoots)

Reader Profile

USP

Photo Shoot

Double Page Spread Article

Finished Magazine ( Front cover, Contents page, Double page spread)

Pre – Production Sketches ( early names, masthead

design, flat – plans)

Audience Research ( Survey & Results)

Mood board of favourite music magazine

Analysis of three music magazines ( Front Page, Contents Page & Double

Page Spread)

This is the process that I went through with making my magazine.

I started off with research to help with making my magazine and what I need in it. I created a mood board of my favourite magazine’s and analysed them vaguely, and what I like about them. Then I took three of those magazine NME, Kerrang! And Q magazine. I analysed the front cover, contents page and DPS of each magazine going into to in depth analysis and using more technological language and found out what sort of things magazines included. I also created a audience survey on survey monkey to find out what sort of audience I was going to appeal to more. From the results I found that my audience would be rock and indie fans with this I chose to name my magazine Indie and Rock magazine. I chose this simplistic masthead name because it goes straight to the point of what the magazine is about and makes it a specialised magazine. Also found from it that they like freebies, posters, interviews, finding new bands and information on up coming gigs and festivals.

I then went on to planning my magazine out from the research that I had done. I put some mood boards together, the type of photography I wanted in my magazine, the type of artists that associated with indie and rock and type font faces that compared to the indie and rock scene. I also made some early names I came up with I&R and Indie and Rock magazine, I went along with indie and rock magazine because of it’s simplicity of it. And I also tried out different styles for it. Also some pre - production sketches of the font cover, I though about the layout, were the images would go, the text, masthead, slogo and what it would look like.

I then created a reader profile for my magazine to show what my audience wanted and what they liked. I also wrote up a USP which explained what my magazine was going to about and what sort of audience it would attract.

After that I took my photo shoot to get the images for my magazine. I made sure my images kept to style of indie and rock and also represented the social group, by keeping it dark to represent the rock genre but kept it stylized like indie.

Also I wrote up my double page spread article which I interviewed a local artist to make it realistic. I chose not to do the answer questions layout but have it like a story as the artist could just talk without getting distracted and have there choice of what they wanted to talk about.

Having all that done really helped me put together my magazine.

From my target audience results I found that more people listen to Indie and Rock, as they are similar genres, I put together to make the name of the magazine to keep it simplistic and straight to the point and it makes it specialised with a specific genre to it. The main story is indie like with the uniqueness of the name. I also found from the survey that my audience was into freebies being an attraction to a magazine, also I found that the they look for new bands, gig dates ect.

I have included the conventions of a magazine in mine to make it realistic. I have used : -

•Masthead

•Slogo

•Skyline

•Main pull quote with main story

•Cover

•Main image

•Freebies

•Barcode, date and issue number

I developed my magazine with inspiration from other magazine’s as well as the research and flat plans that I had to keep it to a professional standard.

I used NME as inspiration as I liked how the main article story is across the middle which makes it stand out and is easy to tell what the magazine is about. Also the photography works well with this and is placed in the middle so it stand out.

I liked how this cover of Kerrang! magazine has its masthead running along the top and not so fancy. Also the skyline is in a box separate from the masthead and stand out.

I like how Q has given the image a dark background so that it stands out. Also the red, white and black house style I have used because it stands out and the red is a primary colour which makes it real bold and if you were to skim through you would find the important things would be in red so that they capture the eye.

My content page continues to use the house style with the colours black, white and red used. Also I have used the same typeface from the mast head on the cover and the name Indie and Rock under the heading of contents. I have columned the content so it is easy to read and you can easily search for what you want to read. I have put sub heading and a description of what’s on that page.

The pictures I have put page numbers and one or two with a subheading. I have made sure they are appropriate pictures to continue the interpretation of indie and rock in the pictures.

I used the Kerrang! Contents as inspiration. I liked how they have put a heading to the page with the same sort of typeface as the cover. The big picture ate the top balances out the text at the bottom. Along with other little pictures to give more interest. They have also used black, white and red house style which stands out. The whole layout is really basic and is easy to navigate to pages which makes it easier for the reader.

Also I used Q as well as it uses similar conventions to what Kerrang! do but in a different style. Again they use the black, white and red house style. The masthead is used along with the heading of contents. The contents is writing in columns down the side and under the picture which I like and the a big picture next to it to balance it out.

My double page spread continues to use my set house style. Along with I have used my main story heading from the cover and on here too so that they link nicely and the reader wouldn’t get confused although I have added a glow around ‘ unatural’ to make it stand out more and to contrast with the picture as well. I have used one big picture on the left and have out text on the right as this stand out more and again balances it out nicely. I have used brushes in the background to make it look more interesting as a plain black background wouldn’t be so much interesting to have. The heading I have filled half the page with as it looks more eye catching to just a page full of text. The story I have put into columns as it is easier to read and I change the opacity of the background of it as it stood out more from the page.

For my double page spread I have used NME’s dps as inspiration, as I liked the way it is set out. The big picture captures the readers eye and so does the heading, taking up half the page. The pink contrasts with the persons lips as they are pink too so there is a link even with the colours and house style. The text is split up into columns at the bottom of the page. The page isn’t exactly split in the middle as some text runs over to more to the left of the page.

How does your media product represent

particular social groups?

The design of magazine represents social groups that are into indie and rock. The way that they dress represents this in a way such as wearing checker shirts, quite dark clothes with a hint of colours. Indie people quite often go for a vintage look with creams and soft colours. People who are different and unique and have there own style and quite quirky.

The type of bands that would represent this would be the likes of :

The Killers

Kings of Leon

Florence and The Machine

Ladyhawke

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I would want COMAG to distribute my magazine as they are a well known distributor and would be able to get my magazine to shops in the economical way possible.

They would most likely distribute my magazine to news agents as it isn’t a big named magazine and is also specialised in the genre of music it sells. Also being specialised it could end up on the shelves of WH Smith or even Waterstones.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience that my magazine is aimed at would be a mature group of 17 – 25+ who take an interest indie and rock or either. Although being mature they can be rebellious giving it a bit of immaturity as well. People who like freebies or like to read about there favourite bands. Also in magazine I have added gig dates and festivals depending on the time of year so people who like to go out and listen to live music.

Audience Feedback

Majority of people likes my layout of the magazine, this could be because of there is clarity of information. The way that the pictures are laid out on the page, they are clear of what they are interpreting. The text is visible and easy to read. The is no clashing with colours, everything contrasts with each other and the pages aren’t so over crowded.

I found that lots of people like freebies which clarifies with the my survey earlier with finding what my target audience liked to find in magazines.

This was a promising result that I found. I agree on the features as I would change them probably to make them more interesting to the reader. The layout I would change possibly on the cover and contents and make the more better by adding pictures that relate to the magazine more. The masthead could also be designed better.

More people thought that my magazine would compare to NME. I can see that because it is mature and has a little bit of playfulness to it, were as Kerrang! Is more playful and more for the younger generations. NME and Kerrang! Were my main inspirations.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have used to blogger to blog all my work, as this is easier than printing out and sticking into a journal were it could get ruined or lost.

I used Issuu and slide share to upload my documents and presentations on the internet so I could embed the work into my blog more easily and this meant I could make my work look more interesting in a presentation of word document.

I used survey monkey to make surveys to find out information about what my audience wanted in my magazine and what they thought about my magazine after it was produced.

Photoshop was a big help to use as this helped me create my magazine and also my mood boards and other designs like my mastheads. This was easy to use and you could manipulate images to how you want them to look.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Before I started, I didn’t know how to blog, or how I could upload my word documents or presentations onto the net to embed in my blog, I feel I stepped forward into something new and I could use in the future to show case my work.

I can now research better and survey into what people want instead of guessing and putting my results into my work. Also using more technical language to suit what I am analysing.

I have improved my Photoshop skills I now know how to use levels and curves to manipulate a image more and to make my images look more effective.

I can know look at my work and think about what more need to be done and what I can change with what works and what doesn’t which helps in developing my ideas more vastly.

I know how to design better and how I can mix ideas with one another to come up with new ones.