I made several considerations when designing the content of my magazine cover, contents and article pages. I considered how and where I should use the conventions of mass market and niche music magazines. I considered many things that I could include, starting with a title, I thought that of any convention this is the most important, this is because without a title it has no name, no branding power and no recognisable typography, I therefore constructed a magazine title that would be recognisable, clear and informative of the genre.
I used a consistent house style throughout my music magazine, this included the use of non conventional looking typography, layout and colour contrasts, this was to follow my genre of alternative music, which has an underlying message of non conformation, I think that by choosing to use unconventional magazine features that it reinforces my genre.
I tried to keep my magazines fonts and effects continuous which reinforces that the pages that I have created belong together, reinforcing the continuity of my work. Instead of including lots of headlines I have chosen to only include one, this promotes the double page spread that I have designed. I have chosen to include it over the image on my front cover, this is so that they are linked together, and so that the reader knows who the people in the pictures are.
I have included a features section on my front page, this is used to for promoting the magazines contents, to entice readers, to reinforce the genre of the magazine by naming some of the leading bands of the genre and to make my magazine stand out more on a shelf.
I have used a puff on my cover page to both catch the eye of the reader and to appeal to them by giving them a chance to win something. I think that the way I have included the puff so that it both stands out but follows the underlying house style is strong.
I have used a barcode from a barcode generating website, this allowed me to take a convincing and professional looking barcode that I could place on my front cover, this helps me keep the realism of the cover.
I have used one original image within my front cover, I have used one original image on my contents page and five original images on my double page spread. I have not used any secondary images as I think this would detract from the realism of my media product, this is because my style of photography will differ from other photographers.
My bibliography of visited websites includes both research and resources, it is as follows;
- http://www.google.co.uk/ (web and image searches)
- http://www.kerrang.com/
- http://www.rocksound.tv/
- http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/
- http://www.blogger.com/
- http://www.ehow.com/
- http://www.noupe.com/
- http://www.youtube.com/
- http://www.planetrenders.net/
- http://www.photographytips.com/
- http://www.picturecorrect.com/
These websites cover a wide range of the skills that I needed to develop when producing my media product, they have also provided me with the resources such as the colour codes for particular tones within Photoshop, Photoshop fonts and barcodes.
Social groups are represented in my magazine in several ways, firstly the content of the puff and secondly the bands that are featured within the magazine. The puff gives the opportunity to “Win a Slipknot guitar”, this would appeal to two main genres of fans that would read my magazine; metal and hard rock. I have included this so that I can entice more custom from people of this genre, this is because the articles featured are of bands that are related to this genre. I have also tried to appeal to other genres on my cover, including names of bands that link to pop punk and rock which would hopefully allow more potential customers to consider it as being within their genre or taste.
My contents page also tries to relate to different social groups because it has features relating to people with different music taste, people that like indie music have been targeted with indie music styles and people that like metal music have been targeted using bands from that genre.
My double page spread has a focus on one particular social group which in this instant is pop punk. I chose to use this subgenre as it is the music most appreciated by myself and also it does have cross links with many of the other subgenres.
If I was to place my magazine within an institution then I would pick between; Bauer Media and Future Publishing. I would consider Bauer as a institution to publish my product because they have a large portfolio of magazines that stretch across many music genres, with pop/chart title Q and rock magazine Kerrang! As their main title on the music market, I feel that because of their media influence that they could make my product fit into their portfolio, and also as my publication is a monthly magazine and Kerrang! Is a weekly then they can cover both these sectors of the magazine buying market.
Future publishing would also be suitable as all of the music magazines that they publish are related to either rock/metal music or the instruments used in this genre.
My audience is summed up by; Young, successful, individual and confident professionals. My age range is between 14 and 28, this is because they are normally the ones with the most disposable income.
The audience of my magazine is this because of the images and house style I have used on my front cover, I have used dark background colours in the background and light foreground layers to create a contrast that will appeal to my audience. I have chosen to do this because the age range I have chosen would see that and look at it because of the title that stands out.
I shall use this style and other conventions to appeal to my audience, this is because if I can directly target the right audience then I can sell more magazines.
I specifically targeted my audience with the use of my cover image, which is of two people, I chose to use two people so that I could use two varying styles of subject, therefore allowing me to appeal to a wider target audience. I chose to use a female model and myself, this is so that I could target both sex’s with the fashion and styles of the models.
I have used a green wall for my background, this way I have cut the subjects out and got a reasonable finish on the edges.
Throughout my coursework designing process I have used different software, the main one being Adobe Photoshop CS3, this has helped me to draft my ideas, create altered versions of my ideas and to create my final magazine design. I have also used Microsoft Word for my word processing and research collation. I have used blogger to host my blog, where I have displayed my work.
I have progressed personally throughout this project as I have learned a lot of new skills on Photoshop. It has also taught me a lot about how to take good quality and well placed photographs, this has helped me produce a better quality and more realistic media product.
No comments:
Post a Comment