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

From the preliminary task, I have a greater understanding and capability with professional technologies like Photoshop and Indesign in order to make a professional media product. I have learnt far more about the kind of drives and pulls behind the audience and how they influence both the designing and creation of the magazine, in regards to fit for purpose, target audience and genre. My preliminary task didn’t reflect as much the kind of things an audience wants, but more so my personal ideas. Through a more effective use research in my development I was able to analyse and asses the codes and conventions behind genres and what makes them so iconic.

In regards to planning, I found that I pushed for a centralised idea, learning from my mistakes in the preliminary tasks and also by vastly furthering my research and understanding of the subject matter at hand. I drew up mind maps and layouts in preparation for their creation on InDesign, this way I was far more focussed on the kind of ideas I was working with and the end result I wanted.

My research furthered my knowledge of the print magazine industry, how they layout their pages, their styles (fonts, colours, images, etc) and how they create iconic and recognisable styles and the printing institutions. The research was invaluable in aiding my choices in order to adhere to codes and conventions available.

My practical skills have vastly improved also, in my preliminary task I had very little knowledge of Indesign and Photoshop, in comparison to now, and this reflects in the lack of editing and poor placement within the ‘College Magazine’ task. Where as, in reflection to the music magazine task there is a clear difference in not only the knowledge and control in technologies but also what I am doing, ultimately.

I feel there is a vast improvement from my preliminary task, especially in regards to professionalism, although there are things I would still improve about my music magazine. For example I think the choice of front cover imagery could have been better, as although it is a great photo, I had difficulty with applying text on top of it as it easily became blended or illegible due to the colouring. Perhaps if I had the chance again, I would create a photo that had a bland back ground, although this would push me to think further into the narrative of the image. I think the colour scheme of a fuchsia and white look good and are statement, I wonder if I could have used something slightly more gender-neutral. My contents page, I think could have been more effective in a different layout. I overall believe my product to be quite successful when relating to my target audience and genre and I am very happy with what I have produced.

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

Before AS media, I only used blogs to read articles written upon them but never to write my own. My experience with using Blogspot/Blogger has taught me how to, not only, compile all my research, development and evaluation in one highly accessible location, but about the effectiveness of presentation and layout. I used the label tool on the blog in order to bind all my posts together in topic, regardless of post and editing dates.

I have learnt a great deal in respect to Photoshop and Indesign, skills that I believe to be invaluable. Within Indesign, I learnt a lot about placement, the use of text boxes and playing fonts for desired effects, swatches, levels, contrasts and effects like sharpen and guassian blur and tools like the rectangle tool. Using my research into codes and conventions and previous publications, both print and online, I found inspiration for layout, types of images used and tone and register of the feature. Using Photoshop, I learnt the power of using tools such as the blemish, spot healing and patch tools to touch up and edit my images used. I learnt how to resize images and how to optimise the quality, in order to increase the clarity and sharpness in a smaller image (i.e. saving the image at 200dpi).

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Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience, for my music magazine, are both males and females between the ages of 18-35, working/middle class, C1C2D with interests in live music events and indie/folk/contemporary blues styles of music.

Max is nineteen years old, loves all music types, but more so for acoustic, indie styles, art, fashion and regularly socialising. He is currently a music BTEC student and attends gigs as regularly as possible; through growing up on a variety of different genres and eras of music through his family, his BTEC now gives him a greater possibility to keep an eye on blossoming artists. Max regularly buys CD’s, almost weekly, and if he cannot find what he wants in his local HMV, he happily resorts to importing it in. His last gig he attended was an ‘Eddi Reader’ concert at The Stables, in Milton Keynes, an artist that his parents had introduced to him, when she was part of ‘Fairground Attraction’, and now he follows her more contemporary texts. He lives in a small village outside of Northampton, yet visits the town as much as possible, and dreams of moving to London eventually. Max buys into high street fashion mostly, with an odd piece here and there taken for independently owned boutiques and imported from other countries due to trending styles.

How did you attract your audience?

I attracted and addressed my audience through the use of immediate imagery, from the cover, of an artist of a that reflected both my target demographic, but of a certain dress style too. Using an art-type artist on the front cover promotes ideas of inclusion and relatability for perspective buyers, promoting both the music genre, via relevent artists and art styles, and also, in regards to younger readers, a sub-culture that would publicise a sense of style and norms and values. The magazine throughout uses bright yet contrasting colours to ensure a statement is made by the fonts and backgrounds; This encourages a sense of accessibility and aesthetics within the product, whilst maintaining a contemporary look. Choosing the pricetag of £2.25, aids attracting a younger audience, due to a generalised view of financial instability, and also the older spectrum of the target audience as being affordable it would be something cheap enough to easily add to the shopping load without second thought.

Feature Development

Initially, I worked to my layout idea I drew up in planning. sectioning the page clearly in two, to have a clean break in the sections of the feature, left hand-side for content and right for imagery and facts. I used the same gray swatch I made for the contents page.

After placing the image, I found it to be too wide and so I resized it on Photoshop in order for it to fit well and not spill into the rest of the feature. The creation of the feature's masthead was probably one of the more time costly things to do, as I had to maintain a sense of aesthetic without it overlapping, the text flow breaking due to adjusting leading and that it wouldn't take up too much space. I also added the top right corner text box filled with my planned content.

I took two of my favourite, closely linked and the most important, in my opinion, sections of the interview to fill the gray text box, as if to promote that those two questions are standardised for every interview. The text itself was written in 'Helvetica' and used the same purple swatch I used on the front cover as a highlighter. I decided to use 'Papyrus' as the '5  New Artists' font, as because it is so different to Minion Pro and Helvetica it stands out and looks more like a logo for a serial feature. I then laid out the text boxes ready for my feature.

I placed my feature into the text boxes, allowing them to overflow into one another, but realised that the feature fitted well and I had spare space at the end. The introduction, I made sure that 'Sara Spade and The Joyful Noise' was highlighted, increased in font and using the themed purple swatch.

I shortened the first text box until the overflow reached capacity in the secondary text box and then placed a image box ready for placement. I found an appropriate image and edited it in Photoshop, so that the size would fit well and placed it in the bottom corner.

I realisied that leaving the feature like that left it a lot to be desired. I had a final adjusting before adding a paper swatched thin rectangle running across the bottom of the feature, in order to add page numbers and the publication name for professional reasons, and pull quotes on the standardised gray swatched rectangle as finishing touches.

Contents Development

Initially, I set out the lines according to my plan, dividing the page up into it's equal portions.

I then added an array of text boxes to help give me a greater idea of how the layout will look.

I created two new swatches for the colour scheme, using the swatch of the fuchsia I created on the front page paled slightly and reduced in opacity, and a gray swatch by having zeroed colour levels and played around with the contrast level to find what I wanted. I set out and aligned my boxes ready for text and image, making sure the 'number' box had a paper background to overlap the image.

The next step was filling them with text as I edited my photos. I made sure I used the same fonts as I did on the front cover in order to maintain a reoccurring theme.

I then added the images and played with how they were placed within the image boxes.

And finally tweaked and adjusted, adding a miniature version of the front cover to the subscription advert.

Front Cover Development

Initially,  I placed my chosen image on the layout, as this would be my base to the rest of the image, and the mast head of the publication.

I spent a fair time trying to find a font that would appeal enough and fit for purpose to the kind of message I would like to send; I finally settled on Minion Pro as it appears as both bold and statement, this I think promotes a more confident and a possible iconic style. I ended up playing around with the leading and height and width percentages to get the effect I wanted.

I then begun placing planned text boxes on page (coverlines), filling them as planned with information about what was inside the cover. I initially used Papyrus to contrast the masthead, as I thought it to be more delicate and chose to use a white in hopes of contrasting the image behind as using black didn't work very well. I also added a white rectangle in the lower left hand corner, placing the bar code image upon it and adding details such as the price, what issue, date and the website.

Deciding against using Papyrus, I changed it back to Minion Pro and removed the large 'list-like' text so I can focus on two major cover lines. I chose to try and keep with the Masthead to tag line colour differentiation, in order to keep some kind of theme. The text itself had leading editing in order to pull it more tightly together.

But, that way, it all blended together and looked bland, so I reversed it and found it far more effective.

To finish, I simply added Boss, Drop Shadow and Bevle effects to both the mast head and my main coverline to make the image really stand out.

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

Bauer Media
Bauer Media was founded in 1875 and in regard to contemporary publications is renowned for Q and Kerrang magazine, which initially lead me to believe that his may be the publication house for me. However, recently Bauer Media have found their circulation figures dropping; most notably Kerrang have recently dropped by 32% and Q falling more than 20% and the general circulation is decreasing at 8.5% a year. For this reason alone, I have decided that perhaps Bauer media may not be the publishing house for ‘Heart Beats’.

IPC Media

Founded in 1963, it now produces over 60 iconic media publications, reaching almost two thirds of all UK women and just under half of UK men, it is estimated that the publishing house reaches almost 26 million UK adults a month. Publications that IPC Media are known for include NME, Marie Claire and Nuts magazine.  Although it is a highly successful publishing house, in recent years IPC media has been known to lay off smaller, more niched publications.


However, I feel that IPC Media would be the more reliable publishing house to go with as if the product is a hit, at least it would then be secure for the future.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My target audience is that of 18-35, both males and females, those who enjoy live performances and those who enjoy new music. The kind of performances these will more likely to be are intimate gigs, and so there is a large undercurrent for those who enjoy going out and seeing acts perform.

My front cover is that of a late teen/early twenties lesbian, edgey hair cut and wearing numerous pieces of jewelery; she adheres to the classic art archetype, creative and progressive. Her pose, with what seems direct eye contact between her and the wall art behind her adds an air of mystery to her. Self-entitled, this lends credibility to the idea that she wishes to take herself seriously.

Within my contents, I have used a different images to reflect the different takes on music that these different artists use. The artists are mostly self-entitled, this lends credibility to idea that these artists want to make it somewhere and often have to do so on their own. This represents young artists as well as the magazine itself as being independent and creative.

Within my feature, my images of Sara are all mid performance, this shows one side of her character, whilst the text is all about her, who she is and why she is that way. The text itself has a formal layout, including Helvetica font and a drop capital, this aides the represent the idea of maturity and seriousness about music. Within the feature and the side bar, I try to include as many direct quotes as possible in order to retain Sara's style of communication. For example, "Like when something comes together inside of you, when it reaches a position in your heart, mind and soul", this kind of non-conventional style narrative whose pragmatics and lends itself to spontaneous speech.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Deciding to do a music magazine that has an indie/acoustic feel to it allowed me to explore my ideas of what is indie acoustic? Is it the art type armed with the guitar and lyric book full of politics or is it the songstress who feels as if she should have been born in the 1920's who still sings about traditional norms and values?To me, the entire concept of indie acoustic has no boundaries but holds signature only in what music is played and not defined by power, success and vast amounts of greed. For this alone I chose the image on the front cover to be something slightly arty but still something down to earth and street, thanks to the graffiti, this challenges traditional codes and conventions as the usual choice is the over made up star, mid-shot against a plain gray/white background. This image has comparisons between other professional indie/pop/rock magazines and my own.

My text within the publication kept mostly to two fonts, Orator Std, for highlights and important text, and Helvetica, for my feature text, due to it having a more professional appearance. Colour-scheme wise, I kept things simple, black and white, accented by purple and the odd bit of gray where necessary; I chose these colours as they are soft and gentle, much like the music promoted, to add a bit of colour and brighten up the publication as opposed to the standardised black on white with images.

The majority of my shots were mid-shots, this allows the model to envelop a character and portray them effectively; Mid-shots appear to be a common convention within the music magazine industry. I used a long shot within my feature as to break up the page further and also add the full effect of the photo, created by body language and musical props. The feature is written in Standard English; however the tone it is written in leads the audience to derive a much more personal feel for it.

Self Analysis - Feature

The feature supports a more mature approach, more similar to that you would see in a publication aimed at an older target audience, this is shown via the tone and register of the text. It focuses on Sara Spade, and how she got to where she is today with a side bar of what inspires her, the aim of this text, and this publication, is to not only raise awareness of fresh new artists but to also inspire others who wish to become an artist. I decided it would be nice to have a couple of pull quotes embellishing the imagery I have used and to also add more of a personal touch. Keeping to the colour scheme of the publication I have used the purples to highlight headings and names, this helps make the publication stand out more and be more bold. Using the large heading aims to catch the readers attention.

Self Analysis - Contents

I decided to take influence from the NME magazine as I really liked the layout and it's approachability, the fact that it was non-conventional, in some respects. I chose to have my main attraction feature as the centralised picture boost, this way the publication not only entices readers in with the front cover but theres extra tease on the first page. All my major features are picture boosts, accompanied with a titled heading and a talkie headline to entice the reader.

Each individual image has been touched up and edited to fit the necessary sizes, and I have included an image of the front cover in the subscription section as a more personal touch.

Self Analysis - Front Cover

I worked as closely as I could to my design layout, as possible, having already pre-planned what it was that I would be using as my front cover. The aim of front cover is to reflect the kind of publication on it’s inner pages, which is why I chose an aesthetic and personal, in style, photo for the back ground. The title and tag-line are both bold and explanative about the publication, as explained earlier. I chose the tag-line ‘music for the soul’ as it reflects the genre of music I will be covering, music that has candour, that is raw and that is emotionally fulfilling. The type of music my publication will cover, is not ‘pop’ and far from it; but music that may still come under a mainstream category. I kept to the style of more of an indie-publication to retain that sense of personal touch and involvement with the intended reader and to highlight the difference in the kind of publication it is; that it is not a glorified glossy magazine.The front cover aims to convey the message the publication aims for, that the genre is a unisex music magazine aimed at a younger audience. In context of representation, that the image used conveys a very relaxed pose of an edgy lesbian, this promotes that the content is not bias and that the model in question has a creative look to her. Her pose connotes that she is connected with the graffiti, as if they are looking at each other, creating mystery. With the image background being that of her against a graffiti covered brick wall creates a sense of realism and rawness.

Audience Feedback

 I interviewed fifteen people about their music and magazine tastes. They appear to have a rather eclectic taste of music, being casually varied across the results. When it comes to the magazines themselves it appears the most bought magazine type through those I interviewed appears to be womens mags, whether this will affect my tone of writing will yet to be seen. Those asked would prefer to pay between £2-3 so I will place my publication at the £2.25 mark.

Photography

The images I have used have all been those that I have taken in the last years or so, having always been one to dabble with photography, and so I have picked out images most appropriate to the style of my publication.
These images have then been uploaded to Photoshop, modes changed to CMYK, adjusted levels and touched up if necessary (cropping, spot removal, patching, liquifying, etc) and saved at 200dpi.
I had to ensure that the images I used were not only clear, but already had a base contrast that was workable to edit with.

Rough Designs

Front Cover:

The front cover I took inspiration for publications like Q and NME with the layout, having a strong image to advertise the artist and also as the main focus.

Contents:

This layout was influenced by a contents page of NME, in trying to keep to codes and conventions; I also really enjoyed the busyness of it and how it had a lot of information for the reader to sink their teeth into.

Feature Page 1:

Feature Page 2:

The feature itself was influenced by articles I have read across the board, where there is equal focus on both the text and who it is focused on, the imagery.

Magazine Analysis

The front cover uses an effective use of font that really stands out, making a bold statement. The use of colour scheme of text reflects the image used and immediately implies what kind of magazine it is, a women’s magazine that centres around fashion and lifestyles, aimed at BC1C2. 

The image used is the products unique selling point for that issue; it personally reaffirms interview with Lady Gaga by using a striking mid-shot to call the attention of the reader and to really stand out. This suggests that it was taken from a photo shoot made especially for the magazine.

The use of large cover lines attracts the audience and invites them to look inside the covers to see what else the magazine has to offer. It has an effective use of bold black text, reverse text and bright pink text in order to stand out. The use of tight leading creates an air of sophistication via showing an alternative to any usual text that may be seen on a flyer, for example.

The title uses large text to maximise awareness of the magazine’s title. It is an effective use of bold font to create a statement masthead. Over laps image in a non-obtrusive way to signify the importance of the name of the publication. It has a great use of non-standard text font to create personalisation and also a small price tag and issue number to use a reference. 

The layout is open and uses individual picture boosts to promote each major feature within the magazine, however it appears that the centre of visual interest differs from that of what is on the front cover. As well as using an array of striking imagery, it also uses a talkie headline in order to introduce the feature followed by a subheading explaining what the feature itself is. The features are the main source of interest having the regulars tucked away, this implies those who buy the magazine probably do so enough to know them. Striking use of subscription tab.

Using a pull quote as the heading splashed across the page draws the readers in, this combined with a large image of the artist makes it pretty hard to miss. Due to the choice to make a statement, there is little space for text and so the text has been reduced in size to fit it all in. The majority of the text is black on white, with reversed text for the heading, with colour on white text to highlight. Not only due to the content of who is feature, but the layout, we can deduce this is aimed at a C1DE audience of young teens.

Research and Planning: Comparisons with other publications

For a stylised inspiration I would look to those publications that already exist, and to analyse why they hold so much importance, why they are successful within the mainstream market: products such as NME a weekly publication and Q a monthly publication, both of which are highly successful. 

NME (National Music Express) is published by IPC- Inspire (IPC-Media’s Male division. It is considered an ‘indie-rock’ music magazine, complete with a relaxed view within its journalism and it’s approach to professionalism, combined it creates a sense of realism, not segregation between the artists and their fans. NME is aimed at a predominantly male audience, aged 16-24 in from an ABC1 background (Forrester 2002). As we can see from the front cover it is simplistic yet effective, adjusting the text and colour of the logo, as it is iconic within itself, to match the image used. This allows it to be both noticeable but also to attract the attention of fans of the artists featured.

Q magazine is published by Bauer Media Group. Although it is hard to find to whom the product is actually targeted to, it is safe to assume that the product is aimed at a more mature audience, they do not specify in a genre as per se, as it’s main interest is within new releases and upcoming artists. The concept that Q is aimed at a more matureaudience is shown by the use of polysyllabic lexis and elaborate code, the style of journalism is highly professional. Q’s iconic front covers follow a stylised tradition of a simple, yet highly effective, image of the featured artist, surrounded by other information. With the renown Q logo in the corner it is easily recognisable from a distance what the publication is, attracting those who follow the magazine and those interested in the artist featured.

Research and Planning: Initial Ideas

I, first of all, outlined my plans and ideas, focussing on the genre the product would contend with, it’s intended audience and finally the name of the publication. I believe having a product entitled ‘Heart Beats’ would be a good option: heart holding links to life and the integrity it holds for existence, beats, whether it is the beats of a heart or of music connote ideas of rhythm and tempo and essentially back to the concept of ‘music is life’. I have also aim to choose a font that will not only be statement but with the shape of the words in capitals hold loose links to a cardiograph. The product itself will focus on independent, and perhaps unsigned, artists who are making a name for themselves within the industry, with aims to boost their well-deserved reputation. This will set it apart from pre-existing products as it’s aims will be self-sufficiency – new artists are always looking for a break to become reknown and so if this platform is provided other new artists would look to my publication for promotion.
Like the majority of music is non-judgemental on gender, sexuality, ethnicity, as would be my publication, however I need to take into account those who are more likely to buy such a product; so I have decided my intended audience would be males and females from 18 – 35. I have made this decision as this younger generation has the most disposable income, the younger end of the spectrum interested in live music and nights out, the elder about local events, where a night out locally.

Introduction

Welcome to my music magazine blog.
This Blog will include my ideas, the follow up research and the eventual work that will compile the music magazine that I will be creating for my coursework this year.