Goodbye

Thank you for reading my blog about my AS Media course. I hope you enjoyed learning about the process of making a magazine and the research we did. I am very proud of my final results and have learnt a lot about using different softwares and a lot of different magazines.

Thank you again!
Bye :) 

Evaluation: Question 7

Evaluation: Question 6

Evaluation: Question 5

I used Creatly to make a visual summary of how I attracted my audience. 

My magazine is based specifically on a certain stereotype of people, so by using contrasting colours like black, yellow, blue and red; bold words that stand out; music artists from the rock/pop punk genre; cover stories that would interest my target readership; I am able to attract my audience. My magazine will stand out as it is not like most magazines because it is so busy and different, so my target audience will be attracted to things that are different and not mainstream. 

The language I use will be very conversational and sometimes taboo, making my target audience older (17-20). It will be informal and full of humour, so the reader will enjoy reading it, even if they are more interested in the pictures, as my target audience is. If they are more interested in the pictures, using informal language makes it easier for the audience to read as they will enjoy it more because it's more personal. 

Evaluation: Question 4

Evaluation: Question 3

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

Here is a PinInterest board I created showing magazines published by two media institutions I considered for my magazine:

Follow Honica Sharma's board Evaluation: Question 3 on Pinterest.

Bauer Media

Bauer Media already publish 3 major music magazines, Kerrang!, Mojo and Q Magazine. This shows how their standards are extremely high.The magazines are very similar to my magazine, especially Kerrang! magazine. I do not think Bauer would consider publishing my magazine because they are already such a successful company and would be looking to invest in magazines that are already well-known. Since my magazine has just started out, it will have to work it's way up. My magazine is also very similar to Kerrang!, meaning there would be a lot of competition within the institution. 

IPC Media

IPC publish two music magazines, a very well-known one (NME) and a not-as-well-known one (Uncut). NME is very successful and Uncut is a growing magazine which is doing very well. NME is quite similar to my magazine by it's genre of music, but it's more mature and aimed for young adults rather than teenagers (median age of 24) so there will not be such tight competition within the institution and my magazine will attract a wider age range to the company.

I would like to have IPC Media publish my magazine because it is a very successful company which will help the growth of my magazine as NME has a website which is "world's biggest standalone music site" and NME is "the longest published and most respected music weekly in the world". It would be extremely beneficial to be part of the same company as them. 

Evaluation: Question 2

Evaluation: Question 1

Final Pages

Cover Page 

Contents Page

Douple Page Spread

Audience Feedback

I printed off copies of my cover page, contents page and double page spread and shared it with other people asking for their feedback. Here's what they said:


1. Cover Page


"Move the 'Britain's answer to pop punk' to the right because it overlaps the cover photo."

"Add another coverline between 'Bring Me The Horizon' and '2014 Rock Chart' as it looks bare."

2. Contents Page


"Make the page numbers more distributed because they're very uniform."

3. Double Page Spread


"The text looks boring for your magazine, add some colour to make it more exciting."

I took on board what most people said. There were some things in which I didn't agree with, such as making the "Volt" in the contents page banner yellow. I think that would be too distracting as it's only meant to be a background graphic.

Double Spread Page Drafts

In the first draft, I placed the picture there first because then I can work around it. I also put the title on the page so I can see where to place the text. I was confused about which side I should put the title on and decided to put it on the left side as that makes the page look more dispersed.

In the second draft, I added a background to add more colour to the page. I also put the logo of the magazine as part of the background so it doesn't stand out but is still noticable. I took a quote from the article I've written and made that one of the main features of the page. I put the colours in black and yellow, continuing that theme. I also added the page numbers and Avril Lavigne's skull and cross bones logo, as she is well known for that and it works well with the colour scheme.

In the third draft, I added the text. I swapped between putting the text where the quote is and putting the quote where the text is, but I prefer it like this as it's much easier to read. 

Cover Page Drafts

In my first draft, I placed the photo of Jenny in the cover so I could work around it as a central. I added backgrounds for the straplines and placed the logo in the top left corner. I debated whether I should have the photo of Jenny overlapping the logo, and decided to keep that as it's very common with magazines and throughout the magazine, the logo will be shown so readers will become familiar with it.

In my second draft, I added a background as I had made an effect on photoshop to the logo of my magazine which I liked. I thought I would do the same effect with the whole page to make it different. I put text in the strapline at the top as it's important and one of the first things the reader will read. I added the price, bar code, issue number and date in the same place as they must be included and putting them all in the same place is easy for the reader to find. I also put text in the bottom strapline. For future issues, the 'POSTERS!' will be regularly there and so will contests. I put 'AVRIL LAVIGNE' across the cover as that is my main feature.

In my third draft, I added more coverlines to make the magazine busier.

Contents Page Drafts

In my first draft on the contents page, I have included the pictures linking to the pages, created a banner at the top where it says 'contents'. I didn't know where to put the logo for my magazine as everywhere I tried looked odd or distracting. I decided to make it part of the background of my contents banner which I think works well.

 In my second draft, I added dashed lines to section the page. This makes the page look busier, and that's the look I'm going for. I also added the page number, the logo and magazine website at the bottom right of the page. I made the page number graphic red to make it stand out.

In my final draft, I added the page numbers and titles. I made the page numbers yellow and the titles black to continue the yellow and black 'warning' theme. I put little annotations about the page below them to tell the reader more information about what on the page. I added an editor's letter to make it more personal, so I can introduce the magazine and myself. I also added a picture of myself and signed it. By putting a black background to my editor's letter, it makes the letter stand out and I can make that a recurring theme for ongoing issues.

Double Page Spread Writing

For my double page spread, I decided to write an interview for Avril Lavigne. To get my information, I looked on her website (www.avrillavigne.com) and also looked at recent interviews she did on youtube. 

Here is one the interviews I watched:
(The introduction is not in English, so you can click here to skip to Avril Lavigne talking.)

Here's the first draft of the double page spread text:

Avril Lavigne has been part of the music industry since 1999, she is now 29 (though you wouldn't know since she just doesn't seem to age) and we've met up with Avril to discuss her future plans, her new married life and where she's going with her career now. 

How are you finding married life?

We're still in the can't-keep-our-hands-off-each-other phase, so it's all really exciting. We got engaged after a month of dating, it was really soon but even then we've been through a lot together, we're growing stronger as a couple and getting married just took our relationship to the next level. I really wanna take care of this relationship. 

Do you find it difficult to balance your work with your personal life?

Of course it's quite challenging but we try to be together as much as possible. We never spend more than 2 weeks away form each other, because obviously we're travelling a lot but we just want to support each other. I always miss him whenever I'm travelling or he's travelling, but I guess distance makes the heart grow fonder, right? 

What do you want your current music to say about you?

I think my music just shows every side of me. I'll always stay true to myself no matter what. I want my music to just celebrate life and fun and being crazy. Rock and roll is a way of life, it's a lifestyle and an attitude and a fashion sense and it's a music style, and it's what I use to express myself. It's different. 

Do you think your music has changed over the years?

In my newest record, I tried to go back and hit all my old styles. I've experimented a lot but that just means I'm growing as an artist. I'll never change my music style, I'll always go back to my previous records. But I am growing still, learning new things and I have all these ideas I can't wait to try out. When I'm writing songs with my husband, it's very different because obviously his way of looking at life is so different to mine, I'm a girl, he's a guy, we have different opinions. His music style is different to mine too, so it's challenging, but I'm learning new things by writing with him. I'm still the same me, definitely, but I am going to keep trying out new things with my music. I don't know where it's going to take me. 

Final Front Cover

Creating The Cover

I am still trying to understand how InDesign works and am finding it very difficult. After editing the cover photo on Photoshop, I placed it onto InDesign and started playing around with effects. I changed the effects of the masthead on Photoshop and placed it into InDesign:

 

I think liked the effect so much, I made a plain background of it and copied it onto the background of my cover. I added blue straplines at the top and bottom of the page, and then placed my photo where I want it and this is what it looks like so far:

 



Double Page Spread: Jenny

Final Layout Designs

Contents Page: Alfie

Cover Photo: Jenny

Contents Page Photo: Jenny's Eyes

Front Cover Layout Designs

In my layout, I want to prioritise the picture because that is what the majority of people will be looking at. The picture must be the biggest thing on the cover and nothing else should be covering the picture too much. You must be able to see it clearly. The masthead is also important as the reader must be able to see what the magazine is called. It must be clear to read and recognisable to my audience. I will coverlines and straplines to make the magazine cover more appealing to the reader by using type fonts and colours. Here are some layout designs: 

Douple Page Spread Layouts

 The picture I've chosen to put on my DPS (double page spread) is landscape so it will most likely bleed over both pages. I am going to treat the page as if it were an A3 piece of paper, so the title or picture will bleed over the page. To me, the picture is the most important part of the page. However, I must also make sure there's enough information for the reader. At least one whoel page will be filled up with a picture so that the reader may cut it out and use it as a poster.

Contents Page Layout Design

On the page, it must be made clear that it's a contents page, so I've prioritised the title. I don't want the page to look dull, so I've added pictures to all my layouts. I think there should be a lot of pictures because I don't want my magazine to be just full of text, it has to be visually appealing as well. I also added an editors letter because that makes the magazine more personal to the reader. I can introduce myself as the editor and tell the audience what they should expect from the magazine as this is the first issue. There also needs to be a lot of space left for pages, as that's what a contents page is for.

The Treatment

Target Readership – The target readership audience for Volt will be aimed at both genders, between the ages of 17 – 20. The magazine will be focused on teenagers who like to be different from others and not fall into the mainstream category. They will be very looks-orientated, teens who like to spend a lot of time on their appearance. The sort of music my audience will listen to is most likely to be pop punk and rock, including lots of bands such as Pierce the Veil, Bring Me The Horizon, You Me At Six and others that are similar. They are people who look up to these bands and be influenced a lot by their appearance, such as the fact that a lot of the band members have tattoos and piercings which are usually not socially acceptable. Also their clothing and hairstyles will also be frowned upon, but it is different and my target readership would follow the band members by also having tattoos, piercings and wear their hair and clothing in a socially unacceptable fashion. My target readership will most likely not be from a wealthy background and will probably buy the magazine themselves, as they will most likely have a part-time or full time job and the magazine will mean a lot to them so they will look forward to buying it. Music will be a big part of my target readerships’ lives as most of the people who listen to the sort of music that will be featured in my magazine can relate to the lyrics, and the lyrics are usually very intense and dramatic, showing how these people probably have difficult lives and find comfort in these songs. The magazine will probably be very personal to my target reader, as it will feature celebrities in which they look up to and have also had difficult lives, such as Kellin Quinn who is known for his quote, “wrists are for bracelets, not for cutting” which is widely spread around social media. The readers will have a strong desire to meet their role models; they will keep up to date with their lives via social networking sites and will like to know much about their personal lives which they can read about in my magazine and since my audience is in their late teens, they will be able to read heavy articles. They will also be very much involved in the music side of the magazine, they will want to know about upcoming gigs and concerts, as the reader will go to a lot of concerts in their spare time and would like to keep updated about upcoming ones. My reader will probably be friends with people of similar taste and not really get along with people who do not like their genre of music of their “style” or hair and clothing. This means they will probably spend a lot of time online talking to people who are like them, as the majority of people are into mainstream music. They will have accounts on websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, ask.fm and YouTube. My readership will not be interested in television shows such as Celebrity Big Brother, X-Factor, The Voice or anything else considered mainstream. They will not have much interest in television, so will spend most of their time listening to music channels such as Scuzz or Kerrang! whenever they are watching TV. My reader is probably not very confident with people but enjoys to look different. They will not have a lot of friends in school but may interact with a lot of others outside school, such as at concerts or gigs, where they share common interests. They will rely mostly on music and social networking to occupy their time. 

Form and Style – Volt is an A4 colour magazine and will be very visually orientated, using professional and unique pictures that interest our readers. Even though I am targeting it at both genders, the magazine will most likely be more masculine as the girls the magazine will be aimed at are girls who are not “girly”, so I will avoid using lots of pinks, purples and baby colours. The magazine will be A4 sized and have a 40:60 text to picture ratio. The magazine will consist of interviews with music bands and individual artists, upcoming artists, question and answer articles with famous singers, a section in the middle of the magazine filled with posters of popular punk pop and rock artists that readers can collect. The cover will be very busy and visual containing lots of pictures and bold colours to attract readers. Coverlines will consist of well known music artists that all of my readers would of heard of and be interested in. Posters will be featured at the bottom as a regular section in the magazine and readers will be eager to see if their favourite music artists poster will be featured. The graphics used will be done to stand out through clashing colours such as dark blue and yellow on my front cover, making different words different sizes to make them stand out, using a thick outer lining on words so they also stand out. The magazine will sell for £3.50 as that is a reasonable price because the magazine will be filled with a lot of information, there are very limited rock magazines out there so the price is able to be higher than magazines that are very common, such as pop magazines. 

Themes and typical features – Volt will consist of regular features that readers can rely on being in the magazine. Tour updates, gigs and concerts, interviews with music artists, exclusives, upcoming artists and posters will be regular in my magazine. In every issue, there will be a double page spread on whomever is on the front cover featuring exclusive information about them from a personal interview we've done. There will be a lot of advertisements about festivals, concerts and gigs throughout the magazine. The reader can rely on Volt to get all  the information about upcoming concerts first. The reader can expect lots of pictures in the magazine where they may cut them out and stick them on their bedroom walls as that is a very common thing to do. The writing style will be very informal but informative. The informality of the writing style will make the reader connect with the writer more, making the magazine more personal. There will be taboo language, making the target audience more mature as we can include mature themes. 

Potential Advertisers – There will be many potential advertisers for Volt magazine as the type of readers to read the magazine will normally have the same interests in things such as clothing, movies, TV shows, music, free time activities. Clothing stores may want to advertise in Volt magazine such as Drop Dread or band merchandise stores such as Grindstore. Music channels such as MTV Rocks  and Scuzz can advertise with us, as the music they play will be featured in Volt. Another potential advertiser would be the YouTube community. YouTube will play a big role in my magazine as a lot of famous vloggers on YouTube listen to the same kind of music I want featured in my magazine, they are part of my target readership and by getting them to read my magazine regularly, this will heavily influence their subscribers. 

Editorial Team – Volt will have an editorial team that consists of writers with experience and personality. They must reflect a fun, opinionated personality through their writing. They will have interest in the music featured in the magazine, go to concerts and events so they can understand the readers and have first hand experience of what they're experiencing. There will mainly be male writers, but there will also be some female writers as most of the readers of my magazine will look up to male celebrities. The writers must be young and be able to connect and interact with young people through their writing style. They will be creative and fun, the articles written will be interesting and amusing to read. 

Colour Samples

Here are some samples of colour schemes for my magazine: 

1.

 2.

3.

4. 

The one I have chosen to use is number 2, the blue, black and white colour scheme. Red is very similar to my student magazine and I want to try new colours. Pink would suggest that my magazine is just aimed at girls and that's not the case. Grey would make my magazine look quite dull and it is much too like a newspaper. Blue is a colour that is usually associated with boys, but I can feminise the magazine colour using fonts and the fact that Avril Lavigne is on the cover would make it appeal to both girls and boys.

I've also decided to add yellow to my colour scheme as a contrasting colour. Yellow and dark colours put together suggest 'warning', adding to the rebellious feel of my magazine.

Contents Page Photo: Felix

Behind The Scenes Of My Photoshoot

I managed to take lots of good pictures which I am very happy of and can use in my magazine. Whilst I'm editing them, please enjoy some pictures from behind the scenes of my photoshoot.

Outfit Ideas

I want my model's outfit to be based on this one of Avril Lavigne. I don't want it to be identical, but I want the the basic concept of the 'school uniform' look to remain. 













Here's a mood board I created of my outfit:

Other Photos Taken For Magazine