My Magazine Proposal Presentation

Research/ Case Studies (Planning) NME Part 2

Research/ Case Studies (Planning) NME Part 1

The magazine that I have chosen is NME which stands for the New Musical Express.

Front cover Analysis:

The masthead is the logo of the magazine “NME” which is bold, short, and red and on the top left corner, by doing this it makes it more noticeable to the reader and easier to recognize to people who want to by this magazine because of the trade mark. The main image is usually of a very famous person or new artists. The image is a medium wide shot of 3 young girls from the up and coming girl band “Haim”. The girl in the middle (Este) is holding a camera faced to the reader, this will catch the reader’s attention as if she was taking a photo of the reader. The 3 of them are looking directly at the reader which is direct address; this makes them up in the readers face and grabs young male’s attention because of their looks. There is pull quotes being used in this front cover, this is a great way to attract the reader to want to read the article inside the magazine. Their body languages are relaxed and fun which suggest what type of music their do (indie pop). The ethnicity of the Haim is white which is typical to the music genre. They are mostly wearing black which is elegant. There is only one cover line which is very different and not typical even for other magazines, the cover line is placed in the left- medium to catch the buyer’s attention as it is relevant to the image because it’s about Haim.  NME colour scheme is simple but with a ‘pop’ of colour. It uses colours such as red, black and white which is consistent with NME magazines however the colour scheme is not consistent throughout the magazine, the majority of the magazine is white and black but the masthead, cover line and their pull quotes are red which makes them stand out more, also all the text are bold which makes them stand out as well. The pricing and bar codes is at the bottom right and there is another pricing next to the masthead. The skyline goes around the picture frame of the image.

Contents Page

The aim of the contents page is to tell the reader what’s in the magazine and where they can find it. The content page is split up in 3 columns; the first column consist of 3 images with information of the image and page number; the second column has one big image and a smaller one, it also has numerical ordered categories which makes it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for. The third column has 2 images with information and page number and an advert. On the bottom right there is advertisement for the magazines online subscription website, this is very catchy because just as the reader is turning the page it see the advertisement plus it is red which makes it stands out from the contents page and raises publicity of the magazine. The colour scheme of the content page is the same as the one of the front cover. Personally I don’t think that the images reflect the genre of the magazines because the artists are all different in my eyes

DPS

In this double paged spread, one page is used for the images of the girl band (Haim) which matches the image used on the front cover however the image is a wide shot and because the girls are on one level that suggest that there is no lead singer in the band. The other page is used for text; the title of the article takes up 50% of the page and it states in

big, bold, black letter, of who the article is about. The other 50% is the article that is split up in 3 columns which makes it seem like there is less text then there actually is. In the article there is a drop cap which shows where the article begins. There is also a quote from the feature article, it consist of offensive language so tell me that the article or magazine is not for the younger generation. The colour scheme has changed as there is different colours such as blue and pink.

Magazine Newsstand Task / Distribution of Magazines

Last week I visited WHSmith to do my newsstand task. I went to the music magazine section which I found very limited and there wasn’t a large variety of different genres of magazines. This was quiet surprising considering that WHSmith is a book/ magazine shop. The majority of magazines in the store were Rock however there a few other genres such as pop and RnB.

All the magazines are place in columns and rows, facing the viewer which makes the masthead of the magazine visible to the viewer to buy the magazine, I have noticed that all of the magazines mastheads are very out-standing and bold; this makes the entire masthead easy to see and all stand out from each other. A few of the magazines have the same distributors, for example ‘Q’ and ‘KERRANG’ have the same distributor ( EMAP) It is harder to see certain magazines cover lines however some magazines have been places on a slant so that the cover lines are seen. I saw that the music magazines where above and next to magazine that taught how to play musical instruments; ‘Piano for Beginner’. There are many different colour schemes however I notice the most common colour used other than black or white was red, a lot of the different magazine used the colour red which I found very interesting.

That’s what I learnt on my trip to WHSmith.

Magazine Ideas

Audience feedback and Evaluation; File Sharing Article

All of my research was done online, which made looking for examples and information easy and quick. The bad things I found with using the internet is that it’s hard to find reliable sources as there are a lot of false information or fake websites. Another problem I had with using the internet was finding up to data or current information and facts to add to my article since the issue has been going on for a few years, however to prevent this from happening, I used online magazine articles and known websites such as Huff Post Tech, RIAA, The Guardian and much more to insure that my source was true and up to date. I had to make sure my research would link with my target audience because I didn't want to write about an artist or label that my target audience wouldn't know off.

For this article I had change and adapt my writing skills because I wanted my article to be professional and mature to match me target audience. I found writing the article quiet easy and interesting as the topic was current and I could connect with the topic, however it was hard to put my thoughts and opinion in a professional text. One of my weakness was that I didn't proofread my work which meant I had  some mistakes so I had to delete the first one I uploaded and upload another that I got one of my peers to proof read it for me.

In InDesign I was teach that; my page should be a A3 landscape page; the black outline is the outline of the page and anything thing outside of it would not be shown on the page; the purple outline is you would put your text; to divide the page in two you had to drag horizontal line to where you wanted it (I wanted in the middle); to create a text box there was a symbol with a capital T in the toolbar which you had to click on and drag the box to your desired sized; to add an image there was a symbol called rectangle frame tool but you had to save the image you want in a file and then paste, if not the image will not be saved on the page; the symbol called rectangle tool was to add colour; it was a bit confusing because most of the symbols looked the same and since it was my first time using InDesign it was difficult at the beginning because it was new software and I wasn't familiar with the tools, but after doing lots of drafts and getting use to the tools in InDesign I found it easy and fun to edit.

To web publish I had to first create a blogger account which meant that I had to make a Gmail account as well, I had to pick a suitable name, so I decided to name it my first and last name plus AS media to let people know that the account was for my AS media work and not personal. After creating my account I could publish my finished article.

I only had two comments on my article and both were positive. “This is a really good article! It is very detailed and has some facts and Lady Gaga's view which make this article quite good. The appearance is also nice.” This comment was helpful as it reassured me that my article was detailed enough and that interested my target audience. “Love how the font colour compliments the background image, very informative piece *thumbs up*” this comment was helpful because the comment mostly judged my editing and considering that I was struggling with editing, it made me know that practice makes perfect and my hard work was appealing to my target audience.

My targets to improve are;

·         To proofread my work before handing it in or get someone to do it.

·         Check if sources are true before writing about 

Research/ Case Studies (Planning) Draft

The magazine that I have chosen is NME which stands for the New Musical Express.

Front cover Analysis:

The masthead is the logo of the magazine “NME” which is bold, short, and red and on the top left corner, by doing this it makes it more noticeable to the reader and easier to recognize to people who want to by this magazine because of the trade mark. The main image is usually of a very famous person or new artists. The image is a medium wide shot of 3 young girls from the up and coming girl band “Haim”. The girl in the middle (Este) is holding a camera faced to the reader, this will catch the reader’s attention as if she was taking a photo of the reader. The 3 of them are looking directly at the reader which is direct address; this makes them up in the readers face and grabs young male’s attention because of their looks. Their body languages are

relaxed and fun which suggest what type of music their do (indie pop). The ethnicity of the Haim is white which is typical to the music genre. They are mostly wearing black which is more elegant. There is only one cover line which is very different and not typical even for other magazines, the cover line is placed in the left- medium to catch the buyer’s attention as it is relevant to the image because it’s about Haim.  NME colour scheme is simple but with a ‘pop’ of colour. It uses colours such as red, black and white which is consistent with NME magazines however the colour scheme is not consistent throughout the magazine, the majority of the magazine is white and black but the masthead, cover line and their quotes are red which makes them stand out more, also all the text are bold which makes them stand out as well. The pricing and bar codes is at the bottom right and there is another pricing next to the masthead. The skyline goes around the picture frame of the image.

Contents Page

The aim of the contents page is to tell the reader what’s in the magazine and where they can find it. The content page is split up in 3 columns; the first column consist of 3 images with information of the image and page number; the second column has one big image and a smaller one, it also has numerical ordered categories which makes it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for. The third column has 2 images with information and page number and an advert. On the bottom right there is advertisement for the magazines online subscription website, this is very catchy because just as the reader is turning the page it see the advertisement plus it is red which makes it stands out from the contents page and raises publicity of the magazine. The colour scheme of the content page is the same as the one of the front cover. Personally I don’t think that the images reflect the genre of the magazines because the artists are all different in my eyes

DPS

In this double paged spread, one page is used for the images of the girl band (Haim) which matches the image used on the front cover however the image is a wide shot and because the girls are on one level that suggest that there is no lead singer in the band. The other page is used for text; the title of the article takes up 50% of the page and it states in big, bold, black letter, of who the article is about. The other 50% is the article that is split up in 3 columns which makes it seem like there is less text then there actually is. In the article there is a drop cap which shows where the article begins. There is also a quote from the feature article, it consist of offensive language so tell me that the article or magazine is not for the younger generation. The colour scheme has changed as there is different colours such as blue and pink.

Benedicte Beya

Audience Feedback and Evaluation - Preliminary Task/College Magazine (Planning)

I created my front cover on Photoshop and I feel like the photography I used on my front cover went well with the college magazine. I like how the image I chose shows a happy, learning student, the fact that she is reading an open book and smiling gives a good and happy impression and mood to the layout of the magazine. The images is staged but looks realist which makes the image more believable to the reader, the student is wearing her own clothing which could make it hard to identify who is the target audience but because she is wearing her student ID card shows that the magazine is aimed at students. I decided to put more photography on the contents page to show the range of college life. I still put an image of the same student that I used in my front cover to show relative but I also put other student in different environment and situations.

I enjoyed manipulating some of the images on Photoshop, I didn’t do much to the image I used on the front cover, and all I did was crop some areas that I didn’t want and place the image in the centre, by doing this it made the image the focal point of the front cover which I wanted. I did more manipulating to the images I used on the content page; I used a tool on InDesign that faded out the images to blend better with the white background which I liked using.

I really like layout I chose for the front cover, I like how I put the text on both sides of the main image but placed the more important ones on the left side of the page to create the lower left third, this is a good factor to have on the front cover as it’s a key factor in distributing magazines. I used a simple layout for my content page with similar factor as the front cover, because all my text is on the left and my images are on the right

My masthead is LSC which is an abbreviation of Leyton Sixth form College. I used this because the youth of today would recognize and relate as it is the language that they use and know of. The colour scheme that I have chosen  are orange/red, black and white which are colours that I’ve taken from the image as she is wearing a black jacket, white top and her student ID card, by doing this I feel like the colours and image complement each other, and this is consistent throughout the content page. I chose a big, bold and strong font for the masthead as I wanted it to be eye catching and remembered; also I made it an orange/red colour so it stands out from the off white background. The colour scheme was also used on the cover lines as I wanted everything to link, I used different fonts as I wanted to portray that the college life is different. I chose relative and modern cover lines to appeal to the target audience. One of my cover lines was ‘Upcoming Events’ I feel like this would attract more readers as my target audience would be interested in find out what events and shows they can get involved with.

I feel like my content page need to be improve as I rushed I and didn’t spend as much time on it then I did with the front cover, this is shown in the final product and I wish that I had put more effort in my content page however I’m still satisfied with what I created in time that I had. I only have verbal feedback from my target audience and most of them can tell that I put more effort into creating my front cover then my content page. In consideration of my own opinion and audience feedback my three key points for development when producing the main task is:

·         Spend the same amount on all pages

·         Don’t rush work

·         Put equal amount of effort in all work.

Benedicte Beya

Preliminary Task: LSC Magazine (Planning) : Student Magazine

Preliminary Task: LSC Magazine (Planning) : Student Magazine