Evaluation

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Double Page Spread Final

I then used the filter Film grain to create this effect.

I then merged the two images to create the double page effect...

For the other side of double page spread, i'm going to do the same effect with these three images.

After adjusting the blending options i was left with this...

I then put the images on top of one another and played around with the blending option to create a distorted effect.

These are the four images i decided to use for one side of my double page spread.

Magazine Cover Final 2

After recieving audience feedback, i made some minor alterations to the magazine cover which would better it as a whole. I changed the font colour in some places to make it stand out more, and rectified the cropping issue i had.

Audience Feedback - Magazine Cover

I decided to upload my magazine cover on the social networking site Facebook, to gain some audience feedback on my cover so i could see where i went wrong with certain aspects and then improve on them. Generally i got mostly positive feedback, nearly every problem everybody identified was the same, which was the cropping issues. I will defineatly take the suggestions given to me into consideration, so i can improve my magazine as a whole.

Contents - Final

I then used the Emboss tool, to enhance the image and create an artistic feel to it.

This is the main image which is going to be used for my contents page. It is is going to be altered on photoshop for maximum effect.

Magazine Cover Final

To enhance the masthead, i added a stroke and altered the emboss to add a better effect.

I then took the cut out image and put it back where it was before hand, thus creating an effect of the masthead being covered by the image. I then used the effect film grain to enhance the image.

I then moved the cut out image so i could write a title at the top which would be behind the main image.

I uploaded the main image of my artist and used the magnetic lasso tool to cut him out, as i wanted to keep with the codes and conventions of traditional magazines by having the masthead being covered by the image.

Ideas for hooks, teasers, buttons and cover lines...

When producing a magazine, it is important for one to consider the use of hooks, teasers, buttons and cover lines as somewhat of a unique selling point to reel in readers. All of these aspects are important in contributing towards the success of a magazine.

The edition of the magazine which I'm producing focuses on a brand new Hip Hop artist coming on the scene. Therefore I'd like my magazine to be fairly dominated by this new artist and incorporate cover lines and buttons in relation to him.

By having prize offers on my front cover, it will act as an incentive for readers to purchase the magazine. I have an idea use buttons to advertise these prize offers, keeping it short and snappy to intrigue the reader.

-For example: 'Win Big D tickets!'.

By not giving reason to how you can win these tickets, this will add curiosity in the minds of the reader, therefore encouraging the reader to purchase the magazine

My main cover line again is in relation to my Hip Hop artist, Big D.

- 'Big D - The next Slim Shady?'

By having a question as the main cover line, it again adds curiousty into the minds of the reader. I believe that adding an element of enigma into such cover lines will reap benefits for the magazine sales, as it is human nature for people to feel intrigued and to have the need to find out more, thus resulting in magazine purchases.

Trying to maintain my goal of trying to reel in readers, I want to give limited amount of information with certain aspects such as the hook lines. For example:

- 'Read more on his rise to success'.

Quotes such as these encourage the reader to buy the magazineas it hooks the reader and reels them in. It also plays on their emotions, as curiosity will take over their mind, thus forcing them to purchase the magazine.

Freebies are also used as an incentive for readers, to encourage them to buy the magazine. When producing my magazine I may consider the use of including freebies. For example:

- 'Free Big D Poster inside'.

The word 'Free' is known to be the most eye catching word for humans, and is used extensively by advertisers to reel in consumers. When producing my magazine, It is important to bear in mind physcological factors as such, as it is important to influence the readers decision on whether or not to purchase your product.

Masthead Ideas

Beatz
Rhythm & Beats
Base
The Mix

These are my four initial ideas for my magazine mastheads. I've chosen these as a possibilites as they all are linked and can be associated with the Hip Hop and R&B genre I've chosen to base my magazine upon.

The idea for a masthead i have is called 'Beatz'. I chose to have a 'Z' at the end instead of an 'S' as it goes against norm and doesn't follow general grammatical rules. From the information I gathered from my questionnaire, most people associated Hip Hop with rebellious connotations, therefore i felt this could be also reflected on the title name. Generally the name beats has references to music and can relate to the hip hop and R&B genre I've chosen .

The next masthead option im considering is called 'Rhythm and Beats'. I took this idea from the unabbreviated term R&B, which stands for Rhythm and Blues. However i decided to make my own twist on this, as the term Rhythm and Blues was established during the height of the Motown era, and I want my magazine to be modern and in tune with the current era, thus changing the word 'Blues' to 'Beats', which will help me achieve this goal.

'Base' is the third option for my masthead. Base has references to music, generally loud and hard music which can also be associated with Hip Hop and R&B. Base is derived from sound, and therefore would be a suitable name for a music magazine.

My final consideration for a magazine title is 'The Mix'. The title has references to music, the word 'Mix' can fit into the the context of a music magazine and it gives the feel of funky/groovy feel. I feel this sort of vibe would be suitable for my magazine as it is aimed at 16-24 year olds, and therefore my primary aim is to attract younger audiences.

Font Possibilites

Double Page Spread 2

Double Page Spread Mock Up 1

Contents Mock Up 2

Contents Mock Up 1

Front Page Mock Up 2

Front Page Mock Up 1

Questionnaire Results - Layout

This pie chart shows that all participants prefer a layout which is spaced out.

Questionnaire Results - Magazine Purchase

This pie chart shows how often the participants purchase magazines.

Questionnaire Results - Money

This pie chart shows that everybody was willing to pay more than £1-£2 on a magazine. However this can be considered a personal question as this is regarding money, and therefore many people might of stated they would pay more for a magazine to not seem cheap.

Questionnaire Results - Images or Texts

This Pie Chart shows that everybody who participated in this questionnaire stated that they preferred images over text. This was certainly expected as all participants were teenagers, and generally younger people prefer visual imagery over reading text.

Questionnaire Results - Font Association

Most people who answered this question generally associated bold and sharp fonts with hip hop magazines. When I asked a participant why he/she thought this, they claimed that the nature of hip hop is conveyed as somewhat violent and brutal and therefore this can be reflected on the font types.

Questionnaire Results - Hip Hop Artist Representation

From this particular question, the answers given were somewhat expected, as they were very generalised, stereotypical portrayals of Hip Hop Artists. Nearly all answers given back to me were more or less the same, stating that hip hop artists are most commonly portrayed as gangsters, thugs and criminals. Certain words and phrases came up more than once such as 'Bling', which in context meant hip hop artists are commonly known for their wealth and the extensive amounts of jewellry worn. On the whole these answers were expected by me, down to the fact that the media only portray hip artists in this light, and also down to the fact that i gave a leading question, which gave hints to the participant of the expected answer. Certain factors such as leading questions i must consider when conducting a questionnaire to ensure the validity of my answers.

Questionnaire Results - Colour Schemes

In relation to the question regarding colour schemes, there was no overall particular colour which everybody chose. The answers generally varied, however no participant chose the colour pink as being a suitable colour in a hip hop magazine, which came as no surprise to me. The majority of the colours on the tonal scheme wheel were chosen, which was somewhat an unusual result for me as i predicted the darker colours to be the most dominant result.

Questionnaire Results - Age

This pie chart shows the different range of ages of the people who took the questionnaire, and the amount of people in particular age categories.

Questionnaire Results - Gender

This pie chart shows that i asked an equal amount of boys and girls (5 each). I did this to dertermine both a male and female perspective on the questions raised in the questionnaire.

This is the questionairre which i've distributed to 10 people in order to gain information which will help me produce a magazine which is tailored for my audience. I will display the information given by those who've written out a questionairre, so i can see a general correlation between the answers.

Contents Page Analysis 2

Contents Page Analysis

Double Page Spread Analysis 2

Double Page Spread Analysis

Magazine Cover Analysis

Both of the genres of these magazines are Hip Hop and R&B. In both magazines this is made clear from the main image, as both have iconic members of the hip hop community on the cover; The Game and Lil Wayne. Also ‘The Source’ magazine has a slogan beneath the masthead which says, ‘The Bible of Hip Hop Music’. The articles contained within the magazine are also related to hip hop, such as ‘Plies code of silence’, again an iconic member of the hip hop community.

The magazine appeals to their audience (the target audience being people interested in hip hop music), by having the main cover image of a recognisable member of the hip hop movement. In these cases, The Game and Lil Wayne are considered legends within the Hip Hop community, and this would immediately attract hip hop lovers to purchase the magazine, as the magazine has got the ‘best of the best’ to be included within the articles.

Both magazine images are similar to one another as both Lil Wayne and The Game cover the title of the magazine. This is a bold statement made by both magazines as the publishers are confident that people know the name their magazine even though its being covered.

The first image of the cover of the source magazine is quite a powerful and controversial image as it denotes an image of death and suicide. Such images would be able very eye catching to a passer by as it is uncommon to see this on a magazine and may be considered quite unethical and rebellious to post a picture with such negative connotations. The controversy surrounding the magazine cover could essentially be a unique selling point as it is bold statement made by the rap artist which many may feel curious to read up on.

The second magazine cover of Lil Wayne has some enigma surrounding the image as there has been an intentional use of lighting which creates a shadow across his face. This shadow across his face may imply the he has a dark side, or something to hide. The use of this shadow covers the left side of his face, and therefore shows more focus on the right side of his face, specifically his tear tattoos. In gang culture, by tattooing tears beneath ones eyes means that they’ve killed somebody in their past. This also adds to the controversy of the magazine cover as such a sinister individual is on the cover, which may also attract readers to read up on him.

Audience Theory - Hypodermic Needle

Sources : http://www.mediaknowall.com/alevkeyconcepts/audience.html

Introduction to Main Task

For our main task, we are required to produce a magazine front cover, contents page and and a double page spread. Every aspect of this project must be original, and any pictures which are going to be used must be taken by us.

When producing this magazine, we are required to use cameras to add to the origanlity of the product, and also use programmes and software such as Photoshop and paint to enhance the quality of our images.

In order to ensure the success of the production of this magazine, we are required to do an extensive amount of research in relation to our chosen genre, (mine being hip hop and R&B). To understand the codes and conventions of a hip hop magazine, I will view similar real life media texts such as Vibe Magazine and The Source;and by gaining an understanding of the codes and conventions, I can then apply them to my own product.Audience reasearch is another method I'm going to use to find out what people expect from Hip Hop magazines as I can then apply their views to improve my magazine.

Contents Page Mock Up

End Product

This image shows the end product and final idea for my magazine cover. I chose to use two different typefaces, as the font type 'Pincoyablack' which i used for my masthead and main cover line looked distorted when written in a small size font. Therefore i chose to use 'Comic Sans' as it came out clear when written in small font and is also the font used for Heston Community School when writing newsletters etc. I chose not to use a barcode as i intended this to be distributed by the school to its students for free, as somewhat of a newsletter. However, i wanted to keep the appearance of the newsletter similar to a magazine cover.

I wanted to add the Heston Community School logo to my front cover, however i wanted to remove the white background from the original image, so i used the magic wand tool which helped me to do so effectively.

I didnt want to keep the digital type view of the origanal image, so i used [Ink Outlines] for more effect.

From viewing various fonts which were shown in my typeface selection, i downloaded my desired font from www.dafont.com

this is the image i took for my front cover, which is going to be edited on photoshop, and conventional factors of magazines are going to be employed to add to the proffessional image of the final product.

Introduction

The first task we are required to complete is our plreliminary task, which consists of creating a magazine front cover in relation to our school and its students. We are required to use take a picture of a student for our front cover, and employ the common conventions of a magazine such as mastheads, main cover lines etc. The picture of the student will then be edited using photoshop for maximum effect, which will add to the proffessional image of the magazine. Bearing in mind my target audience, which will be students of the school, my initial idea is to create a somewhat trendy theme as i think this will be appropriate for appealing to my target audience.

The primary purpose of this publication is to inform students of Heston Community School of goings on in the school, with articles only written up by members of the school. By doing this, I'd hope this would attract my target audience, as its written and created by teenagers and therefore the readers can relate to the content within the magazine. In order to reach my full creative potential, i will experiment with various aspects such as Photoshop, and my photography skills, which will add to the originalism of the product.