Front cover final edit.

Final edit.

-LAME logo onto of model head
- Larger text in picture boxes
- 'The horrors' subtitle added
-Border around give away box
-Smaller ad circle

Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

http://prezi.com/56rgmcmc84-s/q1-in-what-ways-does-your-media-product-use-develop-or-cha/

Double page spread final submission.

My new and final draft of the double page spread takes full advantage of all the space given. With more content and less free space this is my final draft.

Q7) looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Q5) How did you attract/address your audience?

Q6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Q2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

http://prezi.com/sf1lu3l8xhon/present/?auth_key=wdwu2t8&follow=4ycs_ztjbfpt&kw=present-sf1lu3l8xhon&rc=ref-67101353

Q3) What kind of media institution might distibute your media product and why?

Q4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

Contents page draft 2

In this draft of my contents page I have completely started again. So instead of me describing what changes I have done and why I done that I will start from fresh.

With this draft I want to fill the page and make the contents page full of content. In my last attempt I had the idea to keep it simple, light and not full so the buyer doesn't have to search for long to find what theyre looking for. But with further research into music magazine I discovered people want more instead of less in terms of content and how to find it. In draft 1, I focused on the big story's but in this draft I wanted to get everything in here. I find this visually more gratifying and logically better for the user to find more content if they're confused.

The fonts I decided to use are still in the house style of the front cover and the double page spread. I wanted to keep everything consistent throughout the magazine to establish a brand for the magazine. The fonts used are called 'Bebas' ( This font is used for the title and numbers), 'Letter Gothic STD' (Fotnt used for subtitles) and 'Vijaya' (Used under the subtitle to expand on that). The fonts are simple, smart and sophisticated and stay within the house style. This is a conscience decision I made to try and establish the magazine as a brand. The most successful mainstream magazines use the same font over and over and coin that font as theirs. I am hoping to get this status with these three fonts and tie them in with LAME magazine.

The colours used in this is black & white. I didn't want to use any other colours because that would go against the house style and look I am trying to achieve. The only colour on the piece is the three photos on the bottom. I kept them in colour because when I edited them black & white it didnt look aesthetically pleasing and I wasn't happy with it.

In this piece I decided to add links and information regarding the magazines social media sites. I personally think if someone wants to follow us on social media that they will find us on there own accord and companies should'nt force it down our necks. But in case people do want to follow us them the information is there.

Contents page anaylsis ( NME magazine )

Contents page analysis ( V magazine )

Evidence that I have edited a image for my magazine.

These screenshot of the layers menu in photoshop show the different stage and editing techniques I used to create my final draft of my front cover.

The original image showed the actor in the middle of the page in full colour. The image was taken on an iphone. To edit it I cut the around the actor using the magic wand tool, when I got a rough outline I went in closer to get individual pixels. This made it look professional and correctly done. Then with the cut out I made the background black and white and placed this layer below everything else. Then with the cut out, I made this the top layer so it covered anything that was behind it like the title of the magazine. This effect made the actor stand out on the front of the cover. This layer effect coupled with the black & white background made for a dramatic and moody vibe that I planned for. 

What I have learnt from the double page features and contents pages.

Double page spread

From the three double page spreads I have broken down and analyzed I concluded a few things. 

1. The use of a big main image to set the tone of the article and show the reader who the article is about without having to read a word. The effect this has for the reader is that they know what is going on. There is no surprises about who the article is about. 

2. Big, bold title of the article. Mainly a quote from within the interview. This gives the reader a heads up on what to expect the article to be about. Or, for a potential customer to flick through and get interested in the title and want to read the interview. This could lead to a sale.

3. Sounds silly but interesting questions. The articles I looked at have personal questions and random, funny questions that they asked the guest. My piece wont have genetic questions about what they're doing next or how is life ect.

Contents page

The three contents page I looked had a common themes within all them. This is what I have concluded about them.

1. All were very simple and clean. It does its job and told the reader where to find what they wanted.

2. big clear text, not small like the articles. needs to be clear for the customer to read clearly.

Where and when I took my images.

This image is on the double page spread. I took this picture in December 2013 and it is of my girlfriend. I used props like the cigarette and headband. I also added a black & white filter. This is an opinion on my iPhone and I thought it would add an artsy look to the article. This image was taken on a wall outside my house during the day so i could get a clear and crisp image.

This image is of my friend in costume. It on display on the front cover of the magazine. I dressed him in a suit, Ben Sherman shirt and RayBan sun glasses. This image fitted with what I wanted my fictional band to look like. I took this picture in October of 2013. This image was taken on an iPhone 5 with no filters. The final image is heavily edited to make it fit in with the house style of the magazine. I have posted a step by step tutorial on how I edited this image on my blog.

Font choice analysis and explanation.

On my magazine I made very conscience decisions for the best choice of font to best represent my magazine. The choice I made had a few different thing to consider first before settling with one font. 

1. Researching the mainstream magazines to see how effective certain fonts have on the audience. With different styles of font it has different effects with the audience, if a font has blood dripping down from it (Kerrang magazine) it could scary some people because it is used to shock. 

2. Fonts can set different vibes for a magazine. For example Kerrang magazine has blood dripping from its font to have a horror vibe and try to appeal to people who have a strong interest in that scene. Some magazines use cartoon fonts to appeal to younger children, these are normally found on comics etc. Higher "class" magazines will try and use handwriting fonts to make the vibe suffocated and upperclass.

3. A magazine can be seen for using a certain font can almost claim that font. An example of this is the Q magazine that uses one type of font through out the whole magazine. No other magazine does this but them.

Fonts I used

I got my fonts from dafont (http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=603) to use in my magazine. I used a style called script. Within that genre of font I used a font called 'Nirvana'. This font is used on the front cover right through the middle. 

As you can see that this font gives off a certain kind of vibe for the magazine. The font is used by the band that's why I used it. The font is typically used in establishments with money behind it. For example, Barnes real estate company uses the same font as my fictional band. Granted, this company has nothing to do with music but it gives you a example of a rich company using my font. 

For my title on the front cover I used a very bold font and colour to make it easy to read and recognize. I also got this font from dafont ( http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=503 ) in the 'basic' sub genre of fonts. This font falls under the 'fixed width' sub sub genre and is called 'Jane'. I dont know why its called that but hey ho. It has basic features. Its bold, black and stand out on a shelf. I wanted this font to symbolize the magazine. Big, bold and in your face. 

As you can see above that half the text is covered but the actors head. Most modern day magazines do this to fully use all the space available on the page. The aim here is that most people already know what brand your magazine is and therefore don't need to show all the title.

As you see from above Rolling stones magazine front cover title is almost completely covered up. If you didn't already know what this magazine is called then you would struggle to guess the name. I wanted to achieve this affect and I think I have. Not all of the title is covered up so fans of the magazine still know its LAME but just enough to completely use all the space available.

Magazine front cover (Draft 3)

With this draft I made the background black & white to make the main character pop and give the piece  an artsy touch. This is very unconventional because every magazine I have researched have very bright, eye catching colours to draw potential customers to the magazine.  But I think this effect is very good for creating a moody atmosphere and this is what my target audience likes. I have also added the price and the date of release, this is within black side bars on the top right hand side. I used white text on a black background so it showed clearly for everyone to see. 

Double page spread analyis (Teen spirit)

Double page spread analyis (Lady gaga)

Summary of the magazine I have made

Content of the magazine

Front Cover

With my front cover I went with a simplistic look over the very cluttered look that most mainstream magazine go for. In a survey done by "Up magazine" in 2009, 89% of people prefer a clean, simple magazine cover where they know what is inside rather than a rough, cluttered one with very basic information and not really telling them what they're buying. So with my front cover i had a simple headline to show the customers that it is a LAME magazine. Then with a big main image and strap line to describe who the image is of and what the image is about. Also describes what the article is about inside. This gives the customer a clear insight into what they're buying and are not deceived into buying it.

Main image

With my main image I wanted it to stand out on the shelf so I edited it in hope to achieve this. The final results was the background was in black and white with my main character in colour to make him pop and stand out. This black & white effect is used by professionals as a basic way to make current elements of a piece stand out.

In the example above you see mainstream magazine 'Rolling stone' use the black and white effect but in reverse to how I have used it in my project. The red title of the magazine draws the attention away from the it and onto the two man on the front. This forces the customer to look a bit harder at what the front cover is about and hopefully get a sale from this tactic.

Font

I got my fonts from dafont (http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=603) to use in my magazine. I used a style called script. Within that genre of font I used a font called 'Nirvana'. This font is used on the front cover right through the middle. 

For my title on the front cover I used a very bold font and colour (black) to make it easy to read and recognize. I also got this font from dafont ( http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=503 ) in the 'basic' sub genre of fonts. This font falls under the 'fixed width' sub sub genre and is called 'Jane'. I dont know why its called that but hey ho. It has basic features. Its bold, black and stand out on a shelf. I wanted this font to symbolize the magazine. Big, bold and in your face. 

House style 

The house style (colour scheme) of my magazine was a big deal for me. I wanted the magazine to stand out and go against mainstream magazines. This is a very risky move but in my opinion all the magazine on the shelf today look the same. Big and over the top, begging for attention and think its too much. I went for a simplistic design in hope that this fresh approach would bring the attention to LAME. In my research I found that Vice magazine goes for this approach and that company was the fastest grow media outlet in the world last year. Granted it isn't just a music magazine but with facts and figures like that, they're doing something right. So I adopted there style and added my own touch. ( Vice does have a music section in each magazine, so I count it as valid research into the music magazine industry).

Audience 

My target audience will be males and females in the age bracket of 16-25. This I think is the perfect age for the content that I hope to produce for this age group. I don't want to restrict or censor the content just to bring the age gap down because that isn't what I want this magazine to be like. The content will be tailored to what my target audience wants from a good magazine. For example, inside stories, new bands, info on gigs and tours, articles about things that the bands might want to be seen about. (A good example of this is when Nirvana were around, Kurt Cobain was a bit supporter of woman's rights and spoke about it very publicly). 

The magazine isn't purposely made for  a certain type of person, I want it to be that anyone in the world can pick it up and find at least one article interesting and worth the money they've spent on it, but if I had to pick it would be people hat are heavy into rock/grunge/alternative music. This can be anyone from the casual listener to the most hardcore fans that know everything about the genre. The aim is to make the customer feel the money they paid for it was worth while. 

Genre

My magazine will focus on the alternative music scene, past and present.

This a very brief selection of the bands and albums that will be discussed in this magazine.

Magazine Front cover final edit for marking.

In this final draft I have edited my front cover to hopefully have more impact on the reader. I have kept the main image of the man on the front cover in colour, to make him pop and stand out. The rest of the background is in black and white with also the two other images in the bottom left hand corner. The text, header and subheadings are in black and white. I wanted the white text (Subheading and main heading) to be in white so it contrastes against the background. I had the title in black because the customer will already know what the magazine is.