DPS layout design.

For my double page spread layout, I have decided to follow the conventional layout, by opening the article with an image of the artist with some text information briefly describing the context of the article.

Time Management update.

In regards to where I said I would be in the action plan, I am about a week behind due to absences because of both illness and recovering from a recent operation.

layout design of front cover.

Promotional offer/ puff:
I have decided to place this here to relate to the initial market research I did into the sub genre, the other magazines I looked at had placed it up here, which made them look more clean and professional.

"Overplayed": I've followed suite with most magazines, as they all pretty much have their brand name at the top of the front cover.

The central Image will be at the back of the cover (or on the bottom layer) this will make the text easier to read for the audience. 

The article promotions will be shaped around the central image (this will relate to my research of NME. This will also make it look more professional. The one at the top again follows pretty much all magazine styles, as they tend to have the promotions up by the magazine name.

Final fonts for magazine.

The logo itself will be written in the Phatrave font.

The contents page heading will be written in Amazon Palafita

The magazines text will be written in veranda

[Text.]

Photoshoot- pre edit

Possible fonts; Sourced from www.dafont.com

In the process of choosing a font I was shown dafont by a few people in my class.

Dafont is a website with a whole range of different fonts that are free to download and use. 

Whilst browsing I came across a few fonts that I think would work for my chosen sub-genre.

OveR PLAYED- Indie Hand

OverPlayed-phatrave

OverPlayed -Little Snorlax

Over Played- Amazon Palafita.

Research of the Alternative sub-genre

Alt Magazine (altpress.com)

Cover Layout:
-text is shaped around the image, this makes it easier to see the image at the centre, it also organizes the layout to make it clearer, and make the magazine seem organized.

Font:
-Different sized texts pinpoint the leading articled and go from skinny and tall to small and bold
-All text on cover is serif (has little feet on the characters)

MOA:
-Informal, the magazine uses slang and chatty language to promote a more younger/youthful audience.

Colours typically shown:
-Red     
-Blue        All primary colours- All contrast one another.
-Yellow  
-Black
-White

Content:
-Posters
-Interviews
-Features ect.
All typical things found in magazines- they all involve the reader (posters- something the reader can make personal and display, interviews- the reader learns more about their favourite band ect, features- the reader broadens their view on the music sub-genre.)

Logo:
-Peices cut out and others added in, looks "reshaped"- suggests the sub-genre could be reshaping the music we listen to.

Images:
-Photo of band:
  Members put into a pyramid shape, with the most iconic person being at the front and dead centre of the magazine.
-Solo artist: medium close up portrait of them facing head on to make them recognisable.


NME

Cover Layout:
-Although there isnt much on the cover, the cover looks cluttered and untidy.
-Title is ALWAYS at the top, and they usually have a promotional offer/article advertisement just above them.

Font:
-Font is clear and crisp and also consistant throughout. (however this only refers to the font, not the colour)

Mode of Address:
-Front cover doesnt address reader directly. they do however use persuasive language that draws the reader in ("unseen", "Big... Interview inside!")

Colours:
-Red
-Black
-Yellow
-White 
These are consistant on almost every NME magazine.

Content:
-Competitions
-interviews
-exclusives
-ads
-reviews ect.

Logo:
Block colour on a bold font.

Images:
Cover: Previews of featured articles
Inside: Adverts, photos relevant to articles.

Pitch Presentation

My finished pitch for my magazine, it contains my ideas for colour schemes, price, content ect.

Questions for after viewing the pitch:


Q1) Out of all the possible names given, which do you feel was the one you preffered? Why?

Q2) What type of photo would you want to be on the front cover?

Q3) What Articles would you like to see in the magazine and or featured on the cover?

Q4) Which house style do you think would look best throughout the magazine?

Q5)How much would you be willing to pay?

Action plan+ time management.

Action Plan;

Date;

5th November;

Content:
   
-Introduction to main task
-initial ideas for music magazine
-creating pitch for music magazine
-research of chosen subgenre


Tasks to complete:
  
1. Introduce main task and post action plan on blog.
2. Post initial ideas for magazines.
3. Develop and complete pitch.
4. Post the 2 magazine analysis' (x2 front covers, x2 content pages, x2 double                                             page articles.)

5. If completed, post the institution research that we worked on in class before half term.

6. Complete further research of chosen sub-genre.

12 November

Content:

-Present pitch & receive audience feedback.

-Further audience research.

-Focus on photography.

Tasks to complete:

1. Post pitch and audience feedback on blog.

2. Gain more audience research.

3. Begin to take photos for magazine pages.

4. Complete mock-ups of pages.

19th November

Content:

-Indesign/photoshop training.

-Designing front cover

Tasks to complete:

1. Develop front cover: experiment with layout, colour, font, language ect.

2. Post photoshoot on blog.

26th November

Content:

-Designing front cover

-Audience feedback on front cover.

Tasks to complete:

1. Develop front cover design.

2. Gain audience feedback on cover.

3. Make adjustments to magazine design in response to feedback.

4. Complete draft content for double page article.

3rd December.

Content:

-Designing contents page.

-audience feedback on contents page.

Tasks to complete:

1. Develop front contents page with layout, colour, font, language ect.

2. Make adjustments to design in response to feedback.

10th December.

Content:

-Design double page spread.

-Audience feed back on double page.

Tasks to complete:

1. Develop front contents page with layout, colour, font, language ect.

2. Make adjustments to design in response to feedback.

17th December.

Content:

-Finalise magazine design

-Introduce evaluation.

Tasks to complete:

1. Finalise all pages.

2. Begin draft of evaluation.

24th/31st December

Christmas Holiday.

Tasks to complete:

1.Draft evaluation.

7th January.

Content:

-evaluation.

Tasks to complete:

1. Develop evaluation.

14th January.

Content:

-Evaluation

-Final blog check.

Tasks to complete:

1. Evaluation. 

2. Final blog check.

FINAL DEADLINE: 18TH JANUARY 2013. 

Introduction to main task:

For our main task we have been instructed to create a music magazine of a sub-genre of our choice (e.g. Rock, hip-hip e.c.t.)

We have to include:

1. Front cover
2. contents page
3. double page spread
4. at least 5 images.

Another thing we have to consider whilst making our magazines is the target audience, we have to constantly refer back to our audience to make it more appealing to their likes and dislikes.

Preliminary Task Evaluation.

Question 1:

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

I have used similar techniques that other student magazines use, such as the basic layout, and basic colours, and other techniques. 

Question 2:

How does your media product represent different social groups?

Since my magazine was aimed at students, I decided to make it be more appropriate to students as opposed to working adults/non-students by choosing more modern colours that attracted both genders and using students on the magazine itself, I did this so that the students felt more drawn to read it and that it related to them by having the students on there.

Question 3:

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

I would suggest it being distributed in places that the students work in alot, for example; a college library or cafe, so that the students can see it on a frequent basis.

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my magazine will be college students aged roughly 16-19, I feel it would appeal to both genders due to the content (gaming reviews and film reviews), but I feel that the front cover would draw in a more female audience than male.

Question 5:

How did you attract/address your audience?

I decided to attract/address my audience by using modern and fresh colours, I even tried to incorporate this when taking the photo, the orange of the photo is vibrant and energetic which relates to the target age of the audience, I also decided to do a promotional offer that sparked the more creative side of the audience.

Question 6:

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

Whilst designing my magazine cover, I used both photoshop and inDesign, photoshop made it easier for me to come up with a colour palette as it let me put a whole load of colours together to see what the outcome looked like, so I could tweak with the colours easily to get the right look for the cover. InDesign, allowed me to put it all together and was better for the job as opposed to using microsoft word. The benefit of using inDesign over word was that if I needed to, I could put things onto different layers making it easier to organise the text and seperate the images making it easier to move things around.

Finished product

Mock up pages.

questionnaire for initial ideas

Audience research.

Question 1:

Which magazine name do you prefer?

- Student Oddities. (2)

-Studentlife. (1)

-Student Buzz. (0)

-Student momentum. (0)

Question 2:

How much would you be willing to pay for the magazine?

-Free

-50p (3)

-£1.

Question 3:

Where would you prefer the photo to be taken?

-Inside a classroom

-Outside the college (3)

-By the castle

-In the college canteen.

Question 4:

what would you want to see in the magazine?

-music.
-current affairs.
-films.
-art.
-fashion.
-sports.
-gaming.
-finance.

All the above (2)

All of the above excluding fashion (1)

What colour scheme do you prefer?

-1 (0)

-2 (2)

-3 (1)

Initial ideas.

Another thing we have to do for our student magazine is create the actual brand name and the initial ideas for the magazine cover.

We are also required to come up with other things we need to be on the cover, for example the content of our magazine the house style what images we will use and what the price will be.

Possible brand name ideas;

-Student Oddities.
-Studentlife
-Student Buzz
-Student momentum

House style and colour scheme.;

A separate post has been made for my house style ideas.
http://stephaniekrafczyksmediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/colour-scheme-ideas.html

Price;

For the price I have decided to choose something affordable for the students so something between completely free upto £1.

Images;

I am hoping to have a selection of photos to choose from for the front cover, they will probably be of Students doing work or a student pointing out an issue that would end up being in the magazine.


Content;

My beginning ideas for the actual content of the front cover- article wise, is to present items that students are usually interested in. For example; students tend to look in magazines for information on upcoming/existing bands or what's going on in the world of celebs.

So articles on things such as;

-music.
-current affairs.
-films.
-art.
-fashion.
-sports.
-gaming.
-finance.

Colour scheme ideas

For the colour scheme of my magazine cover and contents page, I decided to look at colour palettes that had contrasting colours as well as colours that complimented one another aswell.

During my search I came across these palettes that were colours on a pre-existing image- so I thought I may be able to create an entire colour scheme through things that students typically use on a day-to-day basis so that the audience would be able to instantly recognise the colours and can instantly connote the magazine to the chosen items.

Colour palette ideas.

Another idea I had in regard for text/backgrounds/logos were using textures and other things for example using things like this;

 

or even using fabric textures such as denim

I think using textures that look modern will make cover/contents page look more professional.