Finished Magazine

Evaluation

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







2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

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

on Prezi

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience of Why We Listen magazine, similar to that of NME Magazine, are affluent young men and women between the ages of 16 and 24, who spend their time in coffee shops and at Camden Town market, wearing Doctor Martens, skinny jeans and baggy, vintage, 'grandad' jumpers. They enjoy mostly alternative, indie music but appreciate all genres, attending festivals such as V Festival and for those who are under 18, the Underage Festival in London. Why We Listen allows advertisers to contact it's target audience to connect with optimum customers for their product, as Why We Listen is a reliable brand to the Indie teenagers, they trust what is advertised on it's pages. Possible advertisements could be those from Topshop/Topman and companies such as Apple where the Why We Listen target audience is likely to shop.







5. How did you attract/address your audience?









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

on Prezi

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

View more presentations from megkelly.

Audience Feedback

Making the magazine

To begin with, I edited the photographs I had taken for my music magazine. To do so, I used Photoshop and iPhoto software and made use of the blur tool and spot healer tool. For some of my images, (left) I enhanced the colour to make the photograph more vibrant. Next, I began to create my front cover. After editing my main image so it had a plain background (using Photoshop's 'background eraser' tool) I was free to position the elements of my front cover. I placed the details of my main article over the picture of the artist, so it was clear who the article was in reference to. I also made the title of the article the same colour as the name of the magazine and the musician's hair, to create a brand identity and an eye catching image. I used a block typography for my magazine title, this was quick and easy for the audience to read but remained eye catching. 

Next, I went on to create my contents page. I made the title of the page 'Why We Listen This Week' to retain a brand identity and also, referring to the audience as 'we' may make the magazine feel more personal to them. Again using Photoshop, I placed, on the left hand side, a list of articles and their page numbers, but placed relevant images (right) on the right hand side. This was to refrain from making the page look too congested with a lot of text. I placed page numbers next to the images so it was easy to find that related article. For my double page spread, I wrote the article in columns to give the magazine a more professional look, ensuring each column was of an equal size. Next I aded the images of the musician to the page, making one set larger as a focus point of the page. I also embedded some images and a quote within the writing to break up the text.

Flatplans

I would like my magazine contents to be set out in a contemporary way that would attract a young, Indie audience. I will use a layout similar to the NME or Q magazine.  Here are the flat plans I have drawn out for the layout of my Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread.

Typography

Typography is one of the most important things to consider when creating a music magazine. The typography of the title and the font of the headlines reflects the style of music it is representing and is one of the main elements that attracts the readers' attention.

The front used for Kerrang! magazine is the main attraction for much of their target audience. As well as being associate with the rock/punk musicn genre, the typography used reflects the rebellion and the violence behind the genre with a graffiti style font and smashed glass effect.

The typography the NME magazine uses is bold capital letters. The font does not get lost within the front page as it stands out from the images. Using a bright colour and simple font would attract the students that the magazine is aimed at.




Here are some fonts I have considered using for my magazine title

Edited Photos

 I edited the 8 photos I took to make it look like they had been taken in a photo booth. I made each picture black and white and used a photo strip template to place them in a horizontal line. I framed each one so the subject was central to the picture. These will this be positioned across the double page spread to give it a personal, scrapbook effect.







The photograph that I used for my front cover was initially cropped to fit the size requirements of the cover page. I framed the image so there was space for the title of my magazine and teasers of feature articles. In addition to this, I edited the skin of the model to make it clearer. I did this by using the blur tool on Photoshop, to give the image a more professional feel. I also made the background brighter and clearer to ensure focus remained on the musician pictured.

While editing this photograph, I maintained the rule of thirds used by ensuring the model was kept to the right hand side however, cropped the image, getting rid of unnecessary blank space. In addition to this I used iPhoto's 'straighten' tool and the 'retouch' tool to remove blemishes and make the model's skin appear clearer.

Originally, I planned to change this photograph to black and white and place it in a photo-strip. I then decided that enhancing the colour of the image would pull the audience focus to the model's hair colour, and turning the image black and white would withdraw their attention from the feature. Therefore, I used iPhoto to enhance the colouring of the photograph to make the colour of her hair appear brighter. I applied this technique to the similar photographs that were then used in the double page spread article.