evaluation

http://www.slideshare.net/kirstymoorlen/music-magazine-evaluation-18571187
 
This is a link to my evaluation of the project.

This is my double page spread for my magazine. I decided to stick with the banners on the top and bottom of the page, and included the name of the magazine 'Infamous' and put the page numbers at the bottom. I liked the idea of having the picture take up most of the double page spread, I thought it would be interesting to see what it would look like if I added a red panel down the side and have some of the text coming out of it and surrounding the girl in the picture. I stuck to the colour scheme of black, white and red through out this issue as I think the colours work well together, I made the name white so it would contrast on the red panel and made the writing on the red panel black and the writing on the dark picture red so it would stand out and catch the readers eye when going through the magazine and contrast off of each other. I tried to add quite a bit of writing on the page which would give the readers enough information from the interview but I didn't want to put too much writing on the page and cause the readers to be bored so I had to find a good balance between the writing and picture. For the interview I used Steph Martin who was the main feature in my magazine. 

This is a double page spread I found which I thought was a good influence for what I want to do on my magazine double page spread. With this magazine they don't have the name of the magazine whereas others do, I don't think its a vital thing to include but think it would be a good idea to add as I have on the contents page and I want to keep the design consistant. With this magazine they have decided to make the image bigger than half of the page spread which doesn't leave much room for writing, what i've found with double page spreads is that they don't write an awful lot on them which is something I should keep in mind as I don't want to over do it with the text. The colour scheme for this one is very simple, the main colours are white with black text and splashes of blue, I like how they've added some of the blue shapes used in the background on the image so that all the colour isn't on one side and is evenly spread across the double page. They haven't used too many fonts on this page which is something I should think about when making my double page spread.

double page spread mood board

This is a mood board I made of double page spreads from magazines that are from the same genre of my magazine. From these I can see that the pages are mainly taken up by a big picture which can sometimes be bigger than half of the double page. Most of these have quotes above the title in big font which is sometimes even bigger than the name of the main feature. This is then followed by the name of the feature and a brief introduction underneath of what will be talked about in the interview or the story about the main feature. The main colour schemes of these magazines aren mainly black and white with splashes of colour. The font on the pages dont usually need alot of colour on them because the pictures are usually covering must of the pages so they dont need loads of colour. The double page spreads don't usually have alot of writing in them, its usually just a small interveiw or a brief story coverinfg news about the bands in the studios or touring ect. The main idea's I get from these are that I should make sure I shouldn'y make the interview otr story too long as too much writing could bore the reader. I should keep to the same colour scheme I have followed for the cover and my contents page. Not all of these have  the names of the magazine on them but I think I might continue to use the banners I have throught the magazine and include the name on the top.

contents page- my magazine

This is the contents page of my music magazine, I used the same idea of the heades on the top and bottom of the page with writing inside. I used two have my own pictures on this and one of Motionless In White as I had mentioned them on the cover and on the contents. I used the same colour scheme of black, red and white which are the colours I used on the cover, I did this by having the banners on top and bottom of the page red as well as the little boxes around the pictures and also red page numbers, I used black writing and black banners for the subheadings and white for the background, and the writing in the banners on the page. Just like Kerrang! I decided to put the picture of main feature as the biggest one on the page so readers can see that the person in the picture is quite important in this issue. I used the idea of having shapes over the pictures with the page numbers in them because I thought it would make finding things easier for the readers. I liked the idea of not having too much writing on the page and filling up alot of it with pictures as I thought it would bore the readers if they had to read loads just to find out where something was in the magazine. I decided not to write where everything in the magazine was but just having things that were big in the issue because I didn't want the page to be too cluttered with writing that wasn't very important. 

contents page annotation

This is a contents page from the magazine Kerrang! The biggest picture on the page is the girl that is on the cover of the magazine and is on of the main features, having the biggest picture shows the reader that she will be feauted frequently in the magazine, Kerrang! uses the stars on the pictures to show what page they are so the reader doesn't have to search through the magazine or contents page if they wanted to go straight to the main feature. They have a section on the bottom of the page for the editor which not alot of magzines have, he talks briefly about things that are featured in the magazine and some of his favourite things in the issue. They have all the contact information on the contents page aswell as the cover just in case people didn't notice it on the cover, this is used for fans of the magazine or bands mentioned in the issue to send in fan art or letters ect. They use subheadings in the contents so everything is under categories making it easier for the readers to find things.
I like the idea of using the stars on the pictures and think it could be good to use in my contents page, this cntents uses the same colour scheme that is used on the cover, I think sticking to the same to the same colours will help show its from the same issue of the magazine if the pages were seperated. Using catergories in the contents makes it easier for the reader to find certain things without having to search through the magazine of the contents.

contents page mood board

These are some contents pages from music magazines from the same genre of my music magazine. Each contents page has the name of the magazine usually at the top and will have a big picture of the main feautre of the magazine which is usually the person on the cover. These magazines don't list everything in the contents page just things that are mentioned on the cover or things that seem important to the issue. The pages are mainly covered by pictures and follow the similar colour scheme of black, white and either red or yellow depending on the magazine. There isn't alot of colour on these pages and aren't as visually interesting as the cover or double page spread but do include splashes of colour which do brighten up the pages. For my contents page I should follow the idea of not listening everything that will be included but instead jus things that are important to the issue and things that the readers will find most interesting. I should try sticking to the same colour scheme thats used on my cover and have the name of the magazine included somewhere on the page so people will be able to tell its the same magazine if the pages were seperated and the colour scheme will be able to show that its from the same issue.

front cover

This is my front cover for my music magazine 'Infamous' I added a trademark sign next to the name of the magazine because I thought it would make it look more professional and it's something a real magazine would have next to the name on theirs. I decided to add banners at the top and bottom of the page and thought it would be good to be able to add little headlines in them giving the readers a clue to what will be featured in the magazine, I thought by putting some in banners it would mean I wouldn't have to list things all down the side as I didn't want it to look too cluttered. On the bottom banner I thought I could put a competition on it and then put a picture of what could be won next to it. I used my main feature Steph Martin as the girl on the cover as she would be on the double page spread and one of the most important things included in the issue. I researched things like Download festival and added that on the cover with some of the actual acts that are annouced for this years festival, I decided that by adding things like that, that are actually real it could help make the magazine look more realistic as not everything included in it would be made up. I then did a mini photoshoot with Matthew Elliot who is in the black and white photo on the side so that not all the magazine would be based on Steph I thought Matthew fit the genre of magazines as he's got tattoos and piercings which are things that bands/acts that are on these magazines usually have.  I gave the magazine an issue number and looked at prices of real music magazines so that the price would be realistic to, once I settled on a price I wanted to keep it accurate so I went on a currency converter and coverted it into US Dollars and Euros.

cover edits..

This is the photo I have decided to use as the cover of my magazine. I really like the pose the model is doing because she's not taking it too seriously which helps it look like it could be an actual cover for magazines like RockSound and Kerrang! I don't like the colour of the background and think I will edit it so it's black like the covers I have looked at, also I think I will crop it so it's a close up of her face. The space around her is just wasted.







This is the edit of the picture I chose for my cover. I played around with the brightness and contrast on photoshop to make her paler and the background darker.  I managed to get rid of the orange colour of the background. I used a colouring tool to put a red colour over her hair, I think the new colour of her hair helps her fit into to the genre of the magazine. I thought her eyes were too dull and put a blue colour over them to make them stand out. 

These are flat plans I have made from the best pictures from the photo-shoot.    I really like how these have turned out and feel they have given me a clear idea how my cover will turn out. The third one (L-R) is my favorite one, I like the composition and think it's the one that looks more professional. This is the one I will be using for the cover of my music magazine. 

                                                 

These are some photos from the photo-shoot I did, I dressed the model in black clothing like the cover of Kerrang! I annotated did as we place people in black clothing in the Rock/Metal genre which is the genre i'm making my magazine. I made sure I used a background that was plain as I will be editing it out and it will be much easier to do if the background is plain. From these photos I will choose my favorite 3 and will design flat plans for these to help me decide which one will work best as for the cover.

kerrang! annotation

I annotated a cover of Kerrang! magazine which featured the band Motionless In White. This cover used contrasting colours like yellow and red against the black and white on the cover, I think this has worked really well as it makes all the key things in text stand out. I like the idea of the black banner with bold white writing on of the bands name as people are able to see who are on the cover when walking past if it was on a stand. The members of Motionless In White's clothing are all black which is what they usually wear but it works well with the colours on the cover. The use of dark clothing also helps the readers know what genre they play as we fit people who wear black clothing and makeup in the gothic/emo category  This has to be one of my favorite covers that Kerrang! have done and I'm aiming to make a cover to this standard and genre as I don't feel that their is enough magazines that cater to people who listen to these genres.

This is a mood board I made which features Kerrang! magazine and Rock Sound magazine. All the covers have similar things on them, such as a big bold titles at the top of the page. The title is usually black or white and contrast against the background but sometimes are colours that are used on the cover. The key features are always on the cover with the band or artists name in big writing with subheadings underneath. I really like the look of these magazines and would like to try something similar with my magazine, I want to make it look similar but not make it so it looks identical to these. On my magazine I could use colours like black and white so they contrast against each other making the titles and subheadings stand out. With these magazines I like the way they use splashes of bold colours, usually vivid red or yellows. I think that technique works really well as it brightens up the whole cover, makes it look interesting and catches the readers eye without over doing it and making it look to cluttered. The way they place the key features in these magazines is different to ones that feature things like Chart music because they usually feature more than one person as most of the people in the magazines are in bands. 

surveys

After doing a survey on Survey Monkey I decided to go to town and do a survey where I went up to people and asked them what genre of music they listened to. In total I asked 52 people in town and these are the results I got;

The majority of people in town said they liked Rock/Metal/Punk music rather than Chart/Pop/Hip-Hop. I think by doing a magazine like Kerrang! or Rocksound it would make my magazine reach a wider audience than if I did a magazine that just featured Punk music (one that got the most votes in town survey). This results go quite well with  the ones from survey monkey. The only problem with doing this survey in town and asking random people was that not everyone would stop to talk and the people that did were ones that fit into a certain category of people. This doesn't reflect the whole population because I only managed to reach people who were in town that day and who would actually stop.

After doing the survey in town I thought I would give it one last go and ask people in school what genre of music they listened to. In total I asked 37 people. These are the results I got;

These results are quite different to the ones I got from Survey Monkey and the ones from town. Quite a few of the students said they did like Rock/Metal/Punk but more of the students said they listened to Chart/Pop/Hip-Hop. I think for my magazine I will stick with the idea of a Kerrang! style because overall more people said they listened to Rock/Metal/Punk than Chart/Pop/Hip-Hop. Although this survey helped because I know that my target audience may not be students at Marlwood school people who fit into a more alternative scene like town or the people on twitter ect. 

survey monkey feedback...

These are the results and feedback I got from my survey on Survey Monkey;

Question one;

From this I can see that the majority of the people who did the survey prefers Rock music to any other but Punk was close second with only one less person who voted. I could use magazines such as Kerrang! or Rocksound for inspiration for my music magazine as they are made for fans of Rock, Punk and Metal music. 

Question two;

From this I can see that most of the people who did the survey do read music magazines which means that there could be competition if my magazine was to be released. To ensure that my magazine beat the rivals I would have to see what sort of things the audience would want featured in it. 

Question three;

From this feedback it shows me that most of the people brought a certain make of magazine everytime it came out, that changed between once a week or once every two weeks depending on what magazine it was. The rest of the people who said they brought music magazines said they only brought them when they saw bands they liked on the cover. If my magazine was to be made  the audience could either send in requests or go online to say what they would like featured in the next issue, this would help ensure that people brought the magazines frequently not just every so often.

Question four;

This shows me that maybe there wouldn't be too much competition if my magazine would be released because most of the audience felt that there wasn't enough magazines that fitted the genre of music they listened to. Although it doesn't show what genre people thought there wasn't enough of.

Question five;

This was my final question on my survey and it allowed people to comment on what they would like to see in music magazines, most of the responses were things like posters, interviews, tour dates and new album releases. This shows me what the audience wants to see more of and puts me to an advantage because I now know what people want to see and can put them in my magazine. I wont be making a whole magazine just the cover, contents and a double page spread but these responses let me know what things i could put on the cover and in the contents pages.

Doing this online survey really helped me see what sort of things people wanted featured in magazines and let me know what genre was most popular with the people I asked. Although this alone is not enough audience research so I should do surveys in town and places like that so I can reach a wider audience and see what else people think of music magazines.

audience research; survey

To help me see what type of music the majority of the public liked i made a survey on survey monkey;

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WYRV5Q3

I posted the link on my twitter account and asked some of my friends who had different music taste than me and my twitter followers, to do the same so more people would see the survey and i would get a wider range of answers. By getting others to post the survey on their twitters will help to make sure the survey is unbiased as a bigger selection of the public would see it and hopefully respond to it.
This survey is a fairly basic one, just to start me off on seeing the genre of music people listened to ect. After this one I will make a more detailed one based on the genre that was most popular on this survey.

I annotated a cover of Unleashed magazine;

This cover looks too cluttered, the background is too distracting, they have used too many fonts and they don’t look good together. The designer should of used one or two fonts and made sure they suited. There is too much writing on the cover and the picture is too small. The colours of the font and the background clash and the overall cover is too dark. These are things I would avoid when making my magazine.

I annotated a cover of Billboard magazine which featured Lily Allen;

I like the way this one has been laid out, the colours go well together and they haven'y used too many different fonts. They have one main font and have changed the 'Lily Allen' to a different one to make it catch the readers eye and tells you who is the main feature of the magazine (if you couldn't tell from the picture!). It isn't too cluttered and only lists the things that the editors think is important to the magazine. They show the price, date and websites at the bottom of the page in small writing, they do this so you have all the information you need but it doesn't take up too much space and distract you from what is in the magazine.

This is my finished preliminary task cover. For this i duplicated the image, converted it to black and white and erased the parts I wanted in colour. I then made sure I used the Marlwood logo and made the colour of the font a similar colour to the one on the logo. I based the school magazine on Sixth Form students at Marlwood school and included things that we actually do and need on the cover, things like parents evenings, revison guides ect. By doing this I think I made the magazine look more official because students will actually be able to relate to it. I only used 1 font as I didn't want to over complicate it. I have managed to fit a lot of information on the cover to show what would be included but I made sure I didn't over do it and make it look cluttered. I used the actually Marlwood link under the title so anyone who saw this would be able to look up the school. I'm really pleased with how this turned out as I think it could pass for an official school magazine. The colours from the background and the font work well together and I haven't used any over the top bright colours. I could of spent a bit more time creating the cover, I could of taken more care when erasing the parts i wanted in colour because you can see part of blue around her hair from not being too careful. If I used this technique in my music magazine cover I would make sure I take my time to make sure its neater. All editing was done on photoshop. 

    







These are a few photos i took for my preliminary task, I used Ruby Mcilroy and Harrison Hindle and took pictures of them working in the quiet study area. I like the ones of Ruby working and think i will use one of them on my cover, I think i will also put the picture of the leavers hoodie on the cover. I will make the magazine for 6th students of Marlwood school, it will be like the 'Grapevine' Marlwood magazine but only for 6th form students.

 

I thought this was a bad school magazine. The picture is too small and is too dark, the picture should of been made bigger and placed in the centre. The maker of this should of only used 1 or 2 different fonts instead of using 9 they have used too many colours which clash with each other and the colours of the background. The text is too big and covers too much of hte person which is on the cover. The title should be big and bold which will catch peoples attention but this one blends into the backgroud, it should be block colour which would make it stand out. These i things i will have to avoid in my school magazine cover.

I thought this was a good example of a good school magazine and I thought it had a really good composition, it isnt too cluttered but still has alot of detail and information about what will be feautred in the magazine. The colours of the title, fonts and image work well together as they are simular colours. I like the idea of having the girl in focus and the background blurry because the background doesnt look too distracting and doesnt draw your eye away from the things that are important on the cover. The date, issue and website information looks good under the title and doesnt take up too much space. Using websites and dates make the magazine look offical and is something I should think about using on my school magazine cover.

preliminary task.. mood board

This is a few school magazine covers that i have been looking at for my preliminary task. From looking at these i have a good idea of what i could do on my school magazine, I think that like other genres of magazine the title should be big on top of the page and i shouldnt use too many fonts or colours as they will clash. The picture will need to be and clear and should have students either working or in uniform on the cover to show that it is a school magazine when you first look at it.

intro..

Hi!  i'm Kirsty Moorlen and i'm a student at Marlwood school. I am studying A-Level media and have set this blog up to publish my ideas and plans for my magazine. On this blog i will be showing my progress of my foundation piece including my preliminary task and the final product. I will be making a music magazine which will include a cover, contents page and a double page feature.
For the preliminary task i will be making and annotating a school magazine cover and contents page.