Music Magazine Flat Plan

Preliminary college magazine

This is the final product for the preliminary task. The front cover seems to show an array of conventional content that one may expect to see in a front cover of a magazine. One feature that you would expect to see is the brand of the college magazine which is very clearly expressed by having a font and colour which goes well with the white background. The magazine seems to have a colour scheme of red and white in terms of text which seems to go well when used in the appropriate areas, the colours were due to the popularity of them when there was a questionnaire posed to others about what colours they thought would be attractive in a front cover. The coverlines used are those which would be expected from a college magazine as it talks about various aspects of college life and other interests of people who attend these places. By having a black circle in the magazine with content inside, this may attract the readers as the circle and the background is very contrasting to all the other colours that are posed in the front cover and so therefore it would attract the reader. Also, there is a selling line at the bottom of the magazine (may not be conventional as they are generally shown at the top of a front cover) which is in capitals with the intention of entrancing the reader into having a look at the magazine. Moreover, it seems to be conventional by having a barcode and the price shown. The conotation of this magazine is that there are various interests that college students have through the fact that there are various topics in the coverlines.

The contents page may be seen as unorthodox in one way or another but in many respects is conventional. One such way which shows it is unorthodox is by having an image of only one model and the image takes up the whole page. On the other hand, it is still set in some sort of fashion which looks similar to columns that are usually deployed in most content pages. Also, the text is still kept to the same colour scheme as the front cover showing that the two are linked. The sub-sections are highlighted in red to alert the reader of the section as well as the fact that each section is clearly separated by a line of space which adds to the clarity of the contents page. 

Other college magazine candidate photos

For the first image, I decided that I would not use it in my magazine because the image seemed to be taken a bit too far which would therefore mean that the audience could not identify with the person. Also the mise-en-scene may be seen as not ideal as it does not suggest anything to do with college life or studies.
The second image I chose, I had considered using that on my front page because of the fact that it was a college magazine and the image shows a student with the college in the background therefore helping the audience to identify with the magazine as well as the image. In the end I chose not to use it because there was other clothing in the background which would not be professional to use in a front cover. Also the positioning of my model in the image did not seem as if he was ready for the image to be taken.
For the third image, I did not choose the image because I thought the mise-en-scene (background) was dull and dark which may not make a good impression on the reader and make it unattractive. The mode of address can also be used in that I may want the person to see what a 'standard' college person may look like.
The fourth image I believe was a decent image except for the fact that the natural light blurs the model slightly as well as changing their expression, I liked the image due to its use of props, namely the student card which can't be seen clearly.
For the fifth image, I did not use it because there was a person in the background and so I believed it was not ideal to use. The mise-en-scene is also not ideal because of the fact that there is another person in the image.
The sixth image, I considered using as it had props that suggested that it had something to do with education but I required a shot which would be a bit more closer than this image as I felt there was just big gaps in the background which look unattractive.

Questionnaire for college magazine

 

In the questionnaire, there were ten questions and I picked out the main five to briefly analyse. The questions were:

1. ‘What kind of content do you enjoy reading about?’

44% of the people replied saying that music was their favourite to read about suggesting that music is a key factor needed in order to attract my target audience.

2. ‘What colours do you like in a magazine?’

The most popular colours that the participants replied in the questionnaire was white, grey and red which suggests that finding the right mix between these colours is essential to the article based on visual attraction.

3. How long should a magazine be in terms of how many pages?

It seems that half the participants in this question believed that a magazine should not be longer than forty pages which may imply that anything above might put them of a magazine.

4. What would you expect in a college magazine?

Fifty percent of people believe that it is typical of some form of news to be written in a magazine and this could mean it’s what they expect and want.

5. ‘What type of music would you like to read about?’

There were thirty three percent and thirty four percent of votes for the genre of RnB and House music which indicates the type of music the participants liked the most in the questionnaire.

6. What type of video games would you like to read about?

Hand to hand combat as well as adventure games was the most popular selection among what participants indicated they wanted in a college magazine which suggests that using these genres may attract more of the target audience.

7. What type of fashion would you like to read about?

The majority of participants liked the idea of a magazine giving tips of places giving good deals between high end and high street fashion as it shows that they either like a mixture of the types as well as possibly showing that they may be tight on budget so they may want to buy things for good deals.

8. ‘Would you want anecdotes on people who raised to success and their secrets?’

This garnered 80% of participants who said they also wanted it to be in the magazine which seems to show that they’re interested or want to get tips on how to be successive themselves which may also attract readers which should also be on the front cover of my magazine.

9. ‘Would you want to know about upcoming university taster days?’

Everyone said ‘yes’ to this question which implied that they was thinking about possibly continuing into higher education and so there must also be something on my own front cover talking about university taster days.

10. What type of events in London would you like to read about?

Sporting events, festivals as well as voluntary work was what participants most wanted to know in the list which shows what they like to do in their spare time or how to get their UCAS statement looking good (voluntary work).

The effectiveness of this questionnaire would be that it helps me understand what the people want and so I would try and include it in my final magazine product. This is useful as it may help me be able to use the hypodermic needle theory by trying to give the subliminal message that college life is has various different aspects and that it is interesting to complex. By having a questionnaire it will give me ideas as to how I want the consumer to connotate the magazine and what denotations there are which may be conventional in a music magazine. 

College magazine: Flat plan

The image shown here is my flat plan of how I plan to make my college magazine look like when I create it. I have chosen to do a medium shot of the subject as the audience will be able to identify with the model through not just only facial expression but also choice of clothing. I have also chosen to use standard techniques that are used in magazines such as putting a bar code, a masthead, some cover lines, etc. For my masthead I chose to make it bold as it would help to attract the audience because if there is something bold on a page one would usually look at it first or find it eye catching. I also decided to put a circle around some kind of interesting news that the audience may find interesting and so it will help to stick out from the page. Other information will also be included into my magazine such as the result of the most liked colours, how many pages people would like in the magazine, what kind of topics they like, etc. In terms of coverlines, I have decided to use five coverlines because I believe it is an appropriate amount of other news and information that could interest or engage the reader, too much coverlines may put them off the magazine as they may find it a hassle to read when there is a lot of information. I have chosen to call my magazine 'CTK LIFE' in reference to the sixth form I go to and I believe it is an appropriate title and although it may lack in terms of difference and uniqueness, I believe it is a simple title which can unify a community such as my sixth form. The positioning of my barcode is in a convenient position so as not to disturb the attraction caused by the image, masthead and coverlines.

For the contents page I have decided to go for a more typical look in terms of where my chosen image is as well as my text. I have decided to put my text on the left hand side as well as having some topics involved so as to indicate to the reader what page represents what piece of information, for my image I decided to make it take up slightly over half a page as it allows the reader to focus on one image rather than several and this way it keeps things simple like the masthead. 

College Magazine analysis

College magazine analysis

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One of the first things you notice about this magazine is the brand of this magazine, in this case, ‘College’, it’s used in bold letters and if compared to other kinds of magazine the font is nearly always the same giving it an iconic image in your head that although they may do different colours you will always remember that it’s the same brand. This kind of style also helps attract brand loyalists already as the very title may be enough for them to want to buy it as they may buy this brand of magazine every time it comes out. The masthead and the coverlines are in the same colouring which is because it goes very well with the black background, therefore, giving it a more appealing look as well to it. There are various magazine coverlines which may interest the target audience (university student) like: ‘Make money on campus’ ‘College culture’ and ‘Why we love Blackberry’. The variation of topics these cover lines give us indicates the range of interests the magazine thinks that the students would like to know about in college, especially things like money as most students will not have enough money to make ends meet and other useful things they may need to know (E.G. technology, what to do around campus, etc.).

The colour usage of white, black and yellow gives this magazine a sophisticated yet formal look about it because white and black are colours associated with professionalism, formality and conflict, but the mix with yellow gives it a sophisticated and young look because yellow is associated with the sun, new life, young children and those who go college may still be seen as young in the population because they haven’t properly experience the ‘real world’. These colours may also indicate what type of audience they’re trying to aim at as a questionnaire was done and out of the three top colours young people like in a magazine, black and white was in the top three with black coming in joint third and white coming in at first position.  

The dateline is issued at the very top right hand corner and is shown in small like the rest of the words but is coloured yellow because it’s important the reader knows when it’s issued so they know if it’s an up to date magazine or not, otherwise they may not buy it. The barcode in this magazine is shown to be at the bottom left hand corner as it’s irrelevant to the reader but may also come in handy if they want to know the price as the price is typically shown to be close by the barcode. The barcode’s reason of being there is to help the target audience buy the magazine as quickly as possible as it merely scans the item onto the system and acknowledges that the audience has bought this specific item.

The selling line in this magazine is ‘Lifestyle’, this is a simple yet effective word because of the fact that connotations of the word lifestyle is how someone lives and combining that with the brand of this magazine, many things can be assumed about this magazine just from two simple words like for example what they’re going to be talking about. Things like fashion, making money, events and festivals, new technology, music, books, sports and all sorts of things come to mind and this magazine gives information about some of this. Furthermore, it also connotes healthy and unhealthy lifestyles and may possibly show what kinds of things people need to do to attain a healthy lifestyle.

The main image of this magazine is a man holding some law and society books which shows that he’s suppose to be a student at college (maybe it’s a university if this is an American magazine) and he seems to be wearing fashionable clothing and is looking quite intrepid or content.

The camera shot used in this magazine is a medium shot of the model to possibly help inspire us by promoting to tell us ‘I want to be like this person’ or trying to give  today’s youth some kind of strength or inspirations because the model is looking at the audience with a confident yet assured look possibly signifying that there is every possible chance of any student doing well and getting a job they want and getting good wages (Law – Lawyers earn lots of money), this magazine is trying to inspire readers to aim high.

The props used on the cover of the magazine includes some books, a cross necklace and a watch. The books shows that this person is a student of Law as well as showing that the model is highly educated as the requirements to get into the Law course are considerably high, the cross necklace could possibly show what religion he believes in (Christianity), it also connotes family religious background as his family may have had an influence on what he believes, it may also connote that he believed in Jesus and his teachings (E.G. ‘forgive those who trespass against us’). His watch may show his financial background, it may also show that he’s a well organised person and may connote that students should be on time and maybe shows that they hate people being late, the watch shows that the model may have a specific fashion sense and some students may like how he dresses and may appeal to them, the combination of what he’s wearing and the watch as well as the Law books adds to the look of a young smart person. His choice of clothing also gives him quite a dapper look which may engage the audience as the magazine may mention some tips or places to buy certain clothing to achieve a similar look to the model. The white shirt and black leather jacket gives off the classic professional look but in this case it also gives a young and modern look to it to make it more appealable to the audience as the audience age group is late teens to early twenties. Overall, his fashion sense is one which editors think may appeal to the target audience.

The background used in this cover is a black background and it goes very well with the colours of the text used which are white and yellow as they’re bright colours and is also eye catching which may cause the reader to be interested just through colour usage. The use of black in any background or writing usually goes well with a bright colour (E.G. yellow, red, white, etc) but it could also be thought of as a safe option as a lot of magazines use black but there are those magazines who generally use bright colours in their front magazine to get the audience’s attention as opposed to dark colours.

The lighting used is artificial lighting and it’s pointed towards the model to showcase the model’s attributes to get readers attention, the lighting may also add to the aspect of happiness of a college student as that is a theme this model seems to show in the front cover, it also shines other things that make up this student model including what they’re wearing and holding.. The fact that artificial lighting is used could imply that the magazine shows an array of different things that would not be found in a normal magazine as the background is black which indicates they may be doing comparing and contrasting subjects (E.G. universities, courses, etc.).

The positioning of the coverlines are shown to be at the sides because imagery data is more eye catching that written data which research seems to show, but by effectively using colours they make the coverlines eye catching, attractive and as appealing as possible to more audiences than the one they’re targeting but the attractiveness is toned down as the main image is what the editors want them to see first as it’s the biggest object seen in the cover. Coverlines also serve to notify and make the reader want to know more about the topic so the editors must make these coverlines short but interesting in order to get people’s interest and an example from this cover is ‘Make money on Campus’ it is put in big and bold yellow words as editors are confident many students would be interested in how to do this.

The positioning of the masthead is placed in a cliché position so that the audience can find out what the name of the magazine is but the peculiar thing about it is that the model’s head is blocking some of the letter which may show the model is in a position of power and authority as much as the name of any magazine when shown on a cover holds, it could also mean that by having the head cover some of the words it may be more important in terms of catching the target audiences eyes .

There is also a pink splash on the magazine which is intended to again, appeal to the audience as it breaks from the colour code of black, white and yellow because it’s a pink splash showing that there could be some interesting news for the audience; A connotation of pink is that people may connect pink to fashion or gossip as seen when pink is used in gossip magazines and they’re general target audiences are female, so pink may be used to gain the attention of females and so when a female sees that pink splat combined with the brand ‘College’ they may come to think that the magazine may talk about fashion and good deals for cheap prices.

Reader's response:
The reader felt as if there were too many coverlines of this front cover which made the reader feel as if too much information was being compressed into the front cover and thought that led to it being slightly ineffective. The reader liked the colour scheme as it worked well with the background and could clearly identify the main coverline through its boldness as well as the text size. The reader could also identify through the props that were being used that this magazine's target audience are  students as the model is holding study books as well as the fact that the brand is called 'College' is another indicator.

Recreating Empire magazine (Loki)

This purpose of this activity was to recreate a magazine cover, in this case the Empire magazine. Its purpose was to familiarize ourselves with using Photoshop and so our task was to recreate the original Loki-Empire magazine using Photoshop. It also serves to help us get an idea of the various techniques magazines use to attract audiences and helps us to understand ourselves what is needed in an appealing magazine.   

The magazine on top is the remake I personally did whilst attempting to understand how to edit images and words on Photoshop and helped me improve my skills in editing.

I had changed the image of Loki's stance because I had to find a different image stance of him instead of using the original stance and so decided to using him when he was sitting down, the text was well suited with the image due to there being colours in the background which helped the colours of the words be seen. It was also a tough task as it was my first ever task of editing a magazine cover and trying out new techniques to see what caused what and how it did it. The image I used also still stamped attention from the audience as he has a sinister grin on him whilst there is destruction in the background. All in all, I believe I did a decent job of recreating the original poster and although there is evidently a gap between my recreation and the original, I believe it was a good try for my first time. 

 

The connotations of this magazine is that the destruction and character in the back suggests that it is aimed for those who are interested in films or the action genre. Another conotation of this is that by having the image of loki it may mean that there are interviews about the film or cast about what the film is about. A convention of this is that it has its coverlines on the sides and which is genreally seen in all magazines and. The effect of this is that it makes it more easier for the target audience to see the main image of the magzine as well as the fact that because the coverlines are in black and white, this will maker it easier to see the differences between coverlines (i.e. when a coverline starts and ends or the key selling points for example someones name may be in a different colour compared to the rest of the coverline). The hyperdermic needle theory may be that the media issue is suggesting the target audience should go and watch the film. The consumer may then want to go watch the film due to the underlying message (hypodermic needle theory) that the media product is giving of.