My Final Magazine Outlet Design

DTP

FRONT COVER

CONTENTS PAGE

My Initial Magazine Outlet Design

My Front Cover

My Contents Page

My Double Page Spread

My Photoshoot Draft Pictures (No edit)

This represents some of my photoshoot sample pictures for my own genre music of magazine obtained. I had a friend of mine model as she wore all black clothes as intended because it would link and look appropriate for my own style of genre magazine.

Initial Development for My Overall Magazine Front Cover (Analysis)

I'm using the ADOBE Photoshop software in order to design and create my main front cover feature of my own magazine obtained from my previous photoshoot sub-task. As you can see from the image above, I've included rulers around my A4 (International/portrait) paper in order to outline and warn myself not to over place a text or image along the boundary line as that's the main purpose of having rulers. Then, I've placed my chosen image photograph of my model to feature as the front cover of my magazine and the reason why I chose this is because I wanted to make my model engage my main target audiences, which are 16+ years old boys and girls (but mainly girls) because I want them to be feel interested and appealed by my model, since it's a girl and as for the newcomers on the magazine - they would like to know who the girl is and would want to read on.

BEFORE

AFTER

As for my next sub-task, I've added my main masthead line as I chose an appropriate and appealing type of font type as it would be suitable for my main target audiences, which is 16+ years old boys and girls (but mostly of girls in this case.) Then, I've increased the font size for my mast head line because  one of the features of elements in order to create your own magazine is to make the mast head line bigger than the rest of your sub-headings and other relative text (adverts and offers) included onto your front cover design. As for the red box, I've mainly highlighted the part of what tool from ADOBE Photoshop software that I've used in order to place my mast head line behind my feature model image obtained. And so I've used the capacity tool which it had helped me to decrease the brightness of my font style (masthead) because I would then just use the erase tool and use it to rub off the top part of my feature model's hair so it would appear like the masthead was placed behind the model; since I can't place the image behind the text as the background of my image is part of the main cover intended.

Next, I've added other important elements for my front cover design of my own magazine such as the barcode, sub-headings and more relevant and appealing images for my main target audience intended. I've decided to give them a FREE poster of my main feature model because that way, it would give my target audiences another reason to purchase my own magazine if they tend to like the artist that featured from my front page as they would be able to enagage more in the future and look out for other future artists so they can have their own poster of their favourite indie/rock artist. 

The image above represents the improvements that I have made towards designing my front cover design of my own genre of magazine as I changed my font style and deleted some sub-headings such as the 'Exclusive' text placed at the left hand side of my front cover obtained. This is because my initial font style chosen wasn't appropriate and appealing enough to my main target audiences as I've collected some of my feedback obtained from young children as they feed backed that I should choose a different type of font style as it would make a dramatic effect towards my target audiences and would collect more of my audiences intended. As for my font style, I've changed it to Stencil Std.

BEFORE

AFTER

For this subtask, I have used ADOBE Photoshop to edit my DTP chosen photograph as it's a useable and appropriate type of software to use in order to design my main task obtained. As for the tools on the right hand side, I've used exposure and adjusted the offset and the gamma correction for my chosen photograph intended because I wanted to brightened the middle part of my photograph illustrating a spotlight effect onto the overall photograph obtained. Also, I wanted the face of my feature model to appear flashy and bright so her cheeks would be in contrast of more white than the shade of black as I think it appears to be quite appealing and realistic to the main target audiences and it would blend well with the chosen style theme of my music genre; which is indie/rock. The kind of mood that I would want to illustrate is dangerous and emotionless indicating that indie/rock artists are always serious and emotionless.

Draft of my overall Magazine (Planning ideas)

Front Page Draft

For my initial draft design of my front page, I have given the name of my overall magazine (permanently) entitled 'Hardcore' as it was suitable and simple based on the type of music genre I was working on, which was indie/rock music. 

Also, the masthead line itself sounds crazy and insane as that's what most of rock music types tend to sound in reality as it's being portrayed in the world right now so this would tend to attract rock fans of my magazine and being able to be interested from it.In addition, I wanted my masthead line to be placed on top of the page because it appears professional this way as that's what NME magazine and other types tend to do; always placing the masthead line at the top of the page so the target audiences would be able to know the name of the magazine instantly. I've added other important elements that's included on a front page of an indie/rock types of magazines as NME and Kerrang had both helped me get influenced by their own front pages of magazine issue's because they both portray indie/rock artists as I would tend to use as well for my actual magazine.

 I mostly paid attention on where I would place the elements, which includes the price of the magazine, bar code, subheading, feature of texts, an enlargement of your featured artist (placed at the center of the page in order to make your artist stand out and captivate the audiences attention) and much more. I didn't write down what type of font styles I wanted to use but I'd mostly likely to use Arial, Calibri and Impact font styles because they make the text appear more simple yet effective to the main target audiences and it's easy for them to read clearly and being able to understand it without having troubles to.

 Finally, I've included an advertisement of getting 'FREE Posters' for starters as I thought that it would get more and more target audiences attention and would get the featured artist chosen FREE posters as it would make the prize of the magazine worth it - if it costs around £3 or more.

 

 

 

Contents Page Draft

For my Contents page draft, I've briefly decided to include only three relevant yet appropriate images because I didn't want my target audiences to focus too much on the images and look at the main highlights and fresh new updates about my magazine issue obtained. 

As you can see, I plan to use rectangle shapes to act as my border around the different types of text that I would be including and mentioning on my Contents page intended and it would appear the whole page more clear and tidy, as it's not too busy or complicated to gain from. Also, the draft drawing image above would portray how I'd decided to layout my elements for my actual magazine after briefly having to loo from examples of NME and Kerrang Contents pages for aspirations.

I have came across that most of their contents pages contains of various instruments being shown such as guitars, pianos, studio room and more as I think NME and Kerrang magazine is trying to not always advertise their main feature artist but to also let their own target audiences know about the instruments or any other related topics to talk about the instruments being shown as that's what music is about; having an instrument produces music.

 

 

DPS Page Draft

For my DPS page draft, I designed it simple and straightforward as you can see. I wanted to place the headline at the top, left hand side of the page because I've decided to split the page in half as you would have one page that's responsible for all the text information detailed as this would relate to the recent one-to-one interview with the main featured artist and the second half of the page would include an enlargement, full size image of the artist that would also include a short message caption over laying the image in order to appear meaningful towards their own fans/target audiences obtained.

As for now, I wanted my enlargement full size shot image to make the artist strike a post where she looks down because I've decided to give my feature artist a shady background/past and now she came back with a brand new album after a few years hiatus. This situations would normally rise tension towards the main feature artists fans as they will be filled with excitement yet curiosity on the brand new magazine brand being published based on the type of feature artist chosen.

I've decided to use more rectangle shapes in order be a border line throughout my one-to-one interview to my main feature model. This way, I thought I'd filled the rectangle shape black and make the font style color red or white because it would distinguish what type of music genre I'm trying to portray and establish for those newcomers of my final magazine overall. The reason behind this is because NME and Kerrang magazine mostly used bold yet dangerous colour schemes such as black, red and white so taking this as an encounter, this had made me decide that my colour schemes for my own magazine would include black, red white and yellow as part of my colour schemes to use for my front, contents and DPS pages overall in order to establish that I'm trying to portray indie/rock types of music globally as my proposal suggests that not many women compared to men are into indie/rock music genres so I wanted to at least spread a message that R&B artists like Rihanna can also feature on indie/rock types as you don't need to be a specified genre artist to cover your own genre as that's seen bias and unfair; I just wanted to advertise the insane, unique and hardcore side of music there are instead of listening to typical pop songs as it's getting overrated and younger audiences need to be aspired in order to become something they want to be in the future.

Basic Camera Controls and Exposure (Photography Notes)

EXPOSURE is the amount of light that reaches the film as it is controlled by the camera with the APERTURE and the SHUTTER SPEED.

The amount of light permitted to pass through a lens is controlled by an Aperture, it is usually an adjustable diaphragm within the lens. The smaller the Aperture is set the less light reaches the film, the larger the Aperture is set the lighter will reach the film.

The Shutter Speed controls the length of the film or sensor's time which exposed to light. The length of time the shutter is open is named 'Shutter Speed', as you can see it's collaborated in fractions of seconds as the image shown above, would represent it.

The image shown above represents what each fractions of the shutter speed on a DSLR camera would look like in pictures.

Analysis and Featured Elements from a DSLR Camera Used

The image above shows the type of DSLR camera I have used throughout the length of time for my photoshoot obtained. It's the Canon 40D as we had been taught what each of the element in a Canon camera contains, such as the lens, focus, shutter speed etc.

This is the layout features of the Canon 40D camera that I mentioned above. The number 1 is used for capturing the pictures that you wish to take as when you do this, it will automatically take a shot of your picture obtained and you may see it afterwards on what it appears to be when adjusting the level of shutter speed and aperture for your camera. Number 2 is used for adjusting the level of brightness (whether you want to increase the brightness or set your photographs in contrast. There's also a WB, AF-DRIVE and ISO button alongside as I set my ISO of 100 because there was two main lights set at the side on where my model was standing (in the centre) as I've collected enough light to create a dramatic effect for my main target audiences obtained. The number 3 is used to adjust and choose how you want to set your picture as, such as, if you want it Manual, Automatic, Black & White effect, Pictorial, Landscape and so on. And so I've set it out as Automatic settings because you won't need to focus it and adjusting the focus lens as it will automatically focuses on the object or person that you're taking a picture of easily. (Auto-focus)

Moving on to number 4, this element feature is used for zooming in and out of your picture. As for me, I kept on zooming in on my model because I wanted to capture a medium shot as I thought it would be more appealing that way and it would create some sort dramatic and engaging effect, since medium shot is quite close to the face and figure of the model obtained. The number 5 is where the lens are place, as most cameras - they tend to have lot's of other different types of lenses in order to take more accurate and detailed pictures as some lenses are made for having a precise zoom button to take pictures like close up Macro images of an object. Then, number 6 is a screen (some camera's have touch screen) is used to see your pictures that you took briefly because then afterwards, you can decide whether you want to keep it or delete it. Finally, number 7 is used for inserting a particular type of equipment as it's used for having a flash element for more bold and accurately detailed pictures.

For the image above, it showcases how I set out my location for my photoshoot. I had two of the main lights placed at the side, placing over the background drop. I chose a black-drop for my background instead of white because since my genre of music is indie/rock, I intended to go for black which symbolises dangerous and it would make my target audiences feel frightened and curious so they would engage in on my own magazine cover. 

So as you can see, I placed the DSLR camera that I've used outside of the main photoshoot area because I wouldn't want to get in the way of the lighting as it would come out quite dark. I had my model pose different each time I take shot and continuously gave her directions that would appear appropriate and effective to my main target audiences, which is mostly girls in this case.  I also gave her easy follow-up on what her face should express like and that is to always look tough, serious and a bit arrogant as it would link back on having an indie/rock kind of style for my magazine cover. 

My Call Sheet

Geneva Rose Leal
Photographer

Photo shoot Call sheet

 Date:  Friday, 24^th November 2013                                                                                                            

Time: 13:30 pm – 3:00 pm

Assignment: My Main Magazine Cover Feature

Location: H01

Client: Janna Ferdusymen

Media: Raw capture

Primary shoot contact: Geneva Rose Leal

Photographer: Geneva Rose Leal Duatin

Hair Stylist: Kaye Quitos

Wardrobe stylist: Geneva Rose Leal

Model: Janna Ferdusymen

Special Instructions:
The following items would include clothing items that each model would have for their wardrobe:

1.      Black leather jacket without no glitter or design attached to it

2.      White shirt tee with black full length trousers

3.      Different shoes - Black combat shoes or anything black would be acceptable (no flats or colourful shoes)

4.      Jewelleries such as chains, black earrings etc.

Timeline: Rock/indie music genre

12:30 pm
Models and team meet outside the college’s front main gates

12:30 pm – 13:00 pm
Makeup hair, hairstylist, wardrobe stylist collection, shoot brief

13:00 pm – 15:00 pm
Shoot time (photo-shoot)

Concept: My only main model would be dressed in all black and white concept, having black thick eyeliner as for her makeup, black nails, as it will have a serious and funky feel towards the target audiences. Also, as for my model posing, I would have her pose in a style that’s in a way of engaging and interacting with the audiences as she would be bluntly staring at the camera whilst I take a shot with a serious sense of impression. The mood for my photo-shoot concept would be serious in a way that’s comfortable for the model and the photographer to get involved in because the whole photo-shoot would be a success if both of them can focus into it without having no distractions. I would use a black backdrop because the colour black represents seriousness which that’s what I’d want my audiences to notice as it would fit in with my chosen music genre concept, which is indie/rock themed. The hairstyle of my model would have curly/waved hair as I’d want to look messy to fit in with my chosen music genre and finally, I would explore different poses with various different clothing style for every shot I take in order to compare which shots would look appropriate yet appealing at the same time for my main target audiences to be interested and attractive from it.  

Main Feature Model Poses & Sense of Clothing (Planning ideas)

Model Poses Ideas

I'm planning for my main feature model to directly interact with the magazines audiences because I'd want them to feel appealing to it and if they know the issue's feature model, then they are most likely to purchase the magazine without second guessing. I also like the way he's trying to fix his fringe whilst the shot was taken, which illustrates a sense of seriousness towards the audiences included.

As for this second pose, I would like for my main feature model to look classy but in a serious aspect. This would make them appear like their in control towards the audiences as they would see it as a sense of 'coolness.' I like the way the model has his arms crossed which tells us that he's the boss and the way he gaze at the camera would make the girl audiences from my overall target audiences cringe and melt, as they would instantly become a fan by its physical appearance.

For my third idea pose of my main feature model, I was planning for her to not directly interact with the chosen audiences for my own genre magazine because I'd like my magazine to appear a bit selfish cause that's how some of indie/rock artists are like sometimes as I would try and portray their own demand characteristics towards my audiences because it's more real and believable for them to see the real character of their favourite indie/rock artists within the music industry.

Style of Clothing Ideas

The sense of style clothing I'd want my model to wear is mostly all black (and white) contrast 

because since I'll be using a black backdrop for my final overall photoshoot, I'd want my magazine to appear more dangerous and serious by the use of the colour black as my model would wear black leather jacket with a white tee over it, black jeans and black shoes as well.

Also, since the model that I have chosen has a nose piercing, I think it would stand out because i'd be taking close-up shoots of my model to explore different ways in order to include it on my contents and DPS. 

My Magazine Proposal Draft

Case Studies - Kerrang!

Press Pack of NME Magazine

I have used a press pack of NME Magazine because it's the type of magazine that was similar genre to my magazine as considering how well-known the magazine towards their its own target audiences.

NME Magzine targets 63% male and 37% females. This had made me choose to target the female audiences  because it appears like NME Magazine were mostly appealing to male audiences so I have decided to feature a female model in order to attract a wider range of female readers within this industry. It has also been said that 79% of NME readers like to listen to new bands and 52% are interested in taking musical course/qualification so I'd plan to produce a aspiring type of magazine to aspire my target audiences to become an successful artist one day. This type of magazine is similar to the genre of music magazine that I intended to do, which is indie/rock. Also, I have chosen to aim more on female audiences than male as the statistics above indicates that indie/rock types of music has low ratings when it comes to females as most of them are 'fan girls' of pop, such as Justin Bieber. 

As you can see from the image above, NME magazine had gained a lot of positive comments until now and it's own target audiences are contented by the way the magazine is being published and distributed anywhere. Also, the amount of percentage a student reads NME magazine is quite low so that's why I decided to chose from younger audiences, teens, from 14 year old and above as a representative for my target audiences which it will be different but similar in a way compared to my actual music magazine designed. The press pack statistics also states that "58% say that adverts for brands/new music releases influence how they discover new music, rising to 68% among NME target audiences which are 16-24's. In my case, my music magazine (indie/rock) would be available for any one who's above 14 year old, as adults ca be acceptable to purchase it as it would also feature relevant topics based on the genre obtained.

Initial Proposal Presentation (Planning)

[UPDATE] I have decided to choose IPC Media to attribute as my publisher for my own music genre of magazine overall based on the research that I've gained throughout planning my draft ideas and outcomes for my front, contents and DPS pages obtained. On the video, I've introduced a different type of publisher but as for my final choice - I chose IPC Media as based on my Final Proposal Presentation, I've mentioned that this type of publisher would be suitable and relevant to use when linking back to producing indie/rock magazine types and IPC Media contains a lot of female readers/audiences as I wanted to mostly focus on female audiences for chosen my target audiences because they're into listening to pop types of music as it's overrated and annoying - having to listen to it again and again. It's time for a change of music taste.

My Magazine Proposal

Magazine Proposal

Genre: Indie/rock

Ideas for title of Publication

Solo: Solo career

Tune: tuning a guitar is seen to be a part of being a rock artist within the Music Industry because it’s an important musical instrument (for authenticity)

Upbeat: hard upbeat music when playing the guitar for a long term period

Final Choice: I chose on the masthead titled ‘Extreme’ because it represents the true definition of my genre of music, which is indie/rock as they tend to have hard core and loud music played in such a long period of time. Also, Extreme is another word of saying ‘a highest degree’ as in something is supreme and great. This signifies that my magazine would have great expectations from its main target audiences and it would include other supreme and ‘great’ labelled artists that are well-known for being in the indie/rock music industry, such as, Paramore and Johnny Marr as well; so this would be able to encourage the audiences to read the magazine as it would bring them up-to-date information, stories, news and music to them.

Content

(Featured Artists)

Paramore, Tokyo Hotel, Ed Sheeran, Green day, Johnny Marr & Aero Smith.

(The Regulars)

1.    Top 10 songs of the month

The top 10 songs/track of the month listed in no alphabetical order as the main target audiences would be able to get up-do-date with the most popular tracks of the month by a particular indie or rock artist in the industry.

2.    Album Reviews

The album reviews would have the opportunity to mention and promote a particular artist for their new current album that’s only been out a few hours ago. This way, the audiences would read the review and would want to start listening to the album if the reviewer had a way of persuading the audiences to listen to it, when they say they would recommend the album towards the indie/rock style of music.

3.    Main feature model interview

The target audiences would ask to tweet o post their set of questions to the band/musician/artist about any topic involving their career or personal lives. Then the most popular tweets or relevant posts would get selected for the artist to answer.

4.    News & Discoveries

This topic would be about reviews, relevant images and new information context about different particular of artists that are famously well-known for their own style of genre music and also for those new comers and unknown artists that just signed in the Music Industry. This topic would not only include featured artists from the UK but also from all over the world as it allows to ‘discover’ different sound and style of music from each individual artist in order for them to become well-known and gain popularity by gaining their own fans. From the magazines point of view, I think that it’s a great way for the unknown artists to feature on my magazine because you never know, one day they may start getting fame and it will all be because of magazines giving them chances to feature in order to let the fans know, from the magazine itself, about these new featured artists as they would listen to your sound of music and like it as we would be able to review it, as well. After, fans can give us suggestions on which artist we could feature on to the next issue of our magazine obtained.

5.    Adverts

I would be able to give some advertisements for a new movie or even give discounts from fast food such as, KFC or Burger King because it would be able to entertain the audiences and be able to get a cheap price for a meal so they would continue to purchase the magazine for an even more discount token in the future.

Audience

For my main target audiences, it would mostly be girls aged 16 + years old compared to boys because I have found a similar genre of my own magazine, which is NME magazine as it include indie/rock featured artists as it links back to my own genre as it’s the same. 

Magazine Newsstand (Planning)

On this main task, I've found out that most of the popular and well-known type of magazines are usually placed in front of the newsstand on this particular shop, which I've observed in Tesco. As you can see, magazines such as Glamour, Heat and Ok! are placed in the middle and bottom row selection for the audiences and readers to take notice of. 

From the first bottom half of the collection in the magazine newsstand, you can see that the types of magazines included in the front are Ok!, Cycling and KERRANG and behind these piles of magazine are other magazines such as, Match-day, Gardening, eatwell and Homeworkers. This signifies that the purpose in piling these magazines is due to how popular each of the magazines are to their own set of target audiences obtained. Also, this tell us that many people are willing to purchase those type of magazines that are placed in front rather than the ones who are placed behind because they may not sell so much compared to the magazines in front. However, some people may only be interested in purchasing Gardening, eatwell or match-day magazines especially those who are interested in them.

Evaluation of My College Magazine Outlet

First of all, the types of sub tasks that went well on my magazine were that my chosen photograph for my front cover and contents page. I was not confident of how to handle the camera as I only know the basics features of a camera so I felt like I still need more practice and try different angles and find a good quality lighting for my front cover image because that’s what the main subjective and point for my music genre of magazine would be. But since I quite like the feel and expression that my chosen photograph for my college magazine as it’s suitable for the type of magazine and it would be able to attract its main target audiences. Also, I think that I now am more comfortable in using InDesign software as before, I didn’t know what the tools are for and what they can do and so on. I wrote down the names of the tools, such as the texts, images, paint tools, eraser etc. on my notebook so I won’t keep on asking questions to my teacher as it’s taking the initiative. This way, I wouldn't be able to waste my time management and be able to finish it just in time to hand it in; which I completed the front cover of the magazine and its content page early. So then I have used my spare time to go back and see what text or images I could use in order to match the target audience’s preference and make them interested onto my college magazine.

The other elements that went well for my main task was my image manipulation because I have used Photoshop software for my front cover, and I used certain effects for my chosen image to be included on my front cover image appearance and adjusted the high and low levels of brightness of the chosen image and its contrast tones. This was because I wanted it the image to appear brighter than it looks so it would bring the image into more life rather than not using any effects at all – as it may seem dull and unappealing to the target audiences. The background became brighter when the effect have added in which it appears more appealing and the upgraded its image quality quite a bit. Finally, I also like the way I have came up with my masthead of my college magazine as it titled “LSChronicle” which the ‘LSC’ was the abbreviation of my college name as it stands for Leyton Sixth Form College and I added the capital C to be included as ‘Chronicle’ because I thought it was a creative thing to do. The font colour schemes for my masthead and sub heading which is red, black and yellow also blends well together as I was contented and felt like the target audiences would be able to take interest from it.

However, there are weaknesses that I would want to improve in the future. One of them was that I need to layout my elements such as images, texts and masthead, the date, bar codes around my front colour magazine because the music genre that I chose was to go for indie/rock type and they tend to have the type of magazine front covers that appears lots of elements and appear busy. So comparing to my college magazine, I still need to include more relevant text that would interest my target audiences for my indie/rock type of music genre magazine. The texts to include could be things like, for example, Paramore is back with a mini album hence the fact that the group is known to have an indie/rock type of song selling albums to their fans. Also, I would include catchy cover lines such as ‘enter a competition’ or ‘win a prize’ in order to catch the audience’s attention and be able to be entertained about it. Also, my contents page needs to have more context and elements as my college contents page appears “boring” and “needs to improve more” as feedback obtained from my classmates. 

They reviewed it as, ‘it needs more time to improve it and the background colour schemes doesn't seem appropriate for a college magazine as the colour pink seemed girly and only targets girls, not including boys. This would come as bias and would not gather as many main target audiences for the magazine as it would lose its value. So this time, I would start including other important key features that needed to conclude on a magazine in order to attract its own target audiences, globally. For me, I also need to improve choosing the right font styles for my mast head, texts, cover lines and captions because I don’t think I chose an appropriate font style for my college magazine as it doesn't blend and work well together with the colour scheme chosen as well. I need to then improve my journalism techniques because my context doesn't say much text information and I need to write more than that in order to appeal and gather more audiences as it don't look professional – leaving gaps in between texts; it would only bore the reader and be off hook from the type of magazine they’re reading.

The main 3 key points for development when producing a music magazine:

• ·         Obtaining appropriate and appealing images for front covers and contents page, linking to the type of genre music an individual had chosen
• ·         Reasonable House Style & Ethos
• ·         Photoshop and InDesign software users (the two are the most sensible software’s to produce a music magazine)