Evaluation For Music Magazine

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

The genre of the magazine is easy to understand before even opening the magazine, this is through the model, title and colors used. Both magazines have a color scheme, for example my magazine has a variety of blues, whereas the existing magazine uses black and yellow which normally represents mysteriousness and secret which relates to the models pose.

The layout of my magazine and Britasia magazine is quite the same. Both models are overpowering the title and both look important as they are in a way, approaching the viewers with a confident attitude. Furthermore, both shots are middle camera shots which help to show the models body language. The model for DesiVibe is holding her hips, a very aggressive yet  sensitive pose is expressed. Whereas the model for an existing magazine is less visible which shows they are hiding something from the audience, and it pulls the audience in as it makes them feel curious about the model. This can be supported with the model wearing glasses as we don’t know where he is looking, creating and connoting mysterious feelings towards the viewers – a selling point.

By overpowering the title, this connotes that they are main features of the magazine. My choice of model does represent the audience as it relates to a typical girl in the new society. Furthermore, the model chosen would also appeal to the modern society of male audience as she is beautiful but at the same time has an attitude based look. The texts are placed on top of the models on both magazines and are both quite visible to read.

Both magazines are offering a ‘free’ or a ‘chance to win when purchasing the magazine’ so they both use similar technique to persuade readers to buy the magazine.

Article –

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

Age – It represents age through my front cover magazine image, the articles that have been displayed as well as the style overall. Age difference can easily vary as older people  still may prefer the gossip way of life.

Social Class – The social class for my magazine would yet again change depending on what they choose to look at in my magazine. For example, information for new upcoming artists may appeal to younger social groups. However, finding out the ‘Recipe of the week’ may refer to the more older social group and songs of the week would really fit in anywhere as customer taste changes constantly.

Gender – My music magazine does show a mixture of Genders that may be interested in the magazine. The magazine is not directly for one Gender due to the questionnaire results that I received. The mid shot central image of my model clearly shows an idol for women however a can look quite appealing to men too as she has an attitude and serious type pose. The color scheme i also used would relate to men as Blue is a male color however the brush design in the background look like a Asian culture design called ‘Mehndi’ therefore can relate to Females too.

Ethnicity – The ethnicity is not obvious however through the articles and texts written on the pages, an ethnicity of a Asian based magazine is easily created. The magazine does show a lot of Asian articles and images however can still appeal to other nationalities

Sexual Orientation – The magazine does not show a lot of sexual context apart form the central image which even then nudity is reduced.

The language used can relate to all audiences as it is not too posh and not to hip hop, ‘Slang’ is seriously reduced to help please the mature as well as young audiences.

3-What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? (WHSmith, EMAP, issue.com etc)

In my opinion, I think that my media product would develop into the market slowly but start with being sold at places like WHSmith as a trial to see how successful it does. WhSmith does not concentrate on selling particular magazines but a variety, therefore by locating my magazine at WHSmith  would be best. If the magazines a success, selling the product online may be a wise decision.  Before I sell my magazine at WHSmith, I would advertise my magazine through posters at local places i.e. the ‘Oracle’ to allow the audience to gather information about the new Magazine soon to be released. By doing this may boost the magazines population. It would fit into the market of magazines as the magazine is produced to match the newer societies.
4-Who would be the audience for your media product?The main audience for my media product would be the Asian audience as the main theme of the magazine is Asian. But the audience could be anyone as it does relate to social life of Britain.

I decided to use a perfect example of what type of audience would most likely prefer my magazine

Name: Neha Rai

Hobbies/Interests: Dancing, Mehndi, Cooking, Reading

Qualifications: Graduate in Business Management, A Levels In Media, Business and ICT

Location: Southall

Ambition: To be the best solo Beautician

As you can see, Neha is interested in everything the magazine involved, therefore can easily relate with the magazine. Neha would be a typical reader of DesiVibe and with her earnings which are not stated, the magazine could be purchased.

5-How did you attracts/address your audience? (Technical code, Symbolic code, Written code. How did you use these to attract your audience? *Do a textual analysis of your product)

Technical Code – The camera angle chosen was medium shot. The reason for this was because I wanted to show the models body language as well as her facial expressions as they have a big impact on what I am trying to portray with my model.

Framing: The image is framed central

Lighting was done on my model image. This was mainly around the face and upper body.  The image I used was perfect for my magazine but was a bit too dark therefore some adjustments had to be made. The picture used was on the new celebrity that DesiVibe decided to promote on there magazine. Therefore she would have to stand out to how her importance in the magazine.

Symbolic Code –

The body language pose is quite sexual and seductive as she is holding onto her hips. However I have displayed the model to also appeal to females as an idol as they may wish to look like her. I did not show any nudity as it is a Asian based magazine therefore some target groups might get offended which would decrease the chance of my magazine being a selling point.

Color: The colors I continuously used is brown. The reason for this is because it does not make the magazine look too energetic and more of a calm magazine where readers would read at relaxing hours. The color blue is not towards a particular gender because I used a variety of different blues making the magazine a Unisex magazine.

Choice of Model (Clothing/make up/who they are): The model I chose was good for the role. The clothing worn is not against any wealth groups as they are standard affordable clothes wear. I did this so viewers will not feel awkward with purchasing my magazine. The make up is to a decent amount, I did this to show simplicity. My model is a Muslim Teenager, 18 years old. I chose her because she relates a lot to normal Asian teenagers in the society. Therefore readers can find it easy to relate them selves to her which can persuade them more to buy my magazine.

Written Code – The title ‘DesiVibe’ has been placed with a Asian font style to relate to the main theme of the magazine. I decided to choose a blue outline as it go well with the image and background image. It also does not stand out too much.

Texts have been placed on the sides of the models to show information and not affect the central image too much. I used Headings such as ‘Need A Bit Of Vibe In Your Cd Collection?’ This is to catch the readers attention.

The font I decided to use for the texts on top of the main model picture is ‘Helvetica’. This was because the font looks professional and easy to read. This helps viewers to understand the magazine more clearly. The line spacing and size is also perfect and looks good with the model and background image.

6-What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have progressed a lot through the production of my magazine process through particular areas such as Photoshop, InDesign, YouTube and Digital Photography. I have illustrated how below.

Photoshop – My skills in Photoshop have increased as I now can edit pictures and create posters etc with Photoshop software with more confidence. I also now know how to resolve Photoshop problems without help and do believe that it will be good use to me for my future life. Photoshop has so many features that I never knew existed. How much I know about Photoshop as a software has also improved for example reducing the size of a woman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsiQptl_Y9E

InDesign – The main idea of this software is that it can be used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines and books. Indesign has helped me know how to create a written based article with different shapes and pictures. With this software, I now know how to edit text boxes and layouts of images to help fit to the content and purpose of the document. InDesign helped me produce my two-sided article.

InDesign was better than Photoshop as it was easier to write texts and sort them out where as Photoshop would be more relevant to when I wish to edit pictures and images.  I never knew of the software before I began this task so now I know how to use it without hesitation.

YouTube Tutorials – YouTube tutorials were used to help me for when I create my magazine. These tutorials were the main reason to why I knew a lot about Photoshop before I began using it. An example one which wasn’t as relevant but helpful was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kIkarvhoa8 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHAgz83nhQ8&feature=related

Digital Photography – I have always been taking pictures but never for a purpose. Before making my magazine and college news letter, contents and article, I had to take out pictures to be used. This sounds easy but was harder than I expected. Digital photography skills were to choose what angle for example diagonal or high angle and low angle etc, the type of shot and whether there should be edits made. The central image I used was Medium shot. I used many different shots in my magazine such as medium shot, high angle shot, long shot, double shot etc.

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

The preliminary task was really relevant to me as it helped me a lot to when designing my music magazine as at first I did not know no knowledge about Photoshop but then after my college magazine task, I gained more knowledge and experience with Photoshop which helped me make the most of the software. The college magazine helped me to design an effective and persuasive layout for a music magazine. This is through basic conventions which I didn’t know about. Without the preliminary task, the music magazine would have been difficult to complete without making a majority of errors.

The college magazine was not a easy task either, as it involved making the college magazine, research on college magazines planning, photography, photoshop editing and audience research. This was all completed and each task helped in its own way for example taking pictures helped me decide what camera angle my images on the music magazine should be and how it was the most appropriate.

The preliminary task helped me understand the importance of marketing and researching to when it comes to designing my magazine. My technique of researching was to create a questionnaire which was then handed out to a limited amount of people to help get feedback to what they would expect/want. Without this I would have found it difficult to know what to put in my magazine. This was beneficial for me within the market as I am now giving customers what they want and not making a unwanted magazine.

Before I began my task, i did not know know how to edit images or what type of editing should take place. By doing my warm up task helped me to realize the amount of editing that actually would need to take place. A perfect example would be my main image for my front cover. I have shown a screen print to help. The image shows the amount of layers that have been used. Layer 11 has been used to increase brightness mainly around the face. Layer 10 has been used to blur the image more to make the edges where cropping has taken place less sharp. I also used color balance to reduce the color balance to make the model look extra appealing.

Overall, the task helped me thoroughly with producing my magazine as my skills with photo shop and creating a magazine styled layout increased as I became more confident with my what I need to do. It also helped me to judge actions more wisely such as camera shots, lighting of pictures, what topics/information should my magazine provide and how to create a unique selling point.

Music Magazine, Contents & Article (Improvements&Edits)

Music Magazine Front Cover

This was my first ever draft of my front cover. I realized that it lacked presentation and any sort of Photoshop skills. Due to this I decided to start again and this time asked for feedback and comments as I made progress. Before creating my magazine I already decided to have a blue color scheme  which is why my first draft has a blue background. But then i took my pictures and decided to have an background that would relate more to my picture and my theme and yet keep a blue based background.I used a reality image background and placed my model in front of it.

I had no lack of knowledge with creating magazines therefore decided as a ‘practice test’ used an existing Asian model to see how my magazine may look as well as what type of camera shot and angle I may need. The celebrity image did help me a lot to choose what camera shot I should use which was Medium Shot. I adjusted the background for my practice test to suit the image colors. This also helped me to gather a good layout which I kept and used for my music magazine.

After creating my practice magazine, I decided to start my magazine again however using the same title as it reflects to my Asian theme.

Student Feedback –

• Looks a bit boring
• Plain
• the background doesn’t work with the picture as it make the model look pale
• The two smaller models looks quite out of place
• it doesn’t look like a magazine
• The layout looks good

With the student feedback received, there was something wrong with the magazine. No connotation was used for example a Grey background does not match a Asian magazine. Due to all the negative response, I decided to edit my magazine by changing the main image into something more appealing to both genders. (Relating to my questionnaire results). I am also going to be editing the background by changing it to something more appealing and attractive.

My magazine image above clearly shows a sense of improvement

The two images above were used to show the help I received from my research on magazines. One convention i found out was that magazines most of the times place the central image over the main title text. This persuaded me to follow the same format. I also wanted my central image to show importance in which now it does as she covers the ‘Main Text’ of the magazine.

 

This is my front cover after the adjustments were made. My magazine is now starting to look like an actual magazine. To back this up I decided to get students feedback:

• The front cover doe not look too busy
• Has enough of information displayed
• All basic features are used such as bar code, Issues Price etc
• The ace and spade design at the bottom does not relate with the magazine as it looks a bit unnecessary
• The ‘music on another level’ fits well with the magazine
• Colors used are of a good combination
• The model is appealing to both genders and does not look low quality, pixel are not weak.
  

My feedback was really positive but only a few minor negative responses such as the spade ad ace design located at the bottom of my front cover. I decided to delete the design and it already start looking more professional.

My questionnaire results stated that buyers would like to see vouchers and free gifts inside my magazine. So i decided to include this by offering a free MP3 demo inside. However, the background of my new idea was too dark and overpowers the rest of the magazine. So I decided to reduce the opacity as shown. The effect was not very visible, however, the line is not as solid as it was before. I changed the opacity from 100% to 75%.  

 

 

 

 

 

Contents Changes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The image displayed is my first ever attempt to cerating my contents page. I decided to use the same font so it can relate to my front cover. I have print screened my front cover to help show where to locate the articles on the front cover.

As you can see, my contents page has improved a lot. This was through research and time. I looked at the NME contents page as a draft to analyze what sort of information should be provided on contents pages. I found ‘Features’, ‘Regulars’ and ‘Interviews’. I will be using these in my contents pages. y using NME as a guideline would not impact my magazine too much as they are of different genres. I am looking at the conventions not the information. Ive uploaded the NME contents page that I used to create my page.

Student Feedback –

• The contents page looks good but with more information would look really busy
• The images are taking too much space
• The layout is good but not magazine based
• The colours used are attractive for your genre
• The features could be hard to understand

The feedback was not that positive and was not that negative. I want to make my contents page the best so decided to make changes.

After receiving feedback, I changed the layout of my contents page by reducing the images size and replacing the features and regulars.  This was not still working. I ask my teacher and was told that it looks to plain so i decided to add a very faint but asian like background.

This image is with my Asian background and i started to like my contents page more. The back ground brush shows flowers and patterns and designs. This connotes nature and relates a lot with a Asian tradition, ‘Mehndi’. This helps to reflect back to the theme.

The contents page was looking better but I didn’t like the layout as it looked like things have just been placed on. I edited it and my new contents page looked better.

The image above shows my edited contents page. To help see whether it has improved, I got student feedback –

• The regular looks out of place as it doesn’t look as important as everything else
• The features and the image of the two people below that and the title go good together
• The colour scheme is good
• the background looks a bit too fade but doesn’t overpower the text too much which is a good thing

I decided to add ‘Interview’ to my contents page and moved one of the images to have a diagonal pattern with Features, Regulars and Interview. I also tilted the title of each one to show a sense of similarity.

There was an part of my contents page that was left as I did not know what I should place there. To help me make a decision, I decided to ask random students from my college by asking them a question of what they would like to see a lot of and showed them my contents page. The results were that out of 12 students, Eight said another picture should be included to back up one of the features. The rest said to edit the contents page or add text. I took this into account and decided to add one of my models showing the feature ‘Entertainment on another level’.

The contents page looks really busy as all the texts and images are pressed together. So I reduced the opacity of the background and changed the color slightly to a lighter blue.

The difference is that the boxes behind the text are weaker making the writing and the production more visible and less packed.It also helps to show the background more which is one of the similarities of my magazine.

Article Changes

My article was a hard part of my coursework as it was new to me. The image above was my first draft. I began with gathering the text and separating

it within the pages in which I then start placing the images. I placed an image in between both pages and made sure the actual image of  the person does not get creased as the magazine closes. I did this to show that both pages are based on the same article which is a convention fr a typical magazine.

Student Feedback –

• Looks Really boring
• Does not show any connection to a Asian Magazine
• The text is not placed correctly
• Images look randomly placed anywhere
• There is a lot of text
• images used look a bit relevant

The feedback but it was my first draft so I carried on with my task taking it all into account.

The image above is my second draft.  I added a background and used some conventions that are article normally used for example using quotes goin in between texts. I also used more of the space provided by adding text.

The title to my article was not catchy enough so i decided to erase it completely and start again after researching and receiving feedback. I analyzed my own work and did not like the background color as it does not look very attractive but more dull. The quotes are good and are placed in relevant places, as well as the pictures. To improve this I am going to change the font color and size and the actual font. I am also going to be make my article look unique in some way to help increase its attraction in the market.

I cropped  the image above to make sure that the image of the two characters  does not get affected/creased when the magazine closes. The two people were close to each other but the I used the cropping tool to separate them.

The image above shows my new look for my article. I wanted to increase its attraction so decided to add more color to it. The article is already looking better as it looks more appealing.

Student Feedback –

• The background is dull but goes really well with the article
• the layout of the text is really good
• The pictures are displayed nicely and don’t get creased when the magazine closes. (I closely looked at conventions of a ordinary article)
• The first paragraph is a bit difficult to read
• The main title is not appealing at all and does not relate to the magazine much
• The back of the title overlaps both pages, looks a bit unprofessional
• font for text is suitable

The feedback was good. To make my article better, I decided to edit my first paragraph to make it more visible, decreasing the size of the color behind the main title and change the font of my main title. Students are like the customers, so student feedback is really important.

Student Comments –

• The main titles looks more important now as it bold and thick.
• The quotes are easy to see
• The pictures do look good with the article
• the colors used reflect with the front cover and contents colors compared to your previous article.
• The title and image of the celebrity is standing out

I analyzed my three production and realized that the article is missing a similarity apart from similar colors used in all three front cover, contents and article. To help viewers understand which magazine this article belongs too, I decided to use the same brush I used earlier on the contents page which will add more effect such as attraction to the background and give it the ‘Asian’ sort of look.

The screen shot above is my article after I edited all the negative points through responses. The title is already relating to the article more. The first paragraph is easier to read and helps readers to understand how its not part of the celebrities words

I designed this background with Photoshop by using the website http://www.brusheezy.com/ I made this by adding the brush onto a black background. I then copied this onto InDesign and used it on my article to show a similarity with my contents page.

The background is overpowering the article a lot as the text is difficult to read and the article now looks very messy from a distance. Due to this i decided to change the color of my background and reduce my opacity to make the text and article overall more clearer.

I decided to now edit my this creted image by changing the colors to a blue. This would be more efficient as it relates more to my color scheme and also looks less visible on the article due to less opacity.

The article is looking much better as there is a background still there and it does not overpower the text too much. The article looks more professional and easy to read.

Student Feedback –

• The article looks professional
• The image in the middle looks as it is floating
• The colors combine well together
• The text is displayed out correctly
• The fonts used relate well with the article

The feedback was very positive which tells me the effect of the background.

The three screen shots above are all my parts of my magazine put together.

Similarities –

• Color scheme (Blue, white, black Grey)
• Similar fonts
• Articles and text relate to each other
• Similar backgrounds
• Same model used

 

Step by step Music Magazine

What generic conventions are there in NME?

• The barcode tends to be placed at the bottom right corner
• The Title is always at the top of page
• The format is always really identical ie the central image and title etc.
• Text is always over the central image however rarely on the models face

How is audience loyalty maintained? The NME magazine always provides ‘regulars’ and ‘features’ in the contents page which keeps customers loyal to NME as they feel they can easily connect with the magazine and feel comfortable reading it. Another way the loyalty is maintained is through the magazines target market. NME is not directed to satisfy all customers which is what makes them so different and special in some readers minds. For example a Christmas Edition of NME was in a way mocking Christmas by having vicious and aggressive  elves as well as Santa Claus On fire in the back ground which emphasises is difference with a typical Christmas Edition magazine.

NME does not price their magazine too high and NME always have a habit of having unusual and strange central biggest images. A perfect example would be the magazine displayed. It’s not a normal and typical person would expect on a magazine due to no Good looking models. This would keep particular audiences loyal.

What stereotypes are maintained/reinforced? A stereotype is a typical or mass-produced image repeated so many times, that it seems to have established a pattern. NME is not very stereotypical as of the models they use for there new issues. A normal magazine would be stereotypical and normally show young, good-looking female or men models. However NME is different and show all variety of ages.

Even though the NME image shown above, there is no sexual attraction that would be displayed as it says ‘Kiss My Ass’ which shows attitude. This also reflects to NME being stereotypical or not as normally females models on magazine pages tend to be looking sexual and for the male audience. However, NME does not see women portrayed as a ‘sex figure’ as nudity is not normally used unless it is mocking or creating a humorous atmosphere.

I will be using this to when designing my magazine. My magazine is a Asian magazine so showing a lot of nudity and seeing females as a ‘sex figure’ would most likely offend a lot of the Asian culture. So I decided to minus the nudity so I could reach a more range of audiences i.e. mature people etc.

Music Magazine Questionnaire And Results

The genre I am basing my music magazine on is a Asian based genre which is not too Desi and can say to the Asian community of Britain. It is also designed to suit different audiences from young teenagers to the mature Asians. I also believe that there is a gap in the market for this type of magazine so believe it should be a great success.

In order to make the most out of my research, I decided to use the internet to look at some existing music magazines .

1st Magazine – The magazines use similar conventions such as the central main image covers the title of the magazine. This is to connote importance as well as what the readers to see first as they may try to identify the magazine through its title.

The magazines style is simple and easy to understand and read.

In both magazines, the central image has text on top of it telling readers the ‘models’ names. They both offer viewers a chance to ‘Win’ and both have texts at the bottom of the page.  The magazines are actually quite similar. This has helped me to create my magazine as now I know the basics of a music magazine and will use them in my production. For example the model overlapping the title as well as simplicity and the text displaying without causing readers to find it difficult.

WhSmith Research

I went to my local shop and checked how the Asian magazines are displayed and how they are targeting their audience. WHSmith decided to create a section that is particularly  for Asian magazines. Special deals are also displayed to attract customers. The conventions are actually quite easy to read and do not need too much information. the fonts are also simple and similar which is what i have taken into account for when creating my magazine.

Questionaire Results:

How Old Are you? The majority of the people who filled out my questionnaire were between the age of 18 – 21 years of age. however it was a close distance between the ages as there was more 18 – 21 years of age by 1 count. This shows that there is a lot of different age groups.  

What type of music do you prefer?

The results showed a positive response to my genre as the majority of people who took this questionnaire preferred As there was one more overall vote for the Asian group

How much are you willing to spend on your music magazine?

=The results on my right show that the majority of people would prefer to pay a most of 3.00 for there magazine. I will take this into account for when choosing my price for my magazine.

What is your genre?

The results shown are not too towards one gender meaning my magazine will have to satisfy both genders.

Are You Environmentally Friendly?

This question is important to me as it is important to know whether the production of my magazine should be produced with recycled paper. Therefore I decided to use this and gather the following information. Nearly 3/4 of the people who answered the questionnaire were not fussed with being environmentally friendly. This means that I will not have to worry about being environmentally friendly too much.

What type of films suit you best?

The results were that ‘Comedy’ and ‘Horror’ were the main chosen ones which has helped me a lot for when producing my magazine. This is that I know now I should include jokes and make my magazine not too serious. The other main option chosen was ‘Other’ which wouldn’t be much use to me.

Would you like your magazine to contain vouchers and gifts?

The majority said that yes they would like a gift in their magazine therefore i have decided to include one within my magazine to satisfy the audience so it will sell.

What would you like to see on a music magazine front cover?

 This question was useful however the results meant that I must pretty much include all the options were provided  as each category has the same number of votes. I am going to be including a variety of pictures, advertisements, events, prices and website details and a color scheme in my music magazine.

I will be using these results to create my music magazine as I now have more knowledge about what the audience ant so I can easily satisfy and please viewers.

 

Step By Step Analysis College Magazine

Task 1  Photoshop Taster

Thoughts on Photoshop? Photoshop in my opinion is a excellent software as it contains so much different techniques of editing images. The Software has a variety of options which means users just like me would never get bored. Photoshop is very easy and simple to use as well as navigate.
How user friendly did you find it? I Found it quite user friendly as communication was done through icons which to me was very user friendly. However, during ma early stages of using Photoshop, I did find it quite difficult due to the amount of information which i wasn’t aware with.
What problems do you think you could encounter with this new technology? One of the main problems is confusion. Navigation was good but I had no clue where to find particular tools. Another problem that could occur is uploading and merging pics into one document etc.
How will you overcome these problems? Plenty Of practise would allow me to understand the software more. Also to watch videos from youtube such as provided to gain a better understanding of the software.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsiQptl_Y9E
Youtube Video weight loss via photoshop

College Magazine

What did you do today? Our first objective was to take pictures of images that I wish to use in my newsletter. After that we uploaded the pictures onto our computer so we can edit them by cropping, adjusting brightness by using the Photoshop. We did this so we can then place them onto our actual magazine which I will be doing properly in my next media lesson.

How did you find it? Taking the pictures at different angles was not hard at all. Neither was uploading them onto the computers. However I did have some problems with

How was the process of planning a newsletter? I did my first planning on A4 paper to get an understanding on how my newsletter is going to look.

What did you find hard/easy? I found the text writing in Photoshop easy to do. However the editing of images was quite difficult at first however after a while was not so complicated due to my knowledge over Photoshop increasing.

How much audience awareness did you have? I did not have much knowledge therefore had to research on students to help with planning and producing my newsletter. On the other hand i have studied Media in GCSE therefore did know and understand what my target audience are and how I will target them.

How did you plan your shots? lighting.. audience.. atmosphere. At first I did not plan my shots and just decided to take pictures wherever i found most best. However, when I uploaded them onto the computer, the camera angles and what was taken was not to the best standard. Therefore I decided to plan where I am going to take my pictures as well as take them to match my newsletter articles.

Did you learn anything from taking your pictures? I learnt how to take more accurate and clear pictures with out pixels messing up and including irrelevant parts of the pictures that are not necessary.

Do you think you could have planned it better? If So How? I could of drafts it out better as I changed my draft about three times.

Research On Other College Magazines

As part of producing my newsletter, I decided to research on already existing newsletters simply to use to see similarities between newsletters.

Northwood College – Northwood college

Maryland College –> Maryland newsletter is a really good newsletter as it contains alot of pictures and colours which caught my eye straight away.  The layout is easy to understand and is full of all relevant information. Howvere the newsletter can easily look too busy which could prevent readers from actually reading it. It also has too many articles which would confuse certain viewers. I am going to take this into account while producing my newsletter as by not involving too much text.

<– Mendocino College. As you can see, the news letter looks quite professional however boring at the same time and would not appeal to my target groups. I prefer the layout in this but it does not relate to my newsletter as my one appeals to more younger people.  The background used is white which tends to connotes simplicity.

Of all three newsletter I analyzed, I realized that all have conventions such as important information located at the top and bottom of the page such as contact details etc. They also all use a limited amount of colors and a lot of text. However, as my newsletter is for a young target market and is a special edition, ive decided to use bright colors as well as my newsletter is based to be ‘lively’ and ‘exciting’ with more pictures and less information. But the format of the existing newsletter has helped me to how to design mine.

College Magazine Questionaire

Questionaire and results: I decided to hand out a questionaire to 15 students that are currently at Reading College TVU to help design and create my newsletter. The Results did help me to plan my newsletter more accurately for example with the age group I mainly should concentrate towards which is 17-20 years of age. Further more I gained extra help to what I should include on my front page with the help of the questionaire for example latest college gossip.

Questionnaire newsletter – Gagandeep – This link shows my newsletter questionnaire in a word document. I have also copied it onto the post to make it more clear.

Questionnaire

1. How old are you?

14 – 16                                    21 – 25

17 – 20                                    25 and Above

2. What us your gender?

Male

Female

3. What would you like to see/read in a college magazine?

College trips

Upcoming local events

Complaint page

Student academic achievements

Other………………………………………..

4. How often do you need magazines/newsletter?

Never                                    Weekly

Monthly                                 Daily

5. Where do you live? (Town)……………………………………………………………………………………………….

6. Which magazines do you read?

Cosmo                               Hello

NME                                 Heat

Allure                                Smash hits

Vibe                                  Other………………………………………..

7. Would you prefer a page for puzzles and games in your newsletter?

Yes

No

8. What are your interests and hobbies? ( Can tick more than one)

Sports                                                     Dancing

Computing (consoles and games)            Singing

Reading                                                   Other (please state)……………………………………………

9. How many images would you prefer to be displayed on your front page of the newsletter?

1-2                           3-4                        5- Above

Thank you for time and patience.

Results

1. How old are you? The results show that the majority were the age of 17 – 20 years of age. This helped me as now i now what my target market is most likely to be as well as how i am going to be writing the newsletter in media writing terms.
2. What is your gender? The Gender equaled to be of the similar results of 8 females and 7 males.  Therefore my newsletter cannot be towards one gender and must reflect to both genders.
3. What would you like to see/read in a college magazine? The most common ones ticked by readers was ‘Local events’, ‘Complaints Page’ and College achievements. This is going to help me decide what I should include in the newsletter without adding irrelevant information which is the main reason of why I asked this question.
4. How often do you need magazines/newsletter? Alot of the feedback was that they do not read newsletter very often. Due to this I have been motivated to be the first best viewing newsletter which actually attracts viewers attention.
5. Where do you live? (Town)………………………………………………………………………………………………. Majority of replies were local such as Woodley from Reading. However some students traveled from Slough and Taplow.
6. Would you prefer a page for puzzles and games in your newsletter? This question was not as important but did give positive feedback as many wished to see puzzles and games decreasing boredom.
7. What are your interests and hobbies? ( Can tick more than one) Most students filling in the questionnaire are into sports and active hobbies such as dancing. Ive used this and will be promoting sport events as well as new clubs that are opening to satisfy readers and give tghem what they want.
8. How many images would you prefer to be displayed on your front page of the newsletter? I asked this as i have no experience with creating newsletter and by asking this would be a source of guideline. The reply was between 3-5 Images.

 I will use the results to provide help to what I should include in my newsletter ie events and subject information. I will also use these results to gather basic information such as gender and age etc to understand who my readers are going to be. The main objective of my questionnaire was to understand my audience in order to create the best looking, best performing and simply the best newsletter!

What Have You Learned In Today Lesson ? I have learned the importance of making questionaires and have progressed a lot  on Photoshop as I now know how to create strokes around pictures to make them more appealing. I also can now enlarge and decrease the size of images as well change the brightness and contrast without hesitation of confusion. I watched this video to gain better knowledge.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrYh_LVPm6I

College Magazine Cover

The image above was my first ever design of a college magazine. However after receiving feedback from viewers, I realized a lot of mistakes and errors.  First person said that it lacks skills in Photoshop and no cropping editing and simple basic techniques are used i.e contrast. The second error is that some images were not allowed i.e copyrighted like ‘Father Christmas’. Due to this i decided to scrap this college magazine and start again to gain the best mark possible.

My Finished Product:

The three print screens on the right are a step by step of how my finished product has changed. As you can see the first image was not to a high standard however gradually knew more techniques and skills and by research.

I changed the back ground from black to a blue and yellow mixture because black looked to dull and didn’t go with my plan to have a attractive newsletter.

I also changed the size of my main central image to cover more space up as well as create a better looking layout. The first draft of my newsletter has a TVU logo on the left hand side. I decided to get rid of this as it did not fit in correctly with the rest of the newsletter. Also because I have a symmetrical style.

What worked well and what didn’t?

Worked Well -the brushes surrounding the main title ‘Impact’ worked well as the colors did not contrast too much.  The image that I used was a good quality and mid shot which is good for a main image on a newsletter. It worked well with the ‘scholarship’ that she achieved.

What Didn’t – The bottom part of my newsletter seems to busy and hard to understand which i would have changed. Furthermore the yellow in the background does not match the color theme of the newsletter.

Student Feedback

‘The layout is set out nicely, I like the colors used as they reflect with one another. the tape type effect saying ‘Student Wins Scholarship’ works really well and helps create a funky type of newsletter.

What have you learned about this whole process and what will you use for the magazine production? I know my layout more clearly for when creating my music magazine. I now understand the important of having good quality central images and the fact more simplicity and layout skills, the more professional the finished product looks. I have also learnt how relevant it is to make text strong and appealing as well as easy to read.

InDesign Package

How have you found the In Design package? The Design package in my opinion is very easy to navigate compared to Photo Shop even though they have similar features. In my opinion, InDesign is not as relevant as PhotoShop when it comes to editing images. The package is quick to learn after practice.

Is there anything that it is useful for that Photo Shop could not be used for? In Design can be used to display images as it is quicker to place pictures to where you please. InDesign can also be be more efficient with formal information and designing.

How easy/hard was it to use? Did you find a good method to using it? The software was not as difficult as I expected. At first it looked quite complicated due to all the newer buttons available for use, however after a certain amount of practice, I came to the conclusion that InDesign was quick and efficient as the cropping and moving of images was easier than Photoshop.

How and where will you use this package in your music magazine? We will be using InDesign for when we are creating a double paged article. However this is much more later on the coursework.

Evaluation

Thoughts on the final product – My final  product is not the best but compared to my performance is a good standard and a good effort. I believe that it is an attractive college magazine  but would not attract all target groups and audiences.

What mistakes do you hope not to repeat when making your music magazine? I spent a lot of time on my newsletter by correcting errors, moving images and trying to find the best layout. Next time I would research more into the product and what i have to do so i would have less mistakes for the future.

What techniques/styles and production methods do you hope to use/repeat when making your music magazine? I am going to be using the same cropping method I used on my main image for my music magazines main image.  I will also repeat the way I received feedback which is by asking students about what they thought of my finished magazine. I will also be using the same type of layout by having a central image and a information around the picture.