Post-Production Evaluation

I have made my magazine to follow a similar path as Q music magazine. Both the colour scheme, the colour connotations and the same genre conventions as Q.  My original idea was to create and design a mixed genre music magazine as I wanted to break the mould of the original one genre per magazine. I designed it so that it would look like a normal music magazine, however I ensured that on the cover there was a number of different artists ranging from pop to R'n'B. The challenge for me was to try and interlink the genres into one. I needed to find something that all musicians have in common, as their types of music are all different, so I set a section of my magazine about the MTV awards which accommodates for all types of music. I thought by doing this, it would involve all the genres individually but bring them all together as one.

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The Masthead for my magazine was a problem from the start, I couldn't decide as to which font or text to use, so I looked back at a number of different magazines to see what the masthead's were like. Q, in particular caught my eye, it was simply just a large Q in the corner. I had tried out longer mastheads and all types of fonts, but I couldn't get one to fit with the theme I wanted, so I decided to shorten my masthead, to just M which is obviously very similar to Q (M stands for music, as I am using lots of different music genres) I am glad that I stuck to similar conventions as to what Q uses as I think it does look like a professional cover and that the overall layout works well and fits in well with the contents and the double page spread.

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The copy on my cover is a variety, I have used some from DaFont.com ( http://www.dafont.com/ )  and also some In Design font types themselves as they where original and worked well with my layout and cover design. I am particularly glad that I have used a flash on my cover as I think a flash either makes the cover look original or it could have the opposite effect and make it look tacky. However I think as I have chosen colours that fit within my colour scheme it has added a touch more colour and fits within the page itself. I used an around the head layout apposed to the typical 'V' layout as it made my cover picture stand out more and emphasised the content. My main article is clearly about 'Lady Smith' and I wanted that to be as bold as possible as I wanted Lady Smith to fit in throughout the whole magazine pages that I have created. On magazines which I have researched I found out that not only are the artists featured on the cover they fit in throughout the whole magazine, so I tried to interpret that in my own way and see if I could make small changes on the contents and focus it onto other things, such as festivals and fashion, not just Lady Smith. I did want to make sure that she was incorporated on every page but not to the extent where she is the main focus, it's a mixed genre so I wanted to ensure that everything would have been noticed not just one particular artist.

The picture on my cover is of the main article and the camera angle I used is a head shot, I decided to make it a head shot as there technological advances which have made allowed photographs to be better than ever and this meant that editing a head shot would be convenient and also have much better quality, this also meant that it would be something I could edit in Photoshop. (Photo editing programme) When I finished off my picture I was very happy with the quality and also the head shot meant that I could design my featured articles to go around the head of the main feature. (around the head layout) The picture overall is brilliant, she is posed and is using direct mode of address which would be eye catchy. This does make it look more of a fashion magazine apposed to a music magazine but if you read around the magazine it has all the conventions of a music magazine, which I am pleased with.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------As for my contents page I wanted it to run with the same theme, so I did a mock up of a what I would like it too look like but I did it in a different colour scheme and different font, I wanted to use DaFont.com (http://www.dafont.com/) for all my titles but I wasn't sure on having my contents in the same font as my M masthead masthead and also the same as the font on the cover. I like the look of it and I think it works particularly well. My copy doesn't really read like the average music magazine, it does look more like a fashion magazine and I do like that idea as when I did my questionnaire I found that a lot of my target audience liked reading about fashion and also finding out what some of their favourite musicians like to wear and also if it is affordable, so I really did try to target this and aim for a more conversational tone so that the readers know exactly at what they will be getting and they will also be getting what they like and what they enjoy to read.

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 As for other music magazine contents pages they aren't really anything like this, and I know they are not as I did a lot of research trying to find a magazine with and Editors Say section and I only managed to find them in gossip magazines or Fashion magazines, they weren't very popular in the music magazine industry, however I wanted to try and break through that mould and I think it has worked particularly well. I like the overall layout and colour Scheme of the Editors Say section and think it looks bold. The orange box background is only a box template and originally it was just around the picture but I moved sections of it around and found that it looked more professional when I pulled it up slightly, it appears to have made it look more interesting and doesn't just look like a template any more. The picture on the contents is at a music gig that I personally went too, my contents has a page about festivals and I thought if I incorporated a photo which is also to do with my magazine contents it would be attention grabbing and also work well with everything on the page, it is a mid shot and is using direct mode of address, so it is catchy and looks interesting.

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I am really happy with my double page spread I think it looks like a proper double page spread from a music magazine. It has worked out better than what I expected, I found creating my contents page and cover quite easy, but I thought my double page was going to be really hard, but I managed to work through it all and it looks so much better than what I expected! I was going to do all my copy on this spread black but when I had finished and all my text was black, it just looked dull and didn't seem to follow my colour scheme at all, so eventually after trying a number of different things, I simply changed the question colour to orange and it looked so much better, the colour scheme really came back and it looked better than what it did originally, so I was very happy with that. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For the masthead on my double page spread I decided to go with something catchy, I tried out a number of A words to begin with such as 'Albums, A-List and' that was all I could think of, so then I thought what if I tried singles, I decided to come up with the idea that she was bringing out an album and a single, so I finally settled for 'Going Solo, Singles And Sex' I wasn't particularly keen on using the title 'sex' on my double page spread but it fit with my interview and also gave it something extra, it flowed as if it was a gossip magazine, but still stuck to the musical conventions. In my interview I decided I was going to talk about an album which is already out so I could refer to some lyrics (without making them up) so I changed the title and artist of Keri Hilsons album  - No Boys Allowed and simply made questions up referring to Lady Smith as thought she was the artist. I could of made the lyrics up but I thought using song lyrics that are already out wouldn't have made it so hard as I couldn't come up with lyrics and thought that this would be a more convenient way of working around that and making them sound realistic and believable. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I decided once again to stick to the very same font and also the same tones of oranges, I also decided to try and interact with the readers as much as possible similar to a gossip magazine and I came up with the idea of adding a short questionnaire in which the readers can send in a question for the main feature artist and win a poster of the artist. At first it seemed like a daft idea but when I incorporated it within the double page spread it looked good and also gave it that extra something, the questions where only very simple such as Pink or Blue? she simply had to pick which one she preferred and that way the readers get a better insight on the artist. It is something which a gossip magazine would have used but again, I am trying to break through that mould, fashion magazines have singers and bands on the cover of their magazines so I thought why can't music magazines use similar ideas? Obviously using someone of Eastenders on the cover of a music magazine wouldn't have worked but using the ideas that those magazines use would get music magazines more popular.

Overall I think that my contents page challenges to genre conventions most, I used fashion magazine inspirations apposed to music magazines and decided to work around the problems to see what I could come up with and overall I am very happy. I think building all 3 designs I could build up a music magazine style.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 I used the front covers from my mood board in which I researched, too see essentially what attracts the readers to the magazine. After I researched them more, I found out that its not what attracts them, its what keeps them going back. What does keep the readers going back? And the answer is simple, it is actually the genre of music that, that particular social group likes. For example a heavy rock social group will buy a heavy rock music magazine and the same goes for classical or Pop or R'n'B. It is simply what they listen to on a day to day basis that keeps them going back to learn more. So for my target audience, which is based around the Q magazine and aimed at around 20 - 50 year old I decided to make my picture and text the most similar to Q magazines. The majority of Q magazines didn't have backgrounds, they were white but honestly I preferred the ones with backgrounds as they were more attention grabbing and looked more detailed, so when I had edited my photos, I compared my own magazine to a Q magazine and noticed that mine stands out just as much as Q possibly even more. People who read Q are obviously my target audience so I was extremely dedicated to try and make them look as if they were inspired from the same genre. Eventually after a lot of hard work I was finished, my design and cover was very similar to Q and definitely appealed to the same audience. 

I knew from the start that my distributor could be Bauer as they are a multi-million making company, they are world wide not just nation-wide and they have a very large subscription based customer, so therefore I knew that I would be getting paid on a 12 month period, also knowing that they would be buying my magazine and that they would be being distributed world wide. I know that I would choose Bauer as they are one of the largest distributors in the world and they are based world wide, so even if my magazines don't go world wide, I know that they would be being distributed globally. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ F

For me attracting the audience was easy, as I am a very fond and dedicated reader and subscriber to Q I have took note on every cover that I have ever read, every detail on the articles, I know whats been used over and over again and I also know what was used once and once only. I have sat for hours and researched through old magazines, just what attracted me personally and how it did and like I said previously, if you have read it before and have liked it your bound to buy it again. The amount of hard work and detail that is put into Q every week is astonishing, they know just how to grab your attention so I tried out what works best for them. ( what attracts me ) On the layout of the cover I decided to emphasise the top right hand cover just above Lady Smiths head and inserted '100 most shocking videos this month.' The layout wasn't quite as simple as that I made sure that it stood out, emphasising every single word! 100 most shocking videos  this month. I wanted to create a section that was attention grabbing, and this section did it for me. I also wanted to make sure that my photo was bold and vibrant, it needed to stand out, I used every technique that I could, direct mode off address, heat shot and just bold and bright colours. I used big names on the cover, I made sure that up coming and top of the hit artists were there, I used slogans such as 'move over Rihanna' this would send out the message that Lady Smith is the business, it would suggest that she is going to be big and that would most definitely attract the readers.

Throughout my work I used similar conventions which Q, Billboard and a variety of different other magazines use as I know that this would appeal to my target audience. Such as simple things like lots of different fonts and font sizes. The central image, I ensured that I used direct mode of address, similar to most Q and Billboard magazines. My masthead or name for my magazine was clearly similar to Q magazine, as mine was called M standing for 'MUSIC' I simply wanted a similar effect nothing to fancy, just a small space to incorporate a title and nothing more. I wanted to use as little space as possible. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Constructing this product was hard, the amount of research I had to do was challenging, but at the same time it was interesting as magazines and music are some of my favourite things, so I have found out things I never knew and also learnt more about things that I thought I knew a lot of. I would love to work in the magazine industry and would also love to work with the people in the music industry so overall I have learnt a lot. Not everything just comes naturally, I had to work really hard to try and work my way around technical difficulties and slight gliches in my work. It has paid off though. Looking back at all the work I have put into this has made me realise just how good technology is and just how hard some technology is. It has its ups and downs, but when you look at that final piece it is definitely worth it. I know now that adding my favourite colour (red/pink) to the cover or contents is sometimes a bad idea, if my target audience was different it would be a good colour but aiming at a mixture of genres is definitely hard. Combinig R'n'B, Pop, Dance, rap and indie music into one is difficult, but it works, its a challenge but it works well. I am very happy with the outcome.. 

Looking back at my preliminary task I have learnt a lot. From the very beginning of this project I knew how to work Photoshop, but my skills on that have improved. I can now edit a picture quickly and professionally, and I can also work in, In Design. From the start of this project I told my self I was going to stick with what I knew and that was paint and Photoshop, reflecting on that decision I know I made a bad decision when I said that, as In Design is now one of my favourite programmes. I can fully understand what I am doing and I can use all different layers and layouts, I am capable at working through tasks at a steady pace and I am able to create and design any kind of work. I am glad that I used the Adobe packages to design and create my magazine.  --- ADD PICTURES old pictures and new pictures. Preliminary and New.

My Questionnaire

1. Are you male or female?
_ Male    _ Female

2. How old are you?
_ 10-20 _21-30 _31-40
_41-50 _ 51+
3. you read magazines?
_ Yes   _ No   _ Sometimes
4. If sometimes, how often?
_ Once a week _ Twice a week _ once every other two weeks _ Once a month _ other
If other please specify ______________________________________________________________________
5. What kind of magazines do you read?
_ Music _ TV _ Fashion _ Celebritites _ Real life _Other
If other please specify ______________________________________________________________________
6. Would you consider a mixed genre magazine?
_ Yes _ No
7. If yes, what genres? ______________________________________________________________________
8. Do you buy the magazine for the free gift? (CD, Poster ect.)
_ Yes _ No _ Depends on the gift
9. Does my cover attrac you? And if yes, what attracts you?
_ Yes _ No
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Would you buy my magazine?
_ Yes _ No
How much would you be willing to pay?
_ £1-£1.50 _ £2-£2.50 _ £3-£3.50 _ £4-£4.50 _£5-£5.50 £6-£6.50+
Would you pay more for a magazine with a free gift?
_ Yes _ No
What would you like as a free gift?
_ Poster _ Single _ CD _ Pen _ Other __________________________________________________________________________________________

Would you prefer a monthly or a weekly magazine?
_ Monthly _ Weekly
Would you like the magazine to have a website and TV show?
_ Tv show _ Website _ Both
Would you like there to be interviews with a different musician/band in every magazine?
_ Yes _ No