Category: Component 1

Below is draft four of my magazine:

What’s new?

• I changed the main cover star image and added in another image on my contents page to make sure I was hitting the brief of a minimum of four images
• I changed the pug design and colour
• I added in captions under my cover lines
• I removed ‘Liberty’ from my contents page
• I made the ‘RISE” bigger on my dps

Reflection

The preparation for this task began way back in September when we did a lot of research tasks on the forms and conventions of magazines. Some examples of these included; physically dressing up, learning how to use a DSLR & flash kits, blog posts on who our audience is & who our competition is, etc. By doing these tasks it helped us be more aware of what we need to consider when conducting our magazine, and how to create our magazines. Learning how to use a camera to get the highest quality photos for our magazine was vital so we could produce a piece of work that creates a better visual appeal and makes my magazine stand out from my competition for the right reasons. We also did tasks on the software applications which included; Adobe Indesign and Adobe Photoshop. One of the tasks was to create a tour poster based on an allocated genre of music we were given at random, and after this, we dressed up our models and took photos of them from various angles and distances. Editing them on InDesign and Photoshop gave us an advantage when it came to creating our magazine as we roughly knew our way around the software and what tools did what. Dressing up our model also expanded my knowledge of the importance of Mise-en-scene and what message it communicates to our target audience. All of these tasks we did to prepare for the production of our magazines were key as without them it wouldn’t have been as successful!

In my opinion I do think I have fulfilled the brief as I created a front page, contents page, double page spread all by using at least a minimum of 4 images taken by me. My magazine also included a various amount of conventional features found in an Indie magazine, for instance; a masthead, cover lines, star image, price, barcode, etc.

A lightbulb moment I remember having was how I could incorporate my title on my double page spread to make it more suited towards my audience. I played around with the typefaces and finally chose to incorporate the actual meaning of the word ‘rise’ to how it looks.

Some difficulties that I faced was things like making sure I had at least 4 images, how I was going to fit in my double page spread title, and having some issues when it came to photoshopping my images-specifically a white border around it. I learnt from these problems by either being resilient or asking my peers or the teacher for some help.

I would recommend myself watching some YouTube video tutorials on Photoshop and InDesign so I can visually see what I need to do, what tools to find, and how it should look by the end of the tutorial. I would also advise myself to have a clear plan on what information I was going to include so I can work around that when adding in the masthead and images. By having a clear plan I would follow would also enable myself to complete the magazine with no rush so I would allow myself with plenty of time.

Below is Draft 3 of my music magazine:

ScreenCastify Feedback From Teacher

Reflection

After listening to my teachers feedback, I have some changes I can make to my magazine to ensure my final draft is at the highest standard of my ability. I carefully listened to the feedback and wrote down some of the key alterations that will be made, I summarised them below:

• Include a minimum of four photos
• Check spelling (Independence)
• Crop my image on my front cover so it is more of a mid shot
• Enlarge the E on Rise so it is inline with Indie Star
• Add a bit of colour in my star’s lips, eyes etc to make them “pop”
• Add a drop shadow or feather the image on my front cover so it looks more natural

Focus Forward

By considering my teachers feedback it has helped me discover the strengths and weaknesses of draft three of my magazine from an outside perspective. This is extremely helpful as there are corrections I am going to make which I hadn’t noticed until they had been pointed out. For my final draft of my magazine I know exactly what bits need improvement so I can do this productively and have a piece of work to submit for the deadline.

A Typeface is a particular type of a design including letters, numbers, and other symbols used for display. Typeface/ font layouts are important when when attempting to engage the audience as it’s not just the photography that will be the main reason that hooks the audience’s attention. Some examples of typeface categories include:

• Serif– traditional, sophisticated, formal
• Sans-serif– modern, legible, clean
• Script– elegant, formal, difficult to read
• Handwritten– informal, friendly, fun

Below is some visual examples of typeface designs:

Below is four of my existing cover lines that I have redesigned and considered the layout for:

• “Rises To Fame”– I used a sans-serif font and I made each letter a different size. This is because it can be decoded by the audience of my stars journey/process to rising to her fame. I also used a pop of colour to make it less boring and more interesting to look at.
• “The Road To Independence”– I used a sans-serif font again but this time I used a font which had a road design to make it have a more visually exciting appeal.
• “Indie Star”– I used a sans-serif font and also used a font to convey the physical meaning of the word to make it more interesting to look at but also emphasise the word throughout the whole statement/cover line.
• “Your Music Companion Since 2002”– I used a serif font for this cover line. Since I haven’t used serif fonts throughout my magazine it makes it stand out more to the audience and gives it more of a formal approach to show the professional nature of my magazine.

By using a Sans-serif font for majority of my redesigns, it works well for my genre and star image as it is easy to read and conveys a casual, friendly approachable vibe which is what I was aiming for. I experimented with the size of letters, font types, and adding some colour to create a visually attractive appeal so it can be accepted by my target audience.

Reflection

This task enabled me to experiment with the layout, fonts, colours, and sizes of text and the impact of the importance of how the way your text looks can also represent how you want your genre/star to be portrayed. It also made me understand from a piece of text, your audience can decode the meaning from it and not just from images.

Below is my second draft of my double page spread:

What’s new?

• I added a drop shadow to my image to create more of a realistic appeal
• I ensured I used the whole image so the guitar wasn’t cut out
• I added in an official date and changed the page number to suit where it will be according to my contents page
• I included a standfirst to help draw my audience in and sell them the content of the article

What’s next?

• Add in my final draft of my DPS article after the improvements made in response to my teachers feedback and my MP3 recording
• Experiment with the typography of the word ‘RISES’ to make sure it portrays the correct message to my audience, and make it the ‘same but different’ to other magazines as they are my competition and I will want to succeed, but whilst staying within the conventions of my genre
• Try out different effects on my image and edit some aspects of it in photoshop to make it look more professional

Focus Forward

By indicating my targets for my next draft, it enables me to create a stronger third draft which suits my target audience’s preferred readings so it can be successful, whilst also being able to showcase my ability when using Indesign and Photoshop at a high standard.

Below is my second draft of my contents page:

What’s new? x5

• I changed both of the images
• I added in my headlines with their page numbers
• I added in the page number of the contents page
• I changed the black background of the image to white
• I changed the ‘Regulars’ to ‘The Guide’

What’s next? x5

• Discover names for the titles of what is in my magazine, eg ‘the guide’
• Make sure the image in the box and the ‘Also Inside’ box align with each other
• Change the date
• Match the blue background with the advert background
• Add in some information under the headlines/possibly remove some to ensure I have enough space