Looking back at your preliminary task, what [autosaved]
- 1. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? I will be talking about my journey from the preliminary task to my finished magazine.
- 2. College magazine(good aspects) This was the college magazine I produced at the beginning of the course which I made on Adobe In design. From doing my research into the three magazines I analysed I knew the basics of how a magazine should look like and what ways is should lure my audiences is. For example I gave it a big recognisable masthead. I used a picture of a person directly addressing the audience as the person is facing you. I gave it headings informing readers of the contents of the magazine. I also used theories I learnt such as Uses and Gratifications where I placed information on my front cover I knew my readers would want to know about. I also added banners as I saw it on one of the magazines I analysed. I gave it a bar code, date and price.
- 3. College magazine (bad aspects) At the same time looking at my preliminarily tasks I see it has lots of mistakes and aspects left out. For example I haven't used text to anchor the main image on my front cover (e.g. “Student pleased at passing exam”). Also I have photoshoped the image on my front cover too much making It unclear which is bad as it is used as the main lure in front covers. I also haven't given my magazine a clear house style (e.g. Q Magazine which has red and white) which is bad as a house style gives order to the front cover making look more professional and memorable for the right reasons. Furthermore there is no consistency (e.g. font, colour and layout) in my magazine which is bad as it could make the magazine look cluttered and not visually appealing thus no one buying it. Lastly the overall execution of the magazine is bad as the photoshopping is poor and some aspects (e.g. plugs) aren’t laid out properly.
- 4. College content's page (good aspects) This is my college magazine contents page I made on In Design again. Furthermore when doing my research I new the basic’s needed for making the contents page. For example as seen on some of the other contents pages I have analysed I have given a clear branding to my contents page relating it to the college (e.g. using the colour purple and using the college logo). Furthermore I have also added picture to my contents page so that it could act as a visual aid for my readers. I also added text onto the contents page to attract audiences as I thought this would appeal to them. Furthermore I added a caption underneath different titles as I knew readers liked it and helped them understand the story more. Finally I used safe layout as I wasn't sure how to make an interesting eye-catching layout.
- 5. College contents page (bad aspects) For example I think that all the pictures in my contents page need a caption underneath them. This is because they are not self explanatory and can be confusing when looked at. Furthermore I haven't given them page numbers to explain where they are and I haven't given the actual contents page a number. Furthermore the amount of information in the contents page is as much as you would see in other publications contents page which could make my readers angry. Furthermore I think this is because I haven't used the font sizes and spacing effectively enough to add any more information without it looking too cluttered. Finally I think that the actual layout of the contents page is safe and not creative to attract mass audiences. This is because I haven't really challenged any ideas from other magazine publications which makes my contents page blend in with the others.
- 6. In-Between the preliminary task and the finished product • After making my preliminary task I learnt more and more about the importance of the front cover and aspects that should be included init. For example I learnt about different theories used to help attract more readers such as Encoding/Decoding Model and Bricolage. They both showed me that there was a relationship between text and the audience and that I could use that to my advantage. Furthermore when comparing existing publications to my own I learnt that less is more in terms of layout and content. For example when making my college magazine I thought I should use lots of different effects and visual components to enhance my magazine and gain more readers. I soon learnt just from looking at existing music magazines that I should just use more thought-out words and a professionally taken picture to achieve what I wanted to. Furthermore I learnt the importance of using image with a text as the text anchors the image giving it meaning and making it understood by pretty much everyone. • Furthermore I also learnt that contents page’s are important as they act as a reference for the readers to find particular stories. Furthermore without the contents page my readers wouldn’t be able to find the stories that most interest them which would be the main reason they picked up my magazine. I also learnt that any pictures placed on the contents page should have a page number on it as it would be pointless to place the picture there if it didn’t. Furthermore I learnt about interesting layout techniques I should use to make my magazine more interesting and visually appealing to look at gaining me more audiences. Finally I also learnt about colour scheme and how that also effected the type of readers I was attracting. • Even though we didn’t make a double page spread for the college magazine after looking at existing double page spreads I feel I have learnt more about them in general. For example the most effective layout of the contents page is an image with text. This is because the image allows me to be creative while the text allows me to attract the audience I wasn’t (the image dose that too). Furthermore I learnt that when making the products I have to be much more subjective as what I think is nice and cool wont be shared by others and that everything placed on my products represent something to someone.
- 7. Front Cover For example with this magazine we see that a good picture anchored with thought-out text in terms of content and layout can really make an effective attracting front cover and because of this it doesn't need ‘extreme’ photoshoping or obvious lures to get to its audiences. Furthermore the colours scheme (house style) and font work harmoniously together making the front cover balanced visually and make the magazine appeal to a more adult audience. Furthermore I can use a variety of different techniques to attract different audiences by using bold ‘out there’ stickers and skylines to attract more audiences by contain information in them that would appeal to my audiences. Furthermore this front cover has showed me that I can include more than my house style on the front cover as they have added blue which ties off the whole product making it stand out more than its previous publications. Lastly I learnt that using certain people on the front cover can represent certain things attracting different audiences than expected. For example when looking at this front cover we can see they are going for a more adult sexual theme which can only attract older audiences interested in that rather than lets say middle aged women.
- 8. Contents page. Another idea I learnt from analysing other publications is the use of branding. For example NME have incorporated their masthead in the contents page so that it reminded the readers they were reading NME. Furthermore by doing this it also makes the magazine more memorable as you are reminding the reader what they are reading. Furthermore we can see a clear house style (red, black and white) in the contents page which also acts as a branding tool and makes the contents page looks more balanced and professional. This I feel gives the magazine a reputation of being reliable and good in- terms of content and layout. I also learnt that different, creative layouts of images make the contents page look much more interesting and eye- catching. Furthermore by using the layout effectively they have made lots of information in the contents page seem balanced and not overwhelming. I also realised that I can put promotions about other aspects of my magazine in my contents page attracting more readers as some of them could be interested in it.
- 9. Double page spread When looking at this double page spread I learnt that an image coupled with text laid out well can make a very interesting double page spread. This is because the person in the double page spread is attracting your attention as well as the text and the background. Furthermore I leant about the significance of using a person looking straight at the audience as it makes it more personal to them and is addressing them attracting your attention. Furthermore a good colour scheme with a theme can also make the double page spread interesting as adding too many different colours will take away from the important bits and make the product look cluttered. Furthermore I learnt that everything placed on the magazine has a meaning and everything is done deliberately. For example we could say that this artists has connections with America as her red hair matches the red in the flag.
- 10. Photoshop VS Adobe In design When comparing both programme's I can safely say that I should use Photoshop solely in making my products. This is because In Design doesn't have the image manipulation facilities that Photoshop has and it doesn't allow me to be more creative which Photoshop is really good at.
- 11. Practice products (Front Cover) When making this front cover I used adobe in design which was a mistake as it is more for newspaper rather than music magazine which are more creative. This is because even though I have used lots of different effects the effects on the front cover was done on Photoshop then placed on adobe In design. I did find adobe in design good for making the text even on my front cover. Furthermore it didn’t allow me to make stickers or have as skyline which I would have been able to do with photoshop.
- 12. Contents page. With this contents page I made it on photoshop which I found much easier. This is because it allowed to add effects onto my contents page which I would have found hard with Adobe In Design. Furthermore it allowed me to be more creative with my layout as I could resize objects to my requirements and place everything exactly where I wanted it to be. Furthermore the layering tools involved in photoshop are much easier to use that Adobe In design which made the outcome of my products much cleaner and professional. After looking at this contents page I felt that it was empty and needed information in it to fill it out (like my college magazine)
- 13. Double page spread. I also used Photoshop to make this practice double page spread. I found it really easy and fun to use as it allowed me to be as creative as I wanted to. Furthermore in my opinion the photoshopping in my double page spread will hopefully attract my right audience as it is colourful and youthful. At the same time I decided to make a different double page spread as I was unsure if this had too much effects on it and I didn’t like the layout of the text which I leant was important.
- 14. Final products After considering it for a long time I decided to use Photoshop to make all three of my products. This is because it allowed me to be as creative as I wanted to which was good as I was making a music magazine. I feel from the preliminary task to know I have learnt so much. For example I have learnt that everything put on the magazine is there on purpose. For example when looking at my front cover and double page spread we can say that the picture of the teenager brings representations of partying and having fun. Furthermore I learnt that the colour scheme and fonts are as important as any aspect as they influence your audience reaction towards the magazine. For example if I had a bland magazine with Times New roman font and no colour what so ever my target audiences (young people) would not even buy it as they judge it straight away and think it’s a magazine for old people. Furthermore I learnt that the text (information) inside the magazine influences the audience a lot. For example if I had written about a computer game then my target audience would not want to buy my magazine as it has nothing to do with music and also I learnt that the text can influences the readers in terms of
- 15. Final products What they prioritise and what they think is important which then showed me that I could make them prioritise my magazine and think its important. I also learnt that Photoshop should be used for creative projects while In design should be used for formal projects (such as making a newspaper etc…). This is because Photoshop has a variety of tools such as filters, layering, crop and gradient tools that can make or break a music magazine. Furthermore this experience has taught me about different theories involved in making the magazine and how they can be used to influence audiences. Overall I think that from the beginning of the task to the end I have learnt loads of stuff. Furthermore the most important lesson I think I learnt was the significance of the different aspects of a music magazine and how well they all work together. Also I learnt that making a music magazine has a lot behind it and that I should not underestimate what goes in making these products and I have a much bigger appreciation for them.