Wednesday, 31 March 2010
INTRODUCTION
This is my AS Level Music Magazine coursework. Below is my final product with the evaluation and feedback as well as the developments and research.
Monday, 29 March 2010
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
EVALUATION
The front cover of my music magazine has used the similar convention to the Rolling Stone magazine I analyzed, in terms of the colour scheme. I have used a shade of purple continuously throughout the front cover. This is to correspond with the gender of the person on the front cover; purples and pinks usually symbolises the female gender as opposed to the male.
I have used two different fonts on the front cover; this is because I thought the font used for the magazine name (‘Lyrical’) needed to be different from the rest of the fonts used throughout the magazine so that there is an obvious sense of differentiation. The second font I have then used throughout the rest of the magazine for main titles.
There are three main focuses on the front cover, in terms of content, these are: the ‘50 greatest concerts of all time’, a list of music artists and an ‘exclusive interview’ with a famous singer. By using the superlative ‘greatest’, the readers’ could possibly think that they are receiving the best. The second story has ‘exclusive’ in capitals; this word ensures that no other magazine on the market will have the same story and the uniqueness this offers to the reader could increase sales. The third and final feature on the front of the magazine is to the right and it is a list of celebrity names including Madonna and Pitbull which covers a variety of the music genres so that it appeals to a wider market with eclectic tastes.
Though the structure of the front cover may not challenge the usual conventions of the media, the white background is so bright that this will be attention grabbing enough without having to change a normal structure of a front cover. I used the thick bar to advertise the interview with Bailey Rebecca Sholl because this feature is only used on odd occasions by magazines and the bold colour is also quite eye-catching because of the contrast between that and the background. An improvement that could be made to the front cover would be adding more features and stories to the front cover; certain areas look to bare.
The photograph on the front cover is of Bailey Rebecca Sholl to correspond with her interview that is advertised; though this is quite a common convention, I have used it because it is an effective and persuasive selling tool because the photograph will draw the audience’s attention first. The photograph is a front on shot becuase it is important that the person on the front cover is making eye contact with the camera/reader. Saliance has also been used on the front cover meaning that the relative size of the subject reflects the worth; the photograph has the most prominence on the front cover because it is the main feature of the magazine. My inspiration for the front cover photograph was the LP cover for Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline.
Though most magazine audiences read magazines in a non-linear fashion and often flick; a contents page is still important as a staple for all magazines and may include other features such as advertising, editor’s letter or in order to find something in particular that has stood out. For the title of the contents page, I have used the same font as the front cover’s title for a sense of continuity throughout the magazine; as well as using the second chosen font for the rest of the features such as the editor’s letter. I have changed the colours around as a contrast to the front cover, instead the background is now the darker colour of the two and the writing is now white. I have done this because I thought that having white for the contents page background would look dull as opposed to eye-catching like it is on the front cover. The purple colour scheme is continued right the way through the magazine as this challenges normal media conventions because commonly magazines will use different colours throughout. Two framing devices have been used in the form of the purple boxes around the editor’s letter and the photograph; the line from the Bailey Rebecca Sholl interview has also covered the photograph in order to connect both objects.
I have used the title ‘On the cover’ to highlight the features that were particularly mentioned on the front cover; this is a common convention that works effectively because the articles that were publicised on the front cover are what have sold the magazine so that is probably instantly what people want to read once they have brought it. The pages are not listed in order; instead they have been listed if they are focal features in the magazine such as John Legend or U2. Each of them have been titled and put with the page number; tricks of language have been used for some of the titles such as ‘Gorgeous GaGa’ (alliteration) and ‘Every Tom, Dick and John’ (play on the usual phrase: Tom, Dick and Harry). To improve on the contents page, I may have added the conventions of regular features in every issue like Q’s Cash for Questions.
I have used another photograph of Bailey Rebecca Sholl on the contents page as well as a line from her interview. This is so that readers’ are even more encouraged to read the interview and that particular phrase has been used as it seems quite exciting and more persuasive to get people to read it.
I have added an editor’s letter because it seems more personal to the target audience. It gives the editor an opportunity to review and reflect upon the issue as well as the readers’ gaining an understanding of creating the magazine.
At the bottom of the page, there is a list of the ‘Lyrical’ Magazine offices as well as phone numbers to contact certain editors. Usually these addresses and the editor’s letter would be on a separate page; however they make the contents page fuller and look more intense. Also if I was to create a real magazine I would want to use another page of the magazine for something else other than addresses.
The double page spread had the most developments out of the whole magazine. This is to ensure that I could make this page really powerful and keep the readers’ gripped; as opposed to them quickly scanning over the photos and not properly interacting with the media, like so many consumers have a tendency to do.
The magazine uses conventions by keeping the same colour scheme throughout, but challenges them with the use of the paintbrush I used. The splatter look and the smoky look both make a great impact on the page and I thought they were different to what I’d ever seen before in a magazine. Despite being continually going back and forth between the smoke and the splattered look, I eventually decided upon the smoke for a few reasons. Firstly, the double page spread’s main focus was meant to be ‘Bailey’ and the splatter look may have made such an impact that it actually stole some attention away from the close up of her. Though the splattered look may have added a playful element, it was far to compact to even make out the detailing of the brushes unless at the very edges. Whereas, the smoky one was very clear and also it allowed the darkness of the two pages to be viewed more. By experimenting with these two brushes, it has allowed to realise that you can download and buy new brushes and use them in Photoshop.
I think that the white writing on the dark background is not only powerful but also challenges the conventions of black, mundane text. The layout of the photographs may be viewed as too similar to some conventions used by other magazine, but it is important to realise that these are conventions because they work so well. There is a large close up of the close up which takes up at least a quarter of the double page spread, with three photos underneath which are not actually of Bailey but are relevant to her style and type of music. The connotations of the Ray Bans are that they are stylish now in the indie and alternative sector, and the headphones connote music.
The effects that I have added to the title of the page and the writing make them stand out more, even the drop shadows behind the borders of each photo make a difference. The white of the title makes it sounds out a lot more than using the lighter shade of purple for both the writing and the title. The use of three columns also makes the magazine seem more professional and fits well with the structure of the page.
I have used two different fonts on the front cover; this is because I thought the font used for the magazine name (‘Lyrical’) needed to be different from the rest of the fonts used throughout the magazine so that there is an obvious sense of differentiation. The second font I have then used throughout the rest of the magazine for main titles.
There are three main focuses on the front cover, in terms of content, these are: the ‘50 greatest concerts of all time’, a list of music artists and an ‘exclusive interview’ with a famous singer. By using the superlative ‘greatest’, the readers’ could possibly think that they are receiving the best. The second story has ‘exclusive’ in capitals; this word ensures that no other magazine on the market will have the same story and the uniqueness this offers to the reader could increase sales. The third and final feature on the front of the magazine is to the right and it is a list of celebrity names including Madonna and Pitbull which covers a variety of the music genres so that it appeals to a wider market with eclectic tastes.
Though the structure of the front cover may not challenge the usual conventions of the media, the white background is so bright that this will be attention grabbing enough without having to change a normal structure of a front cover. I used the thick bar to advertise the interview with Bailey Rebecca Sholl because this feature is only used on odd occasions by magazines and the bold colour is also quite eye-catching because of the contrast between that and the background. An improvement that could be made to the front cover would be adding more features and stories to the front cover; certain areas look to bare.
The photograph on the front cover is of Bailey Rebecca Sholl to correspond with her interview that is advertised; though this is quite a common convention, I have used it because it is an effective and persuasive selling tool because the photograph will draw the audience’s attention first. The photograph is a front on shot becuase it is important that the person on the front cover is making eye contact with the camera/reader. Saliance has also been used on the front cover meaning that the relative size of the subject reflects the worth; the photograph has the most prominence on the front cover because it is the main feature of the magazine. My inspiration for the front cover photograph was the LP cover for Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline.
Though most magazine audiences read magazines in a non-linear fashion and often flick; a contents page is still important as a staple for all magazines and may include other features such as advertising, editor’s letter or in order to find something in particular that has stood out. For the title of the contents page, I have used the same font as the front cover’s title for a sense of continuity throughout the magazine; as well as using the second chosen font for the rest of the features such as the editor’s letter. I have changed the colours around as a contrast to the front cover, instead the background is now the darker colour of the two and the writing is now white. I have done this because I thought that having white for the contents page background would look dull as opposed to eye-catching like it is on the front cover. The purple colour scheme is continued right the way through the magazine as this challenges normal media conventions because commonly magazines will use different colours throughout. Two framing devices have been used in the form of the purple boxes around the editor’s letter and the photograph; the line from the Bailey Rebecca Sholl interview has also covered the photograph in order to connect both objects.
I have used the title ‘On the cover’ to highlight the features that were particularly mentioned on the front cover; this is a common convention that works effectively because the articles that were publicised on the front cover are what have sold the magazine so that is probably instantly what people want to read once they have brought it. The pages are not listed in order; instead they have been listed if they are focal features in the magazine such as John Legend or U2. Each of them have been titled and put with the page number; tricks of language have been used for some of the titles such as ‘Gorgeous GaGa’ (alliteration) and ‘Every Tom, Dick and John’ (play on the usual phrase: Tom, Dick and Harry). To improve on the contents page, I may have added the conventions of regular features in every issue like Q’s Cash for Questions.
I have used another photograph of Bailey Rebecca Sholl on the contents page as well as a line from her interview. This is so that readers’ are even more encouraged to read the interview and that particular phrase has been used as it seems quite exciting and more persuasive to get people to read it.
I have added an editor’s letter because it seems more personal to the target audience. It gives the editor an opportunity to review and reflect upon the issue as well as the readers’ gaining an understanding of creating the magazine.
At the bottom of the page, there is a list of the ‘Lyrical’ Magazine offices as well as phone numbers to contact certain editors. Usually these addresses and the editor’s letter would be on a separate page; however they make the contents page fuller and look more intense. Also if I was to create a real magazine I would want to use another page of the magazine for something else other than addresses.
The double page spread had the most developments out of the whole magazine. This is to ensure that I could make this page really powerful and keep the readers’ gripped; as opposed to them quickly scanning over the photos and not properly interacting with the media, like so many consumers have a tendency to do.
The magazine uses conventions by keeping the same colour scheme throughout, but challenges them with the use of the paintbrush I used. The splatter look and the smoky look both make a great impact on the page and I thought they were different to what I’d ever seen before in a magazine. Despite being continually going back and forth between the smoke and the splattered look, I eventually decided upon the smoke for a few reasons. Firstly, the double page spread’s main focus was meant to be ‘Bailey’ and the splatter look may have made such an impact that it actually stole some attention away from the close up of her. Though the splattered look may have added a playful element, it was far to compact to even make out the detailing of the brushes unless at the very edges. Whereas, the smoky one was very clear and also it allowed the darkness of the two pages to be viewed more. By experimenting with these two brushes, it has allowed to realise that you can download and buy new brushes and use them in Photoshop.
I think that the white writing on the dark background is not only powerful but also challenges the conventions of black, mundane text. The layout of the photographs may be viewed as too similar to some conventions used by other magazine, but it is important to realise that these are conventions because they work so well. There is a large close up of the close up which takes up at least a quarter of the double page spread, with three photos underneath which are not actually of Bailey but are relevant to her style and type of music. The connotations of the Ray Bans are that they are stylish now in the indie and alternative sector, and the headphones connote music.
The effects that I have added to the title of the page and the writing make them stand out more, even the drop shadows behind the borders of each photo make a difference. The white of the title makes it sounds out a lot more than using the lighter shade of purple for both the writing and the title. The use of three columns also makes the magazine seem more professional and fits well with the structure of the page.
FEEDBACK
ALICE REID
You can tell with the colours and bold writing that it’s simple and easy to read. It’s quite similar to magazines such as top of the pops and smash hits, yet targeted at a slightly older audience, therefore targeting a niche market where not a lot of magazines have been made for that audience. I liked the colours and the photos. It’s aesthetically pleasing and fun to read. The images are clear and of high quality. I personally wouldn’t buy it because I’m not interested in that type of music, but for slightly younger people it would be idea. I think it could be priced around £2.50. To be improved you could make the front cover more ‘busy’ looking to make it look more professional, but the contents is really good.
POPPY ADAMS
I think the magazine is aimed at girls in their mid-teens with an interest in mainstream music. I don’t think the magazine fits conventions, but still manages to look different. It’s purple theme is distinctive and makes the magazine stand out. I like the photos a lot, I think they are very good, and I like the editing of the magazine. I would not buy it because I’m not a fan of the music style, however I could imagine it selling well to fans of mainstream music. I think it could be improved with more subjects in the pictures, however I don’t think this is really important.
HOLLY DIBDEN
I think this magazine is aimed at teenagers with an interest in music that is currently in the charts. In terms of music covered it is similar to magazines such as Smash Hits, but it is more sophisticated and targeted at an older audience. I really like the purple theme that runs throughout, I like it stops the magazine looking childish and implies that it is for an older audience. I think the pictures of Bailey in the double page spread are very good and look very professional. I think the magazine looks intriguing and I like the look of the cover star so yes I would buy it. It also mentions some artists on the front that I am interested in. However, I think that it is over priced. I’d be more willing to pay in between £2.00 and £2.50 for it. I think the front cover is the ‘weakest’ part of the magazine (only because I think the other parts are really good!) as it looks a bit plain and less professional than the other bits. Maybe a background colour would help?
You can tell with the colours and bold writing that it’s simple and easy to read. It’s quite similar to magazines such as top of the pops and smash hits, yet targeted at a slightly older audience, therefore targeting a niche market where not a lot of magazines have been made for that audience. I liked the colours and the photos. It’s aesthetically pleasing and fun to read. The images are clear and of high quality. I personally wouldn’t buy it because I’m not interested in that type of music, but for slightly younger people it would be idea. I think it could be priced around £2.50. To be improved you could make the front cover more ‘busy’ looking to make it look more professional, but the contents is really good.
POPPY ADAMS
I think the magazine is aimed at girls in their mid-teens with an interest in mainstream music. I don’t think the magazine fits conventions, but still manages to look different. It’s purple theme is distinctive and makes the magazine stand out. I like the photos a lot, I think they are very good, and I like the editing of the magazine. I would not buy it because I’m not a fan of the music style, however I could imagine it selling well to fans of mainstream music. I think it could be improved with more subjects in the pictures, however I don’t think this is really important.
HOLLY DIBDEN
I think this magazine is aimed at teenagers with an interest in music that is currently in the charts. In terms of music covered it is similar to magazines such as Smash Hits, but it is more sophisticated and targeted at an older audience. I really like the purple theme that runs throughout, I like it stops the magazine looking childish and implies that it is for an older audience. I think the pictures of Bailey in the double page spread are very good and look very professional. I think the magazine looks intriguing and I like the look of the cover star so yes I would buy it. It also mentions some artists on the front that I am interested in. However, I think that it is over priced. I’d be more willing to pay in between £2.00 and £2.50 for it. I think the front cover is the ‘weakest’ part of the magazine (only because I think the other parts are really good!) as it looks a bit plain and less professional than the other bits. Maybe a background colour would help?
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