Pitch

The pitch from Caranmason4

Magazine Analysis 2

Analysing a magazine cover from Caranmason4

Magazine Analysis

Made in Publisher then exported as a jpeg.

Mood Board

Evaluation of Student Magazine

1.      In what ways does your student magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Before designing my student magazine I analysed another student magazine and looked through many examples of student magazines I found that there were certain features that kept popping up - such as the central image being a young person, probably similar in age to the audience. I used mainly blues in my magazines colour palette - because I was originally going to put the Ludlow college logo on my magazine, but in the end I didn't but I still kept the blue colour for my magazine. I wanted the mode of address should be informal and chatty so that the audience can connect with the magazine on some level. The layout and the Masthead should be simple which connotes maturity and it has a clean-cut look. I continued using blues to create my house style which is within the conventions of a student magazine. I photographed a student - who was similar age-wise to my audience- I used a medium close-up which was part of the brief. I edited my photo in In Design using the effects - the tone and feather - I did this to try and cover up some of the noise on the photo and I also think it made my student magazine stand out more. I chose the name 'Ludlow Antics' after trying out some other names but I think that 'Ludlow Antics' fit better for my student magazine. I used Hobo Std because it has character which I wanted because it would be more memorable and eye-catching.

2.      How does your student magazine represent particular social groups?

I created my student magazine by basing it around both my own tastes and some of the student magazines that I looked at because I form part of my age range and the example student magazines are aimed at my age group which is ages 16-20. I also got some input from other students about how my magazine should look. The clothes that my model was wearing were quite neutral - as I didn't really want them to cater to any stereotypes - I didn't want my magazine to be aimed at any specific readers. When I asked my peers how much they thought the magazine should cost most of them said that it should be free so that everyone can access it. So with that in mind I made sure the magazine was free.

3.      What kind of media institution might distribute your student magazine and why?

 I think that my magazine would be sold in a college because it would contain information that students would find useful (e.g. Revision tips) and because my magazine is free it'll appeal to more people who want to know about local news, trends and celebrity news.

4.      Who would be the audience for your student magazine?

The target audience for my magazine would be students between the ages of 16-20 also those who are interested in the local news, fashion trends, films and tips on revision and other things involving studies.

5.      How did you attract/address your audience?

 I attracted my audience with my central image being a student who goes to the college that my student magazine is based on. I used a bold font and made the 'strokes' larger on my Masthead and strap-line so that it was clear to the reader and for the cover contents I had intended to use a different font (but because the trail version of In Design didn't have that certain font, I used 'Impact' instead) and I made them white with a black outline except for one - which was kept black. On my cover contents, I used two different fonts to differentiate between stories and additional information I made sure that these fonts were clear and easy to read.

6.      What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the student magazine?

To put all of my ideas together I used In Design and although I understood the layout somewhat, it was a completely new program to me. I found that the more I tested out the different tools the easier it became to use In Design - using layers to add, delete or move certain fonts and images as I developed my magazine. I found naming my stories and where to put things a bit difficult but in the end, I have learnt a lot about In Design which will be more useful as I continue on to my main coursework task.

Initial Ideas

Initial Ideas:

• Could do a music magazine blended with soundtracks from games - I like music from games, because it doesn't normally have lyrics to it, so it works if I play it while doing work.
• Anime music - J-pop and ~Kpop
• Pop + Rock 
• I could do something that combines all my interests (Animation, films, J-pop, comics, gaming) and go on from there - I could go further and go on to 'review' certain songs, tracks or games (and/or films) - hybrid magazine 

Examples of Anime magazines:

Examples of gaming magazines:

Student Magazine

Magazine Market Research

Music magazines are mainly dominated by the genres of Pop and Rock - because they seem to be the most popular music styles. However many music magazines are broad with their genres so there could be a large mixture of genres within one music magazine. Many front covers of music magazines have well known artists on them, which appeals to certain audiences - there are also many audiences of different age groups. There are some specialist magazines that appeal to a somewhat smaller audience than the generic music magazine does.

Introduction and Action Plan

Introduction
I will be making a music magazine that will follow generic conventions of an actual music magazine and my magazine must appeal to my target audience.

Work Flow

5th Oct:

• Introduction to main task
• Initial Ideas for music magazine
• Research of chosen subgenre - Front Cover Analysis

12th Oct:

• Research of chosen subgenre - contents and double spread page analysis
• Develop Pitch

19th Oct:

• Pitch & Audiences
• Style sheet and mock-ups
• Planning for production

2nd Nov:

• InDesign/Photoshop training
• Designing front cover

9th Nov:

• Designing front cover

16th Nov:

• Designing contents page

23rd Nov:

• Designing double page spread

30th Nov:

• Gain audience feedback on all magazine pages

7th Dec:

• Finalise magazine design

14th Dec:

• Evaluation preparation

4th Jan - 11th Jan:

• Evaluation

DEADLINE: FRIDAY 29th JANUARY