2. I knew that after
looking at all
different styles of
magazine I didn’t
want to have a
typical ‘top of the
pops’ style magazine
with lots of block,
bright colour, lots
of text and poorer
quality images, I
much preferred the
minimalist,
sophisticated
approach with lots of
white space and a
concise layout.
This image comparison
shows how different
both magazines are
and the type of
audiences they want
to attract.
1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My music magazine,
STAGE&SPEAKER, has
developed throughout
the designing and
making of its contents
from designing the
front cover to the
double page spread
there were many
similarities and
differences between
what my original plan
was and what I changed
to get the finished
outcome I have now.
From analysing three
magazines at the start
of the project such as
Loud & Quiet, I soon
found the style of
magazine I wanted to
design.
This initial style was
simplistic, minimalist
with lots of high
quality images and
aesthetically pleasing
to the eye.
Differences:
-Colour scheme
-Top of pops doesn't’t have concise layout
-L&Q only has one image.
-Tops of pops has more writing on page.
Similarities:
-Header is at top of page in bold writing.
-both feature different articles within
magazine
-both use different fonts
3. After more analysing of magazine
cover, contents and double page
spreads I gathered a clear idea of
what style of images and editing
techniques I wanted to use to get
the outcome I wanted for my magazine
which was clear, well composed
images and edited in a way so that
the tone between light and shadow
had a large enough contrast to make
the image look high quality as many
of the magazines I looked at did.
I gathered a selection of images that
I wanted to use in my magazine and
thought about basing them from the
article I was writing about an
upcoming band named ‘Amelia and the
wolf’. I therefore took photographs of
my sister Amelia in an outside
environment using natural lighting as
well as used some past images of a
concert I attended and formed a
contact sheet of all the images I
wanted to use.
4. FRONT COVER
• When I began designing my front cover, I
found it difficult to make masthead of my
magazine able to fit on the page in one
line where the font was as large enough so
that it stood out as most magazines have
very large mastheads that are the main
focus of the page. I experimented with
white banners on the top of the page laying
over the photograph but with the photo I
wanted to use it would mean that a large
part of the image would be covered up and
didn’t look as nice as it did without a
banner.
• I then experimented with different fonts
and colours, using my colour style sheets,
I thought a dark maroon colour for the mast
head title with the headline and most of
the other cover lines on the page in a
different coloured font, it would make the
masthead stand out without a huge font or
banner. I did all my experimentation of
designs on Photoshop and finally found one
which I really liked the appearance of.
However after looking at magazines that had
used a mixture of coloured fonts,
especially for their mastheads, they linked
the same colour with something else on the
page. It was either linked with a tone of
an image laid on top of the feature article
photo, or with sections of text. I didn’t
want to lay a secondary lead on top of the
existing feature image however and
therefore changed some of the text on the
page to a dark maroon colour, same as the
masthead. I really liked this design and
chose to use it for my final front cover
design.
5. I then experimented with different fonts and
COLOURS, using my colour style sheets, I thought a
dark maroon colour for the mast head title with the
headline and most of the other cover lines on the
page in a different coloured font, it would make the
masthead stand out without a huge font or banner. I
did all my experimentation of designs on Photoshop
and finally found one which I really liked the
appearance of.
However after looking at magazines that had used a
mixture of coloured fonts, especially for their
mastheads, they linked the same colour with something
else on the page. It was either linked with a tone of
an image laid on top of the feature article photo, or
with sections of text. I didn’t want to lay a
secondary lead on top of the existing feature image
and therefore changed some of the text on the page to
a dark maroon colour, same as the masthead. I
really liked this design and chose to use it for my
final front cover design.
6. DIFFERENCES
-S&S doesn't’t have a border
-Is a much darker image
-More close up shot
-Band title name positioned in same
place
-Isn't as bright or colourful
SIMILARITIES
-both edit their photographs to be black
and white
-both show eye contact with audience
by looking direct at the camera
-both have header at top of page and
use small print too.
7. CONTENTS PAGE
I then started designing my contents on in
design; I took inspiration from Loud &Quiets
contents page I had earlier analysed, however
after using their layout with my appropriate
contents. I didn’t like it at all. This was
because it didn’t look like a conventional
magazine contents page that is usually full with
information and images. It was too minimalist and
therefore I decided to change it completely to a
more commonly used contents page layout that most
magazines use within the music industry. I wrote
up my contents titles and what key information I
wanted to include on the contents with their
selected images.
I really liked the magazine ‘music & riots’
contents page design that used a linked colour
scheme from their front cover throughout to
their double page spread. I thought that I
could us the monochrome and dark maroon colour
scheme I had previously used on the front
cover and began to insert my contents and
experimented with different font size, colour
and layout. The layout I chose followed the
strict concise layout that a lot of magazines
use however I put my own twist on it by
enlarging the page numbers and changing
someone the text to a dark maroon and used
images that also followed the colour scheme
and this was the actual final one I decided to
go for.
8. DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
My original design for my double page
spread that I made sample dummies of was
very different to the actual outcome I
decided to go with. My original design was
to have a white background and my images
placed on top with columns for my
contextual information instead I wanted to
use one image for the whole background so
that the main subject of the photograph is
on the right side of the double page
spread and the main text or feature part
of the article on the left.
I got this idea from ‘Clash’ magazines
double page spread I analysed previously
and is something that quite a lot of
magazines do within their layout and
design.
9. My media magazine product represents
particular social groups in a number of
different ways, the photograph featured on
the front cover of my friend Amelia of her
staring directly at the camera infers that
she is confident and direct to her
audience. The way in which I have cropped
the photograph means that her eyes are at
the audience’s eye level and therefore
appears like she’s staring at them.
Looking into someone’s eyes is seen as an
emotional gateway and suggests that within
the magazine there will be an insight into
her story and the reason for her
confidence. In relation to social groups,
women, especially young women, are usually
portrayed in the media as been weaker than
men with low confidence however by having
the front cover inferring confidence her,
this goes against stereotypical views on
young women.
2) How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
10. I did this because from my audience research I
found that a larger percentage of girls would
read a acoustic genre magazine and therefore
aimed this at the target audience and to
hopefully inspire them to not be a stereotype.
Makeup and appearance is thought about within the
composition of the shoot too, I wanted to portray
Amelia in a way that way original and fashionable
which is a common interest of women within age
ranges of 16-19 years and shows the modernism of
Amelia who is shown to be strong yet beautiful, a
common desire of young women and tried to show
this on the image used on the contents page on
the top left hand corner.
This shot was taken from the side to show a
different side to her, her body language and
composition of shot show that she’s more closed
and gives a more mysterious outlook on her
personality. The quote at the top right of the
page from Amelia is related to the strong pose
and is stating her view on sexist traits within
the music industry which is from a different page
to the article I wrote. I did this so that her
views on the music industry as well as her story
link the whole magazine and she is features
throughout small parts of the magazine.
11. The statement shown on the contents page to young women who
are interested In music and possible are musicians
themselves will be interested in her character which again
empowers young people to not let stereotypical views limit
them. I wanted to portray her as instead of being sexualised
like some empowering women have been in the media I wanted
to show her as been an artist instead that is more of a
desirable thing to be in the likes of the target audience
and to not encourage been a sexual object like the media
portrays some females as a good thing.
In my opinion I
think that the
picture of Amelia on
the left is a lot
more accurate as to
what young girls
should want to
aspire to in the
media compared to
the images features
of female singers in
well known, popular
magazines.
12. Women that I wanted Amelia in my magazine to be alike
are women such as Lucy rose who is a acoustic
guitarist and singer from England and although isn’t
as famous as other female artists comes across as
been very grateful and a generally normal, lovely
person with a magnificent talent. To me this is the
sort of people young people should be idolising not
the well known big artists we see in the media that
seem like an object and something to be stared at
which I don’t think is a good thing.
On the double page spread, the background image is
again a different view to Amelia and her facial
expression that’s less serious and more informal is
more relatable to her quotes and story within the
article. Most people when seeing the images of her
might assume that she and the band have a large
amount of money due to the way they dress and there
performance displays shown on the contents right
page, however reading the article is about how they
started as young individuals busking in Leeds to get
some money for themselves and how through their music
managed to work their way up and are now successful
within the music industry. In my design I wanted to
make the magazine picture order be a story of the
band and I think that this will draw the viewers in
but also every image contradicts a stereotypical view
on youth, class and gender.
13. Another way that my magazine represents social
groups is that it shows that In some areas and
communities in modern society they aren’t as
multicultural as others. My photographs I have used
in my magazine do not feature any people of a
different ethnicity, this is because the area in
which I live isn’t a very multicultural community
and therefore has a minority of ethnic groups.
However my magazine is within the genre of Acoustic
music which in the media, acoustic artists are
predominately white unlike many other music genres
within the media where artists aren’t from an
predominate ethnic group.
My magazine is a representation of what which
artists have been shown to be successful within the
acoustic genre in the media which was a common
representation in many of the magazines I earlier
analysed. Although I disagree with how success in
this area of the music industry is shown in the
media and I think that there should be more
musicians from different ethnicities, this style of
music is a very common style of music within western
societies, which may be a possible reason as to why
the media representing this genre are accommodating
for the majority of the target audiences ethnicity.
MULTICULTURE
14. YOUTH
Youth is also a social group that has
been represented within my magazine;
this is because when I did my audience
research I found that the main target
audience is 16-18 year olds. I therefore
addressed my contents to be within
common interests of that age range which
is why my contents page content had be
well thought out and was something I had
to change multiple times.
15. I tried to focus on events coming up around
the summer time when this magazine issue
would be published such as music festivals,
upcoming artists and their tour dates,
interviews and tips on how to survive
festivals.
I tried to include interviews and other
contextual information within the magazine
other than ideal interest of that age Range
group because I do think the layout I have
chosen isn’t a stereotypical style of
magazine aimed 16-18 year olds and may
attract people in their early twenties
whose interests would be slightly different
to the younger audience.
16. During my magazine research I found that a UK company called Anthem publishing that published
a range of music magazines that were within the acoustic genre. They all used the typical
‘music mag’ layout to them that other magazines use such as NME or Ker rang that use bold,
large writing and tend to use a red, white and black colour schemes. This aspect I really
liked, however I preferred the more simplistic layout from individual publishing companies.
This is one of the disadvantages of large publishing companies because they can lack
individuality in their variation in design compared to other magazines or even their own
magazines. Due to this, some of the public that read magazines published by larger companies
may want a magazine with similar themes of content but with a different way of writing and
design as I myself would prefer.
I therefore think that there is a gap in the publishing market for this style and want of
the public which is the area in which I wanted to fill. I did this through using similarities
such as the common colour scheme of red, white and black that’s used in lots of magazines but
with a more simplistic design and layout.
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?
17. Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages of large publishing companies such
as Anthem publishing is that because so many
other music magazine publishing companies
with a similar design and style of writing it
means that when members of the public are
looking to subscribe to a magazine and invest
their money within the company they may find
it difficult to want to commit if there are
lots of other magazines similar.
However there are also disadvantages to large
publishing companies, this is that, just like
Anthem Publishing, they also publish
different magazines within the company. This
could either be magazines of different genres
or magazines about topics that aim their
contents at a different target audience. This
includes magazines like cooking, gardening,
guitar that aim for the older audience where
as the acoustic magazines are aimed for a 16-
18 year old age range. This could be seen as
an advantage because it means more people
invest in the company it’s a more versatile
publishing company. However this is also a
disadvantage because it means that the
company aren’t specifically linked to music
magazines and therefore the offers and
information about music may be limited
because they are a company of many branches.
18. 4) Who would be the audience for your media
product?
My magazine I tried to aim at 16-18 year olds,
this was because when I was doing my audience
research I found that the majority of people that
did my survey were within that age group. I knew
that I didn’t want to do a typical young persons
magazine like top of the pops because I think that
the bright, colourful large printed text and
topics aren’t very sophisticated and more
addressed to younger girls, below the age of
sixteen. Through more research I really liked the
more simplistic layout where the colour scheme
uses minimalist, neutral colouring and its content
is well structured with high quality images.
I think that this style of magazine is one that is
more aimed at 16-18 year olds that have an eye for
the arts and enjoy reading and taking inspiration
from the design on board but also the people that
are interested in new upcoming band within the
booming music industry. From my questionnaire I
discovered that the majority of people that took
did the questionnaire where girls and I gathered
that they weren't very confident within
themselves. This is why I addressed the main
article and main feature article on Amelia who is
a strong willed, young, talented artist that
worked her way up and is now confident enough to
be able to perform to hundreds, I thought that
this would perhaps inspire some of the young
readers and give them more confidence.
19. Another way in which I aimed my
magazine at the target audience is
by dressing Amelia in a way that
follows current trends but with her
own individual twist. The majority
of the readers of my magazine from
my research would be girls who like
shops such as urban outfitters or
Top shop and therefore thought that
I would style Amelia in a way that
would be available to them to buy
but style it a way that suits them.
On the front cover it features a
picture of Amelia with winged
eyeliner and a short fringe which
is quite a unique look , the
contents picture of her shows her
looking very elegant and well
dressed which would suggest that
she is stylish.
20. I tried to do this purposefully so that
Amelia inspires them to be individual but
also from reading the article and her
story it may also gibe them inspiration to
work hard at what they enjoy because it
does work out. I used a monochrome colour
scheme with flecks of red running
throughout the magazine which are usually
associated with higher quality magazines
such as vogue but also a large majority of
music genre magazines on the market today
such as NME.
I thought that this colour scheme
therefore is better addressed to 16-18
year olds because it gives them that
sophisticated style of writing and layout
they cant find in magazines such as top of
the pops who use a very different approach
to attract their target audience.
21. 5) How did you attract/address your
audience?
I wanted my magazine to attract an audience that
were the majority in my survey and questionnaire
that were represented in the reader profile. As
stated in the previous slide they will be between
the ages of 16-19, mostly female, and enjoy social
meeting in an urban environment with people their
age. I therefore tailored my magazine to fit the
majorities interests and preferred topics within a
magazine such as gigs featuring new upcoming
artists near them. I used my sister Amelia, who I
myself, look up to as a strong women who although
hasn’t taken the path most people of her age
follow she is doing well for herself and enjoying
what she does which a lot of young people may not
think is possible if they don’t take the
conventional path of going to university and
college. As a lot of the readers of the magazine
are young people, I think that this is an
important message as we live in a very stressful
and pressurised society where perfection is what
young people strive for.
22. To me having readers that are a young audience that
may still need some direction or goal into what they
want to do, I wanted to represent my main feature
article about a person that is someone to look up
too. However not because they have the most perfect,
conventional life that the media show to be
perfection, but actually a very real and normal young
women who, to some might have been lost, but has
thrived in her circumstance and is doing something
she loves simply by showing her talent in the streets
of Leeds and has been very successful in the music
business. With the audience been a young audience I
thought that this concept and reality would attract
them and get them hooked on the concept of the
magazine which hopefully would alter some of their
beliefs that they have to do great in college and go
to university to have a successful career, that in a
lot of cases isn’t true.
Wolf Alice
23. Throughout designing and organising my
magazine I have used a range of
technology that I had never used before
this project such as Adobe In design,
Photoshop and Bridge. I started the
designing of my magazine experimenting on
Photoshop editing images of the internet
and using the different editing
techniques available on Photoshop such as
adjusting the tone, colour, brightness,
contrast and levels of an image.
I then started experimenting with fonts
and layout of text over an image which is
when I started to develop what I really
likes the look of for my front cover of
my magazine in which I actually designing
my final front cover on.
6) What have you learnt about technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
24. For my contents page, I first started designing it on Photoshop
because after the experimentation on Photoshop I felt comfortable
on this designing platform. However I soon found that I didn’t
like the way it looked and in comparison with published magazine
contents page mine didn’t look as professional as I wanted it to
look. I therefore started experimenting on Adobe In design with
what layouts I thought looked the best for my trail contents
page. I then began to get the hang of the programme and learnt
that it was easier to create a sophisticated magazine layout
rather than Photoshop because it abled me to use page margins
which gave my trails a more finished and professional look.
After looking at other magazines contents pages I soon discovered
the style I liked and designed my final contents page in Adobe
In design. I continued to use this programme for my double page
spread because I could change the shape of the text easily so
that it sculptured around the image which would be difficult on
other designing programmes like Photoshop.
A individual more in depth skill I have gained throughout this
project is actually knowing and been able to take photographs
that are suitable for any part of a magazine. For example on my
preliminary task I used an image that was poorly shot and bad
quality with no real composition of where the people on the
photograph were positioned or the location they where in, nor
what sort of contact I wanted them to have in regards to looking
at the camera or not.
25. Throughout the designing of my magazine
the photographs in which id taken for
them I uploaded and made contact sheets
on Adobe Bridge which organises the
images in order and lays them out in a
way that make it easier to observe what
images and the quality of them I have
taken. This is a also a new programme I
haven’t used before but was a quick and
easy ways to display my images.
Therefore overall by making my magazine
it has taught me and allowed me to use
lots of new programmes I had never used
before but enjoyed the process of
creating my magazine on them and I think
that using them gave me an insight on
how real publishing companies make there
products look sophisticated and attract
their audience in the correct way.
I also think that learning the basic
skills on these programmes will help me
in the future to have the confidence to
expand my knowledge and skills on the
programmes.
26. Looking back at my preliminary task I feel like I have gained
a lot more skill within different design programmes but also I
think that my style had developed too and what I like within
the publishing industry in relation to design and contents.
Another thing I think I have learnt is what font and text size
looks best for the style of magazine I wanted to create, in my
preliminary task I used a font that isn’t used very much
within published magazines because it doesn’t look very
sophisticated or valued in graphic design and typography which
for the style of magazine I wanted to design, young creative
people are who hopefully my magazine would attract therefore
the font I used for my preliminary task wouldn’t be a suitable
font to use. I also think that the font size and the different
coloured writing the way in which I have done it doesn’t look
very professional and now from magazine research and
experimenting myself I know what does and doesn’t look right
for the style of magazine I like.
5) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel
you have learnt in the progression from it to the full
product?
27. to interest creative people in my magazine I
wanted to create a magazine that contained really
nice, well shot images for both the front cover
and contents of the magazine. I image I chose for
my preliminary task doesn’t have the good quality
a magazine would have with poor composition and a
randomness within the people and location in the
frame; therefore not suitable for the audience I
want my magazine to attract. Compared to my actual
finished outcome I believe that I have expanded my
knowledge of what kind of image and proportions of
image I need for a magazine.
I think that the image I used didn’t suit the font
I chose and therefore they didn’t go very
together and just looked as if it had been thrown
together rather than been thought out. This shows
that I have found the sort of style I really like
and was able to show it in my final outcome and
improve from my preliminary tasks quality in
design.
28. I also think I have learnt and progressed in my
skills using design software as I can see from my
previous posts on my blog to now. The ways in which
I present my work, the font, the colours and the
style have all changed since I began my magazine
course work. At the beginning I loved the idea of a
retro style magazine in the genre of old, jazz,
classic music. However after market research I
discovered that it would be difficult to sell my
magazine to a range of different people and
therefore would have to have a very specific target
audience. I therefore decided to do a genre of music
more people would be interested in and chose
acoustic which Is another area I’m interested in,
this is why my preliminary task front covers font
and mast head were in a retro style of type.
As well as these software's I have also learnt
things that I didn’t know before by using websites
such as survey monkey, slide share and blogger that
have all helped me gather target research and upload
my work onto the internet which were all things I
have never done before.
29. My first experiments at designing a front cover I used Photo shop and
experimented with using banners to lay the mast head over the top so that it
stand out and without it, borders, different compositions of photography and
how it looked on the page. These were all things I wasn’t aware would make
such a difference on the page and I soon found the style of layout I like
which was a full page image with the mast head laid over the top.
Overall my style and skill from the beginning of this project has developed
which has helped me to further my understanding of how professional
publishing companies design and write their magazines.
