2. Existing Product 1: Context
The first product I am researching is a photography guide magazine. It focuses on giving the reader tips
and instructions on how to perfect specific aspects of photo taking. It does this by showing comparisons
of amateur photography next to professional work which uses the same techniques as the magazine
recommends. As well as giving information to the reader, This magazine shows off work of its students.
Each student gets a page dedicated to their work coupled with a brief description to hint at the theme of
the photos. This could inspire the reader to go and create their own collections of photos with a theme.
The creator of this magazine is a woman named Tanya Puntti who is dedicated to offering a cheap way to
learn photography skills in the form of magazines, and other medias. The fact that one person created
the project shows the reader that the courses and magazines offered won’t be too full on and could
potentially be more personal. Tanya and the rest of her team must obviously have plenty of experience in
photography as evidenced by the range of photography courses and tutorials available on their website
alone. This particular magazine was created during March 2014. There is no significant reason for this
date as dslr cameras were created way before this magazine. The target audience seems to be male
middle/working class adults in English speaking countries. There is a lot of use of the colour red
throughout the magazine which is often looked at as a masculine colour – along with black and white,
which Coupled with the fact the fonts used in the product are mainly large and bold gives a largely
masculine aesthetic. The magazine must have been created with middle class people in mind as the cost
of a dslr camera is not very cheap, ranging from £200-£500+. Furthermore, the places seen inside the
magazine are expensive to travel to. The contents featured in the magazine are mature themed such as
death and decay. Along with the mainly plain colour scheme and advanced terminology used in the
guides creates a very strong adult appeal as opposed to a more image based, colourful young based
appeal.
3. Existing Product 1
The first thing you realise about the cover page
of this magazine is the photo used. It serves as
an eye catcher for the audience and gives a brief
peek at what kind of magazine it is. The
background in the image is blank which
emphasizes the dog in the center and
symbolizes innocence and purity. These are
adjectives often associated with dogs. The title
font used is tall, bold and pops out the most in
comparison to the rest of the text. This helps to
easily identify the magazine and the subject of
said magazine. More important sentences and
words are highlighted in either a brighter colour
or a larger font size. This catches the eye of the
audience and acts of a piece of persuasion,
clearly outlining the information which shows
off the contents. There aren’t many pieces of
text around the background photo as to keep
the reader’s attention to the subject of the
magazine. Any contact information is placed
into the bottom corner.
5. Existing Product 1
The main font featured in the magazine’s contents page title and subtitles is slick, clear and
purposefully larger than the rest of the text. This is to make it abundantly clear what subject is in
which page and to present a simple, adult theme. The page numbers are made larger to make
them easier to see and are also a separate colour which makes the text pop out more and
creating an easier experience for readers. There are small descriptions of each page subject in a
smaller size which indicates they are of less importance as opposed to the page names and
numbers. it is worth noting that each issue of this magazine has a different style/theme
depending on what type of photography the particular issue covers. On the left side of the
contents dps there is a featured photo from a customer of the company with a description which
was presumably sent in with the photo to show their progress and gives the reader a high
opinion of the courses and magazine tips. The text used over this image has a similar coloured
text box to accompany the photo in the background and continue the green mini theme featured
over the double page spread. There are also smaller images featured underneath the contents
page featuring different camera techniques such as focus and macro – both of which are featured
in the magazine at points. The main image on the right side of the dps has been edited to fit in
with the black, white and green theme by leaving the woman’s clothing green. This was
presumably achieved using Photoshop. Each image that has been sent in and used in the product
has a small context box in which the location and name of the photographer is shown.
7. Existing Product 1
The main part of the magazine dps that stands out to me is the image to text ratio. There are a
higher number of photos featured than groups of text which is appropriate for a photography
magazine. The images consist of both sent in photos and student photos most likely chosen by
the company. It is immediately clear that the purpose of this spread is to show off what you as
the reader are able to accomplish if they are to stick with the magazine series and use their
techniques. Alongside the portfolio is a quote most likely given from one of the students who
created it which sums up the work and gives the reader a starting point in the photos’
analysation. It also serves as an introduction to the magazine and photography as a whole. The
double page spread keeps the main colour scheme of black and white but this time focuses on a
pastel blue. There seems to be no sort of symbolism here and so it is just a way of keeping the
product looking clean and professional. The images featured on the right side of the double page
spread show off different techniques that were featured earlier on in the magazine, giving more
inspiration to the reader on what situations and locations they would be able to use them in.
The font on this spread is reminiscent of earlier pages in the respect that it is kept plain and
simple to fit the aesthetic of the magazine. The font of some quotes are in a different colour and
sizing to others, most likely due to them coming from students from courses as opposed to a
reader sending their own photos in.
8. Existing Product 2: Context
The second product I have chosen to research and analyse is a freelance photographer’s website.
This photographer’s website features information about her services and who she is along with a
large portfolio of her work ranging from weddings to play groups to college projects. The website
itself is made by the photographer which shows clearly that he/she has experience with both
photography and website building. There is also a dedicated contact page in which you can get in
direct contact with the photographer through email. This is a clear indication that the
photographer keeps in contact. The time that this website was created was definitely not due to
any specific reasons. It was just created most likely once the photographer had finished their
education. The target audience for this product is definitely people in the middle/upper class.
This is because the prices are rather high for weddings at least – other prices are decided once
the photographer knows what their client wants. It is also clear that the target audience is adult
males and females as most of the events the photographer is hired for are weddings and daycare
events which are obviously going to be ran by adults.
10. Existing Product 2
This product uses mainly plain, simple looking fonts in an attempt to direct the reader's attention
towards other aspects of the webpage. Titles and subheadings are both in larger, bolder variants
of the font to stand out from the rest of the text. The only different font used is in the title itself
which uses a thick font with a small white outline to contrast with the background colour.
The colour scheme in the website is completely plain, featuring only white, grey and black in
varying shades. Like the font, I feel as if this is in an effort to attract more attention to the photos
featured. The only other colours are seen on the portfolios of the photographer. This website is
clearly using a simple design to make navigation easier for all of its users.
11. Existing Product 3: Context
The third product I have chosen to take a look at is a photography company's business card
design. It features information on the company such as its name, any website links and possible
telephone numbers of which
14. Interview Analysis
This section will feature all of the questions featured on my
final project's survey created on Survey Monkey to gain my
audience's opinions on the work I am planning on making and
help me fine tune and cater towards my target audience.
15. In my survey, I found that my audience is dominantly older teens and young adults ranging from 17 to
24. This young age range is a niche gap in the photography magazine market that I plan to make use of.
The average age is around 48 for this type of magazine and I feel that a younger themed version of
these magazines would fare well with my audience. Due to my audience being younger than the
average photographer audience, this will mean that I may need to use less complex and technical terms
as it could confuse a less experienced reader. It also means that my audience would most likely start
losing interest if the design is plain and boring. To appeal to my younger audience I would use more
simple wording, fun designs and visually appealing layouts to keep their attention.
16. From this question I have gathered that my audience is primarily female although there is a small
male presence too. This means that my audience may not like some themes I was previously
thinking of adding to my work such as violence and dark, dreary portfolios. This could also mean
that my audience will more prefer more mature and serious themes and styles of writing and
designs. To appeal to this dominantly female audience, I will change up my colour schemes to more
typical female colours and feature more subjects and topics that females will like (photos of said
subjects). The tutorial contents would stay the same however no mater the target gender so I do
not need to change the hints, tips and guides.
17. In this question, I managed to gather that 65% of my audience buy magazines as a whole and 21% buy
them often. From this it is easy to see that a large majority of my readers will be loyal to my company. It
is also easy to see the popularity of magazines is still at large which means I will reach a large audience.
Due to so many of my audience liking and using magazines, It gives me peace of mind that creating and
designing a magazine will be a good use of my production time. I will also put the most effort into it
because it is a large part of my project alongside my website I am planning on creating. I will be sure to
look up more photography magazines while producing my product to gain a better understanding of
what it is I am hoping my product will look like.
18. From this question I have found out that a large majority of my readers would prefer a magazine
based on entertaining the reader over education being given. This originally gave me the impression
that my audience may not be into my magazine idea of photography tutorials. Normally I would be
sure to change my idea to fit this different take on magazines but due to the next question in this
PowerPoint I have decided to keep my design the same. Just because my audience prefers
entertainment magazines does not mean that they would not appreciate learning more about
photography. To appeal to the answer of this question the most, I will be sure to make my magazine
look as fun as possible with less step by step tutorials and straight up guides and more image
dominant tips and facts. This will help keep the magazine interesting to my audience while hopefully
also providing the relevant information needed to learn photography.
19. In contradiction to my last question, my audience showed me that they would be interested in learning
more about photography than they curently do. This confused me initially as the previous question told
me that my audience prefers entertainment magazines to instructional ones. Due to this I have decided
to feature less step by step instructions and more fun image based and colourful pages. To appeal to
these readers more, I will not completely scrap the idea of teaching my audience about photography
and will instead keep a fun educational aesthetic. The response to the magazine I am creating is not too
important to me as the main reasoning for creating it in the first place is to place advertisements for my
photography company in it.
20. This question was made primarily to find out what types
of photography my audience likes. I did not feature any
model photos as I will be featuring them no matter what.
I showed my audience six photos all taken by myself of
landscapes, urban areas, nature and more. The most
popular images were joint between image 4 & 5 (shown
to the right) which was an urban shot and a nature shot.
Due to these two photos being the most popular I will be
featuring that type of photography more often mixed in
with other popular styles such as fashion. I will also be
teaching my audience how to take professional looking
photos in these styles. The rest of the images except
image 3 were all tied as the next popular. These photos
were macro nature, landscapes and graffiti in an urban
area. Due to them being rather popular though not the
most popular, I will be featuring some of them in my
magazine too – just not as often. They also will not be
getting any tutorials on them unless they use a design
which features a complex or unusual technique. The last
image that the audience did not like as much as the
other was image 3. this image was an urban macro
photo. Due to it not being popular at all I shall not be
using this type of image nor making tutorials on them in
my magazine. This means I can focus more on the photo
styles and techniques that fit the reader's preferences
more.
21. This question was created to gain information on my advertisement product I am planning to
create. From it I have found out that the majority of my audience prefer image based
advertisements on social media as opposed to video adverts. Nobody prefers video ads and 30% of
my audience like both types of adverts or have no preference. This information is most likely
because video adverts are commonly found interrupting or distracting the reader whereas image
advertisements do not pop up in front of videos and other content but instead sit to the side of a
webpage. To appeal to the audience's preference in my products, I will create image
advertisements instead of video ads and not place them in intruding places. The fact I do not
require myself to make a video ad means I may have more time to work on other aspects of my
product. I will also create separate products dedicated to advertising my business to accompany
the products I am already making.
22. From this question, I was able to find out that my audience prefers simple, artistic, and to the point
adverts with a smaller group of people preferring full on, experimental designs to their adverts. This
means that to reach and appeal to more of my audience I will need to inspire myself with artistic
designs and simplistic styles. I will still be creating experimental designs too but dominantly simple
ones. This will help me gain as much attention as possible – reaching out to more people. These
advertisements will be featured in my magazine and on my Instagram. A presence on social media
will help me reach out to more people like minded to me as I will know most of them. Using a
simple design will help me get information across better and clearer too, and could take less time to
create meaning there' more time for me to work on the magazine or more adverts.
23. This question's responses showed me that 64% of my audience would very much like to see me cover a
range of subjects as opposed to one or two specific ones. This means that I will be referring back to my
previous question about the audience's favourite photos to gather an understanding for what styles to
focus on. I will be featuring at least three different styles in great detail and some more styles in less
detail depending on the time I have left afterwards. As well as focusing on more styles of photos, I will
also be featuring more guides and tips for sepcific techniques within an image instead of explaining how
to get all of these.
24. From this question, I was able to gather that 82% of my audience prefer to see more images
as opposed to 18% of them preferring more text. This could link to the fact that most of my
audience are young adults and late teens. It means that if I use a higher ratio of text to
images, my audience will get bored quickly and not want to read on. To appeal to this
audience in my final product, I will be using a lot of image tutorials for camera techniques
and showing off a lot of photography work and using small captions and small text boxes to
add some extra contect or information to the images.
25.
26. To finish off my survey, I asked my audience for their suggestions on what they would like
to see in my photography. This could be anything from locations to subjects and objects.
The most common subject asked for was a more nature based style. This would mean I
could take a wider variety of shots to show off a specific theme and people would still be
happy. I could also experiment with nature shots easier than other types which means I
could achieve my goal more effectively. This would also make my work easier because I
would not have to focus on modeling photography and instead go out when it is most
convenient and shoot. Another theme I have been asked to explore is an urban theme. I
feel that this is an interesting style of photography as it can be merged with other styles
such as nature and modeling quite well. This would give me a bigger variety of
photography styles in general to work with and make my work more fun as I can
experiment.
One style of 'photography' however which I am unsure about including is gaming. This is
mainly because of the fact that I do not believe photography of games is not photography
in the first place unless in the context of a gaming convention. There are also much less
options to expand on and merge with other styles.
27. Production Research
Photographer magazine structures: Backgrounds and Text of Dps'.
A common design for a photography magazine's double page spread is to feature a large photo as
the background instead of a pattern or solid colour with the aticle text over the top positioned to
the sides. On dps' in which the background image takes up the whole page, the text often does
not feature a coloured backdrop but instead just uses a plain looking section of the image behind
it. Alternatively, if the background image leaves a column of uncovered space at the edge of a
page, the text will most likely be placed there if more smaller images aren't already featured
there. Any quotes used are often in a different colour, sized larger and/or bolder than the article
text and are placed in a none structured section of the page which is clear like the article text.
Titles featured on these pages are almost always featured in the largest, clearest font above the
article text.
Left image: an example of the text
using the background as a
backdrop.
Right Image: an example of the
text using free space to be seen
easier.
28. Photographer magazine structures: Cover Pages
Photography magazine covers often feature either a breathtaking landscape or a well shot model.
When featuring landscapes, the cover will be more likely to add text anywhere on the page as there is not
simply one point of interest to look at like with a model featured. The text tends to often be positioned by the
sides of the cover in varying sizes and colours depending on the type of text. The subheadings featured down
the sides of the magazines are always larger in size and will usually be a different colour to the captioned text
below it. Common colours used are brick red, white and yellow. The captions below each subheading are
usually in a plain, small clear font and are always smaller. They are usually either black or white depending on
what colour stands out with the background the most. Sometimes important pieces of text are highlighted
with their own background colour or an off colour that does not fit in with the colour scheme. This helps said
text stand out better. These important words or sentences are almost always featured at the top or bottom of
the magazine cover inside a brightly covered strip. You can see this in the examples shown below. The title is
the largest piece of text featured on the cover, naturally to get the most attention and to clearly indicate to
the reader what the magazine is. Titles are the most common piece of text to be layered within the
background. They will often look as if they are placed behind mountains or models to create depth in the
design and create more appeal. Magazines featuring models often are more structured in design.
Subheadings and their captions are usually placed to one side only and do not get in the way of the model.
This is to keep the background photo in the spotlight with the readers. There are also no other images
featured on these covers as it would distract the reader from the model whereas with a landscape cover it is
common to see smaller images featured with the captions to give more context to the topics.
Image left: This magazine shows the layering of titles
in landscape based covers. It also shows how the text
can often cover visually appealing parts of the
background.
Image right: This magazine features the layering of the
title behind the model. It also features the text filling
less important areas of the cover, not subtracting
attention from the model.
29. Production Research Summary
From my product research, I have found out that in photography magazines there is often an
even ratio between the use of images and text. There is also a clear emphasis on using imagery
for backgrounds in double page spreads and magazine covers alike.
30. References
1. (2014). SLR Photogrpahy Guide. Available:
https://issuu.com/slrphotographyguide/docs/slrphotographyguide-march2014. Last accessed
28th Jan 2019.
2. (2017). .. Available: https://www.photographyinyork.co.uk/. Last accessed 27th Jan 2019.
3. Knapp, T. (2011). Photographic/ Environmental Spreads. Available:
http://thomasknappdesign.blogspot.com/2011/12/. Last accessed 4th Feb 2019.
4. Smith, S. (2013). Langdale photo in Country Walking. Available:
http://www.stewartsmithphotography.co.uk/langdale-photo-in-country-walking/. Last
accessed 4th Feb 2019.
5. (2019). Outdoor Photographer Magazine. Available:
https://www.topmags.com/magazine/14882/outdoor-photographer. Last accessed 4th Feb
2019.
