2. Print production
Research
Bold bright eye catching font
used for header to attract
audience especially ones who
enjoy Skyrim
Large eye-catching image on the front
cover to attract audience and to show the
main theme for that particular issue
Logo of magazine so buyers can
clearly identify the publisher
Contents of the magazine also displayed
on the outside with questions and titles
to bait in audiences
3. Print production
Research
Letter from editor to make the audience feel a
connection with the magazine/publisher and a
question of the month section to build a relationship
with the audience by interacting with them. This
makes the reader feel valued by the publishers
Departments/contents of the magazine shown
on first page to help readers navigate around
the magazine to find the contents that they
are looking for.
The magazine uses
the same colour
scheme of green
which is the iconic
colour that Xbox
uses, they also use
the same font
through the whole
magazine and they
use a very friendly
easy to read font.
4. Here I looked at the website for the Xbox official magazine, when looking at the website I noticed that the website tried to
follow a colour scheme of green which is the iconic traditional colour scheme that Xbox uses, they also continue to use
friendly easy to read fonts. The website also tries to promote other articles or gaming news that has been published or
covered by Xbox by having the articles on the first page. Xbox has also used a lot of pictures to help promote their articles
on the website, this makes the page seem more appealing to the audience. Another feature that Xbox has added to their
site is the “NEWS” that’s in the top left corner of the pictures, this helps audiences identify what type of posts they are.
5. Print production
Research
Here is another magazine I have used for research as you can see with this
article the header is up at the top in the largest font on the cover to clearly
show the audience the brand that published the article and so that audiences
can find it easily in the shops when looking for it. The font used for the header
is the iconic traditional font and colour used by PlayStation, this makes the
front page very eye catching for anyone who knows the brand. This magazine
cover also uses contrasting colours to help make the cover look more eye
catching so customers will notice it amongst other magazines. The cover also
features a character from a well known game that audiences had yet to be
released, this attracts an audience due to the hype and interest in the game by
customers. The cover also uses text to bait readers in by intriguing them, this
gives the reader some insight into what's inside the magazine but will only be
able to read it if they purchase it.
6. On this double spread page you
can see that the same colour
scheme and font has been used,
this shows consistency
throughout the magazine which
is appealing to the audience. As
you can see on these pages
there are a lot of pictures used
to keep the audience interested
and not bore them with all text.
On this double page you can
also notice that the text is
written to directly address the
audience which makes the
reader feel more connected and
involved with the text. The
magazines double spread also
takes up a full page to advertise
a new game and console,
however the main point of this
double spread is to connect
with the audience and to
communicate with the readers.
7. This is one of the websites which sells the PlayStation official magazine however this one is the official provider as there
isn't a website for the PlayStation official magazine, as you can see the same iconic blue is used for the background of the
header and the text is still directed at the reader along with the friendly fonts used. This site also uses the same
technique as the Xbox website by using a orange box and white text in the top left to categorise the articles for the
reader. The website has also used pictures to attract readers and to make the site look more appealing to an audience
rather than just covering it in text which would bore an audience.
8. Print production
Research
Here is another magazine cover I have looked at as you can see the main focus
of this cover is around the game “FARCRY 5”. This magazine uses the traditional
header style having it up at the top so customers can identify it easily when its
under or surrounded by other magazines. The magazine has also themed its
front cover around the game “FARCRY 5” to attract the fan base surrounding
this game, you can also see the that the magazine has text on the front to
attract customers who are interested in the advertised information on the
front.
9. On the first double spread page
you can see that these pages
are dedicated to the contents of
the magazine, this allows the
reader to be able to navigate
around the magazine and
shortcut to certain pages of
interest. You will also notice it
still follows the Farcry 5 theme
boldly showing a Farcry 5
related image in the middle and
having a red theme going
around both pages. This page
also uses pictures to attract
readers to specific pages of the
magazine as if it was to say
those pages are more important
as they are highlighted on the
cover.
10. As you can see from the website it includes links and front covers of their most recent magazines that they published, the
magazines also have an eye-catching background to get the audiences attention and to click onto the magazine. The website
also has a latest updates section where the most recent news in gaming and technology is published, all articles or magazines
are accompanied with pictures to entice the audience.
11. Planning
Proposal
Here Is my proposal for my products, I made this so I could have a
clear plan on what I intend to create and good audience research to
allow me to specifically design my products with my audiences
preferences in mind.
12. Initial
Experiments
Here is one of my
experiments I created for
my website where I made
draft pages and learnt how
to use wix. I experimented
everything from the colours
to the layouts of the
website, this helped me
figure out what I wanted my
final product to look like.
when completing this
experiment I wasn't very
happy with the outcome.
This gave me good
experience on what not to
do when making my final
product.
13. Initial
Experiments
This is one of my
experimental drafts I
made for my DPS on
InDesign, by making this
draft it allowed me to
get a good
understanding of how to
use the programme. I
decided to experiment
with potential layouts
and features I could add
to my DPS to make it
more creative and
appealing for the reader.
Once I had completed
making my draft I was
happy with the outcome
and decided to use this
draft as the foundations
to my final product.
DPS
14. Planning
Here I have created a flat plan of my magazine front cover, this allows me
to make a draft layout and rough plans of what I will create my magazine
from cover to look like. I used inspiration from other magazine covers that I
have gained from my research to help me create this flat plan, when
creating my final product I will add more text/images onto the cover to
make it seem more appealing and less bland. I also plan on adding an
appealing colour scheme and use appealing font styles to make my
magazine seem more authentic and visually appealing.
Front cover
15. PlanningDPS
Here is my flat plan for my double
spread inside the magazine that I'm
creating, this isn't my final plan for the
layout of my double spread but it’s a
draft of what it may look like. I have
made this flat plan using the research
that I have collected as inspiration, I
plan on keeping the video game theme
and having text talking about the video
game which my magazine is themed
around (game review). I also plan on
using the same font style for my text so
the magazine has consistency
throughout.
16. PlanningWebsite
Here is my flat plan for my website, I
used the research I gained as
inspiration. The website will include
the same theme and consistency from
the magazines by following the same
colour scheme and font style. The
website will be focused around the
headline but will also advertise other
articles published by the magazine,
this website will also have features to
find other issues published, contact
information and information about the
magazine company itself. 262
17. Home
Magazines About Contact
Latest Issue
Brief
description
Contact
form
Planning
This planning will hep me organise the pages that I want to make and how I will link my website together
Website planning
18. Planning
Planning Sheet
The style sheet is to help me keep a consistent style across my different products. By having specific colour information, such
as the hex code, I can ensure that I am using the same colours in all your work.
Masthead: Ode to idle gaming
Headlines: Ode to idle gaming
Body text: Minion Pro
19. Production
Front Cover
Here are my two front
covers that I produced, I
wanted to keep them
simple but also have the
page filled by adding a
“what's inside” box
along with a quote
that’s inside the
magazine from my
review. When doing this
I continued to follow the
same colour scheme
and font so that the
magazine would seem
consistent and fit in
with the rest of my
products.
20. Final DPS
Here is my final DPS I
made this using
Photoshop and in
design. I created the
graphics in Photoshop
like the star reviews, the
logo, the review quotes,
the magazine title and
the image boarders.
Production
21. https://louisrobinson62.wixsite.com/about-gaming-
mag
Production
WebsiteWebsite
Here is my website which I produced using wix, I made sure to keep to my
website map however my website looks a lot different from my flat plan as I
preferred the template I used, when doing this I made sure to keep my colour
scheme so it looked consistent along with the fonts I used.
22. Evaluation
My original plans and final product have many similarities and differences. The first example of this would be with my
front cover flat plan and my first front cover that I produced, these two have a very similar layout for the magazine brand,
the background, the quote boxes and content information. This is because when making my first front cover I wanted to
take inspiration from my flat plan and follow the design but modify it slightly with the “what's inside” bubble to make the
cover more noticeable and appealing. Although my first front cover was very similar to my flat plan my second front cover
was very different, for example the layout of the background, the title and the quote boxes. My second front cover is so
different from my flat plans because I wanted to experiment and be more creative to see what I could create on
Photoshop.
When making my double spread page (DPS) the final outcome was almost identical to my original intention, I tried to
stick to my flat plan as much as possible and the draft I made on InDesign as I was very pleased with the layout. I
researched many examples of double page spreads from gaming magazines to help me design my final product, I
analysed the layouts, the colours, fonts and images used. Once I had enough research I decided to implement all of the
qualities I gained inspiration from onto my DPS. When creating this product I ran into a few issues for example, I had a
problem with getting my text to fit into the allocated text boxes meaning I had to decrease the size of the text and the
spacing size in order for it to fit into the text boxes. Another problem I came across was getting the title to fit onto the
page, I ended up making a photoshopped copy which was the right size to fit at the top of the page even in the Witcher 3
style font. I think that my DPS was very successful as it looks appealing due to the large images used and authentic.
Although I am very pleased with my product I do also think that there could be possible improvements, for example I
could've added more text and gotten rid of some of the smaller images I used to balance the image to text ratio out a bit
more.
23. My website has many similarities and differences to my original intentions and plans, for example my flat plan is fairly
similar to my final product. However my final product is completely different to my draft website I created on Wix, this is
because when doing my draft website I was very unskilled when creating sites on Wix but when it came to the final
production I had gained enough experience and learned all the features while creating my website. I tried to follow my flat
plan as best as possible but added extra features into my final product as I thought they seemed suitable for a gaming
website and appealing to the audience, however before doing all of this I had to gain inspiration so I looked at multiple
gaming websites to see how they had designed their sites and attracted customers and implemented this inspiration into
my work. When making my website I had a few issues, for example the images I used weren't the right size when imported
into the image boxes, this meant I had to resize the images on Photoshop so they could fit into the boxes. Overall I'm
pleased with the outcome of my product and I think that it'll be very effective in attracting readers and serving its purpose.
Some possible improvements to my website could be more text and images on the pages as some pages are quite bland and
could look more appealing or more authentic to a official gaming magazine website.
When producing these two front covers I encountered a few issues such as, the background image wasn’t in focus entirely,
the size of the images on my second front cover were hard to fit into the frame of the background and the text was hard to
get into the quote boxes due to the size of the text and how many characters there were. I think my two products I made
were very effective in attracting customers attention and representing what a gaming magazine should look like. Although I
am very pleased with the outcome of my products I do think there is room for improvement, for example I think that maybe
I could've added more text into my double page spread to balance out the image to text ratio. I also think that I could've
taken a better image for my front cover as it is very bland and out of focus a little bit, I could have also improved my website
by adding more images and text onto the pages.
24. Images - I have used images in my productions for various reasons, I mainly used images to make the magazine seem more
appealing and eye catching as having too much text can make a page or cover seem boring. I did this by having a clear
balance of pictures where there was a large amount of text and tried to separate text with images so the reader doesn't
think the text is too long to read or boring. I have used inspiration from other gaming magazines to come to my creative
conclusion on how to use images as these magazines used a good image to text ratio to attract readers and make the pages
seem more appealing. I think my use of images was very effective as my magazine and website always had images to
accompany large amounts of text so the reader would fine the pages more appealing.
Words – When producing all of my products I made sure that I was using appropriate words that fit with each product, for
example I made sure to use direct address in all my products and try entice customers to buy the magazine on the front
cover. I did this because from my research I found that most magazines use direct address and try and entice customers to
buy the product on the front cover, however my magazine front cover doesn't use as much enticing text on the front as
other magazines I researched which would say quotes such as “you wont believe what's inside!”. I think that the words I
used in my products will be very effective as I think they are suitable for all my productions.
Colours- when using colours in my products it is very obvious that I have been consistent with the colour scheme as I have
made sure to use the same HEX code when implementing new colours into my products. I have done this so that my
magazine seems more authentic and so it looks more appealing to readers, using a colour scheme also gives the magazine
a theme which will make it noticeable to an audience so they can recognise who published the magazine. I gained
inspiration to do this form research which showed me lots of gaming magazines and websites have their own iconic colour
scheme to individualise their front covers and sites from competition. I think that using these colours will be very effective
as it gives my products individuality from other competition which may look similar, it also makes it easier for customers to
identify the magazine along with it also making the magazine aesthetically pleasing.
Content evaluation
25. Fonts – I used various fonts when producing my products for example I used Ode to idle gaming for a lot of my titles and
text, I used this font because it has an 8bit style to it which is usually associated with gaming which just made the
magazine seem more authentic using the appropriate font. I also used Minion Pro for the text inside my DPS as it fit
best inside the text boxes and it seemed appropriate for a game review. Most magazines I looked at were very consistent
when using fonts they only used 1-3 fonts on the page and made sure they were all appropriate for their text. I think that
my fonts will be very effective as they represent what a gaming magazine would have inside or on the front cover.
Content evaluation
26. Conventions
Colour scheme: The colour scheme I used for my magazines has many strengths for example, it makes the magazine seem
more professional, authentic, aesthetically pleasing, recognisable and unique compared to other magazines. However where
there are strengths there are also weaknesses for example, using a colour scheme makes the production time take longer and
makes production harder. Although there are some downsides using a colour scheme it is way more beneficial and the
majority of gaming magazines and regular magazines use an individual colour scheme to stand out from other magazines.
Photography: When using photos there were a few strengths and weaknesses that came with it. For example some strengths
were, using photos catches the audiences attention, make pages more appealing and looks less dull if they were to just have
large amounts of text. Whereas the weaknesses were that the photo I took myself was slightly out of focus and not very
creative, trying to rescale the size of the images proved to be a hard task for my website and front cover which also added
more time onto production. From my research I have found that all magazines use photography as a massive feature to
compliment the text.
Writing and language: This has many strengths and weaknesses, for example some strengths are that I could style the writing
and language to a similar to the way that my audience would use it so they can relate to the text more, it also allows me to
express my honest opinions especially when doing a game review and speak directly to my audience so they feel involved.
However the weaknesses are that some readers may not prefer the less formal direct approach. When researching this in
current magazines I found that nearly all of them have a less formal approach and directly address the audience, this is
mostly common in gaming magazines and gossip magazines which would appeal to a younger target audience unlike formal
magazines which would appeal to an older target audience.
27. Conventions
Text/Picture ratio: The text to picture ratio I used had some strengths such as it made my pages seem more exciting and
lively, it also made my magazine seem more appealing and eye catching. However there were some weaknesses for
example it makes the text on my DPS a lot shorter than what it could've been which makes he reading time short, some
readers may prefer this but in future id like to add more content as I think it reflects the quality of the magazine. When
doing my research I found that a lot of the gaming magazines have a large picture to text ratio as lots of their pages are to
show off games or technology and don’t include large amounts of text, this may also because these types of magazines have
a younger target audience.
Fonts: When using fonts the strengths I found were that it allowed me to make my magazine more unique and personalised
to how I would like it to be designed, it also allowed me to differentiate certain text from others if the topics are different,
another strength when using fonts was that it made the product more appealing to the audience. From the research I have
gained I noticed that the font on the covers were used to reflects the style of magazine and the content inside, therefore I
tried to use a style of font which would be represent gaming. I think the font I used was very effective as it represents
gaming and suits the magazine making it look more authentic.
Mode of address: In my magazine I decided to use a direct mode of address in a mainly formal manner, the advantages of
this were that it made the reader feel more connected and involved when reading, this type of address also made the
magazine seem more professional to the audience. When researching other magazines I noticed that they used a direct and
formal mode of address much like mine. I think that my mode of address will be very effective as it represents my magazine
and the content inside well.
28. Conventions
Codes: When producing my products I used many codes to create meaning such as written codes, the strengths of using
written codes are that they allow me to express text in my magazine directly and in the way that I want. However the
disadvantages of this may be that the audience doesn't agree with the text which may conflict with the readers opinions.
From my research I found that the majority of gaming magazines use a lot of written code but not so much symbolic code as
it doesn't really fit with the style of magazine. I think that the codes I used will be effective because they are mainly positive
and will hopefully the audience agrees with the written code I used.
