2. Research
• For my research, I looked up different types of magazines. First I searched up
video game magazines and did research on Pcgamer, I also did research on
empire which is a movie magazine and I did research on a wwe magazine which is
an entertainment magazine. The pros of my research where I was able to get
ideas for my product and see what works well and what doesn't work well. Also
when comparing the products I researched I can see which layout is the best. Not
only did I research magazines, but I also research website to do with the different
types of magazines. At the end of researching a genre of magazine, I would give
an over view, where I wrote about themes they use and how it effects the
audience. And when I finished my research all together I wrote an overview on all
the genres, I wrote about there similarities and differences, what works well and
what doesn't work well.
3. Post Production Process
• From my research I was able to plan out what my product will look like. I wrote about how I will layout my
magazines and website, and what fonts and colours I’ll use. I picked the game I wanted to write the article
about which was W2K18, the reason I picked this game is because I’ve played it a lot, so I know a lot about it.
The style sheet was where I had to write about what type of font ill use and what colours I’ll use in my final
product.
• I did experimental front covers, double page spread and a website, to make the experiments I used the same
software that I would use for my final products, because it helps me to learn some of the important features
of the software. For my experiment I based it on the same game that I would later use in my final products,
because I could then get an idea of how to improve it for my final product, it also gives me an idea of what it
will look. For my front cover I didn’t spend too much time on it, which was defiantly a mistake, because I
went back and improved on it, and basically just polished it up. For my double page spread I learnt from
mistakes on the front cover, and I spend more working on it and perfecting features, however this was the
first time I had used this type of software so I was learning as well, which is another reason why experiments
are good. And finally for my website experiment I used a site called wix. Like InDesign I had never used it
before, so I was able to learn from doing the experiments, it didn’t come out looking to great but that was
good because I was able to learn from my mistakes.
4. Issues
• The only real issue I faced on my product was when my computer
didn’t have an internet connection and didn’t have any updated
software. To over come this problem, I switched to a different
computer. However the computer I switched to also didn’t have
updated software, but it did have an internet connection so I did work
on my website. And in the next lesson I was on a computer that had
updated software so I was able to finish my double page spread.
5. Final Production
Front cover
To make my front cover I used Photoshop, because of it many different tools and
I’m experienced in using it. I decided to use red as the main colour, because it
relates to the theme of the game, with the connotations of red being danger and
violence. I didn’t use any existing characters in the front, instead I chose to use my
own created character, because it makes my product look more original. The layout
of my front cover is similar to other front covers, the magazine title is at the top of
the page and the article title is in the middle of the page, the reason for doing this
was because the audience recognise the brand first, so if I put that at the top that’s
where there going to start reading. For the magazine title I used a bold font to help
it stand out and it fits with the genre of the game that am advertising, I used this
type of font for all the text on my front cover. While creating the front cover I used
the ruler on Photoshop which lined up with the to sides magazine title, I did this so
that everything could be perfectly lined up with the title.
6. Comparing FC
The similarities of our products are, they both a character in the centre of the page to help focus the
audiences attention, also both characters overlap the magazine title making them look more real
and 3D. The titles of the magazines are at the top of the page because that’s where the reader looks
first. They both have and article title on the front, and they both have a bar code at the bottom of
the page. They also advertise other games to help gain a bigger audience. The difference of our
products are, mine has way less text on it compared to the existing product, the reason they did this
was because they realised that some people only read the front cover of a magazine, so they put as
much information as they could on the front cover to try and convince the reader to buy the
magazine. My front cover has the logo of a video whilst the existing product doesn't, the reason I
put the logo on the front cover was because it can the eye of someone who knows that game, which
bring in a bigger audience.
Existing productMy product
7. Double page spread
To make my double page spread I use InDesign, because that type of
software makes it easier to make double pages. On the first page I decided to
have it mostly covered with and image of the game I'm advertising, because
it make the double page spread look more appealing to the audience, also a
lot of existing magazines use this type of layout, for instance empire
magazine do it. The idea of my layout was that an image would accompany
some text, which would make the product look professional. I used simple
font to make the double page look professional, and let the audience know
that this is where all the information is. I was going to originally have the
background red but it didn’t blend well with the images and it made it
difficult to read the text, so I changed it to green, because that’s what the
character on the front cover is wearing.
Final Production
8. Comparing DPS
If we compare my double page to an existing double page, we can see a lot of
similarities such as the use of a big image on the front cover, to keep the
audience engaged, also the title of the page is name of the game. They both
have the same amount of images, and there both structured in the same way.
The differences between the products are, mine has a background colour to
make it stand out even more but the existing product has no background colour
so that the audience can focus on the images and text.
Existing product
My product
9. Final Production
Website
I used a site called wix to create my website, I had used it for my experiments so I
knew what I was doing. I used the same style of font that I used for my front to help
it stand out. I used green for the background because I used it on the double page
spread. I managed to make up to six different pages, including a gallery page and a
genres page. It has a simple look to it compared to other video game websites,
meaning it isn’t filled with advertisements and articles, the reason I did this, is
because it make it easier to read.
10. Comparing Website
The similarities of our products are, they both have the website name at the top of
the screen as well as links to the other pages of the website. They both have a large
image at the top with a title over lapping them. The whole layout of both front
pages have a similar layout, such as the text below the image and title. The
difference of our products where, the background colours, my website had a dark
green background so that the audience can see the text easily, and the existing
product just had a black background but for the same reason.
My product
Existing product
11. Improvements
• I could have improved my website by adding more text and images to
fill out the pages, because at the moment some pages look a little
empty, another way of filling out the pages would be to make the font
bigger and adding more images. I could have improved my front cover
by mixing and blending the colours a bit better, at the moment the
colours on the front cover are green and red which don’t really blend
well together, so I would chose better colours like red and black or
green and white.