2. 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
My product uses the traditional codes and conventions of real media products rather than
challenging the conventions. When it conducted my questionnaire to the public the strongest
response I got was in favour of a particular issue of ‘Vibe’ magazine, featuring ‘Hip-Hop’ artist
and rapper Eminem on the cover - which you can see on the following slide – this issue itself was
particularly conventional as you will see, therefore I chose to model my magazine after this issue
of ‘Vibe’ as it got such positive feedback when I processed the data from my questionnaire, with
a staggering 80% selecting the ‘Vibe’ title in response to the question: “Finally, which of these
music magazines do you find the most appealing and if you had to purchase one with your
own money which would it be?” – you can see the options they had to chose from on the
following slide – I found this response conclusive enough and I therefore decided to model my
product around this issue of ‘Vibe’, using an proven and successful product as the basis for mine
proved a wise decision as I was able to create a unique and individual piece but at the same time
obeying a format that has been shown to work in the ‘real world’ and subsequently I was able to
use ‘Vibe’ to inspire my product as well as being able to tweak their design with my own personal
touches to create something that obeyed and used the traditional forms and conventions but also
in parts developed them.
3. Similarities and Differences.
On the following slide you will see the issue of
‘Vibe’ magazine with famed artist Eminem
featuring on the cover, this is the issue decided
to use for inspiration and as the basis for my
product: there are both similarities and
differences to be noted.
4. Similarities – Similarities – Main Cover Line
Cover Lines As you can presumably see there are numerous conventions I have implemented on my product which are present on the ‘Vibe’
Another element that is issue, for example: I chose to style the left hand side of my page much the same as the ‘Vibe’ front cover, I had already decided that
present on the ‘Vibe’ my lead story was going to focus on a ‘coming clean’, ‘comeback’, ‘confession’-type which is why ‘Vibe’ was such a perfect model to
magazine which I work from, I use the name of three drugs to really hook people in giving them each their individual line to really give impact, I
decided to work into my included a pull quote much the same as ‘Vibe’ and to really create emphasis on the artist in question I used colour to my advantage
product was the cover making sure the name of my artist; ‘Q.T.’ stood out much the same as ‘Eminem’ does on the ‘Vibe’ front cover. Instead of copying
lines and more the ‘Vibe’ cover line word for word I tweaked it considerably instead of simply ‘comes clean’ as it says on the ‘Vibe’ magazine I
specifically how they decided to use the word ‘Talks…’ and then in a downwards fashion listed the words each on their own individual line (much the same
are presented for as how the drugs are presented) and as they happened beginning with the negatives; meltdowns, addiction eventually leading to the
example I decided to break up but finishing on the ‘comeback’ element, ‘New albums?’ I felt overall I had managed to rework an already success cover
work the smaller cover line into something unique to my product.
lines around the main Similarities –
image rather than Colour Scheme
overlapping them as I
Similarities - Masthead The colour scheme was
wanted people to be
sure that the left hand The Masthead’s of both magazines something else I felt
cover line was the lead are very similar partly due to the fact I worked well on the
story and that was the received a strong response in favour ‘Vibe’ front cover and I
one that related to the of bright colours hence the red and therefore carried it
image. I felt working partly due to the fact I felt the drop across onto my
the smaller and less shadow which enabled me to create product, although with
important cover lines the black shadow across the top was some slight
around the image really very effective when it came to creating inconsistencies but for
gave emphasis to the the appropriate mood for my the major part it is very
main story as well as magazine, acting almost as if there are similar for example, I
making the smaller storm clouds brewing overhead which I chose to have the
cover lines easier to felt could serve as a metaphor for masthead red with the
read as they flowed some of the controversial stories I overcast black shadow
easily around the page. planned to include (e.g. drugs, crime, and accompany this
I also followed how feuds) stories which I am sure have with a pale grey
‘Vibe’ coloured its been featured both past and present in background much the
cover lines and used magazines such as ‘Vibe’ as well as same as ‘Vibe’ and
this on my product for ‘Hip-Hop’ magazines in general due to then have the cover
example it would use the fact artists associated with the lines and other general
different colours to genre often find themselves mixed up text in various different
make certain words in crime. colours such as;
stand out for example blacks, greys and
in the bottom left hand whites. Much the same
corner the words; ‘The as ‘Vibe.’
Roots’ are in red Differences –
making them stand out
However, there may be many similarities between these two there are any number of differences, I will begin with some of the much smaller differences for example ‘Vibe’
from the rest of the
has no barcode, whereas mine does and the fact ‘Vibe’ has no footer but my product does as I felt these were essential elements that were needed in order to create an
grey text, I did a similar
authentic looking finished product. Some of the more noticeable differences include the main image, on the ‘Vibe’ cover it’s a mid-shot that works well for showing the
thing; colouring
facial expressions of the artist but it also manages to show body language well too. While on my product the image itself may not qualify as a long-shot quite yet it is
‘Dwayne DD’ in grey
clearly showing much more of the artists physique (as you can see his torso, legs and feet) creating a specific emphasis on his clothing, stance and demeanour rather
and making that name
than his facial expressions, also of significance is the fact my image is a high-angle shot differing further from its ‘Vibe’ counterpart, I decided to use a high-angle because
larger than ‘Eli Asher,
I felt it gave my magazine a certain edge, rather than using a traditional generic image (such as the ‘Vibe’ image) which over time I feel have become overused and have
Roth & Gotti’ due to the
therefore lost impact, there was nothing I was specifically trying to connote through my high-angle shot I simply felt it worked, by placing his right leg further forward it
fact he was the most
gave the impression he was travelling or busy or perhaps climbing stairs, overall the readers are free to draw from the image what they please for example they could see
prominent and popular
it as the artist it looking up to greater things as he has recently experienced drug and alcohol problems and that is what I plan to focus my double page spread on, so he
artist out of the four. could therefore be lower down than the photographer because he’s been through a recent slump both in his personal and professional life, but now he is starting to pull
himself out of it and move onto greater things.
5. A B C D E
16) Finally, which of these magazines do you find the most
appealing and if you had to purchase one with your own money
which would it be?
A B C Here you can see the see the question and
15% 0% 5% options the participants of my questionnaire
D
0% had. You can also see the analysed data in
pie-chart format, you can see clearly they
were in favour of the ‘Vibe’ front cover with
A it unanimously being declared most
B
appealing and therefore that should explain
C
D
the reasoning behind me selecting it as a
E basis for my product and the reason why
my product uses and develops codes and
conventions rather than challenging them.
E
80%
6. 2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
With my magazine being primarily focused on the ‘Hip-Hop’ genre people are likely to
stereotypically presume it will only focus on African-American males who bask themselves in the
‘gangster’ image, however you would be wrong to assume this, as early on in my research period
I discovered this is not what the vast amount of my potential readership would want. It became
apparent the stereotypical ‘Hip-Hop’ magazine with connotations of crime, drugs and misogyny
would no longer satisfy the modern readership which is why I worked particularly hard to make
sure I created something that both represented different social groups as well as appealing to
different social groups.
However, I didn’t go into the production stage without an idea of who I was aiming my magazine
at and who I was planning to represent (obviously one decided the other, because as soon as I
decided who it was going to be aimed it naturally had to represent a certain type of people in
order to appeal to this readership) I settled on the traditional target market of males aged from
their mid-teens to their early twenties, specifically 15-25 years. I chose this specific readership
because judging from my research they are the easiest to cater for, nevertheless as I have
already said I didn’t want to ‘exclude’ people. There of course was a target market but I needed
to be appealing on some level to a range of people from different classes, social groups and
backgrounds.
7. 3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The music industry is complex with hundreds of companies involved in different aspects of magazines; many
individuals are involved at different stages in order to get the publications onto the shelves and into the hands of
the readers.
I have conducted some research into potential publishers both before I created my products and now, during the
evaluation period and of course there are many media institutions that maybe an appropriate publisher for my
product, during the initial research period I found one particular potential publisher, that was of Quincy
Jones/David Salzman Entertainment who I discovered early on in the planning stage and wrote about in task 7, I
even went as far to name Quincy Jones and his production company as perfect publishers for a product such as
mine and although I stand by that, I also feel have completing more in depth research I have found a better fitting
media institution that I feel would be the best all around for distributing my media product.
The media institution I feel would be most appropriate distributor is Harris Publications; my reasoning behind
coming to this conclusion is simple, Harris Publications is a well established American consumer-magazine
publisher with over thirty five years experience in the publications industry has lead Harris Publications becoming
one the most successful, experienced and accomplished publishers working in the industry today.
A brief history of Harris Publications only proves that this is the kind of media institution that might distribute a
media product such as mine; Harris Publications has a long history, being founded in 1977 by Stanley R. Harris
who was an accomplished man in his own right even before Harris Publications humble beginnings back in the
1970’s, having over twenty years experience prior to Harris Publications first starting out in the publications
business as early as 1955 giving an incite as to why the company is as successful today as it was then as it was
founded and backed by some influential publishers and expert industry insiders.
Over thirty years later and Harris Publications has emerged into a leading publishers (on slide 13 you can see a
list and photographs of their titles both past and present) with several successful magazines currently being
published including many music magazines, specifically ‘Hip-Hop’ related music magazines. I will go into further
detail about these titles on subsequent slides.
8. 3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Continued…
As you can see from this slide, these are just some of the popular and successful titles Harris Publications are
proud to include in their portfolio.
Harris Publications has been involved with many different types of magazines over the years, some of which you
can see on the following slide. From automotive magazines including; ‘0-60’, Celebrity & Lifestyle magazine;
‘King’, Firearms and weaponry; ‘Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement’ and Sports and Health; ‘SLAM
Magazine’, its fair to say over the years judging by that short list alone Harris’s previous and present works have
been varied and they’ve been sure to cater for all the main markets, despite their adventurous subject matter they
have never lost their interest in the music industry and at one time or another have always been publishing some
kind of music magazine like: ‘Revolver’ and ‘Guitar World’ which was in publication for well over twenty years but
more importantly in recent years they're increasing involvement with the ‘Hip-Hop’ genre is what first sparked my
interest in them as potential publishers. Two notable examples include; ‘Scratch’ which was marketed under the
tagline; ‘The Blueprint of Hip-Hop’ and then of course there is perhaps the most popular of all: ‘XXL’ which has
proven a hit with the readers ever since its first publication by Harris in 1997.
Furthermore, its not Harris Publications past successes that lead me to believe they will make a suitable publisher
for my product, nor is it the fact they are one of the leading publishers in North America. What assumed me Harris
Publications would be the right people to distribute my product was something else entirely, of course their
success and respect in the publishing field was undoubtedly a factor it was the fact they already had a strong
relationship with African American community, and over the years had built up a large distribution network
creating products that catered directly for the African American male, such as ‘King’ which is described as; ‘a
monthly men’s magazine geared toward African American and urban audiences’ this clinched it for me, and that’s
when I decided Harris Publications deep routed connection with African Americans (my target audience) coupled
with their long history distributing ‘Hip-Hop’ magazines I realised they were ideal.
9. Here you can see just some of the
wide range of publications Harris
are involved in, I have included
various issues of ‘Hip-Hop’
magazine ‘XXL’ because it is
undoubtedly their best known title,
however other music related
publications include: ‘Scratch’ and
‘Guitar World’ in addition to that I
have included publications that
are not music related for example
you can see ‘Guns & Weaponry
for Law Enforcement’, basketball
magazine; ‘SLAM’ and of course
male lifestyle magazine: ‘King.’
In recent years Harris Publications
has expanded significantly and
some of these titles have been
sold off in order to make way for
new titles for example magazines
such as the automotive ‘0-60’ only
came into publication in 2007,
meaning Harris is an ever
expanding company always
looking for the next project, which
could indeed be another ‘Hip-Hop’
magazine, such as mine, as there
is already a proven formula to
them that strikes a cord with the
reader time after time, and a large
reason Harris Publications has
enjoyed such success is their wise
decision to concentrate on ‘Hip-
Hop’ publications more so than
ever.
10. 4) Who would the audience be for your media product?
Of course as I have outlined in earlier questions my ideal target audience was males aged 15-25, this was my
primary audience and I tried to cater towards them as much as possible without excluding other potential readers.
However, with target audiences, outlining mine as males in their teenage years was really only the tip of the
iceberg, I decided on teenage males early on but later I had to consider several other elements such as; social
class, ethnicity and psychographic profile.
Obviously ‘Hip-Hop’ is generically focused on the African American male, many of whom are from poor working-
class backgrounds, deprived areas and have found themselves mixed up in crime and drugs, the artists lives
mirror that of the listeners and that can often act as a form of escapism for working-class or unemployed people
who hope to get out of the ghetto as the artist who they were inspired by did, this was a distinction I felt ‘Hip-Hop’
had from other genres of music something that made it unique, and the fact it plays a role in so many adolescent
males lives on their way to adulthood I felt it was important my product identified itself with that unique bond
between artist and listener or in this case artist and reader that ‘Hip-Hop’ music has built up over the years. So, as
a result I primary target audience ended up as teenage and young adult male whilst my primary target audiences
social class would most likely be working-class, and the ethnicity as I have already said already is African
American males, mainly due to the fact black people, males especially have a long history and association with
‘Hip-Hop’ music that stems back to as early as 1970’s New York, however this does not exclude other ethnicities
as several white people are featured or mentioned in the magazine, an attempt at trying to diversify the
magazines appeal to a different type of males, some of whom have exactly the same backgrounds as the African
Americans although their white heritage from leave them alienated from a magazine that only features black
artists and vice versa so I was sure to include or mention a diverse range of people in my product in order create
something that many could find satisfactory. In addition to that it is wise to acknowledge the fact that the
magazine does not particularly lean towards the female demographic, the exclusion of women was not intention
however I did not spend much time catering towards females as I always had the mindset that this would be a
magazine predominantly purchased by males, however I did not actively seek to discourage females from
purchasing or reading my magazine.
11. 4) Who would the audience be for your media product?
Continued…
Originally ‘Hip-Hop’ was a niche audience when it first began during the 1970’s appealing predominantly to young male low
economic status African American and to a lesser extent Hispanic American. However since late 1990’s ‘Hip-Hop’ has become
significantly more mainstream to include a wider demographic, of a young, white, and more affluent people from various
different cultures and backgrounds, especially with people across the Atlantic in the UK and other European countries.
Originally the audience demographic would be drawn from deprived areas of cities in the UK specifically Detroit, Michigan and
Bronx, New York City where there were high levels of deprivation, unemployment, and a high crime rate and drug culture.
Disposable income would be low and therefore money spent on expensive material goods would be minimal, however people
were able to enjoy and express themselves through ‘Hip-Hop’ music specifically by the widespread availability of demo-tapes.
Since the late 1990’s the popularity of ‘Hip-Hop’ has gained momentum resulting in a shift of the audience psychographic
profile including the ethnicity of those who listen to it. During the early years the audience for ‘Hip-Hop’ music was
predominantly black, urban African American in the bands of C2 (skilled ‘blue collar’ workers such as electricians, plumbers and
carpenters) D (semi and unskilled manual such as drivers, post sorters) and E (the unemployed). However in recent years the
audience has broadened to include the band of C1 (‘white collar’, junior management, bank clerks and nurses). This group has
more disposable income and as a result they are able to spent large amounts of money on the music and products associated
with the music including clothing lines therefore it has become more commercialised and more mainstreamed which has lead to
more and more companies cashing in on this lucrative market. The emergence of ‘stars’ such as Eminem, 50-Cent and Jay-Z
during the last decade has opened up global markets leading them to become the figureheads of the genre and the
personalities behind the music. The celebrity culture surrounding these artists has lead to them amassing a vast personal
fortune which has influenced the audience’s aspirations, which links into the “Get rich or die tryin’” mentality.
The middle classes increasing association with ‘Hip-Hop’ can arguably be seen as both bad and good. When ‘Hip-Hop’
emerged it front itself at the forefront of controversial issues. In places like Detroit, Michigan during the decline of the
automotive industry ‘Hip-Hop’ surfaced through the cracks at a difficult time when a revival of the area was yet to begin and
racial tension, drugs, crime were climbing and ‘Hip-Hop’ was also a backdrop to problematic times in California, specifically Los
Angeles during this time when African-American and Hispanic-American males image became tainted during racial and civil
unrest, examples include the 1992 South Central Riots, The Rampart Scandal and the United States Crack Epidemic all
hindered the birth of ‘Hip-Hop’ as the corruption and crime surrounding these events often lead back to deprived areas which
were dominated by African-Americans who were normally avid listeners of ‘Hip-Hop’ music.
12. 4) Who would the audience be for your media product?
Continued…
The result of this was for many years, decades even ‘Hip-Hop’ was largely ignored as a genre because of peoples
prejudices and the assumption that those involved with it had criminal ties. The problems it encountered in the
early years undoubtedly limited its commercial success, however as it has become more and more accepted by
mainstream audience and a broader demographic case in point, the middle classes some of what it meant as a
genre has been forgotten, originally these were disadvantaged and underprivileged people rapping about family
problems, racial tensions and cultural deprivation but as the genre was exploited by corporate business that
message was arguably loss in favour of financial gain leaving some listeners morally bankrupt.
So overall in the early years the advantage of ‘Hip-Hop’ not having to conform to industry standard meant it
appealed to the urban working classes, however as it has come a worldwide phenomenon the inaccessibly nature
of the genre especially by Caucasians is now gone and it truly is music for the masses, even if some of the
original anti-authoritarian undertones and explicit lyrics are a thing of the past.
As of today to try and define the ‘Hip-Hop’ genres audiences as one particular group would be a understatement
as it is something that can be enjoyed by all. However ‘Hip-Hop’ listeners can be characterized on some level,
they are often seen as ‘Aspirers’. ‘Aspirers’ are seeking to improvement themselves. They tend to define
themselves by high status brand names which they own and consume, absorbing the ideologies of the products
as their own and believing that their status is established by this conspicuous consumption – the ‘Aspirer’ can be
considered a modern day ‘Hip-Hop’ fan as the high status brand name they own and consume link into the
commercialised side of the ‘Hip-Hip’ genre something that is a much more recent development only having
happened in the last decade or so. Not only does being an ‘Aspirer’ link into the fact many ‘Hip-Hop’ fans chose it
as a way of life not just as a music preference, draping themselves in clothes the artists wear and jewellery or
‘bling’ for the desired image but it also links into how some of the morals of ‘Hip-Hop’ have been lost by its
commercialisation for example many of the people who are interested in the genre today in fact no nothing of the
deprived upbringings, gang culture and loss many of the ‘Hip-Hop’ artists speak of in their lyrics, they have no
way of buying into the cultural other than materially and aesthetically, through the purchase of expensive clothes
and other memorabilia. Again, generally speaking ‘Hip-Hop’ fans of modern times can be considered ‘Tribe
Wired’; digital, free-spirited, creative young singles. This is reasonably self explanatory and expected given the
nature of the music and many of the listeners backgrounds.
13. 5) How did you attract/address your audience?
Attracting your audience and addressing them is difficult task, you need to have created a product that stands
out on the shelf successfully, drawing and hooking the potential readership in, attracting the reader is the simple
part, you can do this with bright bold colours and a ‘chaotic’ presentation style including large fonts, exclamation
points and various eye-catching cover lines however, this may work well at hooking the reader in it does not
always ensure that they will remain hooked as the ‘chaotic’ styling that first attracted them is likely to put them
off when actually get down to the business of reading articles as the magazine may come across as very ‘in
your face’. Indeed it is a complex task in order to create something that is both eye-catching in the beginning but
soon becomes something that is subtle, easy on the eye and easy to pick up and read at a glance from there on
out, fortunately early on in my planning and research period I chose to ask the right questions during the
questionnaire and focus group tasks and therefore as a result I had the valuable feedback I needed in order to
create something that attracted in as many readers as possible but after they were hooked treated them as
human being and addressed them as if they were too.
Although I clearly asked the right questions the response I received was sometimes not entirely helpful, I
referred back to the question I asked during my focus group for an impartial view; What type of language do
you expect in a music magazine, formal or informal, direct or indirect? This question which I put to my
focus group was the most similar to this question that I am answering now. Even though I did not get a
conclusive response from those involved in the focus group on the whole the response was in favour of a
magazine being informal but direct, basically it should address you directly singling you out as an individual but
at the same time it should also use informal language, so it speaks to you calmly and pleasantly so you feel as if
you are talking to a friend rather than reading a magazine that may often be speaking factually. Even if I hadn’t
conducted this research I would of worked of this assumption all along as you can see above I felt it was
important that a magazine caught your attention early on then spoke to you as an intelligent human being when
you began reading in depth articles to avoid the reader feeling patronised and alienated.
14. 5) How did you attract/address your audience?
Continued…
Once I was aware of how I needed to attract/address my audience I began modelling my product around this, I
was quick to ensure that my front cover was bold and eye-catching hence the use of bold colour including the
colour red which contrasted well against the pale backgrounds helping elements like the masthead stand out
even further, however once I decided to use the bright and bold colours I was ensure to limit myself, I wanted to I
created a product that was ‘friendly’ to look at and easy on the eye I didn’t want to go overboard and I felt the bold
colours would be enough to ensure it would be a product that stood out on the shelf therefore there was no need
to have a ‘chaotic’ front cover so I tried to keep it as clear and ordered as possible, sticking to this theory when I
created my Double Page Spread I made sure it had a relaxed tone and addressed the reader directly, so on the
first half of the double page I included various images so the double page didn’t seem to dominated by text and
the reader was free to enjoy the images, I included small snippets of text around the image on the first of the
double page, for example I featured a pull-quote this addressed the reader directly and began to get them
intrigued and involved with the article gradually. On the second half of the double page is where I wrote the
article, the article is reasonably long so in order to keep the reader focused I decided to present the article in a
question and answer format, this involved the reader more so than a regular article with quotes as they were
getting direct responses from the artist they were interested to find out about. The article was direct, as the artist
was speaking directly to the reader however as it was straight from the artists mouth meant it was an extremely
casual conversation between the interviewer and interviewee this fluid style that was created by the gentle back
and forth banter between the two people in the article meant you could stop reading at the end of a question and
pick it back up very easily, reading it in small segments rather than a traditional article were you either have to
read it all in one go or keep marking the point you are up to, the question and answer format allows you to stop at
the end of a question and come back later. The informal nature of the speech in the article teamed with the fact
the article was speaking very directly meant I had met the winning criteria and managed to create something that
was eye-catching at first glance (the front cover) but in depth and engaging where it mattered (the Double Page
Spread and its article).
15. 6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing
this product?
• For creating my products I used the college computers, that is where I completed all of design and construction of
my cover, contents and double page spread. My products were constructed on Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe
InDesign CS3. I completed my front cover on Photoshop, whilst I did the latter two, the contents page and double
page spread on InDesign. The various computers I used and these two primary programmes was the majority of
the technology I used.
• However I did use various other programmes during the planning and research stage notably Microsoft Office
Word 2003 and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 and of course the Internet extensively for researching the
magazine industry and completing other tasks in the planning and research booklet.
• In addition to that I used other technologies including two different types of digital camera and of course I used my
memory stick which was essential in transporting work home and transferring work I’d done on college computers
to my own computer at home to be completed or improved.
16. Adobe Photoshop CS3
Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.
In the several slides following this you will see how I constructed my products and what I learnt about the
technologies during the design process.
I learnt how to perform various different procedures during the long process of using my planning and research to
construct a professionally looking magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread that were both
aesthetically pleasing all well as successfully functioning products that obeyed the codes and conventions of
music magazines.
In the various slide following I have given in depth and detailed explanations regarding how I performed
numerous tasks. All of my explanations contain step by step instructions regarding how to perform certain tasks,
all of these explanations contain screen prints as well as small snippets of text explaining what is happening in the
various screen prints that are featured throughout this question.
17. Creating a Background on Photoshop.
To the right you will be able to see a screen print of the
toolbar that I mentioned when I was talking about the
previous screen shot, this is an enlarged version of the
toolbar and you can clearly see I have pressed the
Rectangle Tool down thus enabling me to create a
shape large enough to cover the entire background of
the A4 page…
Once you have created the large rectangle across
your page having the choice of whether you cover it
partially or fully depending on your preference, in my
case I have decided to covered the entire background
in one block colour, once you have drawn the outline
across your page you are able to change the colour. In
my case I went for a pale grey as the background for
my front cover.
When you first open Adobe Photoshop you will go through some basic
procedures which will include selecting what sized paper you would like,
obviously I have selected A4, and once I did this, this is the screen you will be
greeted by…
The icon on the tool bar the arrow is pointing to is the button you need to use in
order to create a background.
18. Creating a Masthead on Photoshop.
To the left, you will be able to again see an
enlarged Photoshop toolbar, this time a
button with a large ‘T’ on it has been
selected, as it is clearly marked ‘T’ for Text,
as you select this tool for writing, in this case
writing your Masthead.
Above you can see a screen shot of a tool bar, this tool bar appears at the top of
Photoshop and you can use it for generally adjusting the text, for example the size and
the font type.
Once you have selected the text tool you simple draw your text box and begin typing in
my case I wrote my Masthead: ‘Example’ however text does not usually appear as you
see here, I will go onto show you what I did in order to achieve my desired Masthead…
This menu is were you can tweak the ‘Gradient Overlay’ you
achieve your desired effect, in my case I chose black and red by
However, the font and its size are only the tip of the mixing them together it forms the shadow effect, however when
iceberg when it comes to creating a Masthead. To using a ‘Gradient Overlay’ you are not limited to just creating a
generate the effect I have here, with the large black shadow. There are various other things you can do and various
shadow on top of my masthead and the piercing red at colours to chose from, furthermore the mixture between my two
the bottom you need to use the effects tool, this is a colours is between much fifty percent black and fifty percent red
button labelled ‘fx’, it can be found in the bottom right however this can be altered too so the mixture makes one colour
corner of your page. You can see I have clicked on it clearer and more dominant.
although it is mostly covered by the sub-menu that has
appeared from clicking it… Once you are happy with the colours you have chosen and how
you have blended them together clock ‘OK’ and it will apply your
The name of the effect I have on my Masthead is known effect to your writing and that is how I achieved my ‘Example’
as a ‘Gradient Overlay’ one you click it you will be Masthead.
greeted by a new menu which you can see in the far
right…
19. Creating a Header & Footer on Photoshop.
Using the same method to type the text that I described
earlier I wrote the Header and Footer for my magazine front
cover, all I did was change the font size, type and colour
apart from one fundamental difference I used a new kind of
effect which differed from the ‘Gradient Overlay’ I used when
creating the Masthead.
The ‘Stroke’ effect allows you create an outline around your text, as
you can see on the Header and Footer, both of which have a small
black outline. There an adjustable bar which you can move up and
down in order to control the thickness, mine is of course only very
thin however you can make the outline particularly thick.
Once you have written your desired text, changed the fonts,
colours and got the text looking as you want it to you can add
the effect you consider necessary, once again visit the bottom
right hand corner of the page and click on the ‘fx’, the
procedure used for putting on a ‘Gradient Overlay’, but instead
you click ‘Stroke’ you then will be met by a menu similar to the
one relating to the ‘Gradient Overlay…’
Once you are content with the thickness you may click ‘OK’ this will apply the ‘Stroke’
effect, and you will be able to visibly see a outline of your desired thickness around the
specific piece of text in my case the Header and Footer. Once its done you can clearly
see how much it helps the text stand out off the page.
20. Placing an image in Photoshop.
Bringing an image from the internet into Photoshop and then placing it onto
your front page product is perhaps one of the easiest takes to perform in
Photoshop…
First of all you must click on ‘File’ and go
to ‘Place’ once you clicked on that you will
see a menu which will look like the one
below…
Once the image has been placed in Photoshop it
will ask you to confirm it, in case you have chosen
the wrong you can click; ‘Don’t Place’ however if
you are happy with how it looks click ‘Place’ and
you will be able to resize it and move it around the
page until you are happy with it.
Here you can clearly see the image I have placed
into Photoshop and onto the front cover of my
magazine, it is a barcode, I resized the image and
moved it to its designated location on the page.
This simple procedure is essential in being able to
create a successful media product.
You will need to go into the folder which has the image you
want to place into Photoshop. As you can clearly see I am in
my folder where I keep my various images (in this case it is a
image saved from the internet into my area on my computer)
all I have to do is click the one I want and click ‘Place.’
21. Once you click on
‘Extract’ this is the
Extracting an image in Photoshop. screen you will be
met by, as you can
see I have already cut
around the image
very intricately. To
give an impression of
Having just explained how to place an image into Photoshop in what I had to do to
the previous slide its naturally expected that the image itself will achieve this you can
come with itself background, whether you want it or not. In my see the beginning of
case I wanted to extract the image which meant cutting it out from yet another green
its background… outline on the left side
of the image, I am
doing this to improve
edge of the image to
give it an even and
smooth finish to it,
once you have done
this and you are
happy with the finish
on the image you can
click ‘OK’ and go
back to the front page
with the extracted
image.
To the right you will now be
able to see in full view the now
extracted image back in its
rightful place on the front page
of my product.
This method of extracting the
image from its background may
Having placed the image in its normal form onto be tiresome and time-
my front cover I then went to ‘Filter’ and clicked consuming however I feel out
on ‘Extract’ this is the tool you use for extracting of all the different methods of
the image from its background, it will change doing it both within Photoshop
your screen entirely taking you away from your and in other programmes
front cover and leading you onto a new window overall produces the cleanest
still within Photoshop. and sharpest edges to the
image. However it does depend
on your level of intricacy and
time spent.
22. Creating Cover Lines in Photoshop.
Part 1.
I felt the creating of Cover Lines on my front cover was
particularly important therefore I decided to separate
this into two different sections.
In part one I wanted to discuss how I created the word
‘Q.T.’ which was part of my main Cover Line to be
identical to my Masthead, it was far more difficult than
a simple copy and paste, I had to locate the identical
colours, get the size and font type right as well as
getting the ‘Gradient Overlay’ correct.
However I think I have successfully done this and as a
result have created a consistency between the
Masthead and Cover Lines.
I wanted to deal with this element of the Cover Lines
separately because the rest of Cover Lines are
‘regular’ text so to speak, with just a ‘Stroke’ effect on
them something which I have already talked about
however I have not talked about this so I felt it needed
to be acknowledged as another piece of intricate
design that adds to the overall feel of my magazine.
23. Creating Cover Lines in Photoshop.
Part 2.
The Cover Lines are the last thing I am Having already spoke about
going to summarise about regarding effects, specifically ‘Gradient
what I learnt during this stage. Overlay’ and ‘Stroke’ there is
little to say however I did
Looking at my product now you may
decide to include the screen
think I have skipped ahead and added
shot explaining the ‘Stroke’
on many more features without
effect again in case anyone
explaining what I did or how I learnt to
had forgotten the explanation I
do it, however this is not true, simply
previously gave.
all I have done is add in the Cover
Lines and they are also one of the All in all the majority of things I
easiest elements of my magazine front am speaking about here I have
cover to create. already provided an
explanation for earlier on in
There is little need to provide an in
this question.
depth series of screen prints and
explanations when everything creating
the Cover Lines involves I have
already talked about, for example the
various sizes of text, the different
colours used, mainly the mixture of
white and grey. Overall the most
difficult part of the Cover Lines
(excluding the ‘Q.T.’ designed to look
identical to the Masthead) was simply
applying a ‘Stroke’ effect to much of
the writing.
Finally, in addition to the Cover Lines there are several other small details which I
added in along with them during this stage including: the price, the website, the date
and the line: ‘Like us on facebook and follow us on twitter.’ These were much smaller
insignificant details and involved doing little more than drawing a text box and writing a
few words, they have no extravagant colours, fonts or effects on them.
24. Abobe InDesign CS3
Adobe InDesign is a software application produced by Adobe Systems.
In the several slides following this you will see how I constructed my products and what I learnt about the
technologies during the design process.
I learnt how to perform various different procedures during the long process of using my planning and research to
construct a professionally looking magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread that were both
aesthetically pleasing all well as successfully functioning products that obeyed the codes and conventions of
music magazines.
In the various slide following I have given in depth and detailed explanations regarding how I performed
numerous tasks. All of my explanations contain step by step instructions regarding how to perform certain tasks,
all of these explanations contain screen prints as well as small snippets of text explaining what is happening in the
various screen prints that are featured throughout this question.
25. Placing an Image in InDesign.
Part 1.
Placing an image in InDesign is a reasonably easy task however I have made
numerous altercations to my image to attain my desired effect meaning the task itself
become considerably more complicated…
The first stage of
importing an
image involves
going up to the
left hand corner of
the InDesign
document and
selecting ‘File’
and then you
scroll down to
‘Place’ once you
click ‘Place’ you
will be greeted by
a new menu
which I have
screen printed
and you can see
it to the right.
As you can see when you first open up InDesign and
select the type of page you want this is what you will
see, in my case it is a blank double page spread.
From this menu is where you select the image you want to
appear on InDesign and then click ‘Open’ which will place the
image from your folder onto your document…
26. Placing an Image in InDesign.
Part 2.
As you can see I have now placed the image into InDesign and onto my Double Page Spread, however you may
notice I have already edited the picture adding an effect and resizing the image so it fits half of my double page
spread, acting as a background almost.
I will go onto explain how I
achieve the effect on the
image in the following slide
however regarding resizing
the image you simple click
on the image which makes
the transforming controls
appear you then simply
transform the size until you
are happy with the size of
the image and the portion
of the page it covers.
Once the image has been resized you will need to
make it correctly fit the frame so it does not
appear distorted or any elements of it are cut off,
the various button shown in the screen print to the
left are the button you need to use to make sure
the image fits and is not distorted or stretched.
27. Placing an Image in InDesign.
Part 3.
Smart Filters.
The final adjustment I made to my image was adding on the effect I spoke about earlier unlike the
previous adjustments adding an effect of this nature can be complex procedure however if you
understand how the tool works it becomes very simple.
In this screen to the
left, you can see the
same menu,
however I am using
my cursor to hover
over the ‘Filter
Gallery…’ if you want
to experiment with
various different
effects this is the tool
you use as you can
see in the screen
print on the following
slide.
In the screen print above you can see I have selected ‘Filter’ and I have been greeted by the
menu you see above, you can see the list of the various different effects including: ‘Artistic’,
‘Blur’ and ‘Brush Strokes’ there is sub-menu that comes of these in the screen print you can see
the sub-menu of ‘Artistic’ contains the effect ‘Fresco…’ this is the effect that I used on my
image.
28. Placing an Image in InDesign.
Part 4.
Smart Filters Continued.
Once you have clicked on the filter gallery this is the screen you will be met with, in the top right hand corner there are various
collapsible menus all of these can be opened up and you can preview various different effects here you can see the ‘Fresco’
effect is applied and if I like the look of it all I have to do is press ‘OK’ and the effect will be present on my image.
29. Placing an Image in InDesign.
Part 5.
Smart Filters Continued.
I decided to include one final slide just to empathise the difference between the before and after images. Obviously to the left is the original image whilst the image to the
right is the one with the ‘Fresco’ effect, as you can see there is a dramatic change, as you can more than likely see many things change once the effect is added, the
colour becomes more grainy, the bars he is sitting on appear to be almost chrome and areas of the photograph that are in shadow become considerably darker, you will
notice this especially in the top right hand corner of the photo where the dark window frames and lack of light from the overhanging roof gives the photo and eerie gothic
like look whilst the areas that are in natural light are brought about more so by the effect for example some of the brickwork appears brighter and cleaner as does his face
as it almost gives the impression he is looking off into the bright horizon and leaving the darkness behind him, this serves as a metaphor for “Q.T.” and his life as the
subject of my double page spread is an artist overcoming his dark past (Drug and Alcohol abuse) and resurrecting his career…
30. Creating a Background on InDesign.
To the left you can see a enlarged screen print of the InDesign toolbar.
The arrow is pointing to the tool you will need to use in order to create a
background, select this tool and in the following screen print you will see
what you need to do with this tool in order to create a background…
Here you can see I have selected the tool and am
using it to draw an outline I screen printed it as I was
still using the tool therefore you can see I have only
partially drawn the box, as I want to cover the whole
right hand side of my page. When you are using this
tool you are free to make whatever sized shape you
please…
Naturally you will realise once I had
drawn the box it didn’t naturally
change to the colour I desired, to
change the colour I selected the box
itself and clicked on ‘Swatches’ which
can be found on the right hand side of
the page. Once you have accessed
the ‘Swatches’ you will have various
different colours available to chose
from.
Although it may be difficult to see due to the light nature of the colour
but I have in fact drawn the box across my entire right page and then
coloured it in. you will notice now that it is a pale grey colour as
opposed to the standard white it was before.
31. Placing an Article in InDesign.
Placing an article, which I had
already typed up in word is one
of the far more easier tasks
involved in constructing a
double page spread. Even
though I placed this article in
InDesign rather than Photoshop
the way in which you do it is
very similar and also very
simple.
To the left you can see I have
selected ‘file’ and then gone
down to place – as you can see
it is very similar to placing items
in Photoshop – you select what
it is you want to place in this
case the article for my Double
Page Spread and then you
simply place it onto the page
and you are free to resize the
text, change colours, fonts,
make parts bold, italic and even
more complicated procedures
like text rapping which involves In the screen print above you can see my article once it has been placed into InDesign
making the text flow around
images.
32. Writing text in InDesign.
Writing text in InDesign is very simple and
straightforward as it is in almost all
programmes, to the left you can clearly see
an enlarged tool bar from InDesign which
itself is very similar to that of Photoshop;
they both have the same icon for text a
large ‘T’, this button needs to be selected in
order to draw a text box and then begin
writing…
Here you can quite clearly see I have been able to write the date, website
and the title for my article using the text tool, the title of article differs from
the rest as the title was written in InDesign and the article itself was written
in Microsoft Word…
I have screen printed the tool bar, you can use the tool bar for various different
things including changing the front size and changing the front itself, for example
when it wrote the title of the article I wrote it in a standard format however whilst
writing the date and website for the magazine I used the bold function.
33. Creating a Rectangle in InDesign.
To the left you can see an enlarged version of
Adobe InDesign tool, below you can see a
button is selected this is the Rectangle Tool,
you will need to use this tool in order to
successfully create a coloured rectangle
shape on InDesign.
Once you have selected the Rectangle tool all you need to do is click down and drag the box until it reaches the size
you desire. In the screen print above you can see I have drawn the rectangle and its grid is visible the small squares
in the corner can be clicked on and used to change the size of the rectangle. You can simply click on the box itself to
adjust its place on the document, in my case I chose to have it in the top half of my double page. Furthermore you
can change the colour of the rectangle by using the ‘Swatches’.
In addition to that you may notice that my rectangle is slanted, to achieve this effect you need to select the tool that
you can see in the screen print below.
Once this tool is enabled you can click down on the rectangle
and rotate it to various different angles, in my case I chose it
to be partially slanted so part of the box disappears of the
double page itself.
34. Colouring a Rectangle in InDesign.
I mentioned in the previous slide that you use ‘Swatches’ to change the colour of the rectangles, I will
now elaborate upon this: above you can see I have created various other rectangles, one is black whilst
the other two are white in colour, you can see I have selected the ‘Swatches’ in the top right hand corner
of the screen print, below you can see a clearer screen print of what I am doing…
You can clearly see an enlarged screen print of the ‘Swatches’, using the ‘Swatches’ you can change the
colour of the Rectangles to almost any colour that may want.
35. The Final Product in InDesign.
To the right you will be able
to see a screen print of my
finished product you will
notice some elements of it
may have changed which I
have not directly explained
however I have already
explained them previously for
example the much smaller
image in the bottom right of
the double page I did not
explain how I brought that
image into my double page
specifically however I have
already explained the
procedures regarding placing
an image extensively instead
using the main image as the
example. This is the same
story with many of the
rectangle shapes and text
however nothing new is
present on the double page
that I haven't already
explained in depth how to
perform in InDesign, except
for two fundamental
elements: the large letters
‘Q.T.’ belonging to the title of
the article and the masthead
‘example’ in fact there is little
to explain here as I have
already explained how to
create these elements in
Photoshop and they are
simply transferred over into
InDesign to make sure they
were identical to those used
on the front cover and
contents page.
36. The Contents Page in InDesign.
To the left you can see a finished copy of my Music Magazine’s
Contents Page.
Due to the fact that two of my products; the Double Page Spread and
this, the Contents Page are created in the same programme. That of
Abobe InDesign CS3.
As a result of this in response to question six of the evaluation: What
have you learnt about the technologies from the process of
constructing this product? I dealt with the three products separately,
obviously the Front Cover of my Music Magazine was designed in
Photoshop therefore I required a different type of evaluation with totally
different screen prints from the ones that I took during the evaluation
of my Double Page Spread which is on InDesign however because
both the Double Page Spread and the Contents Page have been
produced on the same page it renders almost everything I was going
to say about what I learnt during the construction process of the
Contents Page irrelevant. Due to the fact I would just be repeating
myself as I have already provided an in depth explanation of what I
learnt on InDesign and there would be no point me explaining how to
for example place an image or draw a text box. Furthermore there is
no piece of technology that I used within my contents page that I did
not use in my Double Page Spread, in fact the Double Page Spread is
in fact much more complex, using techniques I did not utilize in my
contents page for example Smart Filters.
However upon viewing my contents page if you do have any queries
into how a certain element of it was constructed please consult the
InDesign construction of the Double Page Spread.
37. 7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full product?
Since my preliminary task I have learnt an enormous amount. I've have learnt any number of things at various
staging, throughout the research period I learned many things, for one the research and planning was far more in
depth and detailed than anything we had experienced during the preliminary task so I picked up many different
skills throughout that period some of which build upon what I already knew. For example during the research and
planning stage everything we did was as I have said far more in depth, even if we were repeating similar tasks to
the what we had done during the preliminary stage it wasn’t repetitive as everything we had learnt then became
vital during the planning, research and construction of these products.
To name a few things I learnt during the research and planning period is a simple task, I felt especially I gained a
great incite into the magazine industry and during task four (IPC questions) in particular I picked up a lot of
interesting information about publishers, what role they play and the history of many magazines that remain on
our shelves today. I learnt to put together a professional looking questionnaire, participated in a focus group and
analysed all my research and findings through a variety of different methods including pie-charts, percentages
and simple writing a explanation.
Not only was there a steep learning curve during this task in comparison to the preliminary task but there was also
a huge leap forward in terms of creating the product, what we created during this task far surpasses anything I
would have been able to-do when the course first began, clearly indicating what I have learnt in the progression
from preliminary to the full product has been vast.
On the following slide you can see how my finished preliminary products vary from the finished products relating
to this task, and how and where I learned from my mistakes on the preliminary task eventually used these
mistakes to my advantage thus being able to improve the final products on this task.
38. Of course the stark differences between the two front covers should highlight just how much I have learnt since completing the preliminary task and undertaking
this piece subsequent piece of coursework, I will now go on to highlight some of the main similarities, differences and what I learnt, changed and improved
between the two products.
One mistake I felt I
made during the
preliminary task was After completing
how I laid out the top The Preliminary Product. The Finished Product. the preliminary
half of my page, task not only was
especially the a better
masthead. I feel the experienced in
area which is a large Despite the fact it seems I was only grasping what a
block of grey in able to improve or rework elements ‘real’ magazine
hindsight is far to from my preliminary products on my looked like, but by
thick, it almost steals second set of products due to the the time I finished I
focus from the main extra experience and knowledge I had acquired
image, there is not had gained after completing the many of the skills I
enough text on the preliminary task, however this is not needed to create
grey background and true and many of the basic ideas something more
therefore it appears behind my preliminary task I carried altogether more
far to blocked over as they were all essential realistic, for
together with not conventions needed to creating a example on the
enough text breaking successful magazine that had preliminary task
up the very worked well on my preliminary task the original
unforgiving colour and as a result I was sure to include background of the
scheme, this was an them in my next product. Which is image remains
element I was sure why the basic layout and look is and this is not a
not to recreate on similar in many aspects, for example: particular
subsequent front the barcode and footer are just two problems as some
cover I created, elements that are almost identical magazines choose
instead of the block of and carried straight across between to remove the
colour I opted for a the two products and of course some background of the
masthead and header of the less noticeable elements such image and others
that stood alone with as the fact I continued with an image don’t however I felt
no block of colour of a single person rather than a to achieve the
behind it, I steered master shot. overall effect I
away from dark wanted I needed
colours, like the grey I to remove the
used in the original
preliminary task and background and
Another mistake I learnt from and managed to improve once I brought this convention over onto the second set of products was how I used
decided instead to place the image of
my cover lines, I felt there was some fundamental problems with the cover lines on the preliminary product, one major problem was the fact I
favour much lighter my artist on one of
designed them to be too long, which meant due to limited space I could only include a small number of them. In addition to that the detailed
and paler colours, this my choice this is
nature of them limited their impact as they were far to in depth and not nearly clear enough to read at a glance, I obviously needed to have
helped the masthead an example of how
cover lines on my second front cover so I totally changed how I used them, on my ‘Example’ front cover, for example I decided against
stand out and a skills I learnt
formatting them as I did in the preliminary task, as they almost appeared in paragraph form, I decided to make them much smaller and just
simple black outline during the
focus on a few key words, on the preliminary task all the words were the same font, size, colour etc. I decided against this also, introducing
around the header preliminary task
different front sizes and colours to really emphasis specific words, I even went as far as using the same colours and font for the words ‘Q.T.’
was enough to make aided me once I
as the masthead, so it would really draw in the reader as I felt this was important to create focus on my main cover line, something which my
it clear and eye- progressed onto
preliminary task lacked as there was no lead cover line, so to speak they were all presented in the same manner and as a result of that some
catching without the making my next
of the potential impact of having a main or most important cover line was lost, something I decided to rectify when it came to creating my
need for dark colours. product.
‘Example’ front cover.
