1. AS MEDIA STUDIES
FOUNDATION PORTFOLIO
RESEARCH & PLANNING
CENTRE NO: 11049
ST FRANCIS XAVIER COLLEGE
2. My name is: Raissa Vasconcelos
Candidate No: 2763
3. Preliminary Project – Research & Planning
• How did you think about target audience?
For my magazine, my target audience was based on people of the ages 16-18 who are going
to the sixth form/college. I chose this target audience, because it’s easier to write from that
point of view since I have an idea of what the age group is looking for.
• How did awareness of that audience impact upon your visual design and choice of language?
Since I understood that my audience were from the age of 16 to 18, I thought that making
the magazine cover/contents a bit more colourful would be eye-catching since it would be
boring to do simple colours.
• What key points did you learn about Adobe Photoshop and InDesign in constructing your
artefacts?
I’ve previously used Adobe Photoshop and so it was easily manageable. InDesign however
was practically similar to Photoshop although it was harder to make images smaller although
I later did get the hang of this even though it did take a while.
5. Reflections & Feedback
• What would you do differently next time?
Next time I think I will try to not make my front page as cluttered as it is because personally I
think it has too many things on the front cover. I would also add a few more images to my
contents page.
• What kind of feedback did you get that might influence you?
Most people liked the magazine cover and contents page, however most of them said that
the cover had too much writing on it and looked cluttered. They also said that my masthead
should be bolder since it practically blends in with the writing surrounding it and that it
should be in a different font.
• What aspects of your understanding of Adobe Photoshop & InDesign do you need to
improve?
I just need to get the hang of editing pictures a bit more so that they look a bit more
professional. I think I also need to work with colours, and finding out how to make any
colours I use work together well.
6. The music genre of my music magazine is:
• Rock – Alternative, Punk, Emo, Metal, Pop
(all subgenres)
• I have considered calling my magazine
‘AMPLIFIED’ because it means ‘increase the
volume’ and so relates to the magazine genre.
• I have also considered calling my magazine
‘HeadBanger’ since it’s the motion that people
usually affiliate to rock music.
7. So I researched this genre of music publication
and studied:
• Model 1 • Model 2
8. What I learned from this was…..
• Cover Design • Cover Lines
The cover lines are all based on the
There are usually two contrasting
magazines genre.
colours and all other colours are
They aren’t just the usual cover lines
related to the main image. The title is
since they don’t just plainly say
usually a bolder and different font to
something like ‘rock music’.
the main writing therefore making it
eye catching. The Kerrang magazine has limited
cover lines and boldly presents the
The Kerrang magazine has a medium
main cover story.
close up shot (portrait) of the main
act (Hayley Williams) The Rolling Stones magazine has lots
of cover lines and you can just about
The Rolling Stones magazine has a
see the main cover story.
long shot of the main act (Avril
Lavigne)
9. For my music magazine….
• Target Audience: For anyone who enjoys rock music, but mainly for 16 and over since they
probably have a further understanding of rock music.
• Frequency: Monthly since it’ll have a full month’s worth of information
• Cover price: £3.50
• Publisher: Bauer Media since it publishes other music magazines.
• Unique Selling Point: A rock magazine that focuses on all aspects of rock.
Urban Jungle
Truskey
Hard Rock The current chosen font: ‘Pulse Sans Virgin’.
Pulse Sans
Virgin
Decibel Dingbats
Dimitri
10. This is the face of the magazine
• Front cover • This is how it works
At the moment its rather simple. The
title is big although I think it should
be bigger. There are only two sub-
genres and I think there should be
more since it makes the magazine
look rather plain.
The main article is bold and stands
out from anything around it.
11. Here are the original photographs I
shot for the project……
12. I modified each photograph; here is
the original next to the final version:
• Raw 1 • Final 1
• Here is how I changed the photograph and why:
I cut out the background so that she can stand out rather
than having a McDonalds background. This made her
stand out so that she could be the main focus.
13. • Raw 2
And the second one:
• Final 2
• Here is how I changed the photograph and why:
cut out the background so that she can stand out and also
because the main background of the magazine wouldn’t work
with the background of the original picture.
14. Here are a couple of research models for
. my contents page…
Use of white, red, and black
Boldness of ‘content’
Contents layout
Style of text – simple and straightforward
15. This is my contents page
Bold colors showing that it’s
the contents page. Bold colours representing
boldness of rock music.
Highlighted editors note,
also attention grabbing. Simple white background
Included page numbers to content.
Main cover story
jumps out from
the others
16. How does the contents page link back to
the cover page?
The contents page has the same colouring as the cover,
its mainly based around red to add the effect of
boldness and white so that it’s eye catching and so that
the other cover stories, and images can be seen. The
main image will be related as the cover since it’ll be
changed, and edited to a better standard. The main
article is boldly presented and differs from other
content. I made sure all the cover lines were relevant.
17. Key points of contents page
• How have you made the reader want to read on?
The contents in the magazine seem interesting and they relate to the main cover. I don’t imagine
the articles to be long, and complicated, they’re just meaningful and transmit the message that
the magazine for a range of audience (16-20’s)
• What are the links between images and words?
Well it’s a rock magazine, so the images are rock based. The main person in the magazine is
ruffling her hair which gives it a rougher look.
The page numbers also link the images to the text (although there are only two images…)
• What determines the dominant stories?
The main story is bolder and the font is in a bigger size so that it stands out, and so that the
readers can understand that it’s the main piece of content.
• How have you gone about ordering the information on the page?
Not too long, I think that there is a certain order, like competitions shouldn’t be in the beginning
they should be nearly close to the end. The main article should either be at first or somewhere
round the middle.
I’ve made sure that the magazine is structured well so that it doesn’t look cluttered and give the
reader a sign that perhaps any information would be misleading too.
18. How does the contents page flag up your
double page spread?
My contents page flags up the double page spread
by stating that its an ‘exclusive’ in a bolder font
than the other pieces of content and in bright white
which contrasts from the image.
Also the fact that its followed by a big image of who
the article is about, and also since its a bigger image
than anything else surrounding it. It’s also the same
model from the front cover so that the audience
doesnt get confused as to what is and isnt the main
subject.
20. This is why I think that double spread
works
I think this double page spread works because it
has a bold image that catches the readers
attention, and also has smaller pictures of the
main artist in many different positions.
Also, the introduction to the article is bold and
highlights the artists name therefore stating who
the artist is. It’s a simple layout and its not
cluttered, and makes the audience want to read
the article since its been well layed out.
22. This is how my double page spread works
I think my double page spread works because it
has bold images that portray the artist. The
colors are bold and stick out. It’s well organised
and not at all cluttered. I think the introduction
is well written, and that the context of the
article is interesting. I also made sure to ‘sell the
product’ belonging to the artist and made sure it
was bold and easy to understand.
23. This is how all three components are linked
together….
The use of colours = red, yellow, aqua blue, and white (throughout the magazine).
The cover image, is in the contents page in a bigger size in comparison to the rest
and the word ‘exclusive’ represents that it’s the main part of the magazine.
Cover stories on the front cover were inputted onto the contents page so that they
would all link together and not be completely different from one another making
the magazine seem reliable and not cluttered.
24. This is my re-drafted cover page
I made sure that all the colors are related and that
there wasn’t a wide range of them (so mainly red,
yellow, white, and blue). The fonts seem simple but
bold and so nothing is out of sight. I’ve made sure that
there are more subheadings and that the context is
relating to the theme. The only issue of the magazine
is probably the image which needed further editing
(all-in-all it should have been a different image that
was closer related to the genre). I certified that the
main magazine conventional codes were in the cover,
like a barcode, issue number, price and website. I also
verified that the main cover story was bolder than the
surrounding ones by making the font bigger, and
different to everything else, and also that I made it a
color contrasting to any other colors on magazine.
(red).
The layout was simple, and all the cover stories are
aligned to the left and right so as not to take-over the
center image.
I corroborated a banner both on the top and bottom of
the magazine, one that is like an introduction to the
magazine ‘your essential guide to all rock!’ and one
that includes a bit of what’s involved in the magazine
(further portrayed with the use of the word ‘plus’.
25. This is my re-drafted contents page
All the colors used on the cover page were inputted
towards the contents page however since the cover
had a black background, I thought that perhaps
doing the opposite, which was yellow, would work
out. The colors used on the contents are completely
the colors on the cover, red, black, yellow, and blue –
I did this so that it can relate to one another.
It’s a very simple layout and everything is under a
different category (News, Features, Rader, Reviews,
Live, and Competitions). I got this idea from the NME
magazines that have things under a variety of
categories rather than all in one list. I verified that
the cover stories where all in order, and if there was
an image, it would have a number linking it to its
story (e.g. picture 8, links to the 8th story).
To find a way for people to buy the magazine I added
a bright red box that allows the reader to get the
magazine delivered to their door. I personally think
that the magazine should have had a different design
that would make it look more interesting and not
simple and slightly bare. I would also probably edit
the images so that they didn’t all have different
backgrounds and so that they would relate a bit
more to their story.
27. Key modifications to double spread from
feedback
There wasn’t much difference from the old and new double page
spread. All of it remained the same other than the coloring of
the highlighted phrases which went from bright green to a mire
aqua based color which related to both the magazine cover and
contents page.
All the colors used on both the contents page and the front cover
where adapted into the double page; which are red, white, black
and aqua. I thought that this was important because it can all be
referred as one piece rather than having it all in a wider variety
of colors that don’t work well together. I did this because it
would relate to the cover and would connect the two
components together.
28. Evaluation
• You can find my blog here:
http://raissa-media.blogspot.co.uk/
You can find my evaluation with responses to the 7 questions
here:
http://raissa-media.blogspot.co.uk/
