The document discusses the author's process for researching and planning the production of two magazines - a college magazine and a music magazine - for a coursework assignment. The author conducted extensive online and print research to analyze magazine styles, layouts, target audiences and more. Planning involved forming initial layouts, grouping ideas, and finding example poses. The author found the process time-consuming but insightful. They felt their skills and knowledge improved between the two magazines. Areas for improvement included better time management, blog organization, and learning Photoshop skills in advance. Overall the author was pleased with the magazines but felt they could have enhanced them with additional photo shoots and applying lessons learned.

2. My plan was to ensure that a substantial amount of research was completed so
that my magazines throughout could be completed to the highest standard
possible at that time. To research I used mainly the internet to save covers,
contents and double page spreads and then analysed them from my own media
knowledge. This is seen through numerous posts on my blog. I found research
very interesting in a way that I could see how certain pages come together and
how different magazines use different styles to attract different types of
people. However, it wasn’t just internet research that I carried out, I also
looked through many styles and types of magazines to try and get the real idea
of what to produce. For my college magazine I also looked at old school
newsletters to see what kind of thing was talked about and then I made this
information more adult and engaging to either include as sell lines on the cover
or features on the contents page. For the music magazine, I looked at many
different stylistic uses for the double page spread and see what questions and
answers worked best whereas for the front covers and contents I mainly looked
at layouts and key features that make main stories stand out. Research played a
huge part of my magazine production because it enabled me to put a foot in the
real world of the media industry and realise how much work goes into the
production and I also looked at how some magazines have progressed through
time, which is seen in a post in my blog, to get an idea of what size my page
should be etc. If I was to carry out my research again I would definitely try to
analyse the content or copy of more double page spreads so that I can see what
to include however, if I had done this it may have made the article less personal
and individual. I would also have tried to find more college magazines to analyse
during the production of mine as I based my college magazine on layouts of
formal magazines. I didn’t just do research on magazines formats I also did
research on target audience, genres, cinematography, layouts, fonts, colours,
programs, model poses etc. All of these are seen on my blog. However, if I did it
again I would have also looked more into the production of magazines and how
they form them on Photoshop, maybe by you-tubing step-to-step guides to help
me make the most of the tools available.

3. Planning, the same as research, plays and important role in my
magazine production. The first way I began to plan my
magazine was through forming some layouts that would be
appropriate. This is on my blog for both my college magazine
and music magazine however, my music magazine was in much
more depth because my knowledge had expanded. I began
planning the images through looking at cinematography and
deciding which ones I believe to look better on a magazine
page. Planning then extended to me grouping together my ideas
for both my photo shoot and the whole project. This wasn't
done in a much depth for the college magazine as it was pretty
clear what we had to do whereas for the music magazine I had
more chance to broaden my horizons. For my music magazine I
did a post grouping together all of my ideas, which really
inspired me to try and get this down to the best of my
potential. I took into account target audience when grouping
together my ideas and to me planning made me much more
productive on creating my magazine as well as acting as a clear
guideline throughout. Another way I planned on my music
magazine was by finding images of different poses through
research and then elaborating on them to show plans of how I
wanted to model to be positioned in photo shoots and why. If I
was to go back and do this again, instead of doing my planning
in essay form I would do it maybe through a mind mock or
through mock up drafts to show my visual ideas rather than just
a mass of writing. I would also take more time in the planning
stages because it wasn't until after that I realised just how
much they help and how important they really are. But overall I
think my planning was well constructed and organised in a way
that helped me.

4. As a whole, the college magazine and music magazine production was time
consuming yet a real eye opener and turned out to actually be quite dynamic
and interesting. I enjoyed the production because I really gave me an insight
into the magazine industry and just how much they have to do to produce a
magazine front cover let alone the whole thing! I think that the final
production of both pieces looked how I expected them to. My college
magazine looks much more amateur because I didn't know the wonders of
Photoshop at that point whereas when I made my music magazine I did. If I
was to go and do this task again I would work my time scale better during my
production. For example I would figure out how many posts I would need to
do, how many weeks I have and then produce a timeline for what I can do
when; this would really help me because I spent so much time making the
actual cover, contents and double page spread that I didn't have very good
time management when It come to blog production. I went into a lot more
depth when producing the music magazine as it interested me more and I
knew more about different software's and therefore, personally I prefer that
production. If I could do it again I would learn how to use Photoshop before
hand so that I can spend more time focusing on the production of the
magazine without having to research which tools do what. However, I am
pleased with my overall production of both magazines, my peer feedback and
especially the feedback from the design industry helped me with what I could
improve if I was to do it again as analysed on the evaluation posts. I believe
the production of my magazine was well displayed through the blog stages
and analysis for each magazine and this clearly set out what, why and how I
was doing what I was doing and therefore my planning is also easily visible
and accessible.

5. My personal participation in the coursework was very high, especially in the music
magazine because I managed to connect a lot more with the task. I put my all into
both magazine productions however, one of the main things I think I could have
done to enhance my magazines was to do more than one photo shoot. Especially on
my music magazine, I could have done a photo shoot, found what worked and
didn't work and then done another one to correct these problems. However, I
believe participation is more to do with what myself, the individual, put into the
magazines and if I’m honest although I did try extremely hard to get this right,
there were improvements I could have made in my time management and in my
blog organisation as these weren't quite up to the standard I wish they could have
been.
My main aim with my coursework participation was to make it look professional
and when I asked if my music magazine looked professional the to staff of Tin Fish
they replied with “The magazine is very professionally put together and you should
be very proud of what your achieved.” and “I think you have produced a high
standard of work... You can improve in typography through taking a look at
different publications and design materials to realise its importance”. I was really
pleased with this feedback as I had reached my aim and that therefore meant that
I had had a substantial amount of participation in my coursework.

6. I had discussed some of these earlier in the PowerPoint however I will encounter all of the
sections I believe I could have improved in or changed if I had another shot. My main section I
think I should have improved in is time management and as I discussed earlier I could make a
time plan to do this which I would have to strictly stick to. Also my blog organisation wasn't
as up to scratch as I wish it had been, and if I was to do it again I would ensure that
everything was grouped together to show a better chronological order. I did this to s certain
extent however I think it would have been better if one post followed on from the one
before. I would also break down certain posts, like the ideas for the music magazine post and
place the layouts and target audience in a different post altogether. I could have worked
better by spending time before the task started to get used to using Photoshop so that it
wouldn't be a burden when I first started using it during the task. I could have worked better
by making the most of the time in my lessons rather than spending too much time on research
and not enough on the actual blog posts; therefore, if I was to do it again I would change this
by not getting distracted or sidetracked. I could have also worked better by planning my
studio shoot better, I went into the studio with minimal idea of how to use the lights, the
backdrop and the even position the models and therefore, if I was to do it again I would
ensure that everything was prepared and there was no waiting around for me to try and get
thing sorted because the 2 and a half hour time slot I actually booked was only just long
enough for me to get my whole shoot done in for both the front cover and double page
spread. I would have also planned a few shoots for my contents page if I found the time.

7. A lot of these I discussed on the previous slide as things I would
change if I was to redo the task because they proved an issue this
time round. However, there were also a few more problems that I
did come across that I could have easily prevented. One of my main
set back was that when I was doing an analysis blog post of my
images I got nearly to the end and my internet cut off which meant
that word press could not auto save my work nor could I save it.
This was disheartening at the time however, I rewrote it and then
come up with the contingency plan of saving the blog post as I went
through as well as copy and pasting each paragraph onto a word
document once it was completed just in case this happened again. I
also had trouble with the college computers sometimes as they
would freeze and I would sometimes consequently lose my work or
progress and to overcome this I learnt to save it as I went along!
Problems I also encountered was my star backdrop that I took in to
use on the photo shoot wouldn't stay up or hold up on the walls
because it wouldn't stick and then I later realised that you could
see creases in the backdrop and therefore to overcome this
problem I simply took the backdrop away. I had a slight problem
with my blog for a while as it wouldn't upload images but for this
time I simply wrote out the text that I wanted and then put the
names of the picture on the blog so I could easily locate them when
it started working, which I did. Other than these minor problems
and the issues I faced on the previous slide, everything else run
quite smoothly compared to what I was expecting!

8. I got inspiration from different magazines, mainly the ones I evaluated on my
blog and this helped to create different pages of my magazine. For example,
I got my masthead position and style from Q magazine, because I believed it
worked well however, I didn't really like the colouring. The idea of putting a
sell line in a circle was from Florence’s Q magazine, and then I just
developed it to how I personally preferred it to look. Putting text in boxes
was from from Lana Del Ray NME and the ‘plus’ section of the magazine was
inspiration from most kerrang! Magazines. Of course most magazines have a
central image of a star and therefore I took this common knowledge and
ensured I have a striking central image. On the flipside, I decided I didn’t
like the layout of the NME contents page I analysed and therefore I decided
to challenge it and ensure that it didn’t look like that, through this I included
more images and better ordered text. I got the idea of the grid images form
Rocksound’s contents page on my blog and I believed that recreating it and
developing it would be very effective. Finally for my double page spread I go
the layout idea form Florence Welch’s DPs where the image was on the left
hand side and the text was columned on the right, you could say that
columns are apparent in most DPS’s. I wanted to develop this DPs so I
decided to use a different colour scheme, more striking headline and boxed
text which follows a theme. I really wanted to avoid doing a DPS similar to
the A Day To Remember one because I don’t like how the image travels onto
both pages and there is minimal text, I wanted to take a more formal
approach because this isn't often seen in magazines and I wanted to try and
make it work.

9. To me a social group is a group of individuals interacting together because of a particular
interest or common motives, and therefore, the social groups will differ for the two
magazines.
College magazine: This media product represents social groups through the fact that it is
targeted at the students who attend the college and therefore it portrays their interest in
and around the college. The magazine targets the students by offering things that students
would want such as an ipad and having feature articles that would attract students eyes such
as jobs available in the area, upcoming events, revision techniques etc. A college magazine
brings together a group of people through common interest. There was a main reach out to
students between the age of 17-22 which at the time I thought to be correct. However, I
could have included some articles that may appeal to the older students as well as this can
please an older social group. Social groups that were targeted can be portrayed through the
articles, for example the ‘filmmaker of the year’ article will target a social group that are
interested in filming and media whereas this may differ for other articles.
Music magazine: Now this targets a wider range of social groups, especially because my front
cover attracts both classical and rock music fans. However, as a whole, the main social
group this magazine would target is anybody that is interested in the music involved in the
magazine, for example if somebody likes the band ‘New Found Glory’, the sell line would
automatically appeal to them and most likely their friend group because they share social
interests. The music magazine can appeal to social groups who want to know more about the
bands they love and where they can see them. I incorporated a range on music especially on
the contents page and therefore It can target country social groups, classical social groups,
rock social groups, festival social groups and many many more! Present music lovers is the
main social group I targeted however certain articles such as ‘today 20 years ago’ can target
older social groups because they can relate to certain features.

10. A media institution are there to tell the public
about the magazine and the message it wants
to get across, they help with values of the
company and distributing the product so that
they become more widely established. In the
print industry Bauer Media is a well recognised
media institute that has helped with many
productions, it comprises 282 magazines
worldwide and also has well know TV and radio
stations. Bauer distributes magazines have
analysed such as kerrang and Q and therefore If
this magazine was real and going to be
published I think the best media institute to
contact would be Bauer Media because they
have a lot of experience and would be able to
get the world to know the magazine through
different advertising techniques. They would
attract different audiences and let the
magazine be known, they would get big
companies to do reviews on the magazine so
that it is a chain that eventually attracts a
large audience to establish profits and fans.

11. College magazine: the college magazine is definitely to be aimed at students which to me
would be at about the ago of 16-24 and therefore I tried to keep the articles light-hearted
and have something that the students can look forward to winning if they try. However at
the time I produced this magazine I didn't think about the older students that may be at
the college and if I was to do it again I would target more articles to them. On the other
hand, I think that the majority of the students at the college are within the 16-24 age
range and therefore a lot of the article and the front cover appeal to them and the range
of vocabulary used is appropriate as well as the colour scheme.
Music Magazine: At first I targeted my audience at the age of 13-25 however, after sending
my peer assessment questions to a local media and publishing company the two reviews I
got stated that the target audience I had was too broad and the front cover looked far too
old for 13 year olds and also there were a few more complex or formal words in the
double page spread. Therefore, I decided that someone at 25 probably will not have the
same taste as a 13 year old and consequently, a better age bracket would probably be 17-
24 because that way it is for the post teen audience and con contain music that would
target them. Also the festival line ups and tickets will target this sort of age groups as a
younger person would not be able to attend without an adult. As well as this I placed an
article on my contents page called ‘today 20 years ago’ which I planned to appeal to an
older audience that were maybe buying the magazine for their teenager however after
changing the target audience this may not be as important. I though that putting free
posters in the magazine would appeal to around 17/18 year olds that are at university or
home and would like to fill their room or student dorm with posters of their favourite
bands.

12. College magazine: I mainly attracted the audience through the sell lines of winning an ipad
mini and become filmmaker of the year as these immediately catch the eye. The text may be
there to address the reader and make them want to read on but the image is there to attract
the reader. I also wanted to attract the reader through the headline of ‘prospect’ because it is
formal yet engaging for a student. The contents page can address the reader through the
article which link to the images on the page which are there more to attract the reader. If I
could do this over again I would add more colour to the front cover to attract the reader more
and more articles to the contents page to better address the reader.
Music magazine: I addressed the wide music lover audience through the front cover by using
key band names and music diction and then I mainly attracted the 17-24 audience through the
use of mature colours, intriguing imagery and range or vocabulary. I then carried on this onto
the double page spread and used once again a dark colour theme that might not appeal to
people under the age of 17. The large headline attracts the reader and gives the page an
iconic feel. The contents page is a little more colourful so the colour on the page may attract
the reader alongside the images and then the formatted copy will address the reader so they
can see if they will enjoy the magazine. I also used shapes on all of the three pages to attract
the reader as it outlines the text and really grabs the readers attention. If I was to do this
again I would make the front page image more striking to attrcat the reader and use a wider
range of fonts to address the reader. I would make the text on both the contents page and
double page spread more readable and maybe less of it so that I don't lose the readers
attention after gaining it through the images and colour scheme as well as the teasers, buzz
words and sell lines used on all three of the pieces.

13. I used a range of technologies when constructing the two
magazines and the amount of technologies used increased as I
progressed through. I started by mainly using the Microsoft
software such as Microsoft word and mainly Microsoft
publisher. In fact I used these both for my college magazine
because I was unaware how to use Photoshop, they did the job
okay for just the college magazine but I would have no way
been able to complete my music magazine through using
Microsoft because there was a much higher demand on quality.
I used Photoshop, first of just to edit image and then when it
came to actually constructing my music magazine I used
Photoshop for everything because it enabled me to use specific
tool and editing software including layering and easy
movement to complete my magazine to my best standard.
I also used technology away from the computer, for example
to take my image I used a digital SLR camera to ensure that
the images were of high quality and up to professional
standard for a magazine. These enabled me to edit them
clearly and therefore contributed to the construction of the
magazine.
The only other software/technologies I used when constructing
my magazine was paint, I would paste my print screen images
onto paint and save them as a JPEG file so that I would talk
you through the stage on my blog.

14. My preliminary task, being the college magazine is very different compared to my final
piece, being the music magazine, it has altered in style, theme, professionalism, amount
of thought, preparation, eye to small detail and many more.
After doing my college magazine I was much more aware of the print industry and what
certain target audiences prefer and therefore I was able to produce a higher quality
music magazine. This was also because of the fact I was more able on Photoshop when it
came to making the music magazine and so I could use correct tools to make the layers
look more professional. With the preliminary task, I wasn’t able to use my imagination as
much because we was limited to college topics whereas I am passionate about music so I
could use background knowledge to from a better magazine. I believe that I have
progressed through the whole task as I discovered more about magazines, this came from
research and preparation as well as experimenting and feedback from others. Considering
that when I first stared the college magazine I had never done anything like this before,
never used Photoshop and never had to look at so much detail in one place it is good to
see that my music magazine turned out to be satisfactory in the way that it resembles an
everyday magazine layout and has professional elements as well as well thought out
photography that you wouldn’t see around everyday. And this was what I wanted to do, I
wanted to ensure that my magazine stood out from others but having a feature that
separates it from the rest.