Ella Gardner created two magazines for her media studies project - a college magazine and a music magazine. She spent most of her time learning how to use QuarkXpress to design the music magazine but wishes she had taken her photos and done more research earlier. Her music magazine cover was influenced by many magazines and received positive feedback, though some said the text was hard to read against images. In the future, she plans to manage her time better and put more effort into her blog and scrapbook to better document her progress.

1. EVALUATIONElla GardnerAS Media Studies

2. The BriefIn this project we were asked to create 2 magazines.The first magazine was a College magazine. For this magazine we had to create a front cover as well as a contents page. The front cover had to consist of an image taken by you, a masthead and some suitable laid out text.The second magazine was a music magazine. For this magazine we had to create a front cover, a contents page and a double page spread. The double page spread had to link to the key image on the front cover of the magazine. In this magazine you had to use a minimum of 4 images taken by yourself. Throughout the process of creating the magazines you had to show your process through a scrap book as well as a blog.

3. How did you use your time?When planning out my project I gave myself 4 weeks to create my music magazine and 6 weeks to create my music magazine. This plan did work out as after 4 weeks I had finished my college magazine. I spent most of my time working on QuarkXpress creating my music magazine. This was quite time consuming as I was always changing and experimenting with different pictures and texts for my magazine. I also spent time learning how to use Quark. I spent quite a bit of time taking my pictures, editing them and choosing the pictures I wanted to use. For both magazines I left the pictures quite late on in the time period I had. I think next time I would get these done first so I can create my magazine. I spent the least time working on my sketch book. If I was to re-do this project I would record more and throughout the project instead putting things in at the end.

4. Research I did alot of research online looking at front covers of different types of magazines. I also bought my own copies of magazines for ideas and inspirations for my own magazine. These magazines also gave me ideas for a contents page as well as my double page spread. I used the OCR website to look at other students work for inspiration as well as ideas that worked well, also to know what to avoid doing. I also looked at photo shoots of bands for ideas on how to structure and position my band professionally.

5. Bob GruenDuring my research I looked at a rock and roll photographer called Bob Gruen. I liked his work as he captured great images and made his images look so effortless. If I had more time I would have liked to create my magazine on a real live band with imagery influenced by him.

6. The Audience College Magazine: This magazine would be aimed at college students. Both boys and girls could read this magazine, however when I did a survey on who would read the college magazine only 28% of boys said yes.Music Magazine: This magazine would be aimed at young people aged from 16-30. Both male and female would read this magazine. The music genre of the magazine is based mainly on indie, rock and pop music. However other types of music such as techno and r&b are also featured in the magazine. When I did a survey to find out the most popular genre in my class 76% said indie, therefore I created an indie band for my music magazine as this would attract a larger audience.

7. QuarkXpressI used a program called QuarkXpress for making my music magazine. I had never used this program before, therefore it took me a little time to get to know the program and how to use it properly. I also downloaded a free 60 day trial at home so I could carry on working at home. I didn’t have many problems using it, however my version at home was a newer version, therefore I couldn’t open it at college on the normal computers so had to use the Macs which I had also never used before. I also had a problem transferring my work from the Macs to my memory stick as the Mac would only allow my memory stick to view documents and not share them. Overall I think Quark is a simple but effective program to work with and would use it again.

8. PublisherI used a program called Microsoft Publisher when making my college magazine. I have been using this program for many years so I was very familiar with it and how to use it. Publisher is an easy program to use and for what I was creating it worked well. Although I didn’t have any problems with this program I wouldn’t use it to create a professional magazine cover as it is very basic and limits what you can and can’t do. For example the text styles are very basic which doesn’t allow a professional look on the magazine.

9. PicnikPicnik is a photo editing site online. I used this program to create some text for my magazine as they provide many different styles of text that the other programs didn’t. I have been using Picnik for a few years, therefore I knew how to use it and didn’t have any problems. I used text from picnik for my masthead on my music magazine, as well as the strapline.

10. PhotoshopI used a program called photoshop Cs5 to edit my pictures for both magazines. I also used the program to take away the background from the text I created in picnik. I had used photoshop before, however not much so I wasn’t very familiar with how to use it. I used YouTube videos to help me as well as using help from my peers. I wanted to take away the background of the image for my double page spread (music magazine) however, I had trouble doing this as you could still see the background after painting it white. Therefore I left the background as it was and used white text box’s so you could still read the text. Overall I find photoshop quite hard to understand as there is so much to it. I would like to learn how to use more on photoshop, therefore if I was to do this project again I could make the images more professional.

11. Influences My contents page for my music magazine was influenced by NME. I loved the layout of this contents page as it was very simple but effective. I liked the use of different styles of text used and the layout of the images. I used sugar magazine and LAD mag for text ideas on my double page spread. My front cover for my music magazine was influenced by all different magazines I researched or bought.

12. Peer FeedbackI used peers to give me feedback on my music magazine, this helped me with what I needed to improve and what looked good as it was. Amy: I like the fact you have used colour in your magazine. The text for your masthead is professional and stands out on the image. However, I think some of the text gets lost in the picture. Luke: Your double page spread is good, however I think it would have looked better if you didn’t use as much text.Katie: Your music magazine is much better than the college magazine, this is good as it shows improvement.James: I think the contents page is the best as it looks the most professional. I think maybe text would have stood out more if you used a black and white style, however I like the colour.

13. Peer Feedback

14. College MagazineI chose red text against a black and white image as I thought it would stand out more than black or white text. The image I used was taken with my own SLR camera. I used a group of friends from college ad my cover image. Making my college magazine was easy and didn’t take me long. I didn’t enjoy making the college magazine as it had to be simple, therefore I couldn’t experiment with fancy fonts or make it look professional. I took my images on the last week of my 4 week period and also made the magazine that week. Next time I will be more organized and create the magazine at the beginning.

15. Music Magazine I chose to use colour for this magazine as that is what you find mostly in the shops, the colours also allow the magazine to stand out. I enjoyed making this magazine as there was more to play around with. My favourite part was the band shoot I did down by the docks. I did find it quite stressful getting everything accurate and making the text eligible to read against the images, however the whole process of creating the magazine and learning how to use new programs was good. Although I am pleased with the outcome of my magazine, I feel I wasted alot of time and could have had the magazine done a few weeks into the project instead of the last week.

16. My BlogI used www.blogger.com for my blog. I liked this website as it was easy to use and you could change the style of your blog to make it look more attractive. I am pleased with my blog as I had been doing it for quite a few months which shows my progress throughout. However, I do feel I could have put alot more into my blog. For example: For each lesson I had I should have commented on what we did and what I learnt.

17. My Scrapbook I am disappointed with my scrap book as I feel I could have put alot more in there. I spent the least time on my scrapbook, however think alot more time should have gone into it. This could have shown my progression throughout the project and what I had been learning. Although I feel the work I have put in there is not bad, I think if I had spent more time on it there would be much more detail.

18. Technology I usedLaptopSLR cameraMemory stick

19. What I liked/hatedOverall in this project the thing I liked most was taking the images for the magazines. I liked this because it was practical and I got to play around with the camera and do some editing. I liked photographing the band shoot because it felt and looked quite professional. I liked designing the magazine and creating my own layout. I also liked learning how to use QuarkXpress and being able to use it efficiently. The thing I hated most in this project was knowing where to start and what image to choose or what font to use. I also hated when something wouldn’t go how you wanted it, especially in Quark when you couldn’t make a picture the size you wanted it because it wasn’t the correct scale. Another thing I hated was making the scrap book, I always felt stuck on what to write or what to put in it.

20. ConclusionIn conclusion to my whole project I think I could have done much better if I used my time efficiently as I feel I wasted alot of time looking at magazine layouts even though I new what I wanted to do. I also feel I should have spent much more time working on my scrapbook and my blog. If I was to re-do the whole project I would make sure I didn’t leave everything till the last minuet. I would make sure my images were done within the first couple of weeks so I could start to create my magazine. I would then give myself a week at the end to evaluate my project and properly go through it to make sure everything is accurate and finished.However, I am pleased with the final result of my music magazine and am happy I understood Quark so I didn’t have to spend alot of my time figuring out how to use it. I also pleased with the progression from my college magazine to my music magazine.