1) The document summarizes the design choices and conventions used in creating a magazine called "Vinyl". 2) It targets teenage girls aged 16-23 with an interest in indie music and fashion through the use of feminine photography, fonts, and color schemes. 3) The author has developed new skills in Photoshop through the process of designing the magazine, creating a more polished and professional final product.

1. Evaluatingv i n y l

2. My magazine, vinyl, incorporates generic conventions, as I have used a three colour scheme throughout, using the conventional black and white and, instead of the most common third convention being red, I have used purple. I have also used a minimal three font scheme on the cover, but broken this convention on the contents page and double page spread using five varying fonts. This is to break the page and the text up, and the main reason I used so many on the double page spread was to create an interesting masthead for the article’s title. The unusual frames used (e.g. Polaroid's, old style photo) indicate an interest in old photography, which can be connoted to the magazine being associated with retro interests. I have broken the common convention used in most magazines from how I have listed what the magazine features rather than using the common coverline conventions which use ‘puff’ to entice the reader and arouse curiosity, my ‘featuring..’ list does this using pragmatics so the audience has to know the featured bands.

3. Vinyl represents teenage girls, as from the front cover you can connote that it is feminine, this is by the photography, as rather than making obvious connotations to music using props, it uses fashion to attract females, I used a pose similar to one Rankin took of Lily Allen for Elle magazine, it makes the photo appear more dominant and stand out, this is to catch their attention. The handwritten type font is also feminine as stereotypically connoted from swirly writing are girls, most likely young, as it is secretive and personal making connotations to a diary. The purple in the colour scheme is also stereotypically ‘girly’, I felt it was more classy than using a stereotypical pink. I do not feel that my magazine is represented stereotypically, but it is more women dominant. It represents an indie style as it features bands of the indie genre, fashion from celebrities with an indie style (e.g. Daisy Lowe) , who has a similar style to ‘Cherie Cheris’ in her photos.

4. Vinyl could be produced by a major magazine producer such as Condé Nast Publications who have published magazines such as vogue, GQ, vanity fair, house and garden and many more. This is because it has not published a music magazine as of yet, or anything aimed mainly at teens (except for teen vogue). I think my magazine looks sophisticated enough as it has a professional looking masthead similar to those seen on vogue and harpers bazaar. The only problem I think my magazine would have is the bands featured as they are mainly British, however vogue has a different magazine for 18 countries. The photograph also fits the style of magazines published by the company as it is of the model on a plain background which is similar to the photography used in vogue.

5. The target audience for Vinyl is teenage girls from 16 to around 23, most likely to be students. I have kept the audience profile I created earlier in the project in mind though out creating vinyl. The fonts I have chosen appeal to women as the handwritten type font (arsenale white) and the masthead’s font (editorial) are appealing in different ways, arsenale white and the handwritten type font on the contents are very delicate and pretty which stereotypically interest females so will appeal to them. The tall thin font on the masthead looks sophisticated which is also appealing to girls getting more mature, transforming into sophisticated women. The cartoon ‘T’ on the double page spread (DPS) is playful and fun to appeal to a younger audience. The colour purple in the scheme is also stereotypically ‘girly’ so therefore it is appealing. The slogan “shh..” is playful yet innocent which may also draw in the girls attention as it is not taking itself too seriously, looking fun and up beat. It is similar to POP magazine which has a fairly similar style of cover, POP appeals to females with an interest in fashion varying from teens to early 30’s. The photography used appeals to the indie genre and the clothing & props (acoustic guitar) used, all make connotations to indie style music. The bands mentioned on the contents & coverlines are all defined as part of the indie genre.

6. Throughout making Vinyl I have developed my Photoshop skills and general IT skills. I have downloaded brushes and fonts and learnt how to extract them onto Photoshop. I have become a lot more confident in using Photoshop as from my earlier mock ups my cutting skills were extremely poor but since then I have learnt to feather the edge of what I cut creating a professional finish. I have learnt also how to replace colours, (e.g. The once red lipstick is now purple) at first this looked very amateur but I have since learn how to make it look smooth and more professional. I have also become a lot more confident at using layers within Photoshop, I found that adjusting the colours (e.g. Brightness & contrast, hue etc.) very useful in making the photographs looks professional and of a better quality. The tool I found most useful was the magnetic lasso as I used it to edit almost every photograph.

7. Looking back at the preliminary task I have discovered that from my research and planning I can have a much broader idea of how I want my magazine to look as I can look at others to influence me. It has also allowed me to create mock ups and test ideas and also develop my Photoshop skills in a more sophisticated and professional way, as before when I cut parts out it looked rough and very amateur, whereas now it is smooth and polished. Another weakness I had when doing the preliminary was that I was not brave so kept the skills very basic only cutting geometric shapes, whereas now I can cut figures successfully. The font was all the same which I now realise was not a successful image, and now I have learnt to download fonts it looks far more successful and professional., so I now feel very confident with Photoshop. Overall I think my magazine is very successful and I am very pleased with the outcome, as when I started the coursework I doubted my editing abilities, but have since proved myself wrong, so I am extremely happy with the final piece, I feel my hard work has paid off.