Final front cover

Final contents page

Final double page spread

Media Evaluation

Media evaluation

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Magazine final front cover

This is the final cover page that I created and produced for my college magazine on Photoshop.

Magazine final contents page

This is the final contents page that I created and produced for my college magazine on Photoshop.

Kerrang magazine

In order to become familiar with adobe Photoshop, I recreated a front cover of a Kerrang magazine. In this task, I had to make it look as similar to the original copy as possible.

Planning the college magazine

In order to start my preliminary task, I was asked to conduct a number of potential titles for my desired college magazine. I wrote down a list of college magazine titles which I came up with. Below is a list of the magazine names I came up with.

- Priestley Press
- The Priestley Times
- Embrace-the-Pace
- Student Services
- Priestley101
- Priestley Post
- Knowledge!
- Get Quenched!

I also researched which conventions are commonly found on magazines in the industry. I did this, so when designing my own copy, I could use some of these conventions. I found out a myriad of things, including:

- Incentives
- Masthead
- Issue numbers
- Quotes
- Barcodes
- Cover stars
- Filler images
- Banners
- Strong colours
- Captions
- Pull Quote

After I decided a title for my college magazine and researched some conventions of magazines, I came up with ten articles that could possibly be featured in a college magazine. These would all appear on my college magazine's contents page. The list is as follows:

10 feature articles

-          About the college – pass rates, location, history

-          Map of the college

-          Senior tutor profiles – who’s in charge?

-          Term dates

-          Courses

-          Enrichment programmes

-          Social areas

-          Term dates

-          Student deals/discounts

-          Travel

Sketches of front cover and contents page

This is the design of my front cover for my college magazine. I included a number of conventions that I originally researched. For example, I added some incentives across the page. In the banner (another convention I originally researched) at the top, it is visable that I have included incentives. Also, in the poof (the star shape splatted the page), I have included another incentive as this would be eye catching and persaude the audience to purchase a copy of the magazine. I also inevitably accommodated a masthead, as this is compulsory in the industry, otherwise it would be difficult to establish what make the magazine is. In addition to these, a cover star is also present on the page, in the centre - a medium close up. This is due to the fact that it will look much more aestetically pleaseing with images as opposed to a plain white background. Filler images are also dotted across the page. Other conventions of a magazine I have included on the plan are quotes and a blue and purple colour scheme to keep with the bold colours that magazines carry.

This is the design for my contents page. I included quite a few images, to make the contents page look classy and to show what the college has to offer. I have also rounded the corners off the images to create a 'neater' and 'calmer' look. This will be achieved with the help of Photoshop. The discourse of the large box to the left will be a list of the ten features that I came up with prior to sketching my contents page. Page numbers will be available to guide the reader to their chosen destination. These page numbers may also be replicated on some of the images (e.g. Social Areas may have a picture of the Wicked Cafe). There are other conventions I have used such as headers etc.

Raw images for my college magazine

I took a number of photos during the duration of  creating my college magazine. Some of these images were not used in my magazine as I weren't 100% happy with the finished outcome. They can all be seen below:

I took a range of images to convey the large amount of places that you can go, and activities that can be done in Priestley College. I did this in order to create a broader view and to flaunt the facilities that Priestly College has to offer. In addition to this, the sharp and crisp images provoke a clean and moral atmosphere. The people in the images reflect a friendly vibe that runs throughout the college, and the activities they do, such as aquainting a fellow member at a picnic table, and reading a book together reinforce this.

Screen grab of Photoshop tools

This is an image of a screen grab of the Photoshop tools. I have annotated all of the tools I have used and said what they were used for.

Preliminary evaluation

     To begin creating a college magazine, I first had to plan. The first thing I decided to do was make a list of features that are included on a magazine front cover such as: Masthead, Incentives, Images, Barcodes etc. I did this to become familiar with the terminology and in doing so knew which features to include on my own design. I then moved on to writing down ideas for names of the college magazine. I came up with a number of ideas such as “The Priestley Times”, a pun of “The Times”, and “College101”, but in the end I chose to go with “The Priestley Press”. In addition, I then created a list of features to include in the magazine. After I decided of the name, I then created a sketch of my cover and contents of my intended design.

     In order to create my magazine, I needed to use technology. I used the software ‘adobe Photoshop’ to create this. I used a myriad of different tools in order to gain the look of the magazine I was going for. I also used a large number of effects and techniques to make the magazine seem like an item you would see on the shelf of a retailer. One significant tool I used to make this mainstream look possible was the use of the magic wand tool. This is used to get rid of any unwanted image, and in my case, I deleted the background on the medium close up image and in doing so, the cover star was the only part of the image present. Due to this, the background was a plain white one. However, there were still small parts on the cover star that still held small parts of the background present so to do this you have to either use the eraser or the polygonal lasso tool to get a closer look and get rid of the parts you don’t want. Although, the plain white background then gave the cover a ‘cold’ and ‘empty’ feel.  In order to avoid this, I used the blur tool to produce a more ‘fuller’ and ‘warmer’ look. In addition to this, it also created a professional look to the image.

     Moreover, I used layers to create the effect that other magazines hold. These layers helped to make designing the magazine easier. I used three smaller images as tasters as to what the magazine features inside. With these images, I also did a stroke on them, which means on the edges, a colour of your choice appears. This can be made into any size. This can also be done with text, to make it stand out more. Another technique I used via Photoshop’s tools was a spot healer brush to fit in with the ‘photoshopped’ look of models.

     If I were to produce another college magazine, I would take more time in cropping the image as it had quite a ‘sharp’ look. I would also aim to try and change the hue, saturation etc. of the image as it looked quite bland. Also, the colour scheme of blue and purple could be altered to either red or green to fit in with the mainstream look. Furthermore, I would make my contents page much more ‘full’ as it looks fairly spacious. However, I still feel that the colour scheme worked fairly well for the college, as it has a blue colour scheme in its corridors. I also feel my images looked highly professional and worked very well. My layering also worked. I think that I have developed a high amount within the software Photoshop and have come a long way with how I was with it prior to this task. I think I am fairly confident and knowledgeable with most of the tools, effects and techniques.

Initial ideas

Type of magazine / genre

• Pop
• Rock
• Indie
• Hip-Hop
• Punk
• R&B
• Techno
• Classical

All of these genres could work in the current music industry. Pop makes up a large amount of the official charts all over the world, and certainly has a huge market available. Rock and Indie magazine also have a large gap in the market due to the sheer interest in band such as Oasis and The Stone Roses. Also, a Classical magazine is a fresh new concept that hasn't been done before, and would appeal to many people such as the older generation. R&B and hip-hop is currently at it's peak in popularity with artists such as Rihanna and The Black Eyed Peas emerging hit after hit after hit.

Potential Target Audiences

• Young Children
• Teenagers
• Young Adults
• Elderly Citzens
• Males
• Females
• Various Stereotypes

I have decided that I am going to create a Pop/Rock magazine as this will appeal to the large majority of music fans across the globe, hence, making the most profit. Also, it will entertain both genders. I am going to aim the magazine at teenagers and young adults as this is a thriving market at current times.

Researching the market place

I have decided to conduct research into existing music magazines that are based on pop/rock and quite commercial. This is due to the fact that I want my intended magazine to revolve around these genres; there is high interest within the public and pop and rock artists always seem to make up about 90% of the charts. Some magazines that may be competition to my own creation will include: Billboard, NME, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone and to a lesser extent rocksound, amongst a number of others. The prices of the magazines all seem to be relevently equal. An issue of NME published on 5 November 2011 costs £2.40. Issue 153 of Rocksound is quite a lot higher at £3.99. Q magazine ranges its prices at around £3.90 at retailers in the UK. Depending on which publisher, the magazines are issued weekly, biweekly (once every fortnight) or monthly. However, all are frequently published. Billboard opts to publish it's magazine every week to its loyal and large fanbase. Q magazine publishes it's magazine at a larger interval, monthly. Q magazine tends to have each issue at a size of about 180 pages, but it can reach up to over 200 pages. Due to Billboard's much more frequent publication, it has about 53 pages per publication. The features of these magazine include upcoming and new artists, aswell as well established ones. Some may include competitions and prizes, aswell as free incentives. Billboard has the additional feature of the billboard's official albums and singles chart, among others.

Here are a list of websites to the magazines I have been researching.

http://www.nme.com/magazine
http://www.qthemusic.com/
http://www.billboard.com/
http://www.rollingstone.com/

Initial plans for my magazine

After considering the pros and cons, I have decided that the magazine which I intend to produce will have the potential target audience of teenagers and young adults (16-30). This is because magazines seem to be most popular amongst this age range, and in general, if they have a few pounds to spend, they will tend to dish it out on stuff like magazines. The genre which i hope to produce will be a Pop/Rock one. This is due to the fact that these genres are very popular amongst today's youth, hence this genre of magazine will appeal to a wider range of audience and in doing so, have the potential for a bigger market. The price of my magazine will be about £3.00 per issue, as this seems a reasonable and sensible price for a magazine of high quality. The frequancy of publication will be weekly, as I believe there will be enough topics and features to cover a weekly magazine. The average issue size will be just over 100 pages - this is slightly less than most popular magazines such as "Q" and "NME", however, these have less frequent publication. It will also help gain a competitive advantage over other business' magazines. The content will consist of weekly features of stories about pop and rock bands and artists, and also contain several incentives per issue. Also, there will be reviews on albums, singles and live shows.

Analysis of professional magazine covers, contents pages, and double page spreads

Questionnaire

I conducted audience research by producing a questionnaire. I constructed my questionnaire carefully, ensuring I asked a variety of questions which would help me to make decisions about my own design, content, price and frequency of publication. I asked a myriad of questions including how often people purchase a music magazine, what colour they think would be most suitable for a magazine etc. The blank questionnaire can be seen below.

Questionnaire results

After asking a series of questions to 28 people, I had to analyse my results in order to take them into account when producing my magazine. The concluded results and analyses can be seen below:

As you can see an equal amount of sexes were asked questioned. The even amount of boys and girls will make the results a more fair questionnaire and will also be representitive of both genders.

The second question I asked the audience was what their ages was. The biggest proportion of people was in the 16-20 category. This may influence the final results a lot and in doing so the questionnaire may reflect a more mainstream or current representation. The other half of the questionnaire consists of ages 21 and over with one person being under 15.

The largest genre of music that was present in my questionnaire was tied between pop and rock. Each genre managed to amass eleven votes each. Genres of music such as folk and gospel proven to be very unpopular with the reading audience due to getting one vote each. This may have been another story if I had interviewed an older audience, however. Other popular genres included: country, R&B, Dance and Rap.

When observing people's favourite colour scheme for a magazine, the chart proved to be slightly more even. Although, Light Green topped the chart slightly. Nobody opted to choose Pink, though, and Purple and Yellow were also unpopular. Red, Lilac, Blue and Green were common upon the audience.

I asked this question in order to help me decide how often I should publish my own music magazine. Most people voted for weekly with 8 people chosing the option; in contrast, yearly followed closely behind with 6 people. It is clear that the option "2-4 times a week" got no votes. Other popular categorys were "Never" and "Monthly" with 5 and 4 votes respectively.

As you can see, the price range of £1.50-£1.99 reached number one amongst people's decisions for how much they were willing to purchase a music magazine for with a staggering 25% of the total audience.  £3.00-£3.49 came in second with 21%. More expensive price ranges such as £3.50-£4.99 and £5 or over had only 4% each which will easily cross these prices off for my own magazine.

I asked this question in order to find out if people would be persuaded to buy a magazine if it contained incentives. As you can see, 64% (almost two thirds) of the people asked voted that incentives would persuade them into buying a magazine. Meanwhile, 36% caimed incentives would not entice them into purchasing a magazine. 

                                                                                     

This bar chart reflects the audience's views on which type of register they would prefer to read in a magazine - formal or informal. Informal gathered 22 votes whilst formal amassed only 6. This will help me determine the layout for my future magazine and i will opt to go for an informal layout.

From looking at this pie chart, it is clear that Equal Balance won the question by a staggering amount - over half. Mainly text didn't too too well, only filling up a small proportion of the chart. Most Images wedged comfortably in the middle with other a third choosing the option.

I asked two other questions including "Name 3 words you assocciated with Pop/Rock music" and "Who are your 3 favourite music artists?". This was to get a deeper understanding into how people view the music market today and to also get a feel as to what artists are popular with today's public so I knew what sort of artists I should include in my magazine.

Below are three videos of people who underwent my questionnaire. Click play to watch one of them.

Magazine cover analysis

     I am going to be carrying out an analysis on an “OK!” magazine, Issue 660, which was published on 10 February 2009. The magazine has been designed to include a small amount of information, but not to reveal too much. First of all, the banner along the top of the magazine includes an incentive; it exclaims “2 FREE MAGS INSIDE – OK! USA AND HOT STARS” This aims to motivate or persuade potential customers to purchase the magazine.

     The masthead is instantly notable in its capital, print letters, at the top-left of the page. OK! is plastered along the page and this masthead is also a logo for the famous magazine. The writing is in white to make it stand out from the bright red background and in doing this creates a strong contrast. This masthead/logo helps to distinguish between other celebrity news magazines such as “closer” and “heat”. The connotation of this red colour scheme could be that it is a colour that symbolises beauty and the celebrities on the cover represent a woman’s ideal appearance. Moreover, the red theme could also have a connotation of leadership as the women on the front cover set the latest trends and also aim to set the latest standards. Furthermore, a connotation of the red could be love, to reflect the reader’s passion for celebrity news and also the journalists love for writing columns.

     The cover stars of this weekly issue are A-list singers Cheryl Cole and Victoria Beckham. The use of the two celebrities on the front of the cover are almost certain to increase sales for the magazine due to the sheer interest in the pair of chart-topping sensations. The slogan “FIRST FOR CELEBRITY NEWS” suggests that the magazine’s content is purely based on celebrity gossip and all the latest news surrounding them. The barcode is placed at the footer of the front cover as this is more convenient for purchases.

     In bright pink, a box can be seen which can be inserting a shape – rectangle tool. On this box, a quote can be seen, which is also known as a buzz word, “…WORLD EXCLUSIVE” this has a denotation of this interview between Cheryl and Victoria being the first interview in the world between them.

     A lot of techniques are used on the cover of the OK! magazine that could easily be achieved by using Photoshop. One example of this is how the left of Cheryl’s head is slightly in front of the right side of the masthead. This could be attained by creating layers on the software. This is done by moving the masthead’s layer behind the image of Cheryl and Victoria by going to “Layers” in the bottom-right of the screen, and then dragging the selected layer underneath another.

     Also, another technique which is possible to accomplish via Photoshop is the fine line around the smaller images in each bottom corner of the page. These images of Holly Willoughby and Geri Halliwell are preview images of what the magazine contains. The small border around the images can be done by rasterizing the layer which the photo is present on, and entering a stroke. Any colour and size can be created, in this case, medium sized white lines to tie in with the colour scheme. Then, you can choose whether you want the stroke to go on the inside, or outside. In this case it is done on the inside due to the sharp points in the corners, whereas when the stroke is on the outside, the corners are curved.

     Furthermore, yet another technique that can be reached with the aid of Photoshop is cutting out someone or something from their original background image and placing them on a completely new image. This can be seen with Holly Willoughby’s image at the bottom-left of the screen. It is visible that her body has been cut out and placed on a completely new background. This can be pulled off by using the “magic wand tool” to delete the background. Other ways of doing this are using the polygonal lasso tool. Then, the rest of the image is placed on the new required background.

Review of three double page spreads

I had to undergo the task of reviewing three different double page spread from music magazines of my choice. The images of the double page spreads and reviews can be seen below.

Florence and the Machine

     This double page spread was extracted from NME magazine. It features the international recording artist, Florence, from the popular British group Florence and the Machine. Florence can be seen as the feature image. The simplistic white background contrasts massively to Florence’s bright red hair, black leather dress, black shoes, and the red and white cloth that she sits on. The white background holds the purpose to draw attention to the feature image, i.e. Florence. The medium close up image is situated on the left of the page, whilst the main body text sits neatly on the right. This neat and tidy layout results in the reading audience to instantly acknowledge what the article is about and avoid any confusion. The font selection in the main body text is a small, simplistic font that is easy to read.

     The first paragraph kicks off with a classy drop cap to liven up the text and make it look more interesting. Also, there are a few ‘gutters’ within the text to clearly segment it, and in doing so, make the main body text more digestible for the reading audience. The title of the double page spread clearly states “USA got the love”, this header is a pun on one of the singer’s most famous hits “You’ve Got the Love” – due to the songs popularity the audience will become familiar with some of the artist’s work. Also, “got the love” is in italics which make the page look elegant and adds to the classy feel. The kicker which lies just underneath the header is a small taster as to what the text is about and also aims to provoke the audience to carry on and read the main body text.

     The brand page and number is located at the bottom-right of the article. This would run throughout the magazine and make it much more efficient for the reader to quickly search for their desired page. Also, the fact it is out of the way and small has the outcome of a professional and tidy feel. A connotation of the text could be that the red and white sheet that the middle aged woman is sat on could signify the colours of the United States of America flag. Also, the provocative pose may also suggest that a connotation of the article is that it is more or less for male readers; the fact that the double page spread is extracted from an NME magazine reinforces this.

     Furthermore, Florence is sitting on top of the object that is covered in the cloth; this could be a connotation as it may signify how Florence has gone from the bottom of the music industry to the top, and is now successful across the pond as well as nationally – a difficult feat for any European artist to achieve. This magazine spread could have been created via adobe Photoshop with ease. Florence’s face has undoubtedly been edited and tweaked to make her face and body look ‘flawless’. This is a common thing with all magazine photos today. This could have been achieved by using the healing brush tool which allows the user to correct imperfections and causes them to disappear, for example, wrinkles. The spot healing brush tool also does this, but serves the function of making spots invisible. 

The Teenagers

     This double page spread has also been taken from the popular music magazine NME, but takes on a completely different roll. The classy and elegant look of Florence’s article has been completely abolished and this one takes on a more cluttered look, resulting in a more informal atmosphere. The featured article promotes the all-American rock band, The Teenagers. The feature image takes up a vast amount of the page – almost a half. The image contains three young men relaxing on a bed whilst gazing into the camera with a myriad of images behind them, mainly consisting of half naked women.

     The colour scheme of the article is blue, and could connote the calm and collected look of the band members. One of the most prominent features of the article is the side bar, which compromises of three different bands which relate to the article in some way. This takes up a lot of room and results in only about a quarter of the page accommodating the main body text. The rather small amount of text would be an advantage for ‘lazy’ readers who don’t have much time to read a large article; this could signify the ‘lazy’ look of the band members on the feature image.

     The text is bold and the header and titles are all in capital letters – this helps the magazine to tie in with fellow competitors, and gives the articles a more commercial and mainstream vibe. A filler image can be seen just underneath the header and caption which was most probably added to make the page look like it had ‘more going on’ and avoiding having any empty space. The filler image also has a caption present, which includes a small bit of information to entice the audience as to what the article’s content holds.

     A connotation could be that the lexis used in the kicker “Young, dumb and full of… filthy tunes”, suggests that the article is targeted at the male market, and the sexually provocative images of females adjacent to the back also reinforces this statement. Again, this double page spread could be produced with the help of Photoshop. There is an obvious use of layering throughout the article. For example, the feature image is placed behind everything else, whilst the puff that states “NME LOVES” and the fact box are allocated in front. This is done by viewing the ‘layers’ table at the bottom-right of Photoshop, and then clicking the desired layer and moving it to the destination which you require.

     In addition to this, the filler image has a white stroke present, and is also shadowed to the bottom-right to create a 3d effect. By right clicking on this image, and then advancing on to “Blending options…”, click the “stroke” table that is visible underneath the header “styles”. Then one must click the desired size, position and colour. In this case, the colour chosen is white, with the position sitting on the inside (this is known due to its sharp edges as opposed to curved), and a small to medium size – somewhere at about 25%. 

The Black Eyed Peas

     This double page spread features one of the globe’s biggest R&B/pop groups, The Black Eyed Peas. It features the members occupying about three quarters of the double page spread, with the main body text sitting firmly to the right. The header and kicker are layered in front of feature image. It has a colour scheme of black, white and gold, of which the gold becomes instantly notable. This could signify the bands rich and famous lifestyle, and the colour gold could also have the connotation of the band’s wealth, good health, success and personal power.

     Another connotation of this double page spread could be that will.I.am is more important than the other members. This is because he is standing in front of the other members, whilst the other members stand behind him, slightly faded. He has the most successful solo career, after collaborating with many successful, multi-platinum artists such as Cheryl Cole, Britney Spears, Usher and The Pussycat Dolls. 

     The header and pull quote have a very ‘futuristic’ feel due to the gold and the chrome colours. These colours contrast massively with the plain white text box that caresses it. Also, the pull quote has a highly robotic appearance and further reflects the futuristic look. The plain white background gives the page a simplistic and quite ‘empty’ feel, which further adds to the futuristic look on things. However, the plain white background could also be a denotation; the colour white symbolises purity and the Black Eyed Peas’ material is always written and produced by their selves (in particular will.i.am, who is at the front of the feature image) and hence, is ‘pure’ as everything the group sing is true to themselves.

     This double page spread could be achieved on Photoshop. The way the members have been cut out from their original background image and placed onto the plain white background can be pursued in a number of ways. One of these ways is by using the magic wand tool; select the unwanted background image and simply press delete. This will delete all of the unwanted background. Also, the lasso tool can be used – however, this would require a very steady hand. For Photoshop users who aren’t as advanced in this area, the polygonal lasso tool will offer a much easier and tidier option; this is much better for getting into all the nooks and crannies that the magic wand tool and the regular lasso tool may not be able to reach. In addition to this, you may also use the eraser to abolish any unneeded image. 

     Also, another technique that is possible with the help of Photoshop is the opacity. It is clear opacity has been used on the members (apart from will.I.am), as they have all been faded into the background. This means that the opacity has been reduced.

Designs of front cover, contents page and double page spread

This is the design of my front cover for my music magazine. I included incentives at the banner at the top as they will stick out here and persuade people to purchase a copy. Also, a large banner is located in the centre of the page with another incentive as people will locate it easily. Also, the cover stars will be a band of three people - medium close up. A filler image will also be placed at the bottom-left to make use of space on the page.  The masthead will be can be found at the top of the page - quite large - as this will make the magazine instantly notable. A bardcode is at the right of the page, as it would not be possible to purchase a magazine without it. Also, the lead article will be at the centre, with a kicker accompanying it.

This is the design for my contents page for my music magazine. The main image is placed at the right of the page. An editors note is located at the top-right of the page, and also has another image present of an editor. A header is at the top of the page that cleary says "contents". Then news, features and reviews are the topics that fill up the pages, and are all listed in a chronological order to the left. An arrow isplaced at the bottom right with text that says there is an incentive on a particular page.

This is the design for my double page spread for my music magazine. A pull quote and header is placed at the top right of the page, as this will help the people scanning through the magazine to find a story they would like to read. Page numbers are placed at the bottom corners of the pages, to further help guide a reader to their chosen destination. Filler images are placed next to each other, with captions layered over them. The main image will be a large one of the 3 band members, with another caption over it. The main body text will fill 3 columns, and will begin with a drop down capital letter. Gutters will also divide the text to make it more mind digestable for the reader. A web address will be located at the top left. The background will have a custom brush tool.

Music magazine - original images

With all of my original images, I cropped the background out via the magic wand tool, or polygonal lasso tool. This was due to the fact that the blue screen in the background was not the colour scheme I was going for. Also, I had to blur the edges of the people once I cropped the background to create a aesthetically pleasing look, and also to increase a more realistic look. This was achieved by using the blur tool on adobe Photoshop. 

To the left is my original image of a girl, took in front of the blue screen. I increased the brightness slghtly to contrast with the new, dark wall background. I also increased the colour balance on both red and green. This was to bring out the red in her hair, and to bring out the green in her parka coat. It is also evident that I have slightly raised the hugh and saturation levels, but only slightly.

With this boy, I also cropped the background out, and placed him on a new one with grass in the background. I didn't change much on this image, as the colour was exactly what I was going for. However, I did create a drop shadow in order to create a 3d effect. I repeated this process with the two former images of the images below.