Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have increasingly developed my skills on Photoshop when creating my product. I have developed mostly through the Photoshop Practices before I created my Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread.

I have also developed my skills on the Apple Macs, because I had never used an Apple computer before I had started the course and began to create my product . Just like the Photoshop and the Apple Macs, I have developed my skills on Prezi, because just like the Apple Macs, I had never used Prezi before this course. I have developed my skills by using Prezi to answer certain thigs on my blog to the evalutaion questions.

I chose these technologies, because I knew I could apply them to any of my work on this course, especially for my blog work.

Photoshop and Blogger have been the most important factors and tools to my blog, because I used Photoshop to create my product and the previous practices I  had made and Blogger has helped me present my work as a finished product.

How did you attract/ address your audience?

The first thing I did to gain more of an understanding about my demographic was to create a reader profile. The reader profile I created showed me that my demographic are big on using their mobile phones for going on the Internet throughout their day, watching videos on apps like YouTube and also using them to listen to music they've bought through the phone company's store.

When reading through the reader profile for my demographic I found out that my audience are also interested into listening to music and finding out about different bands and artists whether they're a new musician or if they've been working in the music industry for a while and have a large fanbase. This is the biggest convention change I wanted to make to my magazine, because I didn't want to create a magazine that didn't take much interest in the music aspect. I wanted to make a magazine that was for the people in the younger generation that cared about the music or for the people that want to someday get into the music industry.

My demographic is also interested in watching films in their spare time, they like watching films in both the cinema and at home on DVD. This also helps with attracting my audience,because I can hold film premier competitions for my audience and carry out interviews with their favourite film stars.

I have used bands and artists that most of my demographic listen to, for example One Direction, The Vamps, 5 Seconds of Summer and Union J. I have chose to add these to my magazine, because this is one of the main reasons why they would read the magazine in the first place. I have also used Fashion and Make up elements to entice my audience, because there has been an increase in interest of hair, make up and fashion because of Beauty Guru's on YouTube like Zoella and Tanya Burr.

I have made these choices to entice my audience further by using the things that surround my demographic on an everyday basis on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. The things I chose to put in my magazine were the things I found most useful when I came to finding out research of each magazine that would further influence my own product.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In what way does your media product use, develop or change forms and conventions of real media products?

The media product I chose to create was a music magazine, that is specifically for the Pop genre. I chose this for my media product, because a magazine has the most conventions and a clearer division of genres than any other form of media like Television and Radio. 

My magazine uses most of the general conventions of a real media product, mainly the layout of the magazine and the colours used within the product. I have used a clear layout for my media product, which would be seen on an already existing magazine for this specific genre.

When designing my product I didn't want my cover lines to detract from the main cover image and vice versa. So I placed them around the main image, positioning the cover lines almost like a frame for the main image, just like you would see on a real media product.This then keeps the central image as the main focal point of the Front Cover which I need, because the model is going to be the main article of the magazine. Within the cover lines I have also used jargon, which would entice my audience, because they will understand the anchorage straight away, in contrast to other consumers who would brush it off instantly due to them not understanding it.

The colour scheme of my magazine is something else I have kept to a generic convention of a pop genre magazine. I have decided to keep my magazine to colours that will catch the attention of my demographic straight away when its on a shelf. I have also decided to keep to colours that will contrast and juxtapose each other but not look too harsh so that it deters my demographic away.

I have kept the masthead bold but simple in contrast to the rest of my front cover. However, I had matched the masthead of my magazine to the main article cover line 'Arianne Brown Exclusive Interview' so that it is noticeable that its the main story of that weeks issue. I decided to keep that cover line as it is, because I like how it can attract attention, due to it being so bold but without being so out there and loud. 

I have kept the image as a mid shot that has a neutral camera angle, meaning that the model is eye level with the reader. I have done this to give the magazine a more personal feel between the magazine itself and its readers. It makes the demographic feel like the magazine is cutting corners and is directly speaking to them, especially the artist that is on the cover. This is also shown through the Double Page Spread article of the magazine.

For my Double Page Spread article, I decided to create an interview for a music artist. This again links to the idea of the artist cutting corners and directly speaking to their intended demographic, especially those who listen to their music and understand their very own jargon, like if the artist mentions a song they have on a previous album. I also decided to create an interview, because personally I think it flows better in a magazine, especially if the person being interviewed has just brought out a new addition to their body of work. Also, my demographic tend to read more interview articles because they are generally shorter than normal articles that take forever to read, which will deter my demographic's attention if it involves too much reading. Alongside this thought,  I decided to use the three column rule in the actual article section, so that it nicely breaks down the article with the help of the pull quote in the centre, but keeps it looking clean and sophisticated. 

Similar to the Front Cover, I decided to use a Mid Long Shot of the main image of the article on the left hand page. This was to show that I know how to vary my shots within my magazine, which would be using the forms of real media products that I have seen in the past when researching into magazines.

I started to develop and change the forms of real media products when I decided that I was going to use the same colour throughout my Double Page Spread. I decided to do this, because normally Double Page Spread articles have at least two main colours that correlate with the rest of the magazine running through it, but I wanted to change that slightly and only have one colour. This is, because my model already had a pink skirt on in the image and I think it is enough colour to balance out the lilac to not make it look so overpowering and washed out.

The last main convention I used for my Double Page Spread was the album cover in the bottom right hand corner of the article. I decided to do this, because I think it gives the article a more professional look and to make it seem as if my model was an artist in the music industry. I really like this touch, because I believe it makes the article a bit more believable to the consumer.


My Contents Page is also another product where I have used forms of conventions that already exist within real media products.

I, again decided to keep the layout of the contents page simple and realistic for a pop magazine aimed at teenage girls between 13-18. I have easily sectioned off each portion of the magazine with a different category. This way my readers will be able to instantly find what they are looking for when they turn to the contents page. I've further helped this by highlighting certain things that different articles have in common, for instance this issue its boys, which includes posters of different male celebrities, articles and interviews on them etc. I have also added a range of images that correlate to the article description, helping to fill out any empty gaps I had on the page previous. I think this breaks up the amount of text I have on the page, helping to balance out the text to image ratio.

3rd Draft Double Page Spread

The only things I changed about my Double Page Spread was that I added photography credits to the bottom of the page under the article, I also added the Interview banner at the top left hand corner of the page, and finally I enlarged the album cover in the third column so it fills the article out a bit more.

3rd Draft Contents Page

I decided to not change anything from the second draft of my Contents Page, because I liked how it looked and I didn't want to add anymore, because I didn't want to overcrowd the contents page and possibly making the audience loose interest in the magazine. Overall, I liked how my contents page turned out and I especially liked how I managed to get it how I would like it look, even after the problems I had with loosing most of my work with my USB stick early on in the designing process.

3rd Draft Front Cover

I was given more feedback for my music magazine Front Cover. I chose to do another draft of the Front Cover, just so I could make the changes I needed to. The only feedback I was given was to:

• fill in any gaps left over with other cover lines or shapes.

Before:

After:

Before I added anything else to my Front Cover, I decided to move the One Direction cover line in the top right hand corner of the page up a bit further towards the masthead just so I could fill the gap surrounding the heart better. I then proceeded to add a new cover line below that is 'Steal Little Mix's Style', because just like the rest of the cover lines I used on my Front Cover, that will grab the attention of my demographic, because my audience also has interests of Fashion as well as Music. 

2nd Draft Double Page Spread

I was given areas to improve on my magazine Double Page Spread, the improvements I had to make were:

• Check spelling throughout the article
• Possibly add a drop cap to the opening paragraph of my article
• Make sure each column of the article is level with each other
• Add a couple more questions to fill the article out
• Make the font size smaller to make the article look more realistic

Before:

After: 

I decided to add a drop cap into the introduction to my article. I also added more questions to the actual article so that it looks more professional and finished. I changed the size of my font from 14 to 9, to be able to add more questions to my article. 

Time Management

Areas to improve:

• Change the magazine Double Page Spread
• Upload final draft of magazine Double Page Spread
• Plan and then write evaluations to upload on blog.

2nd Draft Contents Page

With the feedback I was given, I decided to redraft my contents page. I was given the feedback of: 

Strengths of this assessment: 

• Good variation of suitable images 
• Strong links to target audience. 

Areas to improve in this assessment/ targets for next piece of work: 

• Cover should be reflected on Contents 
• Some notes on page to consider

The notes on the page were: 

• Possibly consider aligning colour block with text 
• Possible a little too much dead space around the front cover and each of the page numbers surrounding it. 
• Good idea:the magazine website, but perhaps move it, it seems a little bit out of place where it is. 
• Page Number 

Before:

After: 

I decided to get rid of the arrows for each of the page numbers and then proceed to move the page numbers on the side of the corresopnding article. I have also moved the website underneath the contents page masthead, becasue it looked out of place where I had it previously. When doing this, I also extended the 'We Love Shopping' column and the 'All about you'/ 'Wins and Offers' column to close the gap between the original columns and the magazine Front Cover. This benefits the contents page, because it makes the columns easier to read and I can space each article out better without being cramped.
 I also changed the Front Cover image in the top left hand corner to match it to the actual Front Cover of that issue. 

Futher Research into Magazine Institutions

I think that it would be more beneficial to my magazine, if I had it published by Bauer Media, because they offer over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. The company is also built on personal relationships with engaged readers and listeners, meaning that they are very 'in touch' with their consumers, and listen to the things they want and need in a magazine. Bauer Media is very involved with their consumers and they know their demographic in depth. This is the thing I would be looking for when it comes to publishing my magazine. I would like a company that I could trust to publish my magazine and help concrete the longevity of my magazine in the future.

2nd Draft Front Cover

Using the feedback I was given from my lecturer, I have decided to change certain things about my magazine front cover.

Before:

After:

I have decided to reposition the barcode from the bottom right hand corner up to the top left hand corner just under the masthead. I then added pink stars behind the barcode to fill the black space up around the barcode. This then gives The Vamps headline more room in the bottom right hand corner, instead of being squashed up against the 5 Seconds of Summer cover line. This makes my front cover look almost cleaner that it did before, and it doesn't look as cramped and crowded as the before picture. 

I also decided to move everything up slightly, because when I first moved the barcode up to the top left hand corner, it looked too bare and forgotten about. 

Further research into my Demographic

I have decided to collect more research for my demographic, just to make sure that  I am including the most important factors when I am designing my covers and when it comes to changing anything if I need to.

Since I am designing a music magazine, I have decided to do some more research into the music that is in the charts at the moment, just to help me further understand my demographic and their likes and dislikes.

The music thats in the charts at the moment has a very upbeat, pop - influenced, 'mainstream' sound. The artists that are in the charts at the moment are mainly One Direction, Meghan Trainor, Bruno Mars, Ellie Goulding, Ed Sheeran, Jessie J etc.

However, the charts also includes music of other influences such as - pop punk/ rock, with bands in the charts such as 5 Seconds of Summer and Imagine Dragons.

I need to take these artists into consideration when re-designing my covers, because these are the factors that will cement my genre into being Pop.

Double Page Spread (First Draft #2)

I decided to create another DPS as a backup for my first one, just in case I would want to change anything about it or that it isn't quite right at first.

The only things I changed on this DPS is the main image of the article and the layout of the purple background for the text. Everything else I kept the same, and simple. The article is the same also, just to keep everything the same and uniform.

Just like the last DPS, I added the cover art for the album to increase validity in the magazine and in the artist I am interviewing.

Audience Focus Group

I decided to hold an audience focus group for my first draft of my Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread. This was so I could get feedback from people who may actually go out and buy this product or buy something similar. It was also another way of finding out what people liked about my product and how to improve certain things.

Each person I asked gave me really good feedback for each of my products. I will be taking these feedback comments into consideration when I go to re-draft each of my products. This focus group helped me to find out which things I should keep within my magazine, for example the consistent colour scheme and the various fonts. The main thing is that they knew what genre of magazine it was, and I'm going to make sure I keep that element when I re-draft each product.

Front Cover Feedback

I was given feedback for my Front Cover designs. I was asked to try and fill any gaps I have surrounding my main image and my cover lines. I was also given feedback of 

• Good use of conventions 
• Fantastic use of text, and fonts
• Good use of 'Puffs' 

Album Cover

After every Photoshop practice I had done before starting to create each of my covers, I decided to make an album cover for to include in my article for a plug into the newest album from the artist that I am going to interview. I just used an image I took of my model and edited it in photoshop until I got my desired effect.

For this album cover, I took most of my inspiration from Ariana Grande's 'Yours Truly' album cover art. I think this has worked out well, because it was easy to take inspiration from, as it is a simple cover art.

I really liked how simplistic the cover art was for the original album, and I also liked how the whole cover was black and white apart from that one pop of colour with the 'Yours Truly' album name. I think this is the most important part of the cover alongside the artist's image, because the first thing the consumer sees is the 'Yours Truly' name, because its the only thing that left in colour. It also draws the eye of the audience down the centre of the album towards the artist.

Double Page Spread (First Draft #1)

I changed the colour scheme of the first draft of my DPS, because the skirt of my model was already pink and I didn't want to have too much pink on my DPS, so I changed it to a pastel purple colour which works better with the main image.

I chose to go for a generic interview for my DPS, because that's what my survey results came back to be the focal point of the genre of magazine. The demographic would have wanted to read an interview style article instead of a massive chunk of text.

I also designed an album cover for my main artist, so I could include it in the article with the rest of the interview, just as a little plug into the artist's newest album and where to get it from as I have seen other interview style articles done before in the past.

The questions I asked were:

• 'Congratulations on your third album! How do you feel about it?'
• 'How So?'
• 'How have you accomplished this?' 
• 'You have a really supportive fan base, how have they reacted to this new album?'
• 'What do you think the most personal song on the album is?' 

I decided to ask these questions, because they are more focused on the music side of things, which I think to be the most important part, instead of the 'normal' things artists get asked, such as past/ previous relationships, or what their favorite things are.

Contents Page (First Draft)

When creating my contents page, I kept looking at the contents page of an issue of a Top of the Pops magazine for any inspiration I could take from it and almost have a guideline of the things to include on my contents. 

I made sure to include the front cover of the issue at the top of the page to make it look as if its actually apart of the same magazine. I have also linked the coverlines on the front cover to their corresponding articles and their pages. 

I kept the colour scheme simple on the contents page with just using a pink that fades out behind each segment of the contents page. I also added a yellow highlighter effect to some parts of the page to highlight certain things the demographic would be interested in. 

Front Cover (First Draft)

This is my first draft for my magazine front cover. I decided to follow my flat plan completely by putting the coverlines where I wanted them to go in the first place, but also adding the main information like the barcode, issue number and date published to the bottom right hand corner of the cover.

In the end I decided to go with a multiple colour scheme for my magazine, because it has all of the colours that are related to a pop magazine's conventions but it still keeps my magazine unique, without having an overly bright front cover.

I decided to use artists/ bands and current events in the music industry to keep my magazine as up to date as possible and to increase the validity of the magazine. I also kept the layout pretty simple with the main image in the centre with the coverlines almost setting as a border around the image.

Lost Work

Half way though designing my magazine Front Cover, I had a problem with the memory stick I was using and I lost all work I was in the process of making. This meant that I had lost what I had already done to the Front Cover, and any other work that I was hoping to use through out my blog.

This had set me back quite a lot in the design task, because it meant that I had to re-start everything I had already done for the beginning of my covers.

With already doing my Front Cover once before, I managed to easily re-design my cover in one lesson and then start on my Contents Page.

Photoshoot Images

Contents Page Feedback

Just like the Front Cover, I was given feedback for my magazine Contents Page. I was given feedback of: 

• Your overall layout is good with a good range of devices which will engage your audience.

However, just like the Front Cover, I was given the feedback of: 

• You could fill some more gaps and look to add more colour. Main colour too pink, maybe use blue or green.

Images I am going to use

I had a couple of gigs to go to when I was first designing my flat plans for the magazine covers and I decided to take my camera along to the gigs to take live images of bands/artists at a gig instead of just using all editorial/ studio shots of my main artist. This would make my magazine look more realistic, because you would get a diverse range of images in an actual magazine.

I did take these photos myself while I was at each gig, I took these photos in addition for my magazine progress and validity. I wasn't that far from the stage for both gigs and the camera I used was a Nikon Coolpix L330.

I also took the same camera to my friends halloween party so I could get some photos to make it look as if readers had sent their photos in for a reader 'special' issue of the magazine.

The photos I plan on using for my magazine:

Potential Problems

I have thought about some of the potential problems I could encounter when it comes to carrying out my photoshoot. The following potential problems are:

• My model not being able to do the shoot, because of illness or another event. 
• My main camera running out of battery or if it stops working.
• My back up camera doing the same as the main camera and it runs out of battery or if it stops working. 
• Bad quality lighting - due to natural light, the day I'm shooting might not be the best weather to shoot in natural light. 
• Bad quality images. 
• Not being able to get the shots I wanted to get on the day.

Hopefully, none of these things happen when I'm carrying out my photoshoot. However, if any of these problems happen throughout the day, I will have to resort to artificial lighting if needs be and I would have to make sure to charge both of my cameras so I could potentially shoot later on or on another day, setting me back just slightly and quickly needing to find another model if my original model can't be there on the day. 

The Recce Photoshoot Planning

Photoshoot Planning

Consent Slip for Model

Before I even started to plan my photoshoot I had to make sure that the model I was thinking about was okay with me taking pictures of her and the proceeding to use them for my magazine Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread. To state that she was consenting to the use of her images and photos to be taken of her, I decided to create this consent slip that would then allow me to use images of her in my product.

I then got my model to sign and date the consent slip so that I could then use her images throughout my magazine as my main model with her consent.