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.