Magazine project evaluation

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Magazine project evaluation

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The Creation of my Double Page Spread

The Creation of my Contents Page

The Creation of my Magazine Front Cover

Double Page Spread

Contents Page

Front Cover

Journalistic Inspiration:

One journalist who has particularly inspired my style of writing, to be featured in my magazine, is Polly Vernon- I find her wit and intelligence very interesting to read, and her insight is spot-on in terms of ideologies, and also humour:


http://twitter.com/pollyvernon

http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/pollyvernon

Photoshop Experiments- Fish Eye Lense

Here I have used the 'fish eye' lense tool on Photoshop. It enlarges the image as though an actual fish-eye lense was used.

Photoshop Experiments- Curves:

Here I have used the photoshop tool 'curves' which can be used to alter the colour, hue, saturation or brightness of an image.

Anthem

Anthem will be a magazine based on quality music and performances from throughout the years, not on the latest crazes and music only around currently. Some new, distinctive music will be included in the magazine, but there will be a balance, unlike most other music magazines, who usually focus on one or the other. I think this will help me attract a wider audience, as well as a good reputation for my magazine. In terms of writing style, Anthem will be impassioned and well-expressed, using intelligent language (but lacking in jargon) to put it's points across.
Anthem's images will be professional, with well-planned themes, matching the texts that they accomodate- mostly black and white, or at least of a low colour saturation, the images will appear quite artsy.
I think that these features will help my magazine appeal to my ideal reader profile.

Images And Photographers That Have Inspired My Work;

These pictures and their photographers have all inspired my own ideas in some way. Annie Leibovitz, for example, is famed for photographing innumerable amounts of famous people, for very influencial magazine's. I find her photographs to be quite solemn, yet beautiful; she manages to focus greatly on expressions and postures without them seeming posed or awkward. These are some of my favourite images of hers:

As well as this, just by browsing various photo-sharing sites I have found many other images that suit the themes of my work:

These images are all black & white- This is what the majority of the photographs in my own magazine will be like; I think that black and white photographs give an impression of character and of greatness, which is something I would like to generate for those that I photograph. I think this impression derives from how, in the origins of photography, only the most important people would ever be photographed at all- all of these images would have been in black and white, so when seen today, they immediately create illusions of superiority. Some of these images are by accomplished photographers, of famous people, whereas others are simply taken by ameteurs, but still left a lasting impression on me at least.

Ideas for Magazine Features

From the research that I have carried out, as well as taking into account my own desired outcome, I have come up with several solid ideas for my magazine's features. The interview section of my magazine will be one featuring a new artist, someone whom my magazine will be helping to promote in light of recent successes- their music will be of an indie/rock genre. I think that this will satisfy all my readers' interests, whilst also enticing a wide range of age groups.

Ideas for Magazine Contents Page

My contents page will not be laid out as per a usual page of this type- this is because many readers will usually avoid reading a contents page, which is something I do not want to happen in my magazine. The page will feature the heading of 'In This Issue' rather than the standard 'Contents'.

Ideas for Magazine Cover

My magazine's cover will be quite basic, with a short list of the magazine's main features, in bold font, in a collumn down one edge- I think that this will make the page simple for my readers to navigate, as well as being eyecatching for a potential reader.

House Style

House Style

My magazine's general house style will consists of several main components; it's layout will remain quite basic and easy to navigate, whilst at the same time remianing interesting and eyecatching through use of bold, strong images and stylish, yet easily readable fonts. The colours I will use on the cover of, and inside my magazine will include a predominant use of greyscale, with some colour- I feel that this gives the magazine a sophisticated, stylish image, for an artistic, intelligent reader.
Below are some magazine covers that have influenced my own in some way:

It is the positioning of the people featured on these covers that I admire- the first being a medium close-up, yet from an over the shoulder angle- an interesting pose, one that would be fitting for use on my own magazine. The second pose is one with many slightly jarring, unnatural angles, perfect for capturing the attrntion of a potential reader.

I like these magazine covers because of their uses of colour- the first on uses solely black and white imagery, which proves

very effective in highlighting the model's facial features, without distractions like gimmicky, bright, vibrant colour. The second cover uses some colour, but with a predominant use of blacks, whites and greys. These small, snippets of rich colour are effective as they contrast well with their monochrome backgrounds, bringing more attention to them overall.

Next I have experimented with some fonts to potentially feature on my front cover, as headings and for the main title. These fonts may also appear as headings within the magazine:

These fonts all appear handwritten- I feel that this will give the magazine more of a personal feel, making the magazine more relateable for a reader. Also, the second font in particular resembles a signiture or autograph, tying in with the music theme by reminding a reader of the famous people present in the magazine's features. The fourth font is also particularly appealing as it appears similar to something that may have been found more often in the 1950's/60's, used on records and other publications of the time. Using this font would give my magazine a nostalgic feel.

Title

My magazine's title will be 'Anthem'. I chose this title for a number of reasons:
-It ties on well with the music theme of the magazine, with an anthem being a song of loyalty or devotion, usually found in rock/pop.
-It is relatively short, meaning that a general reader is more likely to remember it.
-The word itself is basic and easy to pronounce, yet interesting, meaning that it won't distract from the actual magazine's features, but will still be memorable.

Photoshop Experiment- Gaussian Blur

Here I have experimented with the Gaussian blur tool on photoshop- it allows you to highlight certain parts of your image to be much more defined than the blurred backgrounds they are on.

Photoshop Experiment- History Brush

Here I have experimented with using the history brush tool on photoshop- the tool is used to highlight certain areas of colour on an otherwise greyscale canvas.

Analysis of Survey Results

I made a survey on Surveymonkey.com, to try to see what kind of things I need to include in my magazine.

The results of question 1 showed me that 60% of those who took my survey currently buy NME magazine. This shows me that quite  large proportion of my magazine's readers enjoy the kind of features of this magazine, such as the primarily indie artists featured, as well as enjoying parties, gigs and up to date fashion.
40% of those who took the survey buy Kerrang magazine, which shows me that another significant proportion of my readers will enjoy rock music, as well as the fashion and events that relate to such a genre.

Question 2's results informed me of my potential reader's favourite bands. The genres of the bands and artists listed included pop, indie, rock, dance, acoustic/folk and pop-punk. This tells me that my own magazine should feature artists of these genres. More specifically, bands that were mentioned several times by name included: Bombay Bicycle Club; Mumford & Sons, You Me At Six and Lady Gaga. These artists are all current, and should therefore feature heavily, through reviews of their events & albums, as well as interviews, in my own magazine.

Question 3 told me of the colours my potential readers would prefer to see in a magazine. Popular colours included grey (60%), black (40%, purple (50%), beige (40%), white (70%) and teal (40%). These colours should therefore feature predominantly in my magazine's house style, as well as individual features.

60% of those who took my survey stated in Question 4 that they would like the majority of the magazine's format to be through pictures & photographs, 20% said via pararaphs of text, and 20% said to feature both in equal amounts. This tells me that whilst the majority of the information should be eyecatching, informative images, there should also be a significant amount of text as well.

Every single person who took my survey stated in Question 5 that they think artist interviews are very important to a magazine- these will be featured heavily because of this. 80% of people thought that event listings were important, 40% wanted articles about current issues in music, 40% wanted gig reviews, and a further 40% wanted biographies of significant artists. These features were the most popular in my survey, and together I think they would create a very interesting, diverse mixture of features, appealing to many readers.

70% of people said in Question 6 that the most they would pay for a music magazine would be between £3 and £3.50. This is a reasonable amount for the production of a good quality, well researched magazine, so the price of the magazine will be towards the lower scale of these two amounts, so as to also impress a reader with a lower price than expected.

In Question 7, the favourite genres of music mentioned were as follows:
Pop- 30%
Pop-Rock/Pop-Punk- 40%
Rock- 20%
Metal- 20%
Indie Rock- 60%
RnB- 30%
Folk- 50%
Punk- 40%
This shows me that whislt all of these genres should be featured in the magazine, those that should be more predominant are Indie-Rock, Folk, Punk and Pop-Rock/Pop-Punk.

Not much was revealed by Question 8, wherein people were asked what they thought was missing from current music magazines- many people couldn't think of specific features, and one person mentioned photography. This tells me that the current music magazines contain plenty of features I can include in my own magazine, without missing out on the things my readers will want. I will also be certain to make sure that there is plenty of photography featured as well, in the form of live show photographs, as well as intertwined with artist interviews.

In Question 9, 80% of people stated that free music downloads/cds would make them more inclined to buy a music magazine. 60 also said they would like band merchandise as well. Due to these results, I will be sure to offer such things as free gifts with my own magazine.