Research and Planning

Moderators Note

Dear Moderator,
For my AS course work I have created a new magazine front cover, contents page and double page. The genre of my magazine is indie as I feel I can relate to this genre as I like this type of music. My audience I am aiming for is teenagers/young adults aged between 15-20, this is because I think this is the main age group that listen to this genre of music. I feel like my magazine and new and unique so it has many selling points.
I have used labels to group my course work down the side of my blog so hopefully this will be easy for you to navigate around my blog.
Yours sincerely
Rhianna Newport
Edgbarrow School
candidate number: 0196
centre number: 51111

Final front cover

Final double page

Final contents page

Question 2

Question 2

Question 6

Question 6

Question 7

Question 3

Question 1

question 1

Question 4 and 5

question 4 and 5

Original Images

evaluation plan

Evaluation – present in different forms or IT (prezi, powertoon, emaze, voice recording-interview, and video)

In what ways does your magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real music magazine? ( I am planning on using prezi for question 1 because I feel like there has to be a lot of information)

 For my front cover I have followed a few codes and conventions, by making my masthead bold and stand out so intis the reader, also I have a few insights to what is in the magazine, and to do this I had previously looked at other indie music magazines so that my magazine relates to the type of genre I am aiming for. I also have stuck to the same colour scheme throughout so that it all links together like other music magazines have done. I have also included the issue date and issue number where the barcode is with the price in bold.

For my contents page I have also numbered the pages so that it is in order and makes it easy for the reader to find different topics in the magazine. I have also used to some pictures to show them the artists in the magazine and a picture for winning tickets to give them a glimpse of what it could be like for them if they win, to make them want to enter the competition.

My double page spread uses the codes and conventions of using columns for the article, having the page numbers at the bottom of the page, I have also got a title and picture to represent my artist.

 How does your magazine represent particular social groups


Teenagers/young adults

Alternative fashion

Male and females

What kind of media institution might distribute your music magazine and why?


What companies, how people consume over the internet, different ways the music can be consumed.


Who would be the audience of your music magazine? ( im going to link question 4 and 5 together and do prezi for the questions because I can then show the magazine in detail)


The audience of my magazine im aiming for is indie, I have used indie bands and artists and have created a new indie artist. The audience I am aiming for is people who listen to indie artists already also who are interested in gossip and band rivalries. I think the audience would be aged mostly between 16-35+.


How did you attract/ address your audience?


Colour schemes are quite dull with a hint of a brighter colour to catch the reader’s eye, also specific vocabulary used in my article and contents relates in a way to a more indie audience, by naming some bands and artists, also using quite informal language.


What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? (Video of how the software works)


I learnt how to use serif and blogger. Pros to serif are that it is simple and easy to use, you can have all your work up on one page so you can compare your work. Cons are that there is a lot of trial and error and is a little time consuming when uploading it to the blog to be marked.

Pros of blogger are that you can see other people’s work to get ideas and they can comment on your work to give you tips and comments of what they think about it. Cons are that if the internet isn’t working then you won’t be able to get onto blogger or upload if there are deadlines.

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


talk about how you have improved by what you have learnt ( know your audience, codes and conventions)

3rd draft front cover

3rd draft contents page

3rd draft double page

Progress update

I have looked at the comments that have been made on my first draft and started making those changes in my second draft. However I need to get some more pictures so that I can see what the  double page would look like with a more musical photo and the front cover would look like with a more close up shot so I can shape the text around him.

2nd draft front cover

2nd draft contents page

2nd draft double page

Progress update

At the moment I am ahead of schedule so I have been asking for peer feedback and teacher feedback and been working on rearranging my cover, from the comments that have been made.

progress update

I have completed my first draft of my magazine and uploaded it. today I have been working on my content for my double page and getting other students comments on what is good and what can be improved or changed.

1st draft front cover

1st draft contents page

1st draft double page

Magazine Analysis

Magazine Analysis

Product Placement

Product Placement

prelim evaluation

Prelim Evaluation

1. Did you plan your magazine? If not, what have you learnt about the importance of research and planning?

For the prelim task I didn’t plan what I was going to do, from when we got told what we were going to do, I knew who I wanted to be on the front of my magazine as she is the social captain of our year and this is very important to our year as she makes the events happen at school. However for the colour scheme and other information I have put on the magazine I decided when I was doing it, but throughout the time creating the front cover and contents I had changed the style and colours to suite the type of magazine I was doing, also to suite the school I was doing it on. I have learnt that the importance of research and planning is very necessary when creating a magazine, so that your final product is the best it can be. For the colour scheme, font and shapes I just picked ones that where bold and stand out but also suite the school, but if I was to do this again with a longer period of time to do it in I would of have previous templates of the front cover and contents and would have been developing them as I went through and did more research on the topic. When I was creating my school magazine I was looking at other magazines to get ideas, however none of them where school magazines, they were music magazines so I only got a little idea of how I should structure my magazine. However I should have looked more at school magazines so I could analysis what should be on a school magazine because it would be different to a music one.

 

 

2. What technology did you use to complete the task and how did you use it?

I used the internet to research previous magazines and I used my phone to take the pictures on, my phone captured the pictures that I wanted to use for my magazine really well and then I transferred them on the computer to put them onto my magazine cover and contents, to do this I email the pictures to myself and saved them into my folder. To create my front cover and contents I used serif pageplus, this is the software I will be using to make the real music magazine, we uses this software on our prelim task as we could practice and have a go at using the software as it was new to us. On pageplus I was able to cut out my photos on cut-out studio and this is where I was able to get rid of the background so that the picture would stand out more.

 

 

 

3. Did you encounter any difficulties? If so, what were they and how did you overcome them?

I can across some difficulties when I was choosing the background of the magazine as I didn’t want it to be too bright but also not too dull, to solve this issue I chose a background and went through different colour options, I then chose one that represented the school but also made the magazine eye catching and stand out. Another difficulty I came across was the shapes on the front of the magazine as I didn’t want to make it look like a poster, so I created a few shapes and took out the background and added some text, to make them standout I thickened the outline of the shape.

With the colour scheme I found it hard to use the same colours all the way through as I had to remember the colour gradients, however this was solved by using colour picker and the clicking on the colour I wanted the shape or text to be. Another problem I came across was making my contents look different to a book contents and making it interesting and catch the audience’s eye. To solve this I looked at other magazines and how their contents pages are laid out.  

 

4. How successful was your magazine? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently?

I think that for my first go at a magazine cover and contents it went quite well especially with very little research and planning done beforehand. I think that my title (colour and font) was a good choice as it stands out but also looks professional. I think that creating my logo went well as its simple but effective as it stands out on the front cover. Also the angle and shot of the pictures that are on the magazine are good for this type of magazine as it shows what school she goes to, the angle of the pictures made them easy to cut out and place on the front cover and contents.

If I was to do this again, I probably would have had a different colour scheme as its all blue, so that it stands out from the rest of the other magazines on offer. I would also do more research to see what other magazine covers look like so it looks more like a front cover of a magazine not a poster. I would do my contents differently and have more insight to what is going to be in the magazine.

 

 

5. What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?

From this task I have learnt that research and planning is really significant as you need to make sure you magazine looks realistic. Also you have to find out what your audience is wanting to be in the magazine, not just yourself. I have also learnt that colour scheme is really important as this is one of the main factors that draw the audience to the magazine and want them to buy it. Also to have good stories that are involved In the magazine to also draw the audience in and want to read more. The pictures on the front have to stand out and as it will be the main focus of the magazine which people will then want to find out about.

prelim contents

prelim front cover