L I V ECritical Evaluation

Conventions of real media products!

Front Covers

Contents pages

Double page spread

Continued…As shown on the previous two slides, I got some of my ideas for my designs from other magazine covers and contents pages. From these I mainly chose to use a similar layout, for example the heading on my magazine cover ‘LIVE’ , like the magazine ‘VIBE’ is four letters long so I chose to use there format and have it quite large at the top of a page underneath a header, this makes it stand out and easy for readers to see, unlike ‘VIBE’ I chose not to position my main image over the top of the heading but to position more near the bottom of the page so I could put more information on the cover of what is included inside.

I decided to use a variety of fonts to make the text look more interesting and appealing to audiences not all just looking the same. The colour scheme for my contents and front cover comes from carrying out my questionnaire, the majority of people chose grey and turquoise but after seeing ‘VIBE’ having four colours, I thought I would add white and black as well just to make the fonts stand out more on the dark and lighter backgrounds, it also gave the cover a bit more depth.

In general my magazine cover generally looks like a typical magazine cover you would see, from researching magazine covers I generally found that each one has either a celebrity or band on the front, top story headlines to make readers want to buy them, barcode and price and so on, when designing mine I tried to make it have that conventional layout and include all of the above however I did add my own touch by adding plugs in shapes and a not so conventional colour scheme .

Again on my contents page I researched into layouts and chose one that I thought suited the image of my magazine, it allowed me to add quite a few images to the page, attracting the readers more and to give more of a visual of the stories and what is included. I also stuck to the colour scheme of the turquoise and grey for this one as well just to stick with the neutral image of not just attracting a particular gender or person. With regards to the headings these were less conventional as they didn’t go with the layout I was following but they did add a bit more depth to the page as it was something different. The layout of the text is quite conventional for a contents page as it has the new features for that edition included and then a separate part at the bottom for regular features.

Contents…

Double page spread…The double page spread I created for ‘LIVE’ had some unconventional features, the heading is quite big and takes up a lot of room compared to others I have found that either over lap onto an image or are just situated at the top of the page. It does follow typical double page conventions with the interview in columns and a drop capital to start it off. I have included images of the band with editing to make them look like Polaroid pictures , this was to represent the young image of the band and how typical teenage girls just like to have fun and take pictures with their friends, the images themselves represent this quite well as the band members aren’t really posing and the images are quite natural and fun showing a clear image of what the band is actually like. I made the colour scheme for this pinks and purples to represent the gender of the band members, the same goes for the flower images added to the heading.

Social Groups

Live uses a mixture of fonts and images to show a busy sort of image with a lot going on, to represent the sort of lifestyle of a teenager/young adult, very busy always something happening. Teenagers/ young adults like to know the latest news/gossip so with the front cover having a lot going on on it, theoretically it should attract them to want to buy it as it is showing that its jam packed with all the latest that they need to know.

I used a bright colour [turquoise] on my cover and contents to represent the social group as young and energetic, also turquoise is a neutral colour it doesn’t really represent either male or female I would say it represents both which is who my target audience are for my magazine ,both genders not just a colour scheme to represent and target just one of them.

Also I have targeted my social group through the people I used in my images, they are all generally young and seem to be having a good time where as in other magazines you may find very varied ages groups of people in mine I just stuck to ones around my social groups age.

Distribution Methods

‘LIVE’ would be distributed in all newsagents, although their would be a lot of competition as they distribute a wide range of independent magazines on the other hand it would be the easiest way to target a range of audiences or in this case the younger audiences were targeting. The majority people use newsagents weekly or even daily so it would even be convenient for them to purchase ‘LIVE’ their instead of having to go out of their way to buy it.

Another place which would be good considering our target audience, would be places such as music stores e.g. HMV ,as this magazine’s genre isn't specifically targeting a particular genre it is more recent or new bands and the chart music which in itself is a wide range. Different people visit music stores mostly to get the latest albums or songs in chart which is exactly what ‘LIVE’ is a bout.

Once the magazine becomes successful and established then it will attract ‘LIVE’ to other distributors. For example larger companies will start to take an interest as it will bring in the magazines social group to their businesses which means they may start to but their products to, so it works out for both, this would be places like WHSmiths, the larger chain businesses and even supermarkets.

‘LIVE’ would choose to print and distribute themselves as other larger companies wouldn’t do it as they have their own channel of distribution, and wouldn’t help a competitor be able to distribute and sell its products.

Target Audiences

The target audiences for ‘LIVE’ would be teenagers and young adults who have a wide taste in music and generally like chart music and like to know all the latest news on new bands and gossips on new and already existing. It would also be targeting both male and females. Also the music isn’t going to be that expensive as teenagers don’t have that much income and young adults are likely to be like students who again don’t have that high of an income either.

Addressing the audience

‘LIVE’ addresses its audience by the images used on the front magazine, I put a mixed band on the front to attract both male and females. Also the plugs used offer posters which would also be not just of males but females to, to give something to both audiences.

The large text and bright colour attracts the younger audiences attention to the magazine grabbing their attention and making them interested. In he header I included the word untold, this would be eye catching for ‘LIVE’ S target audience as their age ranges like to gossip a lot so will want to know the latest news to share with their friends.

What have I learnt?

From constructing this music magazine I have learnt a lot of various things. I have learnt about the music industry and the media and what goes on in it. I have learnt a lot about existing music magazines and all the different features they have and also can now analyse them and know the message hey are trying to get across, I have also learnt to distinguish between the different genres of magazines and see which ones target which audience.

I can now also use the different elements of Photoshop and can create different layouts, edits, colour schemes etc.

Progression to the end product

I feel I have developed my skills a lot when it comes to using Photoshop. In the preliminary task I was struggling with the aspect e.g. editing photos and cutting them out etc, after editing my first photo in the preliminary task and the getting onto designing my actual product, I found I was a lot better at it and by the end found it quite easy to use once I knew what i was doing.

Before producing my final product I found that planning really helped me especially when it came to the sketches I produced of the various layouts and designs I could do for the contents and front covers. It meant that I could look back on them and get ideas to add when I needed something else on my final pieces. It also allowed me to have something to follow instead of wasting time having to think of ideas I already had some to look back at so it saved me a lot of time and allowed me to use that time to continue to produce my final products. Overall when showing my target audiences my final pieces I got a positive response from them , therefore feel I have achieved what my brief says and that is to produce a music magazine for a specific target audience.

Thank you

for looking at my presentation