PULSE

Preliminary Task: School




Magazine









I was asked to design and produce the front page and contents page of a new school magazine of my choice. I started about by making a flat plan for the front page and the contents page. This helped me as I would make it easier when it came to actually publishing the magazine and it also gave me an insight of how I wanted things to be layed out on the page itself and all the shapes and colours I would use.



I thought as it is a school magazine I should keep it simple yet effective at the same time. I designed the magazine as I would see it. Firstly, I had to come up with a name for the magazine and kept to my simple rule and named it Acland Burghley. I chose to use a font that would be effective and capture the readers view. By using bright colours gives the magazine a young audience and makes the magazine more attractive. Next I concentrated what my magazine was going to include and I decided with what every school would want there school to concentrate and jam packed it into a magazine. I took some pictures from around the school and got permission from students to take pictures of them. would be included In the my school magazine. I started adding the stapline and lure to the magazine and started putting it together and seeing how it would look with the colours and shapes. After I finished the flat plan I started making actual magazine on photo shop. This bit was easy as I knew what I was going to as I had already planned it on the flat plan but i had to change the colour scheme I wanted to use as you couldn't see most of the text on the page so I used two colors (purple and black). These colors apply to different sex's and doesn't make my magazine bias. But it still looked good on the page. I then started with the contents page and also done a preliminary task for it and designed it so it didn't look too different from the front page. After i finished the preliminary task I then set about flat planning my music magazine. The preliminary task was a learning point in how to use photo shop and how my music magazine would have turned out if I put more skills in it.




Music Magazine:
My music magazine is aimed at an audience between the ages of 16-19 year old's in the UK magazine industry. The magazine is to be sold monthly. I choose the name Pulse for my magazine as i thought it has a rhythm to it and as it was a rock 'n' rave magazine it was appropriate to use that name and it is original as no other magazine has used it. The house style of and form of the magazine is all original as i didn't use any styles for the masthead from dafont.com as where most people would get there masthead ideas from i simply used a font that is already there on the photo shop to use so i didn't spend a long time on my masthead as i didn't think it was the most important convention of the whole music magazine. I still made the masthead look original my adding a different colour and effects to it.

I did research on existing music magazine such as NME and Kerrang to see what was out there in the magazine industry already. I then compared different music magazines to see how they are different to others and how their magazine stand out from others. I looked at some mastheads to get some inspiration for my music magazine. I then did a content analysis to see what magazines put inside to get people reading their magazines. I researched one magazine, Black Beat, and did a contents analysis on it. As the magazine audience is aimed at girls most of the content of the magazine was cosmetics and beauty products. This gave me a clear picture that girls liked to look pretty and by advertising beauty products just encouraged these young girls as the magazine had a young audience. In my music magazine i chose not to include any beauty products as many magazine do enough of it and i believe that girls shouldn't hate how hey look. Instead my magazine contains just pure music as it is a music magazine. It doesn't contain a lot of advertisement as my pages are full of music things and there's no space for them. The language used in my magazine is very formal but at interviews it turns to colloquial language as it is hey way a band or singer would talk. The writing I am using in this blog is formal yet colloquial so it apples to everyone as not everyone would like to read a blog which is very formal. The use of my original images gives the magazine a sense of originality and if I had used found images from the web it would show that I as a designer I have no inspiration and make my magazine look as if I had just copied from other magazines. Pulse is a national magazine as it has bands from different countries and the gigs they do are national too.

Questions:

In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of existing music magazine?

Pulse developed the forms and conventions of existing music magazine as I did research into music magazines such as 'Kerrang' and 'NME' and saw how they have used there masthead and lure to attract readers. I then developed my masthead and kept it simple as many magazines like to go bold and wild and so I have gone against it. I also did content analysis on music magazines and found out that many music magazines have lots of advertisement based on beauty and health and so I beyond the basic convention of music magazine.

How does your music magazine represent particular social groups?

Before I started making my music magazine I had to represent a particular social group as a theme for my music magazine and I decided to go for a rock and rave magazine that goes against the stereotypical dress sense and look of rock bands as many rock bands have pericing all over and normally wear all black. I looked at specific magazines that goes within my genre to see what was already out there in the magazine industry and started finalising the magazine flat plan at that stage. My band however, is a mixture of boys and girls in their teens that dress casually and look like normal teenagers. I have aimed at teenagers as the magazine is aimed at people ages between 16-19 year old (mainly teenagers). I used three models from my class and took images of them as a band not forgetting to include all the conventions of a rock band like the way they would often pose. I took several images at different angles in the same place. In the end my images are mainly eye view mid length to show the equality of people no matter their status. I used bold colours like orange and red as these colours would normally never be used in rock magazines to give it the originality it needed. I kept the same three colours throughout my magazine as many magazines only use two colours. For rock band magazine those colours tend to be only black or white with a hint of red as these colours are known as rock colours.

What kind of institutions might distribute your music magazine and why?

I would like my magazine to be known to everyone and easy for everyone to get access to it. I can do this by distributing the magazine to local record shops and large retailers such as WHSmith. As my audience for the magazine are young rock lovers they would use the Internet a lot and so I would publish the magazine online for memberships only. The magazine can also have its own music channel that would play music accordingly which would apply to frequent TV users. The readers can also purchase clothing and posters from shops and the Internet.

Who would be the audience for your music magazine?

The generic music convention i have employed in my magazine show that the target audience is aimed at young adults aged between 16-19 and have a passion for rock music. These teenagers are a mix between male and females which is shown through the colours, language and imagery in the magazine and the images used like the picture of Say What! have different sex's as now a days rock music is becoming more appealing to the female sex. Rock music is normally aimed at males but i went against the stereotypical view. Like a lot of the music magazine out there already in the magazine industry I have chosen the basic colour used in rock magazine to make it more believable to the readers that is is a rock magazine and not just any magazine.

How did you attract/address the audience for your music magazine?

I carried out a survey in which I found out that freebies was the first thing that my target audience would see to buy the magazine. The second most common to attract readers to buy the magazine was interviewing celebrities and gossip. I advertised a free poster on the front of the music magazine to capture the audience eyes. I also concentrated on the language of the magazine. As my audience for the magazine is aged around 16-19yr old I had to keep the language informal/colloquial as it is commonly used amongst them and represents them in that age category.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
As i started this project i learnt how to use technoloy that was new to me. One of the main things iused was an Apple Mac computer and how to use the basic tools to create my magazine. Adope Photoshop CS3 was also new to me and so i learnt the basic equipments to produce my magazine. At first i found this very difficult but then i got the hang of it. I used Photoshop for the front page and contents page of the magazine. I then used Pages to create my double page spread. This was very simple as it was like using word but you can add bachgrounds and put effect on images. I used a digital camera to take my images and connected it to the computer to upload them.
Looking back at your preliminary task, of designing the front page of a school magazine, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product.
It gave me an insight on how to use Photoshop when it came to making my music magazine. I learnt that by creating a flatplan of what you want to design, it makes it easier to create, as you know what colours and shapes you want to use. I learnt that my school magazine had to reflect the school as much as possible such as art school collage and its muticultral belifes. I felt that my preliminary task went well and I was ready to create my music magazine.