Blog 4- Flat Plans

I have drawn out two front cover flat plans for the magazine, both are very different from each other and comparisons are made clear in the descriptions.
I chose this bold heading so it stands out on the shelf and catches readers eye. I also decided to use a sans serif font because it is a modern style of writing which will attract a younger audience, which is my intended target. The date and price is clearly shown in the top right hand corner. I decided to have a resonably priced magazine falling in the C2DE catogory. This is because my target audience is younger people, such as students, who will be spending their money on education, therefore it is affordable for them to spare the money.
There are heading for the main stories and a few other pictures to make the cover look very busy and interesting.
The layout of the page is very cluttered like the rock magazine i analysed in the 3rd blog. I have decided to use a similar layout so it fits in with the rock style.

The picture is in the centre and takes up the majority of the page, therefore, is the main focus.

I need to choose a bright and bold colour sceme for the magazine so it stants out like other rock magazines do.

I have also created a second weaker rock magazine front page flat plan. We can see that in comparison to the first magazine it doesnt stand out or follow the main bold theme's of most rock genred magazines. It looks very spaced out and there is not a lot to look at, unlike the first magazine where there are other pictures displayed in different formats and the main heading are put ib bold boxes around the page whereas this magazine only diplays the headlines down one side of the page all in the same way with no pictures to back them up. Also the style of writing does not fit with the rock genre because it is in a scripted handwritting. This front cover would not appeal to rock fans as they would be looking for something different and individual to buy that stands out from other magazines. The majority of people that buy rock magazines are aged 15-40; but mostly teenagers. This magazine may not appeal to younger people as the price expensive and most students will not have the money to regulary buy this magazine reducing the amount of readers and magazines bought. Therefore this is an example of a weak Rock genre magazine as it will not appeal to the target audience.

For the contents page i used a very similar style to the contents page i analysed in blog 3. Most of the page is taken up with pictures. I decided to use a slanted film strip style to make it look more querky and different. The contents of the magazine is then displayed in a simple easy to read format down the side showing the stories and page numbers. The writing used throughout the magazine including the contents page will be a continuous theme of sans serif style which relates to the genre used.

I also added an advertisement at the top simlary to the analysed contents page. This advertisement will interest rock fans as they may be intersted in saving their money by having a regular subscription to the magazine which will work out cheaper than buying it weekly/monthly.

I think the layout is effective because i used a template from another magazine which follows the theme of most rock magazine and i also incorporated some of my own original and different ideas, such as the style the pictures are displayed in.

I choose this layout because again the style is very querky and individual. The writting through out the magazine will be in sans serif font to follow through with a modernised style. The name of the band 'Stereo' is in bold and large capitals to stand out and so readers will be drawn to it and recognise the band name, therefore, it is more likely they will read the article. I decided to have a question and answer story which is more interesting for readers because they can hear what the band has to say rather than stories about the band. This will interest fans more because there is more interation with the band and it shows the article is more reliable because it is from the bands point of view and not the journalist. It is important for the readers to know that the band has connections and a friendship with the magazine producers because it creates a more recognisable name for the magazine. The pictures again take up a large amount of the page to grab the readers interest. Large pictures may influence someone to buy the magazine if they are flicking through to see if it interests them because the pictures are the first thing someone will look at when they turn the page therefore if the pictures are interesting and individual it mnay encourage people to buy the magazine.

Blog 3- Analysis of existing magazines

I am comparing two magazine covers, NME- Febuary 08 issue and kerrang!- March 04. Both magazines are rock genre which is the genre i have picked for my own magazine.

Title- Similarly, both magazines are in sans serif suggesting to readers that it is a modern style
magazine. NME and Kerrang! are both in bold and a large font so stand out on the front of the cover and are eye catching to readers. The NME title stands out more than Kerrang! because it is in colour so it is likely to be the first thing a reader will recognise on the page. The title for Kerrang! is half hidden by other pictures on the cover. This suggests that the magazine is well known so readers don't need to see the whole title to know what magazine it is.

Use of colour- NME uses a colour scheme of blue and yellow and also red for the title. Kerrang! has a colour scheme if yellow and pink. Therefore, both magazines use bright and bold colours that clash together, which are very effective and represent a rock style because of the daring contrasts they have used. I think the use of colours kerrang! uses are more effective then NME because the colours used on NME seem to be washed out a bit more, where as, Kerrang! has use of very bright, bold colours that would stand out from most magazines on the shelf.

Font Styles- Again, all the font styles on both magazine covers are in sans serif, therefore, shows a more modern effect. Kerrang! uses large, bold writing throughout the whole cover therefore all the text stands out on the page, where as, NME only uses bold for the main stories, so the other, less important, text doesn't stand out as much.

Layout- Kerrang!'s layout is very crowded with lots of words and pictures that jump out on the page to make it seem very busy and suggests there are lots of interesting stories and pictures inside, persuading readers to buy the magazine. NME is similar in this way because both layouts are un-organised in a positive way which shows the magazine is modern which will interest readers of a rock style. All the writing in kerrang! is mainly down the middle of the page and only lists off the main things that are in the magazine rather then going into detail. The majority of the cover consists of pictures. This magazine is more visual. Where as, NME has all the main stories in bold down the side with more description underneath. So, kerrang! is more eye catching when seen on a shelf but NME gives more details into what is inside which may attract readers more. It depends if the reader prefers visual or written methods. Both the main images on the magazines are set out in the middle of the page with the other text and pictures working around them.

This is a karrang! contents page.

It uses a similar colour scheme as the front cover. The eye catching pictures relate to the articles in the magazine which makes you want to read on. The contents page is done in a more visually attractive way. It is done in an un-traditional lay out which links with the un-traditional style of the magazine. Other, less important, stories are displayed down the side of the page.

This is an NME double page spread.

Again, the colour scheme is the same as on the cover therefore, they could use the same colour sceme throughout the magazine.

The majority of the double page spread is taken up by the picture on the left. Specific parts of the text have been put in blue colourful box's to give it a scrap book effect which appeals to a younger target audience. The picture also creates the same effect because the people look very laid back and there are lots of posters in the background which could represent teenagers.

Blog 2- Target Audience

The table above shows the statistics for reader in general magazine. I am researching two magazines, kerrang! and NME, as inspiration for my rock magazine.

In the last 12 months Kerrang! has had 417000 readers, 239000 of those reader are in ABC1 (higher class) catagory and 178000 in the C2DE category (lower class), showing that more people of a higher class buy the magazine; but there is not a huge difference of people buying the magazine between the two categories. Then 378000 of the 417000 are aged 15 to 40 and 39ooo are over 45. This shows the majority of people buying the magazine are under 45, therefore, i should aim my magazine to attract a younger audience. 290000 readers are male and 127000 reader are female. Therefore, i should aim my magazine to look more masculine then femenim. However, i still want to attract female readers so it needs to be slightly more balanced.

NME has had 388000 readers in the last 12 months; a slightly lower amount of readers than in kerrang! Similarly to kerrang! 250000 of these readers are in the ABC1 and 137000 in the C2DE. The amount of readers in the age groups and gender categories are very continue to be very similar to kerrang! statistics, which suggests that rock magazines, in general, attract people in the ABC1 category, people under the age of 45 and males.

Therefore, i need to look carefully at my magazine and make it look mostly appealing to people within these categories.

People interested in my magazine will be interested in rock music and bands, so will want to hear about popular songs and new albums. They will also be interested in gigs and concerts coming up and finding out where they can get their tickets from, so i can include important information readers will want to know about.

I found the information and statistcs i needed on http://www.nrs.co.uk/toplinereadership.html.

Main Coursework- Introduction

The main coursework task involves designing a front cover, contents page and a double page spread for a new music magazine.The genre of music i am going to use for the magazine is rock. Therefore i am focusing on a target audience of people who like rock music, bands, gossip and the style.
This task should develop and improve my skills from the preliminary task because i now have more knowledge on using the softwares Adobe photoshop and InDesign, therefore should be able to experiment more with the softwares when creating my magazine.

Flat Plans

For the main cover i used a bright colour scheme to grab the readers attention. Brighter colours also suggest it is for a younger audience which is what my target audience is. The magazine name is in a large bold font so it stands out on the page. I have used a sans serif style of writing because it is modern so again appeals to a younger audience. I used main sells that college students would be interested in reading, for examples, pictures of freshers night would make people want to buy the magazine, so it draws them in and then they can read the rest of the articles in the magazine. I also included some coupons which would also make people, especially girls, want to buy the magazine so they can use the coupons.
I have included important information (which has not been included in my flat plan) such as the price, which is only £1 meaning students will be more willing to buy it because it is cheap and also the date to state when it was issued.
The layout of the contents page is very simple and basic. Each article is stated with the page number, and the style of writing used is again sans serif. Three images are used at the bottom of the page to make the page more interesting.

As Media Preliminary Task

My preliminary coursework task is to create a magazine cover for Sussex Downs College. My work will be produced using Adobe InDesign and using my own original photographs.
My target audience will be aimed at college students. I want the magazine to appeal to students by including topics that they will be interested in such as stories on students at the college, sport fixtures and results, coming events and an evaluation of the event including pictures.

The flat plans for the college magazine have been uploaded into the second blog.

I have choosen this first image to appear in the college magazine because I took it at one of the college partys therefore it is relevant for the style of the magazine. I like that it shows someone having a good time which may make people see the college as a social place to get involved in and also that the people in the photos are from college therefore more people are likely to buy it if they see their friends of themselves in a magazine. However, the magazine still needs to show the educational side of college therefore I have also choosen a second image of a girl working in the library to attract more than one group of people. I like this image because it shows the second side of college and encourages people that the library is a relaxed place to socially work with your friends. However i have choosen the first image to go on the cover because i think the majority of students would like to see a fun image appear on the magazine and then the images inside can represent the college in other ways.

I choose to show this next image because i think it is an example of an image that will not be effective in the magazine. This is because it has no relation to college or events going on at the college. the mis en scene setting has a persons bedroom in the background showing it was taken at a irrelevant time to college.

Evaluation of final college magazine cover and contents page.

This is the link to the final magazine pages...

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B20gzrmLsLdxNGVmYmU1N2UtOTQ0MS00Y2ZmLWJkNTItMTA1MmIyYmI0ZWJj&hl=en

Front cover: I like the final front cover because the image on the front is a fun image that most students would be interested in buying because it shows somebody like them that they may know showing current events that have happened and promoting college as a social place to be.
The front cover shows it is only £1 to buy therefore it is cheap and affordable for students. The front cover covers all aspects of college including: sports fixtures, news and events; last years As and A level results; gossip on events and new students; a chance to win a free haircut and lastely student advice. This covers most aspects of college including social, educational and careers advice which most students would be interested in reading about even if one aspect of the magazine such as sports events did not interest them. I also like the colour theme in the image. It is bold yet not to bright like a childs magazine would be therefore the colours are inbetween sophisticated yet a younger group of people. The set out is very simple therefore it could have been made more interesting with a few other pictures to back up the headlines displayed.

Contents page: I have shown a template of how the contents would be set out. It is displayed in a very simple, easy to read format and will follow the same colour theme (red and yellow) as the front cover did. All the titles of the pages are dispalyed in a larger font with the page number then a small discription is dispayed underneath. At the bottom of the page are 3 small images to match some of the storylines and these will all be relevent to college events.

I like the final magazine because i believe it will appeal to all people interested in different apects of the magazine and has images and text to exaggerate the student theme. From this task i have learnt how to put a magazine together and gained some skills using design programes. This will prepare me for when we create the final magazine for our final piece of coursework. I now have knowledge of how to make a magazine i can therefore focus more on creating new and individual ideas for the next task as i will be more used to the programmes and have more skills to put into practice.