Evaluation of Preliminary Task

I am happy with the way in which the preliminary task has been completed. However if I were to have done it again I would organise my time to allow enough time to complete each section of the task. I feel that this would allow me to complete the task in more detail. I feel that organising my time would allow me to complete the task more efficiently and to a better standard. This would have also allowed me time to expand my knowledge on the different software. The preliminary task has allowed time to expand my knowledge on the different software’s and programmes, which will enable me to improve when I create the music magazine.

If I were to do the preliminary task again, I would take more time to take some better pictures, as the pictures that I have used in the preliminary task are not necessarily a good standard. I may also use a camera that has a better focus, as some of the images I used are a little blurry.

I would also make time to compare different coloured texts to different coloured backgrounds to see what colours clashed and which colours were easily visible. This would allow me to use many different colours without them making the text harder to read.

I would also have included some more research about different magazines to see what the key points are and how they are presented and how they target a particular target audience. To allow me to have more knowledge to complete the magazine cover and contents, I feel that I should have researched a few more magazines that are popular to see what parts stand out to students. I would also have interviewed a few more people, as the people I did interview were mainly female and between the ages of 13 and 20. I feel that this may have influenced my magazine to sway towards a feminine audience and therefore I would carry out some more interviews on males of the same age. I interviewed many people between the ages of 13 and 20 as they were still in school. If I were to do the preliminary task again I may have included a section for students who were between the ages of 10 and 13 as they are more likely to know what they want, and what advice that they want about starting new schools.

Overall I feel that the preliminary task went well, and I feel that I can improve in many of the aspects. Therefore when I make the music magazine I will know what to include and what not to include.

Final Contents Page

 

 

 

Final front cover

Picture Practice

 

 

 

 

Contents Page Draft

 

This is my design for my contents page. The left hand column is to list all of the things that will be incuded inside the magazine. I will include tow images linking to the information. On the right hand side I will include some information and multiple images. In the bottom left hand corner I am going to include some information on the main story in the magazine. At the top of the page I will write contents to enable the reader to know where they are in the magazine.

 

Colour Testing

The colour red is normally linked to danger and is normally used to warn people of danger that may happen. Red can also be a romantic colour, as on Valentine’s Day, the colour red is used. This may be because it is the colour of a heart. However, the colour red can also be linked to death, as it is the colour of blood. The colour red is also linked to the devil, and so may be used to signify death and suffering.

The colour blue is normally associated with calmness. The colour blue is the colour of the sea, and the sea can be calm. However the sea can be stormy, which is normally linked to dark blue.  Blue is known as a masculine colour, and is normally associated with a new born boy. The colour blue is calming, peaceful and relaxing, although blue can also be connected to sadness and insecurity. The colour blue on a magazine would make the reader feel calm. The colour blue may lead to the reader feeling the magazine is safe and secure. The colour blue on the front of a magazine may lead to the reader feeling that the magazine is realistic and not edgy.

The colour green is normally associated with the environment. It is the colour of many things to do with the environment for example; recycling. The colour green is calm, gentle and soft. Green would be used in a magazine to enable the reader to link the magazine to an eco-friendly matter. The colour green would lead the reader to feel that the magazine is reliable, with a friendly feel to it.

The colour pink is a very feminine colour. It is normally associated with women. Due to the fact that many women wear pink clothes and pink makeup. The colour pink is innocent, bright and fun. The colour pink is usually used in magazines that of which are aimed at women and young girls. Pink in a magazine would lead the reader to feeling that the magazine was aimed at women, containing gossip and makeup advice.

 

The colour yellow is not very easily visable upon a white background. Using a darker background would allow the colour to stand out. The colour yellow is not gender specific, and so would be suitable for both genders. The colours black and yellow go well together. The colour yellow is a very neutral colour as it is not really associated with a theme or a gender.

 Front Cover Design 1

 

 This is a design that I may use to create my magazine. The front cover is based on the information that I collected in my questionairre and the research that I did on front covers, contents pages and student magazines. I will use different colours to create the front cover as I want the cover to stand out and attract the readers attention. I decided that a good way to attract the readers attention was throught the images. In the questionairre many people said that they looked for imformation in a magazine. I thought that adding text boxes allows me to put some information on the front of the magazine to make the reader want to read the magazine to find out more. I would also put the page number at the bottom of the page, to allow the reader to look through the magazine with little difficulty.

Contents page analysis

I have decided to analyse the contents page on the same magazine that I used for my front cover analysis. The main part of the contents page would be the top right hand corner. There is a story that is provided to possibly keep the reader’s attention. The main image that catches the reader’s attention is the big brother logo. This stands out because it is so well known and so many people know it and so they can recognise the logo. They have different sections for different parts of the magazine. They had an ‘on the Cover’ section which covered all of the information that was on the front of the magazine. They have a ‘hottest news’ section, which includes many celebrity stories. They have a ‘features’ section, which includes Celebrity exposures, travel information and what’s hot and what’s not.  They also have a ‘Style and Diet’ section, which includes High Street Fashion, a Lust List, and Hot Fashion etc.  It then goes on to the ‘reviews and TV’ section, which includes reviews, TV talk and TV listings. Each of these sections is explained, which tells the reader what to expect in each of these sections. The images used are related to the topics, an image of the front cover is used in the ‘On the Cover’ section. In the section dedicated to Big Brother, the images are of the celebrities which will be in the big brother house. The way in which the magazine editors have edited the contents page to make the celebrities appear to be talking to the readers.

The colours used are not too over the top. The colours go well together, yellow, red, purple and white. The neutral colours allow the big brother logo to stand out from the rest of the colours, due to the fact that the logo is a lot of colours. There are a few images next to the different sections of the contents page of celebrities, who are related to the stories in the sections. The contents page also details the date to allow the reader to be up to date with information. In the top right hand corner is the big brother section. The rest of the main contents page is placed around this, in a sort of ‘L’ shape. This makes the contents page more interesting rather than it just being a list of what is on each page. The page numbers are clearly detailed next to each sub section to enable the reader to flick to pages that they are interested in. I feel this is important as it makes the overall experience of the magazine quicker and easier. As it allows the reader to flick to the pages they are interested in if they are in a rush.

The biggest section of the contents page is the big brother section. It has images of all of the housemates and Information about the times in which the programme can be viewed. This section of the contents page is here as the issue on which I have chosen to analyse was issued just before the release of celebrity big brother. A lot of the viewers of this magazine would be interested in big brother as it is very well known. The magazine provides an insight to what to expect and also reveals some of the housemates. This is effective as the small releases of information spread out allows the reader to follow the information and spurts gossip about each the show.

Font Testing

Arial Black – Arial Black is an easy to read, bold font. This font would be ideal to use for a heading. The lettering does not curve at any point and so enables readers with eye sight problems to read with very little difficulty.

Gabriola – This font appears very small, at size 11. However if you make the writing bigger the writing becomes clearer to the reader. This would be a good font to use for an elegant heading, which allows the reader to compare the lettering to the Story. A bad example of a heading that this lettering should not be used for would be something very dangerous and inelegant. A good example of a story that could be comparing lettering may have something to do with the royal family, as I picture this lettering to be very elegant and royal. As you can see the numbers that are written in this font are not distinguishable from the letters eg 11, 10, 13 and they appear in very small sizes.

Impact- This font is very bold. However the way in which the letters are squashed together may have an impact on the visibility for readers who may have visual problems. I feel that this font would be ideal to use as a title font, because it is bold, but I feel that using the font at a smaller size will be difficult to read. I think that this font will attract the reader’s attention to the magazine, as the text will be larger.

Batang- I think this font is easily visible and will not be hard to read for people who of which are visually impaired. This is because the font is produced with huge gaps between each word. I feel that this would not be a good font to use, as it would take up a lot of the space on the magazine. However it is easy to see words apart, which is useful to the visually impaired. I may use this font in my magazine as I am aware that in larger paragraphs the writing is easily distinguished.

MV Boli- This text is slanted which gives a hand written effect. This font would be useful for sections in which there are interviews taking place, so that the reader can distinguish the opinions of the interviewer and the interviewee. This font is easy to read, however it is not very bold. This would make it unsuitable for the headings/ front cover title. Again the spaces between the words allows the reader to tell different words apart, which again would be useful to the visually impaired, as I am aware of a few students who suffer for visual impairment. Perhaps if I increased the size and the boldness of the font, I would be able to use it for headings.

DilleniaUPC – This font is not easily visible, to those who have full sight and those who are visually impaired. I do not feel this font would be suitable for use in a magazine because of this. As with the other fonts I feel if I were to Bold the font it will be easier to see, therefore I could use it in my magazine.

Student Magazine Research

Successful Student Magazine

This is an example of a magazine that has been designed for students. The front cover includes what to expect inside the magazine. The cover shows that the magazine includes advice on how to manage stress, choose wisely and Teacher’s pal sections. The front cover of this magazine is not very colourful,, therefore it does not stand out from other student magazines. From my questionnaire I know that many students look for a colourful front cover to make the magazine look more interesting so that they would want to read it. The image on the front is relatable to many students, however I found that students look for celebrity appearances on the front of magazines to attract their attention, therefore I feel that although this image catches the attention because of the size, it is not what students would look for. The colours used are very dull and don’t have much variety. This prevents different parts of the cover from standing out. From my research I know that the students feel that colours make the cover stand out form a crowd. From my questionnaire I know that the students want information in the student magazine. From the information that is presented on the front of this magazine, the quantity of information that the students I questioned looked for is not included.

Student Magazine

This is another example of a student magazine. The colour of this magazine stands out. The image in the middle of the magazine and the size is reasonably large. The image is also relevant to the purpose of the magazine. The colour of the font does not really stand out against the light blue background, so I will need to make sure that the colours do not contrast on my magazine. The heading is reasonably bold, which allows it to stand out from the rest of the text. However the image is covering up most of the bold writing. This may be to represent the how important the image is. The front cover displays the content which seems to be of a decent quantity. This is good as the results of my questionnaire showed that the students wanted lots of information and advice. Information on studying abroad, university, future jobs etc. This information is particular to the age range from around 18-22, when many people are thinking about or are at university. The information in the magazine also includes Facebook and gadgets. This interests many young people as they always want the new gadgets and many use social networking sites such as Facebook. The colours do not vary, the use of blue in this magazine is a little over the top. The colour blue can represent sadness, and so may give off the wrong vibe.

Student Advisor Magazine

This is another example of a Student Magazine. The image on the front of the magazine is relevant to the purpose of the magazine. The image is of a professional nature and so is effective. The background of the image is relevant as the Magazine is aimed at Students who are going to college and University. The colours on this magazine make the magazine stand out form a crowd of magazines. The colours do not clash with the background, which allows the reader to see all of the information clearly. The way in which the word ‘advisor’ has been written in a different colour to the rest of the text, shows how important the word is, and makes it stand out. It also makes it clear that the magazine is based on advice, which many of the people I questioned would look for in a student magazine. The stories displayed on the front of the image attract the reader’s attention due to the fact that some of them are based on things that students may include in their everyday lives, for an example the story about ‘Gatorade’. Many college/ university/ young students would recognise this well-known brand name. I think it is important to include some stories that many students will find close to home. The magazine cover also shows ’10 dorm must have’. This gives students ant college or university some advice on how to ‘spice up’ their college/ university rooms.

Questionnaire Analysis

Age and Gender

This graph shows the ages and the genders of all of the people that I asked to do my magazine questionnaire. The majority of the people were aged between 13 and 20, and they were females. This is because this was the age that I felt would know more about what they would like to have in a student magazine because many of them still attend some sort of information.

How often do you read magazines?

This chart shows how often the people I asked to complete my questionnaire read magazines. The graph shows that many of these people read magazines weekly. The same amount of people read magazines everyday. Therefore it would be a good idea release a magazine either everyday or every week.


Favourite magazine

The graph below shows the magazines that the people that completed my questionnaire enjoy.
The majority of the people I asked to complete my questionnaire enjoy reading Glamour. The minority of the group like Closer and Take a break etc.

 

 

 

Why do you like this magazine?

The graph below shows why the above magazines are their favourites. The majority of the group read these magazines because they contain the latest gossip. Many read these magazines for the advice columns as well.


What do you look for in a magazine?

The graph below shows what features the group look for in a magazine. These could be the main reasons that they choose their favourite magazines. The majority of the group looks for information in a magazine. Many also look for gossip and advice. However the minority look for advertisements, which leads me to think about possibly not having advertisements in my magazine. Form my results I think that the most important aspect to include would be the information.

 

What things on a magazine cover attract your attention?

I asked the group what attracts them to the magazine. What features on the magazine cover attract your attention and make you buy it?

The majority of the group said that the Celebrity Images on the front cover of the magazine attract their attention and makes them want to look inside. They then said that the bold colours and the Images attract their attention, therefore, it is important that I include these. The minority of the group said they looked for bold writing and Sad Stories. Therefore I should take

 this into consideration when I make my magazine.

How much are you willing to pay for a magazine?

I then asked the group how much they would be willing to pay for a magazine.  The majority of the group said that they would be willing to pay between £1.00 and £2.00. I should take this into consideration when I price my magazine as this is an important aspect of the overall success of the magazine.

If still in school, what information and/ or advice would you look for in a magazine?

The majority of the group, who were still in school, said that they would look for advice on Homework. The Minority of the group said they were looking for advice on making friends, teachers and bullying.

Questionnaire
This is the questionnaire that I will be handing out amongst around 12 people. The point of this questionnaire is to enable me to analyse the information to help me create the magazine.

1) How old are you? 13-20            21-30               31-40            41-50

2) What is your gender? Male                 Female

3) Do you normally read magazines?

Yes             No

If Yes how often?

Occasionally            Weekly                 Everyday

4) What magazines do you normally read?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5) Why do you like this magazine?
Interesting Stories O
Advice columns O
Latest Gossip O
Fashion Advice O
Favourite hobby O
Fills spare time O

Other, please specify: _____________________________________________________________

6) What do you look for in a magazine?

Information O
Images O
Gossip O
Advertisements: music and movies. O
Advice O

Other, please specify: _____________________________________________________________

7) What things on a magazine cover attract your attention?

Bold Colours
Celebrity Images O
Images O
Bold Writing O
Sad stories O

Other, please specify: _____________________________________________________________

8) How much are you willing to pay for a magazine?

£1.00-                £1.00-£2.00             £2.00-£3.00                       £3.00+

9) If still in school, what information and/or advice would you be looking for in a student magazine?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10) What would convince you to buy a magazine?

Front cover O
Price O
Pictures O
Features O

Other, please specify: _____________________________________________________________

Thank you for your time.

 

‘Star’ magazine- Cover Analysis

 

The price of the magazine is clearly shown at the top left hand side of the magazine. It states that the magazine will cost ‘99p’ and is printed every week for the same price. Doing this advertises the next addition of the magazine. The price is also compared to the prices of other leading magazines to allow the reader to notice the price difference and allows them to know how much they have saved. This is a positive thing to the company that makes the magazine as the reader will note the price difference and choose ‘star’ over the other leading brands.
The word ‘DEVASTATED’ stands out as it is in bold capital letters. Therefore, it attracts the reader’s attention. The heart gripping front page stories makes the reader want to read inside. This is helpful as when the magazine is in a shop ready to be sold, the front page is the first part of the magazine the reader sees.
The magazine uses a wide variety of colours, pink, blue, red, yellow etc. These colours attract the reader’s attention, as it is more intriguing than a plain magazine with dull colours. The various colours interest the reader.
The content is displayed on the front cover, which allows the reader to view what is inside without turning the pages. The content is mainly celebrity and television show based. For example: Big brother, celebrity pregnancies, slimming and exercise, break ups and devastating celebrity news. There is something for everyone.
There are also many images. Such as images of influential people, celebrities, reality TV shows, musicians, models, presenters etc. The magazine provided many exclusive Interviews with these people to allow the reader to put themselves in the shoes of the person and also allows the reader to learn more about the people that influence them.
The ways in which the photographs are taken add to the effects that they have on the reader. For example the big images at the front of the magazine are of Chantelle and Gary; these photographs have been taken to allow the reader to view the emotions of the two celebrities. The photographs of the celebrities link to the text that follows them. The images are of familiar faces and so they are noticeable to the reader, which may attract the reader’s attention.