Final Prints

Magazine Evaluation

1)In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

There are a few common conventions my magazine shares with real media products (magazines).

The way i have laid out my magazine follows the style of a few well known magazines, the text had been placed to the side of the image in a way which does not obstruct it, my subject image fills the front cover so it becomes obvious the feature article is about the artist displayed on the cover.

I tried to keep a minimal style inoreder not to over crowd the frontcover simmilar conventions can be seen in the magazine 'Fader'( http://imfmag.com/2009/08/07/drake-covers-fader-magazine/ )

I also used conventions of popular magazines on my double page spread, i ensured my main image and smaller images do not lie on the crease line so the are in full view when the page is folded

A consistant colour and style has been used throught out my pages to make it easy to identify they belong to the same magazine, this also a magazine to flow.

However my contents page challenges common conventions i wanted a stylish but accessible design which would allow the reader to easily identify the content of the magazine while still containing some key features to make the page interesting and attract the readers eye. To do this i decided to split the page this allowed the text to be read easily and articled to be displayed better 

Fonts

Below are some free, un-copyrighted fonts i have found on the website dafont.com. They are san-serif fonts which fit the style of my magazine well and would suit it

http://www.dafont.com/neou.font

http://www.dafont.com/planet-kosmos.font?fpp=50&af=on

http://www.dafont.com/criticized.font?fpp=50&af=on

http://www.dafont.com/devil-breeze.font?fpp=50&af=on

like i said in a previous post i should vary my fonts but not uses too many as to confuse the audience i should also stick to fonts which are easy to read, for instance 'Planet Kosmos' should only be used in small moderation as it would be difficult to read a paragraph of it, i will perhaps use it for a header or even just page numbers.

Even More Magazine Research

This magazine is effective for a variety of reasons, the main photo is a close up of the artist 'Drake' this close up shot makes the magazine seem unusual but interesting and would make it stand out well from others the text on the front cover is also good it does well to come across the subject but not block him from view, by selecting a smaller font for the articles it detracts less from the cover image. i may use this close up style in my own magazine to improve it.

More Music Magazine Research

This magazine uses a minimalist approach to achieve a stylish, streamlined look.the uses of colour is done well using a red to highlight the text and stand out from the black and white image.The text is a simple san serif font which is easy to read and especially easy to identify the main article due to the red colour. The cover image is also well positioned filling the entire spread of the front page.

Planning For Music Magazine

Using some of the skills i have used in creating my preliminary task of a school magazine, i will now be creating a music magazine, in order to create a successful magazine i will have to first analyise current music magazines and see which devices they use. They are some particularly important features of magazines which i will have to take into account when i create my magazine these are


Font
I must ensure that i dont use to mainy different fonts as this can be strenuous to the reader and difficult to read, also the articles may begin to blend into adverts if they all look too different.
The type of font i use is also important as it must be visually appealing wihle staying easy to read this also apply to the colour of the font. Serifs (the small tick marks on the end of a letter) for exaple 'H' can make text easier to read as the eye traks across the serifs however using San-Serifs ( font with out the tickmarks) look more modern and may help the style of the magazine.
I should avoid use of all caps as they are difficult to read and instead use larger or bold versions of the text as an alternative also stretching and compressing the font gives a bad look.


Pictures
Using good pictures is key to giving the magazine a professional look, the actual picture should be eye catching and/ or informative so the reader can tell what the main article is discussing and draws the readers attention. Using a high resolution colour photo  with a good level of impact can do this. For my magazine i will be using a single photo of a fictional music star by taking the photo from the side it can stand out from other magazines. for smaller pictures in the articles i should keep to high quality ones and avoid cheap clipart graphics especially as my target audience are teen and not a young audience who would find them interesting to look at.


Layout
The layout of the magazine is essential for success as if the pictures and text are good however placed in a way which is difficult to view it could undo all the previous work. To ensure my layout does not do i will research how current music magazines are laid out and review how easy they are to read and also how eye catching they appear.

School-Style Magazine Analysis





This is the College front cover. It is aimed at college students and focuses on and college life. The masthead is centred in the middle at the top like most other magazines. The headline is centred on the left hand side at the top the text follows the picture as it does well not to obstruct the sutdents face. The remaining features features are placed on the right and left hand side in two columns. there is a large amount of topics on the front as it is an informaton type magazine. There is one picture on the front cover, which is a long shot, and this is used as the background and spreads across the page. The font vaireis in size and thickness but not style. The colours that are used are not as contrasting but stand away and can be easily read. The strengths of this magazine are that is simplistic and clean which allows easy reading.

School Magazine Planning / Design

I began by designing a header for the school magazine titled 'The Marlwood Issue'. Using photoshop and imported fonts i was able to make the text, i tried to make it as appelaing as possible to the target audience (pupils) while still fitting the school theme. I added a notepad style border and peices of tape around 'Marlwood' as it is a shchool magazine, i also decided green would be the best colour as it is the schools colour.

Music Magazine Research

This is the first music magazine i am analysing, it has a few features which are eye catching and interesting, Firstly The title is gold and shiny with a 'bling' effect this is fitting of the style of the magazine as it is hip-hop/rap based the title is placed behind the subject however is still readable. The text of the articles is placed to the sides of the main image (Wiz Khalifa) and does not obscure his face, the colours of the pieces of text also offers a nice contrast from the background and makes for easier reading, the actual image on the magazine covers the entire front page with the subject in the centre of the magazine. The sticker on the magazine is a nice size and has a professional look about it the angled text on the sticker also offers a nice difference from the rest of the text and make it stand apart.

Test.

umm, yehh :)