How did i use technologies?

In the construction of my magazine, technologies were key in enabling me to create a professional, high standard magazine. This was mainly due to the adobe program's of Photoshop and Indesign, as well as media platforms such as blogger, polyvore and survey monkey. 

Firstly, Photoshop, a photo editing software was key in helping me to create professional looking product. I uses tools such as the spot healing brush (air brush tool) and the magnetic lasso (cutting out objects) to achieve this, my skill becoming more advanced with time. This meant that I could cutout photos of my model and move them on to different backgrounds, as well as make the general quality of my models skin and features better. I was also able to use states such as the hue/ saturation to change colours on my product, using layers to change the state of different objects, as well as adjusting the brightness and contrast etc. Ways I used this included changing the colour of my artists lips to match the masthead, by cutting out the section on a new layer and changing the hue.

Other vital program's included the use of Adobe InDesign, where I could arrange my photos and text in a professional way for both my contents and double page spread. It was here that I learned to add conventions such as pull quotes and drop caps, as well as learning to warp the article around the photos of my artist to make it visually appealing.

Finally the combined use of other websites and platforms were very helpful in the overall planning and construction of my product. Websites such as survey monkey allowed to me to carry out in depth questionnaires to help me establish my audience, as well as the help of Polyvore, a website which allowed  me to create collages when planning. The overall use of blogger has also been effective in my construction, as I can digitally refer back to any research or planning at any time to ensure consistently in my product. 

Who will be the audience for my product?

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

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Who Will Distribute My Product

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

How did I attract/address my audience?

http://prezi.com/etd7zrretoi0/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Completed music magazine

Final Double page spread (version 2)

Final contents page (version 2)

Final Front cover (version 3)

Focus group feedback

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 General feedback:

Good colour, scheme including effective use of colour matching throughout the create house style.

• Nice pictures which are clear and conventional to my genre in my use of clothing, makeup and outdoor setting.
• Not cluttered and good use of space
• Generally eyecatching and professional looking.
• The model looks great, I love all of her clothes and makeup!
• The general style look really good, i like all of the fonts, colours and pictures
• All of the features look great i want to read it"

• Could make better use of space on contents page. The space below 'Contents' look unusual
• The 'Lily Temple' feature box on the front cover covers the artists face and distracts from her
• The writing on the right half of the DPS is unreadable                                                           

Contents and cover feedback

Rare Contents and Cover Feedback

Double page spread first draft

New double page spread flat plan

After rethinking my original double page spread flat plan which featured three photos of my artist, I decided that a simpler approach would be more effective. By featuring one picture across the two pages, it would appear less cluttered and,minimalistic which is slightly more complimentary of my indie genre.

'Lily Temple' artist interview

Rare Interview

Research and planning: designing my dps

I was stuck when deigning my double page spread, as I had two strong images, yet both very different. I thus began to design a double page spread using both to decide the desired style and image of my product.

This image with my model holding a guitar is a strong image as it reflects the music genre of the magazine. I thought it brought about the opportunity to use my red colour over the top without distracting from the image behind as it's black and white. The picture itself if also of good quality and appears so in preview.
I however decided that placing text over the image did not work and I realised that doing so would mean that my models face would end up being covered. I have also not used a black and white image with this particular model before in the magazine, and i thus think that using this does not follow the house style.

I then experimented using this fade image which I edited in photoshop. I think that the fading around the edge looks professional, and also eye catching. My model is also wearing a red skirt with red lips which ties in with my colour scheme and helps me to assert my house style better on these pages. Her positioning is also a positive point in the photo, as it provides opportunity to warp text around her. The text does not look out of place when going over the landscape of the photo, and draws no attention away from the model herself.

Indesign skills development

I learned the basics in constructing a contents page/DPS in adobe indesign. By selecting 'file,place' you can insert a picture into your document, placing it wherever you want to. Then, by drawing a textbox of the appropriate size, you can select 'type, fill with place holder text' which gives a sense of the visuals of the text you wish to insert. You can the select your image, and find the 'warptext' button in your essentials tool bar to arrange writing around the photo.








I then used and developed these skills to experiment with my double page spread design.I used the fill with placeholder text to get a feel for the way a particular photo would look with text over it. I also learned how to type on a path by selecting 'file,type on path' to create text that appeared to read in a certain pattern. I developed this by using the draw tool to draw a line and box around the guitar in the photo and fill it with place holder text to create another warp text effect. I also added drop cap by selecting 'type,paragraph styles and paragraph options' and selecting 'drop caps'. This allowed me to see the visual effects of drop caps and all the conventions of a dps.

Front cover: Version 2

RARE Contents page

New Contents Flatplan

Contents page design

This was the beginning of my contents page, referring to my flat plan. Despite it following my original image, I feel like the overall design does not have connotations of an indie genre. I think the structured layout resembles more of a classical feel. I also think there is too much writing, and the page appears cluttered. I have also left only little spaces for my main feature pictures, putting little emphasis on them.I think my design need to be slightly more minimalistic will less writing, perhaps only for the features. I also will leave more space for photos, and make it slightly less structured. I have thus decided to change my design and draw a new flat plan.

Use of Photoshop on my cover

I used my previous knowledge of "file, place" to insert my picture into photoshop, and adjusted the hue/saturation to give my picture the slightly off colour vintage effect which will appeal to my target audience.

I then zoomed in and used the spot healing brush to remove any imperfections on my models face, including spots and skin creases.

I also learned to group layers using the keyboard short cut 'Control G' Which allowed me to move groups of my cover lines easily.










I then used the 'colour pick' tool to select various colours in my background photo and match them with my font. This allowed me to experiment with establishing a house style and colour scheme.

Critical evaluation of first draft front cover

1. Does your front cover represent the aim and style of the intended magazine? 
- My cover includes sufficient information about the content of my magazine as it includes four features, including my main cover line, as well as two monthly regulars. However, I think that the overall style of the cover is slightly less edgy that my intended music genre. The magazine aims to cover the whole Indie genre including Indie rock. I feel like the cover radiates more of an indie pop/ indie acoustic feel.
2. Can you read the cover lines easily and clearly?
-  All cover lines are easily visible, yet the readability of "Peace" and "Crystal fighters" is slightly obscured by the dark area of the background.
3. Are the cover lines obscuring the photograph/ going over the artists face?
- All cover lines are to the left of my artist and do not cover or obscure any parts of her face.
4. Does the choice of font work?
- Both the font choice and size look appropriate, and seem to compliment my disposable feel photograph. I do however feel that the font could be made more edgy in order to help me represent better the harder side of the indie genre.
5. Is the background too light/ too dark?
- Areas where text is unreadable due to the dark background can be improved by altering text colour rather than that of the picture brightness. I think the current saturation of the photo gives the intended fresh feel. I could experiment with darkness however to see if this adds a harder hitting picture.
6. Is the masthead prominent and easily readable?
- I think the size and font of the masthead aid it's readability. The colour is also appropriate on the background and does not hinder the visibility. It also helps in making the cover more edgy.
7. Is there a bar-code (with numbers underneath), date, price, and if appropriate issue number?
- There is a bar-code and price present in the right hand corner of the cover, both if which do not direct attention away from the picture or cover lines. There is also a date in the top left corner about the masthead to make it easily identifiable perhaps to a collector. The date is also around the time the magazine would be 'published'. There is no issue number, something which I could add to show that my magazine is already established and highbrow.
8. Is it appropriate to the intended target audience?
- The four main interests of my target audience are: Music, fashion, theatre and art. I feel there is a strong representation of these present in my cover. By using prominent make-up on my model, this is a big focus of the cover, complimented by her current floral/vintage clothing. These both adhere to the art and fashion interests of my audience. I have also used a location setting in the photograph in which my models look is fitting. These combine to make a continued disposable, arty themed product. I have also bee precise in my use of colour match, where both the masthead font and lipstick of my model are the same. This not only connects her to the magazine, but looks visually artistic. I have also included band names on my cover, as well as stated the music genre in my tagline which should satisfy the musical interest of my target audience.
9. Does it look like a music magazine front cover?
- I feel the main flaw of my cover is that the content of the text adheres to being a music magazine, yet the main image could in fact be on a fashion magazine. This is helpful as my audience's main interest is fashion, yet I think this it can override the music genre. I therefore aim to add more music magazine conventions, perhaps by adding block boxes behind some elements of text to make the music subject more prominent, as well as make the overall cover more edgy. I could also add a header in the upper third of the page where I will put my tagline to make this the initial focus.
10. Have you realised your design intentions?
- The cover looks as I initially intended. I think i can now develop it further by adding more layering to the picture as I feel the text can be seen to merge into the background somewhat, which poses less focus on the music magazine element. I think I will keep the basic structure and positioning, and build on this.

RARE front cover version one

Research and Plannig: RARE Photoshoot

Research and planning: DPS flatplan

Research and planning: Contents flatplan

Research and planning: Cover flat plan

Research and planning: Interview aims

Rare Magazine Interview Aims

research and planning: magazine details