FINAL DRAFTS

These are my final designs for my magazine front cover and contents page

Creating my College magazine front cover

This blog is here to show the production stages off my magazine front cover:  from the photography to the editing off the cover using the software. 

Firstly we had to take our own photo for a front cover. it had to include a medium close up off a college student. which was relvent to our magazine 

After i had chosen the photo that i wanted as my front cover, i had had to edit it.  This is because the original photo was actually too dark to use. so underneath is the edited copy. 

after editing the photo it was time to create my magazine front cover using 'InDesign'. 

This was the first time that i had ever used this programme so i didn't have any experience at all.

this was my first draft that i had for my magazine. At first i have an error with the photo. It was too pixelated and unclear, it was making my front cover look scruffy and unpresentable. however i corrected the error by making the size off the photo smaller. This is my final copy off my front cover. and my Contents page. 

flat plan designs

These are my two flat plan designs to show the structure of my magazine front cover, i chose to go with the first draft design other than the second because i preferred the layout.

preliminary proposal

Preliminary proposal:

·      Who are you aiming your magazines at specifically?

 My magazine will be for a student 16-18 years old.  Average teenagers who go to college but also have an active social life

·      What will your magazine be about?

My magazine is not just going to be about all the new learning essentials that you will need, it will involve a ‘social life’ kind off side to it.  For example ‘NUS card discounts’, ’student nights’ and

It will involve an element of fashion for example ‘staying warm in winter’ ‘college warmth essentials’   the male and female side. 

However it will talk about how you can get back into your college routine.

·      What are your ideas for cover lines?

Im going to include lots off offers and deals on my cover lines because it’s a magazine for starting a ‘college term’ it’s a college magazine with interviews. It will have a cool vibe to it.

·      What title have you decided on and why?

I haven’t decided fully on a title off the magazine yet but I want it to be something like ‘student social’ or ‘student life’.  These are just rough thoughts I feel that’s its more relevant.  I don’t want to use anything like ‘student learning’ because some people may find that boring and it may not stand out to them.  It’s going to be a modern student magazine with mixed elements of learning and social life.

·      What font do you want to use and why?

Ill be wanting to use a bright and bold font that will apply to both genders as it’s a mixed gender magazine. It will be simple but outstanding title font.  

·      What are your ideas for taglines?

I don’t have any ideas for a tagline

·      When in the year will it be published:

I want this magazine to come out every academic term, or every time we come into another season, for example college in the ‘summer or winter’

·      What kind of image do you expect to put on your front cover, how will you go about getting this image?

I just want a medium close up of a student, with a plain white background. This will be so the writing and cover lines can be seen Cleary.

·      How frequently will it be published?

It’s going to be published at the end of every college term. It will have relevant stories to the season off the term.

·      What are the dimensions for the cover?

 I don’t have any dimensions for the cover.

·      What images will be featured on the contents page?

I haven’t really thought off using photos for the contents page but I will be using a themed color throughout the magazine.

Skill Audit

This skills audit is to show what i can and cant do, before i start my design for my magazine.

IPCMedia: the UK's leading consumer magazine and digital publisher

With more than 60 media brands, IPC creates content for multiple platforms, across print, online, mobile, tablets and events. They sell to 26 million UK adults, two thirds of UK women and over 40% of UK men. The International Publishing Corporation Ltd was formed in 1963

What types of magazine has IPC been associated with over the years?

One off the earliest magazine/newspapers which was published by IPC was called 'the Field'.

The Field launched in 1853 and within a year became the largest newspaper in Europe, it had 24 pages. It played its part the Crimean War and in November 18, 1854 it had an issue that ran a series of personal narratives of those who took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade. (A battle where 118 men were killed, 127 wounded and about 60 taken prisoner.)

One off the more recent and modern brands that is linked to IPC is 'nuts magazine'

Nuts is the number one selling men's lifestyle magazine in the UK with over 50% of sales for all men's magazines sold on UK newsstands. Nuts was Launched in 2004, it has established itself as the biggest brand in men's media and is known for including such topics as, girls, football, games, movies, amazing pictures, bizarre facts, trivia and funny stuff.

IPC also publishes NME magazine which has become a big factor of the music industry including such components off media such as NME.com, NME Video, NME Radio and the NME live events and awards, NME reaches over 1.1 million music fans every week.

As you can see from these examples that I have given IPC is a very flexible publishing brand these are just a few of the many magazines that they choose to publish.

Why might IPC be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine?

I feel that in some ways IPC could be a good potential publisher for a new music magazine. It has years off publishing experience that it has had, as it’s been around for a good 150 years. So they would know what they are doing.

However they already have a popular franchise called NME which is known worldwide. So it would be a hard job keeping up with that franchise.

Also NME actually stands for 'new musical express' so that means it supplies all off the new music that is coming in to the music industry. so it makes you think that IPC would have the money and experience to publish a 'new music magazine' but it would have to not clash with their other music magazines as NME is not the only music magazine they publish they also publish Uncut. Uncut is a classic rock magazine which covers all types of rock they said that it’s the 'home off great timeless rock music'.

What sort of genres of music/types of magazines might they be likely to publish?

IPC actually publish what it looks like a lot off upper class/ wealthy magazines including such titles as 'European boat builder', 'shooting times' or 'country life' all off these magazines are stereotypically linked to an upper class member of society or wealthy. So maybe they could produce a magazine to fit that niche market. Which ‘stereotypically’ could be maybe classic music? As they've already covered 'new music' and 'rock' music magazines, this could possibly be a new gap in the market.

Why might alternative publishers like Bauer be appropriate?

The Bauer Media Group, Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media company offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Very much so like IPC. They involve such magazines as 'kerrang', 'box hits', 'heat magazine' and 'zoo'. This company seems to have a lot off music related magazines and franchises, and looks much more modern than IPC. Due to the fact of the company having a more musical and modern background, I feel that this could be a possible candidate too for a new 'music magazine'. I also feel that it is 'rivals' with IPC in the 'publishing' industry. 

 

 

 

 

Media essay;

Conventions of these magazines:

These 5 teenage magazine front covers are all very similar to each other in the way that they are set out. Apart from 'cosmo girl' the colours are very bright and feminine; as you can see they stand out to the reader and obviously apply to their 'niche market'.

On the front cover they all have 'teenage roll models' (mainly music artists) or celebrities, that are always looking glamorous and perfect, because that what these magazines are about. The cover lines of these magazines normally contain stories like

'Be a style sensation' or '163 wear me-now trends!'  these cover lines make it obvious to the reader what the magazine is going to contain.

However a lot of people consider these magazines to have a major negative effect on young teens who read these magazines. Many articles on the internet talk about how these magazines can lead to many teenage girls suffering 'depression' and low 'self esteem'. One article from the website 'eHow'  actually talks about:

'The perfection of celebrities'   some cases have said that the way these celebrities are shown on these magazine front covers can lead to dissatisfaction in teenage girls. This can evidently cause extreme behaviour, for example eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia can occur because the girls who read these magazines are trying so hard to look 'perfect'. The problem is with these images on fronts covers are always edited.

Another problem that has been raised by many people is that ' teen magazines are sexualizing readers' an article in the telegraph by 'watch dog' talks about how these teen magazines are going too far. 'A study had actually been conducted by the telegraph'

The Telegraph of several magazines aimed at teenage girls found that they contained sexually-explicit material which was potentially in breach of the industry's 'editorial code'. Apparently they had found out, that the magazine 'seventeen' is actually read by children as young as 11, which some people could see as shocking.

Bliss magazine, whose readers have an average age of 15, have actually featured stories such as "The Sex Factor, your questions answered on p46" and "Gang raped – for a mobile phone. This  questions the responsibility off the magazine editors in my opinion.

however other comments are being made on the 'ehow' website saying that some people actually think seventeen and teen vogue and a few other (and I stress few) magazines now feature images more reflective of the average woman for example (less air brushed models), Articles about safe sex, relationships, healthy eating and exercise guide teens through their 'life struggles’. They say there are Features on the academic side or a teenager’s life and careers. Apparently they motivate and encourage teens in their progression through age. But what do you think?



Personally in my opinion I feel that these teen magazine are filling the teenagers off this generation with mislead information. And I think the editors are to blame, they have stopped caring about making a decent magazine and now they only care about the ratings and readings, so they can make money. I disagree with children the age of 11 they shouldn’t be able to buy these sort of magazines at this age. However we are talking about how 'we disagree with all the explicit content that is involved'. If these magazines cut out all their 'interesting stories' what else would they write about? School? Teenagers don’t want to read about that.

analyzing zoo magazine

 

'zoo magazine' is a magazine company that has an audience of 16 and over men/young adults.

you can tell straight away what the target audience just from 'the main image'

The main image is a picture of 'Kim Kardashian' in a bikini, looking like she is on holiday. A main ideology for this magazine is the view of a woman. and compared to other magazines for example 'good house keeping'. zoo's perception off a woman is very different. they make females look like 'sex objects', which many people may disagree on. But this magazine applys to its 'niche audience' which is men not women.

how does the magizine apply to its audience:

The magazine keeps their the colour scheme and font simple but bright and bold. They dont use femanine colours as that would not work as they are not trying to appeal to a female audience.
The 'main image' will most definantly always be female because thats what the magazines 'niche audience' want to see, it keeps them interested.

They magazine uses 'puff plugs' on thier front cover to grasp their audience, and every magazine will have a different 'puff plug' to apeal to their audience. For example a beauty magazine may have a puff plug for 'a new diet secret'. but 'zoo' magaizine would include things such as 'free poster' off an attractive female. as you can see the difference off these puff plugs are very clear.

The Main story is clear that its about 'kim kardashian' and it has a picture off her, in her bikini, she is a well known 'celebrity' and celebrity can be said to be a 'role model' so people that follow her and like her will be wanting to buy this magazine.

Other conventions:
you can see the barcode on the top right hand side off the front cover which will normally conclude the price. also the banner can be seen at the top off the front cover. The banner normally is the logo of the magazine and is a well known logo off the brand. The 'zoo' logo is very clear and simple. it stands out and its recognisable.

Glossary: 

1. niche audience: specific type off audience that a magazine would apply too,e.g: music (heavy metal)

2. bar code: A series of vertical lines that identify the magazine, the magazine's publisher, and the magazine's price.

3. banner: The name of a publication as it is displayed on the cover. Also known as the Logo.

4.masthead:The section of a newspaper or magazine that lists the publication's staff, ownership, subscription details, and so on.

5.layout (noun): The compilation of text and graphics on a page

6.layout (verb): The task of arranging art, text and other graphic elements on a page. 

7.page layout: The assembly of the elements on a page, including text and graphics. Also called page composition or page makeup.

8.premium: A book or other piece of merchandise given away as part of a promotion.

9.artifact: A visible defect in a scanned image, usually caused by hardware or software limitations

10. banding: An undesirable graphic effect in which a gradation contains visible stepping of shades

11. main image:  an image on the front cover off a magazine, that stands out and is larger than other images on the cover.

12.bold: type or font that is heavier (thicker or darker) than the text type of the same typeface. Short for boldface. makes the text stand out 

13. bold: A set of type or font that is heavier (thicker or darker) than the text type of the same typeface. Short for boldface.

14.typo: A typographical error in a published work, such as a misspelling or missing letter

15. visual: the artwork off a magazine.

what can you do with blogger?:

• Blogger can be a great platform for web development 
• you can create personal blogs, to store personal information, diaries ect.
• you can upload videos, voice clips and photos 
• you can receive comments from other bloggers and communicate through blogger 

how will blogger help me with my coursework?: 

blogger will be a useful application for me to use during my coursework because it will be a place for me to document all off my work that i complete during this period.  its a way off me communicating with my college teachers, to receive feedback and constructive criticism. and it is easily accessible and simple to use so their wont be any complications