Evaluation: Question 7

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


The preliminary task was set for two reasons, reason one was to allow students who were not confident in using Photoshop the time to get to know their way around the soft ware in order to have a better understanding when creating their final piece. Reason two was to get us thinking of all the elements and components a professional magazine consists of for our final piece to look as professional as existing products.

As the preliminary task was almost like a 'starter activity' I didn't want to spend a long time on it when I could be thinking of ideas towards my final piece. The preliminary magazine we designed was to be a school magazine, either something for the students or something for the parents, containing news, gossip or listed achievements.
The creation of this front cover is mainly shapes and I have just put text into them, which is not very professional, I think for it in order to attract the students the cover should have been more appealing, with vibrant colours, or more pictures and catchy titles. This is a main contrast to my final piece front cover, I made sure I used vibrant colours, more than one picture, interesting fonts; these elements I believe help towards making my final cover look much better than the preliminary task.

For the preliminary task we also had to create a contents page, mine followed on from the front cover, keeping the same layout and colour scheme. My contents page lacks images, bright colours all which make it dull and unappealing. Again my final piece contents page is a huge contrast to this and it looks a lot more appealing. For the final piece contents I kept to the same colour scheme, however I added images and a print screened front page. Unlike the preliminary, the layout of the text I put into columns and kept them short so not to lose the public interest thinking there is too much to read.

The preliminary task certainly helped me towards the design of my final piece, as I knew what I would change, what I could add in order to make the final piece looking professional.

We didn't have to create a double page spread in the preliminary so when it came to the final piece, it was a bit of an experiment. I had looked at existing magazines for inspiration and from that I hand drew a plan, as to what my double page spread would consist of. For the body of the text, I kept to 10pt in font size, I didn't want to go above this as I would run out of room, however it may be a bit small and I would need to consider that when designing a magazine it needs to be a reasonable size. It was very useful having been to a concert recently and having taken a variety of photos. I feel that I used the right amount of photos and text throughout my final magazine to satisfy the target audience.

Throughout the course I feel I have progressed with the design style and creations I made. I feel I have learnt from the preliminary task as to what I could or should have done in order to make the product better, and from this I was able to use it towards my final design. I have also learnt how important it is to manage my time, and spend time planning; for example on an A3 piece of paper and have three different designs with different elements, then I could of used some from each design. I have learnt the amount of research is just as important as the designing progress, Without the research I wouldn't know what my target audience would like (the questionnaire helped me) I would know what magazines are already on the market and what they include that I possibly should (the radial analysis).

Evaluation: Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout this project I used a variety of software's and programmes in order to complete my practical. Before this work was set I was unaware of Blogger (as a website) and I have never had a 'blog' account, therefore it was a new process I needed to get used to in order to publish all of my work. As I familiarised myself with the website, I was able to publish posts which had embedded images, or documents uploaded from Youtube and Scribd; furthermore I was able to publish a poll I had created and I received answers which helped me when creating my final piece.

Any of my designs, for instance the preliminary task and the final piece were created using Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 (64bit). Unlike Blogger, I was very familiar with this software as I have used it in other subjects. This gave me an advantage point as I would not need to spend time getting to know my way around the programme.

A new website I was introduced to was Prezi, this is basically a different version to Microsoft Powerpoint. It allows you to add your information and images to and lay them out in whatever way you want. It is the type of website that is perfect for a presentation. If I had more time, I would have spent it looking around the website and trying see how could I improve the design and the creation, to make my Prezi that bit more interesting. As I have mentioned I have used Microsoft Powerpoint for a fair bit of my work, I laid all my information onto the slides, trying to make the layout as interesting as possible. Then I had to use Scribd to upload this in order to present it within my blog.

For my preliminary task and the final piece I had to take my own photos and use this within the pieces as anything we created had to be original. I used my own Digital Camera in order to take the photos, and whilst undergoing this task I was considering the different shots and focuses I could use to enhance my product. Once I had uploaded the photos to the computer I edited some, by cropping, or auto correcting the lighting.

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Questions 1 - 4

My Evaluation

Final Piece - Double Page Spread

Final Piece - Contents Page

Final Piece - Front Cover

Photos to use in my magazine

Photos for New Magazine

Name Ideas for my Music Magazine

1). Pop Chart UK - My first thought was to create a radio station magazine, I think it would appeal to a larger audience (ranging from anyone who listens to the station and anyone who is a fan of Pop music). The name 'Pop Chart UK, relates to my genre, it is the type of name a radio station could be called and it is a easy, simple name to remember.
2). London's Music - This was a phrase from Capital's (existing radio station) T.V. advert. This name has pros and cons to using it as the title for my magazine. The pros are it is again a simple and easy title to remember, it would appeal to those living within the city. However some of the negatives is that I don't want to narrow down my target audience to a specific place like London. I do have a target as in teenagers to young adults, but other than that, I want to stay as open as possible.
3). LTH (London's Top Hits) - My last choice is similar to the last, it specifies London. However whether I manage to change it or not, I really like this idea. It works well for a radio station and with the shortened title it will be recognisable and memorable. Having the short title would also allow more components on the page, which could create a better layout.

Various Font Styles

This task was to help me choose a font suitable for my theme. Whilst designing I need to remember that the style of font, the colour schemes all have to reflect Pop music. These fonts I found on dafont, a font website, I tried to pick 7 fonts that I thought reflected Pop music. Out of my choices I think the most suitable is the 3rd down. It is bold, and with colour it would stand out which is what I would want the title to do. Although that is the most suitable I prefer the 2nd and 4th styles. I think they would appeal more to the target audience of females and it also looks handwritten which gives it that informal approach and I think the target audience would feel more comfortable with this style. 

Layout Ideas for My Magazine

Results From Questionnaire

An Example of A Filled in Questionnaire

My Questionnaire

Questionnaire - Media

The Objective of my Questionnaire

The purpose of this questionnaire is to establish the main needs of my target audience. This will be done by using secondary information such as the gratifications. This primary research will help me learn the qualitative and quantitative data of the sample I choose. The majority of my sampling group will be my target audience; this will be teenagers and adults in the early twenties. My sample will be kept small in order to collect the data in time. I plan to ask ten people, various ages and hopefully from that I will get a range of data which will help me to produce my magazine. I want to have a range of qualitative and quantitative data, each have their own pros and cons; which is why I think an equal amount will get me good enough information to use. I need to keep in mind that this questionnaire needs to logically flow and the questions must be unbiased.
Type of questions I plan to include would be:

Quantitative Data: Personal Details, Hobbies and Technology Usage

Qualitative Data: Colour Schemes, Imagery, Layout, Price (Preferences and Opinions).

Generic Conventions of a Pop Magazine

·         Vibrant and bright colours are used for the front page

·         Imagery has been laid out in a collage form which is informal but appealing

·         Titles are bold and match the colour schemes on the page

·         Text can have a drop capital at the start to indicate where to start reading

·         The contents list is laid out into separate columns

·         The main image either sits in front or behind the heading

·         Each page is busy, there are no blank spaces

·         Font size is around 11pt

·         Top of the front cover generally advertisement – a feature in magazine or a sales item

·         All headings are in colour, but the body of the text is in black and simple font.   

·         The main story often has a related image on the front page which is larger than the rest

·         Headlines are quite short and simple

·         Quotes are often used from an artist (a story featured in the magazine) on the front cover

·         The colour scheme usually stays the same throughout the magazine

·         The contents list is short sentenced and doesn’t give the stories away

·         The way text has been written is informal and this would appeal to the Pop target audience

Three Music Magazine Analysis

Music Magazine Analysis

Ideas for my Music Magazine

What genre will I be using throughout my magazine?
I will be focusing on Pop Music, this is mainly because it is an area in music I like; which I think will help me when designing if I like the area I am trying to create. Another reason I chose Pop Music is because it is a wide area, and a range would easily fit under the title Pop.
What will be my chosen target audience?
My target audience will be the younger generation, teenagers and adults in their early twenties would fall into this category. This age range would be suitable as I would find it easier designing something that should appeal to my age group. It would also be easier to get opinions whilst creating and the opinions from the questionnaires.
What key features will need to be included in my magazine?
Main images - this will be my own photography, featured articles, credits, typography style, colour schemes and layout, a note from the editor and an introduction. Each of these features will have to be original, and therefore I need to think carefully in order for it to look professional.

Mood Board

Being at the start of the main task, I wanted to research existing magazines and identify want genre I was going to create in my own magazine. I tried to get a varied amount of rock, pop etc. From this task I have seen how the colour schemes work and how important it is to choose the use of colour to complement the genre. I will now research a specific gender that I wish to create, this mood board has given me a base to work with and inspiration and ideas.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Abraham Maslow proposed this theory in 1943. Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans' innate curiosity. His theories parallel many other theories of human development psychology, all of which focus on describing the stages of growth in humans.