Google mock up ideas

Colour scheme ideas, name ideas and feature story ideas

Mise-en-scene location and prop ideas

Costume designs & chosen artist profile

Social class & demographic of my product

A Demographic table shows the social classes that categorise the differences between them. These social classes are categorized as A, B, C1, C2, D, E.

One of the key aspects that an institution of a music magazine should consider are; who their target audience are and the interests that they have. I will stick to the needs of my target audience by doing market research through the use of surveys for instance. The price for my RNB magazine will not be cheap as the people that are interested in this music genre have a sufficient class and status. Therefore, they can be more flexible than others with their money and after deciding on a social group you must research what free gifts/prizes the audience like, this is a great way of keeping the audience intrigued if nothing else. The social class table will help me with my feature stories and target audience as I will use it as a guideline to show what should be restricted from a specific social group so that it compliments my specific audience.

My reader profile

Reader profile research

Reader profile research

What is a reader profile?

It can refer to a profile of an individual that includes self-reported information designed to give people a picture of who that person is, a demographic analysis of site users developed by a company for advertisers who want to know if they will be a good fit for that company, or a profile developed by a content creator with the goal of determining who content is being produced for so that it can be tailored for the audience. In all cases, a reader profile provides information about people engaging with online content, and this information can be used to make that content more relevant to the interests of readers.

The reader profile above was produced by XXL, one of the leading advocates for R&B and rap; it is one of the most influential music magazines on the market today. Their target audience are male as 78% of their readership comes from the male consumer over half of which are of African American descent. less than half of their readers are college educated and the median age of these readers is 27;  they must create a more masculine orientated magazine with content that reflects their lifestyle and general things that the reader likes to see included.

Key features

The key features of a reader profile include statistics, music and how they wish to improve their relationship with the targeted. Regarding statistics the key stats are based on the male to female readership, median age, ABC1 and circulation. Music shows what the institution have discovered by researching how much their target audience relies on the content of the magazine to keep up to date with the music out there. The principle of this is to understand the audiences wants and needs better in order for XXL magazine to make appropriate changes that are based on the research carried out. The target audience and the institution must have a good relationship with each other in order to gain trust from the consumers of a magazine like XXL.The average age for the magazine is essential as it determines the language of the magazine. For example, if the average age was 15 than aspects of the magazine would only be suitable for that age group specifically so that the language reflects the audience. Also understanding the target audience's interests and hobbies may mean that people will feel like they are not being ignored, which increases the sales of the product potentially. Sometimes included is the social class that belongs to the target audience so that they can reduce or even increase prices so they can maximize profits.

How the magazine is distributed

It is conventional for magazines to be distributed to stores as the highest demand for magazines are in shops for customers to buy the physical copy. But recently magazines have been made available to buy and download from online to improve convenience and prices for the consumer as the distribution costs nothing online. The market research that would have had to be done shows how committed some institutions are to gaining customer satisfaction.

Purpose of reader profile

The principle of a reader profile is to better understand who a magazine's target audience is and to see why that is and if it lies within their interests. This is so the music magazine can get an insight into what the reader would appreciate  to see the most  in side the magazines of the future, to ultimately increase their overall readership and make the experience of the read more enjoyable for the target audience.

How will a reader profile sell a magazine product?

It will contribute greatly towards the sales of the magazines as all the content in side will be based on the research that a magazine has carried out to better understand their audience to make the subject of the magazine more relevant to the target audience reading it. In terms of design after all the research is gathered a new template can be decided based on the average reader that consumes the magazine on a regular basis.

Genre research

Time management diary

 

Conventions anlysis double page spread

Conventions analysis contents page

Conventions analysis front cover

Main task

To design a front page, contents page and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by me - minimum of four images.

RNB

These genres are represented in this way for the purpose of attracting the audience through the conventions of a front cover magazine such as features, mise-en-scene and colour scheme. RNB is the genre I am interested in investigating for the design of the final products.

Contents page

The contents pages above include most conventions and conformities that  we as an audience would expect to see, like the connotations that reflect the genre of the magazine such as the colour scheme and camera framing for the genre of these contents pages.

Double page spread





Final product

Evaluation

What have you learnt from completing this task?

Firstly, I have investigated and retained the many conventions for the front cover of a magazine and learnt what they are used for in terms of representing a particular style or genre. Secondly I have learned about the technical terms used to create a meaning for the audience and how to create expectations through the conventions and mise en scene on a college magazine. Thirdly, I have become more experienced on Photoshop as I have learnt through media what tools should be used on the software to make a conventional college magazine front cover, I have some experience on Photoshop but no matter how long you spend using it, there is always something new to learn, like the stroke tool that I have used on the feature stories on my front cover. I am very confident that the skills I have learnt have been beneficial and will enable me to create a more developed style for my next project.

How have you used technology?

I used my own technology Sony a6000 camera to take the photographs for the front cover allowing me to produce the camera angles and quality required.  I felt that this technology provided more scope than a phone camera. I also used the computers and software available at college to edit the front cover using Photoshop and sourcing google images.  The mock up front cover is a digital draft which itself illustrates the use of technology.

What conventions have you used and why?

• Mast head - this was used to create the full width title for my magazine front cover across the to of the page. 
• Main image - I decided on a main image of a student that conveyed the genre of the magazine and framed it to suit the convention.
• Main feature story - this relates to the main image on the cover and is in a bold font to indicate it importance and to draw attention from the audience.
• Sub Feature stories - I made reference to features inside the magazine with snappy/catchy titles to spark interest and engage the reader and persuade them to purchase/read a copy.
• Barcode and price - used as a reference for the purchaser and data for the retailer at the bottom right corner in a horizontal format.
• Issue number and date - used to keep people up to date with the releases of the college magazine
• Colour - this relates to the genre of the magazine as colours are subliminal in terms of message.  I chose blue, yellow and white as the colour scheme as they create a positive feel and are often used in this genre.  They also compliment the main image.
• Font type - I used three different font types on the front cover to show significance on the page.
• Secondary image - The image that usually relates to a feature story on the front cover.

What would you change if you were to  do this task again?

Feedback during the task made me review the orientation of the barcode which I changed to be horizontal and agreed this was more appropriate for this cover. On reviewing the final piece I would change the framing of the main image by using a medium shot more in line with the waist and this would bring the image forward on the page.

Creating/designing product (print screens)

Digital draft for front cover

Digital draft for Contents page

Photographs for front cover

I  considered using this photograph because of the codes and conventions linked to it, including the book as it associates to college. It does relate to existing college magazines but I didn't like the costume and the position of my model.

This photograph was taken the very next day, the result turned out  it turned out to look the best out of the four photos that were taken. This is because I considered the framing, lighting and positioning a bit more then in the previous shot. The overall look of the photograph just seemed more conventional in my opinion.

Very similar to the shot above this one was also a consideration for the final piece. However I decided that this one was a bit indirect then the other so it wasn't chosen.

I thought that my subject looked far too uncomfortable and that he was making more effort then was needed to engage the viewer, he is looking directly in to the camera and the photograph is framed terribly.

Digital draft for Double page spread

Basics of Photoshop

Mise en scene and location ideas

My initial thoughts on the location was to use my colleges campus as my setting for the front cover of the final product, so I decided that I would use a blue wall at the entrance on campus as the background for it as I was not that comfortable with using a busy background to show the codes and conventions for this type of magazine. Instead I used one prop a casual costume and colours to create the connotations and denotations that the audience would expect to see on a conventional college magazine.

I decided that my main image should be wearing casual clothes because it is conventional for a subject on a college magazine to be wearing everyday clothes as the connotations that we link to college is that the environment is less strict and to show independance.






I used the back pack prop to show the link to college and education as most people carry one round when they are carrying documents, pens and other utencils for college life.

Camera framings

 Extreme close up

 Close up

 Medium close up

 Long shot

 High angle

 Low angle

 Two shot

 Image framed to the left 

Image framed to the right

Central image

Feature story ideas

1. Nus cards available on campus now!
2. Clubs and societies you can join to inside this issue
3. Bus timetable and routes for college students
4. Success stories from former students
5. Support is here to help those with any extra requirements
6. A survival guide to college life
7. Food for thought
8. 10 best ways to keep on top of things
9. How the new students are finding college life so far
10. Trips abroad with college

Colour scheme