Font Choices

Images Used On My Magazine

Final Version Of Contents Page

Peer Assessment Of Contents Page

Contents Page- How Does It Meet The Audiences Needs?

My contents page carries through with the same house style as the front cover and therefore the technqiues I have used to appeal to my target audience are similar. The use of bright colours has been continued but this time they are contrasted against a dark black background, I used the same relaitable images and my articles are the same. Another technique I used was the use of an image with male teenagers on it to even out the use of genders.

I used the same colours of bright green, yellow and pink because they worked well on the front cover and I wanted to ensure that the audience would understand that they were from the same magazine. Bright colours have connotations of fun, summer, partys and happiness which is the tenor I want my target audience to gain from reading the magazine.

Because my target audience is teenagers I find it very unlikley that they would want long indepth subheadings and informatio boxes so I decided to keep mine very breif. An example is ‘Ibiza 2014’  as it is very short yet it will instantly appeal to the audience because if they are reading a dance magazine it would be typical that they were interested in going on partying holidays and ibiza is the top destination. If I had made the subheading ‘Come and find out all about Ibiza 2014’ the teenagers may just skim past it and pay very little attention because it is very chunky.  

Inorder to appeal to my target audience of teenagers aged 13-25 of both genders I used 2 images on my contents page, one of the same model that was used in my main cover image which is female and another of a group of males. By using images of both genders it widens the appeal of the articles and highlights how the magazine isnt focused at females. The image of the males will be effective because they are wearing popular clothing which will be relaitable for the males reading the page and females may find the boys attractive and want to find out more about them. 

How I Designed My Contents Page

The main tool in which I used the create my contents page was Photo shop because I understood that it was necessary to use if I wanted to produce a professional looking page. My skills at first were very limited but after doing research and practise I learned the main tools needed. I started by looking at my initial flat plans and creating a layout similar so I set the page to A4 and added the black background. The next step was to add the logo, the masthead and the issue date. I simply had to copy and paste these from my front cover as they are part of my house style however I did have to change the writing. I then added the main subheadings of 'cover stories', 'features' and 'reviews' and placed them in suitable positions. The next challenge was thinking of suitable articles that would appeal to the target audience, once i had thought of one I played around with font styles and colours and asked my peers what their opinions would be.  The next step is to add the images, for this i used the site PIXLR. 

This is a print screen of Pixlr, which is the site which I primarily used to edit all of the photos on my magazine. I like this website because the possibiltys are endless and you can completly change an image with a few simple clicks. For my images on this page I brightened it and made a few other little adjustments such as saturation, I then added a Vignette overlay which created the black blurred effect around the edges of the image. I then added a vintage effect which created the yellow tone on the whole image. After this the image was saved and inserted onto my contents page. I played around with its positioning and felt it looked most effective in the top right corner. The next step was to follow the same procedure with my other image. 

First Version Of Contents Page

Final Version Of Double Page Spread

Final Version Of Front Cover

Stages Of Producing Front Page

Front Cover - How Does It Meet The Target Audience?

The main target audience of my magazine is working class teenagers aged between 13-25 and I feel that there is many different features of my front page in which will appeal to them such as my use of a relatable main cover image, bright colours and articles on artists and issues that will appeal to them.

The main colour theme on my cover is bright yellow, pink and green. Bright colours have been a trend over the past year that teenagers have used which means that they will relate to them and also they will catch their attention. Yellow and green are also neutral colours will no connotations of either male and female which highlights how the magazine is made for both genders. The colour pink contrasts well with the other colours which again makes the cover stand out on a shelf. Teenagers are more likley to purchase a magazine that stands out and appeals to them and the bright colours help me achieve my goal of making them my primary target audience.

I also used a model that is in the age range of my target audience which will make her relaitable. Her suggestive pose will appeal to the males because they may fancy her and want to find out more and girls may look at her as a role model or relate with her choice of clothing etc. The main masthead is in a messy writing that would be related with graffiti etc which fits with the sterotype that teenagers are rebellious. It also adds a tenor of fun to the cover which may lead them to buy the magazine rather than buying a one that appears boring.

The final technique I used was the use of relaitable storys, my magazine is a dance magazine which is a very popular genre amoungst teenagers so I used popular artists from this genre to draw in the target audience. I used the artists ‘chase and status’, ‘avicii’ and ‘disclouser’ on the cover because if the target audience saw artists they enjoyed listening too and could realte to on the cover they would buy the magazine.

Second Version Of Double Page Spread

Double Page Spread Peer Assesment

Praise I Appreciate- i liked the fact that people said that i had a a lot of detail on the page and               that they thought that i had a strong main image. 

Criticism I'll Consider- I will listen to the fact that people thought that my font was too small and hard to read and that i had a very good pull quote. 

I'd like to know- How people edited there fonts to give them shading on behind them to add emphasis

Really Admired- The different font styles people used. 

First Draft Of Double Page Spread

How I Edited My Images

My Prezi

Facial Expression Theories

Second Version Of Front Cover

When making my front cover i have made many different changes at different stages. When making my cover i have played around with many different fonts in order to find fonts that compliment each other, were readable and looked good. I had the most difficulty with my font for the writing 'deep house anthems' and 'chase & status arena tour' because i wanted them to be eye-catching and edgy and by trying to do this i was choosing fonts that people were struggling to read. The colour also started off as bright yellow but i found that this colour was dominating my page to much and was beginning to look bland so i choose a different bright colour. bright colour were appealing for the target audience.

Teacher Feedback Of Main Cover

I thought that it would be very important to get feedback from people who are out of my target audience because they can pay very close attention to things I may not have picked up on myself. They are also more critical because they know exactly what to look for in a successful proffesional looking product. This sheet shows that I recieved both good and bad feedback. I now know that my choice of colours are working well and look good to the human eye. One critisim recieved was that my sub headings were hard to understand and dont stand out aswell as they could. From this I went back to my front cover and played around with different colour and font choices while asking for constant feedback to what my teachers or peers thought.

Peer Assessment Of Front Cover

This feedback helped me improve and edit my front cover to make it more fitting for my target audience and generally more appealing. One piece of criticism I received was that my fonts needed to be improved one comment was 'hard to read some fonts' and another was 'use more of a font house style' which then lead me to re consider all of my current fonts. I first asked my peers who sat near me which fonts they felt were hard to read to highlight which fonts I should be focusing my attention on, I then played around with colours to see if that would make them more visible. Once I had decided on a more appropriate colour, I used the site 'DaFont' to research and decide on a few other choices. I also changed all of the smaller font to the same style to create a feeling of an overall house style, this font is also carried through my contents page and double page spread. The criticisms I received were all fair, in my opinion, and helped me to make improvements and change sections in which I would not have considered previously. The positives were also taken on board as they helped to boost my confidence and see the things in which I had done right. 

First Complete Draft Of Front Cover

The Wanted - Show Me Love

First Stages Of Front Cover

Possible Images

• I took these images in my house, the black and white image was taking against a white wall in my front room and the images against the brick graffitied wall were taken in my garage. 
• I used my little sister as a model for my images, i dressed her and did her makeup to represent her as an edgy young artist. Lucy is 14 year old with a slim figure and mid length blonde hair. 
• The images were taken in the first few days of October 2013.
• Her outfit was bought all from the summer range from the popular high street store Top shop. They were popular items of clothing amongst the primary target audience because they were bold and fun, I choose to style her in the neon yellow cami top because it fit with the colour scheme of my magazine which was neon colours and black and also because it is stereotypical of a teenager. Denim shorts are also conventional of teenagers and young women and are worn all year round, I liked this pair because they were not too revealing so it was acceptable to be used as a main cover image but emphasised the models assets creating lust from the secondary target audience of males and envy from the primary target audience of women. A gold chain, also from topshop, is also visible on two of the images. I liked this chain because it carried the representation of rebellion as they are often linked with charvers, who live breaking rules. It is also a strong fashion statement which portrays strength. 
• My resources were very limited as I am not a photographer so my images were taken on my IPhone 5 and I did not have access to professional lighting so my Images were taken under bulb lighting and two with the use of my flash. It was light outside so there may be slight influence from day light from a window. However my garage is very dark and the bulb light is not very bright so the images look very dark and dull, I liked this outcome because it fits with the rebellious tone I wanted to achieve from the magazine as it connotes the 'darker side of life' and could also represent that the target audience prefer the nightlife rather than daytime. 
• Lucy is using the invitational facial expression in a majority of the images but also uses the chocolate box in others. One common feature is that she is creating direct eye contact with the reader which creates interaction and will draw them in. 

Model Consent

Flat Plans For My Magazine

This is my draft for my front cover, the first thing I decided was that I wanted my mast head printed in capital letters and that wanted it to be in a bright colour, this is because i wanted it to be a main feature of the page and have as much emphasis on it as possible. Bold writing connotes strength and importance which is what exactly the tone I want to create. I then decided that i wanted my barcode, issue number, price and month in the bottom corner because although they are important I did not want them to draw in the readers attention instantly. This is a typical convention of magazines which I learned when doing my research. The next thing I did was add a box for where I was going to place my sub headings/articles, I used the stereotypical convention of left side third for this. After this is placed my main cover story, by putting it central across the middle of the page and overlapping the main image I am hoping to draw a lot of the readers focus to it and therefore incite them to purchase the magazine. I then added a tagline underneath the cover-line because it creates opportunity to further capture the primary target audiences attention and encourage them to purchase the magazine. Finally, after looking at my research and analysis of other magazines covers I decided to place a footer which provides space for extra information at the bottom of the page and a plug which creates interaction with the audience and allows them to feel more involved with the magazine and its contents. 

For my contents page I to decided to carry the house style of my front cover through by using the same caps lock and bold font to write 'contents' and I then made the next decision to place the slogan directly underneath this masthead because they link together well and emphasis' the message and tone of the magazine.  I also decided that I wanted to include anchorage onto this page and include images of famous dance artists in order to highlight the fact that it is a dance music magazine. Then I decided to include 'message from the editor' in a feature box because this is a common convention of magazines and because it gave me a chance to explain my choices etc to the reader, which again created further interaction. The page uses many different subheadings to show the article names and uses fillers underneath to fill empty space and provide the audience with extra information. 

My double page spread took a lot of consideration but in the end I decided to dedicate a full page to an image of the famous artist with a pull quote next to it to make the readers want to read the article. I then wanted to carry on the house style from the 2 other pages so I included an arrow at the top of the page which is the same as i want to use on the contents page. I want my article to take over the full page and my image to be very dominant on the the opposing page. I wanted to use a pull quote with the reversed out text on it to draw attention to it and capture the audience if they are simply flicking through the page. I am using many different typical conventions on this spread including a standfirst, main body text, drop quotes, images and picture credits because they are exepect by the audience and ensure that the page looks proffesional. I also plan on using a drop shadow on either the masthead or the image to add emphasis. 

Double Page Spread Analysis

All double page spreads are set out diffrently depending on the style of artist that is being represented, for example the Nicki Minaj article has a completely different house style and layout in comparison to the represntation of Lilly Allen. There is still a few conventions that are commonly found on all of the double page spreads is pull quotes which highlight important pieces of information and draw in readers, the writing is normal wrote in a colum style in order to guide the readers through the article. I will use this in my own article because i want to ensure that the readers know how to read it. It is also a typical convention for the spread to include drop letters which start of the article, This helps to indicate clearly that the article is begging.