College contents page evaluation
In my contents page, the title shows its a contents page, as it is in a large sized font, and in a bright yellow colour. It stands out which makes it easy to spot, and as it is on a single page it shows that the contents page consists of 1 page. However, I dislike the titles font, and I'm not fond of the layout of the title, I also think I should've changed the background colour because the contents page doesn't look attractive.
I included different sections in the contents page, these are featured articles and regulars. The features article only lists articles to do with Art, it also lists a number, which is the page number which tells the audience directly on what page the article will be on. Page 9, is the main page, as it is in the biggest sized font, and is near a image with page 9 which has an image of the cover star. The font size in the features section for different subheadings of articles decrease in the size of importance and with this the numbers are also descending. The font colour for all the subheadings are in colour red I did this because I wanted the red to contrast against the infused black and silver background, and red did the job in standing out between these colours. I don't like the amount of colour I have used in the contents page, as the red seems to be repetitive and doesn't make other subheadings standout as they are all the same colour.
The regular section gives information mainly about the college in general, there are puzzles and competitions to entertain the target audience, and information for students such as revision tips and many more. The numbers continue to descend till the last page which is page 40, the biggest sized subheading in the regulars section is the puzzle and competition, this instantly sends a message to the reader that the competition is significant.
I included 4 images, in the contents page, these are all images to do with art, and I have used the cover star and 2 individuals, who are holding up pieces of art work, which they are showing in a delightful manor with a polite gesture which reflects happiness as they're displaying their art work. The background of the pictures is silver and black which blends in with the original black ground which is the same colour, this is good as it makes the image blend in the background which shows no over lapping of images and is subtle. One of thing I dislike about the images, is the layout, as it is one straight-line of images, I could've scattered the images and positioned them using a sense of composition to help layout the images, to improve the focal point of the readers eye as they would look around on the magazine instead of focusing on the images, as images are normally the most attractive and eye catching feature whether it be on a double page spread, contents page or front cover, by equalising the images by having to images on each side it would entice the audience to look everywhere on the contents page, then focus on a specific side of the contents page.
Lastly, I included house style and colour scheme throughout, and made it specific, which is noticeable as all the titles are in yellow, these are "contents page", "regulars" and "featured articles" I did this because having a bright colours makes it stand out, however the colour yellow against the silver background. All other text is in red, this was a bad idea as all of it is in red and it doesn't really entice the audiences liking, to improve this I would use a range of colours which go accordingly to a selected colour scheme, which works together. The background which consisted of a mixture between silver and black is not appealing, as the grey background and the yellow coloured text do not go together, However, the black and yellow do show contrast. There is also not enough black showing as there is only a small portion of black showing and it is mainly in a corner where there is no yellow text visible.
Overall, I dislike my contents page, However, to improve my contents page I would to need to
1. Improve colour scheme as some colours do not go together
2. Re-arrange the composition and layout of images used
3. Have subheadings positioned in different positions
4. Change font to make text more appealing
Saturday, 1 November 2014
Preliminary College magazine front cover evaluation
College magazine preliminary Evaluation
In my front cover, for the preliminary task, I made my magazine target audience aimed at a specific group of students, and these students are “art students” I did this because I wanted my college magazine to be a niche magazine. Having a niche magazine, is at both a disadvantage and advantage, as having a niche target audience may not attract the actual audience based on the magazines content However, having a niche magazine is also an advantage as you have a specific audience which will engage towards the actual magazine.
I named the magazine “LSC ART” I did this because I wanted to aim the magazine at only Art students, although it does include content of the college itself, as I included different features and regular’s pages relating to the college in the contents page, which makes the magazine have a fan base of college students. On the front cover of the magazine, almost every cover line relates to Art, and future careers within the Art sector, I did this because it is a good way of both helping students and enticing them towards the magazine, as it gives them the knowledge and information they will need in their later life, this is important because the magazine benefits the target audience, and if its beneficial it would be more likely that the target audience buys the magazine. At the beginning when I made my college magazine plan, I had a different title, the reason I chose to change it was because I wanted the magazine to be niche, before the title was going to be "LSC LIFE", however I changed that and did not follow the plan I made previously.
The magazine is priced for £1.99, the magazine is cheap as students wouldn’t want to buy an overpriced magazine, which they would like it to be preferably priced at a lower cost, this is also affordable for students and they gain more from having the magazine, as it allows them to sign up for competitions and giveaways, which are promotional and have limited entry’s.
In the magazine front cover, I put in a lot of detail about Universities and how to "Be a good art student", I did this for a reason, and that reason is to reach out to the target audience which are Art students the age between 16 - 19, As it provides a lot of information, it is more likely to be bought by an Art students or an individual who is interested in thinking about career choices, or any Art related careers/activities.
There is a colour scheme throughout the magazine front cover, these colours are Black,yellow and red. I chose these colours as i wanted a contrast of colours that would overlap different colours in the foreground / background of the front cover. As well as this it's the same colour of the colleges lanyard, on students ID cards, which shows it the house style, reflects on the college in addition, the cover star is wearing the same colour clothing to reflect the colour scheme on the magazine front cover.
In the front cover, I made sure I used props, in this front cover the prop is a sketch book, I did this to show the cover star is dedicated towards working and is high achieving, the gesture of the cover star suggests. In the magazine front cover I also used an ID card as a prop to show representation of the college. However, I should have changed the sketch book prop as it is black, and the cover stars jumper is black, which makes it hard to see, I should've thought about changing the colour to make the prop more visible.
Overall, to improve the magazine front cover i would
1. Not use too many cover lines, as the front cover looks crowded with a lot of text.
2. Add different information of what would be inside the magazine, for example page numbers/articles.
3. Use all features of a magazine front cover
4. To not be repetitive on the use of cover lines
In my front cover, for the preliminary task, I made my magazine target audience aimed at a specific group of students, and these students are “art students” I did this because I wanted my college magazine to be a niche magazine. Having a niche magazine, is at both a disadvantage and advantage, as having a niche target audience may not attract the actual audience based on the magazines content However, having a niche magazine is also an advantage as you have a specific audience which will engage towards the actual magazine.
I named the magazine “LSC ART” I did this because I wanted to aim the magazine at only Art students, although it does include content of the college itself, as I included different features and regular’s pages relating to the college in the contents page, which makes the magazine have a fan base of college students. On the front cover of the magazine, almost every cover line relates to Art, and future careers within the Art sector, I did this because it is a good way of both helping students and enticing them towards the magazine, as it gives them the knowledge and information they will need in their later life, this is important because the magazine benefits the target audience, and if its beneficial it would be more likely that the target audience buys the magazine. At the beginning when I made my college magazine plan, I had a different title, the reason I chose to change it was because I wanted the magazine to be niche, before the title was going to be "LSC LIFE", however I changed that and did not follow the plan I made previously.
The magazine is priced for £1.99, the magazine is cheap as students wouldn’t want to buy an overpriced magazine, which they would like it to be preferably priced at a lower cost, this is also affordable for students and they gain more from having the magazine, as it allows them to sign up for competitions and giveaways, which are promotional and have limited entry’s.
In the magazine front cover, I put in a lot of detail about Universities and how to "Be a good art student", I did this for a reason, and that reason is to reach out to the target audience which are Art students the age between 16 - 19, As it provides a lot of information, it is more likely to be bought by an Art students or an individual who is interested in thinking about career choices, or any Art related careers/activities.
There is a colour scheme throughout the magazine front cover, these colours are Black,yellow and red. I chose these colours as i wanted a contrast of colours that would overlap different colours in the foreground / background of the front cover. As well as this it's the same colour of the colleges lanyard, on students ID cards, which shows it the house style, reflects on the college in addition, the cover star is wearing the same colour clothing to reflect the colour scheme on the magazine front cover.
In the front cover, I made sure I used props, in this front cover the prop is a sketch book, I did this to show the cover star is dedicated towards working and is high achieving, the gesture of the cover star suggests. In the magazine front cover I also used an ID card as a prop to show representation of the college. However, I should have changed the sketch book prop as it is black, and the cover stars jumper is black, which makes it hard to see, I should've thought about changing the colour to make the prop more visible.
Overall, to improve the magazine front cover i would
1. Not use too many cover lines, as the front cover looks crowded with a lot of text.
2. Add different information of what would be inside the magazine, for example page numbers/articles.
3. Use all features of a magazine front cover
4. To not be repetitive on the use of cover lines
Friday, 17 October 2014
Contents Page
Contents Page
This is my content page for the preliminary task, I have included many different features, and included a total of 4 pictures of which i have taken, it also includes the cover star, as it relates back to the front cover of the contents page. There is also a colour scheme throughout the contents page which are the same colours used in the front cover, it contains the colours, red, yellow and black. In my contents page you can see that the titles and subheadings are in the colour yellow, i used this colour because it contrasts with the background colour which is a silvery black. I made the text which is in the contents page a red colour, this is because i wanted to make the text stand out and follow the house style throughout the contents page.
Wednesday, 8 October 2014
Preliminary - College magazine front cover
Preliminary - College magazine front cover
I used photoshop to create my college magazine cover, as it had the tools i needed to use in order to construct my college magazine front cover. The tools i used were text boxes, font, colour , an original image and different lighting effects which help make the font readable.
In my cover I used the cover star as myself, as i am an art student. I made the price £1.99 as it is affordable for students and they can benefit from the college magazine. Also i included a competition in the in the skyline to help entice the audience with a prize giveaway, as everyone would like to get their hands on a tablet for free. I used a lot of cover lines to give the audience some relevant information as to what is in the magazine. The title is named LSC ART, as already gives the audience a clue of the genre is about, and in this case it is ART, i wanted the college magazine to be aimed at a niche market, as art isnt just a subject but a hobby and students may want to view the magazine as they could participate in activities such as enrichment.
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
LSC college magazine front cover planning
Magazine front cover planning.
I was planning to see what conventions I could add to when I start my real college magazine, and I thought of the title LSC Life, simply because my magazine is directed at students who go to LSC. I included some enticing cover lines, which will help persuade the audience to read my magazine, the magazine will also cost money, but it'll will be cheap the price of it will be £1.00, as its affordable and students will benefit from it. I'm going to have a skyline, which is full of competitions and giveaways this will also help attract students to read the magazine, as they are limited time giveaways. The cover star or main image I will have will be of a student reading, a book as it will subtly promote the usage of books and education. Finally, I will have a house style which consist of the colours yellow, black and blue the reason being for this is because our college lanyards are yellow and black and I will want to represent the colleges colours. The colours of the colleges logo is also the colour of my house style which will represent it further.
CASE STUDY 2 - Kerrang!
Case study 2 - Kerrang!
The next case study I'm going to do is another rock genre and the magazine is called Kerrang!
Front cover -
The next case study I'm going to do is another rock genre and the magazine is called Kerrang!
Front cover -
In this magazine the first thing i can see visually is the the cover star, although the kerrang magazine doesn't list the band however, from reading the cover lines it tells me that the cover star who is featured on the magazines name is Gerard Way. The use of colours on the cover stars, clothing also represents and follows the kerrangs house style colour which consists of blue, red and yellow. The colours are also primary colours which make the front cover stand out as there is no usage of secondary colours in the front. In the cover lines I noticed that each of the cover lines include different bands, due to this the Kerrang publication wants to promote each individual band shown on this front cover. Above the masthead it shows a skyline, in this skyline it is enticing the audience to read the the magazine as it says "the funniest interview you'll ever read" this suggests that the kerrang magazine uses humour to interact with the audience and to also entertain the audience when they are reading. Lastly, there is a skyline on the bottom of the magazine front cover, which gives merchandise to the audience as it gives 6 posters out, which the audience may want as they might like a lot of the artist who are seem displayed on the magazine, there is also a competition on the bottom which encourages the target audience to participate in this competition in order to receive a ticket to a concert, this helps engages the audiences as they would want to see there artists live at a concert.
Contents page
In this content page, it shows the word content, this clearly indicates that this page is the conents page. it also helps the audience by giving a clear example which i directly aimed towards them as it says "learn to fly through the mag". In the content page it shows it shows different types of sections and are enlisted with numbers on the side telling the audience where they can find these pages. They have a section on news, which tells the audience about upcoming news to do with artists and bands who are on the kerrang magazine, it also gives feedback, where the artists themselves directly speak towards the audience. there are other sections which go downwards in the centre, these sections are shots, lives, albums, gig guides and the uptime rock test. These sections are here to meet the audiences need and to entertain them, while giving them the information they might be craving for. In the content page on the top it shows the issue date and the cover date, this tells you how recent or long ago the music magazine was published from the institution it came from which is called "bauer", as you can see this magazine has a recent date which means I bought it not so long ago. Lastly, there are a lot of images on the content page which varies with size and have numbers on them, these are double sided spreads, as I looked at them while reading the magazine, also on the bottom left of the page it shows miniature pictures overlapped on top of each other, and next to it is information on thanking people who helped form the magazine together, and the images show to people who helped create the magazine, this is good to know as it gives the credits for those that deserve it.
Double sided spread
In the double sided spread the colour scheme used is mostly primary colours which are bright, bold and stand out a lot so it grabs the readers eye and makes them look at the page to see what the article/ magazine feature is.The columns are structured very clearly which gives the reader ease of reading the article. The font is a black, bold one which makes it easy to read and looks professional in the magazine. Also on the other side of the page the writing is white to make it contrast with the blue so it is easier for the reader to read. The picture of the man relates to what the article is about and for those people who do not know, who he is they can then see who he is which it says in both the front cover and contents page that his name is Gerard Way and also gives the band that he is from which the "My chemical romance".In the centre of an article there a pull quote positioned and it is there show the opinion of Gerard way, this is used as an interaction from the cover star towards the audience as if he is directly speaking to the audience, which comforts the audience as well as intrigues them, as they want to know what the cover star is thinking about.Overall the whole article is quite eye-catching and hold so someone who is just flicking through the magazine casually, will definitely stop on the page to see what it is about and while reading the article all the different features keep the reader engaged and wanting to read more, so it is very effective in grabbing the readers attention. The mans facial expression straight away gives the impression that he is someone who may be in a rock band but his clothes have been juxtaposed with the rock image he has been given, The image is juxtaposed as what he is wearing is smart and people assume that rockstars wear scruffy, weird and mix matched clothing but in this image the cover star is wearing a nice formal suit which goes against the stereotype of "rockstars".
Press Pack 1
This is the Kerrang Press pack, it shows the demographics of the target audience and gives an over view of statistics of the age range, gender ration and ABC profile. The gender ration displayed in this press pack, shows that number of female readers are at a 40% ration and male readers have a percentage ration of 60% this clearly suggests that males are more likely to buy the Kerrang! magazine, as well as this it also suggests, that men are more dominant and are more engaged within the alternative and rock lifestyle. The age range displays the ages and the percentage that read Kerrang, it also reveals the target audience which are the age range between 15 - 24 as the percentage is the highest on the press pack, its a percentage of 71% which is high percentage compared to all the other age ranges and percentages which a majority of them are below 10%, I can also see a correlation on press pack, and this is the lower the age range, more the readers, as the adulthood and elderly readers are at a really low percentage. The ABC1 Profile shows that 51% of the target audience that purchases the magazine is employed and have jobs or occupations which range from professional, middle and lower middle classed jobs, and the other percentage which is 49% either have lower class jobs or are unemployed, one major factor on why the statistics for ABC1 Profile is almost equalised is because of the target audience which are ages between 15 - 21 as many of these ages are most likely to be in education, the ABC1 Profile has been equalised between employed and unemployed figures, another factor is parents, some parents of the age range between 15 - 21 are most likely to be unemployed as having children is a social factor as they may be the ones who are purchasing the kerrang! magazine for their children. Although this kerrang press pack was between 2011 - 2012, the statistics may have changed.
Press pack 2
Here is another Kerrang press pack, as the one above was during 2011 - 2012, and this press pack is between the the months january 2012 to december 2012, In this kerrang press pack the gender ration of female readers are at a ration of 45.3% while the male kerrang readers are at a percentage of 54.7 this shows that there are more male readers in comparison to female readers. The age range of the the target audience is between 15 - 24 as well as 25 - 34, however, the 15 - 24 is the current target due to have more of a percentage in that age group, the other age groups have a low percentage this automatically tells me that the audience is specifically aimed at teenagers and adulthood, and is NOT aimed at the late adulthood and the elderly. The ABC1 Profile is the same as the other previous press pack, and remains to be the same as there is no change in statistics. The gender ration in press pack 1 shows that there is more male readers than female reader, and that remains to be the same as their is no change, However, the percentage of female readers has increased by 5.3% and the male percentage of reader has decreased by 5.3% due to press pack 2 which shows that they have gained more of a female based, but the male fan base is still dominant. The age range in press pack 1 was at 75% from the ages of 15 - 24 and the readers between 25 - 34 were at a percentage of 12%, However, according to press pack 2, the percentage of ages 15 - 24 has decreased by 24.9% and the ages between 25 - 34 has increased by 11.5%, this suggest that as time progresses the target audience for younger ages are decreasing.
Mission Statement
Institution and publishing
The institution for kerrang, is Bauer Media, Bauer Media, does not only own Kerrang as a publication but own Nme and Q, all of these music magazine all specialise in a specific genre, which is Rock, specifically alternative rock or Indie rock. All publication that are published by Bauer Media are also all main stream music magazines as they all have a large fan base which supports their magazines. Aside from music magazines, Kerrang and all the other publications all have different forms of media platforms, these include apps, Ezines, subscriptions, social media websites and freemiums. This ensures that they have contact with their large fan base, and as well as that, thee fans are entitles to have access to kerrangs and other publication videos, photos, emails and many more, it also allows the fans to interact more and becoming more engaged with their publication as sometimes their are promotions, exclusives, merchandising and competitions in which makes the fans feel involved and encourages them to participate with publication. The kerrang magazine is published every week, meaning a new issue is out every week, this continuously gives the audience pleasure and satisfaction as each new issue is different and some are limited and exclusive, they have also set a price which is affordable for the target audience, which means their market research is succesful.
Overall, I think that the Kerrang magazine, is successful in every way possible, from having multiple features on every page of their magazines which always keeps the readers being entertained in the magazine, it also advertises adverts which are aimed at the target audience for instance "vans" clothing shops, on where the target audience can receive a discount. Kerrang also, has many artists and bands featured in their magazine, if a fan supports an artist they will surely buy this magazine, In addition as the Kerrang magazine is a mainstream magazine it has a large fan base and the fan base contains many people this magazine sells quickly and a rapid paste, all in all I think this magazine is truly remarkable as it contains everything needed for a perfect magazine.
CASE STUDY 1 BIG CHEESE
Cast Study 1 -
For this case study I chose to do a rock magazine as my genre.
Front cover
The masthead of the publication is Big cheese, In the front cover the masthead is in a bold font the reason for this, the title is made to be engaging and it does a good job in doing so, also the masthead is partly hidden as the cover stars head overlaps the title, although it is still readable and I can make out the masthead. I also noticed that the mastheads font colour changes in tone it almost resembles an actual cheese, hence the magazines publication named Big cheese. On the top of the magazine front cover it shows the skyline, in this skyline it engages the audience to buy the magazine as it makes contact with the audience telling them that there is 4 posters with in the magazine and gives out information on an upcoming festival which will get viewers of this magazine publication to read. In this magazine front cover it doesn't show many cover lines, but gives however, it entices the audience that it is a "punk rock special" which catches the eyes audience, and notifies them that this magazine is one of a kind due to this promotion. On the front of the magazine it says the bands name in a bold font and in the colour yellow, this is used to promote the cover artist or band in a publication in this case its GREEN DAY. In the main image they use props such as a microphone to indicate to the audience that the cover star at front is a singer. The mise - en - scene within this magazine front cover reflects back on the genre of music which is rock, as it shows the cover star with tattoos, messy hair and make-up on his face, this is also stereotypical, as not all rockers need to have these qualities in order to portray themselves as "rock stars". Lastly, in this magazine it lists other bands that the audience may be interested in, as well as bands which the audience may listen to, this is a way of advertising other bands to help gain more fans, and as big cheese has a large fan base they may want to discover more about the other artists through the publication.
Contents page
The contents page is split in to 2 pages one next to the other. the first page consists of images, and band groups with numbers, the numbers on the page next to the image take you to an article based on the artist page number selected. On the left side of the content page, it shows different sources of cross media platforms and social media websites, like Facebook and twitter, the reason big cheese magazine has done this is to promote its fan page and to build a larger target audience. In the content page it displays the article with the cover star that was featured on the front cover, this helps find a double spread sheet about the artist on the front. In both of the magazine on the far left and far right it shows 2 columns one is named after the masthead and uses the same logo, the other is named cream cheese and shows fans on different media platforms. There is a house style which is used in this content page and was also used in the front cover which shows the colours white, yellow and orange the reason why I think the colours orange, white and yellow is because of the magazines title which is big cheese and as cheese can be different types of colour such as the house style font. The colours also stand out due to having bright colours on a dark background which makes it easier to find the information as it is bright.
Double sided spread
In the double sided spread, it shows the cover star who was features on the front of the magazine front cover, and contents page and now he is on the double page spread, this shows that the institution of the publication wanted to advertise the band GREEN DAY or maybe the fact that GREEN DAY is a popular alternative rock band and is being promoted on the magazine. The house style is changed in the double page spread as it now consists of white, green and black. in the double page spread the featured cover star has the same props which is the microphone, the reason is because it shows he is a rock musician. I noticed that in the green font used in this double page spreads, are pull quotes as they are quotes from other musicians and opinion based on GREEN DAY they use this to show the audience what the target audience thinks about the band. in the white font there is information on the article regarding the band on the next page and has information about them.
Press Pack
As BigCheese is a niche magazine they didn't have any press pack available that was visible to see on their website, or any other publications or on any cross media platform. On the BigCheese website I clicked on the menu and I then clicked on the option which said "Contact Us" for a press pack. I received a press pack from the publishers of the magazine after emailing them in order to receive information of the press pack. The BigCheese press pack is shown below...
The target audience for the BigCheese magazine is between the ages of 15 - 25 year olds, this is because the target audience, are more interested in rock bands compared to the older generation. As the target audience is between the ages of 15 - 25 year olds, this gives the impression that the audience are mostly students and unemployed as the target audience is aiming teenagers and young adults. The gender of the target audience is a percentage of 55% for males and 45% for females, this directly tells me that the audience is more aimed at males then females however, the percentage of both genders are not that distant. In the Big cheese press pack it shows the amount of copies that BigCheese sell, they sell a total of 10,000 in the UK which isn't a lot compared to other alternative rock magazines, however, as it is a niche targeted audience it is a good amount to sell in the UK, because producing more of the magazine will cause the institution to lose out on money, as their target market is not mainstream. Big cheese also sell 3000 overseas, meaning out of the UK and in to other countries, this is good as they have a specific target based on genre and target audience and their fans would like to buy their magazine as they may have an interest in the magazine, content, information or artists and bands displayed on the front cover of the magazine and within the magazine.
Institution and publisher
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