Evaluation: Question 7

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

Please watch in 720p HD for best quality sound!

My college magazine my final music music magazine front pages side by side

Evaluation: Question 6

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

Please watch in 720p HD for best quality sound! Turn up your volume as I'm quiet.

This video shows me demonstrating many skills in Adobe Photoshop while I explain the process and what I learnt from these technologies while I was constructing my final product.

Here is an example of what it took to create my final product. This is the step to step process of creation which I made earlier on after constructing the first draft of my magazine front cover.

Evaluation: Question 5

WATCH THESE FOUR VIDEOS BEFORE PROCEEDING TO LAST SLIDE!

WATCH IN 720p HD for best quality playback!

Evaluation: Question 4

Here are the two videos I referenced in the powerpoint; the focus group and the mixed group discussion. Watch in 720p HD for best quality playback!

Evaluation: Question 3

Evaluation: Question 2

This is my question 2 for my evaluation which includes a music video which is an interpretation to some sectors of my target audience.

Evaluation: Question 1

Language analysis of final product

Front cover -
The photo used on my front cover is a medium close-up. I felt that a medium close up was appropriate due to the fact that it is a common convention in music magazines as it uses up enough of the magazine front page without making it look clustered or empty. Furthermore, I used direct mode of address with the image, this draws the audience in and connects them with the artist. The masthead clearly reflects the genre of my music magazine as the acoustic style and instruments are characteristics of the country music genre. It also stands out as the black colour contrasts with the blue sky in my background. I used a variety of fonts to ensure that each of my features as well as my headline stand out individually. I chose the colours blue, black and red for my text colour as it contrasts with the main image and takes inspiration from it which is a key convention in music magazines in making it look consistent.

 

Contents page -
The images on my contents page definitely reflect the genre of my magazine. Especially though the scenic background and the use of instruments like guitars. The font and the background are the same as my front cover which provides some continuity within the front cover and contents page. Again my font stick with the key conventions and is readable. The colours of the font I have used on my front cover is either green, light red, or white. All of these colours reflect my genre in terms of nature and scenery  It also leans slightly more towards a female audience due to obvious reasons, which shows why females are my main target audience, but it may appeal to men also. I chose to use different coloured fonts because it makes my contents page more variety and diversity.

Double page spread -
The image used in my double page spread is similar to the image on the front cover. Although this was taken on location while the front cover image was taken in a studio, they both share the scenic backgrounds which makes my magazine consistent. The large title of the article 'We'll always have Summer" was created with a variety of different styles. I mainly took inspiration from a Q double page spread featuring Florence Welch. I wanted to make part of hit fill up the full 2 pages. So I did this with the "We'll" and put the other parts in different places and fonts. I feel that this was one of my strongest creations in my final products. The colours that I used i had to again be inspired by the main image so I used the red colour of model's shoes for the main colour. However I did stay consistent with the rest of my magazine by using a hint of the light blue colour in the page numbers as this is the main colour in my whole magazine.

FINAL Double Page Spread Draft

This is my final double page spread draft. Unlike the rest of my product, I didn't receive much specific audience feedback for this. But I did receive some verbal feedback from my teacher, which is probably better than getting peer feedback. The only main improvement she suggested was to recreate the article sector of the page in publisher instead of Photoshop to make it look more conventional and professional. I elaborated on what she said by adding in a pull quote and making the article text go around it, this is extremely conventional to a music magazine. Other minor changes I made including moving the placing of the "Summer's new album out March 1st" and the image to the right side of the page near the text. As I thought the left page should be focused on the image and less on text. I also changed the lighting of the image slightly to make it look bright because before the scenery looked dull and I feel it reflected my music genre in a negative light. Lastly, I moved the credits to more conventional and efficient spot.

FINAL Contents Page Draft

This is my final contents page draft. Out of all my pages that made up my final product. Creating my contents page was definitely the most challenging, so I decided to stick solidly to the feedback that I was given from my peers and my teacher to make it the best I could. The biggest change I made was the addition of another picture of my artist, I felt that the contents page was looking too empty so adding this in allowed me to manipulate the text around it and make it fit in with the rest of the page. I also made some big changes to the text as I made the black stroke less prominent, especially on the editor's note text, and I also differentiated the colours of the text a lot more, as previously it was all white, I added some green and light red to make the text fit my colour scheme a lot more. One of my biggest challenges to crack was the text in the editor's note. I was finding it difficult to visualize the text, as both white and black text was clashing with the background making it look out of place. I solved this problem by making it black but adding a outer glow to make the text a lot more brighter and readable. The last main change I made was the social media sites. As social media is incredibly popular these days as well as with my target audience. I felt that adding a twitter and Facebook link to my magazine's site would make it look a lot more modern and updated. The final few changes I made were very simplistic ones that included adding the fine black lines in the content boxes to separate the text and the omission of some of the editor's note.

FINAL Front Cover Draft

This is my final front cover draft for my music magazine. In January, I received feedback from my peers as well as my teacher for my five front cover drafts which I created back in December. I finally applied the feedback and advice I was given on improving my cover, and I feel these changes have definitely made my front cover much more conventional and true to life. The first amendment I made was one suggested by my teacher, which was to move the masthead up to the top of the page and make the first letter capital, so it would "create room for more features" The next improvement I made was the reduction of the banner and the addition of the QR code. My teacher initially suggested that I made the barcode much smaller, and I decided to add a QR code while doing this and it makes my magazine much more up to date and conventional. The next improvement was something that had been commented a lot on by my peers, which was the editing of my artist, they felt the shadow effect made my artist look out of place with the background, one of my peers also suggested that I increase the brightness of my artist to make it fit in with the background. I did this by improving the lighting as well as the contrast, and I feel that this has paid off. The last improvement was the alignment and addition of more features, my teacher commented that there was a lot of empty space in the cover that could be used to add more features to make it conventional. I related back to the draft of my contents page and used the same features from there to make my magazine consistent and maintain house style. The last thing I did was align all of my new and current features into a way that a real magazine would. I am very pleased with how my final front cover draft turned out, and the peer feedback has definitely helped me improve it.

How I would promote my magazine

The primary way to promote my music magazine would be via the internet, especially due to web 2.0, social media is very popular in this period and especially due to my target audience. I looked at magazine websites like Q and NME and took inspiration from them to create this webpage, I noticed that they both embossed a gallery, news page, and info page and the contact page, so I added these into my webpage. Also, the use of a big feature of the cover star of the latest magazine cover was also inspired by Q's website specifically. I created this webpage on Wix.com, which is easy to use yet very successful in what it produces. I decided to further reflect the genre of my music magazine due to the design of my webpage. I did this by adding pictures of well known country artists like Ella Mae Bowen, Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert and Eden's Edge. I elaborated on this by adding a picture of a field as the website background, this reflects the genre as these landscapes are very distinctive to it. Furthermore, this links to my final product as my front cover, contents page and double page spread all use a background similar to this which reflects the genre in the same way as I did here.

Third Double Page Spread Draft

This is my third draft. The main differences I made for this draft were placing the credits in a different spot as I felt they were taking the focus off the image. The other main difference was the creation of my artist's album cover. I created this using Photoshop with various effects that give it a sun glare effect that I was very keen on using in my photographs from an early stage in the pre-production process (see lighting mood board). I also added the text using Photoshop. I followed the continuity from my article where I stated the name of my artist's new album ('Freedom'). I really enjoyed creating this album cover and I hope it will make my double page spread a lot more conventional. Alongside the album cover, I added some text stating the album's release date. For my final draft, I will take some advice from my teacher and my peers to improve it even more for when I submit.

Second Double Page Spread Draft

This is my second draft. I have managed to make some of the improvements that my first draft lacked, these include the page numbers, the sizing and the credits. To follow the house style of my magazine, I decided to make the page numbers light blue, as this is a common style throughout my magazine. This is important as my double page spread tends to go in a different direction in terms of colour, so by changing the page number colours, I have maintained the house style. Another improvement I made was the sizing of the 'Summer' title. I felt as if more space should have been used around it and this was the only solution, I also feel it looks more conventional now due to the fact that the artist's name needs to be bold and eye-catching. The last improvement I made was adding the writer and photographer credits. Although I plan to move them for my third draft. Improvements I need to make include using up some more space in the left page by the image. I am thinking of using that space up by creating my artist's upcoming album cover and placing it there with some text stating the date this particular album will be released.

First Double Page Spread Draft

This is my first draft. Overall, I am very happy with it as it conveys the same elements as my digital mock-up (see right). The picture I used in my digital mock-up ultimately inspired the image I used in my drafts of my double page spread. I did this because I liked the way that the image took the place of the background and ran across both pages. This is good because it incorporates the setting to my advantage, because it reflects the genre of my music magazine, which is country. As for improvements, I feel I could make the 'Summer' title/headline a lot bigger to use up the empty space and possibly make it cross the line over to the other page. Also, for my double page spread to be conventional and correct, I need to add in page numbers and add the names of the writer and photographer, as this is ethical.

Article

This is my completed article for the double page spread of my music magazine. It contains a mixture of first person viewpoint and question and answer.

Country superstar, Summer Lynn, really has accomplished a lot in the last year. After her self-titled debut album reached #1 on the UK Music Charts and selling 1.4 million copies in the UK alone. The album also spawned the hit singles "One Works Better" and "Undermine" which both topped the charts in 42 countries including the UK, Australia and the United States. With her second album's release dawning quickly, she has her eye set on the United States, especially after winning the prestigious Grammy Award for Best Newcomer, which has increased a chances of success there.

Summer arrives at the Acoustic headquarters for the interview looking radiant, still casual, wearing a Superdry plaid shirt, a Jack Wills' cardigan, some Levi jeans and lastly, some simple red converse. Even though it was 7am and dreary day, Summer's up-bringing and optimistic attitude made us all feel as if it was a  summer afternoon. After the short interview, we took Summer up to the hills for the outdoor photoshoot. Being typical England weather, I was expecting her to go all diva on us like Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift had previously. But I was wrong, she didn't complain once, she got on with the photoshoot with a smile on her face exclaiming: "You don't get this in Nashville"...

Your new album is entitled 'Freedom', how did you come up with the name?

"I was inspired as I felt that feeling when I left school and my childhood and moved to adulthood. This album is a lot more focused on my journey after I left home and living the dream without anything to stop me. I saw this as 'Freedom'"

Were there any issues in your childhood that made you happy to leave it?

"Well I didn't have a good time at school, I had friends but none of them really shared my passion  and interest for music, which in a way made it hard for them to understand me. I also encountered some problems in my last year of school when I had just got signed to Big Machine. But in a way, this pushed me even further by writing songs that expressed my feelings. So maybe I should thank those people. People haven't always been there for me but my music always has"

People like us worry that once you hit it big in the States you will cross-over to Pop music similar to the likes of Taylor Swift, is this true?

"Not at all, not even if its a last resort. The whole reason I write and perform music is because it keeps me going. Music is my fuel. I will always stay with country music, even if it kills me, I grew up with it and it'll always be a big part of my life"

How was it attending the Grammy's and the Academy of Country Music awards with all the big artists?

"It was crazy! It was such an honour to win the Grammy for Best Newcomer and to be nominated for all those ACM's. I met Florence Welch, Adele, Mumford and Sons, Carrie Underwood, and Kelly Clarkson. I was star-struck when Taylor Swift came over and told me that she enjoyed my album! I was in such shock!"

What does the future hold for you?

"After I wrap up the tour, I would really like to get into more film composing. Writing and recording 'Fade into You' for Silver Linings Playbook was a blast and being nominated for the Best Original Song Academy Award was such an honour"

Feedback Response: Contents page drafts

In response to the feedback I have received  I have decided to apply the following improvements to my music magazine contents page:

• Differentiate fonts (titles and non-titles)
• Change colour of page numbers to make them stand out more
• Make subtitles subtle compared to titles
• Place black line in the middle of the columns to separate the text
• Make the black stroke thinner and the alignment correct in the editor's note
• Remove second use of editor's name
• Change subscription price to make it more correct
• Caption at the bottom of images to establish the artists
• Credits for who took the pictures
• Make black text stroke less prominent

Feedback from teacher

Peer Feedback: Cristiana Chiumenti

Strengths: I really like the background and the color scheme. The sections are very organized and it's very clear for the reader to find what they're looking for.

Areas of improvements:  maybe make the page numbers of a different color so that they are more visible and it's even easier for the reader to see them

Other comments:
Overall I really like your contents page!

Peer Feedback: Isabel Worrell

Strengths
You've really captured the genre of the magazine and i love the background!
You've also got some great images. Love the the light blue and white colour scheme.

Areas for improvement
You could change the colour of the page numbers to make them stand out or maybe just the line colour.

Other comments
Like it a lot it's really good. Well set out!:)))

Peer Feedback: Daniel Swift

Strengths: Looks professional, decent colour scheme, good range of photos, decent features.
Improvements: In order to improve your contents page, perhaps make text less prominent, bold look. Maybe keep the bold fonts for titles and subtitles and go for a more subtle approach in terms of text.
Any other comments: Perhaps add more unnecessary features to your blog itself in order to help you create inspiration for future work.

Fouth Contents Draft

This is my fourth draft. I decided to focus the process between my third draft and this on making the small, last minute changes in terms of alignment etc. The most noticeable improvement is the switching of my upcoming gigs title and the dates, I switched the positions as I felt this looked aesthetically better. Other changes I made include aligning the boxes and text correctly and slightly altering the size of the masthead. I also added a transparency effect onto the boxes to avoid them blending into the background too much. Obviously, this one is still a draft so when I get some peer feedback for this I was make some changes to it before submitting my final draft.

Third Contents Draft

This is my third draft. The only change I made to this from my second draft was the addition of the subscription offer in the gap that used to contain the rest of the editor's note before I reduced the size of it. I've noticed that subscription offers are a very common convention of music magazines as it is an opportunity to get more people to read the magazine. I also added a small cover of my music magazine, though this will change in my final contents draft before full submission due to the fact that my front page will change too and there has to be continuity. As for improvements, for my final draft I only plan on tweaking my contents page of those very small mistakes, like alignment etc.

Second Contents Draft

This is my second draft. I managed to make some of the improvements that I stated while posting my first draft. These were the enlargement of the current features as well as using some of the other empty space. The biggest improvements I made were the omission of the 'Acoustic' logo as I felt it was too large and it didn't need to be repeated from my front cover. I also reduced the size of the contents and put it in the top left corner. I also decided to fill the gap next to it with some information about the magazine's website  as this is a common convention of a music magazine. I also reduced the size of my editor's note to leave a wider gap for another feature. Improvements I need to make for my third draft are most prominently to fill the gap with another feature, maybe a subscription offer. I also need to tweak the size of things to make the alignment correct.

First Contents Draft

This is my first draft. Overall, I am pleased with this as it conveys all of my initial ideas from the pre production process. As for improvements, I feel there is a lot of empty space that I could use up with other features, or I could just rearrange and enlarge my current features. Also, I feel that the alignment is not correct in some ways with the text and the boxes, this could do with some tweaking. I will aim to make these improvements for my second draft.

Location photoshoot images

For my location photo shoot  I look my model up a hill called Mount Airy and in some woods near my house.  I felt this location definitely reflected the genre of my music magazine as it is country. It was rather difficult due to the cold January weather and the lack of control of the environment. But in the end, I got the images I needed and I am very happy with them.

I took nearly 150 images so it was difficult to put them all into a Prezi or PowerPoint. Instead, I have just taken a print screen of the images in the file to show how many there are. I will also place a few of the best images taken.

 

Feeback Response: Front cover drafts

In response to the feedback I have received  I have decided to apply the following improvements to my music magazine front cover:

• Make front cover image blend in background more - remove shadow, add brightness etc
• Make barcode smaller and possibly add QR code
• Move up masthead to fill up more space and possibly make first letter capital
• Add more features to take up more space - to prevent magazine from looking empty
• Consider the removal of the 'Hot List' feature
• Consider positioning of headline - in relation to main image

Feedback from teacher

Peer Feedback: James Bruce

You clearly put a lot of effort on your research and it shows, the sheer amount of content that you have put into this blog is amazing. The amount of time and effort that must have been put into the Prezi and Youtube clips really allows anyone to see the care you have taken to produce the final product which I might add is brilliant. I also love the analysis that you have put in... en mass. There seems to be so much work.

The final product is amazing, it has all the qualities expected of a magazine and the Guitar plugs that you have added really help to sell the overall theme of the product. In fact it's so realistic I'm not sure there is anything bad I can say about your work.
Well Done.

Peer Feedback: Emily Devlin

Emily Devlin
Overall your blog is detailed with a variety of different things explaining your planning and your final work. Your front cover follows the conventions well and looks well made and professional and I also think the background is very effective. My criticisms would be that I think your bar code is maybe a bit too big, the main image looks a bit too photo-shopped around the hair where it has been cut out and the "hot list" feature doesn't seem to fit in that much with the rest of the magazine. All in all you've done a very good job.

Peer Feedback: Charlotte Medhurst

Charlotte Medhurst

Overall it looks like a good blog with good detailed work.

I prefer the second draft, I think its a better picture and that it fits better with the theme of the magazine.
I like the font and the color scheme used as it seems to represent the genre well. The main article title draws attention without taking away from the rest of the front cover.
The picture on the fifth draft looks a bit to obviously photo-shopped, especially around the hair on the right side. Also, with it being a sunny background I think the picture needs to be made lighter so it looks as though she's actually sitting in the sun.

Peer Feedback: Daniel Swift

Name of person giving feed back: Daniel Swift
Overall assessment of blog: Overall I think your blog is extremely creative, you've explained your reason for doing everything you've done and you've done it thoroughly. You've used a variety of techniques to show your work in a creative way. I also like the way the design of your blog links to the genre of music you're focusing on.
Strengths of the front cover: The creative techniques of showcasing your work, the explanation for each step you're doing, the practical work you have created.
Areas for development on front cover: Perhaps make the cover's look a bit more professional and less like a student has created it. It is extremely good and very creative, however the quality of the image does give away the fact that a student has made it.