task 7-audience feedback video and evaluation

I have presented my proposal to my media class as the audience and have gained relatively good feedback that i can work with on this project for the final outcome of my magazine.

I presented a proposal with everything that i plan to add in my magazine that i think would make the outcome of the final magazine effective enough. I presented my ideas about the the target audience, the magazine's purpose, mastheads, contents page and double page spread. 

Some people emphasized on the effective idea of having a close-up shot of a female model with props and make-up that would suit the issue of the magazine which is a winter/Christmas issue. At first i thought that having a female model on the front cover would make my magazine typically look like it is targeted for women only, but from my feedback that didn't seem to be a problem. The combination of dull pastel colors for the color scheme of my magazine may have balanced the thoughts of the audience that my magazine would indeed be targeted both towards men and woman.

Things to change suggested by my target audience would be on the masthead. Some suggested that the letter 'S' in the masthead 'SOUND' would not be very clear on the final front cover as it is in a style that may restrict the reader from seeing it. However, i can later in the project when i am making the final magazine, play with lighter font outlines so that the masthead as a result will be clearer and more attractive for the reader/audience. I wanted to portray uniqueness in my masthead to reflect its music genre, alternative music, which also is very unique and different. Someone questioned what type of shot would the image on my front cover be, and i had answered that all 'SOUND' magazines would have a consistent theme of close-up shots. This in a sense would give the magazine name and issues an identity and it would be recognized more for its' theme and uniqueness.

Finally, someone also asked what inspired me to choose a winter issue for my magazine. I said that as it is winter at the moment, i was inspired to think about how the front cover would look like with images that suit the winter/Christmas theme. For example i was able to think about the make-up of the model. The make-up would be a blue icy color to fit the cover lines of my winter issue magazine. 

Proposal presentation

http://www.slideshare.net/Phia_123/proposal-15029368

Newsstand Task

I visited the store WHSmith and looked at the music section newsstand. There were different variety of rock magazines and were all stacked one behind the other but each row was higher so that the main mastheads were visible in order for the magazines to be were well promoted. The people who created each magazine thought and planed their layout very well. They thought about what position the magazines were going to be stacked in and made sure their mastheads were placed right at the top of their cover page in bold so that the customers, when entering the shop and looking through the shelves, they are immediately drawn in and can see all types of magazines clearly.

Main cover lines and teasers were also laid out carefully around the page. The producers for the magazines placed these main cover lines and teasers around the top of the cover pages. This is very effective as the customers are shown main pieces of information that the magazine holds. This persuasive technique gets the customer to pick up the magazine and it also helps them to choose which one they want to pick out of the variety of choices on the shelves.

Magazines with images of famous and most well-known artists are placed on rows by which there are no other magazines laid on top of them. This makes the newsstand look more interesting and well planned out. The audience notice this stand straight away when walking into the store. More important magazines that sell more often are placed in noticeable sections of the shelves so that the audience and customers have easy access to their favourite magazine on the stand. Promoting these well-known magazines noticeably, helps the shop sell more without having to send big amounts of magazines back to the distributor.

Physical distribution- if the magazines are not all sold in the shops, it goes back to the distributor with no cost to the retailer/shop.

Direct distribution- this is usually a free magazine which is directly given to the customer/ audience e.g. magazines given at the stations organizations using direct distribution have to sell and distribute their magazines using their own warehouses and sales staff.

Postal distribution- this is magazines sent straight through your door. This can be a good way of distributing magazines because people are more like to read it on their free and own time

Internet/Online distribution- this consists of magazine downloads, magazines sent to inboxes. You can also subscribe to magazines to look at them. I would say the internet distribution is the most used because you can get a lot of free advantages from it. It’s also much easier to access and people can just read it at home without having to go out to buy a magazine. People can also post comments and suggestions about magazines online. Some comments help the producers of the magazines find out how they could make their magazines look better to suit the audience’s needs.

Audience Feedback and evaluation for college magazine

During the process by which I gathered some audience comments about my design of the cover and contents page of my college magazine, I was able to distinguish and pick out on the strong and weak points of my production skills by asking a few students during class.

During the process of preparing and making my front cover page and the contents page, there were a few skills that I was able to apply on my magazine for it to be successful and some new skills that I developed throughout. I thought the photography went quite well in terms of lighting and having a good simple background for the cover of my magazine. This helped the model stand out to be the main focus of the magazine. Although we did not have a professional session for the photography, I was able to get the appropriate lighting that made my cover image clear enough for the audience.

When it came to the image manipulation on Photoshop, it took me a while to get used to it. In the end I adapted quite well to it, but i had some problems with the lighting of the image for the cover page. It was taken in a very dark room so I had some trouble adjusting the brightness and contrast of the image. Improvements I need to do on Photoshop include developing and gaining more knowledge of the programme so that next time, when I am making the main magazine task, I will be able to use my full potential so that it appeals and looks attractive enough for the audience. I could also ensure good lighting for the original magazine that I will be producing.

The page layouts of my cover and contents page were kept simple. Use of mastheads and captions were kept the same colour so that I had a consistent colour scheme throughout. This helped my magazine have a good flow of visual content for the audience.  The people who I had asked thought I had a good combination of colours that were relevant to the logo of LSC. They pointed out that it gives my magazine a sense of identity, that the audience would notice the colour scheme purpose straight away. Looking at the LSC website helped me develop some cover lines for the front page so that it looked more professional and appealing for the reader, cover lines such as ‘success at a caring college’. This helped to enforce a positive view of LSC sixth form.

InDesign was also alien to me when I first used it, but as I got used to it and developed my skills on it more often I was able to adapt to the programme. In the end, I was able to use toolboxes, rulers to help me align my columns neatly on the page etc. in the end the layout of my cover, was very precise. I had the main image of the student on the background, the masthead on the top half of the page, and the cover lines around the image avoiding any coverage of it so that the whole cover is was well promoted and provided a good visual content.

Other things I found out that I need to improve on according to my target audience about both my cover and contents page would be that I should get used to observing other school/college magazines so I gain more ideas for my own magazine. Students in my class pointed out that this helped develop their magazines because it gave them their knowledge to know what these kinds of magazines actually look like. It also helped them figure out what is appealing and what isn’t so that they know what to add and avoid in their production of the college magazines. 4

Three key points for developing when producing the main task of the music magazine:

•  Thinking more thoroughly about the setting and lighting of the magazine so that it looks attractive enough to appeal its audience.
• Developing skills on InDesign and Photoshop so that I am ready to use the skills appropriately e.g. skills such as being able to experiment with imagery effects so that the image comes out much more professional.
•  Looking at other college/schools magazine to help me gain knowledge of what is to go on one and what needs to be avoided in order for the magazine to be successful. 

College Magazine- Cover & Contents page

I kept the masthead of this LSC magazine simple and a navy blue front to represent the logo of the college. the other cover-lines are also in blue, yellow and white which represent the other colors of the logo. The information of this page is more about the highlighting of some of the success of students in this college and some of the activities that are provided in the college. This gives a positive representation of the college which is persuasive and exciting for the readers to find out more.

The contents consist of the same main cover lines of the cover page with more information. I decided to have an image of a student reading in the background to represent the hard working students of the college. Again the colors are kept the same as to the colors of the logo shown also on this contents page.

Case Studies

 Image: The image is of a medium close up shot of the sensational worldwide superstar Justin Bieber. This magazine is similar in terms of bright lighting and dull background so that the main image of the magazine can stand out on the page. The costume of Justin Bieber is very fashionable to suit the audience’s style as well as to promote the magazine positively. As the magazine is targeting a younger audience they combine the music with fashion so that the celebrities can advertise and promote their fashion that is out there and most recent. The image of the main celebrity on this cover is wearing colours that match well with other colours of the cover lines on the page. The pose of the model promotes style and power. This makes the cover stand out with a more powerful visual content which as a result, it gives out a clear and direct mode of address. In terms of genre, I have also realised that the masthead of this magazine itself is also used for the TV show ‘Top of the Pops’ making the magazine much more well known as it’s being noticed by a wider range of its target audience.

Page layout:

The main masthead of this cover page is very unique to give the magazine its own identity and style. It is in bold so that the magazine is advertised appropriately and effectively  For example the masthead has a significant font and it is in bold so that the audience are able to notice the magazine much more effectively. Also the caption size of ‘oh it’s Bieber’ is equivalent to the font size of the masthead indicating that it may be the main story of the magazine and that it’s just as important as the masthead. It has mini captions and cover lines to attract the reader to the magazine. The teasers are short and precise but enough to get the reader interested. Important names, captions and teasers are in bold to highlight the main stories as well as the most interested ones from inside of the magazine. The smaller images are placed and aligned around the main image to show that the main image is the most important of Top of the Pops which also gives an insight of what the magazine contains. For example it may contain a featured article of the model. Captions go under the relevant pictures that are to do with them. This as a result draws the reader in.

Language used: The language on this page addresses with the audience in a persuasive but simple tone. For example the caption ‘Cheat the look’ gives the magazine a more exciting and mischievous feel which in this case emphasises the persuasive side to the magazine. This helps to draw the audience in because not only they are taking in information but they are doing so easily because the language used is not too complex to understand. As the audience targeted are probably young teens, the language used is effective because the audience can refer to it. They use quirky language in captions and teasers such as ‘Oh boy, its Bieber’ to attract the female audience. This also persuades them to read on inside and find out about more gossip that is provided in the magazine which is usually what a teenager looks for in a magazine they tend to buy.

Magazine publishing: the corporate company that publishes Top of the Pops magazine is the BBC magazines. Variety of Magazines targeted to a range of different age groups that is normally part of a TV show that already exists. Other magazines published by this company include Top Gear, Focus, Radio Times, Match of the day etc.

Image: a variety of images are used on this page to highlight the variety of stories or gossip that this magazine contains. Images that contain youth and popular people are used to emphasize on the magazine’s younger teenage target audience. There is an editor’s note tilted ‘Hey girls’ which does target the young teen girls of this magazine directly. The numbers of the pages where the audience can find the articles inside are clearly and directly shown on this contents page. The colour scheme from the cover to this page has moved from more of a pink colour to a purple colour scheme. With the variety of colours that this magazine contains, this can indicate again that it is in fact targeted to a younger audience. Like the variety of colours used in this magazine, the variety of bold and italic fonts also shows how it is target towards a younger, perhaps female, audience. The lighting and backgrounds are kept simple throughout the images on this page so that they do not clash against each other; instead they make the page have a good flow and style. The costumes and styles of the people in the images are kept fashionable and trendy to keep the standards of the magazine high throughout. This also shows that the Top of the Pops magazine is also not afraid to express their different styles through celebrities who are willing to express them too.

Page Layout: the contents are listed in chronological order to help organise the categories in which each story that comes up in the magazine goes in. ‘Inside your MAG’ is big and clear as the main title on this page so the reader has an Idea of what they are looking at straight away as they open it, in other words they will know what to expect inside of the magazine. The teasers are placed underneath images which relate to one another. It has a relative relationship between the image and text meaning that the imagery is supporting the text. They include quotes from celebrities; teasers of what may come up in the magazine etc. They also include number of pages under the pictures which will guide the reader to what page they go to that has gossip or information about that relevant image. This will interest the reader in the magazine as they will be able to have an idea of what stories and gossip the magazine contains inside. The columns of contents are placed next to each other and aligned neatly on this page so that the reader does not get confused when reading.

Language: not much is written on a contents but where there is writing, it is not to short but precise enough for the reader to understand what the magazine is telling us. Throughout the magazine and this page the tone of language is used to suit the young teenager as the audience. This means complex words and captions are avoided to result in any confusion. The reader is picking up information successfully because they can understand and relate to what the magazine is telling them. Shortened words and sentences are used such as ‘celebs’. This is a more of a modern way of tone of language. The young audience find this language appealing to them and they can relate to it because they used it in everyday life on social networking sites, texting etc.  

Image: On this double page spread the image on the left of Justin Bieber is kept simple and similar to the image of him on the cover page. He is wearing the same clothing and accessories which creates the link between the two pages. This shows how the magazine is featuring this celebrity as they are promoting him on the front page and showing what is provided for the targeted audience on the inside and on this page. The background has an essence of pop and is suitable for the page in terms of colours that match mastheads and captions. The fact that it has elements of pop but is still kept dull makes the main image stands out on the page and creates a good visual content for us as the readers. Strong and bright lighting is kept similar. This brings out the strong features of the celebrity. This makes the page look more professional and attractive for the targeted audience. Again the model looks quite fresh paced and modern which again emphasizes his power and fame which is what the female audience in this case, are interested in. As a result the magazine is providing the audience with what they like which makes it successful.

Page Layout: with more text and information of the interview on this page, it is still aligned and organised into neat and parallel columns and textboxes. The tile uses coloured fonts to match the coloured font of the subheadings and captions underneath. This as a result gives the page a more professional and well thought look. All the colours are coordinated and kept similar throughout so that the page has a good flow of information and visual content. The tile is in bold so that the reader is drawn into page. Using a positive quote from the celebrity as a masthead shows that the page is specifically about him and gossip about him. The style of font of this tile looks very feminine toe, which emphasizes the magazine’s female teen audience. The caption by the same picture that has been used in the cover saying ‘covers story’ is also used to prove that the magazine is featuring the celebrity. Captions are highlighted with different colours to the main text and they are bold to catch the reader’s eye. The pull quotes makes the reader want to read the whole of the article. The readers are immediately drawn to the main bold and big font text on this page, this means the text that are in bold have to be relevant and important to the page so that it looks exciting. The fact that this double page spread is half an image and half is text makes the pages much more conventional.  

Language used: this page holds more text than the others. However the language tone and structure are kept simple so that the young audience still understand what the page is telling them. It is important to keep the reader entertained and to avoid them from getting bored when reading the magazine so this information contains quirky language to keep the reader interested and willing to read on. Again this page as well as the whole magazine has language that appeal to young teenagers which means they can relate to this language and understand what it means. The language used to describe Justin Bieber on this page is very positive so that he is shown as a good role model for us as the audience and readers and it also shows that it is more of a question and answer interview.

Image: the shot type is very different from other magazines making this magazine have an element of uniqueness and importance. Powerful bold colours are used to promote the dangerous and exciting feel to this magazine and its cover. The colours used such as red are normally used for hip-hop and rap magazines. The two celebs on this picture go very well in terms of what they’re wearing to match the text and the colours around them. The expressions on their face look very powerful and give the magazine a sense of importance and power which lure readers of its audience to buy it. The cover has a specific colour scheme which is reds, white and black and what the celebs are wearing do not clash with everything else because the colours are kept similar. The lighting is bright so the text and imagery is clearly seen on the page. The background is dull and simple so that the images stand out as they are one of the main elements on the page that determines whether the magazine looks professional or not. The clothes that they are wearing also may represent the theme of music of this magazine with styles used that match the rap and hip hop music industry.

Page Layout: use of big bold font masthead for the magazine name ‘XXL’. Important names and captions are also in bold and in eye catching colours to highlight what are the main pages of the magazine and who the featured articles are about. The important names are those of the famous categories in the rap music industry which also relates to its content. Numbers are also laid out on this page so to show the reader the success of these artists. They are in bold to show how it is important for the page and as a result it makes the cover sand out more almost by showing off its artists’ success. Cover lines, captions and teasers are carefully placed around the images so that they cover a fair amount of the page. This results in the page not looking too filled up, but containing enough text resulting in an effective flow of the cover. They are aligned neatly so that the reader does not get drawn away from the magazine.

Language: short captions are used on this cover so that it is not too complex but understood enough by the audience themselves because it’s short and precise. This emphasizes its target audience as it is targeted to probably a young audience, perhaps between the ages of 16 and 21. The language also supports the magazine’s genre. Words such as ‘eye candy’ and ‘next big star’ emphasizes the hip hop/ rap genre as it gives out elements of fame and power. It gets straight to the point. Again, powerful words such as ‘big star’ are used to show the potential of the artists that are exclusive in this magazine. The language techniques on this page are effective to get the audience intrigued by the magazine and wanting or ‘needing’ to read on inside. It’s very persuasive in terms of portraying these stars as big icons and idols in this music industry.

Image: it is a medium close up shot of the same hip-hop artist from the cover page of the magazine. This shows that the cover story or the information and gossip inside is about this artists as he is shown as important in the cover page as well as this contents page. His props and jewellery include gold chains and rings to represent a sense of power, fame and money. This makes the page more powerful and attractive. The pose of the artist is also powerful. He is made to look very important to us as the audience. The page is not too bright and kept dark with dark colours used but still keeping the colour scheme of red, white and black to collaborate and match with the cover page.

Page layout: the contents are laid out on the far left of the page not covering the main image too much. It shows how important and powerful this icon is for the magazine. On the far bottom of the page it says ‘cover and this page: shot exclusively for XXL by Scott Council’ which shows how the magazine issue is specially or featured on ‘Kendrick Lamar’. There are about two columns of contents in page which are in chronological order. They do not fill the page with too much information. The features are listed to draw the reader in. XXL also has another page of regular listed contents. This contents page is shown first which shows its importance as it may be more relevant to the cover page. Main subheadings and titles are in bigger bold fonts to catch the reader’s eye and so that they are well aware about what they are looking at.

Language used: quotes about Dr. Dre, the manager of Kendrick Lamar are used directly to the reader so that the audience feel like they are more part of the magazine. The pull quotes links and supports the image so that this page looks more relevant. Small paragraphs under caption of contents are used to highlight the pages so that we are drawn in and that can get a better understanding of what each page is about. Words such as commandments are used on the contents which almost tell us that music on this magazine is a religion we should follow and cherish. It gives a sense of importance to us. Everyday language is used so that the magazine is not made out to be too complex or less understood by the audience. This again emphasizes on the magazine’s young target audience.

Image: Both Kendrick and his manager Dr. Dre are side by side on this double page to show that their equally famous and important. Their hand gestures show us that its hip hop they are singing and the audiences picks up on this because they understand and can relate to it. The page is kept simple with colours like black and white so there is not too much going on in the page. The background is blurred and dull to show that the two singers are the main focus on this page and it is all about them and nothing else around them. They are shown as a very important element on the page.

Page layout: the short paragraph written about the two artists on this page is an introduction and is placed on the far bottom left corner of the double page spread. This is to keep the strong focus on the main image of the page. The rest of the article is placed on more pages to show how this cover story is the main element of the magazine. The image is well spread out on the page to create a good balance to it without making the page look disproportioned and badly planned. In other words the double page spread is clear for the audience and the reader is not immediately being thrown at with too much information. It makes the page look more professional and prevents the reader from getting bored or put off of reading the article. The main title is the biggest on the page so that the reader knows straight away what the page is about.

Language used: the word ‘advocate’ is used to show how Dr. Dre strongly supports and recommends Kendrick. This shows their strong bond between the two that help them to be successful in the hip hop music industry. Quotes are again used to make this page more relevant and reliable. This is because there’s proof of what the artists has said and done making the article more realistic and direct to its audience. The audience can relate to the text. The language is not too complex, but powerful words such as ‘alliance’ to again show their strong bond. Slang and shortened words are used such as ‘puttin’ in the quotes. The audience understand this because it is targeted for the younger generation and they can relate to it because they use that type of language themselves in their everyday lives. This is why the magazine in general appeals to them because they can enjoy and so the target audience can understand. It is better to use the interview on this double page spread in this case because the audience can get a sense of the language and written style.