Induction Evaluation

In order the write an article on the music industry in terms of music piracy I had to conduct some research about the advantages and the disadvantages of music piracy, views of professional recording artists and a number of statistics to support each side of the argument.

I had started off by surfing the internet, which had a provided me with a reasonable amount of information, to an extent, as the majority of the information which I had found was about the United States rather than the United Kingdom, despite this, the information  which I did find about the UK represented both the advantages and disadvantages. It took some time to obtain information on the UK, however it gradually got easier as I had sourced the information from reliable newspapers, such as The Guardian, which were published within the UK, also due to them being newspapers, dates were provided with the articles therefore I was able to know if the information was about the past or the present. Along with the internet research, a class debate was conducted where each half of the class had been allocated a side, either agreeing or disagreeing with music piracy. This debate was effective as both sides of the argument was represented and researched into, and this information was shared to the rest of the class thus making it easier to write a fair argument.

Before writing the article I had to choose a magazine to write for/represent, once this was chosen I had to read numerous articles which were written within the magazine in order to find out what type of language was to be used when writing my own article, as I had chosen to write for GQ Magazine, the language had to be much more sophisticated and complex in comparison to the language which was used in magazines such as Vibe Magazine or Kerrang Magazine. When writing the article, I had to use 1^st person language when I was giving my own point of view on the situation at hand, ‘In my opinion, I do not believe ...’ 1^st person was also used when quoting others who had provided their views on the whole idea of music piracy.

InDesign seems rather difficult to use at first but it is very similar to Adobe Photoshop which made it much easier for me to use, as I know how to sue the fundamental tools as well as the more difficult in Photoshop, these tools included the; magnetic lasso tool, magic wand tool and more. There was a slight confusion when choosing between the 2 rectangular boxes, one to be used for text and the other for images. After figuring out which is which, it was much easier and quicker for me to design and create and article. I did not know how to change the background colour of the page so  I had to create a rectangle, change the colour, alter its size then send the layer to the bottom so that the text can be visible and easily read.

At first I did not know how to use the Blogger website but after playing around with the various links it became clear and much easier to use. I had learnt how to view my posts, edit y posts etc. Also, it became clear that it was much easier to screenshot my work, save them as JPEGs then post them on my blog as it was much easier to for me to edit my work.

In terms of audience feedback, I had not provided with any therefore I do not know how I will be able to improve my work.

Personal Targets:

o    Research on InDesign and learn how to use the more complex tools.

o    Make sure information is relevant when researching.

o    Alter magazine article’s design and structure according to what other articles from the chosen magazine look like.

Beatz Magazine - Issue 7

The Beatz Magazine is an informal magazine which has a main focus of mainstream music, but also contains articles on fashion and reviews. The magazine had been founded and published by a group of individuals in May 2012 for music lovers across the globe. In order to run the magazine, there are a variety of workers, from a DJ, to bloggers, graphic artists and journalists. In order to gain a large amount of income, the magazine allows advertising space to be purchased by various people, for example famous artist Katy Perry promotes her gigs and clothing brand ‘Trend Star’ promotes their products.

The front page of the magazine consists of an image of a famous artist, Wiz Khalifa, also known as a cover star. The cover star is in the centre of the page thus drawing attention; this effect is also present with the text which is used to inform the audience about the contents of the magazine. The cover star has been photographed from the head to the waist, this shot is known as a close-medium shot, and it has been taken in front of a blank background/wall. The cover star is seen wearing various accessories including; bracelets, rings, sunglasses, a scarf and a watch. There are also many tattoos which are visible on the cover star. The magazine uses a masthead to present the name of the magazine to its readers, it also uses a cover line in order to tell the readers about the article written about the cover star. The text which is visible on the front cover follows a 3 colour scheme; black, white and red. The information which is presented on the front cover talks about what will be available to read in the magazine, the information includes an article on the ‘Beatz Awards’, ‘Top 10 Artists to Watch’ and more. Furthermore the front cover displays the issue number, date and the company website.

The magazine’s contents page takes up 2 pages which is quite common within magazines of all genres. The 2 pages tell the reader about what kinds of articles can be found within the magazine and what pages they can be found on; this includes articles on fashion and artists. The word ‘Contents’ is written in the largest text size on the page in order to tell the reader that they are on that specific page, where as the text used to tell the reader about the articles is much smaller, despite this the article title is in bold but the article description is in an ordinary font. To make the page look more organised the writers have separated the text into columns, the columns are titled; ‘Regulars’, ‘Features’, ‘Interviews’ and ‘Editor’s Picks’ which could aid the reader to choose what they want to read about. The page presents the reader with the magazine name, magazine website and the page number.

The double page spread is focused on famous artist Wiz Khalifa, and consists of 2 large images and one column of text. The 2 images are of the artist in 2 different outfits which could represent different sides of the artist. One image is of him in a smart and sophisticated outfit and the other is of him in a more rebellious and free-minded outfit. Within the first image he is seen wearing a suit accompanied with smart shoes, a fedora, scarf and a variety of accessories, within the second image he is seen wearing an over-studded jacket which has many badges attached to it, white tee, black trousers and a pair of black boots. The text which accompanies the two images is a continuation of a Q&A which was begun on the previous image it has been positioned in the middle of the 2 images and presented within a single column. The questions of the article are written in blue and the answers are written in black, by doing this it effectively makes the reading more easy and enjoyable for the reader as they can choose to read what they want rather than reading the entire article.  The language which is used within this article is informal as the magazine is directed at a young audience, the language used can be related to by the readers as the words which are used by the artist is also used by the audience.

Beatz Magazine - Issue 9

The front cover of this issue of Beatz magazine consists of a medium-close shot of a new artist who has become very popular all over the world. The photo of the artist has been positioned in the middle of the page in order to draw attention from readers. Lighting has been used effectively when the shot was taken as it has been placed directly on the front of the cover star; also due to the background being darker it allows more focus to be placed on the cover star.  The props and costume worn/used by the cover star have been specifically chosen as they have some sort of association with the target audience of the magazine as they are parts of trends which have been followed my millions of people. The masthead for the front cover has been placed on the top of the page and has been written in a large and bold text, this is effective when it comes to selling the magazine as when it is placed on stands the name of the magazine may be the first thing a customer may see when browsing. Similarly to the masthead, the cover lines have also been written in a large and bold text to make it easier for to reader to read. The cover lines are used in order to tell the audience what this particular issue may contain; furthermore on the bottom of the page there is a list of other artists who will also be included within the magazine.

The contents page of the magazine takes up 2 pages and includes images as well as text. The photos present on the page have been paired up with text in order to illustrate what particular articles are about. Both pages have been separated into columns to organise the pages, all photos, except 2, have been resized in order to fit into the columns, the 2 exceptions are the photos linked to the cover star and main cover line. These photo linked to the cover star is the largest, taking up 3 columns, among all the photos which demonstrates the importance of the article which is followed by the main cover line’s photos, which takes up 2 columns. All the articles titles present on the page have been given numbers to indicate what pages they can be found in the magazine. On the bottom corners of the page, the writers provide the name of the magazine, the website for the magazine and the page numbers. The colour scheme of the page follows the company’s colour scheme, black, red and white.

The double page spread consists of a huge photo of a famous rap/hip hop artist which takes up to pages. The photo is a medium-close shot but is not from a photo shoot but from a live performance. Like other pages, the double page spread has been separated into columns to make reading the article easier. The title of the page ‘DOM KENNEDY’, is the name of the artist which the article is written about and is written in large text and a simple bold font. The colour scheme for the page is black, white and purple, this particular colour scheme has been chosen in order to make the text stand out from the background image, the colour of the text differs depending on the type of writing, the questions which are asked are written in white and the answers are written in purple this is done as it helps the reader decide what they want to read.  

Timetable