Question 7

Question 6

Question 5

Question 4

Occupation? | Create infographics

Question 3

Question 2

Question 1

Question 7 - Pre Technology

Although my final magazine can be improved, it is of much better quality in comparison to my first attempt at making a magazine front cover for a college magazine.

One main change which has occurred in regards to quality is the layout of the page. The college magazine has been put together with no planning at all which is why it does not look well presented or aesthetically pleasing which is why it will be unable to attract any sort of audience, where as the music magazine has more planning behind it, even though it can be drastically improved. The image used on the college magazine was a last minute image which was chosen in desperation which is why it does not look well as a front cover. Furthermore, the text on the college magazine has been poorly laid out as the text is not easily readable as the text colour merges with the background. The most important part of the page, masthead, is partially visible which makes it look unprofessional in comparison to the music magazine where the masthead is clearly visible. Despite this both front covers are not of high standard which could be easily improved by changing the type of image which has been used, by giving more thought and time into the image to be used. Although the text was readable on the music magazine, it was still poorly laid out which meant it did not look very appealing to the reader, this could have been improved by taking time into positioning the text into different areas on the page and choosing a layout by referring to the target audience for guidance/advice.

During the transition from college magazine to music magazine I have learnt several things, this includes the ability to use new programmes/software, learn how to use DSLR cameras (although I didn’t use one for any photos) and many other things. By learning how to use new programmes such as Illustrator and InDesign I was able to make the magazine look more engaging as I was able to edit various features with easy after mastering the different tools available for each programme. It was made clear to me that I had to change the text whenever I am using a background image, this was necessary for the front cover and double page spreads as there was a substantial amount of text on all pages, if the font colour was not chosen carefully the text would not be visible on top of the images therefore making the pages look unprofessional and unappealing.

I also learnt a lot in terms of features and tools of editing software such as Photoshop. I had to alter the images which I used for the background of the pages in order to make the text more visible, I did this my altering the brightness, contrast and opacity. I also used the smudge tool to smoothen edges on the images to make them look more aesthetically pleasing. I also used the rubber for manipulation, I used the rubber tool to remove any rough edges.

Question 6 - Pre Technology

•(Slide 1) In the process of creating my Instrumental I have used a range of technologies from various editing software such as Adobe Photoshop to presentational software such as Microsoft PowerPoint. (include images of different logos)

•(Slide 2) Despite using Photoshop before, my skills have developed during the course of creating the magazine, especially the front cover, I have also learnt how to use other tools within Photoshop which included altering the appearance of an image completely through the adjustments and filter tabs. Using the adjustments tab allows you to change the saturation of an image as well as changing the brightness which is beneficial for making the text more visible on top of the image. Navigating through the different options under the filters tab allows you to apply different effect on images to make them look more aesthetically pleasing. (include Photoshop logo)

•(Slide 3) InDesign was a program which I have not come across before and was used for the creation of the contents page and the double page spread. Although it was a new program to me, it was relatively easy to use as it was very similar to Photoshop, but I did come across some difficulties in relation to the text and images. When creating the contents page and double page spread I had to include two different boxes, the rectangle tool and the rectangle frame tool, when I was inputting text or images, this was different to Photoshop as Photoshop allows you to input text and images straight onto the page. (include InDesign logo)

•(Slide 4) Illustrator was another program which was relatively new to me and was used to create and edit my masthead. The different uses for the features of Illustrator were demonstrated to the class and showed us how to manipulate text in different ways, we learnt how to make text take the shape of a chosen shape, for example we were taught to make the text follow the path of a bendy line. Although many alterations can be made to the text, I opted to follow the designs of other magazine mastheads and keep mine quite simple by using a simple font and only one colour. (include Illustrator logo)

•(Slide 5) Another new technology which I came across was an online technology called Blogger. I had used Blogger to upload the progression of my media product. Blogger was very useful as I was able to receive feedback on my work which was used to improve the quality of my work. I learnt how to upload images, text, embed hyperlinks into my posts. Blogger is a simple technology to use allowing the user to edit their uploads with ease. (include Blogger logo)

•(Slide 6) Microsoft PowerPoint was really easy to use as I am familiar with its features, it is a very simple and basic technology to use for presentations. I did not come across any problems when using PowerPoint as it is very reliable and easy to navigate through. I had used Microsoft PowerPoint when presenting the pitch for my magazine.

Question 5 - Pre Technology

In order to attract my audience I had to react to the feedback which was provided:

  - In my magazine pitch I mentioned the designing of my own font for my masthead, however my peers mentioned that it would be more effective if I was to use a more simple and bold font as it was easier to read. I had listened to them as they were all part of my target audience.

  - Another method which I used to attract my audience was through the images which were used, the images used in the magazine were of individuals within my target audience, the images have been shot in order to represent success and luxury which could be used to attract a larger audience. However, from receiving feedback, I have realised that I may need to change some of the images used in my magazine as they do not link in very well with the genre of the magazine, the images have little relation to music which is a disadvantage.

  - The colour scheme for the magazine, black, white and red, were also quite effective in attracting my target audience, the colour scheme was similar to that of Vibe Magazine which has a large audience and is easily recognisable through the colour scheme.

  - Feedback from the audience reflects the effectiveness of my double page spread. By presenting my double page spread article to the target audience I have learnt that the article was interesting but could be improved through the alteration of language, by making the language more informal and by reducing the length of the article.

Question 4 - Pre Technology

The intended audience for my magazine are both males and females between the age of 12 and 26, I think that this is a suitable target audience for my magazine as both males and females aged 12-26 have growing interests in music and they are the dominant audience for my chosen genre. The median age for my magazine would be 18/19 … The audience would have interests in rap and hip hop in order to appreciate the contents of the magazine as the majority, if not all, of the articles are written based on those particular genres. The social group which is being targeted would be the middle or working class as the magazine is being sold at a very high price in comparison to existing music magazines.

Press Pack for Instrumental:

       Age

    12-16:25%

    17-21:60%

    22-26:15%

       Gender

   Male:47%

    Female: 53%

        Ethnicity

    Black/African American: 32%

    White: 27%

    Asian:23%

    Other:18%

         Music Taste

    R&B:17%

    Hip Hop: 25%

    Rap:27%

    Rock:18%

    Other:13%

Occupation/Employment

Student (high school): 19%

Student (sixth form/college):26

Student: (university):38%

Working:12%

Unemployed:5%

Question 3 - Pre Technology

Bauer Media Group – Europe’s largest privately owned publishing group, Bauer Media publishes over 300 magazines in over 15 different countries as well as online websites, television channels and various radio stations. It was founded in 1875 and its base of operations lies in Hamburg, Germany. It already publishes several magazines and e-zines based around different genres, including music, cars, sports etc.

Hearst Magazines – Originally named the National Magazine Company, Hearst Magazines launched in the early 1900s in the United States, when founder William Randolph Hearst bought ‘Nash’s’, a British fiction magazine. Hearst have ownership of many leading magazines such as Elle, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Men’s Health etc. Furthermore, Hearst Magazines also own 31 television stations in USA through Hearst Television, Inc.

Dennis Group – The 6th largest consumer magazine publisher based in the UK and United States was founded in 1974 by Felix Dennis and it publishes over 30 different magazines which include, Men’s fitness, EVO, Auto Express, Women’s Fitness etc.

Time Inc. UK – Previously known as IPC Media (International Publishing Corporation), Time Inc. UK was found in 1890, is a consumer magazine and digital publisher who publishes 60 different magazines, including the very popular NME, In Style, Marie Claire etc. Time Inc. UK has offices all over the world, from New York to Hong Kong.

The publisher which will be publishing ‘Instrumental’ will remain Bauer Media Group for the reason that they do not currently publish a magazine of my particular genre of rap and hip-hop. Bauer is publishing music magazines such as ‘Q’, which is the UK’s largest selling monthly music magazine, this means that Bauer Media has existing experience in the publication of a music magazine however ‘W’ only focuses on rock and roll. Furthermore, Bauer Media has ownership of several television channels including ‘4 Music’ and ‘Kiss’, which means the magazine will have another option for awareness.

‘Instrumental’ will be available as a hard copy magazine as well as an e-zine, the hard copies will be distributed in various stores such as WHSmith and the e-zines will be distributed via a company website as well as being downloadable onto mobile phones, including androids and Apple products. The reason for being distributed via an app is that the magazine will be easily accessible by my target market who will most likely possess an item to allow them to access the internet or application store. 

Question 2 - Pre Technology

My intended target audience for my magazine is both male and female but a little more towards men, as I believe it is easier to attract a male audience in comparison to a female audience. This is similar to the audience of Vibe Magazine, which is another rap/hip hop magazine, as they have a 55/45 split audience, 55% being male readership and 45% being a female readership.

The audience will be located all over the United Kingdom and will have interests in rap and hip hop music. The target age group has been reflected in the use of models as I have used individuals who are within the age group in question, 12 to 26. However, I believe I could have represented my target audience more effectively if I used language related to them, I could have used more informal language such as slang and with the use of taboo words.

The models themselves have been dressed in relation to the genre of music, the clothing worn are items which are often worn by teenagers and individuals in their mid twenties.

The magazine will be directed at White and Black/African-Americans, from a survey it is clear that the majority of ‘Instrumental’s readership is dominated by Black/African-American (32%) closely followed by White (27%).

Question 1 - Pre Technology

My front cover follows the rules and conventions of professional magazines to an extent. By comparing Beatz Magazine and Instrumental, it is clear to see that there have been medium-close shots used, however the image which I used was not very effective as playing a role of front cover as the cover star is not looking directly at the camera thus reducing the interaction and engagement from the audience/readers. I have used this particular issue of Beatz Magazine as inspiration for my front cover, I have taken some aspects of the front cover and incorporated them into my magazine, for example the costume and props which are used. In both front covers, the cover stars are wearing hats and sunglasses, this relates to the audience as they are items which are often used by the target audience, and those items have some relation to the genre of the magazine (rap/hip hop).  Also, both magazines have several cover lines, however the layout is different, for my magazine I have placed the cover lines so that they follow the shape of the cover star, this was not a very wise choice as it makes the page look unprofessional and unappealing to the target audience. I can improve this by altering the layout of the page so that it is organised into columns.

The contents page for Instrumental has some similarities and differences to Beatz Magazine’s, for example both pages are structures in columns, however it looks clearer in Beatz Magazine as there are more images which have been resized in order to fit into each column, all images take on column where as in Instrumental there are images which take up two columns, this has been done for some of the images to make them more visible and clearer to see although it does not contribute to the organisation to the page. The Beatz Magazine looks more engaging due to the colours used, I have chosen to minimise the amount of colours used on the page to make the page look more sophisticated. on the Beatz Magazine contents page, the cover story has an image paired with it but it is the same size of the other regular and feature articles, where as in Instrumental I has made my cover story take up the majority of space in order to present importance in comparison to other articles. Both contents page use simple and bold fonts to make the text easier to read and each column has been labelled with the type of article which it contains, regulars/features etc.

The double page spread of Instrumental has some similarities with Beatz Magazine as well as many differences. A similarity between the two double page spreads is related to the layout and font, to an extent. Both magazines follow the conventions of media products as the text is structured into columns. Another similarity is that the largest bit of text which is present on the page is the title of the page/article, this allows the readers to know what or who the article is about. The title of the article is meant to reflect what It is about, I believe that the title ‘Flashy Lifestyle’ does just that as the article is about the progression through the careers of three individuals and how the rose to success, where they talk about some of their gains in the process. Despite the positives about the article, it may be ineffective as I presented it to some individuals of my target audience who had said that ‘the article was too long’, this means that it is not as effective as it could be, to tackle this kind of problem in the future I will need to condense some of the text to make the article shorter, despite this, I had coloured the text depending on its type, the questions were one colour and the answers were another, this would make it easier for the reader to decide on what they want to read.

Technology Proposal

Double Page Spread 4

In relations to the development of the first half of my double page spread, I had kept the background image the same but had changed the layout of the text. I decided to erase the text and start fresh, I had written a new paragraph describing the article, explaining what its about and had included quotes from famous artists and other magazines. By doing this it makes it seem as if the artists have some sort of relation to fame and recognition from celebrities. The text has been separated so that the description is on one half and the quotes are on the other, this makes the page look much more appealing than having all the text on one side. 

The second half of the double page spread was completely changed. I had kept the background image and decreased the size of it and placed it into one corner of the two pages, I also included another image of the same size and placed it onto the opposite side of the page. Then I fitted the entire article onto the page, to make it look ore professional and sophisticated I structured the pages into columns, three on one side and three on the other. The font type was kept the same but decreased in size so that all the text can fit onto the page. By using a plain white background means that the article is much more easy to read as the text comes up clearer.

Double Page Spread 3

After presenting my first designs to my target audience I came across several barriers which prove that the design was not effective and did not look very appealing to my target audience. They had told me that the page was not organised and looked unprofessional and that I had to rearrange the text to make it look more appealing. I also found out that the text colour was not effective and was not complimented by the background image which made it hard to read. Acting on the feedback provided I decided to change the layout and design of the pages.

Double Page Spread 2

The double page spread spans over 4 pages as the article is quite long. The remaining text from the article has been copied onto the page along with another image in relation to the article. The text is kept the same, same font and same font colour.

Double Page Spread 1

Before designing my double page spread I had written out a article to be present across the double page spreads. I had asked the individuals which my cover story was based on, several questions and wrote their answers down. 

I have now included an image onto the page which reflects the name of the article, 'Flashy Lifestyle'. I have also placed some of the article onto the page and colour coded the text, black text being questions and red being answers. The text has been separated into columns to make it look more like existing magazine articles as a majority of magazine articles are structured using columns. Page numbers have also been added.

Double Page Spread Interview

The Asmal’s have taken the UK music game by storm! The cousins, who reside in Ilford, London, have come out of nowhere and grown the support of a huge number of people all over the UK.

We know that you three are cousins but what’s your past, what made you decide to enter the music industry?

We haven’t always lived in Ilford, at the age of 18 our families moved down from Leicester to escape various forms of corruption, we won’t go into too much detail. Since moving from Leicester we have come across stabbings and burglaries within our neighbourhood, these events have resulted in our families and close circle of friends to become much closer and do whatever it takes to protect one another. We moved down from Leicester to escape our past lives, surrounded by drugs and money … A lot of it! We began making little verses when we were younger, over the years we have become more and more passionate about making music, we effectively use music as an escape from all the bad things which often tempt us.

Who influences you to make the decisions you make?

Like most people the three of us look up to our parents as they have provided with us with everything we could ever want, we grew up in a wealthy environment as both parents had well paid jobs, we do whatever we can to please our parents, to give back what they have given us throughout our lifetime. Also, our small circle of friends play a huge part in our decisions, each and every one of us in the small group would die for each other. We have been friends for years and if one person eats, everyone eats, that’s why you will see my whole clique in the best designer clothes, from Louis Vuitton to Giuseppe Zanotti. To us, money is the motive, make as much as we can for as long as we can, which is why we have tried our hardest to make it in the music scene because we know, if you make it, you’re looking at a lot of money. A famous artist who has made it big which we see as a role model is Meek Mill of MMG (Maybach Music Group), only because he has worked his arse off to get where he is today. He never had it easy, moving coke to make a living and provide for his family. I’m not saying that we are in a similar situation in any circumstance but we have grew up in a rough area of Leicester and Ilford despite being gifted by our parents.

Would you ever sell out, as in leave your group of friends to become surrounded by more successful individuals?

Is that even a smart question to ask? Answer is no, we would never sell out for fame, we all grew up together, like a family, if we want to succeed, we will do it together, no selling out, and no back-stabbing. We are happy being surrounded by each other, in my opinion, we make enough money as it is, and it is enough to feed our families and then some. We have enough to spend thousands and thousands on clothing just because we can. If one of us was approached by a record label, we would say, if you want to sign one of us, you have to sign the other two, it’s always been a team effort and it will stay that way.

Who would you consider as ‘competition’ or a threat?

Competition? Who can we class as competition? We have no specific artists but every rising UK artist will come under the category of our competition, around Ilford we have several individuals who are like us, motivated by money and success, but what makes every person different is the way we do things, some will work hard and try to improve themselves others are naturally good, it just the case of finding which you are.

I see that you are wearing a lot of designer clothing. What role does fashion play in your lives?

Fashion to us, it means a lot, from day one we have been covered in  designer clothing, Gucci, Versace you name it, we had it, given to us when we were young by our parents, we want to keep that same lifestyle, which is why we work so hard in order to make money to pay for those things. Not only clothing, we also work hard to buy the finer things in life, we each have brand new cars, the three of us recently bought a house in Chigwell, we paid equal amounts and hope to move in, in the near future, when our income is stable we will move in, then slowly work towards moving our family out into homes of their choice.