Friday, 23 October 2009
Key Concepts
Language; The Language used within the magazine cover should be educational however have a small use of colloquial language to be able to interact with the students, and to target the correct audience. The text used on the front cover should be appropriate and be able to match the images, therefore they interact with each other, the subheadings should be done in a bold text so that they stand out, the overall font should all be the same size and be the same font therefore its easy on the eye. The magazine needs to be able to relate to students, my target category age group is students between sixteen and nineteen years, the magazine has to include interesting plugs and subheadings therefore students would chose to read further into the magazine. It is important to ensure the picture is adventurous.
Institution; The company which produces the magazine, for example If I was creating a magazine for wyke college the institution would be wyke. I have created my magazine for a made up college called Raydale college, therefore the Institution is Raydale, the student magazine would be wrote by students for students therefore it interacts to the correct target audience, I think the magazine will be easy to complete as being a student myself I can interact with what other students want.
Audience; the audience are the consumers of the media product; therefore the product in which I am going to create must apply to a market type. Usual magazines for example a woman’s weekly magazine can easily be attracted to a number of target markets, however in contrast a college magazine usually only attracts a niche market, this is due to the age category.
Representation; the representation represents society back to the audience through the creation of a product. The representations include the culture and stereotypes of subjects within a college magazine. The magazine usually corresponds to a target audience with the imagery used, for example college students.
Institution; The company which produces the magazine, for example If I was creating a magazine for wyke college the institution would be wyke. I have created my magazine for a made up college called Raydale college, therefore the Institution is Raydale, the student magazine would be wrote by students for students therefore it interacts to the correct target audience, I think the magazine will be easy to complete as being a student myself I can interact with what other students want.
Audience; the audience are the consumers of the media product; therefore the product in which I am going to create must apply to a market type. Usual magazines for example a woman’s weekly magazine can easily be attracted to a number of target markets, however in contrast a college magazine usually only attracts a niche market, this is due to the age category.
Representation; the representation represents society back to the audience through the creation of a product. The representations include the culture and stereotypes of subjects within a college magazine. The magazine usually corresponds to a target audience with the imagery used, for example college students.
Magazine Conventions
The main focus of the College magazine is the imagery used. The wide shot eye levelled image invites the audience and welcomes them to read further into the magazine. The Mise en scene of a leather jacket and dark jeans used portray a casual image which introduces the ideology of a fun and laid back education, however not to casual due to the use in study books, the use of “law” revision books emphasises on the college lifestyle as Law is an intellectual subject. The male image used illustrates a mixed race generation, which introduces a wide target audience. The use of the male image still allows the audience to be gender neutral.The yellow masthead conveyed in capital letters emphasises excitement, the capitals also evidence the ideology of the casual fun education. The mast head is slightly covered due to the large image, this enhances that the magazine already has an established target audience and doesn’t need to attract many people other than college students. The repeat of the strong yellow colour is repeated in the use of kickers and subheadings creating a house style effect, which also secondly creates an instant recognition which adds to the effect of the established target audience. The strong yellow contrasts against the black background, allowing it to stand out and attract the audience. The use of black creates a serious tone, illustrating the college lifestyle.
A barcode is situated within the left hand side emphasising seriousness and the establishment of the magazine. The pink flash used stands out against the background, which also allows the audience to be gender neutral, the male model and use of pink even one another out to attract a larger niche audience. The sans serif font evidences the serious effect of the magazine. The magazine attracts a young however older educated audience, more university students then high school/ college students, this is evidenced with the student illustrated on the front page of the magazine.
The main image of the magazine instantly attracts the target audience; the use of young children immediately attracts a younger audience of young adults. The magazine was taken from Cottingham high schools term collection which illustrates that the magazine is available for students aged 12 to 18. The magazine “headline” is celebrating the sporting faculties and teams within Cottingham high. The background of the imagery imitates a cool and relaxing atmosphere which illustrates the student life they school/ college want to represent to the audience, and to people considering attending the college. The use of the green colour scheme introduces a fresh image.
The serif “headline” font, in the purple font characterises a cartoon effect, this illustrates again the target audience, however in contrast the purple emphasises on expense, the juxtaposition creates a great effect which allows the magazine to attract different audiences, for example a male and female gender, a difference in age, children from aged 12 to young adults up to the age of 18. “A kick out of sport” establishes the ideology the magazine is trying to represent. The yellow font contrasts against the background, the colour yellow illustrates sunshine and happiness, emphasising on the image the magazine wants to represent to the target audience. The colour yellow also contrasts with the purple font, again evidencing a larger audience. The magazine challenges magazine conventions as it doesn’t contain a bar code and sub headings or plugs.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Evaluation
My initial task was to create a magazine front cover and include a contents page, I feel that I did this successfully however with some errors which I would have changed if there was enough time, however as this being part of the first piece of work, I will work on the errors which need improvement and ensure I won’t make the same mistakes in future projects. I had to take into consideration conventions which would apply to my target audience.
Firstly I included all the necessary conventions that a usual magazine would have, for example a typical masthead title as well as an image used specifically taken for the magazine and to attract to the correct target audience, the conventions were then modified slightly to fully interact with the chosen target audience, I feel that I completed this very well, and that the imagery and lexis chosen would attract an ideal audience. I chose to portray the magazine to college students; I did this as I found when analysing both magazine covers, the college magazine appealed to me more rather than the school magazine, my specific target audience were students aged between sixteen and nineteen. The conventions were also modified to attract to the genre of magazine, the particular genre is a college magazine, I modified the language to attract more to a younger audience, as well as changing the sub headings to topics which would interact more to a student lifestyle as well as to interact with college activities. In my opinion I believe that analysing and comparing the two magazines helped me to complete the structure of the magazine as well as helping me to suit the particular genre, and pull out the ideology and representations, which I used to complete the overall front cover and contents page of the magazine “Varsity”.
I collected different Logos as initial planning to make the masthead, I used different Logos and compared them, I considered the use of colour and images, after comparing them I decided to collect a range of individual images and group them together to make one Logo. The images I collected included old fashioned styled crests, I did this to illustrate an idea of historical memory with the college for example portraying the college had been open for a very long time and still works as a college should. This was the ideology I wanted to portray, a college that has been open for a long time and works efficiently. I used different rages of fonts for the magazine masthead, overall I decided to use a black and white colour scheme, the scheme portrays a serious image and would be perfect for a magazine layout. I copied and pasted the masthead name into a word document and in the end chose my favourite layout for the masthead, I then print screened the results and they are portrayed on the blog underneath Planning. A black border has been used around the masthead, to again portray a sense of seriousness and professionalism. I am very pleased with the overall masthead of the product as it is unique however if I was to complete the task again I would use different imagery, and a different font, however I would keep the colour. I would use a dafont font for the title if I was to complete it again to match with the overall font of the Magazine.
The main overall colour scheme of my Magazine was Black and white, I used different shades of black, grey and white for the masthead, sub headings and the fonts of the Magazine, however If I was to complete the magazine again I would use a varied amount of colour as I feel without the use of imagery it targeted towards more of a female group of students rather than both sex groups which is the result I wanted to illustrate. I used three different shades; therefore the result was easy on the eye and wouldn’t confuse the audience. I used a neutral background as I found this very appealing and ensured that the picture and fonts stood out. I used all one colour to portray an idea of instant recognition, the colour scheme all being the same shows that students would instantly recognise this, it also illustrates a professional image. However If I was to complete the magazine again I would use a darker coloured background but use less sub headings and lexis.
For the overall focus of the magazine I used images taken by myself, I took many images and compared each one to see which one I wanted to use and which one related to the idea of the magazine, I used images of males and females, however I used the female image overall as I feel it gave the magazine a balance to orientate to both female and male socio groups, I also chose the image which related to the target age group, the first image I took was of my younger sister in her school uniform I thought the image would look smart however when I uploaded it , It didn’t fit the correct criteria and appealed more to a younger audience, I would have used the image if I had chosen to do a school magazine however I did a college magazine. I am pleased with the image I used, I did a wide shot image, I chose this effect as it straight up and the ideology of the magazine is put across instantly rather than the readers having to work it out. I used examples of long shots however didn’t feel they fitted with the specification of the magazine. I edited the pictures in a photoshop to crop it down so it didn’t squash when it was reduced to fit on the cover. Finally I edited the picture in Photoshop, I changed the colour slightly however was overall happy with my chosen image. The thing I would change if I was to do the magazine again is I would use a picture including both a male and female student, therefore I would feel more confident that it attracted both audiences and wouldn’t of had to change my initial plans to use a differential range of coloured fonts. The images I used were students therefore the photos were easy to collect and were natural, I chose to have the students smiling as it would show that college is fun, as well as earning an education and gaining qualifications.
For the subheadings I used college activities and manipulated them to attract the audience, I modified the sub headings and information underneath them constantly as I felt they didn’t appeal to an audience, I felt that the sub headings I used wasn’t individual and that they could have related to any student audience however I wanted the information to apply to Varsity high students. I overcame this by including student names on the cover who attend Varsity high, I used college activities including achievements in sports, music awards and student of the month to appeal to the target audience. I used language which hopefully persuades the readers to look further and to open the magazine, Overall I am happy with the outcome of the subheadings and would only changed the font colour of them.
The last convention I included is the date and issue number of the magazine; I thought this would create a sense of professionalism as the rest of the magazine is quite laid back, however this as the effect that I wanted as it establishes the audience and persuades students to want to read it. I wanted to include a bar code as many of the magazines I looked at and compared did include a bar code, however I didn’t want the magazine to come across as over professional as it would relate more to an older audience.
If the magazine was to be distributed it would be work best in a Library, which is initially used for students, or distributed within a student canteen where students can collect the website themselves. Secondly the magazine could be sent to their located home address therefore each student sees it and can chose to join in with college activities if they wanted to.
Overall I believe that my first draft was successful, I enjoyed creating the magazine and completing this task gives me confidence and motivation to move on to the next task within the coursework, it also gives me more motivation to aspire to my ambition of magazine journalism. If I was to repeat the task again I would use a different picture, and use a different coloured font, I would do this to attract both genres of sex. Overall I am happy with the result.
Firstly I included all the necessary conventions that a usual magazine would have, for example a typical masthead title as well as an image used specifically taken for the magazine and to attract to the correct target audience, the conventions were then modified slightly to fully interact with the chosen target audience, I feel that I completed this very well, and that the imagery and lexis chosen would attract an ideal audience. I chose to portray the magazine to college students; I did this as I found when analysing both magazine covers, the college magazine appealed to me more rather than the school magazine, my specific target audience were students aged between sixteen and nineteen. The conventions were also modified to attract to the genre of magazine, the particular genre is a college magazine, I modified the language to attract more to a younger audience, as well as changing the sub headings to topics which would interact more to a student lifestyle as well as to interact with college activities. In my opinion I believe that analysing and comparing the two magazines helped me to complete the structure of the magazine as well as helping me to suit the particular genre, and pull out the ideology and representations, which I used to complete the overall front cover and contents page of the magazine “Varsity”.
I collected different Logos as initial planning to make the masthead, I used different Logos and compared them, I considered the use of colour and images, after comparing them I decided to collect a range of individual images and group them together to make one Logo. The images I collected included old fashioned styled crests, I did this to illustrate an idea of historical memory with the college for example portraying the college had been open for a very long time and still works as a college should. This was the ideology I wanted to portray, a college that has been open for a long time and works efficiently. I used different rages of fonts for the magazine masthead, overall I decided to use a black and white colour scheme, the scheme portrays a serious image and would be perfect for a magazine layout. I copied and pasted the masthead name into a word document and in the end chose my favourite layout for the masthead, I then print screened the results and they are portrayed on the blog underneath Planning. A black border has been used around the masthead, to again portray a sense of seriousness and professionalism. I am very pleased with the overall masthead of the product as it is unique however if I was to complete the task again I would use different imagery, and a different font, however I would keep the colour. I would use a dafont font for the title if I was to complete it again to match with the overall font of the Magazine.
The main overall colour scheme of my Magazine was Black and white, I used different shades of black, grey and white for the masthead, sub headings and the fonts of the Magazine, however If I was to complete the magazine again I would use a varied amount of colour as I feel without the use of imagery it targeted towards more of a female group of students rather than both sex groups which is the result I wanted to illustrate. I used three different shades; therefore the result was easy on the eye and wouldn’t confuse the audience. I used a neutral background as I found this very appealing and ensured that the picture and fonts stood out. I used all one colour to portray an idea of instant recognition, the colour scheme all being the same shows that students would instantly recognise this, it also illustrates a professional image. However If I was to complete the magazine again I would use a darker coloured background but use less sub headings and lexis.
For the overall focus of the magazine I used images taken by myself, I took many images and compared each one to see which one I wanted to use and which one related to the idea of the magazine, I used images of males and females, however I used the female image overall as I feel it gave the magazine a balance to orientate to both female and male socio groups, I also chose the image which related to the target age group, the first image I took was of my younger sister in her school uniform I thought the image would look smart however when I uploaded it , It didn’t fit the correct criteria and appealed more to a younger audience, I would have used the image if I had chosen to do a school magazine however I did a college magazine. I am pleased with the image I used, I did a wide shot image, I chose this effect as it straight up and the ideology of the magazine is put across instantly rather than the readers having to work it out. I used examples of long shots however didn’t feel they fitted with the specification of the magazine. I edited the pictures in a photoshop to crop it down so it didn’t squash when it was reduced to fit on the cover. Finally I edited the picture in Photoshop, I changed the colour slightly however was overall happy with my chosen image. The thing I would change if I was to do the magazine again is I would use a picture including both a male and female student, therefore I would feel more confident that it attracted both audiences and wouldn’t of had to change my initial plans to use a differential range of coloured fonts. The images I used were students therefore the photos were easy to collect and were natural, I chose to have the students smiling as it would show that college is fun, as well as earning an education and gaining qualifications.
For the subheadings I used college activities and manipulated them to attract the audience, I modified the sub headings and information underneath them constantly as I felt they didn’t appeal to an audience, I felt that the sub headings I used wasn’t individual and that they could have related to any student audience however I wanted the information to apply to Varsity high students. I overcame this by including student names on the cover who attend Varsity high, I used college activities including achievements in sports, music awards and student of the month to appeal to the target audience. I used language which hopefully persuades the readers to look further and to open the magazine, Overall I am happy with the outcome of the subheadings and would only changed the font colour of them.
The last convention I included is the date and issue number of the magazine; I thought this would create a sense of professionalism as the rest of the magazine is quite laid back, however this as the effect that I wanted as it establishes the audience and persuades students to want to read it. I wanted to include a bar code as many of the magazines I looked at and compared did include a bar code, however I didn’t want the magazine to come across as over professional as it would relate more to an older audience.
If the magazine was to be distributed it would be work best in a Library, which is initially used for students, or distributed within a student canteen where students can collect the website themselves. Secondly the magazine could be sent to their located home address therefore each student sees it and can chose to join in with college activities if they wanted to.
Overall I believe that my first draft was successful, I enjoyed creating the magazine and completing this task gives me confidence and motivation to move on to the next task within the coursework, it also gives me more motivation to aspire to my ambition of magazine journalism. If I was to repeat the task again I would use a different picture, and use a different coloured font, I would do this to attract both genres of sex. Overall I am happy with the result.
Mood Board/ Planning
I found my brainstorm really useful, as I could refer back to it for ideas, I also used it as a check list to make sure the completed magazine consisted of all the correct and necessary conventions. The brainstorm really help me with my time management, as I did everything step by step in order Id written it on the brain storm, I found the overall planning really effective and in future tasks I would definitely use a brainstorm.
This is my moodboard, I created this to show the differect aspects of materials that are being used to create my magazine. I used colour boards that my parents used for deocrating the house,the colour boards show that I looked at colours individually and thought about them seriously, so they would interact with the chosen target audience. I also used a camera on the mood board, this is because it is one of the main sources I have used to collect imagery. I used examples of work sheets that were handed out within the lessons that I have taken information from, overall I like the mood board however If I was to change it I would have pasted fonts and font sizes over the images as it looks quite bland, and the mood board includes nothing about texts.Magazine Comparison
Photo imagery; The Photo takes up the whole of the media coverage, the magazine consists of one image only and is maximized to highlight the importance of the Woman stood on the picture. The background portrays Green imagery of nature land, which enhances a sense of freedom, and uses the term Ideology to demonstrate what the magazine has to present to the audience.
Capital letters; These are used on each subheading and on the Masthead, they immediately draw attention from the audience. Capital Letters demonstrate importance and show the magazine is serious on what it has to present to its target audience. This is also presented by the layout of the Sub headings, they are spread out amongst the photo image and are highlighted in different colours, the Title ranges from a blue to the black font colour.
Setting; The setting of the imagery shows a nature land background, this represents fresh mood imagery and a strong health well being. The Imagery may be illustrating a health image, as the t-shirt the woman’s wearing looks sporty and the nature background may be represent sport in colleges. The setting is portraying the overall mood for the magazine.
Colours; The colours displayed display the overall magazines Ideology, the colours presented were chosen for a specific reason, for example each colour has a different representation;
Red; highlights strength of power
Green; highlights fresh belonging and nature
Target Audience; The target audience of the magazine in my opinion would be aged 16 to 19 year olds. The photo image of the Girl illustrates this.
Planning, Colour & Title
I used the colour wheel to analyse primary and secondary colours, this helped me overall chose my search and to mix together colours in Photoshop, I chose to use different shades of blue as they interacted with each other, the Blue and Blue Green colour were my overall favourite as I feel they worked together extremely well. I wouldn’t change the colour of the Fonts.
I analysed and compared a series of colours in which I could use as font text for the magazine, Overall I chose to use differential ranges of blue for the font, I did this to make the magazine target both sex socio groups, I am pleased with the effect the colours have together, and they are easy on the eye, therefore are pleasing for the target audience. I didn’t use dark colours as I felt this would take the attention away from the main image, which is the overall focus of the magazine as it draws the attention to the target audience. I also didn’t use light colours, for example yellow, as I felt it would be hard to look at and it wouldn’t be complicated to look at for the eye. I am pleased with the colours I chose, and feel they interact together very well and give off the correct mood.
Red; Strengh of power
I analysed and compared a series of colours in which I could use as font text for the magazine, Overall I chose to use differential ranges of blue for the font, I did this to make the magazine target both sex socio groups, I am pleased with the effect the colours have together, and they are easy on the eye, therefore are pleasing for the target audience. I didn’t use dark colours as I felt this would take the attention away from the main image, which is the overall focus of the magazine as it draws the attention to the target audience. I also didn’t use light colours, for example yellow, as I felt it would be hard to look at and it wouldn’t be complicated to look at for the eye. I am pleased with the colours I chose, and feel they interact together very well and give off the correct mood.
Red; Strengh of power
Yellow; Bright and springtime
Blue; shows patience, secruity and professionalism
Orange; warmth and energy
Purple; Royalty and Importance
Green; nature, health and fresh
Black; serious and dramatic
White; shows pure and fresh
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