Task 4- Evaluation for Feedback on College Magazine

From the feedback I received, what went well for my college magazine was that I used the same font which makes it easier for my target audience to read. It was appropriate, as the text was clear and the colour of the text was eye catching. The colour scheme was appropriate and it slightly suitable for my college magazine, which does catch the eye of some of my audience. From one of my peer’s feedback, I was told that my colour choice wasn’t the best, as it was too bright and it took away the attention of the purpose of the text. The magazine is really suitable to my audience and it is very eye-catching. From one of my peer’s, there has been lots of effort made. It has the purpose to inform my audience about college life and what kind of gossip is out there, in college. Through my feedback, I have been told that it does link to my target audience as it is based on college life and not anything else. The teasers, coverlines and images all link to the purpose of my magazine. It has some slight use of buzz words, to create a sense of urge to turn the page and read the article. Again, my images are very suitable and link back to my magazine. My pictures were carefully taken and chosen, and they all had a purpose behind it, not just to look good on the page. My Photoshop skills have developed slowly but gradually, as my finishing product was mainly positive. I will be looking forward to using the proper cameras instead of my phone camera, as the definition of the picture should be exquisite due to such high quality of a camera. My layout of my contents page is simple, but not too hard to figure out where things are. I used buzz words, a skyline and many coverlines, linking to college and my audience. I need to improve on the consistency of my font use, as I used a range to show which parts of the magazine had more importance and purpose.

 3 key points for development when producing main task:

1.       Try to plan out my use of colours before I start making my magazine, by sketching out my plan first.

2.       Try to make more of a complex layout for my content page, instead of making my double page spread and front page look immense and leaving the content page dull.

3.       Try to make a foundation plan, by making some Photoshop covers to see which one I may go with and develop further. 

Task 4- Audience Feedback Questions

Question for audience feedback on my college magazine

1. What do you think of the fonts being used?

2. Is the colour scheme appropriate?

3. Overall thought about the magazine?

4. Does it relate to my target audience (16-19 Year olds)

5. Are my images suitable to my magazine and do they link to the coverlines?

Leave your answers in the comment box!

Task 3- Contents Page

Task 3- Front Cover College Magazine

Task 3- College Magazine Sketch

The contents page and front page above is my little sketch, to familiarise myself with the layout and conventions of magazines

Task 2- NME magazine analysis

NME, also known as New Musical Express is a magazine that contains the genre of rock, indie and alternative music. My Magazine front page features the artist John Lennon. From my research, if NME magazines’ focus is to talk mainly about one artist, they usually use a close up (CU) or an extremely close up (ECU). This issue of the magazine follows the conventions of this, as the shot type used is a close up. Also, this image could be classed as a headshot, as we are able to see the top part of his shoulders. The mis-en-scene of the shot is that we are able to see his whole face, including facial expression. We can decode that the magazine could be a tribute for his life, as the image is in grey. The connotations of grey are mainly old, classic and neutrality. Also, by using this method, the direct mode of address is more effective as the image takes up most of the front cover and our full attention will be focused on him. Furthermore, it is an advantage for NME, as someone could walk past this magazine that is on a magazine newsstand, and would instantly be caught to the image, the masthead and recognize the artist featuring on the magazine front cover. Unfortunately, with this shot type being used, we are not able to view what John Lennon is wearing, but looking at the right side of his shoulder, it seems that he is wearing a vest, due to the strap that passes over his shoulder from the back to the front.

The layout of the front cover seems slightly plain, from the masthead to the layout of the cover lines. We can see that the words highlighted in yellow seem very important. For example, the use of buzz for the word “free” is effective and important. If the magazine was placed on a magazine newsstand, covered by other issues of the magazine, the buyer would be able to see the buzz word that is on the top/skyline on the left hand side of the magazine, which would enable them to pick the magazine up and find out what is free. This way, they will now have full attention on the whole of the magazine. Other words that are highlighted ("Lennon", "Classic interviews" and " Liam Gallagher") Yellow connotes energy and brightness. Furthermore, yellow enhances concentration, which plays a key part for the purpose of a magazine. The cover line, "60 years of NME" links to John Lennon image and the other main cover line "The ultimate icon of NME's lifetime" as NME have been around for such a long time, and that John Lennon was an important part of their project.

The contents page is not double sided, but is one sided instead. Compared to the layout of Kerrang! Magazine, NME uses pictures which link to the text and link to what page you will find this information at. The colour ‘red’ on the numbers catches the eye more, as it is bold and colorful, which is catchy for the eye. Red connotes vibrant behavior, which will appear to the rock/indie audience, as it is the norm. Comparing to the Kerrang! Magazine, there is no editor’s message. This could suggest that the magazine is for a grown up audience, who seem calmer than the audience who would pick up a Kerrang! Magazine; the young, active, lively. The titles on the contents page that have an image on top of them seem more important, as the things under the title “plus” still seem important, but not worthy of an image as the title explains what will be on the pages. For example, the title ‘reviews’ suggest to us that we will be reading music reviews from writers who have explored artists’ albums. Adding to this, NME advertise a subscription offer to their readers and highlight the essential words that will draw in the reader (‘NME’, ‘ONLY £1’). Effect of this is for NME to gain profit, gain more readers and insure that people will be reading their magazines. Dropcap of the letter ‘S’ is used to show the audience exactly where the article starts. The rest of the article is short as it continues on the next page.

(I couldn’t find the press pack at all)

Task 2- Kerrang Magazine Analysis

Kerrang! Magazine is mainly aimed at an audience who love rock or metal style of music. My magazine cover features an artist called Gerard Ways and he is wearing a blue suit with a white shirt and black tie, which also includes his black belt. Usually, with rock magazines, the norm of the front cover would be a group/band/artist, who seems to be fairly aggressive via body language. This would be associated with the genre of the magazine. With this magazine, the artist seems very calm but we see that he has coloured his hair red. The colour red would usually connote rage and anger and a lot of rock music contains a lot of rage and energy. The shot type of the image is a medium shot, as we can see his head down to his waist, and a bit further.

 The masthead is styled out to look cracked. It could be suggested that onomatopoeia could be linked to the masthead as it connotes the crash of something, just like the type of music. Also, Kerrang! is a known magazine. In my magazine, the image of Gerard is blocking the letter’s ‘R’ and ‘A’. The rock/metal audience will know that the magazine is still Kerrang! , even if the magazine is hidden. His costume shows his wealth and class and slightly breaks the stereotype of rock artist. Usually, black make-up is on the faces of artists and they show some emotion through their facial expression. This is different to the front cover of Kerrang! , as Gerard seems very calm and isn’t showing his arms like most. He isn’t wearing much make-up. The skyline is used to give the audience more information about the “You me at six” interview. To catch the audience’s eyes, the word “funniest” is used to urge people to turn over to the interview to see what is really interesting and hilarious about it. The suffix is used to portray how funny it will be and places emphasise, instead of using the word “funny”, which seems a bit dull and doesn’t engage the audience. Throughout the front cover, the font is in capitals. It seems easier to read and the audience won’t struggle to see. Anchorage is also used, “The Making of a solo superstar”.With rock magazine, we usually see bands together and the example of the anchorage, makes it known to the audience that he is actually a solo artist. Also, “the making of… superstar”, links back to the main cover line, showing that music really saved Gerard’s life.

The main colours used for the contents page is yellow, red, black and white. 8 pictures have been used and they all link back to the heading, having a purpose. Furthermore, there is a message from the editor, which emphasises the interaction he has with his audience. In the contents page, the editors’ message has been printed. It shows the interaction between himself and his fans/readers. Also, the images link back to the text, which shows that you can receive enough information just by looking at the image or looking at the text. The images present the whole attitude of the genre of magazine, being a rock magazine, it should feature the stereotype of a rock artist usually having long hair, tattoos and holding an instrument. This magazine does the opposite, as Gerard doesn’t have an instrument in his hand, his facial impression is very simple and we cannot see any tattoos. The magazine is more organised (layout, text, image and heading). Also, the headings can seem slightly vibrant, but the colour ‘red’ on the numbers catches the eye more, as it is bold, round and red. Again, red connotes fierce and vibrant behavior, which will appear to the rock audience, as this is mainly their norm.

With the double page spread, a pun is used, “Go your own way”. It is mainly used for humour and has a link back to the article, the image or the main coverline. Dropcap of the letter ‘E’ is used to show the audience exactly where the article starts. The title is written three times in different colours, which shows the liveliness and fun of the article. The colours yellow and blue are used because the connotations of these colours are mostly serenity, peace and bubbliness. Pull quotes are also used in the article, but is on the next page of the article. It quotes, "I think I make my best music when I'm mucking about, not thinking". The article is mainly about Gerard ways' life, his style of how he makes music and his new album Hesitant Alien. The writer uses a few remarks, in order for entertainment, but the article also contains some part of an interview, manly with Gerard himself. Some parts included informing the audience about how serious Gerard had to be, as there were up and coming rock bands ready to make some hardcore music, for example My Chemical Romance. The tone is mainly informal, which include funny words and non standard lexis like swear words. But those conform the genre of the magazine, as we are reminded how raw and forceful the music is, so the language would follow the same way. There are plenty dropcap's but also a few pull quotes, as it is such a long article. The picture takes up half of the double page spread, which links totally back to the text. He is the main subject of the whole magazine, therefore, he has to be shown a few times. Similarly, he is promoted throughout the magazine. An example of this is that his concert performances are placed on the magazine, which is effective as it is a type of celebrity endorsement. Readers may be aware of the gig/concert, as he was the main focus of the magazine.

The audience are 16-35 year olds. Predominately, they are male and we are told through the press pack that the ratio of men to women, that read Kerrang! is 55:45 percent. The publishers are the 'Bauer Media Group' and the editor of the magazine is James McMahon. In the magazine, the editors' letter is ended off with his first name only, which shows that he has a calm,  friendly personality towards his fans/readers. The secondary audience are again, 16-35 year olds, but these are mainly women who have a passion, interest or want to find an interest into the genre. Bauer Media group also publish the magazine 'Q'. This is because they are a European based media company. 46% have ABC1 profile. Because of Kerrang's popularity, 87% of Kerrang! readers buy every issue, according to the press pack.