Looking back on your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Looking at my preliminary task, I feel that I have learnt a considerable amount of new skills since then in photography and graphic design. In my preliminary task, my objective was to create a clean, professional looking magazine, and I feel that I did this. I know that when I was making it I was using simple skills to create a simple effect for what it is representing and also the consumer. The photograph used didn't have any fancy effects added, it was a clean image which presented the school in a positive way (something I intended and I feel I succeeded in).

However I knew that when I got to my music magazine I wouldn't be able to use the same skills that I had used to make my preliminary task. My ability to take interesting photographs with more aggressive lighting developed during the making of my music magazine and i took advantage of it. From researching the other magazines in the market I also developed my graphic design skills.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In my coursework I have developed skills concerning photography, photoshop and online blogs.

Prior to my coursework I had experience in photoshop and photography, however I developed these skills by honing them into a project, rather than abstract work. I developed my skills in portrait photography, refining my understanding of photos used on magazines. After researching particular photographers such as Rankin, I learned to appreciate the use of lighting and contrast a great deal.

Here is the first draft of my music magazine, in comparison to the final product:




I think that the two different versions show real progression with my skills and how they have developed during the course of my main task.
My photoshop skills have been developed when concerning graphic design with a music magazine. After researching the industry and other publications I was able to consider my own style and portray it using photoshop. Initially I thought complexity would make the work look more professional, but I found that the simpler things are, the better they look. the clean, professional look is a lot more appealing than a busy, cluttered look. Again, I think the two images above show real progression from a cluttered look to a cleaner look.

I had no real experience of using online blogs before, but now that I have used it as the primary output for my coursework to be displayed, I have found it very effective and a lot better than writing an essay. My ability to include images with ease allowed me to show my progression.

How did you attract/address your audience?

The audience for my product would be a 18-25 year old age range - male and female. I wanted to get a magazine that would target the young adult demographic as this age range is a prime target for people who visit clubs, bars, usually have some form of income and therefore provide an audience for a contemporary music consumer. Making a magazine that deals with contemporary music has to consider the primary audience, and I have considered this with my magazine.

I carried out a questionairre (paper based, 30 surveyed) about what an 18-25 audience would want in a magazine, and the results showed:

What would you expect in a dance/techno magazine? (tick as many boxes as you agree with)





I made my magazine with the results in mind, and I found it a great help with trying to reach my key demographic.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think that an appropriate publisher for my magazine would be "Development Hell Ltd."(http://www.developmenthell.co.uk/) This is because they publish the "mixmag" magazine. Mixmag, being a successful dance magazine, is similar to my magazine audience, so having a publisher who understands that audience would benefit my magazine.

Comparing a product like mixmag with mine shows how I would expect Development Hell to publish a similar product with a similar audience.



In the world where the internet is so widely accepted as the norm for information today, I would have to think of a way for my magazine to sell despite the fall in popularity with magazines.
Subscription via post is a theme that is available with many magazines, so I would imagine offering a service like this.

I had consider the price of my magazine, and if the magazine was on the market i would have to find a price so it could cover paying for production, manufacturing, employee payment and also profit, but then I wouldn't want to put the price too high, or the consumer would be detracted from purchasing the product.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social groups used in my magazine are mainly young adults 18-25. The images used are of a 18 year female and a 21 year male. Females are under-represented in techno music and whilst there is a rise in the popularity of acts such as Lady GaGa, I thought creating a article about a made up female artist would reflect this rise in popularity.

The music artist I wrote the article about talks about her music, her fears surrounding it and her hopes too. This is the same way that any other article would approach representing her.
I have represented the "techno/trance/electronica" scene in positive light as they would be an audience I would target if this magazine were on sale. being nice to people is a very effective way of selling copies.

According to a questionairre i carried out, when asked what social groups were misrepresented in dance magazines, the reply was (survey of 30 people through paper based questionairre):




(Results: Women 23, Men 2, Blacks 3, Whites 1, Other 3)
Clearly, the vast majority of people thought women were misrepresented in dance magazines. This seemed to be, not because women weren't mentioned in them, but shown as the people "on the dancefloor", rather than highlighting the talented female musicians of this genre. I decided to represent a female from the outset from my own view of dance magazines misrepresentation, and this questionairre backed my work up.

In What Ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In the magazine I have designed I think that I have followed some of the conventions expected of a trance/electronica magazine. What do people want to read in music magazine? Information about latest gigs, upcoming albums from popular artists, upcoming artists, interviews with current singers. My magazine follows these conventions because they are obvious traits that all music magazines should follow. Every music magazine has this information. They are used as a publicity medium for the music industry.

For nearly the entirety of the magazine, I have followed conventions set by the magazine industry.This may seem like there is a lack of originality in the magazine, but a consumer isn't interested in a magazine being unique. Not from initial glance anyway, it makes them shy away from buying it. A consumer likes things fitting the current status quo. Sudden change of a formula doesn't work in the media so deviating from what works would be foolish. The consumer wants the information, they want to delve into their voyeuristic fantasies of famous people. Providing interviews is a perfect way to meet these two quotas, so I took advantage of that.This is prevailent in all magazines, as the below examples show:






The true originality of each magazine lies in the image, and the subject. i talked about this in the previous blog post, and whilst i was inspired by a photographer, interpreting it into a trance/techno magazine was the most unique element of my magazine. I have followed the conventions of existing magazines, as it is effective and ultimately the best way to approach this form of design is with the motto "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Front cover image inspiration

Photography in magazines is the most important aspects to consider, as a front cover is essentially what sells it to the consumer. The success of sales that issue depend on several factors - the text layout, the font etc. but the photograph remains the most significant element of the magazine. It is what the consumer sees first. Cosmopolitan may have Keira Knightley on the front, Vogue may have Michelle Obama, Mojo may have Mick Jagger. The image reflects the contents of the magazine, and if this is done successfully then consumers are more willing to buy it. Western society today is quite voyeuristic, so having an impressive image of someone taps into people's desire to gaze upon people. This is particularly prominent with women who desire male celebirities. A modern example is of the Twilight actors, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. However, Male Fetishism is also quite prominent. Nuts and Zoo magazine delve into the increasingly acceptable amounts of flesh shown in magazines. Each genre of magazine clearly house their own style to attract their audience. Music magazines however are unique in that they are one of the most difficult ways to portray what their talking about through visual representation. A fashion magazine is all about seeing "beauty". Music is aural. How does someone photograph sound?
The answer obviously is that they can't. They instead use the acts that play music instead. Magazines use images of bands, singers etc. to make the audience become visually appealed to the artist. A girl may be visually attracted to, say, Usher, but his voice becomes irrelevant when voyeurism takes hold.

When concerning my magazine, I wanted to get a striking image of someone that would dominate the front cover and catch people's eye. I looked at famous photographers, Annie Leibovitz, John Rankin etc. and found that Rankin the most interesting style. His high contrast, close up images make the subject stand out incredibly. Below is an image of Emma Watson that he took (from emmawatsonweb.com).

There is a very high contrast used in the image, and there is also alot of desaturation used too. I think that if this image was used on the front cover of Cosmopolitan it would be very successful that month.
I was inspired by Rankin incredibly, his portfolio ranges with some of the most famous celebrities to date, as well as politicians. When looking at my photo, the inspiration is clear.


Obviously I didnt want to completely mimic the style used, but I was keen to use the ideas of high contrast images. I wanted to retain more of the colour in the image to give the face more life. The image is not as animated as the emma watson shot, so desaturating it any more would make the image lose all vibrancy, something that i wanted to retain, even if it was a hint.

Also, I thought the framing of the image was appropriate to the magazine as I was able to use the text to surround the image and make the actual design of it work better as a result.

Researching this has really developed my conceptual eye for photography and I think has benefited my coursework as a result.