Researching into elements suitable for my magazine.

In todays lesson, I began to start my [PENCIL + PAPER] second draft magazine (which has not yet been scanned onto the computer), Throughtout designing my last draft, I only designed my layout and where I would like to place my main heading/image etc. however on my second draft, I began to think of a name for my final magazine. I chose the name; 'Musak' as it is aimed at students and the title therefore gives it a 'slang' approach relevant to the age range.

I also began to think of colours suitable for my magazine cover, although I have not yet finished my second draft, I am currently still researching into other famous magazine companies for help and inspiration however not to copy.

Drafts for Music Magazine.

I am now beggining to draft my music magazine in terms of layout. I began using pencil and paper to set out my headings, picture and title ect.

My intentions for the first draft are to choose the layout and to desrcibe the space on the cover. As for my next draft, I will redraw my 1st draft with the use of changes that are needed from my original. I will also begin to add colour descriptions to my 2nd draft.

Constructing a Survey

In todays lesson, we began to construct a questionnaire as part of our research material for our final magazine.

I began by thinking of questions, suitable information that I may need to help me for my final project. My first couple of questions were the basic 'about the survey taker' questions. My first few questions were 'Gender' and 'Age'. This will help me a great amount as I can see the opinions of both genders and also of the age ranges. The information I receive from these questions are vital in creating my own magazine as I can choose what my target audience will be and how their opinions effect their viewing of a magazine.

The next few questions of my choice were becoming to tie in with readers views on the effects of buying magazines. The questions included; 'Favourite genre', 'suitable price range' and 'the effect of music magazines on clothing style'. This information will help me see the audiences views on different types of music and what I should include for my age range.

My final questions were based on why people buy magazines, what they like about the topics inside and what attracts them to a particular magazine. This helps me decide what articles to include in my magazine contents page and even for my double page spread. I hope to print out enough copies of my survey and have them all back, completed and ready to write my conclusions and draw up graphs to help me evaluate my data.

Looking at Music Magazine Covers that we think could be similar to our own.

We searched via the internet looking at front covers of famous magazine in which we like the layout of and that could help create our own. Here is an example of my research. I analysed the cover in terms of colour, layout, size, headings and more. I will hopefully start my magazine soon using this and others as a guide. I will soon, analyse more and also begin creating my own magazine using the codes and conventions I have analysed today.

Deconstructing a Music Magazine.

19th October 2009
Today, we looked at several music magazines in attempt to deconstruct the codes and conventions of them. The magazine I had chosen to do was 'Q' from April 2001. The main image was a member of Aerosmith pointing towards the camera as if to reach out and grab the readers attention. It also gives a clear description of what is inside the magazine itself.
There were no other images on the front cover which could suggest the fact that readers must focus only on the main image. The only main heading was 'AEROSMITH' is giant yellow letters which obviously sets up the main story of the magazine.
There were other headings also that give more information on what is included in the magazine itself.
The only promotional feature of the front cover was a rating of the magazine which was five star. This helps promote the magazine as readers will realise that is a big selling, high rated magazine.
There was a massive range of articles in the magazine that included;
-Mail
-Top 40 Albums
-Gossip
-Strangest Songs
-The rise of Anastacia
-Famous last words ... and more.
The target audience in my opinion is adults, mainly males as most of the adverts inside range from car adverts, to beer, loans and the navy to medicine and men's deodorant.
After deconstrucing the codes and conventions, we began looking at front covers we liked on the Internet.

Music Magazine Research

I have now began working on research for music magazines. With only a bit of time left at the end of the lesson, I managed to have a look at two major music magazine brands which were 'Q' and 'NME'. I am using the montages shown above to compare and contrast, analyse, and also to help gain experience into what is presented on a music magazine. Either in my own time or in the next lesson, I will be researching more magazines and also buying them for my own personal view to help with contents pages and double page spreads. I am focusing on student (target audiences) related magazines, a good exapmle for me to look at is NME. The style and themes of NME inspire my own designs. I like the particular designs.

Finishing the Preliminary

12th October 2009

In the lesson today, i was notified that the target for finishing the premlinary was at the end of the lesson.

After logging on and opening my magazine cover draft, I finished the front cover by adding some sub headings of things included in the magazine. I included things such as college related things such as EMA, University and music. I also tried to include other things that attracts audiences.

After saving my finished front cover draft, i began on my contents page.

For this, I used an over all theme of text messaging using text related fonts and colours. I think this is a suitable idea as it relates to many students and also makes it more interesting for them to read through. I also added pictures of college surroundings and also information related pictures such as 'Bus Times' poster and 'Today's Menu' board as it is a part of (our) college and also gives the impression that the magazine may provide and good amount of information.