Foundation Portfolio report: Fresh magazine
Who is the audience for my media product?
I have created my front cover, contents page and two double page spread articles from my ‘Fresh’ magazine and have put together research of articles, front covers and audiences to help with my understanding of the conventions of my chosen genre of magazine which is RnB/ Hip Hop. The target audience of my magazine is 17-20 year old males, as I previously thought before giving out my questionnaires. This is because I associated Hip Hop and RnB with more of a male audience rather than female and younger teenagers may have been more interested in genres of music like Pop or soft rock. However over half of the females I asked would be interested in a new RnB/hip hop magazine so perhaps some of the audience will be made up of females; but mostly men. As this project went along I realised that a bigger audience would be achieved if I mixed the genre with RnB as well as Hip hop, because there are Hip Hop magazines selling and I feel a new RnB magazine would attract a larger audience if it featured Hip Hop as well, as the two genres are similar in terms of culture within the audience. Also I feel the magazine would sell better in highly cultural and urban areas such as London and other main cities.
How did I attract/address the audience?
I didn’t address the audience in an intimidating way; unlike many Hip Hop magazines because I wanted the RnB side to come through stronger than the Hip Hop looks. The conventions I found of Hip hop front covers are that they use a formal look; blank white backgrounds with the focus on the intimidating cover star mainly. There is also a lot of slang used in the coverlines of articles. With RnB front covers it tended to be bright colours that stood out and a glamorous shot of an RnB star (usually a woman) and not so threatening but more enticing. I found in my questionnaire that contrasting colours that were eyecatching appealed more than any front cover in the selection so I decided to use that convention to attract my readers; blue and yellow with large bold fonts.
In what ways does my media product use/develop/challenge forms of conventions of real media products?
In my article on ‘Amy’s new single’ I have used slang: ‘Feelin’ Angelic’, this is developing the convention of colloquial language which I have seen in the Hip hop/ RnB magazines which I researched into. For instance on the cover of Complex magazine it says ‘Rihanna go getta’ this appeals to the audience as it is similar to perhaps their spoken language. I have also followed the convention of making the articles follow a formal layout, using fewer colours than perhaps beauty magazines and keeping block black types columns of text with dark bold mastheads. There are limited fonts that I have used to match the different roles e.g. Mastheads and the main text which is a convention used by all magazines from beauty to music. The convention that I have changed slightly is my interviewing style; the interviewer is more informal and happy rather than serious and all about the ‘genre’ and also I have been more adventurous with my ‘Ice flake’ article with pictures and the ‘edgy’ layout (lots of small pictures and the graffiti style). I have done this because I feel my audience would benefit from a ‘new’ style of article to link in with the new magazine; a ‘Fresh’ type of layout whilst at the same time keeping some of the conventions of RnB and Hip Hop magazine articles.
How does my media product represent particular social groups? What kind of media institution might distribute my magazine and why?
My magazine represents the cultural young youth of urban areas such as London and other main cities. The hip hop genre could be linked to religious groups as well and perhaps even influences the ‘gang’ culture in some cities today. However I didn’t want this to influence gang culture so I stayed away from the dark and ‘hooded’ side of Hip hop as there are magazines that are already filling the market for that, for example XXL magazine. Also the media institution that would distribute my magazine would be a mainstream company like IPC media, this is because companies like this specialise in magazines that attract more of a mixed audience; for example NME which is a magazine on various genres of music and as my magazine mixes Hip Hop with RnB I feel that this is a suitable company for it.
What have I learnt from technologies from the process of constructing my product?
This product has given me the chance to learn how to use technologies such as Photoshop and improved my skills in Microsoft Publisher. With Photoshop, it took me a while to get used to it but once I got the hang of it I learnt how to layer my pages and use the text and image correctors properly. This then meant that I could
experiment with my work and try to make the front cover look as magazine like as possible using all of the conventions I had researched into from RnB/ Hip Hop covers. Photography was also a technology that I had to
practise with; I looked into how RnB stars and Hip Hop stars posed and tried to get my ‘models’ to strike poses similar to those in the magazines and also dressing them up in styles that represented the look of the stars that would feature.
What do I feel I have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From this project I have learnt a lot; mainly through the research and development of my ideas. I have learnt how to use new technologies such as Photoshop and I have broadened my knowledge of conventions in all genres of music magazines, I have gained a new approach towards planning a project.
In conclusion I feel like out of all my pages my front cover was the most successful, this is because I spent a lot of time on it and had the background research to base my conventions on; it was well planned and I had a lot of fun making it. I also am pleased that the colour scheme worked as it did what I wanted and stood out to catch the reader’s eyes without being overpowering.
Justification of my whole magazine
FRONT COVER 1ST DRAFT
Firstly with my front cover I approached the photographs first. I wanted a picture to base the cover around and then work from that; so I asked my friend Amy to dress up as an RnB star and pose, I gave her layers of gold jewellery to wear with a plain top and lots of makeup. I took several shots of poses we found in magazines we were looking through and tried each of them out to see how they looked. Here are some of the shots that we took and felt worked best.
After talking about which one we thought would look best on a magazine cover, I decided to choose the first picture. This is because of the confident pose; I wanted to address the readers in this way and I definitely wanted to pick a picture with her looking into the camera to make a connection between her and the audience. Once I uploaded the picture onto Photoshop I cut the picture and feathered it from the background to then place in the middle of my cover to have something to base it around. Next I had started to try out my background colours and masthead fonts. From my questionnaire evaluation I decided that I like the idea of using the bright blue background and contrasting yellow font to grab reader’s attention. So trying out several different shades of colours I picked my background colour. Next choosing the font took a lot longer I wanted it to look professional but struggled to stop it from looking like a beauty magazine because of some of the dainty font. Finally I found a font that went well and made it large and bold to attract attention (bold like the genre).
I chose a second front for the coverlines and placed them around the picture trying not to overlap any main features. I also chose colours that changed and that stood out against the blue background, and used a bold black circle shape containing a number with a fact underneath it about the magazine to attract attention to the audience which is one of the conventions I had noticed on the front of most magazines.
FRONT COVER FINAL EXPERIMENTATIONS
Once I received my draft product back I decided that the cover needed to be changed completely because I feel that the magazine didn’t look like a music magazine, it didn’t give the impression that it contained ‘rebellious’ and groomed RnB/ Hip Hop stars. Firstly I experimented with just changing the main picture. I got together with my friend Amy again and tried out some different poses. However this time I got my inspiration from some RnB music covers I researched into, these are the ones we looked at:
These are some of the pictures I took getting inspiration from these covers; we decided it would work best trying out the Ciara cover so we spent time trying this pose out:
However it was immediately apparent as soon as I uploaded this image onto my front cover that it still wasn’t eye catching enough, it didn’t stand out from the page, I decided that it would be better to get more of a close up image of Amy to catch the reader’s eye and make it look appealing as she her face and hair is her most ‘stand out’ feature..
For my final set of photos I decided to put Amy in a dress because the casual look didn’t look glamorous enough, I tried close up images and various poses to keep the emphasis on her face which would eventually be the eye catcher of the cover
These were a lot more successful than before, we realised that smiling wasn’t an option as it doesn’t link in with the edgy RnB image so we tried various poses close up and tried using a prop (Amy’s hat) to see if that would make the image anymore eye catching. We also tried the camera pose found on a Vibe front cover (previous page) but I feel it didn’t match her characters personality enough.
Finally I decided to use this image for the front cover:
This is because it was a close up of her and I think makes her look mysterious, as though she is hiding something. She is not smiling too much but is still making contact to the camera. Here is the final outcome for my magazine front cover. It has been completely changed; the
layout, the colour scheme and of course the picture. I got my main inspiration from a mixture of RnB covers but I followed the use of the white background from this XXL magazine where the image has the main impact on the audience. I decided against using a stormy or patterned background because the character for Amy wasn’t meant to be intimidating unlike 50 cent on the Vibe cover (on questionnaire) where the storm links in with the ferociousness. The masthead is bolder, Amy doesn’t cover the masthead as it is a new magazine and people need to get to know the name first. The fonts are also a lot more varied to make it more exciting and visually interesting, however I did keep the circle statistic coverline as I think this follows the conventions well.
I feel this cover worked a lot better than before, I understood where I went wrong and put a lot of work into making it right mainly through experimentation and research, I feel this followed the conventions better than my first draft.
CONTENTS PAGE 1st DRAFT
In this project I was least of all pleased with my draft contents page. This is because it doesn’t look busy enough compared to the front page and the text doesn’t match at all, however for my final contents page I will spend time making sure that the text and colours are bold and link in with the rest of the magazine.
To make this contents page I used Photoshop, first placing a main image onto the page and then working around it. The reason I chose this particular image was because I feel it worked well on the side of the layout and was less bold compared to the main images for the article and front cover. I tried unsuccessfully I feel to follow the conventions of an RnB/ Hip hop contents page by having a plain layout with the main focus upon one main image, however with time I feel that this can easily be fixed. In my opinion I think it is the fonts and colour scheme that need to be altered, I may try using a white background and playing around with striking text to put the emphasis on them as I feel the main emphasis at the moment is on the colours. Although I will keep the contrasting text for the word ‘Fresh’ as it makes it stand out against the other font.
CONTENTS PAGE FINAL
For my final contents page I found that it looked a lot busier and more interesting and neat compared to the draft. This is because I carefully planned this piece and I knew how much I struggled with it before. I was also a lot more confident in using photo shop than I was before and I knew how to use everything. I decided to use a blank background as this was a convention found in most RnB music magazine contents pages; the image and layout is meant to make up for the lack of background colour. This is the image I chose to use; I made sure that Amy looked more glamorous than the previous contents so that as much attention is placed on the image as possible. However I found the quality of the image looks a look worse when printed compared to that of the image on the screen but I tried to make it as sharp as possible. I kept to the colour scheme of the front cover to make the pages feel linked and I also used the same fonts to have the same effect where as on the previous contents page there didn’t feel like a link whatsoever because the fonts and colours varied too much. I also wanted the subscription details to stand out so I used a contrasting white text box against the black of Amy’s dress to make it catch the reader’s eye. This works better than before because there was no text box on the previous page and nothing at all to make it stand out.
ARTICLE ONE: AMY (RnB)
1st DRAFT
My main influence for the styling if this article was from XXL magazine articles with their formal layout and slight edgy look. I used bold black text and striking black and white photograph with block columns of text for the formality side, then used a bright contrasting colour to give the article the ‘edge’ it needed. I chose pink because it links in with the articles theme about being ‘angelic’ and a ‘girly girl’.
I used a smaller picture to accompany the article which was less serous looking and shows Amy laughing; this was used because it tends to be a convention I notice in most magazines with an unserious small picture accompanying the article to show some of their natural personality. I thought it would link in well with the interview because it is discussing how she is portrayed in the music business. I also added a quote (mainstream convention from all music magazine interviews) that is interesting enough for the reader to want to read on. It sums up what the article is mainly about; in this case how she is accustoming to famous life and how she feels her fans perceive her. Much like this genre of music magazines I have also used a header at the top of the page to link it into a certain section of the magazine.
To create this article I used Microsoft Publisher as I find it easier to use with the more text I use in the work, I also used it to show that I am capable of using different technologies. In my opinion I feel this article worked well in following the conventions, however there is always room for improvement and I would like to make the main picture more striking.
FINAL OUTCOME
To improve my article form the first draft I was advised to make it feel like more of a double page spread so I decided to make the mast head cover two of the pages and create another header running along the main picture page to link it in with the first page. I also felt that the black and white didn’t work as well as I planned so I changed the pictures back to full colour and altered the red eyes and the brightness of the pictures. I did this using my cameras software on the computer. Next I mirrored the main image to face towards the interview to again make the pages feel more linked, then added a small black text box with an informal comment in to accompany the picture as I noticed this was very common, there is a great example in the NME article I analysed.
For some final adjustments I made the text considerably smaller and added more of it as the text before was too large for magazine articles, next I made the strap line a different colour to make it stand out along with the promotional music release date at the end.
I didn’t change the mast head and the colour scheme because I feel the bold masthead worked well at catching your eye and followed the conventions I researched into. The colour scheme I feel represented Amy’s personality straight away.
In my opinion this final draft works a lot better than before; it looks more linked together and is busier. However if I had more time, again I would have liked to have made the main image more interesting using photo shop. But overall I have tried my best to follow the conventions of a double page spread article.
ARTICLE TWO:
ICEFLAKE (Hip Hop) 1ST DRAFT
Most importantly within my articles I wanted to give them a feeling of linkage; I wanted to give each article something that would make them look like they belonged in the same magazine. To do this I chose to use the same masthead font with the ‘signature’ bold black print which then dominates the page along with the more subtle black line to use with this section of the magazine. You can tell this from the header at the top of the page which reads: ‘Fresh this week’.
To make this article I also used Microsoft Publisher, this is because of the same reason as before, I am more experienced in Publisher and I am much quicker at being able to use all the tools. Because of the Hip Hop styling of this article I wanted it to be intimidating and so the first thing I wanted to catch the audience’s eye would be the main picture. I decided to try out some different effects of the pictures of Abbie and after trialling many of them this black and white effect stood out the most.
The pictures down the side were used as Abbie herself took some really striking poses that reflected the Hip Hop music style well and so I thought I would put them alongside the article to test it out as I haven’t came
across this in any magazines yet and I thought I would stretch the conventions. In my opinion it worked out well but I will try and make them clearer next time. I would also improve the text that is slanted along the top of the article as I feel it looks to neat and perfect against the rebellious and messy looking layout.
FINAL OUTCOME
I kept the most of the original layout for this article as you can tell it is a double page spread,I also kept my main image and the smaller images as these are the main focus upon the article; the main image is edgy almost graffiti like and the smaller images I have darkened and I decided it worked really well and linked in with the rebellious ‘gangsta’ theme of the page because of her mysterious look. I changed the font for ‘off the record’ as I felt it stood out too neatly against the messy and hectic layout and used a font which looked more scribbled and careless just like the star. I also moved around the paint splodge image to go behind the word ‘Hot’ and make it stand out even more and removed the small graffiti splodge on her hand as I feel it didn’t do much to the image.
Finally like my first article I made the text a lot smaller and added more of it. I also changed her name to a ‘Hip Hop’ style name; Ice flake to make the article more realistic. I added the header ‘fresh this week’ to the other page to link the pages and articles together in that ‘section’.
In conclusion this is my favourite article out of the two as the page is more informal and full, I could see this article in a magazine because of the careful and planned layouts.
Who is the audience for my media product?
I have created my front cover, contents page and two double page spread articles from my ‘Fresh’ magazine and have put together research of articles, front covers and audiences to help with my understanding of the conventions of my chosen genre of magazine which is RnB/ Hip Hop. The target audience of my magazine is 17-20 year old males, as I previously thought before giving out my questionnaires. This is because I associated Hip Hop and RnB with more of a male audience rather than female and younger teenagers may have been more interested in genres of music like Pop or soft rock. However over half of the females I asked would be interested in a new RnB/hip hop magazine so perhaps some of the audience will be made up of females; but mostly men. As this project went along I realised that a bigger audience would be achieved if I mixed the genre with RnB as well as Hip hop, because there are Hip Hop magazines selling and I feel a new RnB magazine would attract a larger audience if it featured Hip Hop as well, as the two genres are similar in terms of culture within the audience. Also I feel the magazine would sell better in highly cultural and urban areas such as London and other main cities.
How did I attract/address the audience?
I didn’t address the audience in an intimidating way; unlike many Hip Hop magazines because I wanted the RnB side to come through stronger than the Hip Hop looks. The conventions I found of Hip hop front covers are that they use a formal look; blank white backgrounds with the focus on the intimidating cover star mainly. There is also a lot of slang used in the coverlines of articles. With RnB front covers it tended to be bright colours that stood out and a glamorous shot of an RnB star (usually a woman) and not so threatening but more enticing. I found in my questionnaire that contrasting colours that were eyecatching appealed more than any front cover in the selection so I decided to use that convention to attract my readers; blue and yellow with large bold fonts.
In what ways does my media product use/develop/challenge forms of conventions of real media products?
In my article on ‘Amy’s new single’ I have used slang: ‘Feelin’ Angelic’, this is developing the convention of colloquial language which I have seen in the Hip hop/ RnB magazines which I researched into. For instance on the cover of Complex magazine it says ‘Rihanna go getta’ this appeals to the audience as it is similar to perhaps their spoken language. I have also followed the convention of making the articles follow a formal layout, using fewer colours than perhaps beauty magazines and keeping block black types columns of text with dark bold mastheads. There are limited fonts that I have used to match the different roles e.g. Mastheads and the main text which is a convention used by all magazines from beauty to music. The convention that I have changed slightly is my interviewing style; the interviewer is more informal and happy rather than serious and all about the ‘genre’ and also I have been more adventurous with my ‘Ice flake’ article with pictures and the ‘edgy’ layout (lots of small pictures and the graffiti style). I have done this because I feel my audience would benefit from a ‘new’ style of article to link in with the new magazine; a ‘Fresh’ type of layout whilst at the same time keeping some of the conventions of RnB and Hip Hop magazine articles.
How does my media product represent particular social groups? What kind of media institution might distribute my magazine and why?
My magazine represents the cultural young youth of urban areas such as London and other main cities. The hip hop genre could be linked to religious groups as well and perhaps even influences the ‘gang’ culture in some cities today. However I didn’t want this to influence gang culture so I stayed away from the dark and ‘hooded’ side of Hip hop as there are magazines that are already filling the market for that, for example XXL magazine. Also the media institution that would distribute my magazine would be a mainstream company like IPC media, this is because companies like this specialise in magazines that attract more of a mixed audience; for example NME which is a magazine on various genres of music and as my magazine mixes Hip Hop with RnB I feel that this is a suitable company for it.
What have I learnt from technologies from the process of constructing my product?
This product has given me the chance to learn how to use technologies such as Photoshop and improved my skills in Microsoft Publisher. With Photoshop, it took me a while to get used to it but once I got the hang of it I learnt how to layer my pages and use the text and image correctors properly. This then meant that I could
experiment with my work and try to make the front cover look as magazine like as possible using all of the conventions I had researched into from RnB/ Hip Hop covers. Photography was also a technology that I had to
practise with; I looked into how RnB stars and Hip Hop stars posed and tried to get my ‘models’ to strike poses similar to those in the magazines and also dressing them up in styles that represented the look of the stars that would feature.
What do I feel I have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
From this project I have learnt a lot; mainly through the research and development of my ideas. I have learnt how to use new technologies such as Photoshop and I have broadened my knowledge of conventions in all genres of music magazines, I have gained a new approach towards planning a project.
In conclusion I feel like out of all my pages my front cover was the most successful, this is because I spent a lot of time on it and had the background research to base my conventions on; it was well planned and I had a lot of fun making it. I also am pleased that the colour scheme worked as it did what I wanted and stood out to catch the reader’s eyes without being overpowering.
Justification of my whole magazine
FRONT COVER 1ST DRAFT
Firstly with my front cover I approached the photographs first. I wanted a picture to base the cover around and then work from that; so I asked my friend Amy to dress up as an RnB star and pose, I gave her layers of gold jewellery to wear with a plain top and lots of makeup. I took several shots of poses we found in magazines we were looking through and tried each of them out to see how they looked. Here are some of the shots that we took and felt worked best.After talking about which one we thought would look best on a magazine cover, I decided to choose the first picture. This is because of the confident pose; I wanted to address the readers in this way and I definitely wanted to pick a picture with her looking into the camera to make a connection between her and the audience. Once I uploaded the picture onto Photoshop I cut the picture and feathered it from the background to then place in the middle of my cover to have something to base it around. Next I had started to try out my background colours and masthead fonts. From my questionnaire evaluation I decided that I like the idea of using the bright blue background and contrasting yellow font to grab reader’s attention. So trying out several different shades of colours I picked my background colour. Next choosing the font took a lot longer I wanted it to look professional but struggled to stop it from looking like a beauty magazine because of some of the dainty font. Finally I found a font that went well and made it large and bold to attract attention (bold like the genre).
I chose a second front for the coverlines and placed them around the picture trying not to overlap any main features. I also chose colours that changed and that stood out against the blue background, and used a bold black circle shape containing a number with a fact underneath it about the magazine to attract attention to the audience which is one of the conventions I had noticed on the front of most magazines.
FRONT COVER FINAL EXPERIMENTATIONS
Once I received my draft product back I decided that the cover needed to be changed completely because I feel that the magazine didn’t look like a music magazine, it didn’t give the impression that it contained ‘rebellious’ and groomed RnB/ Hip Hop stars. Firstly I experimented with just changing the main picture. I got together with my friend Amy again and tried out some different poses. However this time I got my inspiration from some RnB music covers I researched into, these are the ones we looked at:
These are some of the pictures I took getting inspiration from these covers; we decided it would work best trying out the Ciara cover so we spent time trying this pose out:
However it was immediately apparent as soon as I uploaded this image onto my front cover that it still wasn’t eye catching enough, it didn’t stand out from the page, I decided that it would be better to get more of a close up image of Amy to catch the reader’s eye and make it look appealing as she her face and hair is her most ‘stand out’ feature..
For my final set of photos I decided to put Amy in a dress because the casual look didn’t look glamorous enough, I tried close up images and various poses to keep the emphasis on her face which would eventually be the eye catcher of the cover
These were a lot more successful than before, we realised that smiling wasn’t an option as it doesn’t link in with the edgy RnB image so we tried various poses close up and tried using a prop (Amy’s hat) to see if that would make the image anymore eye catching. We also tried the camera pose found on a Vibe front cover (previous page) but I feel it didn’t match her characters personality enough.
Finally I decided to use this image for the front cover:
This is because it was a close up of her and I think makes her look mysterious, as though she is hiding something. She is not smiling too much but is still making contact to the camera. Here is the final outcome for my magazine front cover. It has been completely changed; the
layout, the colour scheme and of course the picture. I got my main inspiration from a mixture of RnB covers but I followed the use of the white background from this XXL magazine where the image has the main impact on the audience. I decided against using a stormy or patterned background because the character for Amy wasn’t meant to be intimidating unlike 50 cent on the Vibe cover (on questionnaire) where the storm links in with the ferociousness. The masthead is bolder, Amy doesn’t cover the masthead as it is a new magazine and people need to get to know the name first. The fonts are also a lot more varied to make it more exciting and visually interesting, however I did keep the circle statistic coverline as I think this follows the conventions well.I feel this cover worked a lot better than before, I understood where I went wrong and put a lot of work into making it right mainly through experimentation and research, I feel this followed the conventions better than my first draft.
CONTENTS PAGE 1st DRAFT
In this project I was least of all pleased with my draft contents page. This is because it doesn’t look busy enough compared to the front page and the text doesn’t match at all, however for my final contents page I will spend time making sure that the text and colours are bold and link in with the rest of the magazine.
To make this contents page I used Photoshop, first placing a main image onto the page and then working around it. The reason I chose this particular image was because I feel it worked well on the side of the layout and was less bold compared to the main images for the article and front cover. I tried unsuccessfully I feel to follow the conventions of an RnB/ Hip hop contents page by having a plain layout with the main focus upon one main image, however with time I feel that this can easily be fixed. In my opinion I think it is the fonts and colour scheme that need to be altered, I may try using a white background and playing around with striking text to put the emphasis on them as I feel the main emphasis at the moment is on the colours. Although I will keep the contrasting text for the word ‘Fresh’ as it makes it stand out against the other font.
CONTENTS PAGE FINAL
For my final contents page I found that it looked a lot busier and more interesting and neat compared to the draft. This is because I carefully planned this piece and I knew how much I struggled with it before. I was also a lot more confident in using photo shop than I was before and I knew how to use everything. I decided to use a blank background as this was a convention found in most RnB music magazine contents pages; the image and layout is meant to make up for the lack of background colour. This is the image I chose to use; I made sure that Amy looked more glamorous than the previous contents so that as much attention is placed on the image as possible. However I found the quality of the image looks a look worse when printed compared to that of the image on the screen but I tried to make it as sharp as possible. I kept to the colour scheme of the front cover to make the pages feel linked and I also used the same fonts to have the same effect where as on the previous contents page there didn’t feel like a link whatsoever because the fonts and colours varied too much. I also wanted the subscription details to stand out so I used a contrasting white text box against the black of Amy’s dress to make it catch the reader’s eye. This works better than before because there was no text box on the previous page and nothing at all to make it stand out.
ARTICLE ONE: AMY (RnB)
1st DRAFT
My main influence for the styling if this article was from XXL magazine articles with their formal layout and slight edgy look. I used bold black text and striking black and white photograph with block columns of text for the formality side, then used a bright contrasting colour to give the article the ‘edge’ it needed. I chose pink because it links in with the articles theme about being ‘angelic’ and a ‘girly girl’.
I used a smaller picture to accompany the article which was less serous looking and shows Amy laughing; this was used because it tends to be a convention I notice in most magazines with an unserious small picture accompanying the article to show some of their natural personality. I thought it would link in well with the interview because it is discussing how she is portrayed in the music business. I also added a quote (mainstream convention from all music magazine interviews) that is interesting enough for the reader to want to read on. It sums up what the article is mainly about; in this case how she is accustoming to famous life and how she feels her fans perceive her. Much like this genre of music magazines I have also used a header at the top of the page to link it into a certain section of the magazine.
To create this article I used Microsoft Publisher as I find it easier to use with the more text I use in the work, I also used it to show that I am capable of using different technologies. In my opinion I feel this article worked well in following the conventions, however there is always room for improvement and I would like to make the main picture more striking.
FINAL OUTCOME
To improve my article form the first draft I was advised to make it feel like more of a double page spread so I decided to make the mast head cover two of the pages and create another header running along the main picture page to link it in with the first page. I also felt that the black and white didn’t work as well as I planned so I changed the pictures back to full colour and altered the red eyes and the brightness of the pictures. I did this using my cameras software on the computer. Next I mirrored the main image to face towards the interview to again make the pages feel more linked, then added a small black text box with an informal comment in to accompany the picture as I noticed this was very common, there is a great example in the NME article I analysed.
For some final adjustments I made the text considerably smaller and added more of it as the text before was too large for magazine articles, next I made the strap line a different colour to make it stand out along with the promotional music release date at the end.
I didn’t change the mast head and the colour scheme because I feel the bold masthead worked well at catching your eye and followed the conventions I researched into. The colour scheme I feel represented Amy’s personality straight away.
In my opinion this final draft works a lot better than before; it looks more linked together and is busier. However if I had more time, again I would have liked to have made the main image more interesting using photo shop. But overall I have tried my best to follow the conventions of a double page spread article.
ARTICLE TWO:
ICEFLAKE (Hip Hop) 1ST DRAFT
Most importantly within my articles I wanted to give them a feeling of linkage; I wanted to give each article something that would make them look like they belonged in the same magazine. To do this I chose to use the same masthead font with the ‘signature’ bold black print which then dominates the page along with the more subtle black line to use with this section of the magazine. You can tell this from the header at the top of the page which reads: ‘Fresh this week’.
To make this article I also used Microsoft Publisher, this is because of the same reason as before, I am more experienced in Publisher and I am much quicker at being able to use all the tools. Because of the Hip Hop styling of this article I wanted it to be intimidating and so the first thing I wanted to catch the audience’s eye would be the main picture. I decided to try out some different effects of the pictures of Abbie and after trialling many of them this black and white effect stood out the most.
The pictures down the side were used as Abbie herself took some really striking poses that reflected the Hip Hop music style well and so I thought I would put them alongside the article to test it out as I haven’t came
across this in any magazines yet and I thought I would stretch the conventions. In my opinion it worked out well but I will try and make them clearer next time. I would also improve the text that is slanted along the top of the article as I feel it looks to neat and perfect against the rebellious and messy looking layout.
FINAL OUTCOME
I kept the most of the original layout for this article as you can tell it is a double page spread,I also kept my main image and the smaller images as these are the main focus upon the article; the main image is edgy almost graffiti like and the smaller images I have darkened and I decided it worked really well and linked in with the rebellious ‘gangsta’ theme of the page because of her mysterious look. I changed the font for ‘off the record’ as I felt it stood out too neatly against the messy and hectic layout and used a font which looked more scribbled and careless just like the star. I also moved around the paint splodge image to go behind the word ‘Hot’ and make it stand out even more and removed the small graffiti splodge on her hand as I feel it didn’t do much to the image.
Finally like my first article I made the text a lot smaller and added more of it. I also changed her name to a ‘Hip Hop’ style name; Ice flake to make the article more realistic. I added the header ‘fresh this week’ to the other page to link the pages and articles together in that ‘section’.
In conclusion this is my favourite article out of the two as the page is more informal and full, I could see this article in a magazine because of the careful and planned layouts.
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