Final Magazine Print Media

Final Front Cover

Final Contents Page

Final Double Page Spread

Q4

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Below I have created a Prezi, detailing the media technologies I have used and how they have helped me in my research and planning, construction and evaluation stages.

Q3

What have you learnt from audience feedback?

Q2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Question 2 from Layla Cairns

Q1

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

Above I have analysed my magazine, because after filming the video, I decided to change certain aspects of my front cover, contents page and double page spread.

Time Management #25

In this lesson, I am going to start the evaluation questions for my magazine. I plan on doing it on different forms of media to add variation to my work.

Draft Magazine Pages

Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Final Website

https://laylac19.wixsite.com/bellemagazine

Above is the link for my magazine website. The two hyperlinks can be found on the home page, one is when you click on the sub- heading beneath Sophia Harper. The other is when you click the text for the competition to the Ramside, and Miller & Carter.

Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/bellemagazineNE/

Above is the link to the Facebook page I have made for my magazine. I feel like this will allow my readers to stay more connected with my product. They will be able to like posts and comment on them. I could also create a poll on articles they would like to see and their favourite fashion items, so my magazine is more interactive and the readers feel as though this is 'their' magazine, based on all things in the North East, and involving other national and international things such as events and new products that may not be available in the North East yet. I have created the username BellemagazineNE, so it is easy for the audience to find the page, and they know it is the North East magazine- hence the NE, on the end of the username. I have also added a link to the website I am creating, which will enable them to read more in depth articles.

Print Media Improvements

Suggested Improvements

I gave my print media to my teacher to have a look at, and see if there was anything which I could improve on. He wrote down some suggestions, so my work would get a better grade. I highlighted the suggestions that I thought would benefit my work, and things I could look at improving.

Time Management #24

I plan on creating my website, I have left this till last as I know it will take me longer to design. I have never used Wix before, therefore I think it will take me some time to become accustomed to it.

Update: I have now finished all of my products, including the magazine, billboard and website. The website took me longer than expected, therefore I must now crack on with my evaluation questions.

Final Billboard

Final Billboard

Magazine Experimentation

Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Contents Page Draft #2

Here is a Youtube video from my channel, that shows some of the editing I did on my contents page. It is really brief but I wanted to demonstrate what tools I used.

 

Contents Page Draft #1

Contents Page Draft 1

Here is my contents page that I have started designing. I wanted to have different sections of the magazine in each of the columns, however, feel like I might start again as it doesn't really follow the vibe of modernism and fashion. I think it looks good, and I really like how I have edited the cover star around the puff behind her, but feel like the colour scheme and layout does not follow the minimalistic and professional feel I am aiming for.

Time Management #23

In this session, I want to continue editing my magazine. Currently, I am struggling to find a good font for the cover lines on the front page, therefore my aim for this lesson is to find a suitable font, and have the front cover completed.

Update: I have created my magazine and billboard, and I am very happy with how they have turned out. They are exactly what I had in mind for my regional magazine.

Front Cover Draft #1

Figure 1

Front Cover:

When I started designing the front cover, I had a picture in my mind that I wanted to follow, I was really inspired by popular, international fashion magazines such as Vogue and Cosmopolitan, but had to keep in mind that my magazine was for a regional base, and had to aim it towards my target audience.

I first began choosing my masthead, and deciding the colour. I used the font Dubiel, which I had picked, with the help of my Facebook group. I also added my colour scheme to the image so I could use the Eyedropper Tool to pick from my chosen theme. I would delete it at the end, when the cover was finished.

Figure 2

 In figure 2, I added some cover lines. I really liked how the main cover line turned out, and planned to keep it like this. However, I could not decide what font to use for my other cover lines. I decided that using a plain serif font did not look the best, and made the front cover look very formal.

Here is some screenshots of me working on Photoshop CC 2015. I chose another great font that I thought worked well for the cover lines, and I then started experimenting with the layout and size of the cover lines. I had already added a barcode and price, but I needed to remember to feature the website somewhere. I think by experimenting with design, helped me find the layout that looked the best. I also tried different backgrounds, to find which looked the best.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Front Cover Draft

Time Management #22

In this session, I want to start designing my front cover and double page spread.  I am really behind schedule, therefore I need to make sure I am editing these products outside of college, so I get the work done and can edit it several times before submitting it.

Update: In the session I have managed to start designing my magazine front cover and contents page. I have also changed my mind on a couple of the layout choices on my contents, and started it again at home. I am now happy with how it is coming along.

Billboard Recreation

I have recreated one of the billboards for the clothing brand Forever 21. Although this billboard does not feature a regional magazine, I thought it would be similar to the type of billboard I want to create.

Tools Used: I used the software Photoshop CC 2015, as it is the one I use at home, and find the tools really easy to find. One tool I used was the Eraser Tool. I used this to remove the background from the model image, as I wanted to match the white background similar to the real billboard. I also used the Transform Tool, which allowed me to make the model image smaller, so it could fit onto the billboard template. Furthermore, I duplicated one layer to create the image twice, I wanted to do this, as the real billboard uses the same image of the model twice.

Forever 21 Billboard

Strengths: Some strengths from my recreation is the use of the images. I really like the image I used, and I also like how I have edited it, so it looks like the models are facing the same direction.

Billboard Recreation

Weaknesses: Some points where I would improve this recreation, is the text, I think the image I used was too dark, therefore the logo isn't noticeable. I actually had to use a dark green colour, just so you could see it, as the real billboard used jet black. I also had to chance the website link to white, as when it was black, it was impossible to see.

Magazine Recreation

Magazine Recreation

Cornwall Life Magazine

I have recreated Cornwall Life, as I thought it was a nice front cover of a regional magazine. I wanted to recreate a regional magazine, taking into account my own magazine will have a look of a national/ international magazine (even though it is based on the North East region), so I get the feel of making a regional magazine, and I can confirm the conventions are the same.

Tools Used: I used Photoshop CC 2015, which has all of the tools I needed to recreate this magazine to a professional standard. One of the most important tools I used was the Eyedropper Tool. This allowed me select the colours that I wanted to replicate for my recreation. By using this tool, it has made my work look more alike the original, rather than randomly choosing similar colours. Furthermore, I used the Horizontal Text Tool, which helped me write text onto my magazine, without it, there would be no typography on the page. I managed to find look- a- like fonts from the website dafont.com, I love using this site as I can choose from a range of different fonts, and its free. Other tools I used were the Rectangle Tool and Ellipse Tool. I needed these for the banner at the bottom and circle puff at the top of the bag. By using these tools, it allows me to accurately draw shapes, and I can change the shape so it looks similar to the original magazine.

Strengths: I think I have many strengths within my recreation. For example, I have created a clean and crisp recreated front cover, this was by using the software and tools professionally. I have had many years of practice on Photoshop, as I used it for my Media Studies GCSE, and have used it for two years in my A Level Graphic Communication course. Within the piece itself, I really like how I have concentrated on finding matching fonts to the original magazine, and think it matches well. I also like how I have used my own images, and took them to a professional standard. The main image was actually photographed in New York, when I went on holiday, however thought the bright colours and pretty scenery matched well with the main image on the original, and for the purpose of a magazine recreation, it worked well. I also like the banner that I created at the top of the page, I think this ads further professionalism to the page, as it looks incredibly similar to the original magazine.

Weaknesses: One weakness on this page, may be of the model at the bottom left. I feel like this is not a strong image as it is a little bit pixellated, and I have not cut out the background perfectly. I think if I was going to improve this piece, I would choose a different image to use. Additionally, I think the lines at the top of the page are darker than the original, therefore if I was going to improve my magazine, I would make the stripes grey. Lastly, I think the cover line Looe Festival, needs to be a little bigger, as it looks smaller on my recreation. Other than that, I think I have recreated this magazine to a very high standard.