The social groups which are in my magazine are young, mixed gendered, white, middle class people. To the reader they might seem cool, fun and rebellious. This is because, the picture of the "fans" on the front cover look like they are having fun by pulling silly faces. Also, the image featured on the double page spread of Holly with her hood up, makes it look like she is rebellious as most people interpret that people with their hoods up means that they are out to cause trouble. This shows how much people stereotype nowadays.
A music magazine publisher that might publish my magazine might be Bauer Media. This is because they publish a lot of magazines and they are Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. I would hope to make a 5% profit by the end of the first year if they chose to publish my magazine.
The profile of a typical reader of my magazine would be: 15-25 year olds, variety of ethnic groups, middle-class and have an interest in rock music. I have chosen these because this is normally the groups that magazines target at. However, there would be some groups that would be on the outskirts of the groups I have listed. For example, there will be people aged under 15 and over 25 that would read the magazine.
The features of the design and the content are used to appeal to the typical reader so that they would buy it. I used a mid close-up image with Holly looking at the camera because a large image with the person making eye contact with the reader grabs attention. The use of different sized writing makes you able to choose which parts of the writing you want consumers to see first. The front cover also does not look over-crowded and does not look like there is much going on. Instead it is balanced so that the reader does not get bored or think it is hard to read.
To take the images, I used an 8.2 megapixel digital camera. I did not like the resolution of the image on the front cover when I enlarged it using Photoshop. The camera also made the other images that I took look blurry and out of focus. However, the camera was easy to use but I would hae preferred to have used an SLR digital camera as they have more megapixels and more settings. I used a memory card, as well as a USB cable for my camera and also my phone and USB cable, to transfer the images from my camera to my laptop. I found using the memory card more efficient to use for transferring the images. I used several software programs: Paint, Microsoft, InDesign and Photoshop. I tried using InDesign but could not get the hang of it so I decided to not use it. I used Paint for the contents page as it was easier to use. For the front cover at first, I used Microsoft Word to create it. I asked for help from others to show me how to use Photoshop and got the hang of it. I then re-created my front cover using Photoshop and realised how much easier it was to use and that I could have layers of each individual item and use the brush tool to make some of the images have a white background meaning getting rid of objects featured in the images. I also used the transform option so that when I wanted to make my images smaller or bigger, it would not cut off part of the image or make it look blurry. I think using Blogger is a good idea because you can add images and writing and it is an easy way of keeping everything up-to-date and checking what needs to be done/what you have done/what needs to be changed etc. It is also more efficient than writing and adding images to paper because with Blogger, if you've missed something out then you can just slot it in withoout having to re-do all of it whereas if it were on paper then you would have to re-do the page which means it would take even longer.
In my preliminary task, the mistakes I made were: not using an actual image on the front cover, using the same font for all the writing and making it look dull. In my music magazine I did not make any of these mistakes. I liked the different sizes of the writing and the position of the bar code and the program used (Paint) on my school magazine so I developed this further by using Photoshop, having different sizes, fonts and colours of the writing and making the bar code stand out in the magazine on my music magazine. Since I started both of my magazines, I have learned to use Photoshop and Indesign and now have a better understanding of both programs. Advice for people doing this task in the future, I would recommend spending a few lessons on using software like Photoshop, InDesign, Fireworks etc and deciding which one(s) you are more confident using. Also, start to think about straight away what you want your school and music magazines look like, that way you are prepared to get straight on with it. Make sure you do lots of research as well to help you come up with possible ideas on the layout and design of your magazines and to get an understanding on how different types of magazines attract different types of people.
The first feature that draws me to the magazine is the image as it is a mid close-up and she is looking directly at me, and the title HYSTERIA as it is black and bold, has a red border around each letter and has cracks throughout. I put the title near the top of the page because when magazine's are on a shelf, the first thing you see is the title. I think that all of the writing stands out and is easy to read as I have used a variety of colours, fonts and different sizes. The writing that is in capital letters is the writing that I want potential readers to read first. I think I should have put about an exclusive interview with Holly Upton to draw more attention. The "TOP 10 BANDS OF 2009" would have looked better if it was in a different font to the rest of the writing. The writing looks rock-like but I do not think that the background does so I think I should have taken the image in a rock-like background as well as Holly holding a Guitar. The image of the "fans" makes them look like fans but would have looked good if I made them look like they were at a gig. The image of Holly would attract attention as it is a mid close-up and she is looking straight at the camera as if she is making eye contact with the reader. The bar code is large enough to read as well as the price featured on the bar code as well.
I chose to create a contents page because every magazine has a contents page so that it gives reader's an insight as to what is in the magazine. Only 2 of the images are slightly blurry but if I had used a better camera they would not have been slightly blurry. To make the images stand out I used a thick black border around each image. The title "Contents" is easy and clear to read and you can tell that this page is the contents page. The page numbers and what is featured in the magazine next to the page numbers are large enough to read and stand out. The writing in the boxes are small but clear enough to read.
In the end, I decided to feature 4 images on the Double Page Spread as you could see the images more clearly because when I tried to put 8 images on the page, all the images distorted as I had to make them into squares instead of keeping them as rectangles. I used different camera angles. I took one photo of Holly and the more I took of her the more different camera angles and positions of her I came up with. I have used a bird's eye view, 2 worm's eye view and a sideways long shot. They were all taken in the same area so that the images would not clash with each other if taken in different locations. 2 of the images she is looking at the camera, the other 2 images she is looking away from the camera. To make it better, I think I would have taken the images in a more rock-like location (a gig) or perhaps used a prop such as a Guitar.
Having the background black has enabled the colour of the writing to stand out. All of the writing is clear enough and big enough to read. I made the writing bold so that it would be even more visible to read. In most magazine interviews, they tend to have a small paragraph about the interview or the person being interviewed underneath the title. So I decided to adopt this idea and write a small paragraph about the interviewee. The title could have been improved by making it slightly more visible to read. The questions featured in the interview are musical and personal so that the interview does not look dull by just asking musical questions. It looks rock-like because of the colours used. However, I think that if I had used a mid close-up image as the background or used a close-up to cover half the interview page and the whole of the left page as it would have made the page look more professional. I decided to do an interview because most magazines feature at least one interview with a celebrity and it attracts more reader's as they are interested in other people's lives. I used red and black writing because they are rock colours and I used white writing so that it was clear to read on a black background.
