Feedback

I made a facebook group to try and get some feedback from people who were in my target audience and who liked pop music. There was a lot of positive feedback which i was very pleased with. People were particularly impressed with my mast head and they liked the fonts used. However there were a few issues which were flagged up, mainly concerning my cover image. Many people said they didn't think it looked "pop-like" enough and that i would have to use an image that was more easily associated with pop music. People also said that the magazine didn't quite look "real" but they had difficulty identifying exactly what it was that made it like this. I think i would need to spend a bit more time on the cover sharpening up the colours and making sure everything was arranged perfectly on the page to achieve this elusive "real" look.

Evaluations

My front cover is very typical of standard pop magazine design. It features a simple masthead and and image of someone making eye contact. The mast head i was quite pleased with, it is not too similar to any existing pop music magazines yet it still maintains a "pop" feel. I followed and stuck to any rules that i could find from existing magazines. Pink or red always featured heavily in covers that i looked at ( see Cover Analysis blogs) and so i really wanted to make sure i had at least some pink on my cover. I think that the most likely publisher of my magazine would be IPCmedia as they have a very wide variety of magazines aimed at women but not at younger aged girl. I think as they don't currently have any publications of the same type as my magazine but many slightly similar they would be most likely to publish "PopMania". My magazine would be stocked in all newsagents and shops like Whsmiths, it is not particularly expensive and as there is a gap in the market at the moment for a music magazine aimed at 11-15 year old girls i think it would do well in these shops.
My product as i have mentioned would be aimed at 11-15 year old girls and i think this is reflected in my cover. The pink background and the font i have used for the main flashes would appeal strongly to my target audience. I tried to use phrases that would draw the attention of my target audience and used things like "hottest guys" and "new love!" which would appeal to them and make them want to read more. I also used words such as "exclusive" and "exciting" to make the audience think that this magazine has things that others don't and that this is the one they should be using. I tried to avoid using any complex lexis as typically my target audience prefers simple vocabulary. Its layout is simple and conforms to the general pop magazine rules, i tried to fit as many stories onto the front cover as i could to make it appear as if the magazine was packed full of stories.
I enjoyed using InDesign and Adobe Photoshop in the process of making my magazine. InDesign was fairly straightforward and easy to use yet there was many things that could be done with it. I had some difficulty in learning how to use all the different tools but once i had accomplished that it was easy to do most things that i wanted. Adobe Photoshop i had a few troubles with as there is such a wide range of things you can do with it, it can be hard to achieve even the simplest things. Using the Magnetic Lasso caused me a some problems but once i had learnt all the little tricks it became a lot easier. That said i did enjoy using Photoshop and although i feel i have only scratched the surface in terms of what can be done with it, i also feel i have learnt a lot and definitely have gained a firm grasp of the simple functions of it.
From the Preliminary task to the finished product i have definitely learned a lot. Compared to my Preliminary task my design skills have definitely got a lot better, as have my confidence with InDesign and Photoshop. In the preliminary task i was not aware of the amount of careful and meticulous planning that goes into making a magazine, and this was a thing that i learned progressively throughout the task. I think my understanding of how important the target audience is has definitely changed. I now know that appealing to your target audience is the most important thing when designing a magazine, and any decisions made must be made with that in mind.

Final Pages

I tried to put these on as links to pdf files on google docs but there was a problem with the font so i uploaded them as Jpegs.

The above double page spread is taken from the "gossip 2 go" section of a "top of the pops" magazine. There is very little text in this article and the two pages are largely dominated by images of various stars. The article features a lot of colloquial language such as "best mates" and "chippy". They use a lot of non standard english to make the article seem more informal and "fun".

The above article is also taken from the "top of the pops" magazine. Again this double page spread is dominated by images. The article mainly revolves around an interview with the Jonas Brothers and other quotes from other members of the cast of "Camp Rock". The lexis used is simple so all of the target audience will be able to read it and understand. The fonts used for the main bulk of the text is pretty simple and easy to read.

I have decided from looking at these two articles that my double page spread must be dominated by images rather than by text. The text in my double page spread will take the form of an interview with my cover star, "Sabrina". As disney musical films (High school musical, Hannah Montanna, Camp rock) are very popular at the moment amongst my target audience (11-15 year old girls) i am going to base some of my interview around a new musical film she has just finished making, starring Sabrina and Miley Cyrus(the star of the Hannah Montanna films).

Photoshopping

The image on the left is post-photoshop editing. All of the editing to any of my images was done using Adobe Photoshop. The image on the right all i have done to it is used the magnetic lasso to cut out the image i would be using and put it on a transparent background. There was not much that needed to be done to my original image. I used the clone stamp hair to fill in the gaps in the fringe of her hair and used various tools to make her skin appear more smooth. I also took some of the shine off of her cheeks.

Photos

This picture i used on my contents page, i used it to represent the fashion section of my magazine. I used this photo because the dresses in this image all look quite glamorous and fashion such as this is one of the big interests of my target audience.


This photo is on my cover, i cropped the picture and put it inside a heart beside the caption "new love". This will catch the eye of any potential consumers as they will see this picture and want to read more about it.

All of the photos above i made to the same size and used on my cover for the "50 hottest guys" story. This will appeal to young girls who are my target audience and it will catch their eyes and also with the promise of 46 other "hot guys" they will want to buy the magazine so that they can see who they are.

This photo i used on my contents page to represent the "new bands" section of my magazine, i thought this was a very suitable image as he is holding a guitar which is obviously related to music. As he is also featured in the "50 hottest guys" feature on the front cover my target audience will be interested to know that there is more about him in the magazine.

This photo i liked because i think "Sabrina" (the focus of the main feature of my magazine) looks happy and attractive and because she is facing towards the right i could use it on one side of my double page spread with the below image on the other side. This image posed a problem as i only wanted the girl on the right so i had to crop and photoshop the other girl out of it.

This photo i first looked at as a possible cover photo but in the end i used it on my double page spread. I liked this photo because the fur coat she is wearing seems quite glamorous and her cheesy smile and the way she is pointing is quite pop-like.

Cover photos

This photo i really liked and wanted to use for my front cover. She is Smiling in the photo and the way she is pointing seems a typical cheesy pop way of standing. I also liked the costume she is wearing, the fur coat seems glamorous and representative of the pop music genre. However the main problem with this photo is that she is not looking into the camera and is therefore not looking at the consumers. As 70% of magazines are bought on impulse eye contact with consumers is essential as you need your magazine to stand out and catch the eye of potential buyers.

This photo i considered because she is looking into the camera. However the lighting on this photo is not good enough. It is too dark on her face and for a pop magazine i want the cover image to be bright and have some colour to her face. Another reason i didn't use this photo was that she doesn't look comfortable in the photo, she isn't smiling and her body posture does not seem very relaxed as her shoulders seem quite high.


This was the photo i actually used on my front cover. It seemed to me to be the only photo i had that fulfilled all of my criteria for a cover photo. She is smiling, looking into the camera, the lighting is good so you can see her face clearly and brightly and also it was taken in portrait view which means it is easier to photoshop and fit onto a portrait veiw magazine than a lanscape image. Her costume seems like normal smart-casual wear for a girl of her age which means the audience of the magazine can relate to her and easily emulate her if that is what they want to do. Her positioning in the image is good because she is centred in the image and most of the picture is of her, there is only a little bit of wall when compared to the image above this one.

This photo i didn't want to use for several reasons. The first and most crucial of these being that she is not looking into the camera and therefore would not make eye contact with consumers when used on my front cover. Another thing i wanted to have in the picture was for my model to be smiling, which she clearly isn't in this photo. This photo was also landscape which means it would be harder to crop into a suitable image for my front cover.