Evaluation

In reflection on my project i feel that i have done very well. Seeing as i'm new to all the software and designing of magazines i have really enjoyed it. I feel my choice of fonts has worked well and i think that they would be that on a really magazine that was getting published. i think my colour scheme may be controversial as people may say that it looks boring and dull. But i feel that most people try and make it so bright and bold to grab the attention of the reader that they can get carried away and put so much colour on there that the actual content get lost. I think that the fact that i have got black and white and red, this will make my magazine stand out against the 'magazines of rainbows.'

I think that i would work better on my layout. For example, my front cover main headline isn't as bold as i would have liked it to be. It also covers the models head which makes the picture not as affective. The picture should be the bit that makes the reader want to read it, and see who that model is. I would change this by creating a box around the main headline.

Overall i feel that i have worked hard in creating what i have, and i feel i have done well as it is my first time. But, there is definitely a few things i would improve and change.

Proposal

I am aiming my magazine at all genders at college. This will be shown  through an appropriate colour scheme (not all pink) so it will appeal to boys as well as girls. The typical content in my magazine will be about life at college, revision techniques and have a few freebe vouchers in. I feel that this is the right kind of things to put in a magazine for this age group. My cover lines could be about general life at college, for example, 'take a look into Laura's life at college.' There could be ones about student union. I decided on choosing the title 'Ultimate.' I thought that this would be a good title because it could be interpreted in a range of ways and mean something different to each individual student. I did  think of "SDC' but i thought that this wasn't that original and inventive so i rejected this title. I want to use 'Chalkduster' as one of my main fonts because i feel it relates to the 'school/college' look. 'American typewriter' and 'Bank Gothic' appeal to me as they are clear and look good. I think a tag line would be good for example 'Ultimate is the guide to success at college.' My magazine would be released in october time as that is the time when it get cold and people start to think about halloween. So the black and white go with this. I think my front cover image will be a girl looking natural and pretty, books in hand. It will be the girl that has the main story in the magazine. The magazine will be an every month magazine with different themes to go with what is happening that month. My magazine will be an A4 size (normal magazine size) which is just the right size to carry around with you. on the contents page i will have a picture and maybe a few smaller pictures and boxes to go around the page numbers. The colours will be red, black and white, these are very bold colours which will also stand out. they will be the same as the front cover.

Content page of College Magazine

This is my plan of my content page.

i feel that this is spread out and will be easy to read. I have done a lot of research in to the style of content pages and i have had a lot of inspiration from them, and this is what i have come up with. It has elements from a teen based magazine but i combined it with aspects from the older end of the teenage continuum.

Front cover of my college magazine

FRONT COVER OF MY COLLEGE MAGAZINE

Using my plan of the front cover in my previous post, i have created a full front cover. I am very please with this as i think it looks like something that you could get a college. My title is  in the font 'Chalkduster' I thought this would be a good font to use as it represents the chalk a teacher would use on a old fashion blackboard which resembles to learning. 

     

With the colour side of things I haven't been religious to the colours i have chosen because I think that using an array of bright colours on a magazine will intrigue the target audience.

My Main image is of a girl looking happy, relaxed and casual. I took this photo like this because i didn't want to photo to look staged and 'fake.' 

I think my puffs and plugs work well because I have used different shapes, e.g stars, circles and rectangles. This creates a different dynamic and dimensions to the cover. These are the things that will catch the audiences eye.

Things i could improve:

i feel that maybe a colour scheme could work better to make the cover have more unity. Also i feel my main cover line 'Student president announced!' could be bolder and more prominent then the rest of the magazine, having its own box for example.     

Content page draft

Front cover draft

Content Page Design

This is my full design of my content page. I feel that this is a good design basis and i feel that the layout of it is a very easy and clear design which would be easy to navigate your way around. I feel that even though i haven't used the conventional colour scheme for  a teenage targeted magazine but i feel this would be an advantage because it would stand out. It would appeal to girls and boys which is what it should do.  

Plan of magazine

This is my plan of my magazine cover. i feel that this will be a good layout as it is quite spacious but has a lot of information.

Main Photo Ideas for Cover

These were the initial photos taken to be the main image on the magazine cover

Mind map of magazine draft

This is a plan of my first ideas! 

Practice Magazine

This is my first attempt at using InDesign. I found it difficult to start with but gradually got use to the software. 

First of all I started by finding a image to use that would be appropriate for my magazine mast head. 

Then using the different fonts and colours to create different dimensions to it. I used all the basic controls to start with but i will soon move on to advanced tools to make my magazine look more professional  

IPC Case Study

IPC Media produces over 85 iconic media brands, with their print brands alone reaching almost two thirds of the UK women and 44% of UK men - almost 27 million UK adults - while their online brands collectively reach 20 million users every month.

IPC Media was formed in 1963 from 3 leading magazine publishers, George Newnes, Odhams Press and Fleetway Publications. After they had worked long and hard to create ideas and brain storm  their first magazine was published after 5 years called 'The Field.' 

There is 3 main devisions within IPC's magazines: 

-connect | the mass market for these types of magazines were females. These would include magazines like 'pick me up' 

-south bank | This was aimed at the stereotypical view of middle and upper class women. These were seen to be more up market magazines. For example: Marie-Claire.

-inspire | This was aimed at males. They have put all male magazines under one catagory because in general women dominate the magazine market. This catagory would include magazines like Nuts and NME.

Some one the magazines produced: 

-womens weekly 

-chat

-The field 

-golf monthly

-instyle 

-country life 

-marie-claire

-NME

IPC would be an appropriate publisher for a new magazine because it has a very successful past with dealing with magazines including music ones. For example, NME - nearly 60 years old and still going strong. 

Bauer has published a lot more music magazines then IPC so will have more experience in that subject area. They will also have the knowledge of the different styles  used to attract the different genres.   NME is a rock magazine which limits IPC's understanding of the industry and they have only been involved with one genre. Bauer also is a lot cheaper which will appeal to the working class as well as the higher classes. It is also a low price to persuade the younger generation to spend their money on. This appeals to students who dont have a lot of money to spend. 

To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representations they offer?

 



  With all these magazines aimed at young girls they all use bright colours to catch the eye of young readers. They all have young mast heading titles. For example 'Sugar' this could be symbolizing sweet and innocent. 'TeenVogue' and 'CosmoGirl' both imply it’s for the younger readers very clearly as the mast heading has 'Teen' or 'Girl' in. 


They all use plugs and puffs to make the cover look more appealing to the younger audience. It almost makes the cover look more cartoon like. Within the puffs it is usually a 'freebie' title, a competition or some kind of fact.


A high percentages of the main images on the magazines are young, attractive and beautiful young girls. This will appeal to the target audience of young people because this could be their role models on the front cover. The pictures are very misleading, as they have been photo shopped a substantial amount. This makes young influential children, especially girls feel depressed that they don't look as skinny, pretty or have the latest fashion statement. It has been shown that girls ranging from 6-12 have been on at least one diet as a result of trying to be like their 'beautiful but fake' role model. I think magazines should do more about body image and self-esteem to conquer this teenage issue, such as articles on these type of things. They could also do at least one magazine a year with a title such as 'natural but beautiful.' This could be dedicated to helping children build confidence, raising awareness and even include fun educational things. 

With all these magazines aimed at young girls they all use bright colours to catch the eye of young readers. They all have young mast heading titles. For example 'Sugar' this could be symbolizing sweet and innocent. 'TeenVogue' and 'CosmoGirl' both imply its for the younger readers very clearly as the mast heading has 'Teen' or 'Girl' in. 


They all use plugs and puffs to make the cover look more appealing to the younger audience. It almost makes the cover look more cartoon like. Within the puffs it is usually a 'freebie' title, a competition or some kind of fact.

A high percentage of the main images on the magazines are young, attractive and beautiful young girls. This will appeal to the target audience of young people because this could be their role model on the front cover. The pictures are very misleading, as they have been photo shopped a substantial amount. This makes young influential children, especially girls feel depressed that they don't look as skinny, pretty or have the latest fashion statement. It has been shown that girls ranging from 6-12 have been on at least one diet as a result of trying to be like their 'beautiful but fake' role model. Girls think that they have to put on tons of make up, inappropriate clothes, and fix their hair for two hours to feel beautiful just because that’s what their role models do. I think magazines should do more about body image and self-esteem to conquer this teenage issue, such as articles on these type of things. They could also do at least one magazine a year with a title such as 'natural but beautiful.' This could be dedicated to helping children build confidence, raising awareness and even include fun educational things. I believe that if the models/role models  on the front of these magazines did something about their photos being altered then this could have a massive impact. For example: Jessica Simpson has made a big thing about having 'flagrant photo shopping' on magazines and she has also recently become apart of 'Operation Smile to start A Beautiful Me.' This is a campaign to motivate teens to embrace their inner beauty. Jessica Simpson also did a make-up free photo shoot for Marie Claire, looking beautiful without help from computer enhancements or cosmetics. This would have really helped teenage girls feel better about themselves.

There is also a sexist element to teenage girl magazines. Girls are stereotypically 'meant' to be girly, boy-obsessed and into pink. But what about those girls that are different and unique? Some of the individuals are excluded from these types of magazines. I also feel that these magazines are targeted at the age group that are finding out who they are, and growing up which can be a hard time for girls. These magazines almost make out that there is a set way for a girl to act, look and dress, which i feel is the wrong message that magazines should be trying to get across. After all, would you want your child who is perfectly healthy and happy to be influenced by magazines that persuade children what the 'right way to be' is?

http://www.dosomething.org/news/5-celebrities-rejecting-hollywoods-photoshop-fever

http://womensenews.org/story/uncovering-gender/031029/teen-magazines-send-girls-all-the-wrong-messages#.UlKMCBZZERk

500 word analysis of a magazine.

This magazine is for the younger age groups (16+) The cover of this magazine would appeal to younger girls like myself, as it has pictures of ladies in 'bikini bodies' which as young girls we always are looking at peoples image. It would appeal to working class people as the price isn't that expensive and the content of the magazine relates to more working class.

The mast heading is in the largest font with it being in serif font. This makes it more curvy and bubble like writing which could be to represent the positivity about ladies being curvy. It is also in white which stands out from the hot pink background. The pink background also represents the season which the magazine was published. As it was in the summer it is bright hot pink to symbolise flowers and the general brightness of the season. 

The hot pink background also contrasts with the cover line. The cover line it within a avocado green box which gives more of a cartoon, comic strip feel. The cover line is a pull quote from within the magazine this gives a insight to what the main story is about. 

With this edition of 'Closer' they haven't got a main image but have 3 photos of similar size. The pictures all focus on the appearance of the 'stars.' The two on the left are showing a lots of skin with ladies in bikinis but these aren't seen as 'sexually attractive' as they are on a beach and no make up. Whereas the picture on the far left is a lady in black leather, with an extravagant V-neck line. This picture is also more staged and fierce as she is looking straight at the reader. The other 2 are natural looking. All 3 of the pictures are surrounded by the same avocado green border which ties the colour scheme in.

This magazine relies heavily on sub-headings. There are 4 sub-headings which are in different colours so they all stand out. They use different shapes for the pictures, for example on the bottom right hand corner it uses a circle picture. The colour of this section is red which contrasts with the hot pink background and also relates to the quote within the section. She talks about her heart, and red is stereotypically seen as the colour of a heart. in the top left corner you have a picture of an old lady, maybe in her 70's which is leaning over and exposing cleavage. This is something you don't see very often but the picture relates to the pulled quote which is talking about being a 'granny hooker' that sub-heading also is put in for a comic affect.