Evaluation

Final Magazine - Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread

I feel that my magazine was successful as I have all of the regular conventions of a magazine.
My magazine has the same colour scheme throughout, which also links to the article as there was a photo shoot based around being outside, with natural colours and themes.
I have a recognisable 'left third' so that when my magazine is on the shelves it can be noticed by the masthead especially.
The masthead stands out on the page, and is big. bold and clear. The contents page title also follows on and copies the style and positioning of the masthead.
My model is in the centre of the page and is maintaining direct address so that it feels more personal to the reader as it looks like she is looking directly at them.
The coverlines are framing the model, so that they do not distract attention away from the main focus.
My main headline is big and bold and is clearly linked to the model, showing the main article in the magazine.
I have the typical conventions such as a barcode, dateline, url and price on the front cover.
I have also included a chance to win ticked to see Melody live, which will encourage fans to buy the magazine.

I have kept the contents page as simple as possible but have continued the theme, and made it very clear and included a subscription as this is what you would expect to find on the contents page of a magazine.
I have included 3 pictures of artists included in the magazine to give insight into the features of the magazine, the main one being the main star and the cover model.

My double page spread is also kept fairly simple. It features a framed image of the artist which stands out with the thick black border. There are also two pictures included from the photoshoot.

Planning of photography/article - 'A walk on the wild side'

I did a photo shoot in a woody area as I wanted to do an article with the title: 'a walk on the wild side'. My idea for this was to surround the model with plants and nature to make her seem innocent and pure but with a twist as the title includes the word 'wild' giving a contrasting view. Some of her poses are more daring than others, while others seem more natural where she is acting like she does not know the photo is being taken. I used a few effects, mainly blurring out the background in a few of the photos to make the model stand out more. I am happy with the way the shoot went and I will definitely be using some of the photographs for my article. 

Organisation of model/costumes - Front cover

For my front cover, I want a medium close up of my model with her maintaining direct address.

I want her to be dressed in black as it is a simple, classic colour that will look effortless and stylish with an indie vibe to her look.

Organisation of model/Drafting/Planning of magazine and photography - Cover star photoshoot

I did a photoshoot with the model I am planning on using for my front cover and main article. These are just the photos for the front cover/contents page.

I wanted her to be dressed in black as it is classic/simple and stylish and doesn't distract attention away from her face. Her hair was tied back so that it was away from her face and her make-up kept fairly natural. 

I had the idea that she held the word 'love' as it portrays innocence and is something you'd expect from a girl of her age. 

Planning of photography - support artist photo shoot

I am currently in the process of planning a photo shoot for my supporting artists.

The photo shoot will take place on Friday the 28th of February and it will involve two boys, that will act as a boy band and another boy that will be a solo singer. 

I want the boys to all have a 'mysterious' vibe about them to make the reader curious and want to read more about them. This involves fairly dark but clear lighting, dark clothing and good facial expressions. They do not necessarily have to look directly at the camera.

Drafting of magazine layout - Masthead idea #1

This was my first idea for a masthead. I do not feel this attempt was successful as it does not suit the style of the magazine I am going for and also looks fairly childish and basic. I also feel that this masthead does not 'jump out' at the reader or attract much attention so I definitely am not going to use it in my final design.

Organisation/Drafting and Planning - Summary

Drafting/planning - masthead font ideas

These are the ideas I have had so far for my magazine masthead. The ones I like the best are 'Chocolate Dealer' 'Adam Gorry' and 'KG royals' so I am going to create some draft models and decide which one I like the best and which one looks the most effective.

Drafting/Planning magazine layout - Colour Scheme

These are the main 3 colours I will be using in my magazine.
Pink is a very feminine colour and young women are my target audience so using these types of colours will attract females. The magazine will be a classy, girly style and I think these colours, along with white, will be well suited and keep the magazine looking well presented.

Drafting/Planning of photography/ Organisation - My model/artist

Here are two pictures that I have recently taken of my model. The pictures are not of the highest quality but they show her look and gives an impression of the look of the magazine. 

She is undoubtedly pretty, and her look can vary and change a lot so I will be able to style her in any way and it will still suit her and look good. 

For the front cover, I want the picture to be a medium close up of my model and I think I want her to be dressed in black, as black tends to look effortless and classy and that is how I want my magazine to be portrayed.

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Drafting/Planning/research into similar products - Ideas for magazine titles

So far my ideas for a magazine title have been very similar to the name of my artist. I want something related to music like an instrument or musical term.

The name that I think sounds the best for a magazine is 'Harmony' which was originally one of the ideas for the artist name.

I am going to do further research into music magazine names to give me more inspiration for an idea. 

Research into similar products - Supporting Artists

I am going to look into support bands and artists that have worked with solo female artists in the past, that are not hugely famous but that people may have heard of.

So far I have researched into Gabrielle Aplin's support act, Josh Kumra, who also had a number one with Wretch 32.

Click here to listen to one of Josh Kumra's songs

I have also looked into a young female singer named Emily Sargant, who has done small support acts and has an audio gallery full of her own songs and songs that she has covered. Her voice is very soft and girly which is the type of singer I am looking to support my artist.

Click this link to visit Emily Sargant's audio gallery

Organisation of artist/ Drafting and planning - My Artist

I have decided my artist is going to be a solo female singer with a name like 'harmony'. I have considered using this names as they link to music and makes the name more interesting.

I want my artist to be quite feminine and pretty/classy looking. I also want her to be young, as I want it to appear that she is only just recently started to become famous and is not yet leading a 'celebrity lifestyle'.

I will make the album be the first album released, so it is named simply after her. It will include typical girly soundings songs such as 'let it go' and 'summertime'. I want my album to have at least 8 tracks overall, with one being a number one hit.

My artist will soon be going on tour in the summer and she will be travelling around the UK performing in places such as Birmingham LG Arena, Nottingham Capital FM Arena, Manchester Academy etc.

Drafting/Planning - Creating my own double page spread

For my double page spread I decided to use a classy picture of Lily Allen on one side and the article on the other as this is a typical layout I have seen in many magazines that I have looked into.
I stuck to a basic, simple colour scheme to maintain the simplicity and class that is shown in the picture and to keep the magazine looking neat, tidy and professional. The title 'a day in the life of Lily Allen' is written in the same colour as the background and the text is written in a black colour which matches Lily Allen's dark hair. The background is kept white to keep it looking simple and classy and also to match the colour of the dress she is wearing in the picture.
A quote from the article is written over the picture of Lily to draw attention to what the article is about and what is included in it. This is also a common thing to do in an article of this type and I have seen this used in all of the double page spreads like this one.
I have kept the layout of the text stereotypical to a common magazine by using columns and dividing the text into paragraphs. This makes the text easy to read and makes the page look professional and neat. There is a brief summary of the article at the top of the page to give the reader information about what the article is actually about and give more insight into the title and who Lily Allen is. It is also bolded to draw the readers attention, along with the information about the release of her single at the bottom of the page.
I also included a picture of Lily Allen with one of her children as she speaks about them.a lot in the article and it gives more insight into the 'Life of Lily Allen'. It has a caption to explain the picture.
I have maintained a girly image like the front cover and contents page as I have also used swirly writing which looks pretty and attractive to the female target audience and I have also used a very feminine image of Lily Allen.

Drafting/Planning/Research into similar products and target audience - Creating my own magazine cover and contents page

Front cover
I decided to use Lily Allen as my cover star as she has been the inspiration for a lot of my blog and she is the style I want for my magazine. I also decided to use the rolling stone magazine as I have done a lot of research into this magazine and know about the style and features.

Firstly, I removed the background of a picture I found of Lily Allen to make it look more professional and in the style of a magazine. I used this photo as in the picture she is maintaining direct address with the reader and it is a medium close up which is usually used on magazine covers.

I wanted her to have a white background as it would make her stand out more. I also wanted the background to be white as she is pale and wearing light coloured clothing so a bright colour would not have suited it and any other colour would not have been as effective. Her dark hair and eyes also stand out, but they wouldn't look as bold if she had a darker background.

I put the image of Lily Allen in front of the masthead as this is what magazines tend to do as the masthead is easily recognisable and it makes the model the centre of attention and the focus on her. The image takes up the majority of the page so there is not much negative space. However it is not too crowded as I wanted the design to look simple and elegant.

I then added a cover line 'A day in the life of... Lily Allen' as this is what the article in my magazine is called. Also, readers may find it interesting to find out what a celebrity as big as Lily Allen does during a normal day. I used swirly font as it looks very girly and Lily Allen is dressed prettily and very feminine so my target audience will be women. I matched the colour of the headline to the colour of the masthead to make it look professional, and tidy. I did not want to mix too many colours together as I wanted the look to be simple yet effective.

I then added a bar code, price and date line to it as these are part of the conventions of a magazine cover. I again matched the colour of the text to the masthead to make it stand out from the white background and to keep it looking simple, with a simple, classy colour scheme.

Contents page
As my target audience is women, I decided to stick to using swirly, more girly writing for the contents page as it looks classy and this font looks like a females handwriting. I again kept the writing the same red colour as the masthead to maintain the colour scheme. I also kept the background white to continue the colour scheme and keep the simple look I am going for.

I put a picture of Lily Allen in the centre of the page and put a dark border around it to make it stand out as she is the main article in the magazine. I gave the picture of Lily Allen a grey coloured background so it stood out even more and her clothing could be seen more clearly as in this image she is wearing white.
I also used pictures of two other female singers - Katy Perry and Cheryl Cole who are also very girly and would attract and gain interest from my target audience. I chose these images imparticular as they match the colour scheme I am going for.
Also, the images of the two women are similar to the picture of Lily Allen on the front page as they both have dark hair, are wearing pale clothing with a white background so the same theme and style is beginning to continue throughout the magazine.
I made the picture of Lily Allen slightly overlap the other two images as she is the most important and the main feature in the magazine.

I kept the theme simple as I did on the front page and it makes it seem more classy and neat. Everything is spaced out and looks more professional than it would if I added more to it.

Research into similar products - Further research into Rolling Stone Magazine

I have decided to look further into Rolling Stone magazine as this is the magazine that has given me the most ideas so far. I like the layouts of these magazines and how the model is always the very centre of attention and always dressed very stylish and classy. These magazines have given me more ideas about the pose and look of my model and the layout I want my magazine to be. The masthead is very recognisable and the main headlines are always clear and linked to the cover star which all gives me inspiration.

drafting/Planning of magazine layout - Preliminary task

I have created a quick draft magazine cover to give me an idea of the layout of my magazine.

I have added a bold/clear masthead a long the top which stands out and makes an impact and my model slightly overlaps to show that she is the main focus. My model is maintaining direct address so that the magazine is more personal to the reader and the cover line is written over her to show it is about her. The cover lines frame the model so they do not draw away attention. I have also included a dateline, url, barcode and price. 

Drafting/Planning of photography/magazine layout/ Oragnisation - Picture for preliminary task

This is the photo I am using for the preliminary task. I am going to edit out the background and add in a colour to match the school colour scheme. The models red lips will match the red background.

Research into similar products - Contents page analysis

All of the contents pages I have researched into all have a main star as the focal point.

Certain articles have attention drawn to them and they stand out as they seem to be the most important as readers will want to see them most. The highlighted artists are always the biggest stars that are featured in the magazine to show that the magazine is up-to-date and on trend.

The contents pages are divided up into different categories such as the regular features and features that are specific to this issue. 

The images break up the blocks of text and make it more interesting for the reader, which gives a good first impression on the magazine as a whole as the contents page is the first page that is turned to.