My Final Magazine

Contact Sheets

As you can see I took quite a vast range of photos before I took the ones that I finally decided on. I think this is partly down to my uncertainty as to exactly how I wanted Megan to stand or look so the best thing was just to experiment and try out plenty of ideas- no matter how ridiculous they may be. I even drew black eyebrows on her at one point. I enjoy playing around with make-up because it can make a photograph so much more exciting.

If you look at the photo of Megan on the contents page:

You can see that I drew on exaggerated bottom eyelashes to give the photo a little life. This is reminiscent of Twiggy in the late 60's (yet slightly more extreme) and I think it opens her eyes more.

Evaluation Question 6

I have learnt a huge amount about the technologies I have to use to construct my final product. This ranged form learning about how to use my camera in different locations and with different lighting, to learning how to drop shadow the coverlines in Photoshop.

The only things I used to get my final pages were a camera and a Mac OS X. The software- desktop publishing technologies- were Adobe Photoshop CS4 for the front cover and contents page, and Adobe Indesign for the double-page spread. All of my work I recorded on Blogger.

I had no previous knowledge or experience of using these programs so all of the skills I now possess are from online tutorials, my teacher's lessons and experimenting with my preliminary task.

A few of the skills I have learnt on Photoshop are how to alter the brightness/contrast of a photograph, how to use layers to my advantage- without layers I wouldn't have been able to create either my front cover or my contents page, edit fonts, use filters, use the magnet lasso tool to select only the part of a layer I wish to use, use red eye tool to edit the eyes, use the burn smudge and blur tool effectively.

On Indesign I have learnt how to wrap text around a photograph effectively, put text on a path, divide the text into columns and make one text box link to another.

Learning to use Blogger has been such a good experience for me as I really have enjoyed uploading my work and allowing my peers to comment on it. It made it easier to communicate as they could quickly type in their feedback to my final front cover which meant that they were more willing to critique it as it is less time consuming than handwriting a response, and I was pleased as I physically couldn't lose the feedback as it was saved online.

I learnt how to blog, how to upload JPEGs and PDFs, how to comment on other blogs, how to follow a blog, how to upload links onto my blog contents and how to label my posts correctly.

Evaluation Question 4

I think that my final magazine product would prodominantly appeal to females aged from 16-24 years old. These could be any sorts of females, from the way they dress to their professions. I think that the magazine would also appeal to a narrow selection of young males, however the majority of the audience would be women.

However, this is an example of the idea I have in my head of the typical Riff Magazine reader:
They would be quirky and unconventional, not caring how to look socially acceptable, they would just follow their own trends and style.
They would be open-minded and would love experimentational music.
They would appreciate all kinds of music, from acoustic to rhythm and blues.
They would purchase their clothes from charity and vintage shops, always in search for a bargain, however appreciate high street clothes from Urban Outfitters and Topshop.
They would enjoy socialising and get excited about bands playing live at gigs and festivals.
Their favourite programmes would be the educational or easy-to-watch programmes. Examples are Come Dine With Me, Coach Trip, Life, How It's Made, Mythbusters.
Their favourite television channels would be DMAX and More4.

Evaluation Question 3

The institution that is most likely to distribute my media product would be IPC Media.

IPC Media are one of the leading magazine publishers in the UK. They produce over 85 iconic media brands and their magazines reach nearly 27 million people per month, whilst their online brands have over 20 million users a month.

Magazine distribution is extremely important, it determines how successful the magazine is due to any demands that are being made.

My magazine holds definite similarities to NME and UNCUT magazines due to their natures and their target audiences. These two magazines are also published by IPC Media. Here is a range of the magazines that IPC Media publish:

I think that my magazine could slot in with these quite nicely, there is quite clearly a slot in the market for a female dominated magazine and I think that Riff would fit it perfectly. They publish plenty of magazines that are targeted towards women- Woman's Weekly, Woman's Own, Woman & Home, Woman, Hair, Beautiful Kitchens, Chat, Essentials, InStyle, Ideal Home, Living etc, Marie Claire, Look, Now, Pick Me Up- yet none of these focus on or even mention music.

Music tends to be associated with men nowadays, magazines are written with them in mind and so I think that Riff is the perfect magazine to replenish this view.

Evaluation Question 5

I discussed with my peers and classmates how my double-page spread interview should be laid out and referred to NME and Kerrang! magazines for the influential decisions that I made. For example, I decided to write the question that the interviewer was asking in a bold typeface and then the response of the artist in a neutral coloured regular typeface so that they are easily distinguishable from one another. This will help the readers to keep attentive to the interview rather than lose focus and only scan read the article:
The mode of address I used is casual and informal as I felt that the audience could relate to the artist more if they used the same level of informalness as the audience are likely to during conversations they may have with their friends or collaegues. I used occasional swear words as can be expected from a music magazine. Music magazines vary from magazines in other industries as they don't censor any swear words, if anything it gives the musician an edge and appeal.

I also used terminology that only people of a certain generation or age will recognise and understand. An example of this would be:

"I could still be that little yat you see hanging on highstreets at lunchtimes"

Although this is a risky decision to have made as not every member of the public will know exactly what 'Megan' is trying to describe, I feel that it added a sense of reality to the article and am therefore glad that I made this decision.

During my market research it was clear that most music magazines (or magazines in general) that feature just one person or artist on the front cover frame them so that they are central to the shot. This means that they are clearly the focus of the magazine and main article.

The layout and colour scheme was also selected carefully to ensure that it would attract my target audience of young females aged approximately between 16 and 25. I decided upon using silver for the masthead as it is attention grabbing and pleasing to the eye. I also used gold for the coverlines as this colour is appealing to any female and also compliments any background colours used.

The gold typeface band list that appears on the front cover is another way of trying to attract the reader. I used bands that are known amongst the target audience and that appear to have exciting names. This will appeal to a broader audience as if an onlooker notices a band or artist that they enjoy on the band list then they are more likely to purchase the magazine (even if they don't necessarily enjoy the main artist featured).

Evaluation Question 1

I began by creating a school magazine as my preliminary task, this was to prepare me for the later task of designing a music magazine that could be put on the shelves in any shop and not look out of place.

I learnt a lot from the preliminary, (mainly my incompetence of using Photoshop) however, it really threw me in the deep end and made me learn how to use the tools in Photoshop a lot quicker than if I was learning it at my leisure. Previously I knew nothing of Photoshop or what the software can really enable you to do, I had only heard people talk about it.

My preliminary task was not based upon an existing example as my school doesn't have a school magazine currently so I just thought about it logically. I knew the basic uniformity of a school magazine- school logo, school colours and school uniform- and so I just tried to incorporate these components in the best way that I could.

This is how my preliminary task began. I knew that I wanted to use this photo as it makes the school look studious yet enjoyable. The atmosphere of the school appears to be light due to the smile on her face.

The main problem I found with this photo is that the background was very busy, I learnt how to use the smudge tool which meant I could use the original colour of the walls to go over the tiles and posters placed up on the wall. At the time I did it I was very proud of myself for even thinking about how to do that, but now that I reflect back on it, it wasn't very challenging and I did it quite poorly.

This is the perfect example of my pitiful skills when I first began the preliminary task. I trimmed around the hair trying to make it look realistic, but could never quite get it right.

This is the final version of my preliminary task:

This is how my school magazine ended up looking. At the time of completion I was reasonably happy with it, yet now it only makes me happy to see how far I have developed and how much knowledge I have gained since creating this magazine.

After researching existing music magazines in depth, I began to understand the conventions and uniformities of them- the medium close-up front cover shot, the informal mode of address, the large mastheads in the top-left hand corner, the decreasing font size of coverlines and the typical colour combinations.

This is the title of my contents page. I used the font Bernard MT Condensed as I had formerly used it for parts of my front cover and wanted to stay consistent throughout my magazine. I like this font as it is smooth, sleek and doesn't overcomplicate things. I added a large drop shadow as it made the word come to life and bold. I have found that within the music magazine industry, drop shadows are very frequently used for any feature on a page just so that it doesn't look bland or two dimensional. I also added an outer glow, not because it was a generic convention of a music magazine but because the font colour and the background colour of the contents page looked slightly too tame and dull and so therefore adding a white outlining glow draws attention to it.

This is the masthead I eventually settled for on my magazine. I enjoyed the simplicity of the masthead of i-D magazine. The vibrant colours used in conjunction

with a typically plain sans-serif font create

an eye-catching yet not overpowering masthead.

I found a sans-serif font that suited my personal preference and edited it using the 'noise' tool on Photoshop. 'Noise' is what is commonly found on a television screen when there is no signal. It is a large number of tiny dots of colour that move around very fast. I thought that this had relevance to the media industry because of its connections to the technologies of televisions.

I think this masthead is typical of music magazines written about a certain genre. NME and Kerrang! focus on rock music and therefore I don't believe my masthead reflects that type of music, it has more of an acoustic and potentially pop appearance.

I made a band list for the bottom of the front cover of the magazine. Most (if not all) music magazines have a list of the featured bands either in their contents page or on their front cover, and so therefore I decided to do mine on the front cover. I used an NME front cover for my inspiration for the colour scheme and the idea of using punctuation to segregate each artist:

I used a technique that I discovered on a range of music and other topic magazines. I altered the gradients so that they decrease in intensity as you go down the page. This is a typical convention of existing music magazines as it subconsciously explains to the reader the unspoken order of importance that the coverlines possess. I also decreased the font size of the coverlines as this reinforces the order of importance and the order in which they should be read.
I put an outerglow around each letter to give the words more dimension, really make them jump from the wallpaper used in the background.





I knew that for my contents I wanted a large photo of Megan to be the main focus of the entire page. Here in Spin magazine, I was inspired by the overall layout and format of it. I played upon their key features- such as the coverlines, wording and colours they used- by making them align with how I wanted Riff magazine to look.

This is the main hook of my front cover, it reads 'MEGAN AND THE PAINTERS ON THEIR RECENT STORM TO FAME'. The incorporation of the band's name and a brief few words that summarise the interview and entice the reader to want to learn more is a typical element to most music magazines.


The essential conventions that are absolutely vital for a music magazine to appear genuine are a barcode, date, page number and a unit price. All of which I used in my magazine as often as it was necessary.

Evaluation Question 2

You might consider posture, gesture, angle, shot type, lighting, costume, expression, hair, etc

This photograph of Lady Gaga on the front cover of asos magazine inspired me to involve hands within the photograph on my front cover as they are generally placed by the musican's sides and forgotten about. Although asos magazine is prominently a fashion magazine I thought that this photo was versatile as it could easily be placed on the front of a music magazine.

Megan's posture is quite reserved and mysterious, she subconsciously provokes the reader to wonder what it is she has to tell the readers. I think it definitely has similarities to Lady Gaga's stance- it is almost as though she is attempting to seduce the audience by using her hands in a gentle and delicate way.

The gestures vary between these two photos, Lady Gaga is looking seductive and potentially promiscuous due to her confidence in herself. Megan on the other hand is looking a lot less timid, this should appeal to the male audience as well as the female.

The angle is the same on both photographs, they are both full on shots taken from directly in front of the singer. This perfect for magazine covers as it frames the subject so well and centres them making it clear that they are the focus of the entire magazine.

The Asos front cover uses lighting from above so that a small shadow is cast around the midriff of Lady Gaga which makes the magazine look a lot more three dimensional. I focussed the lighting directly onto Megan's face so that her features were lit really nicely and the negative space (walls) were less dominant and gradually became less lit as there begin to be shadows in the corners of the photograph.

For clothing I dressed Megan in a cropped white t-shirt that was quite a loose fit because that fitted in nicely with the tone of the magazine. I understand why Lady Gaga was wearing a structed formal dress as asos pride themselves on their fashion sense and so for them the outfit would be a key factor to the cover. I didn't want to detract the focus from Megan's face and pose by dressing her in a loud and garish outfit, so I settled for a neutral garment.

The eye contact each of the models on these magazines have is very similar. It is so intent on the reader, it grabs their attention. It is almost as though they are staring into the audience's eyes, it is a way of connecting to the audience.

I wanted the hair to be less perfected than Lady Gaga's hair on the asos cover. I think that the main difference between these photographs is the purpose of them. As asos is a beauty and fashion magazine, the hair and make-up have to reflect that and therefore aren't good examples of how I should have them for Megan. I gave Megan an off-centre messy parting and clipped parts of her hair back to highlight and show off her face. I then played around with hairspray, making it voluminous and slightly scruffy.

Evaluation Question 7

The preliminary task of the school magazine enabled me to understand exactly what media consisted of and gave me a sample of what the subject will be like for the next two school years. The school magazine taught me so much to do with both Photoshop and grasping the concept of the publication type itself.

The difference between my music magazine and my school magazine is extortionate:

As you can see, fonts I used for the main task were edited to make them look demure and interesting as opposed to looking like they could have been word processed.

The photograph I used has eye contact with the reader whereas my preliminary task does not. This is something I learnt to be extremely vital from the extensive market research I did on music magazines.

On both magazines I struggled to think of appropriate coverlines to entice potential readers, however, it was easier on the music magazine as I just mentioned bands whereas with the school magazine I really struggled.

I approached the two tasks very differently. With the preliminary task I rushed into it, taking photographs straight away without having any preconceptions of what I wanted them to be of or look like. I thought that it would be fine to just create what I assumed looked like a genuine school magazine without even looking at existing products for inspiration.

With the main task I did quite the opposite. I thought that looking at depth into the music industry and existing music magazine products would inspire me to attempt to create something that is of that level. I also managed my time correctly to meet deadlines that were set by my teacher. I think that it is vital to meet deadlines as otherwise the work load just mounts up unnecessarily and stress levels increase. I set aside certain lessons for editing certain aspects of photographs so that over time my photographs developed in quality.

Album Cover

I decided to create a fictional album that readers will receive for free if they subscribe to the magazine. I knew that it had to be a lot different to the photo on the front cover as this magazine needs variation. I wanted it to be abstract and unconventional as opposed to a generic posed album cover. I took photos of my brother Justin who enjoys pulling faces (despite being 21), so naturally when in front of a camera he makes strange facial expressions, in this particular photo he has a piece of an orange in his mouth to distort his face even more.

On Photoshop CS4 I played around with filters and effects and ended up with this scary creation:

First Draft of contents page

This is how my contents looks thus far. I need to fiddle slightly with a few features but this is approximately how it will finally look.

First draft of front cover

Experimentation of Coverline

This was my initial design for the coverline of this magazine. I played around with embossing, drop shadows and colours on CS4 Photoshop.

At first I liked it as I thought it looked bold and heavy but after pending my opinions on it I realised that it is a little too dark and heavy. I feel it may detract the reader's attention from the front cover photo and instead divert their attention to the coverline.

I began again with just the font and ended up with this. I much prefer this design as I feel it will accompany a wider range of front covers with its subtle colour scheme and light drop shadow. To do this I edited the 'noise' of the font, this created the grainy glittery effect that the font now possesses. The audacity of the noise depended on how prominent I wanted the coverline to be, so I settled for a reasonably high ratio of noise causing small groups of coloured and white pixels to form. The effect 'noise' refers to the television as when there is a lack of signal, monochrome lines and squiggles appear. I feel this is quite relevant to the media industry and therefore would be a wise choice to use this as my coverline.

Potential Front Cover Photos

For my front cover I decided to use my friend Megan. She is naturally so beautiful and I knew from previous occasions that she has a very photogenic face. The make-up I used was reasonably light as I didn't want to detract from her facial expression as I felt this to be really important, yet I wanted her eyes to appear as big as possible so I found by applying a dark eyeshadow beneath her eyes as well as above makes them appear huge.

This is probably my favourite shot of this batch. I like her face as it is unexpected due to its soft facial expression and gaze. Her face seems so relaxed, it is almost as though she is in a daydream even though her eye contact with the camera remains so intent. I like her hair as it looks slightly tousled whilst also looking tamed.
The things I would change about it are the colour of eyeshadow used as I couldn't find my black so had to suffice with brown. I could probably alter this with the help of Photoshop though. Also, I feel that the photo is slightly generic when compared to the likes of i-D magazine covers.

This is one of my favourite photographs from the shoot also. We thought it was quite conceptual and strange to see punctuation marks painted on people's body yet it implies noise and sound which is definitely relevant. It was quite difficult to paint the exclamation mark on due to the crevaces of the fingers and the bumps on the hand. I think I could get this to look a lot more even and perfect with the help of Photoshop when I come to editing.

I quite like the idea of using a black and white photo for the front cover as it would allow me to be very experimental with font colours and the colour scheme of the rest of the magazine.



This photograph is similar to the previous one yet her eye contact with the camera is very different. She appears to be almost startled and possessed at the same time. I like the appearance of this photo and have decided that it may come in useful for my double-page spread as opposed to the front cover.