Main Task: Post Production Feedback

I decided to receive my post production feedback through the social networking site facebook as I thought I would be able to receive feedback well through it and reach my target audience.

I asked twenty people for their feedback, I have highlighted a few of the comments I received and print scrrened them.

General comments about the overall magazine

Front Cover page comments/likes

Contents page comments/likes

Double Page spread comments/likes

Main Task: Double Page Spread FINAL

Main Task: Front Cover FINAL

Main Task: Contents Page FINAL,

Main Task: Unmanipulated Photos

Front Cover Image:

This is the photograph I have chosen to use for my front cover. Its a striking pose full of attitude. I thought this pose was a convention of Indie artists. The subjects costume is full of contrasting colours and patterns which shows of the subjects quirky personality and the non-conformist attitudes I wanted. There is enough background to have a masthead, cover-lines/strap-lines without going over the original image.

Double Page spread:

There are two subjects in this image with similar costumes. The subjects are placed to the left of the photograph leaving lots of background for the article to be written on. Linking the article and the subjects together. The colours in the costume contrast with the background. For example the white hat and the red sweatshirt.

Contents Page Images:

These are the three contents page photographs I have chosen. I specifically wanted my subjects to be from different ethnic backgrounds to subvert the generic convention of 'white middle-class indie kids'. The three poses are striking. All three subjects are using direct eye contact. I took the first two photographs in the middle of the day so I would have good lighting. The third pictures is again of the subject on my main cover and double page spread.

Images I have chosen not to use:

These arew two photographs I chose not to use in my magazine. I chose not to use the first one as the subject looks very washed out and looks off balance. Part of the subjects hair and headband has been cut off. This makes the photograph look unprofessional.

The second photograph is not centered and is at a strange angle. I was trying to create a low angle shot full of attitude but I managed to get the ceiling in it. I think these photographs contrasted with the photographs I'm now using shows how my photography skills have developed.

Main Task: FC, CP, DPS Mock Ups

These are my four front cover designes:

These are my four contents page designes:

These are my two double page spread designes:

Main Task: Mood Board

Mood Board

This is a Mood Board I have created highlighting everything that I think is associated with the genre 'Indie'.









This is my second mood board. I tried to grasp the genre and get a hold of it more than my previous mood board. My second mood board looks more grown up and has a quirky 'vintage' feeling to it.
I spent a lot of time editing some of the images and developed photoshop skills.

Main Task: Case Study of a Publishing House

Condé Nast, publishes many accomplished magazines, such as Vogue, Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine, and is published monthly. Glamour and Vanity Fair are also both fashion and lifestyle magazines published monthly aimed at woman, but Vogue magazine is the main selling point to Condé Nast.
Vogue is a prestigious magazine recognised and distributed worldwide. The target audience for these magazines are woman who have a love for literature and fashion. Condé Nast publishes many magazines with these attributes.
Most of Condé Nast publications are aimed at the higher end of the market. Condé Nast is aimed at a target audience with a higher level of income and education, in comparison to magazines such as Nuts which are aimed at a lower social class of people.

The magazines that Condé Nast publishes all have a similar target age range, mid twenty’s to early thirties. The magazines that Condé Nast publishes that would appeal to people in their mid twenties are Vogue and Vanity Fair. Woman in this age range are less likely to have started their own family so are more interested in materialistic things such as fashion and celebrities

Condé Nast has different target audiences that are still in keeping with the overall fashion and lifestyle theme. These vary from magazines such as Brides Magazine to Easy living. The extravagant articles within the magazines such as Brides magazine connote that wealthy woman read them. Magazines such as Easy Living connote that the woman that read these types of magazines have life quite easy and don’t have to worry too much about work so have time to sit back, relax and enjoy life. Targeting different audiences means that overall revenue will increase.

Condé Nast is considered to be the originator of the 'lifestyle magazine' a type of magazines focused on a class or interest instead of targeting the largest possible readership, Its magazines focus on a wide range of subjects, including travel, food, home, culture, and other interests, as well as fashion. Creating a wider audience.

The ever evolving Internet though has caused Condé Nast problems. They had to close down Gourmet magazine, which has celebrated cooking since 1941, wedding publications such as Elegant Bride and Modern Bride have also closed, 180 people lost their their jobs as a closings. This shows that audiences in this recession are marrying less and less or paying a lot less for their weddings.

Condé Nast is not only a distributor of magazines, it owns four business-to-business publications, twenty seven websites, and 50 apps for mobile. More recently, Condé Nast has expanded its offerings to include marketing services and consumer-focused products such as apps and licensed merchandise. In 2010, GQ became the first Condé Nast title available on the iPad.

Publications:

Vogue: Vogue’s target audience are females in their late twenties to thirties. Vogue is very successful in attracting its audience, as a result, does not widely try to appeal to other audiences, The features each month are very similar, and based around fashion, which is what is what the magazine is renowned for. To appeal to its different audiences, Vogue has produced additional publications, Teen vogue and Vogue living, amongst others to cater for other audiences, rather than expanding its tradition Vogue to draw in a larger audience.

Brides: Brides magazine contains lots of topics that future brides will find useful. These include wedding dress information,ceremony information, and honeymoons, there are lots of other subjects that are relative to weddings that many future brides might like to be aware of. The magazine also contains information on for example bridal party dresses, bouquets and budgeting. This publication revolves around ultimately fashion but is different to publications such as Glamour Magazine, its a targeted at a more mature female audience.

Golf digest: Golf digest is a very different publication than what Conde nast is known for. Golf Digest is a monthly golf magazine. It is a golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competitive golf. Targeting male and females gives Gold digest a bigger target audience. Condé Nast Publications also publishes Golf for woman and Golf World Business.These publications are more specialised and target a specific audience.

Alure: Allure is the leading women’s beauty magazine, published monthly. The magazine has been widely recognized for its intelligent, ground breaking, and much-imitated coverage of beauty. A signature of the magazine.Alure focuses on beauty whereas magazines such as Vogue focus more heavily on fashion. The target audience for Alure is similar to Vogue and Glamour, woman in there twenties, but Alure and Vogue target woman with a higher level of income and intelligence where Glamour is targeted at every day woman. Allure focuses on beauty, fashion, and women’s health and doesn't shy away from controversial topics such as silicone breast implants and reported on the growing use of this drug among fashion models.

Main Task: Profilling Your Audience

The 'Quirk' reader

Star, 19 loves the whole indie genre. It influences her attitude, dress sense, her choice of friends and her hobbies.

Star's whole life revolves around music, from the moment she wakes up she's listening to music while she gets ready, in university she's studying music technology and in the evening she's at a gig with her friends or messing around with musical instruments. Star is currently attending Goldsmiths University in London, known for the quirky students that patrol the streets of new cross ! and Star is no exception and lives up to this reputation.

Star's love for music origionated from her dad who was an avid Beatles fan and her brother who plays in guitar in a band. Her brother is also a huge The Smiths fan, as a cosequense of this, Star also loves them. Her dad collected records and so from an early age Star was exposed to music. Star's favorite bands include Underground Heroes and the more mainstream band Arctic Monkeys.

Star is a non-conformist quirky individual, she is a trend setter. The way Star dresses and her personality is heavily influenced by the music she listens to and so therefore is a crucial part in displaying to the world her 'identity'.

Main Task: Audience Research

For part off my planning and research I had to do some audience research. I decided to do this on the social network Facebook as it is a place where I could reach different types of people all in one go. I messaged friends five questions and have screen printed some of the answers. I asked simple straightforward questions, I created some stylized fonts and asked about colour schemes so in the end I could create a magazine that really reaches out to my target audience.

These are the questions I asked:

1. What features would you like to read in an Indie Magazine?

2. Which of the stylized fonts I created do you think would suit my genre best?

3. Should an Indie Rock Magazine target a specific audience or should it try and appeal to a wider more diverse audience?

4. What age group should my Magazine Target?

5. Would you like to see for example features such as 'gig reviews?'

6. What colour scheme do you think would best suit my genre?

Main Task: Double Page Spread Conventions Diagram

Main Task: Double Page Spread Textual Analysis

Colour scheme: The colour scheme consists of three dominant colours. These colours are blue, black and white. This colour scheme is used throughout the double page spread. The colour scheme gives of a stylish, youthful and modern feel.

Image: The image used takes up a whole page on the double page spread. There has been some text layered on the image, this bleeding effect links the double page spread together. The people in the main image are using direct address. Keeping eye contact with the target audience. The facial expressions are serious but the background is relaxed, messy and grungy.

Subject name: The subjects name bleeds from the first page onto the second page. The font used in a bold sans serif black font. It has been placed on a contrasting blue background. The subjects name is very distinctive on the page and attention grabbing.

Quotes: The quote used has been enlarged and placed in the middle of the article. The quote has been placed on a contrasting blue background adding emphasis to the quote.

Stand First /Drop capital: The stand-first/drop capital has been placed at the start of the written article. The stand first introduces the reader to the article. The drop capital is used to show where the article starts. It’s in a bold black font. It’s very distinctive

Headline: The headline has been placed along the top left hand corner of the first page. It is in a stylized font. The headline has been used to draw the reader in. The font is white on a contrasting blue statement background. The headline is very small so is easy to miss. Making the headline bigger would make it more attention grabbing.

By-Line: The By-Line has been placed underneath the headline. It’s in a very small black font.

Columns: There are four text columns on the second page of the double page spread. The first two columns are the article. They have been written in a black font against a white background. The other two columns have been written in white and are against a black background.

Strap-line: The strap-line runs along the second page of the double page spread. It has been placed just above the article. It is in a bolder font, adding emphasis to it.

Costume: The costumes used are all in keeping with 'indie culture', messy hair and horn rimmed glasses. The costume connotes teenagers, the lazy laid back atire is typical in teenage culture.

Setting: The setting on the first oage of the double page spread cannotes teeange culture. The setting is a messy presumably a teenage boys room. The setting is relaxed. This cannotes that the band on the double page spread are comfortable.

Main Task: Contents Page Conventions Diagram