PLANNING: Working Progress - Blink Plan

My Flatplan using the BlinkPlan programme at www.blinkplan.com. I found this software confusing at the beginning but once I realised how it worked I grasped t it quickly. As you can see, I still have some pages I need to fill in, I'm going to look at XXL magazine for inspiration.

Eleanor

PLANNING: Distribution Task

In class, in preparation for our own music magazines, we was told to go to a newspaper or magazine stand to see their placement. For the task I went to Sainsbury's local Gants Hill, and because it is a small branch they don't sell many music magazines, only one; Empire.  When I look at the presentation of the magazines, firstly I notice the masthead and then I notice the cover image. I think magazines are designed like this so that if you're going in the shop quickly, you can see exactly what you're looking for really easily. 

They use sale or return which is expensive and wasteful for the publisher and the environment but its beneficial to the retailer as there is no risk or wastage to them. They could do online distribution which reduces waste and it's much more cheap. Direct distribution such as free magazines which are usually given out at train or bus stations include NME, they make profits solely from advertisement so expect much less content than if you was paying for a magazine. You could also subscribe to a magazine and have it delivered directly to your doorstep or inbox at a heavily discounted price which will be beneficial to the customer.

Eleanor

PLANNING: Illustrator workshop

Today we had a workshop in Adobe Indesign. Tom the technician come over to show us all the basics so that we could use the programme to design our own mastheads. We learnt how to type, change font, font colour from adobe colour wheel, ad shapes, erase in shapes, move letters as one and not the whole word, and much more. I feel much more confident using this software now but i still need lots of practice as it is confusing to grasp and remember how to do and do all the stuff.

Eleanor

 This is my new masthead it is navy blue, there are little things I want to change and soon i will learn how to do it. I may also do my masthead red ish colours to look like fire because my magazine is called flames.

PLANNING: Call Sheet

PLANNING: Initial Ideas for my Magazine

Magazine Proposal

• Title: Slang Words in Britain in the rap scene.e.g flow, spit or flame/s.
• Genre: Rap/HipHop
• Content: British Rap artists new on the scene, regular items include a different artist breakdown every issue stating government name, home area and basics you would want to know. what makes my magazine different is that it focuses on british rap artists.
• Colour scheme: White, blue and black
• Publisher: Townsquare media group.
• Target audience: Black British men ages 18 - 29 living in all sides of London, working class, hobbies include making money and living a trapstar lifestyle.

PLANNING: Ideas from my case studies

In my two case studies, there was some elements that I would like to include when I create my own music magazine.

Firstly, I really liked the simplistic colour scheme of red, blue and white on the front cover of XXL Magazine because it appeals to both genders as well as complimenting each other well. When I create my own music magazine I hope to have an audience of young adults so taking on board the success of this colour scheme, and potentially use the clean look on my own magazine.

Secondly, I like the short snappy masthead so I want something similar when I come to create my own.

 I would like to take inspiration from the cover image as it looks well planned and very successfully conveys the artists personalities and how they juxtapose when all sitting together. I would like to have a white background like XXL Magazine has because it looks clean, airy, spacious and calm. On HIP HOP Weekly the background is dark, and in all this makes the front cover look really gloomy and cramped.

I don't like how HIP HOP Weekly's front cover looks overly cluttered so I know how I don't want my magazine to look. In comparison, XXL and HIP HOP Weekly probably have the same amount of cover stars but the different ways in which they are positioned on the front are  responsible for the way they look, although the cover stars on XXL are in a clump the juxtaposing colours they are wearing makes it look pleasant to look at.

PLANNING: Finished Contents Page- College Mag

PLANNING: HIPHOP Magazine

Do they offer subscriptions?
Yes, you have the option to order the magazine online, or to renew your subscription.
I think this is for people that will not be able to find the magazine very easily in their local newsagents as it gives you the option have the physical magazine delivered straight to your doorstep.
However it is only available to be delivered in the united states at the moment.
Is there a zine version and does it have the same content?
When I checked the website and the app store i was unable to find an zine version of Hip Hop weekly, so I am unsure if it has the same content, or if there is one at all.
Is there content on the website that its in the magazine?
I come to realise that the website (hiphopweekly.com) is set out in a blog format. So it is constantly updated with new content that its out on print yet.
Do they use social media to generate readers?
Yes they use Facebook, twitter, Instagram and youtube the same as xxl magazine.

Eleanor

PLANNING: XXL Magazine

Do they offer subscriptions?
 Physical subscriptions are no longer offered however there is an option to subscribe to the digital edition. I think this is because technology has had such a surge of recognition recently and has become more common and popular.
Is there an ezine version with the same content?
There is an App for Apple and Google users, however it hasn't been updated since October/November 2014 and you also have to buy the magazines on the app to read them. So i couldn't check if the content was the same.

To the left is what you see when you open the app, and to the right is what came up for me after the library was updated.





Is there content on the website that isn't in the magazine?
Yes, there is so much more content on the website than the magazine as the website is updated very frequently.  I think this is for people that really want to know every story and head line they an go straight over and check the the website, however the general most popular stories will be features in the physical copies of the magazine.
How do they use social media to generate readers?
XXL Magazine use Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/xxlmag), Twitter (@XXL), Instagram (@XXL) and Youtube(https://www.youtube.com/XXLMagazine) generate readers.
How does XXL Magazine use sm to generate content?


Eleanor

PLANNING: EVALUATION Preliminary task

Evaluation

Process

With my college magazine I wanted to achieve a professional looking magazine aimed towards students who attend Leyton Sixth Form College. We was instructed to use programmes such as Photoshop and Indesign.

Self and Peer Evaluation

Firstly, this is my finished product. I think that the photography went well
because it is a Medium close up of the model with her positioning manipulated to look good with the mast head. I decided not to edit the image because it is a magazine about school and isn't meant to be compared to magazines like OK! and Closer. I like the page layout because it goes around her body rather than covering her which is what I was aiming for. I could've added more cover lines but my teacher told me it wasn't mandatory to have lots.
My contents page I designed with Adobe Indesign with some success. I feel like when you look a the front cover and contents page they look like they could be from the same magazine is good. But I still want to add some more pictures as Joshua said it would break up the information and make it easier to read and interpret.

My friend Fatma told me that she liked my colour scheme, especially the light blue which links in with the blue on my cover stars lanyard. Also she liked the font I used to highlight 'Soriah's' name, because it draws your eyes towards it. Joshua said 'the bricks cause the main image to stand out more prudently as it contrasts with your cover model,' which makes you look at her.

Secondly, to improve my front cover further to add a flash/puff to advertise the competition I have inside. Similarly I want to make my front cover look as if it was made in a professional magazine-making environment, in other words make everything look more clean and pleasant to look at. I could've done this by using a better editing software  or learn how to use photoshop more accurately.

Development

Thirdly, a way I could develop my main task is to take a lot more images, for instance when I was photographing for the front cover, I only took between 4 /5 images, in an ideal world i would've taken between 10/ 12 photos so that I had options and could pick the best one when I come to editing.

Similarly, I would like to add a different colour so that my magazine resembles professional magazines that follow a 3-colour scheme. I think that a khaki green to match her jacket would go considerably well.

Lastly, I think that a plain background could've also looked good. I could've experimented with this when taking my photos for the front cover.

Eleanor

PLANNING: Working progress - College mag #2

This is the work I done in today's lesson. I had to restart my contents page because at first I did it on photoshop and my teacher told me that's wrong so this is on Adobe In Design. Indesign is so much harder to use so it will take me ages to finish.

Eleanor

PLANNING: Work In Progress- College Mag #1

In today's lesson i very nearly started and finished my contents page, this is my contents page from my college magazine. I haven't finished it yet and I'm not completely happy with this. For example, I don't like how plain the background looks and the whole page looks cluttered and overcrowded. I could've made the contents a dps to avoid this. I also want to add some more pictures so it is interesting to look at.

As you can see here I made my contents page on Adobe Photoshop, which isn't the right program to use, (which I found out after I nearly finished it ,) I should've used Adobe Indesign. It would've been a lot easier for me to get my columns exactly perfect and things like that. However I find Indesign excessively hard to use so I opted for keeping my photoshop contents page.

Eleanor

PLANNING: College Magazine

This is my nearly finished college magazine, it has my model Soriah on the front and she is the cover story.

Eleanor