Evaluation

Conventions:
I chose to use conventions of many different magazines that I had come across when I did my research of magazines. For one, the use of '+ Regulars' which I have previously mentioned. Small things like these make the whole magazine look more professional.
The style of the font used for the magazine name aswell as the layout also are ideas which I have used, these ideas are more of what I have seen in other magazines.

Representation:
My music magazine represents a very large audience, all of whom will enjoy their music. My magazine does not focus on any particular genre of music but quite a few. If I wanted I could have made this magazine focus specifically on rock music for example, but that could lose you customers which then loses you money. If you do not focus on just one thing and in turn write about quite a few you will get more interest and attract more different types of people. For example: Instead of just having my magazine about rock I would make it feature R'n'B, Hip-Hop, Dance ETC to get more customers.

Distribution:
My magazine would be sold in newsagents and different stores which you would generally see selling magazines. I could use WorldWide Magazine Distribution Ltd to distribute my magazine because they specialise in the distribution of magazines. They are the leading distributor of magazines to specialist outlets this means that my magazine would produce more money as more people would be able to read it worldwide. Rupert Murdoch who own newspapers and magzines such as The Times could be used because he is very well known and extremely well known. Using Rupert Murdoch would make it all very much easier as he would certainly be interested in helping a magazine in which is available for many people and lots of people would be interested in it.

Audience:
My audience is mainly focused at the age range of 16-25, this is mostly because this age range is the one which is most likely to go out and buy a music magazine. Also the articles which would be involved which mainly appeal to the younger generation. There would be bits and pieces that could be created to involve a more older age group but it is mainly focused on 16-25 year olds.

Technologies:
Before starting the preliminary task I had only used Adobe Photoshop once previosuly and I had never before used Indesign. I now feel that I have learnt quite a lot about how to use them well and how to makes something look like a real magazine should. Creating some of the pages that I had to sometimes took quite a long time, once you have become familiar with the tools available on these programs you then can perfom tasks a lot quicker. For this task I only produced a front cover, contents page and double page spread, it involved a great deal of research and hard work. I produced my front cover on Adobe Photoshop and the rest was made on Indesign.

Preliminary Task:
From the beginning I have always enjoyed creating these pages and since my first task I feel that I have learn a great amount. I have improved on my ICT skills and have also made a lot of progress seeing as I only knew very little abot Adobe Photoshop and nothing at all about Indesign.

Complete Music Magazine

Double page spread

I only had one draft of my double page spread, I thought it looked great and so it turned out to be my final copy of it. It was all created on the program InDesign. I used an image which was large enough to fill one side of the page, this picture was of one of the band members balancing a spoon on their nose, this is where the band name comes from!
Firstly I had to think of the page setup and how I would like it all to look. I created text boxes which were in the shape of columns, this is sticking to the tradional conventions of a magazine article.

The title of the page I felt had to be large and eye-catching. I made sure it was easily read and in black against the white background to make it as visable as possible. I split the word spoon into two different text boxes, one with white font saying 'sp', this would be against the dark background of the picture. The other was in a black font saying 'oon' and this was against the white background. I decided to do this because then having some text going across the page in into the other makes it all relate well to each other.

The image itself is in black and white to make it look mre professional. It also makes you feel happy as it reminds you of childhood and just having fun. Also it might make you question yourself with, 'I wonder if I can balance a spoon on my nose...'.

The font for the interview is very small and there is a lot of it, having it any larger than size 10 would make it all look too large and then unprofessional. I wrote the interview myself and thought carefully about what questions I would ask 'spoon' and also the answers for the questions. It would be good if I knew a young band that was not well known, then I could ask the questions and get some good answers back from them.

To try and continue with the purple theme I went back onto 'piknik' and onto the symbols, I had found some different things to add onto the page.
Firstly I found this strange shape made up of various blocks, I chose it and coloured it purple, just to text it out I added it onto my page in the top right corner and it fitted in nicely. I kept it as i thought it seemed different and added a bit of origionality. I had also come across some musical notes, there were three kinds and I chose to include these in the sequence of : 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3...ETC. These were also colour purple and all placed along the bottom to add some more colour.

I had recived feedback form my classmates and they said that the image looks a bit plain and needs something else added to it.
I took some of the text from the interview and used that on it in the form of a pull quote. This makes the page look fuller and as if there is a lot more than there really is.

Contents page

I had made a few drafts of how I would like to have my contents page, unfortunately the first of the contents pages was printed but was oversaved with the newer version that I had created.
The previous colour of the contents was a light green as it could suit the front cover very well, this front cover being the first attempt. I did not make very much progress with this contents and it was a good thing as during the making of it I changed the front cover to what it is now.

Following the colour scheme I can see from the front colour the main colours I decided to use on the contents were purple and also this grey/ blue you see. I took the picture of the 'Kettle Chips' for the advert, the colour from this is the grey/ blue and so I decided to use the pipette tool, take that colour and use it as the background for the other side of the contents.

I decided to use 'Kettle Chips' because I know these appeal to a very wide audience from all age ranges and so it appeals to many people.

I have added pictures which are of a club scene, this continues the music vibe that you get from looking through the features and festivals which are provided. The pictures can influence people to go out and enjoy music with their friends aswell as adding more to look at on the page.

The '+ Regulars' idea can to me when I was doing my magazine research. I had come across this style and it was used in quite a few different magazines I had seen. It gave me a chance to add in some purple onto the page aswell as making it look more professional.

Front cover

After doing all that I had to on 'piknik' I saved the image and loaded it up on Adobe Photoshop. From here on I needed to add more text onto it in order to make it into looking like a magazine and not like a poster.
Firstly I just added the text which was the price in the top left corner, then the date and issue number in the top right corner.

This was when I began to think up what I would call my band name. An image I use further on in my magazine is what inspired my to choose 'spoon'. The reasons for it are all mentioned in the band interview on the DPS.

Other text like '100 Greatest Gigs Ever' and 'Festivals you should NOT miss this year!' were all thought up previously and so all I needed to do was add them onto this page. In the beginning all the font was black, although you could read what it all said it was not as clear as it could be. I changed the font white and give it a slight black outline, this makes it very easy to read, even from a distance.
The barcode was the easiest part to do, all you needed to do was search for a barcode on google. Many where quite large or just example barcodes which did not even have numbers on them. To give it a more professional look I had found one which had numbers on it and looked very realistic.

Magazine name

I had already decided what picture I was going to be using for my magazine, so the next step would be to choose the name for my magazine. I had already had ideas about what it could be called and I went for something that was origional and also very different. The name did not necessarily have to relate to the fact that this would be a music magazine but I feel the whole point of the name would be something that is memorable, easy to say and also something a bit different.

I decided to choose 'elektric'. Firstly you will notice that is is the word 'electric' just spelt purposely spelt incorrectly. Doing this does not only make it stand out and be different but it also adds a sense of origionality.
Following the purple theme I chose a text and made that a purple colour, not exactly the same bit a deeper purple to make this stand out more.
I created the text on a website called 'piknik'. I uploaded the image I was going to use onto this website and then you can add fonts, symbols and small images. There are a wide variety of font styles to choose from. I went through every single one of them to see which I thought would suit it best and the outcome is what you see on the front cover.

Decisions for front cover image

My front cover took a few attempts to achieve what I thought would look the best for my magazine. The first image I decided I might choose was of two of the band members, my reasons for me choosing this picture is because the image itself is very eye-catching. Also the colours are very neutral and therefore would be very easy to match up with. In the end I had decided this would not be the best picture to use, when printed out the colours did not look so clean and bright and the picture itself was not as clear as I would have liked it. Good points about this picture though is the way there is a gap between the two people and the space at the top, they are perfect for the magazine name and tagline along with writing some bits that can be included in the magazine.

The next picture I decided to use is of just one of the band members, the image is very clear and looks quite professional. Being of a new young band, the way the person is looking is quite casual and laid back like they would be. The colours are good and easy to match up with as the only bright main colour is the purple on his T-Shirt. This is the final choice of picture and because of the colours the main theme of my magazine would be purple, so when you see the outcome of the magazine you will notice the amount of purple in it.

The space at the top is perfect to have the band name and I can use the right hand side to have stories about but I will be including in the magazine. In all this image makes the magazine very eye-catching and so people might be wondering who it is and what it is all about.