Contents page peer assessment

I asked my peers to look at my contents page and give me their opinions on it. I received various compliments such as 'I like the explanations of articles' and ' Like the colour scheme and house style'. However i did also receive some constructive crisis such as 'Page number on contents page?', therefore i will look at the page number and see what i can do to improve it.

Current Edition of Magazine

Front Cover

This is my final design of my front cover. I have made various changes from my initial draft such as changing the font within the masthead as I found that the previous font was too thin an did not succeed in standing out amongst the page to the target audience. I also changed other fonts on the page. such as the sub headings, making them bolder to stand out amongst the tag lines and various other text on the page. I used two separate fonts for the tag line and pull quote which support the main article heading as i believe this makes the cover more entertaining for the audience and gives the cover something different to look at than just a simple plain font. I also gave the artists names there brand logo as I believe this will make the article represented more recognisable and appealing to the audience.

I did further editing with the main image as I believed the edges were too sharp from where I had edited out the background and there were still small patches of the background showing. To solve this problem I decided to redo the background editing making sure I did not miss any out when erasing and using a smoother brush tool when erasing nearer to the subject.

Contents Page

This is the final draft I have created of my contents page. I only had to make minor changes from my first draft to this design as I believe the layout and all of the conventions were done fairly well and looked professional enough to appeal to the target audience. I did however add a page number, issue number and date as I believe this pulls the page together and fills any unwanted excess space without making the page look too cluttered.

I did however also edit the main image some more as I found that when I erased the background I had missed some patches just like the main image on the cover. Therefore I carried out the same method when erasing these patches and then smoothing out the edges on the subject.

Double Page Spread

This is the final draft of my double page spread. I made various changes to the design throughout different drafts by experimenting with the conventions on the page. I changed the look of the headline and tagline trying out a range of fonts and colours until I was satisfied with the light on dark method and a more basic, bolder font as I believe this would allow this specific text to stand out on the page and allow the audience to instantly see what the article is going to be about.

I also changed the location of the album promotion poster and the links to the magazines social media sites as when experimenting I found that they looked better in these new locations and would make it easier for the reader to be able to navigate around the pages. I had to reword the text about the social media sites as the initial wording of the text left a lot of excess space which would be inappropriate and make the pages look unprofessional.

I found that I had made a vary of grammatical and spelling errors within the body text of the interview when reading over my text and getting a peer to proof read what I had written.

Photos used

These are all of the photos I used within my magazine. I did not use many as i believe the photos I chose were very powerful and can still fulfil their purpose efficiently.

Cover

This is the main image i used on the magazine front cover as i believe this is an appropriate image for the front cover.The image is of a good quality and gives the artist a good representation with her feminine pose and pouted lips.I think this image will appeal to the target audience as it denotes a pretty young female which will relate to the target audience and is someone they can compare themselves to. However this image will also appeal to the secondary audience of males since the subject is pretty and young with red lips connoting sexuality and danger. I have also chose an image where the subject had eye contact with the camera lens, this makes the image a more effective main image for the front cover as with the subject looking to the camera lens it allows them to make eye contact with the audience and connect with them, therefore engaging them into the image and the magazine.

Contents Page

This is the main image i used on the contents page, I chose to use a large main image on the page as I believe this will be more effective than various sub images as this will make a more dramatic effect on the page and in effect the audience, i also believe as since this image is fairly overpowering and overall a dominant image, it will do a better job at attracting people to the page. This image gives the artist a good representation with the use of the prop (bubbles). There is also the fact that since his image denotes a young, pretty, blonde female it will appeal to a wider audience than just the primary audience, this will also attract males as a secondary audience making the image more successful with its purpose. I chose to edit out the background of this image as this would allow the image to fit in better with the page and show the background well and effectively, this also allowed me to use text wrap to surround the image with text and make the page flow better.

I used this image of the artist Nicole Scherzinger which i took at a onset, on the contents page as a sub image to back up the text on the competition. I chose to use this image as it is of a good quality and the subject is a well known artist who the primary audience will recognise, this will engage them into the image and into the text the image is supporting. I chose this specific artist as she will appeal t a wider audience, to my secondary as well as my primary audience as she is popular with both male and females, meaning more people will be interested and more people will want to enter the competition.   This is an original image which i took at a concert called 'The Summertime Ball' this keeps my images consistently unique and specific to my magazine. I chose this specific image out of the variety i took as i believe this image gives the artist a good representation as she is stereotypically doing her job, in mid song with her body language showing that she is enjoying herself whilst doing so. I decided to rotate the image to make the subject face the text, i believe this would be effective as this connotes that the artist is also looking and reading the text.

Double page spread

This is the main image i used on my double page spread. I chose this image as it is of a good quality and i believe it is a very dominant image and connotes that the subject is very confident and in control. I also believe that since the subject is looking directly into the camera lens the image will me more successful at attracting the audience to the page as this will create eye contact with the audience, enticing them into the image and the article the image corresponds to. As this image is a mid shot it also focus a lot on the artists clothing which has been specifically chosen to represent her music and personality. I edited this image to make it black and white as in my opinion it  relates a contrast with the contents page and front cover also making it more attractive for the audience as the magazine now has diversity, this also allows the image to fit in with the house style of the page.

I also chose to add a sub image to the page of the artists new album, which i included within the album poster. I added this feature to the page as i believe it will make the article look more professional yet still original. I included an image of the album (which i created in photoshop using my personal images but still considering the house style of the page) as this will back up the text and information within the article by giving the audience a physical visual of what is being talked about. This image was he first thing i created on the page as this helped me to develop the house style which was going to be followed to compliment the artist and her style of music.

Creating my contents page

To create my contents page i firstly chose the initial layout for the page by creating a flat plan. This flat plan will help me arrange the various features on the page to fit a professional looking style. I did however change my initial flat plan as i thought it could be improved and made more effective.

Initial flat plan                                                                      Final flat plan

I then chose a colour scheme to feature within the house style of the page that i believe will suit the target audience and compliment the magazine genre. I mainly chose to use the colour pink, featuring different shades from light to dark pink as this colour was also used  lot on the front cover therefore this will link the two pages together.

I began constructing the page by creating the title 'Contents'. I decided to make the text black and in a basic styled font called 'Avenir Book' as this will allow the title to stand out at the top of the page, making it easy to read and understand what page the audience is on. I also used other methods of allowing the title to stand out such as choosing to make the text black and setting the font size at 96 pt. Making the text both bold and large making an impression on the page and he audience.

I featured the logo in the top left corner of the page to give the age a professional look and feel. I created this logo using photoshop where i simply created a square block of pink for the background and added text on top of the companies name TUNE setting the text in capitals and choosing a bold black font to allow it to stand out on top of the splash of pink in the background, using the method dark on light to ensure that the text stands out.

Next I added my main image which has already been edited in the Adobe Photoshop, to the page as this will allow me to see how much space i have spare for the body text. I made the image very large on the page as with a young target audience the images will be the main convention which attracts them to the magazine and the various pages in it, this also allows there o be more colour to be shown on the page which will also appeal yo the audience. I chose this specific image as I believe it gives the artist a good representation linking to her music style and her personality with her pose, it is also a good quality image and works well with the flat plan and allotted space on the page. I also believe this image connotes fun and happiness with the use of the prop being bubbles. It denotes a young, pretty, blonde female which will appeal to a wider audience of both the target audience, females, however it will also appeal to males meaning it more successful at fulfilling its purpose of attracting people to the page and therefore to the magazine article it is representing. 

Next I created the body text to fill in the space beside the main image. I used the font style 'Aviner Book' for the page numbers, article headlines and tag lines as this will allow the body text to link with the title and pull the page together. I did however change the font for the section titles to 'Calibri' as I thought this font allowed the text to be bolder and stand out as sectioning of the different categories. I chose to make the text different sizes to connote their importance, for example i made the article headings larger than the tag lines as the tag line is only used to back up the article heading and give the audience a further idea of what the article is going to be about. There is also the fact that by changing the font sizes it will make the contents easier too use and therefore make it easier for the audience to navigate around the magazine. I also chose to change the colour of certain text within the tag lines, choosing only the most important words to represent what the article is about, this is useful and will appeal to the audience as since only the most important words are standing out this means there is less that audience has to read, with such a young target audience this will be helpful as not all of them may be highly educated. This fact is also represented in the language used as there is no complexed language used, only simple and basic terms making the page readable and understandable for a wider audience range. The colour is also different on the page numbers as it would have looked too bland if the only colour featured was black and would not have appealed to the audience.

I also set the text in 'Text Wrap' so that the text wrapped around the main image, this allowed me the create a larger space for the main image and still fit in an appropriate amount of room for the text. I also believe this makes the page look more professional and conventional with the use of space. I used slim bars of pink to separate the section titles from the different categories, as this allows the page t be used easier with clear sections but still look professional and fit with the house style of the page. These bars as well as the the text, wrap around the main image to connote its importance and the articles importance which it is representing.

I then created a competition banner which will get the audience involved more within the magazine and with their favourite artists. I used different conventions within this banner to allow it to stand out on the page and appeal to the target audience. For instance i chose a bright bold background colour (yellow) which will stand out and clash with the various other shades of pink on the page. I used a different font style for the title of the banner 'Competition' called 'Brush Script MT Italic' as this will make the banner more attractive and fun for the target audience to look at. I then hanged the font back to a basic font for the main text of the banner using 'Calibri' as his will allow the reader to read the information given with ease and e able to follow the instructions on ho to enter the competition. 

I used another original image for the sub image as this will ensure that my magazine is consistantly original. I chose this image as it was appropriate to the text and to the compotition as it is an image of the artist spoken about, it is also of a good quality therefore is a professional looking image and will be an asset to the page. I found that this artist was a good choice to use as she is a young, pretty, well known artist within the industry who will appeal to the audience and make them want to enter the compotition. I flipped the image so that the subject was facing the text as i believe it would make the immage more effecive and donote that the artist is looking at the information.

After looking at my contents page i realised it still looked a bit bare even after adding all of the appropriate features, therefore i decided to add a background. I chose the baackground to be of a blank pink wall with a little shading on as this will fit in with my house style and compliment the page well. I found the image on Google Images then cropped and rotated the image so that the shading suited my main image. After doing this i believe it was a success and looked very effective on my contents page. It made the page look fuller and more complete which will connote that the audience are getting there moneys worth by buying the magazine.

I finished off the contents page by adding in and crutial features that i had missed out. For instance i foing that i forgot to add a page number, therefore i inserted one using a the same font as the various other page numbers, i also saw that there was a blank space above the title, therefore i chose to add the date and the issue number, also above that i chose to feature the website URL as this could include the audience more within the magazine.

This is the final draft of my contents page after i had arranged all of the various conventions and solved any problems that occured whilst creating it. 

Evaluation of double page spread drafts

Overall I have produces three drafts of my double page spread, I am now going to analyse the problems that occurred whilst creating them, and how I solved them:

First draft

This is the first draft I created of my double page spread. After carrying out a peer assessment and a lecturer assessment I found that there was a lot of spare space around the mast head, which prevented it from standing out to the audience and around the main image which would make the audience think that they aren't getting enough for their money. Although the spread looks tidy, this blank space also made the spread look bare and unprofessional.

 

However I do like the layout of the page and the main image and I found using my assessment results that my audience like this also, therefore I will eep these aspects in the next draft I do.

 

Second draft

After considering the comments I was given by my peers and lecturers, I found which features of the spread I need to improve in order to look more professional and be more appealing to the audience. This is the second draft I created showing a change in the wording of the masthead to allow the text to fit comfortably within the allotted space available and remove any excess white space around the text, displaying how my the constructive criticism influenced me into improving my work. I also made the font in the heading bolder as this will help it stand out more on the page against the large main image and therefore catch the eye of the audience. I changed the layout of the masthead from three lines, using a single line for the artists name and two for the pull quote, to two lines which effectively solves the problem of the blank space and also left more room for the article.

 

As there was now more room for article it left me extra space at the end. After consideration and a lot of experimenting of what I could do to fill this space, I found a good solution. I found that the album poster from the right page fit well within the end of the article and linked in well with the last question, therefore this would be an appropriate and effective place to locate this feature. I then moved the links to the magazines web page and social media sites to the previous location of the album cover as I believe this is an important feature of the spread which I could not afford to loose as it allows the audience to feel more connected with the magazine and with the artist. I believe this was a good change to make as when the album poster was on top of the main image it could have been seen as too much with such a bold main image, plus with such a cluster of information in one place it made the space next to the poster look bare which was another problem solved as the links are not as clustered and overpowering. The gap beside the social network logos was also removed by doing this as the new layout allowed them to lay neatly accompanying the text.



 

Third draft

After experimenting with the pages I found that by changing the colour of the masthead and tag line, the bolder colours made them stand out more amongst the calm black and white house style. By using this splash of clashing colours within the headline and tagline the audience will be drawn to them and therefore given a fast insight into what the article is about with the use of persuasive language, enticing them into reading the article.

Making my double page spread

To create my double page spread I firstly had to chose what the page was going to include and initially look like. I did this by using my research to come up with ideas and display them on a flat plan which shows my first ideas of they page layout. I also chose what the house style of the page is going to be, choosing the colour scheme to be black, white and red.


When I began to create my actual double page spread I split the page into two, to form the initial layout of the pages. I then chose and appropriate image in my selection of images taken to edit band then added the edited main image as this formed the background of the left page. 

I chose this image as i believe the pose of the subject and angle of the image gives the artist the representation of confidence, connoting power and control over her life and career. I edited this image using the program Adobe Photoshop as this is an was use software that once edited gives the images a professional, smooth look. I changed the colour of the image to black and white as this fits in with the house style of the page.



I then created the 'Exclusive' banner which is located in the top left hand corner of the page overlapping the main image. I included this feature as i believe it will connote that the audience is getting something within this page that wont be in any other magazine, therefor making the magazine original. By doing this it also took up more spare space on the page making the audience feel as if thy are getting more for their money

I then created an album poster using Photoshop as this will promote the artists music and album plus it will also be an original feature for the magazine. To create this i firstly created the album cover using an image of a blank album from Google to use as the background, then used one of the images I took to over lap and look like a conventional album you would find on the marked. I then added the text to the image, using two different font styles that work well together, to make it more entertaining to the audience. I chose to use little text on the actual album as with just the two main words being featured on the album overlapping the bold image helps the album stand out to the audience. The text is set in red as this will make it stand out and be easy to read on top of the black and white image. This also allows it to fit in with the house style of the page. 
I then created the poster, firstly choosing out they layout which would fit best with the page. Then I choose a font style which i believed complimented the text on the image well. Once i chose an appropriate font I laid it out so that the main words are largest allowing them to stand out to the audience but also so that it fits in a portrait strip well. I also considered where the album image was going to be located on the poster as it is the main feature of the poser which will draw the audience in plus the fact that it is the item being promoted.
I believe this feature works well on the page and is it looks professional and gives the page an essence of originality which is a good feature to have.

I then started on the right page by creating the heading 'KAI: My life has spun out of control'. I chose to use this as my heading as i believe it is a strong pull quote which will make the audience question what has happened to her to make her like 'spin out of control' enticing them to reading the full interview. I decided to make the text white with a dark red background as i believe this will help it stand out on the page with the bold splash of colour agains the various other grey and white.

I then created a tag line to go below the headline as i believe this will give the page more detail and audience will get a further insight into what the interview is going to be about. I chose to create the tagline using the method light on dark as this has been proved to catch the audiences attention. Using the colours black and white will also allow this feature to compliment the house style of the page.

I then created the body text of the page, containing the actual interview. I used various features to make the article easy to read, features such as; choosing to make the text red and black, using red for the questions and black for the answers as this will make it easier for the audience to understand and navigate round the page noticing the difference between where the questions end and answers start, I also used a basic font within the choice of Microsoft Publisher called 'Calibri' as this font contains no curls or swirls on the end of letters and is a comic sans based font, I used basic language as this will appeal more to a less educational audience which as my target audience are females aged between 12-21 the lower aged individuals would benefit from this. I began the interview with an introduction on who the artist is and what she is famous for, this will appeal to the audience if they are not sure who the subject is. I also believe it is a good aspect to have as it also introduces the article and what it is going to be about and gives the interview a professional look. 
I included a pill quote within the body text choosing wisely what quote from the interview to use. I chose the line 'I had to drop out of college' as in my opinion it is an intriguing quote which will make the reader curious at why she had to drop out of college and persuade them into reading the full interview.
At the end of the interview I added my name as i found by doing my research that a lot of existing music magazines include the writers name to give them credit for writing the article. By including this in my double page spread it makes the article look more formal and professional looking.

The final feature of the page i created was a section at the bottom left side of the spread, overlapping the main image dedicated to the magazines web site and social network links. This is an effective feature to add to the page as it gives the magazine more diversity on how the audience can access the information. This also makes the magazine more convenient for the audience as it can be accessed fro places other than the paper back copy bought from a newsagents. This means the magazine is more accessible making it more popular with the market. This will also involve the audience more within the magazines company and artists as there will be further information featured on these sites.

This is the final draft of my double page spread after making all of the various changes and piecing all of the features together.