I have made major changes to my front cover considering the audience feedback. Its starting to form a music magazine. There is still a lot of changes and important things to add on.

22/11/2012
The begining stages of my music magazine. I have made little progress but I need to put in alot of hard work.

Task 5 Magazine and Newsstand task

I went into my local newspaper agency and took a picture of the magazine stand. There were many magazines displayed which were layout in a certain way. There were roles of magazines which were set up in order of genre of the magazine. The stands made the so that the magazines are placed in rows which is stacked behind each other. The types of magazines are placed in date of the newest in the front and the oldest in the back, the same type of magazine is in the same row. Each magazine covers two thirds of the one behind it leaving one third of the left hand side exposed. The part exposed is the mast head on the top left hand side of the magazine. Shop keepers do this to advertise the brand which is the first thing customers see and look for. Normally on this side of the page the main headline and featured article is shown.

 

There are many different ways in which magazine companies distribute their magazine products. A magazine distribute method is direct distribution. This means the magazine product goes directly to a potential customer. The distribution is usually given out to the public on the street mainly in busy places, this is so the magazine producers know the their product is not dependent on the public going to buy it but on they to sell it directly to the pubic which ensures them that it is going right into the hands of a customer. This form of distribution is usually free. The sales people also distribute their magazines on the bus by placing them in a noticeable place so the public may pick the magazine up. Companies who use direct distribution do not gain a profit by selling their magazines because it is free but depend on the cost of advertisers putting advertisements in their magazine.

Another way of distribution is newsstands. Newsstands are also like direct distribution because they sell their magazines to the public directly but the companies depend on the customers as well as advertisers for their profit.  These magazines are not free but pay on the spot system. Newsstands also target their audience by selling their products in busy areas like tube station. This type of sale is expensive because it takes money to transport the magazines to the stands. This type of distribution also has a lot of waste because if not all of the magazines are sold it is returned to the retailer and often is thrown away because it is out of date.

Another method of distribution is online. The internet has a wide range of opportunities for to sell their magazines. There are many websites where magazines can be downloaded straight to your pc or laptop. So magazines will cost and some will be free depending on the type. Online is a good way to distribute their magazine because the can advertise it on their main sites or on other sites. On the other hand it is not guaranteed that their magazine is sold.

Another form of distribution is house distribution. This means the magazine is directly going to the customer’s house through the post. This is a good way because the public has to see the magazine so it cannot be ignored. This form of distribution also is expensive because it is free. Linking online distribution to house distribution is another form of distribution. The public could subscribe to magazines online which will be later sent back to the customer’s home or workplace. This is a good form of distribution because the magazine company could get feedback on how much magazines have been sold.

Media technology is another way in which magazines are distributed. On smartphones, tablets and e books magazines are purchased from these devices. Companies make access for portable devices to download their magazines straight to their device using apps. I think this a good technique because more and more of the public are using portable device and it has become common to download. Magazines are creating social networking sites to advertise their magazine; they set up pages on Facebook, twitter and their social networking sites to advertise their magazines. It works because there has been a rising population of the public joining these accounts so the magazines may be recognised more. It is also cheaper for the companies. On the other hand is more expensive for magazine companies to advertise their magazines on TV and radio. This type of advertisement is for more popular and richer magazine companies because it is expensive. 

Task 4 Evaluation- pre lim task front cover and contents page

In this preliminary task I had to design a college magazine cover and contents page. To prepare for this task I had to look at examples of college magazines from other people’s blog. I also had to think of and plan out the layout of my contents page and front cover. I took pictures for my front cover and contents page. After all this preparation for magazine was done all was left was to create the magazine on Photoshop and InDesign.

During my research I looked at many other examples which were very useful and I came to conclude that bright colours are better to use because it will attract more readers. It was difficult to choose what my featured article will be because I had so many ideas and had to choose which one will stand out more. I eventually used sports as my featured article and had the picture on my front cover and contents page. For my front cover I used Photoshop which I found was very easy but for my contents page I used In Design which I found hard. The format of contents page was a double page spread. The image was a long shot which covered both pages and content was on both pages. The front cover had one image of a medium close-up of the student. This is so that there was not too much going on in the background because to image was covering up most of it. 

There were some feedback which other student commented on in the positives and negatives. A comment was “the image is very clear and shows the conventions of a magazine as it is an MCU. The colour scheme was red orange and white; I chose this because it gives a really bright mood to the magazine. I think that the colour scheme goes really well with the blue background and the font used is very clear and easy to read. I also like the way that you have included a QR code on your front cover which appeals to the audience, as college students are likely to have smart phones and therefore be able to scan the QR code. I also really like the masthead. The style is funky and I really like the glow around the text.”  There were cover lines on my front cover which was very clear to read and my mast head was complemented the image and theme. The cover lines had to be interesting to catch the reader’s attention.

 Sport ‘we came, we conquered’ an exclusive in look into the sporting success at LSC. 

 ART ‘get creative’ Art students show off the skill in the art showdown.

Music and Performance Will talent rise in the upcoming performances?

Enrichment Your chance to get involved.

+

Winner of last month’s raffle revealed.

LSC guide booklet inside.

Featured photographs see if you are in this month.

These cover lines main purpose is to appeal to the reader.

On the other hand there were a few negatives which were: “the cover lines do not start with capital letters and this makes it look slightly unprofessional. Also, certain words on the cover lines go over two lines and this makes it less effortless to read. Finally, the date line is slightly ambiguous. Because it says "Volume 26 September", it is not clear whether this is just a volume that was released on the 26th September or the 26th volume that was also the September issue of the magazine.” These comments mean I have to pay attention to detail because I may miss out key points.

Overall my magazine cover page was fairly good which I am proud of. There was a lot of positives and negative to the cover which could be improved on and comments which have been pointed out which was very useful. The techniques that I used on Photoshop and InDesign were text boxes, text styles and transparency of text boxes.   

Working on the contents page was quite a struggle, I think I needed more time to work on it.  I made it a double-page contents page, as a lot of magazines do have contents pages that go over one page and even have a double-page contents page like this one. Comment: “I like that the background image goes with the main image on the front cover, and how there are other images relevant to the articles that they are with.” The background was the same theme as the front cover which clearly gave hints that it was one of the main articles.

Comment: “the orange writing is difficult to read against the background, and the fact that each article description is in a different colour breaks the colour scheme. Also, in the article description of the sports page, the word 'success' splits in the middle; half of it is one size, and the rest of it is bigger, which carries on for the other letters. Finally, the fact that the title for the contents page is on the right doesn't seem quite conventional, as most magazines would have the title on the right on a double-page contents page.” I total agree with this comment because the contents page seems a bit rushed and was not up to the standard of the font cover. I did not consider the original colour scheme which I should have this may be because I was struggling to fade the background image and trying not to let the text blend into the background.

Overall there is much room for improvement but I did include all the relevant information that was needed from a contents page.

Completed flat plan for my magazine UCA!!!!

 

Question for my DPS

Who is Mission?

Mission is a new found duo music group which consist of 2 cousins Solomon West and Daniel West.

Questions

1.       What inspires you to make your music? Our inspiration is our life experiences. Each one of us has had experienced a thing or two about life event if it is major or minor. It is what helps up grow and make our decisions.

2.       Where do you see yourself in few years? We want to be at the top recognised for our good music. Also we want to bring a new style of music to the industry and make lot of calibrations with other well know artist.

3.       What do you think of upcoming artist such as yourself trying to make it into the music business? I think it is good because it gives us youth a chance to show our talent and to show that this generation is not known for a bad trait.

4.       How did your friends and family support you? When they first heard us together they were fully behind us Daniels dad even rented us a studio for our first track. 

5.       What has been your best and worst part of your careers so far? I think our best part was when we got to perform at the “dats a wrap show” performing our first single mission. I don’t think we have any of the worst yet.

6.       What advices to you have to give to other upcoming artist? Keep pushing for the win and don’t let anybody say you can’t make it.

This month’s issue is a must see, an inclusive in look into ‘Mission’ a music group who I am really proud to feature in my magazine. ‘Eazy artist’ and ‘Showa Sho’ really show why they are on top of the game. As usual we have the latest news on the US and Uk charts with SB.TV exclusive news. Hope you enjoy this issue.

Editor signed: Solomon West     

My presentation
From this pitch I will consider the audience feed back in my magazine.
Audience feed back
From my proposal I have considered that I need to change my mast head.
I also need to consider my colour scheme and what it represent in the magazine.

Proposal – I have thought of and proposed ideas which my music magazine is going to be.

Title U.C.A UP COMING ARTIST

The genre of my magazine is going to be hip pop, grime and RnB. I choose this because I think this genre has one of the largest amounts of views who purchase this type of magazine. In my magazine I will cover two types of genre which is hip pop and RnB; this is good because my magazine will have more detail and more articles to write about.

The type of content will be mainly about the music’s chart and the lives of the music artist. I will have information on the music charts and award ceremonies. There will also be advertisements of famous mix tapes and albums along with retail advertisements.  I will also be including famous artist and upcoming artist. These features are what make my magazine different from what’s already out there because it not only has famous people but upcoming artist people.

The target audience will be for teenagers and upcoming artist. It is also for music producers them to read about talent and see who they want to sign. The magazine industry will be aimed at are live performances, record labelling and creative arts.   

I have chosen different mast heads which could be implementing in my magazine. The best mast head has to match the genre and the style of my magazine.

I thought about the colour schemes for my magazine which will suite the masthead and the background.

UCA presentation for proposed magazine

http://www.slideshare.net/solo129bbs/uca-persenation

This is the presentation for my creative music magazine

Audience feedback:
The idea of linking your magazine with youtube is good.
Try to make your mast head a different colour which goes which your colour scheme
I like the topic that you choses which was up-coming artist it will attract more readers from a wider age range