Progress and Ideas

Having done all my research and clearly found who my target audience are i am now able to think of ideas which will suit my magazine and help entertain and the audience who are in to this genre of music and style. To make my magazine different from the rest i am going to mix music with the whole image, so i will also lean towards reviews on fashion and the image of the genre of music. This all fits in with the title of my magazine because the whole image could be said to be very "Vintage" as the fashion at the moment is very retro and vintage so i think it all fits in well and will give my magazine a unique selling point. Also to add to the whole vintage image i have found due to my research that my audience believe if i use a black and white theme then it will create the more vintage look which will deffinately help create the effect i want to, - a very retro vintage, black and white images -

I have done several sketches of a basic idea of what my front cover and my article is going to look like. i want it to be vintage with a black and white theme. To replicate this olden look and i dont want it to be modernised. Therefore i am going to aim to go for a minimulistic look, however at this moment in time i am not fully sure if it will work so i will have to make my final decision when it comes down to editing my magazine. in addition by keeping it simple i aim to make it effective, with most music magazines in the market being vibrant and stand out i would like mine to be differnet from the rest so i believe making it simple would do this because all the others seem to be very similar and i am attempting to make something different for the market.

Planning Mood Board and existing pages from the NME music magazine.

I have done a mood board as part of my planning to get images and colors and fonts which i really like that i can use them to help with my own designs. Hopefully i can take inspiration. I have chosen one of the fonts i used on my mood board, this is because i think it will go well with the theme that i am using. And will link in with the whole vintage image.









It is clear that the title is bold and iconic so that people can relate to the font when they see it on the magazine. they instantly know that it is the NME trademark title. The title is broken up with a heading bar at the top which is darker than the title so that there is a contrast and that both stand out but yet they compliment each other. the header bar breaks up the page which also helps provide information and other news in the magazine so the reader wants to read on and buy the magazine at first site. the
The main image is bold and expressive it conveys the main and exclusive article as powerfull, which i will want to also attempt to replicate. The use of differernt colours with the fonts is effective, they all compliment each other and add more fun to the magazine front cover making it lively. the barcode is small and vertical so that it enables more space on the page and makes other things stand out which i may attempt to do on my page. Also the use of a bold coloured circle indicates and conveys what else is on offer, makes these things stand out.i also like the use of smaller images which are linked to other articles in the magazine it adds more informtation for the reader.

Here in this contents page the NME logo is the same iconic logo which is found on the front cover. it adds identity and meaning. it also is a trademark for the compant nme. however it is smaller than it is on the front cover as it doesnt need to be as big or stand out as much. instead of using the words contents it says "this week" i think it is more of a unique way of showing what is in the magazine. it is also made to stand out with the black background and white bold clear font. it is effective because it stands out and is clear for the reader. i like that there is a main image of what i believe to be one of the main articles in edition. it makes it stand out. also everything else seems to work around it. there is a small paragraph based on the main picture and then there are subtitles at the side which split in to certain genres. which i am probably going to use on mine to break it up abit. i also like the subsciption box at the bottom it uses unused space making the page look more full and like more is going on. so i am going to either do the same or have an editors choice sort of thing.an editors note. there is a recurring theme throughout the magazine. which i would like to apply with mine. so that it adds character and gives my magazin a trademark theme sort of thing.

the title instantly illustrates who it is based on, so that the reader instantly knows what it is about. therefore i will want to inform my readers straight away. the article here is traditionally in columns. which i will most deffinately use. i like at the start of the paragraph how they typically make the letter of the first word much bigger and bolder. i will use this as it adds more emphasis on the start of the paragraph. a quote is also used from the interview, i will do the same to add more information. and it makes it more fun and creative and less boring because it shows importance to the interview. instead of over loading the text on this article they have clearly used a full page for an important image. i aint to fond of this as i would rather use more text and have smaller but more images so that there is alot more information for the reader so that it is really exclusive.

Questionairre results

Having created my questionnaire i went out and asked 10 students. I asked them a variety of questions aiming to get several responses. I used them to help decide on the title of my magazine. i gave them the choices of :
The Vint
Ooo so Retro
Vintage
Acoustic Now

When i got my results i found that 7 out of the 10 asked thought Vintage was the best name for my magazine so as a result of this, i am going to use Vintage as my magazine title.

I also asked them based up on the title of magazine they chose, what color schemes would they prefer.

Black and white
Dull blues and Greens
Vibrant blues and reds
fluorescent bright colors

My results showed that half of the people asked preferred it to be Black and shit, were as 4 thought it should be Fluorescent bright colors. however seeing as there were more for black and white i have decided to go with this idea because i think it will be very effective and fitting to go with the vintage image.

The questionnaire has also helped me to define my target audience. I did this by asking them a number of questions such as What music would you be more interested in ? the majority of the answers was Indie bands followed by Acoustic music. Which helped me have a clearer picture of my target audience. i Also asked them if they would be more interested if the magazine had fashion tips and pointers on the latest styles from music artists. 8 out of the ten i asked replied yes they would therefore i think it is a good idea for me to have the whole image going on.

My questionnaire has been very successful as it has helped me fully understand my target audience and, it has given me good ideas for the design of my magazine. :)

23.3.09

James, neeed to see evidence of your planning and research! It's still a little lacking here! By now you should be working on your own page layout and design and should have taken all your phtos. If you have then make sure you record it on here. If not, get going on this. Only 4 weeks left!
Mrs Abell

Prelim Taskhttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/_AC95Rcg-tUA/Sb91NNro_UI/AAAAAAAACEg/ZhbCuAaD2ZY/s320/prelim.jpg

After doing my Preliminary task i have sort of become more familiar with how to use certain photo editing programmes which will be vital for when i come to create my final piece. I have also realised that my images i took weren't very good as they were pixelated and blurry which i will have to change when it comes to my real project. If i was to do it again i would definitely take several new pictures which are more exciting and a lot clearer. From the task i have learnt how to use many programmes on the computer and i have also learnt skills on these programmes which will be vitally needed to help me create a better cover.  

Having uploaded my contents page i have noticed that it is looking rather boring. and that it doesn't look effective at all. I know however when it comes to actually creating my real contents i will have to make it look more professional and a lot more effective. 

Feedback 16.3.09

Callum,
This is week 4 of this project and according to your blog you've done very little! All your research should be complete as should your prelim task (it needs uploading and evaluating). You should be planning your own project now but you have a lot to do to catch up on! Not acceptable Callum.
Mrs Abell

Questionnaire

To help my research i am going to conduct a Questionnaire to help me ensure that the audience i am aiming for is infact my real target audience. I will do this by creating a questionnaire of around ten questions based up what they would like to see in my magazine and the style they would like to see. 

Target Audience Profile

Age - 15-24

Sex - Male and Female but mainly focussing on Male 

Occupation - Mainly students who are leaving college and school and going on to higher education and stuff. 

Interests- Music, going to gigs, the latest fashion and trends , alcohol and parties, using the internet and certain social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook. So they can listen to tracks for free and find out new information on the bands they like most.

Music- mainly in to indie/acoustic which they like reading about and listening to the latest tracks etc. 

Artists- bands who specialise in the genre of indie and acoustic artists. 

T.v - Enjoy watching music channels such as NME channel, so they know the latest music.