Research - Designing my magazine pages

For my magazine pages, I am hoping to use the main colours red, black and white. After I chose these colours, I did some research to find out if this was a good choice. I found out that the colour red is:

• A warm positive colour that draws attention and calls for action to be taken.
• Red has high energy and reflects many feelings such as passion, energy and excitement, an ideal colour for my target audience of which are a younger generation.
• Red is a colour that is suitable for both genders, it is associated with feminine energy but also represents masculine energy which is perfect for my magazine covers as the target audience is 50% male and 50% female.
• Red compliments white and black as it is both bold and powerful giving off many emotions which you can manipulate to suit the mood you are going for when writing for the magazine.

Since discovering this, I decided to stick with the colours I chose because I felt it was a good way to attract my target audience which I think will work well with the magazine I want to create. I also looked into magazines such as NME, VOGUE and Q magazine and I saw that these magazines include the colour red too.

From research, I also found out that I should target a specific niche audience instead of trying to please everyone. I should keep on top of what my target audience are interested in at the time. I know my target audience are going to be from the ages of 14-25 and they're going to be technophiles who are enthusiastic about music and love attending concerts. From this, I can aim to target my magazine at them through capturing everything that's popular amoungst that age group at the time. I can do this through social media. I could find out what they are liking online and try and talk about it in my magazine or perhaps have a what's popular online section.

Every year, there are hundreds of new magazines being launched and approximately 3/4 of them fail and end up closing. Learning from this, I wanted to find out what makes a successful magazine so I can make my magazine pages with certain information in mind to help me end certain problems I may face when making them. I learnt that in order to attract my target audience, I must use an informal writing style with a certain humerous tone to appeal to both the older end of my age scale and the younger too. I don't want them to feel like they are reading like it is a chore, and I found out to use an informal writing style, it will help relax the reader, making them want to pick the magazine up to entertain and both inform the reader in what they're passionate about, POP music. Lastly, using a certain design and style for my magazine will attract the type of music lovers I want. Reflecting stylish and current clothing in the mise-en-scene of my front cover or subsidiary images will help attract the fashion loving readers and the use of props is always helpful when highlighting what the magazine is about.

I intend on taking all the information I have learnt to use in my final task to produce magazine covers that meet my full potential.

My Magazine Front Cover Draft

Mission Statement and Mood Board

Music Magazine market research questionnaire results

Music magazine market research questionnaire results from megan1506

Music Magazine Market Research Questionnaire

Please circle relevant answers:

1. What gender are you?

• Male
• Female

2. Do you like pop music?

• Yes
• No

3. Which of the following pop magazines would you read?

• Smash hits
• Top of the pops
• Billboard
• Sugar
• We love pop
• Other:___________________

4. Which of the following mastheads do you prefer?

• Tunetrippin’
• Teen Pop
• Note
• Brit Hits
• One

5. Which one of the following slogans do you prefer?

• What’s hot?
• Get connected with music
• The only music that matters
• Music for the youth
• Taste the pop!

6. Would you access websites or other media platforms associated with a pop magazine?

• Yes
• No

7. How much would you pay for a school magazine?

• £1-£1.50
• £1.60-£2.50
• £3-£4.50

8. Which of the following main images on the cover would encourage you to buy a music magazine?

• Male artist
• Female artist
• Male group
• Female group
• Mixed group

9. Which of the following bands/artists would you want to read about in a music magazine?

• Justin Bieber
• Taylor Swift
• One Direction
• Little Mix
• Bruno Mars
• Ariana Grande
• Others- Please state_________________________

10.  Which of the following sections from a contents page would encourage you to read a music magazine?

• Regulars
• Editor’s letter
• Reviews of albums/downloads
• Interviews with artists
• Features on current bands
• Downloads
• Film/Television/Video Game Reviews
• Live Gigs/Festivals
• Other- Please state__________________________

11.  What type of article do you enjoy reading in a music magazine?

• 1^st person Interviews with bands/artists- question and answer
• 3^rd person Interviews with bands/artists
• Information about the history/background of bands/artists
• Reviews of CD’s/gigs/tours
• Other – Please state__________________________

Editing Images

Removing the Background

Step-by-step Plan

Photoshop

1. Load up 'Photoshop'.
2. Do this by clicking 'start' on desktop. Then select the 'All Programs' then 'Adobe Web Premium C55.5'.
3. In order to add an image onto 'Photoshop', click 'File', 'Open' and find the image from the file that needs to be manipulated. Once found, select the image and click the 'OK' button.
4. To remove the background of the image, click the 'Quick Selection Tool' and start to remove the background by holding the left button down and move the mouse, depending on where you want to select around the image.
5. If the outline cuts too far down on the image e.g. cuts the shoulder out, click 'Alt' and press the left button on the mouse to drag the outline line up until it identifies the outline of the person.
6. Once content with the outline, you then need to Inverse the image so that the person is selected instead of the background. In order to do this correctly, click 'Select' and then 'Inverse'. Now the image should be selected and the point of focus.
7. Next, you should be able to make the edges of the cut out look less harsh by selecting 'Refine Edge'. A panel should appear of which allows you to detect the edges of the outline. To do this, select 'Edge Detection'. Now, you are bale to select the 'Radius' and refine the edges of your image.
8. Once happy, click 'OK'.
9. Now, inverse the image back by clicking 'Select' and 'Inverse'.
10. Use the 'Move Tool' option by clicking it and select the background and press the 'Delete' button on your keyboard.
11. You should now have an image with the background removed. Save this as a 'JPEG' image.

 

InDesign

1. Now insert the image onto InDesign you click 'File' then 'Place'. Select the image you would like then press 'Open'.
2. For the image to show up on the page, click anywhere on the document and the image will become large on the page.
3. If needed, to change the size of the image, use the 'Direct Selection' tool to change the size of the outer box (in orange) and then the inner (In blue). The inner box changes the actual size of the image and the outer box, if made smaller, cuts through the image, acting like it's cropping it. To avoid this, make the box larger by clicking on it (it's the colour blue) and drag it outwards (Or inwards if needed).
4. If you want to add text to the page, select the rectangle box with the cross inside and draw it out on the page. To add text, make sure the box is highlighted and click the 'T' for on the tool option so then you can start typing information in that box.
5. If wanting to, you can change the colour of the text and outline of it by highlighting it and selecting the 'Default colour' option tool. You can double click the 'T' filled with the black colour. Once double clicked, a box with colour options pops up and you're able to select the colour you desire.
6.  Next, it is recommended to put your image on another layer. In order to do this, click the box around the image you want to copy then select the 'Window' button, then 'New Layer' and then 'Paste' the image.
7. If wanting to clean up the image more, select the image which is also known as the 'Object'. Click on the 'Object' menu, select 'Clipping path' and it should be now that you will see options. One of which is 'Type'. Select 'Detect Edges' and then click the 'OK' button.
8. If you wanted to, you could add an effect to the object (Image). To do so, select the object, click the 'Effects' button and use the 'Basic Feather' effect which will create a smoother edge so the object edges, again, do not look too harsh. Select 'Feather Width' (larger width will feather a larger area) that suits you and select the 'OK' button.
9. Save this design when happy by clicking 'File' and 'Save As'. Type in a suitable name and click 'OK'.
   

Blender Music Magazine Analysis