Evaluation Q6

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Q5

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience

Evaluation Q4

Evaluation (4): Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation Q3

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Audio;
 
Transcript;

Evaluation Q2

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Q1

Now that I have finally finished designing all three documents, I will be evaluating by answering seven important questions that will surely allow for anyone to understand the decisions I have made from the research section to planning, and lastly, to the construction process and exactly why I have chosen to make those decisions.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Completed Products

Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Construction of DPS

I went for a very simple layout for the double page spread because it's good to be consistent with the clean, appealing impression that has been created since the front cover. An image will be placed at the left side of the model who was shown to be on the front page. The reason behind this decision is that by leaving a whole page for my made-up artist will ensure that he plays a dominant and significant role in the music industry. Also, during my research I found that most music magazines include only an image covering either side of the page, some with texts such as a quote around it or some even have maximum two images in small sizes, relating to the topic of article that is placed in columns on the other side of the page.

By placing the artist's name (in capitals, using a font that screams power) at the very top centre of the page will instantly catch the audience's view. 

The last few steps to get to the very end of completing my double page spread: I placed my logo and page number at the bottom right corner of the page that consists of only texts. Also, before placing the image to the left side of the image, I went ahead and edited this via Photoshop.

This is the final outcome of my DPS

To edit the image I chose from my contact sheets: First I cropped the top part of the image to get rid of the unnecessary white space. Then, I went onto Photoshop and used a few tools to do a few touch-ups. The screenshot above shows that I used the 'Spot healing brush tool' which gets rid of any blemishes on the face.This helps to make the image appear more professional because it was clear to me when looking through different music magazines that each and every image included always has a team of experts such as a photographer who also edits images. This can be linked to societies standards that in order to be attractive, you are required to have clear, smooth skin.

My second and final step was to brighten the area around the model's pupil. This is just to make his eyes 'pop out' even more because making it stand out is important especially because he is in direct contact with the audience.

The screenshot above is used as evidence to show that I have added the logo and the same page number that can also be seen on the contents page.

Before editing

After editing

Construction of Contents Page

The screenshot above shows the beginning layout of my contents page (after placing all the images I decided to use).

It's common within magazines such as NME and Q to place elements like the logo and the title of the page to be at the very top left of the banner. I decided to carry on with inspirations from Q magazine where they have the title simply named as 'Contents'.The logo allows for the viewer to continuously know that the page has been created by M. magazine and the title clearly states what the page is about. Furthermore, I've placed the week's issue date on the right-hand side of the banner which is followed by Facebook and Twitter's logo alongside with the keyword in which they can search or '#' search M. magazine via social these social media. By doing this, I have allowed for M. to extend their brand to a different platform which takes place online. Due to the vast evolution of technology, I am guaranteed to get a wider audience because it is contemporarily known as a trend and will show to the audience that we also follow the updated ways of connecting with them. This way, the audience can consume M. magazine in different platforms whilst I ensure that they will not fall out as a brand within an area where it is only ever advancing.

To make sure I establish professional outcomes, it's vitally important to be consistent with the house style and the way every element is laid out. In this case, I'm making sure that I follow the colour scheme throughout from the front cover consisting of black, white, and grey. In terms of the way it is laid out: I went for clean cuts, sectioning each part and making it easier for the viewer to follow through the page. And finally, I kept checking all the fonts I have used in my front cover to match it up with the contents page although I have introduced a couple of new fonts on this page where necessary such as the titles of the sections (i.e. features, reviews, and every issue).

Completed Contents Page

Construction of Front Cover

For the past few days, I have been working on creating the front cover.
I've inserted images below of the post-production process:

At the very beginning, I originally planned to use the masthead which can be seen in the screenshot above. However, I realized it does not fit the conventional format of magazines that publish contents on multi-genre.  

With that in mind, I decided to change the masthead's look. I went for a very simple logotype: with a single letter, I used the letter 'M' which stands for Music, letting the audience know all types of music genres are supported by this publisher. As you can see, the masthead is still placed at the top but is now moved to the left-hand side corner of the front cover because, from my research, I found that this is the conventional place as seen in magazines such as Q, NMe, and XXL. Inspiration has come from those magazines also with the use of red in the background of the masthead and white for the text itself. 

By receiving feedback, I noticed that the masthead's font does not actually completely fit with the main image although it is bold and big, I decided to go for a bolder, edgier font rather than leaving it with a clean touch because this isn't common in the magazines I am taking inspiration from. By adding a dot next to the letter 'M' also emphasizes the powerful masthead and I definitely think that the final design of my masthead will be very effective in grabbing the audience's attention as it's now appropriately used to represent them: has a strong personality, and the ability to grab the spotlight in any setting. 

The colour scheme is very trendy and current  as it consists of 'modern' red, white, black, and grey. I've made the right decision of following and implementing a line in red underneath every artist that is mentioned on the front cover because this will be a way to follow the masthead's background colour and also to use this line as a unique element (from other music magazines) by using it throughout other pages in my magazine as a sense of 'brand identity'.
The screenshot above showcases that I've explored around with the possible layouts for the front cover. I chose to go with the second one because I don't want the surroundings to be very busy as I was originally planning to keep it simple because this magazine will be of many genres but it's just that this particular project I am focusing on will be based on alternative R&B.

This is the final design of my front cover.

Construcion of Main Image

Original

This is the image I chose for my front cover. I decided to choose this from my contact sheets because there is the only image which fits into the category of a potential front cover; there's no blur, it's not out-of-focus, and there is direct contact between the viewers and the model. With some adjustments and touch-ups (i.e. crop, rotate), it can definitely be turned into a good piece of work. 

NOTE: Every screenshot placed within the Google Slide below (as evidence of work) is numbered (in red, at the bottom right corner of each slide) in coordination with the paragraphs which explain the post-production process of my front cover. 



I edited this image online at the very beginning of the post-production process because I find it easier to use basic tools such as rotating, cropping and blemish fixes via online websites rather than a software (i.e. Photoshop) as it is really quick and simple for me to do so this way.

1) I went on to raw.pics.io in order to convert the file from Raw to Jpeg otherwise, it wouldn't open up in Photoshop and found a tool which allowed me to adjust the gray-scale. As you can see, the original is more on the pink side of tone and I felt that by increasing the gray-scale by 20% has made the natural tone of the model's face come out more. The main reasoning behind why I did this is because it will appeal to the audience more since the colours do not look exaggerated anymore.

2) After that, I went on to pixlr.com to use the tool which has allowed me to straighten and crop the image to my liking. I found this useful because I wanted to get rid of the wonky appearance it originally creates because it does not look professional and I feel that it will work better with the type of images I aim to follow in terms of conventions only after achieving an image in which the model's body does not appear to be tilted otherwise it will seem strange. This is because, from the analyses of multi-genre magazines (which promote hip-hop/alternative R&B) such as NME, Billboard, and XX, I noticed a very common convention: most of the front covers are either close-up shots or a mid shot if it features an artist. Otherwise, it will more than likely be a full body or mid shot of two people. 

3) The actual appearance of the main image (or in fact, in most cases any image inserted in a magazine) is just as important as supplementing codes and conventions of the type of magazines I am designing in this unit (in order to fit in and be at a high standard level of the industry). This is quite obvious because, in order to appeal to the audience, we must ensure that the image looks attractive and as though it has really been taken professionally from the photo shoots (good quality; no blur; should focus the subject of matter), to the development of image via using the internet (i.e. online editing sites) or software (i.e. Photoshop). With this in mind. I went ahead and added a smokey effect because it adds a nice touch to the background. Though I was fully aware none of the music magazine's (that I have seen during research) have ever used a smokey effect background, I still went ahead and tried out something new because this is an alternative change from something I originally anticipated my image would look like. It seemed that unfortunately I lacked the sort of lighting equipment I would have liked access to. Therefore, I was not able to do a similar theme to XXL's magazine featuring Kendrick Lamar.  By adding this effect, I made an interesting twist to the front cover still which is something I was aiming for in reference to the bright coloured lightings used in XXL's magazine cover. 

The following three images below will be screenshots showing the three final steps I took whilst paying attention to details in terms of the appearance. By doing this, I guarantee myself some positive feedback and/or impression from the audience because I aim to make it look as attractive as possible for visual satisfaction because the main image is definitely an element which is usually viewed by an audience first if not second after the masthead (followed by the colour scheme). Therefore, this element should be considered very well. 

4) The tool 'Brighten' under the adjustments section in Pixlr.com is a useful one because this has allowed for making a small change which will lead to a huge result because it makes the model's eyes stand out, again emphasizing the connection it will create with the audience.

5) After brightening up the eyes, I went on to Ribbet.com which is another photo-editing website. In there, I used the 'Blemish Fix' tool under the Touch Up section. It is self-explanatory as to what this does: I got rid of obvious marks whilst the natural look of his face still remains because my aim here was to make the main image look aesthetically pleasing without looking airbrushed because this is not something I have seen in front covers in regards to a male artist.

6) I finally went on to Photoshop to use the 'dodge' and 'burn' tool because after some careful observations on many different front covers, I noticed that all of the images have been taken with quality cameras and the images were professionally edited by experts. One thing I have realized is that there is surely the technique of 'burning and dodging' used throughout all images of front covers in order to highlight and create shadows where necessary. The screenshot shows my attempt to further develop the image by slightly highlighting parts of the model's face (i.e. bridge of his nose) using the 'dodge' brush and by using the 'burn' brush, I've given his hair a darker shade because the original was too much on the grayer scale and in order to make the image stand out even more, I feel this was a good idea.

After development