My final masthead

 

This is my final masthead which I've improved on and changed. I've decided to change my magazine name from 'The Edge' to 'Edge'. I have put it on Photoshop to edit. I first erased the white background and I added the yellow colour to the masthead as I think it will attract my target audience who are young teenagers. The yellow, black and white colour theme runs throughout my magazine.

Draft and Plan

My possible mastheads for my R'n'B and HipHop music magazine.

Music Magazine masthead: ‘The Edge’

I've chosen the 3rd font as a starting point for my masthead, I think it looks a lot bigger and bolder than the others. They are a lot more eye catching than the others. However this isn't the finished product. I'm going to work on it and try to experiment with a lot colours and different shadings to give it more of a dimension. I am also contemplating on changing my magzine name from 'The Edge' to 'Edge'.

Formal Pitch/Audience Reseach

My pitch

<iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/17405210" width="476" height="400" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

News stand task

Firstly, during the increase of electronic shopping and e-zines finding an actual physical copy of a music magazine is a lot harder. So when I first went to the shops to look for music magazines; they were very limited. The music magazines I found were ‘Q’, ‘MOJO’, ‘NME’, ‘KERRANG’, and ‘CLASSIC ROCK’. The music magazines have a really small section in WHSmiths, all other magazines have bigger sections with their own titles above each section. As you can see ‘CLASSIC ROCK’ has its own section ahead of all the other magazines. ‘NME’ is next to classic rock; however the bottom quarter of the magazine is covered, you can still see the masthead and the cover lines.

The next magazine right by ‘NME’ is ‘KERRANG’ which is also similar you can see most of the magazine like mast head and cover lines but the bottom quarter is covered which doesn’t really matter too much. On its left there is a little poster popping out which advertises the ‘Q’ magazine. Right next to it on its left is ‘MOJO’ which is exactly the same as the other two magazines; you can see the mast head and cover lines. However ‘Q’ magazine is just behind it and a half of the magazine is covered, however you can see the masthead and the artist which is Noel Clark, but you can’t see the cover lines.

Music magazine distribution has changed over the past years; you can barely find music magazines in stores and if you do they are limited in quantity. Distribution of magazine is mainly via the internet and you can purchase e-zines via tablets/smartphones and apps. Music magazines are advertised through Facebook, Twitter, radios and TV.

Case Study

Audience Feedback And Evaluation: Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Audience Feedback

“The front cover looks good although you could have had a better masthead. The cover line could have been cleared by using a different colour to the background image. The contents page looks good. You could have been consistent with the font and colours. The layout is neat and it is easy to see what is in the magazine.”

Zahra Noor

In my Preliminary Task I had to create a college magazine using both PhotoShop and InDesign. My college magazine had to consist of a Front cover page and a contents page; all the photos included had to be original photography from me. For my front cover I needed a medium close-up (MCU) of a student, cover lines/teasers, masthead, date, price, and all this had to be created on PhotoShop. For my contents page I had to include sections such as features/regulars, images, number of pages, an editor’s letter and I had to create all this on InDesign.

What went well?

Page Layout

My page layout on my front cover has a simple yet effective structure, with a bold masthead, cover lines on the right side and a barcode/ date. The page layout has a vibrant and simple colour scheme of orange and black.

Cover lines

My cover lines were simple, straightforward and teasing. They would attract the reader and almost force them into wanting to read on and buy the magazine. An example would be “TOP STUDENT WINS JACKPOT”.

Layout in InDesign

My layout in InDesign and my contents page was different, as it had two large images across each other and a column of feature articles and a column of reviews. My title had a bold eye-catching colour and font. My background was also just simple.

What Do I Need To Improve On?

Front Cover Image/Masthead

I would improve my masthead by making the font a lot bolder and clean; I would have the font size a bit larger so it covers more of the page. As for my front cover image, I would use an SLR camera so the quality of the image would better and clear, I would also use lighting in my image and my background would be one colour.

Contents Page

My contents page would be a lot more organized according to columns and titles; I would include all number pages and more interesting articles. I would make sure the colours and fonts are a lot more vibrant and attractive. I will include quotes and my title would have a unique style to it.

Images/Time

My images in general would have a big improvement as I initially rushed it all with under one hour and I didn’t plan what I would do. I would make sure I take pictures in a studio and make sure my images relate to the magazine. As for timing, I had to complete this task fairly quickly and I didn’t have enough time in planning this magazine; I had to go straight in and do the work.

Three points for development when producing my music magazine

1. A thorough plan into what I am going to exactly do in every sector of creating my magazine

2.  Use an SLR camera/Studio to have high quality images

3. Work hard on my layout/connotations/Journalistic skills

My Production Schedule

Wk. 1	Mon 24th September	Tues 25th September	Weds 26th September	Thurs 27th September	Fri 28th September	Sat 29th September	Sun 30th September
			Deadline: Production Schedule
Wk. 2	Mon 1st October	Tues 2nd October	Weds 3rd October	Thurs 4th October	Fri 5th October	Sat 6th October	Sun 7th October
	Deadline:   Research/case studies
Wk. 3	Mon 8th October	Tues 9th October	Weds 10th October	Thurs 11th October	Fri 12th October	Sat 13th October	Sun 14th October
	Deadline:   Preliminary task: LSC magazine						Deadline:
Wk. 4	Mon 15th October	Tues 16th October	Weds 17th October	Thurs 18th October	Fri 19th October	Sat 20th October	Sun 21st  October
	Deadline: Audience Feedback and evaluation				Deadline: Magazine news stand task
Wk. 5	Mon 22nd October	Tues 23rd October	Weds 24th October	Thurs 25th October	Fri 26th October	Sat 27th October	Sun 28th October
					Deadline: Drafting and finalizing house styles, drafts and layouts

College Magazine

My Preliminary Task: LSC Magazine

I produced a college magazine using Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. I designed a cover page and contents page, which included my own photography. I included an MCU of a student, coverlines, a masthead, date, bar code, price which I created all on Photoshop for my Cover. And for my contents page I had a couple sections, images and page numbers, which I created on InDesign.

Front Cover of my LSC College magazine

My Contents Page

  

Case study