Mood Boards

I did a couple of mood boards to inspire me with my magazine and photo shoot. The overall image of my magazine is colourful, informal, chatty and music gossip. The mood boards have given me lots of ideas for my front cover image and all my other photos i need to take. It has also given methe idea of using a mix of fonts.

Quentionnaire Results

I asked ten teenage girls as they are typical to my reader profile and asked them a series of questions.
From looking at their answers i have come to some conclusions.
The price they pay is between 1.50-3.50 and they buy magazines weekly.
Most of them liked girl bands/female artists.
A lot of them didnt read many music magazines but fashion ones instead.
They liked their magazines to have lots of pictures.

These results will hopefully give me some inspiration and help me to meet the needs of my target audience. The things that have stood out most is that i will need to make my magazine visually interesting with lots of pictures and also include features of fashion magazines.

Contents page sketch

As part of the priliminary task i had to sketch a plan of how the student contents page would look. I like this set out of the contents page as it is simple and clear and i would like to use the idea of titles in boxes in my magazine. I also like the pictures with page numbers on them.

Reader Profile

The type of person most likely to read my magazine.
Age: teens 12-17
Occupation- Student
Economic Status- D/E
Sex- Female
Hobbies/Interests- Going out, fashion, music, celebrities/gossip.
Fashion- Girly/fashionable.

Feedback 26/3/09

Good analysis and prelim task Chloe - well done!
Yes - do an analysis of covers and contents pages too - to add to your research.
Where is your questionnaire and results? remeber to link this to your target audience.
Next you need to scan and upload your mood board and rough plan for your pages.
Remember to keep blogging your progress every week!
Miss McNulty

Evaluation of a contents page

I find this contents page interesting as it has lots of images on it, and the text fits around the images- something i would like to do in my contents page. This contents page also has pictures with page numbers on which i think alot of people would use rather than looking down the list.
The text is broken up into sections and has a lot of space around it making it easy to read and so i will consider this when designing my own. Finally the use of colours is good as the colourful pictures are a contrast to the black writing which makes them both stand out and both easy to read/look at.
The text on this contents page is broken up so much it has been spread accross a double page. This is not something i will be doing as i feel it is unnecessary and so i will try and keep my contents as spread out and open as this whilst keeping is on one page.

Evaluation of front cover

Firstly I dont think my cover looks very professional because of the fonts. They don't look like the usual bold fonts you would find on a front cover. I also think the use of different colours makes the front cover look crowded and uneasy on the eye and therefore might put a buyer off.

However the picture is good as it fills the cover and the girl is addressing the buyer as she's looking straight at the camera which would persuade the buyer to buy the magazine. I also think the cover is slightly boring as it doesn't have much on it, just one big picture and writing and so it doesn't stand out.

Next time i make a front cover i will make sure that:

The colours are interesting and match so it's easy on the eye.

The feature picture is more interesting.

I have more interesting fonts and a title that stands out more.

Preliminary Task- Front Cover

Feedback 12/3/09

A good start Chloe! What you need to do now is outline your new idea for a USP.

Also you now need to analyse a front cover, contents page and double page feature in relation to whether or not they follow the conventions of magazines (these are outlined in the PDF under practical projects on the AS Media Moodle site.) Who is the target audience for the magazine and how has it been put together to appeal to this audience?

You also need to put your questionnaire on your blog , researching your potential audience- and then your results!
Miss McNulty

I like this cover as I think it stands out from other magazines. It has a lot of empty space which is unusual for a front cover as front pages are usually full with what is in the contents of the magazine. 

I also think the colour is unusual, it's not the typical bright colours you would expect from a front cover and it also suggests that the magazine is for an older audience. 

The use of font on this cover is very effective, the "you" and the "Rihanna" contrast with each other making them both stand out. I like the font of the "Rihanna" because it is elegant and is also not the typical bold font you would expect on a front cover. 

Although this is not a music magazine it has given me lots of ideas for my own cover. 

I want to use different fonts and also have some space to make my artists stand out. 

I've been doing some research and although my magazine will be based on mainstream pop music i want to make my magazine aimed more at girls.

To bring in a female audience my idea is to make the magazine a music magazine but with gossip and fashion therefore making the target audience female, this could also be my USP.

Entry 1: Planning and Research 02/03/09

I have chosen the print option to make a music magazine. I have chosen the print option instead of the opening sequence because creating and writing for magazines is what I would like to do as a career. I also felt that i would be better at this option as i enjoy writing in a journalistic style and I am interested in the making of magazines.

          The genre of music my magazine will be based around is mainstream pop. The target audience will be young teens 11-16 and so I will have to make sure my magazine appeals to them and includes things they enjoy. To find out what this age range wants from a magazine I will carry out a questionnaire. I will also look at magazines and see what works and what doesn't and also what I enjoy most in a magazine. 

          At the moment, I don't know what my USP will be and so I will do some research and planning as to what could make my product unique. 

          There are many music magazines out there and to better them I will find out exactly which parts people enjoy about magazines and what parts people don't like about magazines. I will also find out new things people might like to see from a magazine.

          My product will be successful if it looks professional, is unique and meets the needs of my target audience.