The evolution of my magazine front cover

Since I have finally completed the design of my front cover, I have decided to look back at my first mock-up and compare the designs to see how I have improved. Here are my previous mock-up designs compared to my final design:

As you can see, I have definitely improved since I first designed my first cover; I am very happy with how the final product turned out.

Conventions of my front cover

I have included a lot of conventional features for my magazine front cover, so you can say that I have conformed to real media products. There are certain features which I have not included such as a pug, however I think that it looks fine without it. I think that these features would definitely attract readers because it looks eye catching, according to my respondents who I have asked for feed back.

Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I think I have improved greatly since the start of the course when I first designed a magazine cover for my preliminary task; I have gained a lot more knowledge and understanding of the conventional features of a magazine and why they are used in real media products. In addition, I have also learned to challenge some of the conventions in a way that will improve my media product for the better. Here are some of the things I have improved:

Editing Software / Serif Page Plus

When I first used this programme, it took me quite a while to get used to all the functions such as colour changing, grouping and cropping. Comparing my first magazine cover and my final magazine cover, you can see a drastic change since I have a lot more features included on my final cover such as more cover lines, a wider range of font and changing the font sizes. These are all due to me learning how to use Serif to improve my work in the best way possible. I have learnt to use lots of features that I didn't know how to use before, for example cropping became a lot easier once I figured out how to change the sizes of the cropping brush, also I have figured out how to access a wide range of colours and shades to choose from. Overall, I am happy with the final product because I have learnt how to use this software to improve my design.

Fonts

I have learnt to use a range of different fonts for my magazine cover; at first I simply used one or two fonts for the front cover however, my final pages contained a wide range of fonts to convey different meanings. Some examples of fonts I have used are Arial Black, Century gothic and Verdana. My creative pages definitely look better with a range of fonts rather than just one or two.

Secondary Images

As you can see, my first magazine cover did not contain any secondary images however my final cover contain 2 secondary images. The reason I have used secondary images for my final page is to attract my target audience; my final cover definitely looks better with secondary images rather than having no secondary images. I have also learnt why secondary images are included in real media products. Overall, I am happy that I have included these secondary images because my target audience will feel more attracted to buy my magazine if they see artists they like.

Challenging conventions

Not only have I learnt all the conventional features of a magazine, but I have also learnt to challenge these conventions appropriately. Choosing not to conform to certain conventions does not make your media product bad, if anything it may be more desirable and may attract more readers. In my case, I have used black and white images in my magazine which is not a conventional feature since hardly any music magazines do this. I have done this to attract my target audience and to create a unique, creative style to my media product. In addition, I have asked a lot of respondents which colour would suit my indie magazine and a lot of them responded that black and white is suited to the indie genre so that is another reason why I did this. Overall, I am happy challenging the conventions of a magazine as long as it benefits me and the readers of my magazine.

Here is a comparison of my first magazine cover and my final magazine cover:

 

 As you can see, I have improved quite a lot with the addition of several features including more fonts, secondary images and challenging conventions. I am very happy with how my final product turned out.

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

Double Page Spread - Final *Updated

I have made minor changes to my double page spread since my last update:

• I have changed the article to 3 columns instead of 4 because it looks much neater and organised
• I have changed the font to 'Gothic720 BT' because it is simple and easy to read, in addition my previous font 'Times New Roman' was very over-used and had no real potential to be good.
• I have added an introduction at the start of the article to give context to the readers before reading the article.

Overall, I am happy with the changes I made and proud of the final result.

Front Cover - Final

I have made minor changes since my third mock-up, however I am fully satisfied with the final version of my front cover.

The first change I have made is that I made the main headline "Francis Basco, Solo artist of the year" bigger. The reason I made it bigger is because I compared my front cover to other magazine covers, and I realized that it was just a bit too small for a front cover. I have conformed to the conventions of real media products since it has influenced me to make the heading bigger. I do think that it is more beneficial for the readers because it is definitely more eye-catching. There is a more likely chance that readers will spot the magazine on the shelf if the heading is bigger and bright.

The other change I have made is the size and font of the issue number and date; I have changed the font to Accord Heavy SF because it looks more eye-catching than my previous font. It would be more beneficial if the date / issue number is bigger so that the audience can identify if they already have this issue or not.

Those are the only changes I have made since the previous mock-up however I am happy with how it turned out in the end.

Contents Page - Final

For my contents page, I have included the main features that you would find in a conventional media product such as secondary images, use of colour, headings and font size. For the secondary images, I did not use any pictures of Francis since I have used him for my front cover, as well as the double page spread. In this page, I have used three other artists/cover models to make the magazine more diverse. With every image, I included the page number at the top corner so that the readers can easily locate the article within the magazine. In relation to the colours, I have kept with the same house style for my magazine which is red, black and white. I have done this because my readers will easily know that this is an Indigo magazine; I have kept the same house style for my front cover, double page spread and contents.

The four sub headings I have included are: Features, Latest Releases, News and Live. The sub heading 'Features' is a conventional feature for many magazine contents pages because it allows the readers to identify the main articles in the magazine; this is also the same reason why I have included this sub heading. For my magazine, the main article is "Francis Basco, solo artist of the year" since I have clearly shown this on my front cover so I have included this heading under the 'Features' so that readers can find it easily, with the addition of the page number obviously. The sub heading 'Latest Releases' is specific to  my magazine since I have based my magazine on upcoming artists; it is not included in many magazine contents page so I would consider it not a convention. The main reason I have included this is so that my target audience can find new upcoming artists, since I am targeting readers who appreciate indie artists and would want to discover new music all the time.

Similarly to most magazine contents pages, I have included the links to social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr with the usernames of the official Indigo page. The reason I have included this is so that the target audience can visit any of the magazine's social media accounts and find out more information on latest updates, news and events. This is a conventional feature within mot magazines so I am conforming to the conventions with this feature.

Other conventional features include the issue number and the date which is essential for all magazines so the readers know when this magazine was published.

a vlog

I made a practice vlog to see how well I can communicate with a camera, since I will be making vlogs to update my coursework in the future. This vlog shows how I can use different forms of media, not just text posts and pictures.

A change in my Central Image?

There is a possibility of changing the central image for my front cover since I have noticed that it looks quite similar to my double page spread. As you can see, the two pictures look quite similar; this may be problematic since I do not want the two pictures to look the same.

I might change the central image of my magazine cover to this picture instead:

 

I think that this image may be suitable for my front cover since it does not look similar to the double page spread. However, there may be some implications with changing the cover image because it will take more time to adjust, which is not beneficial since I still have to work on my contents  page. In addition, I may not end up using the image which means it will waste time and effort. It is not certain yet if I am changing the front cover, but it is just a possibility.

The Commercial Media Triangle

Media producers, including magazine publishers rely on a structure that will help increase their revenue. The Commercial Media Triangle consists of three parts:

Circulation - Amount of people who buy the magazine.
Readership - Total number of people who will read the magazine.
Advertisers - Company's advertising their products.

Front Cover / 3rd Mock Up

As you can see, I have drastically improved a lot of features to my front cover since my last mock-up; I have changed, removed and added features to my front cover to improve it.

What I have changed:

• I changed the background of the front cover to plain black because a few respondents have mentioned how they don't like the previous background; I was also not satisfied with the previous background so I decided to change it to something else. In addition, I think that the white cover lines definitely stand out more because the colours contrast.
• I changed the price of my magazine from £2.99 to £3.99 because I think the price reflects on the quality of the magazine therefore I want the audience to know that my magazine is of high quality.
• I changed the puff; the previous puff simply read "FREE POSTER INSIDE!" but the new one reads "FREE LAST DINOSAURS POSTER!" with the "Last Dinosaurs" logo written in red. By including the name of the band, I think that the audience will most likely buy the magazine since they are familiar with the band instead of getting a random poster of a band that they're not familiar with. In addition, listeners of the band Last Dinosaurs will definitely feel persuaded to buy the magazine since the poster will encourage them.
• I have changed the position of the main cover line "FRANCIS BASCO: Solo artist of the year" into the centre of the magazine so that it conveys that he is the main article of the magazine. I have also increased the size of the font, as well as adding an "official!" logo at the top to convey that it is exclusive and official...obviously. I wrote it in red so it is clearly noticeable.
• I changed the size, as well as the logo of my mast head; the mast head is still INDIGO however I got rid of the box around the logo because I felt that it was not necessary. In addition, I increased the size so that it fills up the majority of the top part of the magazine.
• I also added secondary images on my front cover because it looks more like a magazine cover.
• I have also included the logos of several bands at the bottom of the front cover so that it can target the audience more, in addition they may feel compelled to buy the magazine if they have the bands that they like in the magazine.

Semiotic analysis of non-music magazines

Feedback for my Final DPS

I showed my final double page spread to some participants and asked them what they think of it; here is what they said:

• I like the way you have written "Francis Basco" up on the guitar neck because it looks creative
• The picture used is striking and shows the artist is passionate and professional which makes me want to read the article
• The article is enjoyable to read, and the language is appealing.
• I like the use of secondary images as it looks like an actual magazine article
• I like how the colours are the same as the front cover because it shows that you managed to keep a house style for your magazine
• It's sophisticated and detailed with the use of colours
• It also shows the single of the artist which may attract more people to buy it

Overall, the feedback is positive and I did not receive any negative feedback from the participants.

Double Page Spread - 2nd Mock-Up

Indigo Rate Card