Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To The Final Product?

The image on the left is the front cover from my preliminary task, and the image on the right is the finished cover from my main task of creating a conventional acoustic magazine.

It is rather difficult to compare my front cover and contents page from my prelim to my final drafts, as they were based on completely different topics. However, by learning to use different technologies and software, I feel like I have learnt a lot since and am much more pleased with my main task cover compared to my prelim one now. 

Looking back at my preliminary front cover, it is actually rather plain and boring in comparison to my music magazine cover. I didn’t realise at the time, how little colour I had used and how much space was left unused. If I had to go back and edit this particular task, I think I would make numerous changes, mainly as I feel more confident on using different software and that I have much more knowledge of the conventions of magazines etc.

Regarding the contents page of my preliminary task, again, I feel it appears rather boring due to the lack of any colour, which on reflection wouldn’t appeal to my target audience. Although, I’ve always said less is more, I don’t think I pulled this off with my preliminary contents page! At the time I was really pleased with the end result, however, in comparison to my main task contents page I think it looks more professional. I remember thinking at the time what the point of a preliminary task was and now, on reflection, I understand why as I fell I have learnt so much since and hopefully this shows.

Although at the time, I thought I had spent a lot of time perfecting this task, I wouldn’t say on reflection I had taken as much care and attention as I have done with my main task and I believe this is rather evident with the results of each page. Now I realise if you put all your time and effort into your work, then the stress will definitely pay off with the results. Also, the fact we only had 2 weeks (roughly) to make a front cover and contents page, we didn’t have much time to plan things to the last detail to perfect the magazine, like we were able to in this task.

I think one of the main things I realised from doing the preliminary task is research and timing is vital! If I didn’t plan out my timings or researched about the conventions of the magazines, I wouldn’t have had a clue how to have gone about making my music magazine. For my prelim, I didn’t spend half the time researching than I did for my main task. Therefore, I realised the more research you do the more chances of producing a conventional and profession product. When it comes down to time management, I would say I am a rather organised person, so I tried not to leave things to last minute. Due to the fact I went on holiday for a week, I had to make sure I was up to date with work (if not ahead) to ensure that I didn’t fall behind and have loads to catch up on when I came home. I feel that overall, I have learnt a lot about carrying out detailed research in order for my final product to be the best that it can possible be by putting in the effort and planning out my time efficiently. 

Since my prelim task I have learnt a lot about reliability, for example, I was planning to use my friend to be my model for my magazine pictures. However, due to the fact that she lives a while a way, it was hard to find a day we were both free, so I decided to use myself, as I would be more reliable. Although I didn’t like this idea at first, due to the fact I’m not that confident in front of the camera, I knew that I had to complete this task, so I had to put my insecurities to one side and get on with the photo shoot. Additionally, I made sure that I took the mise-en-scene into consideration for my main task, as I didn’t really think about this in my prelim task. I knew I wanted a white background, but I suppose the toilets weren’t the best place to takes pictures for my task reflecting back on it. Therefore, I made sure that I planned out where to take the pictures for my main task and look at the weather forecast beforehand, to ensure that I took my pictures on a sunny day. The best time of day is usually around about mid-day, so I kept this in mind, ensuring I stuck to my shooting schedule and following the to do list I made, so I got everything I wanted. Another mistake I made in the prelim task was that I didn’t take hardly any photos, so I was restricted on which ones to use. This caused me several problems, as I couldn’t ask my models the following day to take some more, as they wouldn’t have been wearing the same clothes the day after. As I wanted to keep continuity throughout my prelim, this wasn’t an option and just had to make do with the ones I had already taken. Therefore, I took this mistake into consideration for my main task and took over 100 photos to make sure I didn’t do the same things again.

In comparison to the preliminarily task, we only had to make the front cover and contents page of a school magazine, so I had no experience of making a double page spread until we started researching what the typical conventions where for the main task. I think due to the lack of experience of making double page spread, I found this one the most difficult at first. However, once I had created it I felt that this was my best page and I guess this could be down to the fact that I had never made one before and it was more of an achievement doing that with no previous experience like in the task before we had with the front cover and contents page.

Overall, I would say that constructing the preliminary task was really helpful, as I learnt a lot about time management, how important research is, as well as making sure I put the most effort into my work as I possibly could. It has also made me aware of how much of a perfectionist I truly am too, which is not always necessarily a bad thing! Not only this, I have learnt about new technologies that I had never even heard of before, as well as taking into consideration that your target audience must be your mine priority at all times, because without them you’d have no magazine sales.

What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing This Product?

What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing This Product?

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How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience?

Due to Jamie being rather nervous when we were filming this clip, she had to makes notes, so she remembered. So you can probably tell that she is reading her notes, she made in order for her not to forget what she wanted to say.





Reflection: I thought it would be a good idea to do a brief character profile on my friend Jamie who is include in this clip above, as she mentions in her post that she is an aspiring musician. Jamie is a 17 year old female student, who is currently an aspiring singer songwriter. She has just started to learn the guitar, so she would most likely find this magazine helpful, as it gives her top tips on how to play the guitar, as well as aspiring advice to help her achieve her dreams. Jamie is forever on the Ipod and loves listening to the latest acoustic music, so I believe that the magazine would help keep up updated, as there are sections in my magazine that are specifically for this purpose. She spends quite a lot of her time practising on her guitar now (in the garden or in the field near where she lives), learning acoustic songs as well as looking in HMV for new songs. Instead of her having to look in HMV hoping to find some new acoustic artists and songs, she could just read this magazine and find out everything she would like to know.

Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?

What Kind Of Media Insititution Might Distribute Your Media Product?

Going back to my media institutions post, where I researched what distributors and publishers were out there currently, I decided that Oyster House Media LTD was the best choice. This was due to the fact that they publish and distribute magazines such as:

• Acoustic Magazine
• Guitar Buyer Magazine
• Base Guitar Magazine
• Drummer Magazine
• RIB Magazine 

I thought it would be the best option as these magazines have been successful under this distributor due to having specific experiences with selling these type of publications. However, after further analysis, I thought that Bauer Media Group or even IPC Media would be good companies to choose from to help make my magazine a more mainstream, thriving publication like other existing ones they produce currently. 


After comparing IPC and Bauer Media Institutions against one another, I decided that Bauer Media Group would be best, as is a comglomerate company, that does not distribute the same genre of music my magazine is aimed at cureently. Therefore, I believe that my product would be more successful under this management because it is different from there other publications they produce such as Kerrang, Q, Empire, Mojo etc, meaning they could concentrate on focusing on my target market a lot more successfully. Although they may be have much experience in this music genre, this company distributes some of the most successful magazines in the world i.e. Empire with 745,000 copies purchased every month. Considering my magazine is bi-monthly, this is another reason why I would choose this distributor due to the fact is has such high success with its bi-monthly magazines.

Additionally, acoustic magazines are usually a rather niche market, therefore I believe this company could help fill the gap in the market for a new fresh acoustic magazine, making it more or a mainstream genre. This would appeal to the younger audiences, in comparison to the older generation ones that exist already such as "acoustic" magazine (which is primarily for males). Another reason why I think this institution would be best suited for my magazine, is that the other publications it does distribute, are roughly around the same age range as my target audience, compared to my original option of Oyster House Media, who produce magazines for more the older male generation. 

The kind of place that may wish to distribute my magazine are retail services such as WHSmith. In WHSmith there are a variety of magazines that are available, and it would be a perfect place to attract the attention of my intended audience When researching, I went into different stores and noted down the magazines that they sold. Out of all the shops that I went in, WHSmith was the only store that sold a wider range; others stuck to fashion, celebrity, male interests, puzzle, and a very slim choice of each genre were available. Newsagents may be less likely to distribute my magazine as the demand for Acoustic magazines is not as high as other magazines. For example, TV Guides, Celebrity Gossip, Fashion and Rock magazines; newsagents will only distribute the most popular magazines. Therefore, I believe WHSmith would be my best bet.

How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups

How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups

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In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? on Prezi

Evaluation

Now I have completed my final drafts, I am now going to move on to the evaluation stage of my magazine!

The Four F's On My Magaizne

Looking back at my previous posts, I realised I had done many media terminology and theories posts, but not really explained how I took these on board when producing my own music magazine.

Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to look back at previous media terminology posts, such as The Four F's.

Function: This is what the magazine objectives are and for my magazine I believe the main purpose for my magazine is not only to entertain the reader and up to date them with the latest acoustic music, but to provide them with performing tips and helpful advice to help the aspiring acoustic artists, on their way to achieving their dreams. My magazine, also include, interviews for existing acoustic artists and a new star to show them that they too can do it, if they put their mind to it and if they don;t know where to begin, this magazine could give them a help start on the right direction.

Formula: This is what is included in the magazine and in my publication there are 36 pages. Throughout the magazine ages, I kept continuity with the same old paper style within each page, as well as using the same fonts "Bell MT" for the serif  font gives an "acoustic edge" that I used many for the context of contents page, my banners on my front cover and the "exclusive" on the double page spread. I ensured that my sell lines where similar to typical acoustic magazines, as the majority of people read them magazine so far, due to the fact there are not many existing products out there. Therefore, including performance tips sections, advice, interviews and reviews, all link to the stereotypical sell lines of an acoustic magazine, but appealing to more of a younger generation. I ensured that the mise en scene included in my photos were all natural looking, as this is what you would stereotypically find in acoustic music videos and acoustic artists photoshoots.

Frame: This is the guttering and margins for printing. Due to the fact that I used Desktop Publisher for creating my magazine, it has a template of an A4 piece of paper, so when it comes to printing it will fit an A4 piece of paper, which is about 210mm by 297mm.

Format: As I have mentioned throughout my posts and in the "formula section" I believe that continuity is key, especially in new issues of a magazine, so the audience know what to expect to look out for in the next issues. The main feature I kept the same was the old style paper, as I felt that the less is more effect is represent by this genre. As you expect acoustic songs to just had the artists voice and guitar, there aren't many instruments involved, so you could say this was rather simple music, however, it leaves a lastly impression on the listening to it is therefore effective.

Conclusion:
Overall, I would say that I took the Four F's into consideration, without probably even realising have the time, as I have kept to the typical conventions that would feature in music magazines in general, as well as existing acoustic ones too.

Final Drafts Up Close

Below is my final front cover, contents page and double page spread up close. I have created tags on each photo to explain why I included each feature on each page of the magazine...

(Click on photo to see tags)

(Click on photo to see tags)

(Click on photo to see tags)

Comparing My Third Drafts Against My Final Drafts

And now for my OCD to take place...My final drafts! After looking at my third drafts carefully, I decided to look at the little details and make sure there wasn't anything else that I could do to improve my final drafts. By looking back at my analysis of "acoustic magazine" and going back to basic with the typical conventions you would find in and acoustic magazine (and in general music magazines) I felt this helped me create my final drafts the best they can be. Below shows the comparisons between my third and final drafts...

Front Cover:

The overall changes that I made to my front cover was emboldening my masthead using Photoshop, to make it stand out more and catch my target audience's eye. As well as this, I added a bottom banner, where it has the tag line of the magazine "stay tuned with tuned in" and placed the "Britain's new acoustic magazine" at the top on the sky line, as I felt where it was placed before wasn't readable. I also changed the font colours around with the "on tour" and "find out how to win tickets" bit, as I felt again they could be more visible, so that was the main reason I changed the colours of this particular features.

Contents Page:

On the whole, I would say that OCD came in handy with my contents page, as I nearly missed out some crucial features that a typical acoustic magazine includes! For instance, they normally have subheading to split up there sell lines into different sections, which I ensured that I added in the end, as you don't usually find magazine having there features in numerical order, like I had done in all my drafts up to that point. Another thing that I noticed was missing on my contents page was to put the page number next to my thumbnails, so the reader knew where to find this particular story. Additionally, I read through the contents of my sell lines and realised there were too many exclamation marks, which resembled a pop magazine, so I took all of them out, as this wasn't a typical convention in acoustic magazines. Furthermore, I read through my editorial and realised it was a bit too chatty (although that relaxed, welcoming friendly atmosphere is what I was trying to achieve) I felt the "Hey guys" was again something you would find in a younger magazine. Therefore, I took that bit out and started it off with "welcome" as it is a new magazine, so that would be the best way to start the editorial off. Also, other little details that I picked out was every time I said the title of my magazine "tuned in" I changed the font to the same one as the front cover as well as the same font colour to keep continuity. Lastly, to ensure all of the contents fitted on (as some of the free space was taken up by the adding of the subheadings) I had to shrink the font size down to fit everything onto the page.

Double Page Spread:

As for my double page spread, I again feel my attention to detail, helped me improve my final drafts from my third.  One of the main improvements to my double page spread, is that I included the word "exclusive" at the top of the article. It may not be much, but I feel this was what the article needed to help it stand out and catch the audience's eye, plus it reinforces how exclusive this interview is as it was mentioned on the front page as well as the double page spread. Another improvement I made was to the article itself. As I felt there was a gap from where I had moved the pull out quote previously, I thought something needed to go there. Due to the fact I had included my 4 original pictures, I decided another pull out quote would full this gap. Therefore, I had to add some more context to my interview so I was able to pull out the quote I wanted to place in the space by the bench. I believe this particular quote reinforces that the artists is an acoustic one, due to her love for being outside, which in a way you would stereotypically think of when it comes to existing artists from this genre, as their music videos (as researched) where shot outside. Lastly, one of the most important features, I nearly forgot to include was the page numbers either side of the page! Without these it would be extremely different for the reader to navigate to each page. Therefore, if someone wanted to turn to page 24, from looking at the contents page, they would have to count the number out instead of just flickering to that page by looking for it at the bottom.

Conclusion:

Overall, I am happy with how my final drafts have turned out and I feel I have made a lot of progress since my very first draft! I believe that it does look more like a realistic acoustic magazine, as I have tried to stick to all the typical conventions you would find in an existing magazine form this genre.

Third Drafts Feedback

I decided to show the same people (from my target audience) who I asked for my second draft feedback to see what they think to the improvements I made made since they last saw it. Overall the feedback was positive, as they thought I had taken on board everything they said previously and the newest drafts looked more like a realistic acoustic magazine. Now the believe there are minor details and changes that I need to sort out in order to create the best publication I can. Here is a brief to do list, which I need to make sure I do for my final drafts:

• Try and make the mast head stand out more on the page (as it is the main thing the audience will look at)
• Make the "Britain's Newest Acoustic Magazine" more readable.
• Change font colours if necessary.
• Make the contents page more acoustic like, as at the moment I think there is something missing to make it look more realistic and fit in with the typical conventions.
• Add something in the space where the old pull out use to be.
• Add page numbers in!

Comparing My Second Drafts Against My Third Drafts

Again, like my "comparing my first drafts against my second drafts", I thought it would be easier to see all of the changes I have made from my second drafts to my thirds and how much progress I am making so far, by placing the the before and after (second and third draft of each page of my magazine) side by side....


Front Cover:

Contents Page:

Double Page Spread:

Third Drafts

Again, I have decided to put all three pages of my magazine onto one post. So here is my third drafts of my front cover for my magazine.

There are a variety of improvements I have made (taken on board from my second draft feedback) but other minor things I decided to change myself. One of the main changes that I edited, was flipping the picture around. I decided to see which way round the picture looked best on and I preferred the model, being positioned on the right hand side. Additionally, I ended up emboldening the title, as I didn't believe it didn't stand out enough on the page. I still think it could probably stand out more, so I will probably try to fix this in Photoshop in my next draft. Another thing that I made sure I included (which I can't believe I forgot to add on in the first place!) was to say that this is an acoustic magazine! As this is the first issue of a new music magazine, I thought it would be appropriate to have the tagline of "Britain's Newest Acoustic Magazine". Other minor changes I made, was the font colours. I thought I'd change the "find out how to win tickets inside" to black to make it stand out more on the page, however, I may mess around with the colours again to make sure the best colour is used to help it grab the audience's attention. Again, I changed "March 2012" to the colour white, but I'm still not sure that was the best move to make so I'll probably end p changing that again on my next draft. Like my target audience said in my previous post, the bar code needed to be smaller still, so I did, which meant I could enlarge the "Mia Melloway" font to ensure that it lived up to it's purpose of being the boost, by standing out and grabbing the audiences attention. Furthermore, I decided to enlarge the picture of the model on the front cover, so it was more of a mid shot rather than a long mid shot. Lastly, I made the skyline a little smaller, as I felt it was a bit too big and took some attention away from the rest of the main sell lines on the page. Overall, I am pleased with my improvements I have made on my front cover and I feel it is taking more shape. However, there are a few little adjustments I''m sure I can make to my next draft.

One of the main changes I believe is the most noticeable on my third draft of my contents page, it adding the two thumbnails of my model on the bottom left hand side. I realised that I hadn't meet the requirements of having 4 original images in the 3 magazine pages I was producing, therefore, I thought the best place to add the other two images I was missing was on the contents page. This resulted in my having to change the layout of the contents page a bit, as the picture of the guitar and stool was there, so I had to make the editorial smaller so I could move that next to it. Although, I haven't made that many changes to this particular drafts, I would say that it is slowly getting there to look like a realistic (hopefully) acoustic magazine. I personally think there is something missing from this contents page, so I am going to go back to basics on my next draft and see what the typical conventions you usually find in an acoustic magazine.

Out of all the third drafts, I would say that the double page spread, has most probably changed and improved the most! One of the first changes I made to my second drafts, was to add the old line paper border across the top of the page.This was not only to help the stand first and the name of "Mia Melloway" stand out more, but to keep continuity throughout the magazine pages. I think by including this on the front cover, contents page and double page spread, makes this feature a particular house style, so the audience can see and tell that each page is from the same magazine and if they went to buy it they would know exactly what to look out for. Another feature, I nearly almost forgot to include was the drop cap, that I mentioned I wanted to include several posts ago! I decided to use quite a swirly "S" so it fitted in with the target market being primarily girls and link nicely with the font used for "Mia Melloway's" name. Another improvement I made to the double page spread, was to move the pull out quote to the middle of the main Q&A article. the only problem with his action, is that where I have moved the pull out quote from (bottom left hand corner) it looks rather bare, looking at it again and therefore, I will add something to fill the gap. Additionally, I felt the text of the Q&A interview in places was hard to read, so I decided to add a  rectangle shape behind the text and fill it in white and then change the transparency to 63%. This way the text is more visible, as the extra layer of the faint white background, helped the red and black contrast against it and be able to read the article, instead of having to guess what some words said. Another slight minor detail was moving the name of "Mia Melloway" and the stand first slightly more apart, so you could tell that they were both on separate pages, even though the line down the middle isn't in place, you could still tell.

Conclusion:

On the whole, the double page spread was probably the most improved, as it was the main page that needed changing. However, I am over all happy with all the adjustments I made to the front cover, contents page and double page spread, as they are all starting to take more shape now, compared to where I first started.

Comparing Drafts Feedback

I thought it would be a good idea to ask my target audience to see what they think of my improvements from my first draft to my second and see if they can think of any change they would make to the magazine pages at this stage.  Here are there responses when I showed them the comparison between the two:

• "I think that overall the second drafts look a lot more professional and lot more informative for the read, compared to the first draft."

• "With the front cover, I think that by including the skyline at the top having a sort of motto for the magazine, brings it to life more. My only improvement would be to add something like "Britain's new acoustic magazine" so the audience know what genre music magazine it is. You could probably guess but it would be better to mention it on there so the buyer can recognise straight away and have no doubt in their mind that this is the magazine they were looking for."

• "You have defiantly improved the double page spread, as it looked rather bare and uninteresting, which wouldn't have grabbed your target audiences attention, I think. Therefore, the brief description (stand first) about Mia, teases us, the reader wanting to find out more. However, it could by made better by somehow making the text stand out more as at places, it is difficult to read."

• "I agree with your decision to chose the contents page with the old paper as the background due to the fact the text is more visible, as some of the text in the other one is kind hard to read. Also, I think with too much information on that page (which I'm guessing you'll be putting on) would ruin the one with the guitar in, whereas, with having a more simpler background you can add more and still be able to read everything."

• "I really like the font you have used for your title of your magazine, but I think it needs to be more bold to make it more clear and stand out on the page."

• "This is rather picky, but I can see that you have made the barcode smaller from the first draft, however, I still think it could be a little smaller as it is one of the insignificant things that should take up little space on your page compared to other more important features."

• "Straightaway, the front cover looks more "full", as before you could say it looked a bit bare. Now I think there is enough sell lines on it without over cluttering it and looking messy."

• "By adding the skyline on the front cover, is a great improvement to be honest, as it bring continuity to the magazine. Maybe you should include it in the double page spread too, so show that this concept is the particular house style that the magazine has?"

..........................................................................................................

Conclusion:

After reading the comments and looking back at each drafts, I agree with what was said and will take their improvements on board and include them in my next draft! I have decided to make a quick to do list so I can refer back to it when making my third drafts.

• Mention that this is an acoustic magazine.
• Change font colours where unnecessary.
• Make the bar code and price smaller on the front cover. 
• Embolden the mast head.
• Add two more original photos on the contents page (as i have realised I have not meet the specification of having 4 original photos include in my magazine.
• Add the old line paper somewhere on the double page spread.
• Add a drop cap (looking back at my previous posts, I remembered I mentioned that I wanted to add this in so that's what I will do!)

I'm sure that I will end up changing more things that I have mentioned above, but here is a brief to do list that I will follow for my third drafts. 

Comparing My First Drafts Against My Seconds Drafts

I thought it would be easier to see all the changes I have made to my second drafts from my firsts by comparing them against each other. Therefore, I will place them side by side (so show the before and after stage of each draft) so you can see the improvements I have made.


Front Cover:

Due to the fact that I didn't know which one to chose from my first drafts I have uploaded each one putting the old ones on the left and the second drafts on the right below.

Contents Page:

      
Double Page Spread:
Throughout my post I have been putting the pictures side by side so you can see the comparisons, however, I am unable to put the images next to each other, I will place the first draft on top and the second draft below.

                        

Second Drafts

Although, I have previously split my first drafts of my front cover, contents page and double page spread, into different posts, I thought it would be best to have all of the pages in my magazine that I am working on, all together to see and talk about the improvements I have made to each. 

Front Cover:

Here is my second draft for my front cover, where I have added a few minor details and improvements, which will hopefully make my acoustic magazine look more realistic. The first thing I did before starting editing the first draft was to go back to the basics and see what were the most common and typical features you would find in a music magazine. One of the most important things that I had completely forgotten about to put in, was to add a skyline at the top of the page, with the a tag line for the magazine. I don't know many magazines that don't have a tag line included or even a skyline on their front cover, so therefore, I ensured that I came up with a tag line that was relevant to the mast head of the magazine and the acoustic theme I was going for. This is how "STAYED TUNED WITH TUNED IN" was born! Usually the skyline is a different colour than the rest of the colours on the page to help it stand out and draw the attention of the reader to it. Therefore, I tried and tested the skyline with a variety of colours, such as red, white and black to try and fit in with my 3 colour scheme, however, I didn't feel like it fitted in well or even stood our from the page that much. Then I remembered I had used the old paper on my first draft of my contents page and thought that I would use that for my sky line as not only will it hep the tag line stand out but it will keep continuity throughout the magazine, so the audience can tell that all these pages are from the same magazine. This could also be seen as a typical house style you would find in this magazine to help the readers know what to look for of they wanted to buy this magazine. Secondly, I realised that I hadn't added a teaser to my main sell line which was about the new star on the block Mia Melloway. Also, as Mia is a new star, this would be her first ever interview she has had and therefore, I added the anchorage/buzz word of "Exclusive". I thought it would be best to have it in a box so the word stood out to show it's importance. Lastly, I changed a few colours of the fonts that I had used. For example, I change Taylor Swift from black to blue to help the sell line stand out and I changed the date of the magazine from black to white, again to help it stand out to the audience.


Contents Page:

As I mentioned in my previous post about my first drafts of my contents page, I was undecided one which one to chose. Therefore, I edited both as you can see to help my decide which one to use for my magazine and edit until I am completely happy that it looks like a conventional contents page from an acoustic magazine. The main improvement I have included on this contents page is by adding an editorial, as these are commonly on music magazine. Although, it is not on the one I have looked at specifically (acoustic magazine) I believe this is extremely important to include as this is a brand new magazine so the audience need to know what is included and what they can expect from this publication. Another difference between each of these drafts from the first, is that I have changed the layout around. For instance, the first picture on the left hand side had the text on the left hand side, however, as I couldn't fit the editorial and the features on, I had to move the design all around. With image 2 (on the right) I had to shrink the font size down, as again I couldn't fit everything on without making this improvement. I also decided against having a picture of the editor (which is a typical convention) because of the fact that I am my own model, I think it would look strange having the model and the editorials the same person as that wouldn't usually been seen in existing magazines. Overall, I have decided that I will continue using image  2 (on the right) for my third drafts, as I believe that the text is more visual be on that one compared to image 1 and you can't really see the guitar as well as you could in the first draft.

Double Page Spread:

With my double page spread I would say that I have made several verifications to it, to make it look better and mire like a conventional article. Going back to basics, like I mentioned earlier on in the post, I thought it would be best to look back at my previous work such as my textual analysis (even though they weren't on acoustic magazines) and my deconstruction of "acoustic" the music magazine. One of the first main changes that I made, was the adding of the stand first, a little description of the new artists. As I discovered, without this information no one would know who she is (apart from her name). Therefore, by including the stand first at the top, I had to then move the pull out quote of "it is always better to have tried and failed than have failed to try!" to another place. I believed that the where Mia was sitting on the bench looked rather bare so I thought it was the best place to put the quote. Furthermore, I decided that the font colours, where the wrong choice and didn't really keep continuity with the rest of the magazine. Therefore, I changed it from blue and red to black and red, as this would link to the colour scheme I have used so far in my front cover and contents page. Also, I believe these colours are more easy in the eye and you can read the comet easier. However, I'm not sure you can read all of the black font at the bottom, so I may need to change the transparency or something in my thirds drafts, so the audience can read the text better.

First Draft Of The Double Page Spread

Here are my three possible double page spreads, that I have created for my first drafts. As, I have done for the rest of my first drafts, they include the same article about the artists Mia Melloway, but have different pictures of which I was unsure to chose. As, I mentioned in earlier posts (especially my brief mock up draft and pictures that I am going to use) I was going to test out two different layout options, which I am undecided would look best for my magazine. Therefore, I have two different pictures that I liked, with the design of having the main image taking up half of the double page spread and the text taking up the other half. The picture at the bottom is the other layout I also like, which is having the picture cover the whole of the double page spread and the text being layered on top. Again, I have tried to keep continuity by having the same guitar used throughout on the front cover, contents page and double page spread, as well as all the features included on each draft.

Conclusion:

After comparing all three images against one another, I have decided that I prefer the layout of image 3, as  in my opinion it looks more aesthetically pleasing on the eye and also, I do not like having too much white half the page because it looks to plain and boring. However, I do still like the images on picture 1 and 2, so I may use these as thumbnails or something on one of the other pages of my magazine. There are several aspects about image three I'm not so keen on, but this is what I shall take on board for my second drafts.

First Draft On The Contents Page

Again, as I mentioned in my previous post that as I am a rather indecisive person, I have done 3 first drafts for each of my front cover, contents page and double page spread. Like I said in my front cover post, they all look rather different but still include the same content, just have a different picture that I have used for each draft. I tried to ensure that I kept to the typical conventions that you find on an acoustic contents page, which is defiantly including a guitar somewhere on the page (check!) To ensure that I have kept continuity with my front cover, I have kept the same fonts used throughout my contents page. For example, the "contents" headline at the top is the same font I used for my mast head on the front cover "New garden" font. Also, I have used "Bell MT" in the red subheading (to help people navigate to each page) like I used for my price and March 2012 feature on my front page. I also found this old paper image off the internet when I did my post inspirational photos, which inspired me to try this out on my contents page (as you can see I have tried to incorporate it in each contents draft).

Conclusion:

With the contents page, I have found it more difficult to decide on which image I believe has more of an acoustic feel to it. Currently, I have stuck between image 2 and 3. This is because that I prefer different aspect of each drafts and at this moment in time it is hard to chose between the two. Also, they are completely different, which does not help making my decision any easier. Therefore, what I think will be best to do, is to carry on editing both drafts and then decide which one looks better once I have added more features onto it and changing the design around.

Front Cover First Draft

As I was unsure about which picture to use for my first draft, I decided to edit the three that I shown in my presentation I made in my previous post. Although each edit look slightly different, this is only because I had chosen 3 different poses and therefore, I had to change the position of some features as well as the colours for the fonts I've used, due to the lighting on the page. However, I have still included all the same features in each of the drafts, so it is fair to compare them against one another. When constructing my front cover, I kept in mind my results from my questionnaire, my sketches, as well as what I thought would appeal to my target. I decided to stick to the typical conventions that I found out in my textual analysis of music magazines, such as the mast head at the top for example. Going back to my fonts post, I have stuck to choosing font three, as it links to the nature idea of my acoustic themed magazine. I made sure that I chose three pictures that all included my guitar in, to ensure that at first glance of the front cover, the reader can recognise that it is an acoustic magazine. 

Conclusion:

Overall, after weighing up the pros and cons and deciding which one I would prefer I have come to the decision that I am going to use image 2. This is mainly due to the fact that with picture 1 and 2, they don't give off the vibe that this magazine is for people who aspire to be talents acoustic musicians, as in number 1 the talent is not actually playing the guitar and number three you can't tell if the guitar is being played or not. So, for this reason and many others, I believe this is a more appropriate and convincing image that would appeal for my target market. Therefore, I am going to carry on editing, until I am completely happy that it has all the typical conventions that you would find on a front over of an acoustic magazine.

Which Photos To Use?

I thought it would be to choose my favourite three pictures for my front cover, contents page and double page spread , out of my 30 original photos I liked from my photo shoot. However, after narrowing it down to three pictures each, I got stuck on which ones I liked to edit for my first drafts. Therefore, I have decided to use all three pictures (for front cover, contents page and double page spread), edit them and then choose which image would look best for each purpose. I made a presentation so show the pictures, I am deliberating against and the reasons why I like them and it's hard for me to narrow them down at this stage...

Deciding Which Photos To Use

View more PowerPoint from Catherine Baker

Contents Article Ideas

After thinking of what would attract my audience to my magazine, I decided to think about what sell lines to include for my publication. Looking back at what I what I have written in my previous post, I came up with some names to call each article. At first I wanted to keep the same theme of having each feature, replaced by a song from an acoustic artist, to link in with the theme. However, I couldn't find lyrics to fit in with the features I wanted to include in my magazine. Therefore, I tried to use play on words with my title "Tuned In" and use some songs from artists e.g. "wordplay" is by Jason Mraz and "speak now" by Taylor Swift, as I was unable to play on my mast head for more than a couple of features. Overall, I came up with these names for my article I want to include an a brief description that I will probably place underneath on my contents page.

·         Retune Your ears – Hear the latest acoustic singles and albums out this month

·         Heads Up – Tuned In give the heads up on the latest talent on the block

·         Mia Melloway – Meet the girl behind the guitar in this exclusive interview!

·         Jason Mraz – His most honest and inspiring interview ever!

·         Gig Guide – Tuned In tunes in to find you where the best gigs are at this month

·         Speak Now – Have your say!

·         Wordplay – Guess the lyrics quiz

·         The Brits – Who’s nominated this year?

·         John Mayer – Find out what he’s up to this year!

·         Performance Tips – Guaranteed to make you succeed!

·         Tuned In Top Tips – Acoustic artists aspiring advice

·         Your Song – Create your own song competition to win Taylor Swift Tickets

·         Free Acoustic Compilation CD – Top Tunes from Top Artists