Rejected Final Designs

This design was rejected for a number of reasons. Firstly, the different text colours on the cover lines doesn't match the overall colour scheme of the house style. Also, The main coverline covers the guitar on the main image too much, which is counter-intuitive for a guitar magazine not not feature a guitar prominently on the cover. Finally, there was not enough content on the cover; guitars magazine often maximize the space to cram as much content in as possible. 

Image Editing Process

Institutions

Based upon the style and audience of my magazine, as well as existing magazines that they publish, I would be best suited with Future Publishers PLC. Future currently have a whole section dedicated to music based media: Music Radar. This sector includes many famous titles such as ‘Guitarist’ ‘Total Guitar’. My magazine would be suited very nicely to such a precise and bespoke service that target a very specific demographic. Future are also more likely to get “Power Chord” sold in very well-known distributors such as WH Smiths and ASDA Moreover, my magazine has the ability to cater for very high-profile advertising contracts, Future would have the key experience in dealing with advertisers to get the best revenue out of companies who want advertising space in the magazine.

Also, by magazine is developed to cater to a very broad and popular target audience; Future has the ability to expand and reach the audience that my magazine has the capability to appeal to. They already publish incredibly successful music-based magazine and have formed a huge band of trust between the readers for a good quality magazine. If I was to go with a small independent company, my magazine would not be able to fulfil its potential market as they may not be able to distribute the magazine as efficiently. The same applies to self-publishing, we would not have the experience and know-how of bigger publishers, like Future, to get the maximum exposure that the magazine needs; it is important to get good exposure quickly as many titles fail within their first three years.

On the other hand, with the rapid expansion of online media and technologies, my magazine would be able to reach many more young people worldwide. A website, YouTube and online issues of the magazine will help spread “Power Chord” all over the world. Future’s Music Radar website includes exclusive articles, news and interviews that are updated on a weekly basis. This online presence will help to boost the profile of the magazine and make it a must-have magazine for guitarists all over the globe.

Skills Development

Initial Drafts

Masthead Ideas

Front Cover

Contents

Double Page

Original Images

Addressing my Audience Evaluation

One of the main ‘point of sale’ on my magazine is the bold and eye-catching mast head; this stands out against the dark background and grabs the attention of anyone that walks past. The masthead also attracts to my target audience, using a bole serif font and dark colours that attract to my younger target audience.

Also, the direct mode of address on my main cover image creates an in-depth and personal connection between the cover and the reader, this helps to attract the readers eye when passing on a shelf. Similarly, the dark colours of the dress in the main image attracts to the younger rock fan that my magazine is targeted towards.

Furthermore, the dark colours, which stand out on the high-contrasted back-ground, both match the themes of my target audience and grab the attention of a possible reader.  This is very important as it will encourage a member of my target audience to pick up the magazine and start reading.

The member s of my target audience that I interviewed all said that the cover lines were one of the key features that attracted them to the magazine. They said that the content was interesting to them and would persuade them to read more. This shows that packing my cover with lots of content will provide the target audience with a hook that will entice them to open the magazine.

Within the magazine, I used a very dark colour scheme, composed mainly of monochrome reds, to reflect the dark themes for in most rock music. This was very import to mirror as my target audience is made up of people who have an interest in variants of rick music.

I wanted my magazine to come across as an educated expert in the guitar profession: able to help and support both developing and experienced guitarists. To achieve this, I used very specific and descriptive language to educate, as well as features that would tailor to improve all level of guitarist; the content of the magazine is designed to constantly improve and educated the reader.

Addressing my Audience

Finished Products

Front Cover 

Contents

Double Page

Representation

Forms and Conventions

Technologies

DSLR – DSLR cameras are lightweight and highly versatile, they boast a wide variety of picture styles and produces crisp and sharp images. lots of focal lengths to allow creative shot types (long shot, medium shot etc.) However, these cameras are very expensive.

Softbox – This is a powerful light that fills subject with light; I learnt that, arranged properly in a 3-point lighting rig, they can eliminate shadows. Unfortunately, they are very expensive and bulky.

Work Station PC – Using a high-end PC allows for seamless productivity but can be extremely expensive.

Photoshop – This image editing software boasts lots of tool for creating stunning original products. However, can be very overwhelming for new users.

Clone stamp tool – I learnt how to use the clone stamp tool to eliminate imperfections

            Crop tool – I discovered how to crop tool clears excess from and image.

Quick Select tool – The quick selection tool allowed to make fast selections of areas to apply masks and effects.

            Text tool – This adds widely customisable text to the image.

Premier pro – Adobe’s main video editor has extensive tools for professional looking video. I learnt how to apply colour correction, add audio to a multitrack and record audio.

PowerPoint/Word – Microsoft’s popular office tools have lots of tools for creating professional presentations and documents; they have easy export options for uploading coursework online.

YouTube – The world most popular video sharing site offers HD video hosting. I learnt how to embed videos into a blog direct from YouTube.

Survey monkey – This offers easy creation of surveys that can be distributed worldwide. I learnt how to construct and distribute surveys as well as collect and analyse results

Prezi/Slideshare/Flipsnack – These online-based presentation tools offer unlimited online presentations; much more interactive and versatile than PowerPoint. There is also no risk of loss of work as it’s all stored on the cloud. This also means its easily sharable. However, internet connection is needed to make changes.

NVidia Shadowplay – This software High-quality screen capture. Unfortunately, it only comes with NVidia graphics cards. Using this, I learnt how higher bitrate results in a much more high-quality video.

Target Audience

Target Audience Questionnaire Analysis