Unit 3: Create a media product

Evaluation

The client, SPH Publishing is a new publishing company who are opening in Sheffield. They have asked me to create a magazine. This being a local magazine that will cater to a Sheffield based audience. I decided to create Alternative rock genre style as the genre is quite a niche category of music, however, is one of the main genres in the Sheffield area as famous bands like the Artic Monkeys and The Sherlocks and The Courteeners. These band being the main music associated with Sheffield. I chose this genre as it is the best genre to make as locally this genre can present so many artists that can be used in this magazine. My magazine is called “ALT” This is an abbreviation of the word “Alternative” which is associated with the genre “Alternative Rock”. This will explicitly show the demographic what the genre of this magazine is. The target audience for my magazine are 15-24-year-old male and female people who have a passion for the rock background. Most of them listening to it in their free time.

The magazine I have created is made up of 4 pages. The first page being a Front cover. On this page is a large Headline showing strong branding. This being in the style of the magazine “Q”. This with the main artist on the front cover connoting that they will be in DPS. This will entice the reader as the band have posed like a traditional band. This making them into ideal self. Next the contents page which shows the reader what else is in the magazine. And lastly my double page spread, this is be about main feature of the magazine, Squarewave. This being the band featured on my front cover.

On the front cover of my magazine there are multiple assets used to apply with the conventions of an Alternative rock. I did this using genre specific fonts. By this I mean I fonts that can connote a hard-scruffy b writing, this applying to the brief as it clearly shows the musical genre. I used 2 fonts on my masthead. These fonts I found on the Adobe Photoshop font area. These were the Colona MT font and the Niagara font. The serif font on the first letter connoted the out of ordinary style because of its double line use on the left side of the A there is a double line that is not used in ordinary writing this making it u ordinary and unique thus linking to the genre of the magazine. The main cover image is the featured band that being Squarewave, a local band from Sheffield, this helping with the locality of the magazine. The clothing that Sqaurewave are wearing can also connote the genre of the magazine. The colour of these clothes and the material of the clothes, that being flannel which is stereotyped to be with the target market of rock, can connote the genre as the ideal self in comparison to the genre, this ideal self-concept appeals to the target audience as they look like the stereotypical band that the target audience likes a lot. For example the Arctic Monkeys wear similar clothing thus creating a trend that this magazine is trying to follow. This linking to SPH Publishing's requirements as this sort of clothing can connote that the genre of this magazine is musical, this being an option of style of magazine in the SPH Publishing requirements. Also, the colours on the front cover attract the reader to the magazine because these colours connote an appropriate selection of colours as they contrast well this could connote the quality of magazine making the reader believe that the magazine is good through the good selection of colours. Also, the colours could connote that out of the ordinary style as the red stands out form the mainly white background this could connote the genres style of being out of the ordinary as alternative rock. Also, the yellow colour for a few graphics on my front cover can denote an extra colour onto the front cover. The yellow also connoting danger as it connotes yellow tape that is used around crimes. The lower left graphics are in keeping with the housestyle of the magazine by being a solid white shape with a black stroke, the shape being a square to show consistency throughout the magazine. These graphics also stand out from the magazine as they are in front of the main cover image acting as a sell line as it promotes other content in the magazine. I had researched other magazines to see if this position of graphics was normal and I saw through “Q” and “Kerrang” that this positioning was the case. Other sell lines that are on my front are at the top relating to local events in bold writing these local event were in SPH Publishing's brief as they wanted a local magazine created and local events connote a local magazine. Also, one last sell line at the bottom in a red and white combination. This showing off famous names that will be featured this enticing the reader, all local names, this linking SPH Publishing's brief. Another Main feature of my front cover is the most common feature of any magazine in general. That being the main headline of the magazine. This main headline describes more about the main cover image. This gives the image a written interaction with the reader through a pull quote or a simple method such as the band’s or artists’ name, this simply describing to the reader who the local artist’ are. SPH publishing wanting this because they want the band to go out to a local audience. My headline simply says “Introducing Squarewave” This connotes the band Squarewave being introduced to the local audience that is reading this magazine. This is like they are being introduced to the stage. This links to the musical genre as many musicians are called up to the stage to perform live. This point is backed with the style of font. This Sans Serif font, which was called the impact font on photoshop. I chose this font as it is a simple and enticing font that will attract the reader through its size and spacing of the letters. This being noticeable with the white colour helping it to be seen better. At the start of making this in my client feedback, I was told that the masthead of my magazine which is a solid red square with the branding of my magazine in it. Form my client I was told that the size of it was too small and it would be better to make the shape a rectangle as it makes it fill the page and makes the branding clearer. Another change I performed through my feedback is the box graphics that highlight what highlights what is happening within the magazine. My feedback stated that the boxes were not fitting enough. With this feedback I adjusted the box height and width. This giving space to the content within making look more professional.

The articles that are featured on my contents page will be page specific as they will go in page order from page 1 – page 58. In each page article there is a photo of the featured artist or person with the name in the housestyle colours of white to make it visible to the reader as it is presented in from the image and the red square graphic. The photos for all the articles is larger in ratio to the writing, this directly thinking about the target audience, because the target audience is so young and niche means they were born in the late 90s or early 10s meaning they have become apparent to the new stereotype that young do not read and prefer pictures. The photos are about the highlighted band on that page in every column have portraits of the singer. Also, the large picture at the top connotes the importance of the person as this to the certain page in the magazine. At the top of the contents page they are the one photo that is larger than the rest of the other shown pages connoting the importance of this article. My article is about Squarewave, the band who are featured on the front cover. This shows the continuation of importance for this band as they get the biggest photo of the grid layout featuring a large photo and multiple columns full of photos and the front cover all connoting that this band is the main event of this magazine. The photo is of them playing their instruments, this letting the target reader see how they play and what they look like playing. This could lead to the target reader wanting to see this band thus creating more exposure for Squarewave. The slug in this contents page in the top left corner of the contents page is a greeting to the reader making the contents page seem more interactive with the reader as it is a direct greeting to the reader, the word welcome connotes that the magazine wants the reader to read on, also this could be connoting friendliness saying that they want anyone to read the magazine. This in Niagara font which is unique making the welcome stand out. Lastly in the middle left of my contents page there is an editor's column that gives a personal view of what is in the magazine signed off with a signature connoting interactive effort. With my contents page I have had a considerable amount of feedback as the designs did not look to the standard I knew SPH publishing would approve of. Firstly, from my client I had realised that initially the housetyle colours were overpowering red. This making it hard to look at. From this I made the main background white to allow me to express more colours such as yellow. I chose this colour to add to my housetyle as it could connote the element danger which have stated earlier. I firstly changed the colour of the text to that however with a black stroke. However later when seeing this again I changed that to black with a black stroke and changed it to the impact font and showed consistency throughout the magazine. This was a main improvement from my client. Another adjustment I had performed was the lining up of my columns. This was an issue with me as the page number graphics acting as bullet points were individually created on Photoshop. This meaning the positioning relied on these graphics. In my opinion later on I thought I would be using Solid shape graphics like rectangle to create a sort of grid design to show the columns. However with me using the grid setting InDesign and placing each text box in the correct position. This created an invisible grid that creates a layout inspired by Kerrang and how they set out their contents page. I believe with all these changes the connotation of an Alternative rock genre magazine is still very present with the bold writing connoting aggression, the housestyle colours, even with these changes still connote the musical genre as these colours are stereotypically associated with Alternative Rock. The content including albums of local artists being mentioned in the columns count towards SPH Publishing’s requirements as musical content is required in a magazine that features music. The fact that is local appeals to SPH as they want my magazine to be local. Categories like music and clothing all fit into this. In these columns there are personal messages towards the reader, this showing an interactive feature in the contents page as some the writing is in 1^stperson connoting interactive between writer and reader. This style of writing involves the reader ad makes them want read more.

On my first page of my double page spread there is the first half the red border that is used in every single page of the magazine, this being the housestyle of the magazine. The image taking up lot of space in this page is the photo of Squarewave wearing the same clothing as they were on the front cover, thus showing continuity of the magazine. These clothes being a contrast of light and dark colours or just dark colours, this connoting the genre of the music they play, this linking to the genre of the magazine making the photo seem appropriate and through that making the band seem appropriate to the reader, making them understand why these are the main feature in the magazine. The shot type for this main photo will be a close action shot to enhance the atmosphere that this band can create which directly appeals to the reader because it will satisfy their need to be involved with in a music festival situation which this photo denotes. The photo clearly shows all 3 members of Squarewave performing to give the full band the credit in this article written about them. The exospore and shutter speed of this photo makes them visible and with the slight blur can connote the intensity of the event showcased in this photo. On this side of the DPS where the bulk of the main article on the band as the main article is placed which is horizontal across both pages this being placed on the main black of the DPS. This not going over the band. The Main consists of main facts about Squarewave this informing the reader of who their and slowly going into detail. This is done using past events that they have done and using positive statistics making Squarewave seem right to be in this DPS. The content goes in a chronological way in the bands history to make the reader feel like they know the band more connoting a sense of importance with the band. After this chronological timeline. The next section is about the upcoming events that the band will be doing and where. The next part of the article will be band questions I have picked as a way for the reader to find out more about the band and be able to plan events with them and remember them. Through this question about ambitions and new gigs that they will be playing at. This breaching to the local requirement that is mentioned in the brief. The changes I have had to perform on DPS to make sure it appeals to SPH Publishing is changed my headline on my DPS and change the colour from the Coloma MT and the Niagara font which was underlined in red. My client said that it was not readable. With that in mind I had changed the headline to what I stated earlier to the impact font with box. This makes the caption “this is Squarewave “more readable this making the reader want to read on. I made sure I changed my headline as with my example magazine the headline so important through its size and font. This explaining how important they are and why they deserve to be in the DPS.

For this photo I believe my strengths are the clothing that is being worn in this photo. The use of the hat and the bright orange coat. This type of clothing is worn by many people who are the demographic for ALT magazine. An improvement I need to think about is the exposure of the photo as the models seem abit paler than usual.

A strength I believe I have done is the poses I have instructed the models to do. As the magazine is a serious magazine because the genre is directed to young adults the poses are relevant to it. An improvement I would suggest if the fact that the photo is landscape when it should be portrait. Also the 3rd model is not looking at the camera this connoting awkwardness.

In this photo, one strength I would suggest is the emotion is portrayed through this photo. This is done by getting a mid action shot which I got. A improvement I would suggest is the fact that there is a woman in the background that doesn't really fit the genre. I think also there is parts of the photo not in full focus.

This page graphic strength would be the showing off of the housestyle and the clear simple design of the page number. An improvement would be changing the colours to add variety. I believe the design too basic. I think the number should be bolder so it can be more readable.

This DPS headline strengths can be the unique design. This design connotes the importance of the band as it has got a specialist design that connotes the rough genre. An improvement that I can find is maybe the colour is too red and could be different colours. In my opinion the colour is too red as it may not be able to be that readable.

This graphic is the contents page indicator of what is happening in this issue. A Strength I believe it has is the yellow colour as it can connote danger as the yellow is linked with police tape connoting bad attitude. A improvement would be the spacing as I believe the spacing of the letters are too big making the font too big.

My Masthead is influenced by the magazine Q, I believe this is a strength as my masthead looks professional and shows clearly the housestyle colours of my magazine. An improvement would be size of the masthead as I believe a rectangle design gives off a more masthead look. I also believe the word is too small as the square to word ratio is to much in square's favour. This not being good promotionally as the brand of Alt is not clear.

This graphic is my sell line for content within the magazine. I made this graphic using the shape tool on photoshop. I also used the layer style tool to create a thick black stroke around the circle. One strength for this graphic would be the size of the graphic because it is big enough to be seen but not too big to overpower the page. An improvement will be the black stroke. This is because it blends in with the photo.

This is a lower sell line of the famous names that can be linked with this magazine. These names are deliberately part of the magazine genre. This being appropriate advertising of the genre of the magazine. One strange is the colour pattern. I believe the colour patterns visually satisfying. One improvement would be the spacing of the words. In my opinion the spacing is uneven, thus being incorrect.