Drafting & Planning: Creative Q Task

I took a picture of Lisa Hannigan into Paint.net along with the Q masthead. I duplicated the layer with Lisa on it and then cropped the top layer to be just bigger than the masthead. I moved the cropped layer above the masthead and used the magic wand tool to remove the background, allowing me to have Lisa's head above the masthead. I then saved this as a JPEG and took it into Publisher. There I added a cover line, some anchorage text and a barcode.

This is useful for me to do as a practice for my preliminary task, and by doing this smaller task I will be able to complete the preliminary task more efficiently.

Research Into Similar Products (Contents Page 2)

In the above image I have highlighted the key features of Q magazine’s contents page. As you can see, Q’s masthead has been placed at the top of the page in the only segment of solid colour. Furthermore, the issue number has also been displayed there, next to an image of the front cover.

The main image of the contents page is of the same cover star as the front cover. This enables the magazine to continue to emphasises who or what the main story is about. Furthermore, each of the images (including secondary images) is accompanied by a page number. This enables readers that don’t want to read the page to find a story their interested in.

The contents list is separated into two. One with the featured articles, (i.e. one offs) and the “Regulars” (i.e. stories/articles that appear in all, or most of the issues). This is useful for returning Q customers that like a specific article that is on every issue – they don’t have to search for them mixed among the featured stories.

Research Into Similar Products (Contents Page 1)

In the above image I have highlighted the key features of the Mojo magazine’s contents page. As you can see, the formalities – the masthead, issue number and date have all been placed prominently at the top of the page. This makes the masthead feel like it dominates the page. The photograph begins below all these and finishes just short of the bottom of the page with the contents of the magazine placed around it. This, in conjunction to the fact that the cover stars clothing is the only vibrant colours on the page, makes him stand out above the rest, forcing you to look at him before anything else. Finally, the use of the “bland” background colour makes the typography stand out as gold and black have been used. 

Research Into Similar Products (Cover 6)

In the above image I have highlighted the key conventions that NME magazine follows. Of course there are many conventions that are similar to the others I have covered. In this issue of NME the colour scheme has been carried through from the text to the clothes the cover star is wearing – even his tattoo. The use of a consistent colour scheme is useful in making the magazine look appealing to the reader as someone is more likely to read a magazine that looks nice as well as providing entertaining stories.

Research Into Similar Products (Cover 5)

In the above image I have highlighted all the conventions of music magazines that Kerrang magazine follow. As you can see, Kerrang follows many of the same conventions that Q magazine follow, however, Kerrang follow some that Q does not, these include Screamers – these are effective in this genre of magazine to address headlines that are important, but not as important as the main headline. Kerrang also use a large amount of Pugs and Puffs to entice the reader to pick up the magazine for all the perks it will bring them – like posters and gig dates.

The uses of the conventions, in my opinion are used effectively to grab the readers attention and encourage them to buy the magazine.

Research into Similar Products (Cover 4)

In this I have highlighted all of the conventions of a music magazine that are present in this addition of Q Magazine. These conventions are effective because they all work together to persuade the reader to pick up and buy the magazine. Everything from the main image to the text works well to create an overall impact that will encourage the sale of this issue.

The point of this exercise is to understand the conventions of music magazines, and to understand how and why they are effective.

Research into Similar Products (Cover 3)

As part of the course, I have to research similar products to my own (Music Magazines).

While browsing through the search results of "Music magazine covers", I came across a cover of Rock Sound featuring Andy Biersack - the lead singer of Black Veil Brides. (Below)

I liked this cover as the image of Andy contrasts the rest of the cover - Everything is black until his face. This in conjunction with the black face paint makes it look like his face blends into the background. The typography where it says "Black Veil Brides" is a different font and different colour scheme to the rest of the spread, which I feel is done deliberately to attract the readers attention as Black Veil Brides are well known in the rock music scene.

Research into Similar Products (Cover 2)

As part of the course, I have to research similar products to my own (Music Magazines).

When looking through the search results I came across a cover that featured Eminem. (Below)

This cover stood out to me as the photograph of Eminem covers the mast head. This shows the audience that: either The content of the magazine is so good that it is more important than the aesthetics of the magazine, or that the magazine is well known by many, and therefore the masthead is not needed to be on full show. To the reader, this may encourage us to pick up the magazine and eventually even buy it. Further more, Eminem is looking straight down the lens - almost as if he is looking at us. This paired with his hand over his heart makes the reader feel a connection with the reader

The magazine's typography and colour scheme are consistent - even with Eminem's clothing - which makes the magazine seem appealing to the reader.

Research into Similar Products (Cover 1)

As part of the course, I have to research similar products to my own (Magazines). Although my magazine will be a music magazine, my comments are based on layout, composition and imagery.

I had a quick Google of "Magazine covers" and I began to look through the results. one cover stood out to me like a sore thumb. It was a Times magazine cover featuring Steve Jobs. (see below)

 

What I love about this cover is how Jobs' face is centralised, how his face is only half lit and how everything but his face is pure black. I feel like this makes Jobs seem powerful, it grasps your attention. When I first saw this cover I was immediately drawn to his eyes, and for at least a second he felt god-like, like he had been taken out of the normal world and put into his own world for us to admire.

Preliminary Task: Audience Research

My first question was "In your opinion, what should be the name of the new school magazine?".

My results show that 56% of the people asked, preferred the name "Tommie Prophet". Meanwhile, only 22% liked the names "STACS of News" and "Sixth Sense". The lest popular name choice was "Sixth Times". From this I now know that I should name my magazine "Tommies Prophet" as it was popular.

My second question was "What colour scheme do you think is appropriate for the school magazine?".

My results show that 56% of the people asked, preferred the colour scheme of the Sixth Form (Green and Black). Meanwhile 44% preferred the school colours (Black, Red and Silver). While 0% preferred The house colours. From this I now know that I should use the colour scheme Green and Black. 

My third question was "Who should the magazine be for?"

My results show that 78% of the people asked thought the magazine should be for the whole school. This result contradicts question 2 where more people said they wanted the Sixth Form colours. This means that I need to choose whether to follow question 2 or 3. 

My fourth question was "What should be covered in the magazine?"

I asked this question as an open question to give the audience the chance to give me their ideas so that I could get some idea as to what the audience would be interested in reading. 

A large majority of the people asked said they would like to see upcoming events and news, as well as important dates (e.g. term times, parents evenings, etc.). Other, less requested topics included: sports news, entertainment pieces(including games - crosswords, Sudoku, etc.).

My fifth question was "How often should the magazine be published?"

From this graph, I now know that 56% of the people asked said they would prefer the magazine to be published on a monthly basis. Further more, 33% said they would like the magazine to be published termly and 11% said they think it should be published weekly. With 0% choosing yearly. From this I know that the best gap between each issue would be monthly.

My sixth question was "What font should the magazine be in?"

Again, i left this as an open question so that my audience would be able to choose a font they like. However, not many people knew what font to put  meaning in accurate results. However, some suggested fonts include: Chiller, Comic Sans and Calibri.

My seventh question was "Which social media should the magazine be advertised on? (Tick all applicable)"

I allowed the people I questioned to tick all that were applicable. by doing this I was able to see which platforms my audience uses most. This will enable me to maximize my reach when promoting the magazine. 

From the results, I know that the majority of my audience use Twitter and Instagram (36%) as apposed to the minority using Facebook (28%). However, I think that I should advertise the magazine on all platforms to get the most out of advertising.

My eighth question was "Should a digital copy of the magazine be available on the school website?"

From this I know that a large majority of my audience would like a digital copy (89%). This tells me that I should do this. This would be good because if someone outside of the school wanted a copy, they would be able to access it online.

My ninth question was "Should the magazine include regular columns that appear on each issue?"

From this I know that my audience would like regular columns to appear each issue. This means that if I do then I will have more of a chance to keep the reader engaged,

My tenth and final question was "Any other comments?"

No body answered this. :( 

Masthead Cropping Task

I have uploaded a photo from my cropping exercise, in which we had to crop a chest to head portrait of ourselves. To do this we took the photo into publisher, we cropped and resized them and added the banner to the top. 

I did this to demonstrate ICT skills when creating a magazine masthead. This will be useful for my preliminary task.

Hello!

Hello! My name Michael McGrath. I am currently partaking in AS Media Studies at STACS Sixth Form.