Moodboard for contents page

I created a mood-board on contents pages to get some more idea rather than just using my flat plan as I feel like it's not good enough to meet the criteria of a contents page. I may need to add more pictures or change the layout, by looking at my mood-board I will gradually start to develop a better idea for my contents. Link: http://sanak25.edu.glogster.com/moodboard-on-contents

Deconstructing contents page

Front cover: Feedback

I asked my suitable audience through whatsapp to give me feedback on my magazine cover:

Parina - "Ohmygod I lovvvveeee it! Love the colours that you have used! And it looks exactly like a magazine front cover I really can't find a fault tbh"

Sophia - "Omg sanaaa! That's amazing, it looks so good. I love the use of the colours, the pink and purple match and I like the celebrities names you have used which are current and I like the story 'it's not always easy' as it makes me want to read it. I love it, looks appealing and I would buy it xx"

Fatima - "I love that you have used different colours which work well together and the different fonts and styles are very eye catching! But I think you should have made the background brighter because it's dull."

Lois - "To be honest there's nothing I would criticise about the front cover, I really like it! I can tell that a lot of time and thought was put into it as it really shows. The layout is good and straight away I can tell that it is a Pop magazine which is good as it is the genre of magazine you were looking at. It's really good overall :) xx"

Front cover: Link to research

I used this magazine for inspiration, I was mainly inspired by the image because her image seems very lively and full of life this connotes Pop. I wanted my image to be very similar, I used the same pose as her but instead my model has two arms behind her head to make it seem even more lively. But her smile wasn’t as big as Cheryl but it’s still good for my magazine. I ended up using the same colour scheme, pink and purple, this was better than what I had before. It looks much more attractive with these colours and it’s a girly colour which is suitable for my target audience. I also highlighted my text this was also used in ‘We love Pop’ magazine instead of highlighting it white, I used pink and purple to highlight the white and black text. I used very similar ideas from this magazine and tweaked it a bit to use for my magazine but I did use other ideas from another magazine for the ‘Gossip Girls’, I tried to make mine as bold as theirs but it didn’t work as well but it still turned out well.

I also didn’t use the colours pink and yellow, from my focus group a peer said she always sees Pop magazines using pink and yellow, it starts to become unattractive later on as this colour scheme is being overused. So I replaced yellow with purple because purple always goes well with pink and it gives a cheesy edge to the magazine making it conventional. They also stated making the price cheaper than £4, so preferably £2.50 sounded more realistic for my magazine. I had also asked about which feature was most important on my questionnaire, most of them said the image so I tried to make sure the image had fit in well with the genre and that it was taken well with no blur or errors which happened before so I had to take them again to fulfill their needs.

Front cover: Features

I was first planning on using these features for my cover, I thought the colours blended in well and the layout was very clear. The only problem I had was not being able to see the text clearly because of the image clashing with the writing making it hard to read. I used pink as it matched her lipstick, after playing around with the colour scheme I came up with pink, blue and purple. I was not aware of the amount of colours I was supposed to use, if I knew then I probably would have then just used pink and blue. The graphic was one of my favourite part because I thought it would make my magazine look professional since it was very simple but the font colour should have been white so it could stand out. Looking at it now, the writing doesn’t stand out as much, it would have been very hard to read and it was quite dull compared to how the features look now.

The features now look much better, they stand out more and there is more colour to the magazine. The text stands out more with the highlight making it easier to read and it looks more attractive to the eye. The pull quote has been changed to white so it could be easier to read and it stands out from the other features because it’s not highlighted or coloured. The graphic to introduce the interview has been changed to a rectangle at first I wasn’t happy about it but now it looks better above the name of the artist. The artist name font colour had been changed to match the theme colour, the theme colour had been changed to pink, purple, black and white. Changing the colours made a huge difference as the magazine looks more like a Pop magazine and it functions well together.

The gossip girls was a great touch to fill up the empty spaces of the magazine, it stands out because the boxes are different sizes and slightly tilted rather than being straight like the other features. I also included another graphic of a splash, this just fills up the corner and it also looks great and conventional especially with the ‘OMG!’ on the side to make it seem girly.

Overall, I believe the changes to the features look much better and they obviously play a huge part in making my magazine.

Front cover: Inspiration

I was beginning to lose ideas to add onto my magazine so I went onto Google and searched for Pop magazines and had a look at what other features they used on their magazine. I came across a magazine where they used this idea of introducing ‘Gossip girls’, I tried to use this idea for my magazine. If I didn’t like it I could always get rid of it and find something else. At first I thought it would be too much pink and purple so I had to ask a friend what she had thought and she said it’s conventional and meets the criteria of having a Pop magazine, it’s supposed to be cheesy. 

Front cover: More changes

As you can see I have made changes to my magazine, the masthead has been changed to a bolder font, this is my last change to the masthead. It stands out and fits well with the magazine, I also changed the colour because purple was too dark and it didn’t feel like a Pop magazine unless it was pink. For the other text I decided to make them black and white and added pink and purple box behind them to stand out. I did this because it didn’t stand out as much on it’s own, it kept clashing with the image and making it hard to read. So I had a look at few other magazines and had noticed they would highlight most of their text to stand out. 

Now it’s beginning to feel like a Pop magazine but it still feels very empty and in order for it to look like a Pop magazine it needs to be cramped. Also the pull quote is still in black and the colour will need to be changed for it to stand out. 

I added another graphic onto the magazine to take up the left hand corner as it was quite empty, I used a splash as it seemed appropriate for this genre. I used the splash to introduce a competition to meet One Direction, I also added ‘OMG!’ on the side to make it seem like it’s a big reward for an audience to win.

I was playing around with the adjustments of the image until I came across photo filter, this colour gave a good touch to the image. The background now has a touch of light pink, this gives the image more of a girly feel to the Pop magazine which works very well rather than just having it plain white. 

Front cover: Changes

During our lesson Miss Mottram had a look at my magazine and made major changes to them. At first I wasn’t quite happy about this idea since I liked the way my cover was already but I knew it was for the best. I had to get rid of the blue in my colour scheme as I’m only allowed to use two colours with black and white, so my colour scheme has been changed to pink, purple, black and white. Miss Mottram had moved the name of the artist into the middle of the sheet, so it stands out more. I also changed the colour from blue to pink to match her lips. She removed the circle graphic to a rectangle which I filled it with purple paint. Miss Mottram did say the placement of the name and graphic is mainly the most important part of the magazine then I can just add on the other text later on. She had also enlarged the masthead as it was too small and not bold enough. As you can see below the pull quote is overlapping the other text which I will need to fix. 

From this I can see that it still doesn’t feel like a Pop magazine, also the masthead doesn’t seem to stand out as much anymore. So I will need to find another font that will fit with Pop genre. I might also change the colour as it seems too dark for a Pop magazine and it needs to be bright in able for it to be effective. Also the pull quote is hard to read so I will have to change the colour to preferably white. It seems very empty compared to a Pop magazine, the magazines are usually packed with text, graphic and images. I won’t be adding any pictures onto the cover as I won’t have time to take anymore so I will need to use more graphics and writing to take up the space without it looking unattractive. I could also try to change the colour of the background as it seems quite dull and doesn’t look like a Pop image. The text are too close to the edge so I will have to bring them in slightly including the masthead. There are quite a lot of things I need to work on to bring my cover together. 

Front cover: Layout on Photoshop

I changed the name from ‘Josie Blue’ to ‘Lacey Dixon’ as it seemed more realistic and it’s still short and easy to remember. I changed my colour scheme to pink, blue and purple, I thought these colour would blend in very well together. I’ve also used a graphic to introduce Lacey’s first interview ever, hoping it would be eye catching so it would be the first text the audience would read. I used the font from ‘dafont’ rather than Photoshop as there was more of a variety to choose from.

I included a barcode and price which I had forgotten to add on my flat plan, it makes my magazine seem realistic. I added more text including another pull quote and at this point it was starting to look like a magazine but I knew it didn’t look like a proper Pop magazine cover. So I had asked a few of my peers on what they had thought about it. They all said they had liked it and it seemed like an actual Pop magazine. This did boost up my confidence and I preferred this layout to my flat plan as it seemed to fit in well together. 

Front cover: Photograph manipulation

I inserted my image onto Photoshop, as I have said in the last post, I will need to remove the shadow. I had no idea how to get rid of it quickly so I decided to cheat and use a rubber to clear away the shadow. 

I zoomed into the shadow and chose the right rubber size to clear away the shadow, I had to be very cautious making sure I didn’t accidently rub anything else other than the shadow. I had to rub out some of her hair on the right side of her shoulder as it looked weird as it was just hanging there, it didn’t look right. This took me five minutes to complete. I also slightly re-sized the image so it could be place perfectly onto my cover. 

As you can see the shadow has gone and you can’t even tell there was one in the first place. Now the image seems much more better and neither does it seem unprofessional. Before I had added the image onto Photoshop it had looked really bad compared to the others but after clearing up this one little problem now it seems to be much better and the quality suddenly seems to be better. 

I also added vibrance to my image, this made the colour of her lipstick pop out more. Now the image seems to be much clearer and it stands out. From my research I had found out most people find the image to be the most effective feature they look out for. If I used my blurry image from before then it wouldn’t bring people in and may put people off from reading the magazine any further. 

Front cover: Shots taken

After waiting for the Editing suite to be free I finally had the chance to take pictures for my front cover after school, everything had seemed like it was going well until I had downloaded the images onto my computer. The images came out blurry and I couldn’t use them for the front cover as it wouldn’t look professional, neither could I have fixed it on Photoshop as it would have taken forever to figure it out. I didn’t have time to take them again as it was getting late. So I didn't really learn my lesson from the test shots. 

 

Few days later I had the chance to take them again, I made sure the camera was focused throughout the shoot so I wouldn't have to go through the trouble of taking them again as time was running out. There were few images I liked, they came out really well. I have chosen the three final images I shall be using for my cover.

I was planning on using the one with the pink jumper but had realised it may clash with the font colour scheme as it had included the colour pink which I didn't think thoroughly about beforehand. Whereas the other image were more of a casual clothing which were also appropriate for a Pop magazine and it may attract fashion lovers as the model's outfit is currently the 'new look'. I looked at more magazine covers to see what clothing they wore, most of them wore casual instead of looking glamorous. 

I’ve decided to use the second image as her face is clearly shown to the audience with a big grin on her face, it follows the conventions of a Pop image. The last image seems to be slightly darker and her grin is not as big as the second image also her eyes aren't widely opened unlike the second image. The second image shadow is visible so I will have to use Photoshop to hide the shadow so the background can be clear and it will look more professional. 

I had decided to put pink lipstick on her so it could match the theme colour. Her clothing was not how I wanted it to be, I preferred a dress but casual clothing is still good. The lighting is bright so we can see her facial expression clearly, it feels warm and welcoming to the audience rather than having the image dark, this would contradict the conventions of a Pop magazine.  I didn’t use any props as I wanted my model to play with her hair, to show off her girly side and to make the magazine seem fun.

Front cover: Photoshop Masthead

I've started working on my magazine cover, I played around with the font and the layout to get a better vision of how I want my magazine to look like. I tried to use a curly font for the mast head but it didn't stand out much like it did on my flat plan so I had to change it.

So few days ago I had posted 'Font testing'; onto my blog and had asked a few of my peers which font they preferred the most and I've decided to use the popular font especially since I like it too, it is different and stands out. Hopefully it will tie in well with the rest of the features I will be including onto my magazine cover.

Font testing

Finding a font has been the hardest part for me so far, I can't seem to find a font which I like for my magazine. I keep changing my masthead because I don't think my font stands out very well or it doesn't look attractive. I tried to follow my flat plan by using a curly font but it doesn't stand out as much because it's not bold enough and it doesn't look right. But neither do I want a simple font because it'll make my magazine look to simple and it's a Pop magazine so it needs to be slightly more creative. So I've put together a mixture of different fonts that I may use for my magazine, I will be asking my audience research which font they prefer the most and I will use it for my magazine.
I've also changed the name of my masthead from 'The tunes' to 'Poparazzi' because 'The Tunes' didn't have a Pop feel to it, it seemed uncreative and dull. So I had the chance to ask one of my peers what they had thought of, one of them said 'Paparazzi' so I had asked another peer what they had thought of the idea and came up with 'Poparazzi', this has a cheesy feel to it but it is also creative. So whenever somewhere hears the word 'Poparazzi' they will instantly think of the genre Pop rather than 'The Tunes' as it can be related to any genre and it may confuse the reader slightly about the genre.

Test shots

I had the chance to play around with the camera and take a few test shots of how I want my model to pose and to see whether it would look effective. These were the outcomes:

Cover page

Contents page

Double page spread











These shots came out quite well but it was quite blurry so I need to keep this in mind the next time I take my pictures that I should keep checking to see whether they came out alright. These are the poses I shall be using for my Pop magazine, so the image needs to be bright and welcoming by using the angle of gaze and the model smiling on the front cover. Obviously for my actual magazine I will be using a a clear, white background so the reader can easily read the text. For the cover image I should try to take the picture slightly further away so I can be able to fit most of the text on the side so it doesn't clash with the image, making it hard to read. A shadow is also visible for the cover page image, I need to avoid that from happening by making the model not lean too close to the wall or I could fix it on Photoshop by cutting it out. These tests shots also helped to get myself back into taking professional pictures for a magazine. So when it comes to taking the actual pictures I can get straight to it rather than trying to figure out how to use them which will waste time.

Flatplans feedback

Lois:
Front cover - I really like the image and the font looks clear. The only thing I would criticise is that there is no price on it or barcode.
Contents page - The contents page is very interesting. It's simple but I like it because it's unique.
Double page spread - The double page spread is my favourite and you've taken good ideas from other magazines and used them which I like. There's nothing I would criticise about it.

Marwa:
The mast head and text on all your pages are very clear, including the subheadings and incentives. I like your drawings as we can see the shots very clearly and angle of gaze in each. Although, you could have used colour so we have a clearer image of your flatplans overall and also gain an insight of your final magazine.

Parina:
I really like the front page and the writing style. The pose of the model for the contents page and the layout of the writing is good. But for the double page spread I think you should add the pull quote onto the second page so it's with the image. You could also add some advertisement like apple gift cards because it's related to music on the contents or double page spread.

Artist profile

Link: http://sanak25.edu.glogster.com/artist-profile/

Shot list

I have created a shot list. I drew what I want to be using for my magazine and also wrote any extra props or makeup the model will be needing to satisfy my magazine's needs. I will be using pink lipstick for my main model as it will match my colour theme (pink and blue). In the first shot she will be posing with her hand behind her head, this is a stereotypical Pop pose, with a huge smile and her eyes connecting with the audiences.

Flatplans

These are the scans of my flatplans, I got inspirations from Pop magazines such as 'We love Pop' and 'Just Pop'. From my research I had found out that many people don't like the usual theme colour of a Pop magazine (pink and yellow) and prefer pink with another colour so I'll be using pink and blue. Pink is a very girly colour and would be suitable for my magazine theme colour as the audience is for teenage girls. I will be using the same model for my cover and double page spread as the magazine revolves around her.
The last two images will be my double page spread, on the left will be the interview and on the right it will have the poster of the newly signed artist.

The contents page will be quite simple but hopefully effective, the image on the left will be big and bold with the text on the right. On the very far right corner I will also need to remember to add the name of the magazine so it links in with the cover and the reader could be able to remember what magazine they are reading rather than having to look back at the cover. 

Half of the top page will have a pull quote to intrigue the reader to read the interview rather than to skip past it, then below it I will include the questions and answer. I will also add a picture so it doesn't look too boring and from my research I had found out people prefer to see more images or a variety of images and text rather than just having text which can be dull and not eye catching to the reader. 

This is part of the double page spread, it's a big image of the artist. This will help the reader to get a taste of her. Her lipstick will be pink to match the theme colour and she will be the same artist as the cover so it will seem like the magazine revolves around her. She will be wearing a fluffy coat or scarf around her to show that her personality is quite warm and friendly.