Double Page Spread Third Draft

I have since decided to make a small change to my main article, in my opinion in my second draft the text needing separating to make it look more appealing to my target audience, therefore I have moved the position of the photograph so it is in between paragraphs. In my opinion this works better and will appeal more to my young target audience as the writing doesn't seem as chunky and as much to read. I have also changed the positioning of the photographers and models name, so they are going downwards, following a typical convention that is seen in most magazine articles.

Double Page Spread Second Draft

 Since receiving feedback from my teacher, I decided to make my main feature a double page spread, including an introduction onto the model who is writing the article as well as introduce the vintage theme & fashion. In my opinion a double page spread works a lot better, because it is a main feature it should include a lot of information, and my first draft did not. It looks a lot more professional and something that you would see in my inspirational texts such as Company. I chose to combine two different pages that are seen in Company magazine, a fashion related article, along with a page advertising clothes. It works really well together and all of the text fit in and will appeal to my target audience as it makes a lot of references to the North East, and the best shops to purchase the vintage styles. Overall, I am satisfied with this layout because it works a lot better then the previous draft, I have included relevant information that will appeal to my target audience and I have followed typical conventions that you would expect to see on a double page spread as well as challenge certain aspects and develop them further. I now plan on getting audience feedback to see what my target audience think of this page and if anything needs improving.

Contents Page third & fourth draft

 After looking further into contents pages, I decided to change my one page contents page to a double page, following this convention from popular fashion magazines such as Vogue. The reason for this is because in my opinion a double page contents page looks more professional and it allows you to show more of a variety of page titles, which will interest the reader further into purchasing and reading my magazine. Since changing the style and layout of my contents page I have been able to include more images and text, as well as follow more conventions that are seen in real media products contents pages, such as including a subscription advertisement, the clothing that is seen in my images amongst others. I am really pleased with the outcome of my third draft because in my opinion it will appeal more to my target audience and it also creates more of a professional work, I would still like to experiemnt further once I have received feedback from my teacher to create the best possible outcome of a magazine contents page.

Since receiving feedback from my teacher I have made some more slight changes to my contents page. I have now decided to make the text of the page titles smaller, which has now allowed me to give a brief description of the page titles, this will grab the reader in and intrigue them into reading the different segments within my fashion magazine. It is a convention followed by most fashion magazines such as Vogue, Grazia & Company. I have also added a slug in the top right hand corner, which indicates what the page is. Overall, I am satisfied with the outcome of my fourth draft for my magazine contents page, the font choices and colour scheme fit in with my other pages and also fit in with the vintage theme that I am showing throughout my work. After researching into real media products I have been able to put together an interesting and professional looking contents page, following conventions that are seen in every day products.



Updated Flat Plans

Contents Page

 Double Page Spread (Main Article)

Double Page Spread First Draft

Company magazine gave me the idea of creating a page that showed numerous amounts of clothing and gave the reader an idea on how much it is and where it is from, I decided to take this idea and make it into my own for my main feature in my magazine product. Using my main model that is shown on the front cover of my magazine, I put together a page with images of my main clothes that I had taken, showing how the vintage style is being brought back in a modernised fashion and then created a quote that is from my model 'Amelia', showing her top tips on how to create the vintage look on a high street budget on shops in the North East. I have used conventions such as a main headline, imagery, article quotes and a slug stating what the page is about. I really like how the page has turned out, especially the presentation of clothing, in my opinion it looks really professional and fits in with the rest of my magazine & the vintage theme because I have stuck with the same fonts and colour scheme. Overall I am pleased with how this page has turned out, however I would like to experiment further once i have received feedback to be able to approach aspects that are slightly lacking and don't look as good.

Experimenting with Editors Say

     

  

After receiving audience feedback that suggested adding more colour and a background, I decided to experiment with the idea and in photoshop I used the paint tool to create a colourful background, I chose to make it a tie dye effect with pastel colours to fit in with the vintage theme, although I do like the outcome, in my opinion it does not fit in with the rest of my media products and looks slightly out of place. Therefore I plan on going back to my original after making the changes that my teacher suggested, because other feedback off my target audience were pleased with the outcome of the page and believed that it worked well.

Audience feedback on Editors Say

Receiving feedback on my editor's say has given me the chance to experiment & develop my ideas and create a more interesting page that stands out to my target audience, I now plan on trying out a background to see how it works and if it fits in well. 

Editors Say first & second draft

Initially I was quite unsure of what pages to create for my 4 pages of a regional fashion magazine, however after research & planning I have since decided to create an 'Editors Say' page as magazines that I have looked at such as Vogue & Company include an editors letter in every magazine issue. I decided to change the name in my magazine to 'Editors Say' because it shows that I am using my own thoughts & ideas as well as challenge & develop conventions of real media products. I wanted to create an interesting page, slightly different to the other magazines and their way of approaching the page, therefore I decided to experiment with typography and present my writing in the shape of the letter 'R' standing for 'Rare'. I used aspects from other magazines such as including social networking addresses, so my target audience can keep in touch, and because of their age range social networking appeals to their interests. I really like my chosen layout because everything fits in well together, the text is a brief description about what this months issue includes and what can be found in the magazine, as well as briefly discussing the vintage theme that is shown throughout this one off edition. The image on the left is the first draft of my editors say page, and since receiving feedback from my teacher I have made the requested changes to make the page look more professional and of better quality, I slightly changed the colour of the title to make it brighter and stand out, as well as change the grammar to make it correct by adding the apostrophe. I also made slight adjustments such as reducing the size of my page number and social network icons, and change the position of my subscription advertisement to make it stand out more by highlighting it with circles, similar to an advertisement I saw in the magazine Company. Overall I am really pleased with how this page has turned out after making the slight adjustments that were suggested by my teacher, however I plan on receiving audience feedback so I can find out what my target audiences opinion is on the page and if it appeals to them or if they would change anything about it.

Contents Page Second Draft

After creating a second flat plan for my contents page, because my original idea did not work too well, I am now happy with the outcome from the current layout & presentation as it looks more professional and follows conventions of existing media products such as Vogue & Company. The layout works a lot better then my previous contents page, as it is more structured and easy to read & find pages. I really like the colour scheme that I have used and how it fits in with the black & white image. I also really like the page titles that I have created, because they are similar to magazines such as Company etc. Although I do prefer this contents page to my first draft, I would still like to experiment further and perhaps develop it into a double page contents page to follow Vogues conventions as well as other magazines such as Grazia & Company. Converting my page into a double page contents would then allow me to include more pages so the reader has a bigger grasp of what is within my product, as well as more images that are important for a contents page because it shows to the reader what they are going to be reading about and appealing them towards stories and also I would like to experiment with an advertisement for subscription or something to do with my magazine. I believe all of these different aspects and conventions will make my contents page look professional and appeal more to my target audience.

Updated contents page flat plan

Since creating my first draft of a contents page, I decided against the original flat plan because in my opinion it didn't work well, this recent update will still contain the same information however it will be in a different layout.

Contents Page first draft

After researching into contents pages and looking at the different conventions that fashion magazines include I have followed some conventions and also challenged and developed others into my own ideas. I wanted to make my contents page different and stand out, therefore in Photoshop I created a slightly unusual layout, challenging media conventions of most magazines as I have never seen this layout before. I decided to position my masthead downwards on the page, I do like this idea however it doesn't really work well or look professional, which is what I want to achieve throughout my magazine. I followed conventions such as including my masthead within the contents page, as well as the issue date of my magazine. My first contents page draft has turned out how I would of liked, therefore I now plan on changing the layout and developing another flat plan to make my contents page look a lot more professional. The main image that I have used isn't of good quality and the size of the page numbers is too big however I really like the colour scheme as it fits in with my front cover and the vintage theme that I want to create. When experimenting with creating another contents page I will take certain aspects  from this contents page such as the colour scheme, and the page titles that I have made because they fit in with my magazine and will work well on a more professional looking contents page.

Front cover second draft

After taking into consideration the feedback that I received from my teacher I have since changed certain aspects of my magazine front cover to improve it's appearance and make it look more professional. I have dropped the word 'time' from one of the sub sell lines which has made the text fit in better and look more structured to fit around the main image, I have also added more colour by putting the 'vintage buys' sell line in pastel blue, because the background is in black & white it stands out a lot more however I am now going to experiment with adding more colour because it seems slightly dull. I have now followed conventions from real media products by adding an issue number, this is seen in most magazine products and gives my magazine a professional and realistic touch. After changing my magazine slightly it has given me more thoughts on how it could be improved, I would now like to experiment with different fonts as well as adding more colour. I really like how my front cover is turning out so far, it shows a good, clear representation of women which will make it appealing to my teenage target audience. I have also included sell lines that indicate it is a regional magazine, it is aimed towards teenage girls in the North East so seeing their hometown on my front cover will more than likely be appealing to them.

Front cover first draft

After completing a first draft of my magazine front cover I am pleased with the turn out, in my opinion it is an interesting layout and there isn't too much on the page, there are equal spaces between text so it is not crammed which works well. I really like the heading stating that this issue is a Vintage Edition, it stands out and shows the reader what the magazine is going to contain. Following typical conventions of a magazine I have included a barcode as well as the price and date of release. Because of my young target audience I have decided to make my magazine a mothly issue as teenagers might not be able to afford a magazine every week. I have chosen to follow similar conventions that vogue magazine show on their front covers, however make my articles regional as my magazine is aimed towards the North East whereas Vogue is aimed towards everyone. The ideas I have taken from Vogue are the simplicity of the front cover and not overcrowding the page by having several images and loads of text as seen in other magazines, I prefer the page to just give a taster of whats inside, in my opinion this will draw the reader in, creating a teaser. I have followed typical conventions of most magazines by having my masthead at the top of the page and then further down having sub headlines for other stories with a brief description to attract my target audience. I have also included the same slogan that is seen on my billboard & website, this will be recognisable to my target audience as they will be able to see it is another 'Rare' product. As this is my first draft there are changes to be made, after receiving feedback from my teacher I am going to take into consideration the different points that she has made, such as adding an issue number, adding more colour and dropping the word 'TIME' on one of the sub headlines. I would also like to experiment further with different style fonts to create the best outcome.

Magazine Fonts

These screenshots show me looking through the website www.dafont.com to find appropriate fonts that will fit in well with my vintage themed magazine. From looking through all the many different fonts there are two in particular that have stood out to me, 'Bellerose' and 'Upper East Side' this is because they have a vintage effect to them and in my opinion would work well on my magazine and in pastel colours. They will also fit in well with the font of my masthead. 

Following & Challenging Typical Conventions

  

The main inspiration behind the choice of my front cover image and the pose that is shown by the model is this front cover of a Vogue magazine. Kate Moss is shown looking directly at the camera and because the image fills the page her body actually goes off the page, this is a convention that I have followed and an aspect that in my opinion will attract my target audience to my magazine, for the front cover image I believe it is important for it to take up the whole page even if going off the sides, it creates an interesting effect. Although this magazine front cover has given me ideas and I have followed conventions from it, I have also changed and challenged typical conventions of a fashion magazine as most front cover images are seen in colour, whereas my front cover image is in black & white. The black & white effect adds to the vintage theme and makes my image stand out a lot more, because this isn't seen so much in fashion magazines my magazine is quite unique meaning that it will stand out on shop shelves. 

Experimentation

I decided on this image to be on my front cover, in my opinion it is a bold strong image and represents femininity in a positive way because my model is shown strong and confident, however unlike magazines such as 'nuts' she isn't unclothed therefore she is not seen as an 'object' to be desired by men, but a figure that teenagers can aspire to, which is an important factor as my target audience is directed to teenage girls. Teenage girls would not buy a magazine with a woman on the front cover who is seen as an 'object' to men, they would rather have a role model figure that they can look up to and that is what I have created in this image. On my magazine I want this to b the only image because in my opinion it is very direct as the subject is looking straight towards the camera, on shop shelves this will be eye catching so I do not want to fill the entire page with loads of images and a lot of text, similar to the typical convention that vogue magazine follow as the only image on their front cover is the main image of the article within the magazine. After experimenting with the different techniques and tools on Photoshop, I decided to continue with the image in black & white because although it is not as colourful, in my opinion it is a lot more bold and makes more of a statement. The colour also fits in extremely with my vintage theme, and the pastel coloured texts will stand out greatly on top of my main image. I am really pleased with how the first experimentation of my front cover has gone because the image has improved from the original and stands out a great deal more.

Magazine Rationale

Magazine Front Cover
My magazine front cover will only consist of one main image, it will be a strong image that takes up the whole of the page, following a typical convention of vogue magazine. In photoshop I plan on experimenting with my chosen image in colour as well as black & white to see what gives the best vintage effect. The colour scheme of my front cover will reflect on the vintage theme that I want to show throughout my product, therefore I will be using pastel colours, such as green, blue and pink as well as white. For the style of text, I am going to look through the different fonts on the website www.dafont.com to find vintage fonts that will fit in with my magazine. There will be a main sell line on my magazine that will go along side my main image, as that is the main focus point of my magazine, there will also be subheadings and brief descriptions of the different articles within my product. A barcode will also be on my magazine, making it look more professional and like a real life product that you see on shop shelves. My aim is to make my magazine front cover stand out to my target audience, which is teenage girls from the North East who are interested into fashion. Because my magazine is regional, I will also be focusing on the North East, which will show in my sub headlines. I have chosen to apt for only one image because it makes the main story the main focus point, I wanted my front cover to be subtle and not have loads of different images and text crammed together. Finally, similar to my website and billboard I will put my magazine slogan on my front cover, this makes my magazine recognisable to it's buyer.

Contents Page
I plan on having my masthead of my magazine going down the side of my contents page because in my opinion it will look different and stand out. Again I plan on only having one image on my contents page, the image I chose I would like to be looking towards the page numbers, creating a direct approach to the reader. The colour scheme will be the same as my front cover however I may include black for the page titles. I do not want my contents page to be overcrowded, just quite simple but just as  effective to my target audience. The page numbers will reflect off the regional side of my magazine as well as the vintage theme. The font on my contents page will be the same as my front cover because it is what the reader will recognise as my magazine. I will also be including the page number and web address of my magazine on the bottom of the page.

Editors Say
After researching into fashion magazines I have found that a common convention is that the editors of the magazine have a page to themselves where the go into detail of the magazine issue. On my my 'Editors Say' page I plan on including, the date of the issue, the title of the page and I would also like to include social network logos onto my page to show that my magazine can be found on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the reasoning for this is because it will appeal to my target audience as social networking sites play a  huge part in their lives. The main part of this page is the text, the written part will be a description of this months edition, discussing the vintage side of fashion and why that theme has been chosen. Instead of just having the writing in a paragraph I would like to experiment with different ways of showing the text. I will also include an image of myself, as I am the editor, along with a signature and a twitter account so readers can get in touch. This is following a typical convention of fashion magazine's. The colours, again will be pastels, linking with the vintage theme and the text will be the same style throughout. 

Get The Look (Main Article)
For my main piece I will be focusing on the vintage style and where you can get the look, using images that I have taken of my own clothes, I will be adding the regional side by stating where in the North East you can buy the clothing. I will include price and the shop names as well as shops off the internet to make it more realistic as this is a typical convention of a fashion magazine. I will also include a slug at the stop of the page, showing what the page is about and a quote from my model who is discussing the vintage style and the best way to address it. Again, the colours will be pastels and the font will be the same to fit in with the other pages and the page number and web address will be found in the bottom corner of the page.

Magazine Flat Plans

Front Cover

Contents Page

Editors Say

Get The Look (Main article)

Fashion Article inspirational text

Editor's Say inspirational text

Contents Page inspirational texts

Time Management

Now I have created my ancillary tasks,  in the next few days I plan on researching further into what you find in a fashion magazine and also creating flat plans of my magazine and descriptions of how I want them to look, I will also start experimenting with my front cover and how the main image is going to look.

Experimenting

I have now acted on more peer feedback by experimenting and creating a background for my website. I have now put together a mood board after finding images from magazines that would fit in with my vintage fashion theme as well as the regional aspect and set them out in an interesting way, once my mood board was created I proceeded in scanning it onto the computer which has now allowed me to use as my background on wix. I have tried it out on my home page and I am really happy with the result because it stands out a lot more than the plain grey background that I originally had. Because the background is very busy now I have decided to remove the picture of my model as it is no longer needed due to the many other images in the background. I will now go on and add the background to my other pages, creating the same effect. 

Website Site Map

After being advised to create a site map in my peer feedback I looked at company magazine which influenced me into the way that I created my site map. I am pleased with how it has turned out because my website now looks a lot more professional as this is a typical convention that is seen on magazine websites, it will also be easier for my web viewers to find what they are looking for and what is on my website.

Website Feedback

After receiving peer feedback I have decided to experiment with creating a site map, a typical convention that is seen in most real media product websites, it will be an easy way for the web viewer to navigate themselves around my website. Another piece of feedback that I got back suggests creating a logo, this idea is something that I do not plan on acting on, simply because my masthead 'Rare' acts as a logo because it features on all of my products and will be recognisable to my target audience, therefore a logo would not be needed. 

Another piece of audience feedback that I was given suggested that I incorporate a background into my website which has since given me further ideas of creating a background with different fashion related pictures in it, possibly like a mood board style. This idea is something that I am now going to look into and experiment with because I believe it will create an interesting effect.

Website Experimentation

 I have now decided to recreate the button on my home page that shows a quote/slogan about my magazine, originally I created the first button on wix however in my opinion it is quite bland and boring, therefore using Adobe Photoshop I have created a new button, using a different style text as well as making it bolder. The new button fits in a lot better on my home page because the text is what I have used previous and therefore works well, and also fits in with the vintage theme which  is what I wanted to create throughout all of my different products.

Website First Draft

For the second part of my ancillary task I chose to create a website, to do so I used the web program wix, using it as a template to help put together and create my magazine website. After looking at and researching into magazine websites such as Vogue, Grazia and Company, I have a clear knowledge of what conventions are typically seen on this type of media product and was therefore able to put together my own website based around my magazine, making sure my website fit in with my billboard and magazine, showing my target audience that all products are part of a package. The task was to create 2 hyperlinked pages, however I have created 3 pages, a home page that includes a button linked to the 'hot topics' page, where all of the stories are shown. I have also created a 'fashion' page that shows different vintage style clothing and where you can purchase them from, I have chosen clothing from high street shops at high street prices because with my target audience being teenagers and students they can not afford expensive clothing and therefore it will appeal to them. I have used my masthead and magazine quote in my website, this makes my products recognisable as a package and shows to the audience that they are all part of one. Overall I am pleased with the first draft of my website, initially I found wix hard to use but I have now picked up more skills and can use the different tools that are available on the web program. I will now gain feedback on my product and see what can be improved, I would like to experiment more with my website to make it look more professional but also different to make it stand out against other media products.

Images for website & main task

Updated Billboard

I have since decided to experiment further with my Billboard and I am really happy with the recent changes, in my opinion it is an extreme improvement compared to my original final billboard. The image looks a lot better in colour, it stands out a lot more and will attract my target audience as teenage girls will be attracted by bright, enhancing colours. Also, after using the wallpaper background on my original billboard, it has given me other ideas into taking an image of my own wallpaper which includes the vintage icon Marilyn Monroe. This idea fits in perfectly with my theme and the contrast between the coloured image and black & white background works a lot better then the dull, boring colours in my previous billboard. I have also used my masthead in it original colour of pastel green as shown in my other products, because it stands out a lot more and it is recognisable as my masthead, it is what my target audience will instantly see and know what it is part of. I decided to have the model placed slightly off centre because this way you are able to see the iconic celebrity in the background which I believe will attract teenage girls as Marilyn Monroe is a very idolised woman. Overall, compared to my previous billboard, I believe that this current billboard fits in a lot more with my other products as the colours are a lot more vibrant and stand out, as well as the iconic background that fits in with the vintage theme and will attract my target audience as Marilyn Monroe is greatly known as a fashion icon from the 50's.

Final Billboard

Overall I am really pleased with how my final billboard has turned out, the feedback that I was given has really helped my thoughts on the print & inspired my ideas throughout. After changing the background again to one of my own images, I really like how it looks and fits in with the rest if my billboard. I really wanted to create a simple yet effective and professional looking billboard and  I believe I have achieved my goal. After retrieving feedback saying to add more information on my billboard and make it clear what the the product is advertising I came up with a slogan for my magazine which I now plan on using on all of my products. I really like the final colour scheme of my billboard and how it fits in well with the style of the background and strong main image. I believe that I have followed typical conventions of a billboard and my inspirational texts & research has helped me with this because it has given me ideas as well as thoughts on how to make something my own but still following conventions of other media products. I have also now added text stating that it is a one off Vintage edition and after retrieving feedback saying that my web address wasn't very clear and visible I have messed around and experimented with different style fonts as well as making it in lowercase and I am now satisfied with the outcome as it is very clear and stands out.