Preliminary Task: Lsc Magazine (Planning)

Cover: 

Contents:

XXL & NME Press Pack

XXL is published by Harris Publications. It is said they publish over 75 other magazines including juicy & dog news. Harris Publications was founded in 1985 by Stanley R. Harris. 

Press pack: 

Here we see basic information about the magazine and a bit about the reader. It is shown to us that the magazine is based mainly for men as 78% of their readers are male. They would use images of female artist in this case (which they do often) to attract sale. 

The chart shows rival magazines and how well XXL is doing against them. Having something like this in a press pack can promote sale too because when an artist or anyone wanting to advertise see this, they would be easily convinced as the chart shows XXL is doing far better than any other magazine on that chart so they are more likely to advertise in XXL. 

XXL have here told us in dept information about their readers. They have divided up the readers into 3 columns: Gender, Ethnicity & Age. This area of the press pack tells me clearly which age, race and gender is buying the most and which is buying the least. Having this helps because if I had never come across an actual hard copy of XXL and I saw this, I would immediately get an idea of what kind of content is included with in the magazine. 

Finally in this bit of the press pack, sections of the magazine both hard copy and online are explained to us. This is a great area of the press pack as, it gives everyone an in depth explanation of how XXL works. 

NME is published by Jo Smalley who was before the publishing director of Nuts and Mousebreaker but was appointed to NME in November of 2013 when sales started to fall. 

Comparing NME to XXL, NME's press pack (as you'll see) has less in depth information. 

Here we have the readers profile. We see that 63% of the readers are men and this does reflect on what they publish as the magazine has a lot of content which is aimed at men. What they have included is reader opinions which is an interesting twist to the press pack as this helps those who are interested in advertising in the magazine get a clearer view of what the magazine has to offer. 

NME have focused their press pack more on advertising rather than giving information about their magazine. As you can see here that they are listing prices and how to get in contact with them. Where as XXL have provided a in depth press pack with sections focusing on different aspects such as reader profile, rivals, demographics etc. 

- We have the master head at the top of the magazine: "college" 

- The main cover line is "Mike Posner..." However not many people would know this as it's the same size as most of the teasers on the front page. 

- The main feature/ Model is in the centre of the picture with a eyeline that matches ours, going on to directly addressing the audience. 

- We have the bar code, date, price and issue listed at the far bottom right of the cover. 

- There is a mix of fonts however as mentioned above, the titles of the teaser is the same as the main cover line. 

- There is a consistent colour scheme of blue and yellow. 

- The main cover line links to the person as the model is what the cover line is based on. 

- Divided up into 7 columns 

- The contents page links to the cover because the models picture is also on the contents page at the far top right of the page with the page number in the picture telling the reader exactly where to find the article. 

- The information has been listed very symmetrically. 

- There are other pictures on the contents page which relate to the articles included within the magazine. 

- The colour scheme from the cover page is still included on the contents page as the writing is blue. 

- They have used a range of fonts. 

- A range of different size images. 

- Formal Language. 

Magazine analysis: XXL

When we first look at the magazine, we notice the model (Lil Wayne) who is in the centre. The picture is a close up shot and his eyelines meets ours which goes on to directly address the audience. He is also positioned in front of the master head. We have the main cover line listed directly under the master head "Lil Wayne Nothing Left To Prove". This acts as an anchorage as it's a short statement which makes the audience wonder what the article with in may be about. We have teaser at the fat right of the magazine which are a list of artist names who are also included in the magazine. There is a very consistent colour scheme of black, white and red on the cover of the magazine keeping it very plain but eye catching. To compliment the colour scheme the magazine have used a range of fonts. There is no skyline or pull quote. The magazine is very symmetrical. Lastly the barcode, branding, date, issue and price are all listed at the far bottom left corner of the magazine. The denotation we can see is a very sort of "no worries" facial expression. How ever behind this, the connotation links with the main cover line. "Nothing left to prove" this matches with his facial expression, almost suggesting he has no worries about what people may think. The contents page is made up of two separate pages. The first page is called "the A-side" and is mostly focused on Lil Wayne. There is only one column in the far right of the page with 5 columns. This contents page links mostly to the cover page as mention before the main focus on this page is also Lil Wayne. The colour scheme on this page is also alike to the colour scheme on the front page and also like wise to the cover page there are a range of formal fonts. The second contents page, called the B-side has a very strange format. It's divided it up into 4 columns, 3 of which have a mix of pictures and text while one only has a picture. This contents page mainly focuses on the teasers mentioned at the front of the magazine. This contents page has a mix of different size images and fonts. The colour scheme on this page alike to the first contents page and cover page is very simple. This shows they have kept a consistency with the colour scheme. The DPS i read and analysed is based on the main feature of the magazine Lil Wayne. It is an interview in which colloquial language is used. The tone is very relaxed however the structure is very formal with 3 columns and at the bottom, there is a pull quote out of the interview I'm a large and eye catching font. This acts as an anchorage because if you're going through the magazine and that is the first thing you see you instantly become very interested.

Magazine analysis: NME

When we first look at the cover the first thing we notice are the photoshopped wings behind the main feature Jamie T (styled in casual wear with bright lighting to bring out features, in particular his eyes which are directly addressing the audience) who is in front of the master head. The main image instantly brings our attention to the main cover line "Back To Life" and acts as an anchorage. This goes to show that wings are a connotation. Jamie T is positioned as mentioned in front of the master head, his eye line matches ours (addresses the audience directly). This is also a universal symbol and makes the model the main focus. "Manics exclusive" is what is quoted at the top right of the cover, acting as a teaser as this makes you want to pick up the magazine, open it and instantly find out what that is about. In this issue, NME have kept the cover simple with no skyline. Also there isn't a lot that is printed on the cover to draw your attention to it however they have used more than 3 colours (all very bright and relating to the picture) to buy the reader. Colours like blue and white to go with the "back to life" theme. They have also used many different fonts yet they have kept it formal and neat. The barcode, price, date, branding and issue have been made clear bottom right of the picture. The contents page only uses one page which sets out everything important that is included in the magazine in vertical columns with only one picture in the middle of the contents page which is a close up shot of and artist with his hands covering majority of his face expect for the eyes. This once again goes on to directly address the audience as the eye line meets. The middle column has all the important features of the magazine listed whereas the first column has regulars listed and the last has bands listed. Instead of calling it the contents page, they have called it "inside NME" which to me feels as though they are trying to put out to the reader that by picking up and buying a NME, you have almost instantly become a part of the company and the magazine itself. They have kept the colour scheme very simple (black, white, red & grey) but have used different fonts to draw the readers in. The contents page, links to the cover in many different ways. Two of which are the colour scheme and the main feature. The cover also contains the colours red, black and white. The cover has Jamie T as the model and the contents page gives you the page in which you can find the article on and also has a short but effective description which is as follows: "back after five year break, the Wimbledon wide boy reveals the demons that kept him away". This links to his actual picture as in the picture he is portrayed as an angel and the article is explaining what has kept him away for 5 years. The language used both on the cover and contents page is formal. The DPS which I read and analysed was based on an article about a producer called flying lotus who speaks about his first album that's being released after a two year gap. At the top of the page we see a quote they have pulled out of the interview in large font. The magazine have purposely done this because if you are looking through a magazine and see the words "have you ever seen a dead body" you almost instantly being to gain major interest in the article. The article it's self is informal as it uses colloquial language. The time go the text is not as though you're reading an interview it's more like a conversation you'd have with a friend.

DPS (the two images put together made the DPS) 

Photoshop: Photoshop Work shop

Steps: 

1. Open Adobe Master Collection and click on Photoshop 

2. Go to file and then select new

3. If you want this to be at an A4 size, go to Preset, select international paper and then ok

4. It is vital to have rulers so go to set ruler than on view and finally select rulers 

5. When setting the rulers for both the portrait sides of the page, go to the ruler on the left hand side select and drag (repeat the process for both sides of the page). Make sure to keep a 1cm space from the edge of the page to with in the page. The same steps should be followed for the horizontal sides too. 

6. On this step you are ready to upload a picture, select file > open > picture. You will realise that at the top of the page just above the rulers, a new tab will open, drag the tab and release into the page. You must unlock the picture, you can do this by clicking on the lock icon with comes up on your layer of the picture (right side of the screen). Finally go to your arrow took and drag the image into the page. 

7. You can add text by selecting the text "T" tool and typing. A lot like InDesign 

production schedule

Class feedback

As a class we look at different magazines and compared them to see whether the format and layout was similar or differed. We found the following: 

Magazine analysis- Double page spread (DPS)

We also went ahead to analyse a double page spread (DPS). The first page is a live album of a band called primal scream. Bold and bright colours are used to visually draw the audience in. Then as we notice the second page and begin to read, we gather that it is based on 3 individuals and their taste in music. The structure of this piece is in question format and all 3 artists were asked the same questions. What is more to add is that the actual title is in the middle of the page, usually we'd expect it to be at the top of the page however this is a refreshing change in format as it brings something new to the audience. The tone and language is rather informal which makes the audience connect to the magazine and the people being interviewed. An example would be: what was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it? "Oh my god, wait a minute... I was 14, there were these two brothers in New York...". The format of the actual articles is in columns with a range of different fonts and colours. There are also images which are close up shots of everyone being interviewed showing a less serious side to the person due to their facial expressions. 

Magazine analysis- Contents page

For our magazine analysis, my group and I analysed a magazine called Mojo. We found that the magazine used two separate pages for the content and that not all the editorial items were listed, only some.  The format of the contents page was divided into 5 sections these included: features, cover story, regulars, what goes on and the mojo filters. The sections were organised in the right with the main images complimenting them on the left along with large font and bright colours to make the subheading stand out. The features were vertically listed and also, the features which were listed on the front cover could also be found on the contents page with page numbers listed. This I believe is due to marketing as it draws the audiences attention. The actual design of the content page was cleverly done as the main feature of the magazine (artist) was also included in the content page and the artist picture is taken while he is half way through his performance which suggest to me that they are in some way trying to promote his music. The picture it self has a dark back ground which makes the artist stand out which goes to show that he is the main focus of not just the magazine but this particular page too (in a way, they are trying to include him in as many pages as possible, really highlighting his importance in that issue of the magazine). The dark back ground also brings forward the writing. On the second content page, random artist pictures have been selected to show to the audience what they may expect. In a way they are teasers wanting to make the audience want to find out more which also goes on to contribute towards the marketing. What we noticed is that the content page reflects the cover of the magazine in the sense that the main image relates to the cover story on the content page. We have a picture of bob Marley on the cover and a cover story about him on content

Evaluation

Evaluation: 

Research skills: Research was one of the biggest part to this. This is because with out the research you have no idea as to what you should do when designing. During this process, I found that one of my strength was finding several magazines and analysing them; this is because it gave me a clearer idea of how I wanted my magazine to be regarding the layout, colour scheme etc. However I did face a few challenges along the way which has now become my weakness. This would be finding extra content to include within the inside of the magazine. I had to do a lot of research on topics relating to piracy to include in the magazine which in the long run was hard to find. In the end I had to find quotes by artists about piracy and turn that into an interview. 

Journalistic and writing skills: Doing English lit as an a-level has it's perks as it makes tasks like this a lot easier for me. Writing becomes a lot easier however it takes a lot of planning and you begin to realise where your strengths lie and where your weaknesses lie. In this task, my strength as you could probably guess was writing up the journalistic piece. However one weakness would be how I wrote it; this is because I wanted to get the tone, words, layout etc of the writing right. 

The InDesign skills you have learnt: One InDesign skill which I have learnt is how to insert pictures, this was a strength because I've never done media before and inserting a picture had a few easy steps to it so when asked by peers in my class "how do you insert pictures?" I was able to do it without hesitation. However my weakness would be changing the colour of the text. I was shown how to do this however when putting what I learnt into practise I was unable to do this so my final design had to be simply black and white which meant there was a lack of colour which made it less eye catching and to some extent "boring". 

Web publishing skills: Web publishing was a bit of an issue for all as there was an issue setting up our blogger however once this was done, I found that my strength was uploading content on my blogger. This was because it was clearly explained to us by the teacher and it was similar to other sites I have used.  However my weakness would be, commenting on other peoples work. I've never used blogger before so it was new to me and because I had no guidance as to how to do it, it became a challenge. 

Audience feedback: The feed back was helpful in the sense that I got to find out a second view about my work. Having not done media before it's easy to slip up and go wrong over little things however, the feedback helped as everything well I did was listed and the positive comment was definitely a boost. However in my audience feed back it is mentioned to make a few adjustments to where I place the magazine logo which I will take into consideration and do so when designing. 

4 targets I've set myself: 

1. Doing a lot more research and gathering content before hand so I don't have a problem as to what to include when designing. 

2. Reading many different works of journalism as this would help me in the sense that reading different works by different people would give me a wider idea of what I could do when writing up my own piece of journalism. The tone, language, layout etc would be clearer. 

3. Using InDesign and practising different elements of InDesign. This would help regarding my coursework as I'd be able to take the simple skills I've learnt and make them more advance making my actual work far more professional. 

4. Getting used to blogger; The actual coursework would require a lot of blogging so it would be best for me to get used to the site. 

This is my journalistic work