AS Media Studies

Research & Planning

Foundation Portfolio

Centre Number: 11049

St. Francis Xavier College

Mariana de Brito - 1195

• The target audience was decided based on the type of magazine I would particularly would like to read, thus it was targeted at college students.

Research & Planning

• As the target audience was students, the design of both the front cover and contents page needed to be modern and stylish. As well as, language being to a certain level - informal.

• InDesign: the design can be very structured and because of it, the overall design can become too organised and boring.

• Photoshop: Easy to create simple images and manipulating certain images, can give the effect that was first desired.

Preliminary ProjectFront Cover Contents Page

Reflections & Feedback

• If given the opportunity to do it again, I would be more adventurous with the front cover, to make it look more interesting.

• One feedback that I received was that the image for the front cover was too bright, so what I decided to do was change the contrast and brightness and only allow the phones to have colour.

• For the main task, I need to know how to get effects on images on photoshop and how to effectively use tools in InDesign.

Music Magazine

• The genre of my music magazine is country

• The magazine was titled as Country Youth, as its target audience would be young adults.

Research of Genre• After choosing the genre of music for

the magazine, I had to research what country magazines designs looked like. These are two examples of what I found.

Result of Research• From what I could see, the design

of the magazine is simple and clear. There isn’t too much going on the cover.

• The cover of the magazine is not busy with cover lines, some magazines that I found had no cover lines. So the cover lines on my magazine, has to be kept to a minimum and simple.

For the Music Magazine...

• The audience for the magazine are young adults.

• The magazine comes out at a monthly rate

• It will cost £2

• To set the magazine apart from the rest, it will include a CD with tracks from featured artists.

The Face of the Magazine

Original photographs

Changes made: 1Raw photograph Changed photograph

I changed the brightness of the photo, making it brighter than it was previously, I also made the contrast. I made these changes in an attempt to highlight her eyes, so that it was the first thing that caught the readers eye.

Changes made:2Raw photograph Changed photograph

The changes made on this photograph was making it seem that it was painted. I added this effect to try and convey the art that is music.

Changes made:3Raw photograph Changed photograph

Here, I made the photo black and white and coloured her eyes electric blue. Again, I wanted to draw the attention to her eyes to capture the “soul”. As the eyes are what express emotions no matter how someone is feeling. Country music is about capturing emotion and the eyes is where the emotions are being expressed.

Changes made:4Raw photograph

Changed photograph

What I did with the photo here was again to change the contrast and brightness of the photograph. However I also made the colour of her eyes more intense, and her smile whiter. By making her smile whiter, makes it seem brighter thus making her look happy, and it also conveys some innocence - it makes it seem child like. By making her eyes brighter also portrays the child like innocence.

Research models for Contents Page

My Content Page...

Key points

How have you made the reader want to read on?

What are the links between images and words?

What determines the dominant stories?

How have you gone about ordering the information on the page?

• By adding more information under each major title the reader might want to read what the article is about.

• The link between the image and the words are the page numbers.

• Images for the dominate stories on the content page are bigger - showing the reader the major stories.

• The subscription to the magazine encourages the readers to purchase the magazine again, as they will be getting the magazine at a lower price.

How does the contents page flag up your double page spread?

• The contents page flags up to the double page spread by introducing Helena Carter, and what the article on the double page spread is going to be about. In other words it explores different aspects of her life - thus building up to the double page spread.

Here’s an example of an inspiring double page spread…

This is why I think that double spread works...

The headline anchors the image as it sets the tone and sets focus on it as well. It then leads to the first line of the first paragraph which repeats the words used in the headline.

The first paragraph then further develops the headline.

The first paragraph goes on to develop the sub - heading, thus giving the reader background information about the artist. His name, his musical heritage, etc.

The sub - heading gives readers more information on the artist.

The image being placed on the right hand side of the page means that it is the thing that the eye falls on. By the image occupying the left hand side of the page, it means that the centrefold does not interfere with the text.

The questions are in bold text, so that the reader can recognise the topic areas of the questions. The answers being in normal type means that the reader can easily spot the answer given by the artist.

The pull out taken from the interview, creates an interest to the reader and also adds to the main headline “wild west hero.”

This is my double-page spread

This is how my double page spread works

By having the image on the centrefold means that the text is not being interfered with by it.

The pull out adds interest to the article. It also adds to intimacy to between the artist and audience.

The headline, sets the scene of what the article is going to be about. It also anchors the image, as it is a face that has not been seen yet.

The sub - heading, then explains the artist. And further develops the main heading.

The first paragraph then develops the sub heading.

Like the example, I used the same style of laying out the questions. In other words, I also made the questions bold so that the reader could quickly notice the topic shift.

The normal type font paragraph, gives more information on the artist and what her music is about.

This is how all three components are linked together….

The colours used on the components are all consistent, thus this makes them link together. They also come together by the type of language used. In other words, in all the front cover, contents page and the double page spread, the language used is to describe the life of the artist, but moreover to create an informal atmosphere with the audience.

This is my re-drafted cover page

• One of the main feedback that I got for the front cover, was that the bar code needed to be made smaller and moved to the bottom of the page, as it is now.

This is my re-drafted contents page

• The one feedback that I got for my contents page was that the text needed to anchor my images better.

This is my re-drafted double spread

Key modifications to double spread from feedback

• One of the feedbacks that I got for the double page spread, was that the pull out needed to be something that the audience could relate to. So I made the pull out into two lines, instead of it being a block on the page.

Evaluation

• You can find a link to my blog here: http://marianaeyer.blogspot.com/

• You can find my evaluation with responses to the 7 questions here: http://marianaeyer.blogspot.com/