Evaluation questions:

Q: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I have picked up a lot of knowledge and tricks from photo shop throughout the duration of the development for this magazine, from cropping multiple pictures, feathering out sharp edges of cut out images, using the magic wand to transfer letters for titles and sub headings to stacking up layers to make sure that each feature is noticeable and not hid behind another.
I also focused a lot on lighting and placing of the pictures I took, the macro setting as alright for the close up and more detailed shots needed, but I much preferred my editing of the simple shot consisting of the band featured doing poses, and then adding animal heads over their faces. I tried to make it look as realistic as I could, so I changed the colour sequence on the background of the magazine as well as separately for each head, hence the yellow/orange tint.

Q: How did you attract your audience?

The main attraction is the title ‘SoundWaves’ with the sea as the background and the tagline of ‘the sea is always there’ which is a term mostly used by surfers. I also featured some well known Surf band/artist names such as waves and black flag, and the logo of the ‘Vans Triple Crown of Surf’ and ‘Surf Punks unite’ under the title.

Q: Who would be the audience for your media product?

My target audience are the surfers who listen to surf punk, reggae and Dick Dale, that and those who enjoy art. My magazine consists of the Latest surf competitions and news, the best spots of the season and the best gear to get, mashed up with strange and colourful art, photography and a wide variety of music and gigs – because this is what I usually look for in magazines, but I find that most lack all of these elements.

Q: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and Why?

SoundWaves is like NME magazine (who are owned by IPC media) in the same way as the layout of the contents page, almost the same idea as the front cover, (although mine is mainly surf related), the target audience, however is not the same as NME is all about the music that is out in the here and now all new music from the small indie bands to the larger icons such as Kasabian and Oasis. They know what the target audience likes so they know what to feature on the cover and how to lay it out in a way the audience will be drawn in. Soundwaves, however, contains a mixture of media and small bands. Even though NME is based upon a wider audience and sold in every superstore and newsagents, where as SoundWaves is more based upon a niche audience and sold in surf, skate, or even art shops.

Q: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My Magazine represents youth that surf and love art, that kind of social group is small but wide spread worldwide. Hence the production of SoundWaves, the title itself suggests that it is a music magazine – and by looking at the more in depth features and advertisements on the cover which are all surf involved. That and the extra bits of art and festivals dotted around the contents page, either on the ‘Regulars’ or on the featured pages column.

Q: In what ways does your media product challenge forms and conventions of real magazine products?

The masthead that I have featured is much like something seen on NME, the band taking up most of the cover and the other features overlapping the image and the bold title above the top of the page. The contents page is much like Q’s – in a way of the layour, simple and featuring the main articles on the left, and the regulars in the small and compact column on the right hand side. With the subscribe page underneath, flowed by the ‘highlight of the wee’ which highlights the biggest gig or something out of the ordinary that happened in the month.

Q: Looking back at your preliminary task (College magazine) What have you learnt in terms of progression from that to the full product?

I have learnt a lot more about Photoshop and the skills that I didn’t have before have developed. Also, the idea of focusing on a real life audience like the surfer region brought forward more of a creative and realistic approach to the task set; I also enjoyed the challenge of the step by step pre production stages.
Where as in the college magazine, all I did for my pre production ideas was draw something up on a piece of paper, I didn’t know much about taking pictures or editing the colour scheme to my liking. The cover image for the college magazine was a lot more amateur than the SoundWaves one, due to the newly developed Photoshop skills .

Over all completed magazine

Overall i like to think that my magazine turned out the way i wanted, i stuck to using natural colours and not the 'neon' or synthetic ones - seeing as that is what i, myself look for in a magazine. My favorite part of the magazine is probably the contents page just because of the simple yet productive lay out, i'm pretty chuffed that i chose 'Q' as my style model when it came to the contents page because, in comparison to other magazines, it looks more professional.

Double Page Spread

For my double page spread i attempted to use a similar style as the 'Big in 2012' post underneath, even though i only copied some small elements such as the large images on the left hand page and the smaller image representing the album artwork on the bottom right.

Although, i added my own thing because the style model is to promote small bands and consists of small and spaced out double paragraphs, when mine is a full interview. But i still used simple and clear writing which are arranged into columns which makes the article easy to follow.

 Even though this is a 'Big in 2012' double page spread, the layout is something i would choose to use in my magazine. simply because;

• The large, main image is taking up the whole left page with the detail of the band on the opposite page
• The other band 'New Ivory' has a smaller image, yets it is still really easy to tell who they are and what part they have on this page
• The main image is really eyecatching aswell,the lay out is simple- with the band in order behind eachother and the background blurred out which brings the main focus upon the band

Step by step creation of the Contents page

Here is the plain plan with just the images
of the features, the colour theme is the
 orange i used on the cover for the 'free' 

pop up, so it links back to the magazine,
 much like 'Q' and the red theme.

There is a minor change here, i have added the  small boxes where the age numbers will go, yet again the color theme from the front and the other small feature apply here.

I have added the regular stories here,
with a small description on what
the feature consists of and not a massive paragraph,
just short and
snappy. 

Here the numbers have been added, black to stand out
and in simple clear numbers, like the  'Q' contents page
i am basing this on.

 This is what came out of the process, i finally added the 'subscribe section' along with the weekly review of gigs and top shows. Overall i think my contents page looks much like my style model (Q) because it's simple and not too over crowded with text and pictures.

Final Front Cover

Contents page

The  articles which are featured on the front page are the larger images, and this is easy to notice - and that the page numbers are  not repeated on the small column to the right.
The main article is the Muppets, because it has the larges piece on this page, i like the way 'Q' magazine set out their contents pages, they are simple to read and a large advertisement usually takes up the page opposite - an advertisement which is linked with the magazine;
For example, NME is known as an 'indie' magazine, and they usually advertise Topman - which is known to be an indie clothing shop.

I've taken a lot of pictures of the bands/artists i plan to feature in my magazine, but i also plan to add surfing and tattoos/art in it - because it is what i would buy myself off the shop shelves.
Being a surfer and deeply interested in music and art myself i always tend to but surfers Guide, Skin Deep and Rocksound which is usually quite pricey and  i'm sure i am not the only person who experiences this dilemma.
So i'll feature 'Beaver Tail', then 'Matchstick', then the latest surf news and spots in the UK, the season in which the swell is at this peak and advertisements for shops selling surf gear (wax, leashes, wetsuits, rash vests, boars shorts, separate fins, boards, longboards ect.)  and the top tattoo artists in the UK, featuring their work and the best of traditional. 

I have experimented and edited the three main pictures in which i plan to use as my front cover;

Front cover ideas

These three images are the main choices for my magazine cover, i'm planning to just select the figures and make the background much like the SubMerge Wavves cover - though i may use a breaking wave, or a barrel wave.

The colour sequence will mostly be mixtures of blues and greens, although when it comes to the headlining font, it will have to contrast the main image and colour sequence so the idea is to either use blacks or yellows.

I may cover their faces with animals, like tigers and panda's - because it stands out alot more much like their music;

Music magazine ideas

This is a mixture of the target audience, with the music which they normally listen to.
Mine is based upon surfers, and the music is normally surf punk and reggae, bands like - black flag, wavves and toots and the maytals. The top left is a possible banner for the bottom of the magazine, as they are all surf/skate makes and would normally catch the targer audiences' eye.
To the far left iare the cover ideas, mostly based upon the band 'Wavves'

mock up for the magazine

Cover page -  a few headlines
a simple title and style model. I plan for it to be like the  'SubMerge'
cover in the previous post, not too overcrowded with text and colours. 

Contents page - inspired by the 'Q' contents page, easy to read
the cover in the top  right so it is easy to tell this page is from soundwaves,
I also plan to colour co-ordinate the boxed about the pictures and underneath
the regulars column in the yellow i am using for the 'FREE' snippet on the cover.

Double page spread -  on the left hand page i will use two full images
of the band featured with a quote from the feature inbetween the two.
The title will be in simple text and it will consist of two columns which will
be the interview with the band. The bottom right is the ablum they
have released with the description of where to purchase the album
and where to see their promotional tour.

My style model is based on SubMerge, i have mentioned it before in my earlier blogs;

I chose the 'Mastodon' cover due to the  fact that what the style models are doing is less put on than most magazines, also how the image takes up most if not all of the front cover.
It consists of a few simple sentences and features yet it is an interesting looking magazine. I am contemplating either taking some more pictures so they look like this, or i carry on with my animal head idea. I could do both and used the models with the animal heads without on the front cover and then feature them on a page with the animal heads.
I am either going to use the whole front cover as my own or just take small ideas, because if i take snippets from different magazines, i am pretty sure i could produce a pretty interesting magazine. 

Music magazines

This magazine, Kerrang! is based upon a pop-punk/rock genre.
With a noticeable band or band member on the front, and surrounding well known band names around it. Also, with the poof of 'over 1000 gigs listed' suggests that it is accociated with music. 5 free posters of popular bands, and PLUS! consisting of a large handful of easily noticeable bands which are featured inside - so if a customer was not to like the artist(s) on the cover, then by adding all this extra  information, possibly consisting of a favorite band/artist, it would persuade them and more people to purchase the magazine.

Rocksound, the genre of the magazine is  pretty well told in the title. That, and three members of separate hardcore/punk bands representing on the front and advertising a tour 'Punks United'. However, if the title hadn't of given the magazine away, the 'free CD' along the top, mirrored underneath with an extremely long list of bands/artist featured in the article. Followed by the 2 free giant posters or well known rock bands - Gallows and Lacua Coil.  

SubMerge, a magazine focused on music, art, comedy, fashion, film, action sports and more, Submerge delivers content that completely covers the Sacramento entertainment scene. The main feature 'Wavves' a surf-punk band. The 'art' feature is in the background, the use bight colours, indicating the sea and sun (applying to wavves) That, and the three popular entertainment acts form trash metal to tim and eric (a TV show)  Obviously aimed at the teenage   age group. 

Anchorage

Anchorage - In magazines, images will be anchored by captions (directly explaining what pictures depict) by cover lines, or by articles and headlines. Anchoring an image helps give it a meaning, as it helps the reader understand the significance.

Secondary Images - They nay be used on the front cover to help promote other features in the magazine, usually anchored by a cover line.
They are often used in magazines where reader's need to be enticed by the picture rather than the cover line text. (e.g celebrity magazine)

Coverlines -  These are located at various points on the front cover, telling readers about the magazine's contents - and specifically, the articles they will find.
The front cover often features 6-12 coverlines in an attempt to lure different readers to different things.
Coverlines will often use language and presentational devices to be most effective.

Final Contents Page

Final Front Page

Magazine cover analysis

Title – Q

·       Was originally ‘cue’ as in a record cue, but it was changed to ‘Q’ to assure that it won’t be mistaken for a snooker magazine

·       Mise en scene – white background with half of the page taken up by the cover star

·       Target audience – men over 18 with disposable income

·        Advertising – car adverts, alcohol adverts and men’s clothing adverts

·        Genre – mainstream bands, indie bands, studio rock bands

·       Editing techniques used;



Contents page.
The reason for this is that its not a serious photo, so it hints that the magazine isn't one of the boring and plain articles normally seen on the shelves.

Cover picture;
Showing a simple, yet stylish student holding some books and doing the shaka which means ' surfs up' and 'hanging loose'. The shaka is easliy noticed by surfers and by the person in this image doing so, it should catch their eye.
Which completely applies to the surf/college magazine combination.

The ultimate college magazine, is a go.

For the title of my magazine i had to consider the fact that it has to be linked with college and be catchy as a cold.
So, i came to the final decision of 'Rad read' followed by a the slogan of 'making your read, rad'. Pretty simple and cheesy, but it seems pretty legit considering what it's based upon, that being a surf and college related. I personally find it hard to nail down on my college work and hit the surf at the same time and preferring to be hitting the surf then be stuck in a library, and with teenagers experiencing the same dilamma i thought 'rad read' could help them out.
Providing tips on how to shred the waves and books at the same time, how to fit in a surf within the timetable.