My magazine, vinyl, incorporates generic conventions, as I have used a three colour scheme throughout, using the conventional black and white and, instead of the most common third convention being red, I have used purple. I have also used a minimal three font scheme on the cover, but broken this convention on the contents page and double page spread using five varying fonts. This is to break the page and the text up, and the main reason I used so many on the double page spread was to create an interesting masthead for the article’s title. The unusual frames used (e.g. Polaroid's, old style photo) indicate an interest in old photography, which can be connoted to the magazine being associated with retro interests. I have broken the common convention used in most magazines from how I have listed what the magazine features rather than using the common coverline conventions which use ‘puff’ to entice the reader and arouse curiosity, my ‘featuring..’ list does this using pragmatics so the audience has to know the featured bands.

My colour scheme is

similar to these magazines using black and white

and then one contrasting

colour.

Vinyl represents teenage girls, as from the front cover you can connote that it is feminine, this is by the photography, as rather than making obvious connotations to music using props, it uses fashion to attract females, I used a pose similar to one Rankin took of Lily Allen for Elle magazine, it makes the photo appear more dominant and stand out, this is to catch their attention. The handwritten type font is also feminine as stereotypically connoted from swirly writing are girls, most likely young, as it is secretive and personal making connotations to a diary. The purple in the colour scheme is also stereotypically ‘girly’, I felt it was more classy than using a stereotypical pink. I do not feel that my magazine is represented stereotypically, but it is more women dominant. It represents an indie style as it features bands of the indie genre, fashion from celebrities with an indie style (e.g. Daisy Lowe) , who has a similar style to ‘Cherie Cheris’ in her photos.

I have taken inspiration from the pose on this ELLE cover! Yet made it unique with the editing!

Vinyl could be produced by a major magazine producer such as Condé Nast Publications who have published magazines such as vogue, GQ, vanity fair, house and garden and many more. This is because it has not published a music magazine as of yet, or anything aimed mainly at teens (except for teen vogue). I think my magazine looks sophisticated enough as it has a professional looking masthead similar to those seen on vogue and harpers bazaar. The only problem I think my magazine would have is the bands featured as they are mainly British, however vogue has a different magazines for 18 countries. The photograph also fits the style of magazines published by the company as it is of the model on a plain background which is similar to the photography used in vogue.

The target audience for Vinyl is teenage girls from 16 to around 23, most likely to be students. I have kept the audience profile I created earlier in the project in mind though out creating vinyl. The fonts I have chosen appeal to women as the handwritten type font (arsenale white) and the masthead’s font (editorial) are appealing in different ways, arsenale white and the handwritten type font on the contents are very delicate and pretty which stereotypically interest females so will appeal to them. The tall thin font on the masthead looks sophisticated which is also appealing to girls getting more mature, transforming into sophisticated women. The cartoon ‘T’ on the double page spread (DPS) is playful and fun to appeal to a younger audience. The colour purple in the scheme is also stereotypically ‘girly’ so therefore it is appealing. The slogan “shh..” is playful yet innocent which may also draw in the girls attention as it is not taking itself too seriously, looking fun and up beat. It is similar to POP magazine which has a fairly similar style of cover, POP appeals to females with an interest in fashion varying from teens to early 30’s. The photography used appeals to the indie genre and the clothing & props (acoustic guitar) used, all make connotations to indie style music. The bands mentioned on the contents & coverlines are all defined as part of the indie genre.

I think that vinyl has kept to the “likes” section very well! As it is retro, arty, has different photography and editing and also relates to art and fashion!

Vinyl presents indie, acoustic and live music very well! And the contents page mentions unpopular bands! So I think it has captured the audience’s musical interests really well!

Vinyl is suited well to the age group and sex specified, it also matches their background information as it is quirky yet modern and is different to other music magazines, as it is aimed at females unlike other music magazines! It also includes fashion which is different to other music magazines!

Throughout making Vinyl I have developed my Photoshop skills and general IT skills. I have downloaded brushes and fonts and learnt how to extract them onto Photoshop. I have become a lot more confident in using Photoshop as from my earlier mock ups my cutting skills were extremely poor but since then I have learnt to feather the edge of what I cut creating a professional finish. I have learnt also how to replace colours, (e.g. The once red lipstick is now purple) at first this looked very amateur but I have since learn how to make it look smooth and more professional. I have also become a lot more confident at using layers within Photoshop, I found that adjusting the colours (e.g. Brightness & contrast, hue etc.) very useful in making the photographs looks professional and of a better quality. The tool I found most useful was the magnetic lasso as I used it to edit almost every photograph.

Technology I have used to produce vinyl...

•My compaq laptop•Photoshop cs4•Nikon p90 SLR•Blackberry storm•Blogger.com

Looking back at the preliminary task I have discovered that from my research and planning I can have a much broader idea of how I want my magazine to look as I can look at others to influence me. It has also allowed me to create mock ups and test ideas and also develop my Photoshop skills in a more sophisticated and professional way, as before when I cut parts out it looked rough and very amateur, whereas now it is smooth and polished. Another weakness I had when doing the preliminary was that I was not brave so kept the skills very basic only cutting geometric shapes, whereas now I can cut figures successfully. The font was all the same which I now realise was not a successful image, and now I have learnt to download fonts it looks far more successful and professional, so I now feel very confident with Photoshop. Overall I think my magazine is very successful and I am very pleased with the outcome, as when I started the coursework I doubted my editing abilities, but have since proved myself wrong, so I am extremely happy with the final piece, I feel my hard work has paid off.

I think that my preliminary looks very amateur from the one font scheme and the common colour scheme. I think the graphics look unprofessional along with

the photography, I have learnt a lot from making Vinyl, my skills have developed

greatly, which I can see from the quality of my preliminary compared to my final contents, cover and double page spread.

The Journey Of Improvement..