When creating my magazine, all these programs can make my magazine features aesthetically attractive within a matter of seconds. In past times it must of been very hard to get some of the same effects that we can do with the new technology, and it would take a very long time to achieve the effect. Some effects wouldn't be achievable a few decades ago.Instead of a website like Dafont.com where you can custom pick a font to suit your style within seconds, often you would need an artist to draw them for you taking days to perfect. Another example being Facebook and being able to get instant feedback on a large scale to people across the world whereas they would have to go into the streets and travel for consumer feedback.

I started buy trying out different fonts with the image to see which ones worked best and created different effects.

I started creating various generic conventions of a magazine. I added a symbolic logo reference by changing the ‘d’ on Audio to a musical symbol whilst also choosing to have the title with a lower case name in order to reach to the target audience and have it more informal and casual, making it more relaxing for them. I was not quite sure about the background of the magazine and then tried experimenting with a different background. I also was become less keen on the picture.

I tried adding a black background to add sophisticated connotations to the magazine and make the other colours stand out as a binary opposite to them. Also with the image taken with a grey background, it proved harder than expected to edit the picture. As well as this I became more uncomfortable with my actor looking too young for the representation of my magazine and then decided to change the actor and layout of the magazine. As this one wasn’t too good.

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I changed the colour scheme to a simple red, black and white which sticks well to the codes and conventions of successful magazines. Having read as a stand out colour next to the binary opposite of black and white which play off each other to emphasise words and features. I added a banner at the top to draw the audiences attention when first looking at the magazine and for them then to see the picture of the actor who is emphasised by the white canvas background and the use of colour for the parts of writing.

Following from the last one, on the right hand side I decided to use a purple font for the persuasive words used like ‘exclusive, featuring, official’ in this case featuring to highlight it for the audience to see it and give it some importance. The reason why I chose purple is because it has connotations to royalty and luxury so the audience make the connection to feature. I added a feature on the right as my feedback from a colleague suggested it was empty looking, I then used my mood board to find a feature to put their. And I also decided to make the button bigger because feedback said that they didn't recognise it at first as the link to the actor.

I used the polygon tool to incept a new layer of the model from shoulders upwards so that I could position the button in front of the actor but behind the title to give my magazine a magical, illusion feel to it. I then got feedback from a target audience member saying that the left column looked ‘baron’ from this I decided to add more detail to the column and put more substance onto the page and offer a diversity in font, size and layout to make it more interesting and easier for the consumer to follow with the obvious signposting.

I started by creating a basic layout with a picture of the actor with the same Mis-ene-Scene conventions as the existing product copy of Q magazine. I then researched other existing products and found the rural style that Q represents in the mise-en-scene could be achieved in an alternate way. In my photo shoot I took various shot and techniques displayed in my blog.

I found an alternate picture which I de-saturated the colour to greyscale. I feel this picture is better than the original idea as it appeals more to the style of the target audience I am trying to appeal at with the Indie aesthetic theme.

I found an alternate picture which I de-saturated the colour to greyscale. I feel this picture is better than the original idea as it appeals more to the style of the target audience I am trying to appeal at with the Indie aesthetic theme.

I found an alternate picture which I de-saturated the colour to greyscale. I feel this picture is better than the original idea as it appeals more to the style of the target audience I am trying to appeal at with the Indie aesthetic theme.

This was my first arranged photo shoot were I picked an actor out as the representation of my magazine being relatable to the target audience but also having the Mis-ene-scene of my actor being different than any other. When doing the photo shoot, I used different layouts and costumes to convey different character personas to get the right image for my magazine front cover. My initial favourite are the ones on the bottom row, which create a representation of acceptable rebellion which represents the stereotypical mentality of the teenage phase (target audience). However after experimenting one my front cover, I found these pictures to be unsuitable for my magazine representation as she looks too young to represent the high boundary of my target age range.

When directing this photo shoot, I addressed my actors to all wear dark colours for the costume to convey sophistication and the indie rock ‘n’ roll stereotype which are used profoundly in most magazines. I tried using diverse camera shots from close-up to long-shot, high-angle, to low-angle to convey the level in dominance of the actors characters. I organised some propp’s like an electric guitar to feature in the image so the target consumer feels this more clear image of the magazine having a specific focus on the music category so they know what they are getting when buying the magazine.

Space left on either side when considering the layout of the page and the text that surrounds the image.

During these particular shots, I thought about the layout of the Contents page in which one of these would feature on, so I took the main actor and positioned him in various parts of the shot in order to add variation and have more flexibility when positioning the picture on the page and placing the text around it.

The different compositions of the shots give me lenience when thinking where I will place the text and where to position the image in relation to the page.

After I planned my double page spread and contents page, I decided I will need a feature band and lots of images to get different images for different features. (A) represents the pictures for the contents in which I will use Photoshop in order to re-invent some photo’s and make them more abstract and interesting for the reader to follow when trying to entice them to read the article. (B)represents the initial idea to have a juxtaposition of a serious and naturalistic funny pictures of the band side-by-side to show the different levels of the band to the consumer and give them more depth to the article and helps them to relate to the bands.

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A

Some of these pictures overlap ones in previous other slides but I have placed them in here because they too demonstrate the type of image I was going for in terms of band representation. The diversity in camera shots are used in theory of page layout and positioning of pictures on my final piece, for example (A) is positioned vertically medium-shot so if I needed a picture to take up half a side or a strip of the page it would fit. (B) is long-shot of all actors who each were delegated a character persona in order to fit with the representation of the band, the music genre and the magazine. I feel each one played a different character and some look worthy of going in the magazine.

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A

Some pictures from this overlap previous slides but I used them in order to give comparison of character of the actors in the shots of them stood up, and the ones of them on the couch front and back. I placed the couch into the shot in order to go with the title on my double page spread ‘on the couch with...’ my initial idea and favoured idea was to have the actors to their backs to the camera so the consumer feels as if the characters are looking at something i.e. the text so the consumer should also be looking, therefore drawing them into reading the article. However after asking for some feedback off various people who suited my target audience age range they told me the majority did not prefer it and instead favoured the direct-audience address images which draw them to the text better.

My initial idea was to put the couch facing the other way as if to create the feeling the reader and artists are looking in the same direction at the text that would be put above it.

Taking the photos and seeing the colour of the couch I used Photoshop to airbrush the couch colour to a more attractive and expensive looking colour like black to make it attractive.

I then changed the colour to red as the audio magazine theme is mostly red and would symbolise to the audience that audio are interviewing this band.

I tried experiments with the faces of the band using Photoshop to create an illusion to make the pictures more interesting but also to convey their genre of music. I felt this idea was a good place to start.

With the indie genre and target audience enthralled with the vintage style I decided to make the pictures look like Polaroid copies to give that vintage feel and convey the indie genre.

I then ordered them like passport photo or police- line-up style to make them look more rebellious but still was too organised to look fitting to the page and didn't converge well with other features.