Evaluation

I am pleased with my magazine. I used the flat plans as a guide line for it. I started with my front cover and began to take photos of Adam who is in a band called Monocure. I wanted his face on the cover as my double page spread article is about him and his band. I made sure I got a mid shot of him to show his face clearly without being too large and 'in your face', I also needed room around the edges for the main sells and the main flash to sit. I also made sure he wasn't smiling as so to conform to the general image of a rock band member. I stuck to my flat plan by keeping the strap lines at the top and bottom, I chose red for these as red is a colour which can signify many different things including pain and hate, which relates to rock music and quite commonly, what rock bands sing about. Red is also neither too feminine nor masculine and appeals to both genders.


I downloaded an appropriate font which is similar to the 'Kerrang!' logo, it appeals shattered and rough, which is like rock music and the lifestyle associated with it- rough, the music is loud and people 'rock out' to it, a lot of bands actually smash up their stage or their instruments, that is why the main font I have chosen for my typography, mainly the headings, appears smashed. The title is also in upper case to show how important and 'loud' it is. I also included the tag line 'monthly music mayhem' as I wrote about in an earlier blogs of my flat plans. My title (The indie & rock SHOCK) rhymes which I think is definitely a good quality as it is catchy and memorable. I used other fonts which are easy to read and clear but some are also unique and eye catching which is why I chose them. I put some words in upper case on my cover just to accentuate them and show that they are important or for the reader to put emphasis on the particular word when pronouncing it. Some of my main sells also rhyme which I intended for because they make the magazine a little less serious. I used some large numbers on the cover to catch attention and make it seem like there is a lot of whatever the article is about, inside.

I also made sure to include a bar code which was positioned in a suitable place, the date, and the issue number which are small to show that they are not that important or anything which is actually featured inside the magazine.

On the strap lines I mentioned things which are going to be in the magazine, I tried to include quite a few things so it all seemed like rather a lot was jam packed into the issue!

I decided to focus on using white, black, and red as the main colours for my cover and contents page. During research I also noticed NME used red as a main colour too. Black and white are also colours which are suitable for either genders and they both can go with any other colour, in my case, red.


I continued the colour scheme by having a red strap line across the top of the page with the headline/title overlapping the edge of it which I thought looked good and effective.

I also have a black strap going vertical on the right hand side, purely for extra visual effect. I added a box with a message from the editor (me!!) and signed the box using the scribble tool on Microsoft word and copy and pasting it onto InDesign.

I used several different fonts on this page so it is visually appealing and it is clear what is what e.g. one font for the article names.

I chose certain images that I wrote about in my previous blog and chose a circle for one image just to make it more attractive and not so 'box-like' and I chose to add a red box behind the other photo so to almost create a red shadow of the image. I added some red font to add some variety to the page and wrote what the article was about and the page numbers overlapping parts of the photos to save space and also to show that it relates to that image.

I also added a website address in the top right hand corner in white and black but in a small font as it is not too important- but still noticeable.

Please note: The circle is in fact an actual circle shape but it doesn't appear so in this screen shot because I had to do it through paint as the google equipment would not convert my PDF file for an unknown reason. This is also the case for the double page spread below with the pixels!



This is my double page spread. I decided to stick with a plain background and use blue as a main colour. I decided to actually interview Adam instead of making it up myself so all of the contents is completely true. I wrote about the photographs in my previous blog but I did add shadow effects to a couple as it simply looks aesthetically better. The photos are all in greyscale simply to match each other and appear as a set of images and also so the background colours to not distract from Adam himself. I also chose to have them in different shapes because they looked good like that!

The title font I used I chose because it is clear to read but decorative and looks good with the rest of the page. I chose to make the more important words larger than the less important ones. I also decided to make the questions and answers easy to identify by having the answers in black and different shades of blue for the questions. The font is easy to read and clear because it needs to be for readers to bother reading it, or purchase it! I included quotes from the interview in a bigger font so that if people do not want to read the entire article, they may get drawn in by reading the quotes first. I also made sure to include a sentence about what the article is about underneath the heading and page numbers!

My magazine conforms to a normal rock magazine with the layout, masthead design, language, interview technique, colours, fonts, photographs and text. I am happy with this and I do not think my magazine really has anything that is that different to any other rock or indie magazines, I think that people interested in that genre of music would read it.

The language used is suitable for an audience of either gender, any age but in particular 15-30 year olds, any social class, it would not offend anybody and anyone interested in rock or indie music. I think that the magazine reflects the target audience as Adam on the cover and double page spread looks like a rock / indie person himself with his tattoos, hair style. attitude portrayed in the photos and piercings. I think that the colours would also appeal to the target audience as they are general rock colours that rock / indie people would like or dress in.

I think that my magazine would be suitable for any high street shop which sells magazines such as WHSmiths, newsagents as well as specialist shops. It is quire like Kerrang! and NME so I think with some more work it could be up on the shelf with them! I think that people would be attracted to my magazine due to the aesthetics- the layout and colours catch the eye as well as the background image and the font used- especially for the masthead. I also think that the language used in main sells and main flash such as the use of alliteration and rhyming would attract readers into purchasing the magazine.



This is an NME front cover- you can see they have decorative font for the mast head like mine does. It also has a strap line at the top where as mine has one at the bottom too. The background image used is a mid shot of men with straight faces which is also like mine.

They have also included a circle shape with text inside which is like what I did on the contents page and the double page spread but I did mine with photographs instead of text.

They also use quotes 'I was worried the Monkeys would think I'd had an affair' and my magazine also uses quotes but inside on the contents page and double page spread too, which entices readers into find out out more! NME also uses uppercase lettering which is a larger size for the more important areas, as does mine.


I believe this shows how my magazine conforms to the general expectation of a magazine aimed at quite young rock / indie music lovers.

Before I started this project I hadn't used Adobe InDesign before, at first it appeared difficult to use and I was quite frustrated that I had to use it rather than simple Microsoft Powerpoint which I had previously used for my GCSE magazine project which I was really happy with. I gradually learnt how to briefly use InDesign and now know the basics. I know that there is plenty more to learn about it but it was not all necessary for this project. I ended up downloading a free trial of InDesign so I could continue with my magazine at home which I did, however when I tried to open my magazine again at college, I could not do so as the version I had downloaded was a later version. I finished my magazine at home within the 30 day free trial but I was disappointed that I could not edit it at college as there are a few things I could still tweak and a couple of typos which I now cannot change. I wish I knew before hand that I wouldn't be able to edit it at college so I would have had more time to put even more effort into it. I am now actually planning on using InDesign to produce a poster for an art project I have approaching, this is something I wouldn't have considered, or even known it existed if I hadn't of made my magazine.

I did use Adobe Photoshop to edit a couple of photographs, especially for my cover to improve Adam's appearance. I only had some brief knowledge of Photoshop as I had previously done a couple of lessons in art and photography on it.

I have overall learnt a lot during this project about how to use InDesign and what it does, and i am happy I have learnt it as I am now using it for other things and possibly even more in the future!

Looking back at my preliminary task, I am happy I got to produce a college magazine to learn the basics of the software. I planned so much more for my full product including everything mentioned in my earlier blogs such as flat plans, analysing existing magazines, more research into target audience! I do not think that my language use had improved very much as I think it was fairly good to begin with! I always like to use alliteration, rhyming and other language techniques which from personal experience, make people smile, they are light hearted and catchy. I think my design skills have improved in general by adding more detail and aspects which are typical to magazines in shops. My contents page style has improved a lot but I think a lot of that is due to not having enough time for the college magazine to perfect or improve it.

Overall, I am really happy with my outcome although I think I could improve in some areas. I think I could include more text on the double page spread because when it is printed out, it is bigger and you do not realise that at the time of creating it, in fact I had to not include some of the questions and answers from the interview because I thought it wouldn't all fit in. I would also improve my contents page a little, maybe adding more to it again. I would also get rid of the couple of typing errors which I couldn't get rid of due to my problem I mentioned earlier which has really annoyed me!

I am happy with my magazine and am happy with what I have learnt about magazines and the software along the way, I do not think my magazine is too bad for the first time using InDesign properly!


P.S Lisa- I can give you my magazine in person if you wish!