Dairy Entry: Week 7

On week 7 I made the final cut of my music magazine. I used the feedback from my peers and my own judgement to make my rough cut magazine look more like a real music magazine.

On the front cover of my rough cut I was told that the main image, the background, the clear title and the fact that the image went over the title were all good aspects so I kept them and they then appeared in my final cut unchanged. However, here is a list of what my peers didn’t like about my front cover and the ways I changed my magazine to improve on this.

• To many colours – I simplified the colour scheme.
• Not enough text – I added some more text.
• No price – I added a price.
• No date – I added a date, and also an issue number.

On the contents page of my rough cut I was told that the images worked well with the background, the layout was good, I had a good font and page numbers and a good use of a quote. These were all seen as good aspects of my contents page so I kept them and they then appeared in my final cut unchanged. However, here is a list of what my peers didn’t like about my contents page and the ways I changed my magazine to improve on this.

• Too empty, more photos needed – I added another photo.
• Pictures don’t match description, brown haired girl as Hayley Williams? – I edited the picture of Sarah to make her have ginger hair, something that I also did with the picture of her on the front cover for the same purpose.
• Too much free space – I filled in some of the free space, although I did keep it quite simplistic.

On the double-page spread of my rough cut I was told that the writing stands out well, it had a good layout, good image, good use of magazine posters in background and a well positioned title. Therefore, as these were seen as good aspects I kept them and they then appeared in my final cut relatively unchanged. However, here is a list of what my peers didn’t like about my double-page spread and the ways I changed my magazine to improve on this.

• Questions are too big – I made the questions a lot smaller.
• No page number – I added a page number which fit in with the style of page numbers on the contents page.
• Too much free space – I added more questions and answers which took up much of the free space.

Finally, after weeks of preparation and work, peer analysis and countless hours of photo shoots and photoshopping, I have finished the final cut of my music magazine.

Final Cut: Double-page Spread

Final Cut: Contents

Final Cut: Front Cover

Diary Entry: Week 5/6

On week 5 and 6 I made the rough cuts of my music magazine and got some feedback on them. Making the rough cuts themselves took me nearly two weeks themselves and the feedback only took me a day or so to collect. I used the lists from my initial sketches to design my magazine which turned out to be more difficult than first anticipated. However, I kept the attributes from the list that I thought worked well on the music magazine and didn’t use the attributes that didn’t work particularly well. I also used a lot of trial and error with the photo-shopping of photographs and also when deciding on font types and sizes. I used many of elements of photoshop to design my magazine including the magnetic lasso tool and the spot healing tool. I learned a lot about photoshop from making my music magazine and can now you it affectively and efficiently. When I had completed the rough design of my music magazine I got my peers to assess it and then I collected the feedback. This feedback showed me that I still have a lot of aspects to change when designing the final cut of my music magazine. 

Feedback

Once I had completed the rough cuts of my magazine I was given feedback from the rest of the class. I got some interesting and very helpful advice.

Here is a list of what my peers liked about my front cover.

• Photo works well with style.
• The background.
• The clear title.
• The main image.
• The fact that the image went over the title.

Here is a list of what my peers didn’t like about my front cover.

• Too many colours.
• Not enough text.
• Too many colours in colour scheme.
• No price.
• No date.

Here is a list of what my peers liked about my contents page.

• Images work well with the background.
• Good layout.
• Good use of different camera angles.
• Attractive font and page numbers.
• Good use of a quote.

Here is a list of what my peers didn’t like about my contents page.

• Too empty, more photos needed.
• Pictures don’t match description, brown haired girl as Hayley Williams?
• To much free space.

Here is a list of what my peers liked about my double-page spread.

• Writing stands out well.
• Good layout.
• Good image.
• Good use of subheadings.
• Good use of magazine posters in background.
• Well positioned title.

Here is a list of what my peers didn’t like about my double-page spread.

• Questions are too big.
• No page number.
• Too much free space.

I will take all of this feedback into account when creating the final draft of my music magazine. I will make the improvements needed judging by this feedback and keep the good strong attributes that my magazine already possesses.  

Rough Cut: Double-page Spread

Rough Cut: Contents Page

Rough Cut: Front Cover

Dairy Entry: Week 4

On week 4 I planned and took the majority of the photos for my music magazine. I got the ideas I already had for my photos and decided where to take the photos, what angle to shoot them from and the models I would be using for them. This was difficult because I had to find a time when the models I needed were free, and the media cameras were available. As you can see from my photo planning sheet I took my pictures in a variety of places for example the back track and Holly’s house. I also thought about every element of the photo as the planning sheet shows. 

Photo Planning Sheet

Dairy Entry: Week 3

On week 3 I was meant to be completing my initial sketches. However, being as I was quite ill for a large proportion of that week I decided to make lists of what I wanted on my front cover, contents page and double-page spread to make sure I had a rough idea of what I wanted my magazine to look like. This proved quite difficult as I had to think very hard about every aspect of the magazine. I also had to take into consideration the fact that my style model was Kerrang/NME so my design had to have some influence from these magazines. Now that I have decided on the aspects of my music magazine I will use these lists as a jumping off point for creating my rough draft.