Final conclusions

Now, after drawing up some initial plans I have gone on to create some flat plans that have provided some opportunities for my focus group to intervene and help with some decisions.
Thee flat plan to the left was creaed on photshop as a basic layout and helped me to determin text placement and see how my ideas would translate onto page.

The image that was used in my flat plan was not an original as I wanted to use the image to explain to my focus group the sort of representations I wanted to come across in my product. It was also a way of helping me establish how the cover image should look when I came to adding to my final product. This initial flat plan was a basic outline of my ideas and the photo really inspired me to create my pwn image similar to the one on the plan as I felt that it was very appropriate and eye catching. I put this plan to my focus group to gain some insight into whether my ideas would relate back to my audience. There opinions are expressed below:

Aidee:- I absoloutely love the effect that this is trying to create and I feel that if you can use an image that is similar to the one above then the final product should be really good and effective.

Raees:- I think the layout really works and is positioned in the right place. I do think, however that the title of the magazine should be made more prominant.

Will:- I think that the title font works really well and the product really relates to the target audience. I also think that you should use a colour theme like you have in your plan on your final product as this will make it even more professional.

After hearing what my focus group had to say I went away and really thought about my image compositions. From previous research I knew that I wanted my image to link in with my main article and I thought that having my text focused around the center image would be the best and most professional layout. I ended up taking very few images as after I took the first couple I could really see how I needed to get the final image and this happened within a few trials.

The first image i took was a test shot so I could get the right composition and framing for the following pictures. I liked the angle of the shot however I felt that there was too much background in the image and therefore it was unuseable.

The next image I took was more indicative of the look I was trying to aceive although there was something about I didn't quite like. I felt that the there was to much of a wide angle on the shot and once again there was too much background interference to make the image work.

The third image I took ended up being the final image. I loved the angles and the way the guitar drew the eye across the picture. I also feel that by having the artist looking away from the audience would have a better effect as it connotes a connection between music and the artist, something that is important to my audience. After making my decision I took the image and edited it in photshop, where I put a crop around the edges as well as editing the contrast and buring the edges of the picture to get my final result. If i was to change one thing it would be the positioning of the arm in the image as I feel that this is a little to prominant and draws the eye away.

Also taking on board what my focus group said about layout and colour's I decided to stick with the same colours that I used in my flat plan as I liked the way they all worked together and they also work well with the colour tone in my final image. The colours are bold enough to stand out against a dark background yet they are serene enough not to put off the older ranges of my demographic. Colour was also a vital part to my masthead and I felt that the wrong colours would ruin the magazine, therefore I stuck with three very similar colours that again, work well together as well as giving the masthead an interesting look and creative design.

In regards to the layout and font face of my text I took inspiration from the Billboard magazine I researched previously as I felt that their text positioning worked really well. My flat plan showed me that the balance of text postioning was important meaning that I had to carefully place my text inorder to make my magazine appear professional and balance it out against the main image, leading to the final text placements. I also felt it would be better to place the text on the opposite side to the mast head as this would create the balance I was aiming for, most professional music magazines seem to follow the same principle.

In terms of content I want to include articles about current events in news, sport and entertainment as I feel this will broaden my target audience as well as giving my magazine a more professional and sophisticated feel. I think it is important to include the different genres of content on the front page as readers can make an informed desicion about whethe or not to buy into my brand.

As well as taking into consideration my front page, I also need to produce a contents page and double page spread. Continuing from my research I read through Q magazine and analysed the pages I would need to emulate in my own product. I took a lot of inspiration from these pages and I want my own product to acheive a highly professional, yet stylish look that Q magazine acheived. They used clean cut lines and bold colours that linked with the title page, they were careful not to overfill the pages with information yet provide readers with the information they needed, I want the inside of my magazine to follow the same principles. What was really ovbious to me was when designing a double page spread it was common place to dedicate one entire page to an image and then go on to write the article on the following pages. I want to try and acheive this same look as I feel that it portrays a more refined effect.

My double page spread image is just as important as the front cover and I have listed below my thought processes in choosing an image. I want to make my double page spread tie in with my main article on my front page so to do this I thought it would be poignant to use the same person in the photo and link the cover page with the spread article, giving a considered effect to my product.

This is one of Two photo I ended up taking. I decided to make this my final image as it portrayed the effect I was aiming for. Once again I editied the final image in photoshop by increasing the contrast and saturation of the image to sharpen some of the lines and highlight certain elements of the image.