Dazed magazine also uses poster style and a striped down house style which is why I

think this magazine would be my main competitor.

I wanted to go completely against the ‘norms’ of any other magazine I wanted it to stand out from all the rest. I chose to have no cover lines, it is a landscape magazine rather than the usual portrait. Mine magazine is a poster style. I think the poster style would appeal to my readers as it is something different and unique. I used a full shot of my model and used the shape of the magazine to frame her. I wanted quite an edgy look so I had her dressed in quite dark modern clothing but kept a lot of light on her face so she didn’t merge into the background too much. I also added a pull quote from the interview to tell the reader who it and to get them interested in the article.

I decided that the bar code would work better on the back, because if I placed it on the front it would go completely against the striped down house style and as the magazine is very dark the bar code would stand out a lot and my over power the rest of the page.

MINE magazine uses a very different and original layout for its contents page that works well with

the unique house style .

Ad!dict magazine is one of the few that has characteristics similar to MINE magazine .

To keep my magazine flowing I had to make my contents page as original and different as I could. I found that because my magazine is landscape when I tried to add articles to it didn’t fit quite right which made me then decide to write the articles horizontally going down the page rather than across the page vertically. I didn’t add page numbers because I don’t think it needs it and didn’t work with the writing.

I used only one image in the whole contents page but used it to fill the whole page, this is to impact the reader and show that she is the main focus of this issue. I think this worked so well because the image itself is quite dark and striking, I lowered the opacity of it so the writing is visible even though it has been placed on top of the image. And put the contents in the same font and colour as the cover this is to carry on the house style of the magazine.

I think my target audience would appreciate the uniqueness of this contents page and would enjoy reading and working out how it worked.

I was concerned that my contents page was so different that people would find it difficult to navigate and find there way to there chosen page. I made a survey about my magazine to see how people really felt about my magazine, one of the questions I asked was; ‘As me contents page goes against the ‘norms’ do you find it difficult to navigate?’ the largest majorette of people answered no which I was happy about and I think as it is so different as people bought it and read it more they would find it easier to read

I needed one more image in my magazine so I decided to make an intro page for my double page spread, I carried on with the striped down house

style and bold photography.

I kept It simple once again and I kept the front cover in mind when I was putting this page together, I wanted it to look as if It fitted together and that they flowed well. I used the same technique with the photography, I kept her in the same outfit and kept a quite dark and edgy look to her but made sure that there was a lot of light on her face to make sure she didn’t get lost in the rest of the page.

Also like the front cover I used another pull quote from the interview but instead of putting the pull quote in the middle of the page like I did on the front cover I put the image in the middle and put the pull quote in top left corner. This was so the reader would recognise this as the beginning of the interview but could also be pulled out as a poster once the reader had read the article

I carried on the strip down house style but used a slightly different look to my model to give this piece of

the magazine it own unique look.

I really wanted this to just be the most striking image in the magazine. I chose this image because of the over all effect, I played around with the brightness and contrast to just give the image a more powerful look. I also had my model change her outfit I did this so this piece of the magazine was unique to the rest of the magazine and to keep the reader interested in the article.

It was quite difficult to carry on with the house style in this page as I had to incorporate the article into the design, I kept it as simple as I could by not adding any standfirst or drop caps as this would have gone against the striped down house style.

I kept the font and colour the same through out the magazine to bring it all together as a whole and to also have one thing in common with the other pages.

Through out the whole magazine I tried to present my model with the music artist Pixie Lott in mind; edgy, trend setter, passionate and I hoped she would be really inspirational like her to my readers and fans.

I tried to show this in the pictures by using a confident model who could handle a strong and bold look without coming across as threatening or scary.

In the DPS I used a quite laid back sense of writing to show her fun and loving side, and took small and to the point quotes to inspire the reader and to get them interested in the article.

I think both the imagery and writing would interest my readers as it is very inspirational and also quite informal which gives them a chance to relate to her as a person. It would also be relatable to the fashion forward due to the main stream style that is employed in the photography.

I think that Bauer Media, who publish NME magazine, would be an appropriate publisher for my music magazine as although my product dose not follow conventions of a typical music magazine it is fairly mainstream due to the fact that it features an artist who is presented in a similar way to mainstream chart artist Pixie Lott. Also, the DPS focuses on an informal interview that would appeal to a wide variety of individuals rather than a niche market. Therefore, this could potentially broaden the readership of Bauer Media.

The typical reader for my music magazine would be aged between 16-25 as it covers fairly general issues within the article and is quite mainstream. Due to the target age range being primarily students the magazine is issued monthly at the price of £3.99, this is because they would not have a high level of disposable income. From my pre-production audience survey I was able to observe that my audience wanted a high quality reasonably priced publication with a difference. Through the analysis of my pre-production survey I was able to determine that my readership are looking for an up to date fashionable product at a low price this is demonstrated by the types of shops they purchase there clothing from for example, Primark, New Look and Dorothy Perkins.

This is an example of part of my step by step guide demonstrating the techniques I used when making my magazine. For further, more in-depth, description please refer to my blog post entitled screen grabs.

During the process of creating my magazine I experimented with numerous techniques, examples of these can be seen on my blog. However I decided that because of the photography being very strong and bold the techniques I had practiced did not fit in with the style of the magazine and it was more appropriate to aim for a simpler and striped down house style.

Through out the making of my magazine I have used various sites to help me collect audience feedback and ideas on how to make my magazine better for them.

I used Blogger to hold all my work and show it off in a professional look, facebook to show friends and family my process and receive feed back and ideas on what they would like to see and issuu to upload my work and change it into a much more professional appearance.

I used the online tutorials to keep up with my work and also make sure I had done everything that was asked.

I uploaded images of my magazine onto facebook this gave my friends and family a chance to see what I was working on and also a chance for them to comment on my work and give out any ideas to make my magazine better.

Looking back on my final piece I am really happy with the outcome I think I have produced a much higher quality magazine than I was aiming for. I wouldn’t want to change anything with the magazine but if I was to do this project again I would experiment with different models to get a different effect without changing the house style or layout.

Through out this course I have developed and refined skills in many areas, such as Photoshop; with tools such as the history brush, lasso tool, crop tool, magic wand tool ect. I have already completed an A level in photography which I think helped me to get such dramatic image, but it also helped as I was already familiar to the programme and tools so this gave me the chance to perfect some of my skills. I also learnt how to set up my own blog which I displayed all my work on. On the course I was introduced to programs such as issuu and blogger which helped me keep in touch with my tutors and on top of my work.

I have chose to try and complete the two year course in one year, this involved me being in both AS and A2 classes. This was both a advantage and disadvantage as one the one hand in my A2 classes I was introduced to skills and information which helped me in my AS classes and with my work, but on the other hand I sometimes found it very difficult to keep up with the full on work and tight deadlines.

If I was just doing the normal two year course I would have defiantly have considered carrying on into A2 but now after being ion this situation I defiantly wouldn’t suggest doing what I have done to anyone else as it is a lot to take on.