This is my article that I wrote for my double page spread and was in the style of a question and answer interview with the artist. I chose this because it would look as if the readers could get involved in the magazine and would create more interest in the magazine as the audience would be able to ask the artist questions which is an approach often used by other music magazines.
This is the beginning stages of my front cover as I only have the barcode and the masthead. By the end of the project the layout had changed as it meant everything fitted better on the page. I still had to include the images and plugs to complete the front cover which did end up taking me quite a while so if I were to do this project again I would plan more thoroughly.
Here is the contents page before I had finished it, but the only thing I had left to do was import an image from Photoshop. When I was submitting this I had problems as I realised I hadn't constructed it within the margins.
This is my double page spread just before I completed it, at this stage in my production I had two black and white images to add to the left side of the article and quotations to add underneath them.
Here is a print screen of when I used Photoshop to help get rid of the red eye and after I had airbrushed her skin. I did this to make the photo look more professional and of a better quality overall. I had never used Photoshop to do something like this before so quite a bit of help was needed which then helped me to develop my production skills.
This is a print screen of how the model's hair is very hard and fine to cut around so on the right hand side of the image you can see how I am trying to adjust the levels so the edges of the image will blend in when placed on to the final background.
This is one of my original photo's and this is it before i used photoshop. The changes I wanted to make to it to make it look more professional were to get rid of the red eye, change the background and make it black and white. To do this I used many tools on Photoshop such as the lasoo tool and the magic wand.
The retailers/shops I would sell my magazine in corner shops or newsagents in local and busy areas so it could reach the majority of my target audience. I would also probably make it available to customers in record shops such as Rough Trade as they are places that are of interest to the target market of the magazine. As my magazine was hugely inspired by NME I would say the circulation figures would be quite similar therefore the circulation of my magazine would be roughly 40,000 and the readership would be 65,000.
Through advertising and PR I could reach my target audience by creating an advert for my magazine and putting it in a good time slot for example between programs my readers watch so it would reach a lot of people or I could place an advert in a similar magazine as they would be readers of interest and I could highlight why my magazine is different to others. Posters would also be another way to reach my audience as from the psychological profile I made could help me to decide which areas and places to put them, for example outside certain shops that they regularly venture to. Finally another method of advertising I could use is a radio advert on a station where most of my potential readers would be listening to for example xfm. Online features I could offer in collaboration with my magazine would be an official website where the readers could get involved through forums and giving their opinions on how the magazine could be improved. It would also be a way of accessing regularly updated music news and where the audience could find out about music events such as gigs and festivals. In conjunction with the magazine competitions could be offered online and more things along those lines to generate reader interest. An online radio station for the magazine could be created which is played through the official website (similarly to NME, http://www.nme.com/ ) as this would help with advertising and reaching the target audience in many ways.
Throughout the research process I created a questionnaire and recieved feedback which helped me to define my target audience and what they would expect from a music magazine. The psychological profile also helped as it gave me an idea of what they're interests were such where they like to shop and their favourite bands therefore I would know where to advertise and place my magazine for it to reach my audience. From my research results I knew how to price my magazine, the types of articles to include, whether to advertise a website for the magazine and got my audience to comment on things they liked and disliked about a previous front cover which would help on what to improve when it came to making my own.
Throughout the production stage I used Photoshop greatly but used InDesign for the templates for each page. When it came to submitting each individually I realised I hadn't kept to the border
lines which meant I had to re-adjust all pages. The tools I used were the lasso tool and was taught how to adjust the colour layers. All the previous research I had done such as the mood board, questionnaires and psychological profile helped me greatly and in a way sped up the process when constructing my magazine as I already had a basic idea of what to include as I knew it would appeal to my target audience. The spider diagram of conventions also aided my magazine as I knew which ones the audience would expect and then had to challenge some of them. However, my magazine didn't go against any of these conventions or stereotypes which are something I would change if I were to do it again.
