NRCG
Digital Magazine Production
Learning Aim A :
Magazine Genres
Codes and Conventions
Platform Considerations
Task 1 : Magazine Genres
Print Magazine Definition: -
As a printed publication, Print was a general-interest magazine, written by cultural reporters and critics who looked at design in its social, political, and historical contexts, from newspapers and book covers to Web-based motion graphics, from corporate branding to indie-rock posters.
Digital Magazine Defintion : -
A magazine that has been published digitally using the web or an app. Unlike print magazines, digital magazines can include links, more high-resolution images, video, audio, and web animations.
List Different Categories Of Magazines
01.
General News Magazine
04.
Fashion Magzine
07.
Children's Magazine
02.
Cooking Magazine
05.
Tech Magazine
08.
Business Magazine
03.
Art Magazine
06.
Health Magazine
09.
Travel Magazine
FIVE Types Of Magazines Highlighting :
-Type of content
- Target Audience (Gender, Age, Ethnicity etc.)
Five different magazines kind be for Fashion, Cooking, Art, Tech and Business Magazines. All these magazines have different content inside them as they target different audiences. As for example: Business Magazine, can be targeted for adults, as many adults will be hoping to find advice and opportunities for them to take. Where they can add different content like a famous business man like Elon Musk.
Another example of types of magazines, is Cooking as many stereotypes of cooking magazines being targeted by females stated by the media. As the common pattern of magazines adding a massive celebrity that links with their magazine, like for example they can add Gordon Ramsey into the mix, making the magazine more famous and relevant to the chosen magazine genre.
For this magazine, it can be targeted by teenagers who enjoy art or love doing art. For example: Graffiti Art, this can influence many teenagers to continue doing art, and find some motivation to express themselves through art. Furthermore, the gender for this magazine can be unisex as many male and females enjoy doing art. But for this magazine cover, it can signify that they're targeting females, with quite bright feminism colours like pink etc.
For this magazine about fashion, it can be mainly be targeting younger adults / teenagers. As many of these teens and young adults are normally fans of popular instagram models which links with fashion.
What is a 'genre'? : -
The meaning of the word 'genre', is the style or the category of were it's from. - [Google Dictionary]
What is a 'magazine'? : -
A magazine is a publication with a paper cover which is issued regularly, usually every week or every month, and which contains articles, stories, photographs, and advertisements. - [https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/magazine]
The Difference Between PRINT & DIGITAL Magazines.
[Information From Google]
Helvetica Light is an easy-to-read font, with tall and narrow letters, that works well on almost every site.
Task 2 : Magazine Genres
Market Analysis
Demographics
The demographics for this chosen Digital Magazine, has many things that needs to be outlined for this magazine to become somewhat recognised and relevant for society. For example: age, this digital magazine has many features that indicate that this magazine is targeting adults. As the main cover is a woman who is wearing a unique dress, and at the very first page of the magazine they added a fashion brand called Fendi, which is quite popular when it comes to society as nowadays this generation is always wearing designer brands as it signifies 'wealth' and 'style'. Which this links with the social class for this magazine as the media states that stereotypically the chosen target audience for this digital magazine is probably middle class to upper class, as the media indicates that people who are in middle class and upper class are earning a sustainable income. Which leads them to be able to buy these types of clothing brands. Furthermore, the gender for this magazine is quite straightforward as the magazine includes many female models, on every page. Another reason why I might think the gender is females and not males is because the media states that females are stereotypically based around fashion and modelling. As the male gaze of females being models and having a nice body. This links with the income of this magazine. As the information of this magazine, shows that the dress sense gives out authority and wealth as many of the clothing are quite unique. As in the first page you can see a group of females posing with handbags and unique clothings. Which overall looks posh and rich in a viewers perspective. Nonetheless, the ethnicity for this digital magazine is quite mixed as the times have changed and many things are allowed. As the media targets mainly white women to be typically in a fashion magazine. As the stereotypes of white females in the media being the 'perfect' human and having blue eyes and blonde hair. Which is typically shown throughout the years and society slowly embraced that. But now the digital magazine shows a lot of ethnicity which is removing the stereotypes of other races.
Psyhcographics
The Psychographics of this chosen digital magazine is quite targeted to each age group. As this magazine contains many features that will target different audiences. For example: The magazine - [Pointes Of interest Spring - Summer 2016], as this magazine includes a content page which shows many activities for different age groups. As it Includes Summer day camps, Youth Classes, Fitness, Swimming Lessons and Adult classes. All these target each age group. As many of these young kids are quite hyper-active nowadays and are more active than adults. Which is good as the activities for them are good and beneficial as they have sports, painting etc... Which is common as the media states that kids are into physical activities and drawing.
Furthermore, for adults there is a lot of features for adults which are quite physical. As it shows Sand Volleyball and Aikido. As the area for adults are quite advanced than the kids. As they show activities that are not suitable for kids, as they show different jobs like lifeguards and basketball leagues, which they don't allow people below 15 of age. And also they include practise CPR, which shows that these are for young teenagers and young adults for the future.
Geographics
Helvetica Light is an easy-to-read font, with tall and narrow letters, that works well on almost every site.
Task 4 : Codes and Conventions
Textual Analyses
Denotations
This Billboard magazine cover featuring Pop Star Katy Perry, has many features that make up this magazine. As they of course put the masthead very bold to show to the audience the name of this magazine. Another feature they did is placing the main actress in the middle of the magazine cover. This can indicate that Katy is the main source of attraction ad it will boost their magazine even more, giving them more recognition to the rest. They added a lot of flowers to her dress, probably suggesting the theme of the magazine as Katy probably likes flowers and this shows us that in the media, flowers are mostly considered feminine.
Mise En Scene
The costume being worn by Katy Perry is considered very feminine, as in the media, woman are usually seen wearing dresses. Furthermore, the flowers in her hair and dress shows the purity of Katy Perry as the media states that flowers are usually depicted as very girly. This links with the setting on we're they took this magazine cover, as they placed Katy Perry in front of a pink plain background. They did this deliberately as the reason why the background is pink, is because they aimed to make Katy Perry very girly, with the flowers and dresses. It shows how the media depicts woman in society as they say that pink is normally based around girls. Nonetheless, they used quite a very soft lighting, this shows more of Katy Perry's features. As soft lighting shows less shadows, as it can show a persons facial expressions, a more innocent look. Additionally, the reason why they used different lighting expect for natural lighting is because they wanted to show Katy's facial expressions even more. As the media states that woman can act innocent and seductive. This also links with the NVC of Katy Perry, as she shows more of her face and the way she positioned her body, making her body more slimmer as in the media, to become accepted in society, they will need a slimmer body as the media always represents females being seductive as this fits in with the male gaze.
Typography
The masthead for this magazine is 'Billboard', as it's a way to promote themselves as well. As the masthead needs to be very bold and big as it will attract many viewers. Furthermore, the choice of fonts are quite similar to each other as majority of the fonts are quite bold and quite visible as they did this to make sure that the background didn't over power the letters. This links with the colour scheme of the magazine, as the main colours are pink and black. As the pink can contrast that the magazine is going to be based around females and femininity. Nonetheless, the cover-lines are very bold, as they made sure that each letter is visible, as this can indicate that they would want the audiences to not forget to read the cover lines.
Target Audience
Task 5 : Platform Consideration
DIGITAL VS PRINT
DIGITAL
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Easy access to content. The most important reason as to why digital magazines are preferred is that we spend a lot of our time online.
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Instantaneous Access.
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Portable and Convenient.
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Global Presence.
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Interactivity.
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Cost-Efficient.
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Analytics.
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Sustainability.
*All from google* - These are the benefits of having digital magazines.
Furthermore, the magazine industry is slowly becoming less important as there is less people buying print magazine and nowadays we are faced with technology. So, having digital magazine on our phones will easily put the magazine industry back to its original place at the top. The reason why the digital magazine will overpower the print magazine is because it's way more accessible than print as you need to find a specific shop to have access to the print magazine. And it will be sustainable for a long time rather than a print which can be easily damaged by water etc... With the stats saying more than two-fifths (43%) of magazine buyers preferring print to digital. - (From Google).
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Higher Frequency of Viewing. ...
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Control over Appearance. ...
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Holds Readers' Attention. ...
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Encourages Action. ...
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Flexibility. ...
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More Accurate Targeting. ...
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Credibility Increases Reader Loyalty. ...
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Sensory Experience.
*All from google* - These are the benefits of having print magazines.
Nonetheless, the print magazine industry has been here for time, and is still popular among generations. As throughout the years print magazines has been the main focus to spread awareness, encourages action etc... Also having print magazines can have more of an accurate targeting of the audience, as it's able to advertise directly to the audience, which gives your magazine more recognition and awareness rather than Digital Magazine.
Digital Magazine
Digital magazine is the only way to easily attract costumers as this generation, technology has improved tremendously. As we don't see any teenagers buying any print magazines. As this is slowly becoming a dying trend. As we can access many things on the internet now. With better phones and easier accessibility. Producing digital magazines can be very cheaper than print magazines, which can be easier to distribute on a larger scale, rather than print which can have some issues when creating multiple magazine at once. Whereas the print will be more expensive to produce and harder to distribute. By this, digital magazines won't be running out of stock for a specific magazine, but for print they will only be very limited.
VS
Print Magazine
Print magazine has become a very successful business, as throughout the years magazines has been the main focus and is the main source of knowledge. As for digital magazines they will have to be priced cheaper to be competitive as less people won't buy an expensive digital magazine. However, for print magazines it can be placed at a higher point than digital, allowing way better profit margins. With print being the traditional reading experience rather than digital. However, when our magazines are limited it will make the print magazine more valuable as it's only limited. The reason why digital won't cope is because thy lack physicality meaning it will be easier for costumers to swipe past your website. But for print magazines they will easily see your magazine just by adding fancy letters and very bold colours to attract the audience.
Overall, the print and digital magazine they are not actually in a war on which is the better option. So for me, to make the magazine industry continue on thriving is to combine both of the two print and digital. Like using banners leaflets and promoting them in a very popular website. This can improve sells and attract more costumers easier.
*Some stats I used are in this website* - https://eazy-print.co.uk/blogs/eazy-print/digital-magazine-vs-print-magazine/
LAA - Core Assessment
Task : Create Textual Analyses + Convention Diagrams Of Existing Magazines
Double Page Spread
The chosen double page spread is mainly targeting a specific audience, with the layout being more teen vibe. As the double page spread has a lot of bold fonts like 'BIG' as they are probably influencing the younger audiences to dream big. Including the quote they added stating "I Started my music journey with the thought In my mind I was already a failure". As this is automatically trying to motivate their audiences to dream what they want and make it come true. Furthermore, the reason why they made this style and design of their double page is for their audience to attract their audience more easier and also makes them stick to reading it rather than skipping to the next page. As the layout and colour is the source of attraction as it will make their page more unique and not bland and boring. With the black and orange to balance each of the colours together as orange is quite a bright colour and can be easily noticed.
Learning Aim B : Develop Materials For A Magazine Production.
LEARNING AIM C : CORE ASSESSMENT
FINAL PRODUCT
Construction Log
Stage 1
For the first step to creating my front cover, I used a 594 px. x 810px, as this will make my front cover look more professional and balanced, as I made sure that the front cover doesn't have any wrong sides or different lengths. Which will overall damage my front cover. Furthermore, I made sure that my front cover will somewhat fit perfectly for my original pictures I took of my artist. As, I didn't want my original pictures to be zoomed in to fit the whole page. As that will make my front cover more blurry and pixels can appear, making my front cover less clear for my audience.
Stage 2
Second stage I did to create my front cover, is choosing the right picture, for my front cover, as I needed my artist to appear more visible from head to toe, overall I found this picture and it suited well with the whole cover, as my artist is shown to be more confident making the front cover more appealing to the audience as he is showing more of his body and face.
With the information I gathered regarding the poses and fashion for the pop industry. I realised that posing on a chair is very common as many popular artist like Sam Smith, Selena Gomez and The Weeknd, had posed whilst sitting on a chair, as it makes my front cover more relatable for Pop Music.
Stage 3
The third stage I did to create my front cover, is being able to remove the background from the original picture, as I realised that the background wasn't suitable for my cover as it will make my front cover rushed and less presentable. So, by removing the background I'm able to gather the important features, like the artist sitting on the chair, as it will make the cover more better as It won't have an empty table and white plain background, as it makes the front cover very boring and dull. Furthermore, by removing the background I selected the Objection Selection Tool, as it was able to remove the background by also selecting the 'Select Mask' as that will overall remove the background. As I continued to adjust the settings making the new image more smoother when it's done by adjusting the Shift Edge. As that made the image better.
Stage 4
The fourth stage I did to create my front cover is selecting the background to fit in with my edited image. As I gathered different colours to blend with the image as majority of colours didn't really suit the skin tone of my artist, as I made sure that the background didn't over power my artist making him less visible. As using this grey background to emphasise on the artist, making him more visible to the audience. Furthermore, once that's done I decided to create the Masthead of my front cover, as I used LOST RCORDS, as I used a bold font to attract the audience even more. However, the font was to big as it covered majority of my artist's face, so I decided to put the font onto 'Background' which is my original layer at the beginning, which overall made the font go behind the artist's head which makes it more better and suitable as you are able to see the artist and the masthead properly.
Stage 5
The fifth stage, was quite a hassle as it consist of adding colours that will blend well with the background. The colour that I chose was light pink, as it went well with the skin tone of my artist. And overall, it made my front cover more visible to the audience, as the headings and sentences we're easily noticeable and easy to read with the colour being seen better.
The main design I did to make my front cover affective, Is having Kelvin Beck more bigger and bolder and having colours like light pink and red as both of them went well together.
Furthermore, these are the options I had to create my front cover as I used different layers. These options we're quite a hassle to organise as I had to retry a lot of times to get it perfect.
These we're the properties of my editing, as I had to use these adjustments for my image, as I used shift edge to make the edges of my edited image more smoother when It's finalised and I used smooth to make the outer lines more finer and more clearer.
This is one of the things I've changed when looking over my front cover. As, I decided to change this as the old one was quite bland and wasn't bold to an extent. As it wasn't attracting or wasn't unique to the verge of it being recognised easily. So, I changed the design of the masthead, and decided to go with this type of pop font style. As it's more better and more unique.
Another change I decided to do, is having a different font for the introduction of the artist's name. As the other name was quite basic, so having a different font with the same font size will make the front cover more unique and more stronger when it comes to someone reading it, as it's not hard to miss the name of the artist.
The final change I decided to do, is adding different fonts to make it more professional, as I decided to make three of the mentioned artist more bigger in size as the last version wasn't really effective, as I made it more bigger for the audience to see what they have said or commented. Which makes the magazine more full of information than the last one.
Final product
Construction Log
Stage 1
This was the original size and length for my double page spread, as I used the measurement of 2560px 1600 px as this was able to make my page double. As I did this to make the front cover height similar and the same to the double page spread as when it's printed it's able to have the same height but different width.
Stage 2
Furthermore, the second stage I used to create my double page spread, is choosing the appropriate image for my double page spread. As I chose this type of image to fit on the side if my page, as it makes the double page more visible and on the other side I'm able to type more information. The transitions I did to create this image is using the Objection Tool as it makes the other background remove. As, this is what I got at the end. Last of all, I used a black line in the middle of the double page spread as it was able to split the double page.
Stage 3
For this third stage, I used the eraser to remove the two letters that are blocking my artist's face as It was able to make the lettering and the artist more visible and professional. However, I used a different technique to prevent the lettering from blocking my artist's face. As I slowly removed half of the letterings and somewhat blended it making the letterings more crisp and more refined. As you can see the process of me erasing the letters. As to make my letters erase, I pressed X to make the background black which is able to remove the lettering more easier.
Stage 4
Furthermore, the fourth stage was the layout of my double page spread, as I used two shapes that formed into rectangles which made the pages more crisps as making the sides of the pages plain it will make my double page very plain and bland. Overall, this made my double page more alive and less dull. Furthermore, I used the same font and size for my double page as it made it more affective and more visible for the audience.
Stage 5
The last stage that I did to complete my double page is adding a lot of information, however I needed the information to be effective and straight forward. As I needed to add more sentences making the double page spread more in-depth and professional to look at. As I used the small colours but lighter as I didn't want to over-power the background and the name of the artist. As overall, it made the double page spread more visible and more easier to read. Nonetheless, I used moire capital letters to attract the audience to read a certain sentence first for example I used "THE NEXT BIG THING FOR THIS INDUSTRY, I WILL SHOW THEM WHO IS BOSS!"
Evaluation
The final product was quite a roller coaster, as it showed the difficulties and advantages whilst editing and creating my front cover and my double page spread. Furthermore, the things that I used for my final product is having the simple and basic fundamentals of using different techniques to create meaning for the audience. For example: Mise en scene, for my front cover there we're many props, however I used the chair with the artist as it indicates to the audience that he has a lot of charisma judging on his posture and facial expression. Overall, this was a good advantage as it gave my front cover more of a unique feature to it, as it shows the artist and he's whole body, whilst showing confidence, which actually brought out the front cover even more making it more appealing than the rest. Furthermore, regarding the double page I used a different image to create different meanings as for the double page I used the model to show more confidence than the front cover as it indicates to the audience that he is confident and charimastic. As it will make the double page more appealing to the audience as it makes the double page more interactive and fun to read. The miss en scene I used is the artist wearing a tie, as it gives more freedom with the hands of the artist which makes more sense as it gives out innocence when finalised.
The typography I used was more bold and brought out. As I used more of a bolder font for the name of the artist KELVIN BECK, as it immediately attracts the audience to read the name first as that shows more popularity and makes his name stick into the audiences minds. Furthermore, the other typography I used is having the simple and basic fonts for my cover lines as I used that, as it's not important than the artist name and the name of the front cover. Nonetheless, I used another font that has more bigger and broader letterings as for the title, I used different fonts for different things as for the small introduction I used at the top of the title it gives out less importance for the main title which is the important thing for the magazine as it is able to show to the audience the name. Which is appealing the my target audience as it shows the resemblance of other famous magazine covers, as I needed some similarities for my magazine to flourish.
The codes and conventions, that I used are my final product has been successful. As I'm able to show it easily by my product. For example: the lighting of the image, as it was perfectly dim and was able to show the model more clearer. Furthermore, I used different camera angles for my images, as I usually have the frame of Long shot, medium long shot, Close up etc... These we're the angles that I used for my final products as it shows more features of the artist and gives out more expression. Overall, makes the product more alive. Linking with this the editing I used is quite fundamental, as I used different techniques to remove the background which is good as I removed the less important features of the whole image. Making the image more better.
Speaking of the codes and conventions of my front cover, I used a lot of codes and conventions for my double page spread, these codes and conventions we're applied a lot of times. As first of all, I used more of a unique layout to the rest of the double page spread you see on the internet. As I used more of the image on the side as it will overpower the whole text on the over side, as making the image more bigger will make the double page less professional and makes it more like a landscape picture than an actual double page. Overall, this appealed to the audience in a way that makes them show that this double page magazine is completely different than the rest.