Magazine proposal

Magazine proposal video

Illustrator

LIke photoshop illustrator also has a toolbar which you can create shapes, text and lines etc. Unlike photoshop, illustrator uses vector images instead of bitmaps.




When you add text with the text tool you can change the colour of the text or create outlines by selecting the fill colour and the stroke colour. Th stroke colour is the colour you want for your text outline. You can also change the thickness of the stroke to make the outline thicker or thinner.

Also if you select the text and right click and click create outlines the program selects the outlines of the text and creates anchor points for you. With the anchor points you can drag them to change the shape of the text to the way you want it to look like.



You can create a copy of the text you make by selecting the whole text and holding down alt whilst you drag the text to create another copy of it. You can then add an image to illustrator by placing it onto the program. You can drag the text on top of the image and make the text a compound path by clicking object and compound path . This will create an outline of your text

Magazine newsstand task

At the newsagent I visited there were different sections for different magazines. The music magazines were found above the Music and Hi Fi section. The rock/metal magazines were mainly placed next to each other in the middle row. Around these magazines were magazines that were about sound and mixing. There were a few magazines at the back of the row that did not have anything to do with music or hi fi. The majority of the magazines in this section were mainly mixing magazines. The magazines at the front covered the magazines behind them about half way. One of the most noticeable things on the front covers were the mastheads. As they were placed at the top of the magazine it was what you could mainly see. They are also quite big and bold which makes them stand out. The colours used on these magazines are quite bright, making them stand out even more especially the text. There are also a few skylines on the magazine that stand out, like “Free plug-ins” and “Special collector’s edition”. These things attract the reader’s attention because it makes it look like the content in the magazine is only limited to the current issue that is being displayed, making the reader want to buy it.

The images on the front covers are mainly pictures of people. These pictures are probably pictures of artists that are featured in the magazine. By using pictures of artists they can attract the attention of reader’s that are interested in these artists, which increases their sales as more people are likely to buy it. The cover lines of these magazine are not visible as they are covered by other magazines. Only parts of the cover line can be seen on the front of the magazines. This can intrigue the reader by making them want to know more about what it says and what is being featured in the magazine. A lot of the magazine use white text for their masthead to keep it plain but also because it contrasts with the background making it stand out more. Furthermore some of the magazines are quite hidden like Q magazine. This is because magazines like Q magazine have quite a big reputation so the reader’s usually look for the name of the magazines rather than the content. This is because they know the magazine is quite popular and that popular magazines normally have good content. 

Distribution of magazines

Kerrang:

Kerrang offers a subscription service as their target audience is mainly teenagers. Teenagers tend to want to own have a physical possession of magazines. Furthermore Kerrang also offers posters and free gifts in their magazine. Teenagers like to collect free gifts from magazines and take posters of their favourite bands and stick them up usually. Therefore by including these things in a magazine their target audience would want a physical copy of the magazine rather than having an electronic magazine as they are able to have a physical possession in their hands.

Kerrang does not offer an e-zine version of their magazine. Instead Kerrang owns a website which includes similar content that is included in their magazine however the content available on the website is less in depth than the content in their magazine. This is gives their reader a teaser of the content included in the magazine to make their audience buy their magazine more. Considering their target audience Kerrang does not create an electronic version of their magazine because their target audience mainly wants to own a physical possession of their magazine instead of an electronic version.  Furthermore younger audiences are less likely to read articles on their bands as there are more interested in the free gifts and posters included in a magazine therefore it would be better to have a subscription instead of an electronic version.

The content on Kerrang’s website is slightly different than the content in their magazine. This is because the website is more up to date than the magazine. The magazine is only released once a week whereas the website can be updated whenever there is new content available. The website includes a page where they talk about the magazine and what content is featured in the newest magazine they have released to give the audience a few reasons as to why they should buy their magazine.

Kerrang uses Facebook and Twitter to tweet about new content and the most recently released magazine. They also use social media to interact with their readers. This makes the reader feel more connected to the magazine and that the editors care about their readers. They also gain feedback on their magazines through the use of social media so they know what readers want to see in their magazines, which helps them generate more content for their next magazine. By using social media they are spreading awareness to their fans by connecting to them more and making their content available on different platforms which their target audience uses. 

Q magazine:

Q magazine offers a subscription service. Their target audience is mainly for older people like people in their 30s. Older people tend to want to have a physical version of the magazine as they can read it and pick it up whenever they have time. Furthermore people that are into the genre of Q magazine’s music are more likely to buy a physical copy.

Q magazine does not offer an e-zine version of their magazine mainly because the articles included in their magazine are very wordy. Rather than reading all of this on an online article it would be much better to have a physical copy of the magazine. The articles are quite long so the target audience may want to be able to pick up the magazine whenever they want so they can continue reading it. For example when they are having a coffee break or maybe doing some free time.

The content on Q magazine’s website includes a brief summary about what the most recent magazine includes and what it is about. Also the website does include some voting polls for music awards. The website also includes more competitions whereas the magazine does not include too many competitions. This may be because their target audience is older and by including competition it makes the magazine see slightly childish. There is a track of the day page on their website to provide content for their audience every day. There is quite a large difference from the type of content included on their website compared to the magazine. This shows that their website is aimed at a different audience that is younger.

Q magazine uses a variety of different social media platforms to reach out to more of their readers. Using different platforms they provide different types of content on each platform to meet their reader’s standards. Furthermore by having different types of content they can see what their reader’s like and what they don’t like, which allows them to improve and provide more on the content that they create. For example on YouTube they provide videos of interviews with different artists, whereas on Instagram they post behind the scenes pictures of photoshoots or events. With so much available content on different platforms not only do they gain a wider range of reader’s but they also make their content easily accessible to their audience so that more people can view it. 

college magazine evaluation

College magazine contents page

College magazine front cover

College magazine draft layout

photoshop test cover

On photoshop I designed a test cover and played around with the tools on photoshop. I learnt how to add text and change the colour and angle of the text.  Furthermore I learnt how to upload pictures onto photoshop and transform them. I used shapes to add a skyline and a puff on the cover of my magazine. I used a picture of Halsey as the background of the magazine. I learnt how to use the select tool and how to rasterize layers do that I could edit text and change the format of it. I was able to change the font of the text and the size of the text. Furthermore I learnt how to add in guidelines to prevent any content from getting cut off.