7. evaluation Print

7. evaluation Print

• 1.
  Evaluation Alicja Morawska
• 2.
  Research When starting myresearch I already had a few ideas for what type of magazine I wanted to make, which allowed me to focus my time in the areas that I already knew a lot about, as I have been a consumer of products similar to what my final product is like over the past four years, giving me an insight into what the audience expects from photography, content, style and conventions. I based my research around magazines that generally fall into the same category and I now see how that could be seen as a weakness in my research, as it limited where my inspirations and ideas came from, all being the same style and not diversifying where I was looking, even if did mean I could develop a stronger knowledge of the brand identity that I was looking at. I looked at kerrang which was admitadly the strongest influence for the design of this product and the research that I did helped greatly in understanding the aesthetic, what I would need for the photography to achieve what I wanted to make as well as the writing style and language. My research on Mojo was also useful as it showed me a similar product that was much more stripped down compared to the loudness of kerrang that comes with it's much younger audience, and allowed me to take aspects from it that I feel elevated my product in maturity without actually moving it away from the target audience. I do however feel like I should have looked to other places than Q magazine, as it's audience is so far away from what I wanted to be the readership for my product, and I feel like I would have benefitted much more looking at a publication with a smaller ciruclation that fit my profile more. I feel like if I had done this I would have taken less time trying out different ideas that were meant to bring up the sophistication of the product that ended up being scrapped as they didn't suit the audience that I wanted to cater to.
• 3.
  Planning I came intothis project with a general idea for what kind of product I wanted to create, knowing that it was something that I had done before unlike the other projects on this course, allowing me to pass by the point of teaching myself the different necessities that make up a front cover, how it should be laid out and what everything on the page is called. During planning I said that It would be easy for me to get the photography that I needed as I knew that I could get subjects for the images that suit the style and although that is still true, people aren’t reliable and a definite weakness to my planning is a lack of contingency plan for my subject dropping out, as it put getting a main image on hold and meant that during production I had to work around the lack of image to try band get as much done without it as possible and then edit once I was able to fill the space. It meant working almost backwards as generally the first thing on the page is the image, but I think this also allowed me to focus on what I wanted the masthead, blobs and banners to look like individually rather than making them work around the image, not giving enough attention to the different aspects that make up a cover and expecting the photography to be enough to make an attractive front cover. My mood board I feel was very appropriate in relation to my final product, not focusing only on other magazines and what they looked like but looking at things that you would expect the target audience to be interested in like festivals, bars, gaming and cinema, meaning it included what other parts of the readers life would look like. From the mood board I was able to bring out a general colour scheme that did end up being used for the cover as well as a lot of ideas about what styles to use. I think I could have spent more time looking into other parts of the readers life.
• 4.
  Time Management Out ofall of the projects done this year, my time management has been the best during this rotation, stemming from a calmer private life but also from having the confidence in knowing what I'm doing with this project and having more interest in it, as it’s something that I would be a part of the audience for. My research PowerPoint was lost between switching machines and had to be rewritten later but overall my PowerPoints that were expected to be completed were done within the given time. When it came to my experiments I know I should have definitely spent less time on making the cover look good and more time working on the double page spread, as this was my first time working on DPS and with InDesign, but at the time I was sticking to what I was comfortable with and focusing on ensuring that I still knew how to make a cover that I expected from myself. As stated in the slide before I had an issue with getting a hold of someone to be the subject of my photography for the actual product and that meant the cover ended up taking a lot longer than it should have and the double page spread was done outside of the set time given for production and I know that contingency planning is something to focus on during the FMP.
• 5.
  Technical Qualities Masthead -The effects I used in my work are drop shadow and gradient overlay. I found that without the gradient the colour was too solid and blocky and didn’t look right with the darkness of the page. The drop shadow I wanted to include to lift the masthead from the page and add additional depth. On the other hand the existing product also uses a drop shadow as the white would blend too much with the lighting from the main image. Where I’ve used a gradient to break up the solid colour, Kerrang used a shatter effect on top of their well known masthead. Posters - with these examples the placement of the posters that are featured on the cover are quite similar in that there’s additional photography tucked into the top right corner, taking up some of the space from the top banner as well as covering some of the masthead. My main poster at the bottom of the page takes up less space and the text that goes with it is in a separate box whereas in the Kerrang version, part of the poster has been cover with the text in order to take up less space. Main Image – what can be said about both images is the use of lighting as a major part of the aesthetic qualities of the picture. The image of Green Day’s front man comes from a live performance and uses stage lighting and creates a ‘halo’ effect behind the subject. My model has a cyan light cast across half of his face in a photoshoot and there was some adjustments I had to make to bring the colour out more without brightening the background and making it hard to place white text over, as personally I didn’t want to use text boxes to make the cover lines visible like Kerrang has done Blobs - in my work I’ve used one blob in top left corner, advertising a chance to win tickets to a festival. I’ve used a drop shadow to add depth and layers, an inner shadow that creates the red design on one half of the ellipse that I feel makes it more interesting than a simple solid colour shape. Kerrang’s blobs are similar in that they’re straight to the point and simple but not so simple that they chose to stick to one solid colour block. Tear away - something I wanted to include that the existing product hasn’t in this issue, however has done in other examples. Something I like working with is the use of a tear away across the bottom of a page. In this piece I chose to the standard paper rip that a lot of magazines use, creating the outline of the rip, adding a colour overlay and a white inner shadow to outline the shape. I wanted to use this as it gives a literal layer to the page that can be used for depth.Barcode – obviously being an existing product, Kerrang has to feature a barcode on it’s front page. I wanted to add it to my work simply for the purpose of making it look more realistic as a product that one could find in a newsagents. Something that was pointed out to me that I would like to use in future products is including a price tag on the front cover, something the real publication has done but mine fell short on due to simple overlooking.
• 6.
  Technical Qualities Border –both of the spreads have some kind of border. I wanted to include mine because I like the way that they frame the page. I created mine using the rectangle tool for the shape, adding the right diagonal dash texture over it to make it more interesting than a solid colour. I then put a grey colour overlay on top with a yellow inner shadow to get the effect I wanted it to have. In the existing product they have made a border out of what looks like Hollywood style dressing room mirror lights, differentiating from the solid block border I used. This suits the colour scheme of Kerrang’s double page spread whilst still framing the page without a solid line going around the outside. Blob – both pages have a very similar blob in the same location, fitting into their individual color schemes. They serve their purpose of informing the reader of what information can be found on the page and filling the empty space next to the subject of the photograph. I made the shape by deleting the parts of a rectangle that I didn’t need and adding a darker inner glow, with a drop shadow that the existing product also used to lift it from the page and make it seem as it it were above the rest of the page. Article Title - the biggest difference between the two products here is that Kerrang’s uses a pull quote from the article as the title, whereas my work has a title and a pull out added separately above it. Both titles use a text box to make the titles stand out against the page, using different colors to empathies certain parts. I wanted to make the name of the band stand out hence the use of white with the rest of the title being black. Layout - these two products have very similar layouts, both having the subject of the main photograph to one side of the screen, with text filling the opposite page as well as the border. Some differences are the use of additional photography to break up the block of text in my work as well as the title and pull quote placement. Something I wanted to avoid that was used in the existing product is having anything going across the middle of the page, as in the bottom screenshot when placed in a physical magazine the black text box doesn’t line up on either side due to the crease of the pages. Text – the article written in the existing product has an introduction to the interview, the questions have been marked out by having a white highlight behind the text and have been organized into left aligned columns. This give the reader a chance to find out what the article is about before they start reading as well as making it clear where each question starts. In my work I've set my article into two justified columns of text as I wanted to make it more structured. I didn't’t want to use a highlight or text box for the questions to make them stand out so instead used the accent color of the page for the text. Additional photography - in my work I used extra shots of the models to give me something to break up the text on the right page, as I didn’t want the page to be entirely filled with text and nothing else. I feel this worked effectively and allowed me to have a more interesting layout to my page. The existing product doesn’t have a need for additional photography to break up the page as their subject take up the entire left page and the title is what stops the right side from being a block of text.
• 7.
  Aesthetic QualitiesMain image– my product features photography from a photoshoot, which is not uncommon in similar already existing publications. The reason I chose this image is because of the interesting blue light being cast on half the face although I wish I’d taken it closer to the source to make it more intense. The image works well with the color scheme and the layout of the page, including the masthead which I found can cause complications when working on my experiments. Color Scheme - there are four main colors I chose to work with; yellow, white, red and black. I feel like these shades compliment each other well but still stand out against each other enough to make sure that each aspect of the page makes a powerful impact. I knew I wanted to make the masthead yellow which I feel limits where else it can be used as over using the same shade can lead to the masthead being lost, something I wanted to avoid as it’s an important part of why a potential reader might pick up the magazine. I knew I wanted to use red somewhere on the cover and decided that it would make a good accent color for the bottom banner of the page. Since the main image is so dark, there wasn’t much question over white being the text color, it stands out and is easily readable which I feel is the most important thing to think about when choosing a font color. Fonts – most of the fonts used on this page were downloaded from the internet as nothing in the set fonts in Photoshop fit what I was looking for. The masthead font is actually called Headliner no. 45 and was chosen because of how bold it is and the small irregularities across the letters which I felt fit the magazine more than a clean cut font. The font used for the cover lines and most of the writing across the page is done in the font Rockwell. I like this font because it’s blocky, easy to read and looks like a typewriter font, which I found in my research appeals to the audience due it’s authenticity. The other fonts on the page were selected for the purpose of being featured as the logo fonts for the bands that were written about. Wither - Eras Demi ITC The Steelworks – Hurson Code Zero - Agency FB Posters - something that gets overlooked in print projects and that I knew I wanted to include was promotional material for the subjects featured in the magazine. In a lot of similar existing products you can find free posters inside for the fans of bands to be able to display their support without having to pay for big expensive prints. In magazines such as Kerrang!, the front cover will show and inform the reader of what posters can be found inside the issue. The two posters shown on the cover were made using images that were taken as possible main images for the page. It makes the cover look more realistic and allows for additional images to be added without disrupting the layout. Cover Line Placement – the cover lines surrounding the subject of the main image were given their places in a way so that they were easily readable, set to align either to the left or right of the page depending on which side they were on. What I felt most important with the placement is that they don’t disturb the model on the main image, as it would take attention away from them and make the layout look untidy. The main goal for the placement was to do it in a way that would mean that the cover could look good as it’s own independent print. Bottom banner – The yellow banner spanning across the bottom of the page was put there to separate the red tear away so that it didn’t take up as much space in one solid color as well as give space to the text that informed the reader of what other bands/artists are featured in the issue whose articles did not make it on to the cover lines. This is done in most magazines with stories that although will be found interesting by a large proportion of the readers, are not the biggest articles found in that particular issue and therefore aren’t given space to be featured on the actual cover. Blob – in the top left corner of the screen is a blob that spreads over the top banner of the page informing the audience that inside this issue there is a chance to win tickets to a major music festival. It fits the color scheme of the page and has the appearance of a sticker to stand out against the top banner.
• 8.
  Aesthetic Qualities Color Scheme- for the double page spread I wanted to continue a similar color scheme to the one I used on the front cover to work towards creating a brand identity. I went against using red in this piece because after experimenting with it in different ways I decided it clashed against the purple lighting in the main image. I used white for the text again due to the contrast it would give against the dark background of the main image. Once I put the article onto the page in InDesign I realized that having all of the text be white made it look very blocky and unseparated so I chose to change the questions being asked in the interview to the yellow that’s used throughout the page and I’m very happy with the result. I wanted to use the yellow more prominently in the double page spread as I felt that if I used too many different colors the page would become too contrasted and loud. Border - something I found during my research and included in my pre-production layout was a border to frame the page, as I wanted to be able to use it to give it depth and visible layers by being able to cover parts of it with photography and blobs. I’m happy with outcome and the textures I used on it, which resemble the metal grate flooring used on performance staging to fit the theme of the magazine. Fonts - there are only two fonts used in this spread, both of which had already been used in the front cover. The font Eras Demi ITC was used for the article title as it was font I picked for the band Wither, however everything else is done in the font Rockwell. Blob - I had planned to use this in my pre- production as it gives the reader a quick bit of information about what can be found on the page from the second they open the page due to how English speaking people naturally read from the top left of a page. It also takes care of the empty space that would have been in the top left corner without it. Main Image - before going to take the pictures I knew how I wanted it to be set, photographed from just above the floor, subject of the photo entirely on one side so that I didn’t have to worry about the spread crease getting in the way of the image. After working on my front cover I wanted to work with coloured lighting again so that I could add something different and exciting to the photography in a simple but effective way, as well as include something different in the colour scheme without adding it to other aspects of the page in big blocks of solid colour. Pull Quote – I took a part of the article I’d written that I thought would seem interesting to a reader for the pull quote. The main thing to be said about this is the way I’ve placed the actual quotations. I tried a few different ways of adding them to the page but decided that having them in the accent color of the page as big, bold marks across the writing, as I wanted it to stand out as the pull quote and I think it’s been effective. Additional photography – something I wanted to avoid was having one side of the page be block of writing so the pictures featured on the right side of the work are there to break up the space more as well as give the reader more to focus on. The picture on the bottom is from the same photoshoot and fits the tone of the page perfectly, whereas the top image comes from a different place and had to be edited slightly so that the brightness didn’t take away from the other aspects of the work or look out of place but I think both of them fit their purpose very well. Text – I wanted to keep one side of the page clear of article text, thinking about how it would look if it were in physical magazine. the questions of the interview I made a different colour to break up the text as well as make it easier to read.
• 9.
  Audience Appeal Chance towin – I wanted to include this in the cover as it’s promotional material that caters to a majority of the target audience. Although some of the younger reader would not be able to benefit from the chance to win tickets to a festival, its available to the 16+ group and it can entice the readership to buy this specific article to find out how they can be entered into the competition. Posters – I feel like this is something that would attract the younger part of the audience for this kind of product as it is not uncommon for young music fans to buy magazines that can provide them with a cheap way of expressing their music taste ( teenagers covering their rooms in posters of their favorite band). I know that this was a personal reason for why I bought these kinds of magazines and from my research I know that the culture hasn’t died. it may not appeal to the older readers as much as it’s less likely to be a decoration choice that they make but the photography featured can still be appreciated by all members of the audience. It’s commonplace for the bands that are featured in articles to not only go to the publisher for an interview but also for a photoshoot that accompanies their article. Cover lines – an important aspect of any magazine is having the cover feature what the most interesting articles of that issue are. It allows the reader to know what’s inside before they buy it. Something typically found in the audience of music magazines is readers who buy each issue every week, however you do still find more casual readers who will only buy the article if it features a big article from one of the bands they enjoy. This is important because it means you can gather more readers by giving them a preview of what they’re buying. Bottom banner – the articles that weren’t deemed as one of the bigger stories of the week and didn’t make it on as a cover line of the page can still be found at at the bottom of the page, for the fans who want to find out what else is in the issue before buying the product. This gives a place for the smaller stories to still be displayed to the audience before purchase. Masthead – I wanted to give the product a name that made it clear what the magazine was about. There are publications who have been able to avoid this by being released decades ago and have made a reputation for themselves that allows the general public to know what the magazine is about even if they’ve never bought it themselves such as Rolling Stone. I chose the name headliner as it’s a clear link to the live music scene and will give the average member of the public an idea of what the product is simply by the name. Photography – the subject of the photo would easily appeal to the younger audience as it’s someone they can relate to, in comparison to a teenager buying a magazine featuring a band from the 70’s, which whilst is not unheard of it’s less common in todays society. The blue light being cast across the models face is an interesting feature to the photography itself and could potentially bring new readers to the publication. Another part of the audience that could be affected is that of heterosexual women and homosexual men, as having a subject of ‘desire’ on the cover is a common selling point to audiences ranging from fifteen to late twenties.
• 10.
  Audience Appeal Tour Announcements– having a blob in the corner of the page allows for the reader to quickly be given information about what's going to be on the page as it's where our eyes naturally go when reading. The appeal that this gives to readers will generally be for those who are fans of the band, however could also attract other members of the audience who have less interest in the band itself but more out of genuine curiosity. Main Image - the main image has a lot of aesthetic appeal to the audience, more primarily the female readers. The subject of the photograph is someone that can be the whole spectrum of the target audience age group can relate to. Something I wanted to think about when making this spread was the visual appeal of the left page, as the purple lighting makes the photography stand out more rather than the typical in studio photoshoot, and due to the lack of article text on that side of the spread, it allows the readers that have an invested interest to the band that's featured to take the page that's centered around the artist and use it for something such as decoration should they want to do so. This is more likely to appeal to the 15 to 19 year old members of the audience who want to be able to express their music taste in any way that they can. Additional photography – the images that were added to break up the columns of text add more content to the page. To the readers who skim the pages and do not have much interest in the article itself are more likely to pay attention to the images and their descriptions below each of the pictures. Article Title - the title of the page can affect viewer readership due to the interest in the article that it can bring. Simply including the name of a band or artist in the title of an article is going to bring forth the readers who are already followers. As for other members of the audience it's an attention grabbing title that leads the readers to an article that will inform them about a change in the music scene, an important aspect for any consumer of this kind of product. Text - I wanted to ensure that the text wasn't overwhelming on the page. It's a simply story that reintrudouses an artists into the current music scene. The text is in equal columns and shorts spans of text that are easy to read and wouldn't put off potentilal readers who didn't have the time to read a long article. Pull Quote – the pull quote is an easy way of gathering interest from a reader who is passing through the pages, as it excludes a part of a sentence that represents the story that it comes from in a short and effective way. It allows the reader to gain some kind of understanding about what the page is about before they commit to reading the entire article.