Question 1

Question 2

Question 2 from alexshermanmedia

Question 3

 

 

 

Hello, and welcome to my podcast. Today I will be explaining my reasons for choosing which publishing company I would chose Culture Magazine to be published by.

When choosing a publishing company, there are many factors you must consider as each company can offer different things to your magazine brand. After I looked at competitor magazines and who they have as their publishers, I have found that DJ magazine is published by Thurst Publishers which is a small publishing house located in London.

 DJ mag is self-published as Thurst is ran by DJ Mag.co. This publishing company is very small and don’t even have their own website. Although DJ have been able to create such a creative brand, I feel as though they are not as well-known as other magazine brands and is only introduced on a few multimedia platforms. Another reason I would not pick Thurst publishing is because of the fact that as DJ is the only magazine they produce, my magazine would be too similar and therefore will be competing against each other, therefore lowering potential profits.

I then looked at Q magazine and found that their publishing company is Bauer Media, which is a well-known multi media group that produces products of many multimedia platforms internationally.

Bauer produce magazine prints, radio shows, TV channels and digital products and also have their own marketing service sub company.  They publish brands such as Kerrang!, Q and Mojo and have become a well-established publishing company. This company has expanded brands such as Kerrang! And made it into a music channel on TV, exploiting rock music.  They also produce the music channels, Kiss, Magic, 4music, the box, and many more.

I feel as though this company would be perfect to publish Culture Magazine as I see a gap in the company’s market as they do not yet publish a dance music magazine. Also I can see that the company have experience with the genre of dance music due to the TV channels of Kiss Fresh and The Box. Bauer could expand the brand of Culture Magazine into new multimedia platforms as music magazines as a product are becoming less popular to purchase.

Also Bauer Media produce many other magazines such as Classic cars, Garden News, Empire film magazine, parenting magazine Mother and Baby, and gossip magazine Heat. I feel as though that they are able to market their products very well and create a brand that suits a certain target audience.

I chose to use Bauer Media as my publisher for Culture Magazine as I feel that they could expand the brand of my magazine in the future and make it become well known. Another reason I would use Bauer as my publishers is because they are always expanding their multimedia platforms and therefore they could open up my magazine to more potential readers within my target audience. I would like Culture magazine to be part of Bauer as I believe that my magazine has the potential to turn into a TV channel and radio station as my target audience use these formats and therefore Culture will be part of the evolution into the exchange from print to digital in the future. From looking at Q’s Twitter page, I can see that they are able to reach a wider audience and have that connection with the readers regularly, informing them about new artists and to also give the audience a taster of the next edition to get them excited for it, rather than just through the monthly magazine issues and this is something I wish Culture Magazine to potentially grow to have.

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My Final Product

What I Used On Photoshop

I started the project with no Photoshop skill and I have learnt to do all the skills above.

Making My Double Page Spread

 

I began my double page by creating a grey background using the paint tool. I then used the layer tool to put my photo onto the page. I then used the magnetic lasso to cut out the photo. Next I added a black rectangle and the running head that was the same colour as the features column in the contents page. Using the same fonts as on the front cover I started on my headline and then changed my font to the artists 'logo'.

 

Next I added in a small horizontal photo and created a Standfirst to introduce the article, which wrapped around the photo. i then created my drop cap which was the same font as the 'logo' in the headline. I then used the grid tool to create columns to put my text in and wrapped my text around the drop cap, leaving space for the pull quote.  In the text I used language that is suitable for my reader using swear words and slang. This would mean their is no barrier between the reader and the article as they will be able to understand it. The questions from the interviewer are in the same colour as the logo, drop cap and border of the photo to create that connection within the whole article. 

I then added in the pull quote and wrapped the text around it. I created the pull quote in the same font as the logo etc. and used the stoke tool to but a black boarder on it like I have done with all the other parts.  Next I added in another pull quote on the side I have my large photo on to get rid of negative space. I then added a small piece of text explaining the background information (byline), which is a conventional element used in dance music magazine articles. Page numbers were added which were inspired by the way Mixmag do it as I have put the name of the magazine and the page number together. 

Making My Contents Page

 

The first step I took was creating my background and cutting out photos for my contents page. I used various tools such as the magic wand tool and the magic eraser tool but found that the photos looked to unnatural for a contents page as a conventional aspect is to keep the backgrounds of your photos. I looked for inspiration from DJ Mag. I created a board around the photos to make them stand out. I used the shape tool to do this.

In the next stage I added more photos and started to create text for my page. I used the text tool to do this and chose to have the main title of the articles a different colour to the small amount of information given about each article. I used the slice tool to create well measured columns. I wanted to show a range of different shots in my contents page from a Long shot (the twins), a mid shot (Lewis), a medium close up (Olivia).



 

From evaluating my decisions made so far, I felt as though the colours of the features section was not working and was infact t to bright for text that someone would use for navigation and therefore I changed it  to a plain black colour as it is easier to read. I then chose to change the colour of the background by using a brighter colour as I felt that the text would be easier to read this way.

 

 

Here I chose to have each 'topic' of the magazine as a different colour to again allow easier navigation. This meant I would also be able to use colour coded running heads to create a house style. I then added social media links at the bottom to avoid negative space and then to also show the links that magazine have with social media.

Creating My Front Cover

Here I used the Magic Wand tool and the magnetic lasso to cut out this photo.

 

I  then added the photo onto a new layer and coloured the background with the paint bucket tool, using the eye dropper tool to get the colour of lilac in the cover stars top. I then cropped the photo using the free transform and crop tools as a close mid shot is a conventional shot to use for a feature article photo. Next I created a masthead and a puff. I used the stroke tool create the black border around the text to make it stand out.

 

Next using the text tool again, I created my cover line.

 

I then added the plugs using alternating colours. I made the decision to change the layout of the plugs and cover line to one of my other sketches I did as I thought the layout was more conventional. I think this new layout is more visually pleasing too.

I chose a darker background and bright colours. I used the pink in the cover stars top to make a connection between the colour scheme and the what she was wearing. The background and bright colours make the magazine look more like a magazine in the dance music genre. My survey said that my audience would want bright colours however I adapted the meaning of 'Bright Colours' from light tones to more luminous tones.

In the final stages of creating my front cover, I added in  more plugs and finished my 'stacked plugs' by using the free transform tool. I then added in a barcode at the bottom which I created on the internet.

 

 

Setting up for my Photo Shoots

How I Set Up My Lighting Equipment