Mock Ups

I have created Mock ups for the cover page, we had to create 2 Mock ups whereas I have created 6, so that it helps me even more and gives me a broader range of how to actually do my final piece.

Mock ups is part of my Preliminary task. It helps me to create previous versions of magazines, to get to my final task.

Below I am going to paste each of my Mock Ups and talk about each:

 
This is the first Mock up i created for my magazine. I decided to use me on the front cover as I want me to be the main attraction of the whole magazine in general. i decided to use the Masthead 'Grand' as this is unique and no one else has used it before in magazines. I added the effect of having the red rectangle box behind the text so that the Masthead stands out even more.

I had created the Main Cover Line to be "Interview with Shakz!", this line is linked to the main image of the cover as the font size of the text is bigger than the other cover lines, so the audience can easily visualise that they are both linked as most magazines have this same concept. Although some other cover lines are a bit to big so I will have to reduce the size of them.

In terms of Mode Of Address the Hip Hop Genre has a very particular style which is informal and catchy for the reader. I have tried to bare this in mind when creating the content for the text. It is also very much about the style of typefaces, but this is more of an aesthetic convention (Bold, Strong Colours, Different sizes).

In the next mock ups I will show the changes I have made from the first mock up to the second and all the things I have added to make it look more effective than the first mock up.

This is the second Mock up I have created for my preliminary task, I kept the same cover lines, but I just improved and edited them so that they look more better than the first mock up. I have reduced the sizes of the cover lines and added many effects so that it also stands out and matches the Genre of Hip Hop music. For example the 'Kanye Hits Big' I have reduced the size of this so that it doesn't look like as if it is the Main Cover Line, I have added a drop shadow affect and others so that it looks better, as it was plain before.

I have changed the main cover line as I have added many effects so that it doesn't look plain and it shows the reader that it is the main cover line. I have added the Red rectangles behind this text so yet again the text can come forward and stand out from the other cover lines on the page. I have also reduced the size of this because i printed it out several times and saw that the size for the cover line  was to big and there was no need for this so I reduced that in size and also the other cover lines.

I have changed the Masthead from the name 'GRAND' to the name 'VIP' this is due to the fact that it was not very appealing and didn't match the theme of the Hip Hop genre of the magazine, the feedback I got friends helped me to make this huge change as the Masthead is very important for any magazine as it establishes the brand of the magazine. I have however tried to keep the rectangle box behind the masthead so that it stands out, I changed the colour to a black background for the rectangle with a red border and put the text colour to red so it stands out against the black.

In this second mock up I added a QR bar code tag which I think is very good as we are in a Generation which works on technology, so if the reader scans the QR bar code tag on a smart phone, Android, or Windows phone he or she may be able to read it on the web rather than reading it on paper. I added a question on my Survey Monkey Questionnaire which helped me to come to this as I found out many people like to read magazines electronically rather than paper.

Also on this second piece of work I have changed the main image of me as I thought the first image on the first mock up wasn't very related to Hip Hop so i changed the image. This new image looks more related to Hip Hop as the artist is wearing Chains, Sun Glasses which are dark and cuts off the artists eyes which no one can see. The picture has a more informal look which is just what it needs to match the Hip Hop Genre. I also created the blur effect of the artist at the back to try and show that he's moving or some sort. I changed the use of the cap as the new one looks more to do with the ghetto look, and decided to open the buttons so that the chains can be visual to the reader.

This is the third Mock up I have created which I did not have to but I did anyways so that I have a broader range of magazine covers to help me for my final cover page.

I have changed the masthead once again to the name 'Flow' this is because I was talking and reading about a book that was written by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who is a is a Hungarian Psychology professor that was born in Italy. He is  known for his work in the study of happiness and creativity, but is best known as the architect of the notion of flow and for his years of research and writing on the topic. He is the author of many books and over 120 articles or book chapters.

In his seminal work, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Csíkszentmihályi outlines his theory that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow— a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation. It is a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. The idea of flow is identical to the feeling of being in the zone or in the groove. The flow state is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what he is doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterised by a feeling of great absorption, engagement, fulfilment, and skill—and during which temporal concerns (time, food, ego-self, etc.) are typically ignored.

I have got this above information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi.

Flow Book (Primary Image)

This is the reason why I decided to change the name to Flow as it states that people are the happiest when they are in a state of flow and it helps them to be more concentrated.

In this 3rd mock up I have changed the font of the Masthead and added a different tone of colour which starts from yellow to red. I have however also kept the rectangle behind so it shows the masthead more clearer and positioned it in the left corner behind the main image this time bringing the main image to the front. I have also changed many of the colour scheme for the cover lines for example 'MAN OF THE YEAR' to black and red rather blue and red like the others.

The main image is also different as it shows a more of a smart look with clear glasses and the reader can see the artist's eyes and the cap on backwards so that more of the face can be shown. There is also no chains in this image unlike the previous one before.

Here is my 4th Mock up which I have created using a different picture as the main image which is of a friend. I thought I would try something new to see if it works and looks better. The image has a colourful background which matches with what she is wearing as she is wearing bright colours such as blue. The background is to bright and consists of too many different colours this is the case why i had to not go with this one.

I have however had to change the colour of the cover lines so that it still stands out on a powerful background like that.

The masthead i kept the same using the same name 'Flow' , I changed the colour to red so that it stands out from he rest of the page. I also kept the rectangle behind and made it blue so it matches the trousers. I positioned the Masthead in the middle so that it seems as if she is really holding and picking up the masthead. I decided not to add no more cover lines as i thought this mock up was a no go because of the colours it has. I also know this as when i got feedback from friends they said it doesn't really look like a very good magazine cover because of the background.

Here is the 5th Mock up I have created which is a whole new different concept compared to the other 4 previous mock ups.

 I have decided to place the masthead in the bottom right hand corner rather than positioning it at the top because I thought I'd try out new things to see if it looks better or good.

I went back to using an image of me which I have added a special affect on, I made the main cover line and masthead to link with the picture and so I did.

I have completely changed the main cover line from 'Interview with Shakz!' to 'Shakz Back!' I did this to see if changing the main cover line affected the whole cover and it does. i decided to position the cover line up there so it can link with the picture.

I have also created a bar code which I have placed on the side to see if it looks good or not. A lot of magazines have the bar code on the front cover, but I have decided I am not going to put the bar code on the front as it doesn't look really good and looks to cramped. I have also positioned the QR tag at the top rather than the bottom.

This is the 6th and final mock up piece that I have created which is just the same as the top one but I have edited and changed around many things.

I have changed the masthead and positioned it back at the top left corner, as I didn't really like it at the bottom (as seen above). I have however kept the style the same of the masthead.

I have positioned the main cover line in the centre of the page so that it looks like the main image of the artist (me) is holding the 'Shakz Back!' as it was a piece attached to the chain that the artist is wearing.

I have also decided to get rid of the bar code as it wasn't really convenient on the cover page of the magazine as it is usually on the back cover.
I have also positioned the QR tag back where it originally was at didn't look good at the top and it looked messy.

So judging from the above mock ups I know have a visual idea of how my main cover page will look like, and use many of the ideas I have used for the mock ups in my final piece.

After I had finished all these I decided to create a focus group on my mock ups where I printed off all my mock ups that I had done and placed them on the table in class so that people can have a look at them and give me back feedback and comments about my work.

Focus Group getting back comments on above mock ups.

 

 

Magazine Names/Mastheads

I had also created a little brainstorm on a word document, which includes magazine names/mastheads. I have done this so that I can have a visual idea which will help me to create my on Masthead which looks affective like the popular Hip-Hop magazines such as VIBE, XXL and so on.

Below are some of the Magazine Names that i have pasted in to the document:

The above Mastheads from magazines are just a couple that i have added, although there are a lot more to include which i haven't.

Survey Monkey- Talking about the Results.

After I had distributed my 30 questionnaires, I got back results from both Female and Male participants from my class and friends outside. By doing this questionnaire it helped me to gain some knowledge about creating my final peice of work, as it helped me answer some questions, which could help me improve my final peice of work.

Question 4 made me do the Double Page Spread on the life of the artist (Shakz) as majority of the participants thatparticipated in the survey said they do like to read lives of artists.

Question 5 helped me to get a basic understanding on the most poular genre in the music industry the overall answer was Hip Hop followed by RnB so this also helped me to stay to the genre of Hip Hop rather than changing the Genre.

Question 6 helped me to understand that I have to apply very strong bold images on the whole package of the magazine to make it more eye catching and efficient.

Question 7 would help to get a basic understanding of how much my magazine would be sold for and how much people would buythem for.

Question 9 helped me to decide on whether I should add a QR tag on the magazine, and looking at the results it showed me that people would like an online version and so I added this.

Question 10 tells me if consumers would be interested in subscribing to my magazine to gain exclusive stuff. So i'll have to think about this.

Survey Monkey

Below are all the quesions I asked in my Survey Monkey I added 10 questions which would help me to create my actual magazine:

1. Gende
2. Age
3. Do you buy magazines or read them online?
4. Are you interested in reading about lives of artists?
5. What’s your favourite music genre out of the few below in a magazine?
6.  Do strong images appeal to you or make a difference to you?
7. What would be the price margin for you when buying a magazine?
8. Where would you like to read a magazine? ( Travelling(online app), Home, work, School) 
9. Would you like a link to an online version of the mag?
10. Would you be interested in subscribing to the magazine in order to gain exclusive access to free stuff and offers?

Organised List

I have made a To Do List so that i know what i have done and what needs to get done, this will help me as i can take off everything that i have done and aso add anything that needs to be done below is a screenshot of the List I have typed on Microsoft Word:

All higlighted in red is the things that havnt yet been either started or completed, whereas the text in black is all the things that have been finished. 

Magazine Research

I have analysed many different Magazine Covers, content pages and double page spreads. I am going to be inserting these in the blog some at a time, so that it shows effectiveness, and also shows that i have a clear understanding of the media representations of the layout etc.

 

Below is Screenshots of my cover analysis of a magazine that I have researched and analysed and also my content pages that i have analysed and also the double page spreads:

 



 I have also did a separate slide to identify the target audiences that relates to this cover:

 

Magazine Creation Practice Test

In class we had to do a test which was to create a Magazine Cover and Content page, to show our teacher where we are at, and so that our teacher can see where each of us are at and who is doing good and who is not.

Below Is two screen shots of the cover and contents page i have created using Photoshop CS6:

I used 'Lil Wayne' As my Main Image for the cover page, i used a secondary image as I did not have to use my own images. I made the character stand out by keeping the background White, I contrasted the colours he is wearing and tried to keep the colour constant through out the cover so that it looks even and not odd.  i Made the Main Cover Line blend in to what he is wearing with the colours 'red,blue,yellow and pink'. I added other cover lines on the page of famous celebrities which will also be appealing and lets the audience know what they are going to get inside the magazine. In the Masthead I made the background Hot Pink as this makes it stand out from the rest of the cover but is still consistent with the colour schemes.

For the Content Page I still kept the Colour scheme of pink and blue as this contrasts with 'Lil Wayne' on the front cover. I changed the typeface to match the image of 'Nicki Minaj' which I added in the content page as one other main topic in the magazine that the audience would like. I added the masthead from the cover, minimised and  placed it on the bottom right of the content page which makes it feel related to the cover.