College Magazine Evaluation

While creating my magazine I kept in mind that I wanted to be able to connect with the readers and produce an interesting College Magazine. At the start of the creative process I had to go out with a group of classmates and do a photoshoot with different types of shots in order to capture real college life and portray real students in the Magazine. In the photography aspect I think it could of gone better with the amount of photos and the variation of photos as well. The chosen image was very difficult to cut out the background on photoshop as it was all of a similar colour and poorly constructed through the lense due to atmosphere. However, once I had mastered the background cutting and getting the focus on the student alone in order to place it on my magazine, the effect was very good and casual but allowed the magazine to be relatable to the readers. It isn't the most professional photo I took and if I had more time I would of set things up using better lighing and composition as a feature article image.

The software was quite difficult to understand at first as it was a first for me using InDesign; Photoshop was a comfort zone for me as I am also doing Photography and I am and have been familiar with the tools and effects I could use and achieve. I used Photoshop for the purpose of removing the background from the image in order to have a cut out of the figure I wanted. InDesign was used for the layout and developmental stages of my magazine which proved to be quite a challenge for me! At first it seemed very complicated and somewhat intimidating at first as I really didn't understand any of the possibilities I could achieve with the different tools. The process that took the longest was definitely Photoshop with cutting out the background on the image of Tom because the originial image was very similar in colour and took several attempts to complete acurately without cutting out half of Tom's head, eyes or shoulders. It was a long process but once I had finally mastered it, it was worth all the effort!
The tools I learned about in InDesign was mostly about the toolbar at the top and how to change font, change colour, add colour and add width and thickness to borders - wether it was to do with text or the features I used like the simple blocked shapes to create another background for specific texts I wanted to be of main focus.

Overall, the completed college magazine looks very well composed! I think it is a very striking cover with the feature article text covering half of the magazine it works well with the image and is a very good kicker to interest my readers! I think it isn't the most professional magazine but it is well constructed and eye catching and will attract quite a few regular readers! On the contents page I have included a lot of different and wide ranged articles so that it will appeal to a wider audience in college. I am pleased with my overall production however the background could be sharper and the layout could be a little bit better if the kickers and coverlines weren't all on the same side. In spite of a few things I would change if I had to do it again, I am very pleased with the final product.



While producting my magazine I kept in mind the feedback I'd got from the Audience Questionnaire in order to appeal to everyone in the college. The fact that a lot of the completed feedback was from males I made the cover story a male and refer to some stereotypes that males have in college life. For example 'why sleeping with your professor doesn't get you good grades!' was an attack and the stereotypes of males trying to find a way to get good grades without putting the effort in and completing the work and assignments given. It is also a bit of humour as mostly American's and higher college students would find this funny and interesting to read. I also included Fashion tips and competitions to appeal to the competetive and adventurous readers and maybe some readers who are wanting some advice and some guidence to make them feel better about themselves. I also included an advice column where people who are maybe struggling with specific things and don't have anyone to really talk to about or maybe something they wouldn't go to their friends about whether it be embarrassing or private and personal, there is an anonymous advice column to help students if they need it. I have produced my College Magazine with a lot of the Questionnaire results in mind, here are the results of my Audience Questionnaire (click the link) that I used to influence my magazine production.

 

 

College Magazine Final Product

Magazine Conventions Powerpoint

Music Magazine Research

 

Billboard Magazine is an international magazine devoted souly to music, charts, current artists and events in the media in association to music. It is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world - well known for its constant update and keen eye on the music charts on whats popular and new and albums of various genres each week. The two most notable charts are the Billboard Top 100, which places songs - regardless of genre- in the ranks of what is popular based on digital sales, radio airplay and streaming internet data from websites such as YouTube; and the Billboard 200, the corresponding chart for album sales.

 

Billboard Magazine was founded on the 1st November 1894, by William H. Donaldson and James Hennegan. It was originally a trade paper for the bill posting industry - hence the name Billboard. However, the magazine quickly began to carrying news of major amusements and outside events and soon began documenting events from Carnivals, to live shows to vaudeville, minstrals and other live entertainment. The magazine then starts to stream coverage of motion pictures in 1909, and then radio in the 1920s. The Billboard Magazine only began publishing music charts and such once the development of the jukebox industry arose in the 1930s. In 1961 the magazine changed its name completely to The Billboard Music Week, which devoted the entire magazine to the music industry - showing an amazing commitment to the industry itself and identifying that it would be something to change lives in the future, with the development of things to come- the magazine was only just beginning to catch on to what would be a global phenominon music magazines would become.

 

Billboard have opened a range of media frenzies to the world, from the top 100 artists, albums, songs and collaberations to the Billboard Music Awards. The Billboard Music Awards (BMA's) is an honor given by Billboard to celebrate artists and the preeminent publication covering the music business, it is held anually in December until it unfortunately went dormant in 2007 - it soon returned though in May 2011.

 

It is very prominant that Billboard Music Magazine has opened a lot of oppertunities for the world of music and allowed a major magazine to go global and cover a large range of catagories and genres so that it is a wide coverage audience. On the cover of each magazine there is an artist that is thriving - either in the media with personal attributes or vocally and musically with a new album release or a No. 1 single. Each coverpage is different, with the variety of angles, colours and backgrounds. The masthead is always used in the same font but the colour changes depending on the style of the cover whether the colours are changed or the positioning of the artist on the front, the masthead is forever developing in colour to allow it to stand out and be known as 'Billboard' no matter who is on the cover and how much of the masthead you can actually see.

 

For example, I found these slideshares on google about the layout and design that is explored in detail...

 

 

These are some of the slideshare examples that I have been researching along with researching the magazine itself, they are both in great detail and very analytical in the deconstruction of the cover. I will find this helpful as well when I am designing and publishing my own music magazine!

Also, on YouTube, there are a lot of weekly changes to the Billboard Charts as 'TheTesteeTop50Charts' update the weekly changes to the Billboard Top 100 charts and publish them as a virtual playlist for the global audience to listen to: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=billboard+&oq=billboard+&gs_l=youtube.3..0l10.2368.2368.0.2553.1.1.0.0.0.0.65.65.1.1.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.hbaKqp1AsCs

 

 

"BE GREAT, BE ICONIC"

College Magazine Research

The purpose of a College magazine is to capture the life of a student and to offer tips and tricks to help students through difficult times. It offers a look into student life that will be very relatable to most students. It also takes the edge off of serious topics by adding humour and colloquial language that teens and young adults will be able to understand and interpret - maybe even apply to their own situations. It is also about giving advice, allowing the students to understand different perspectives of college life but also using it an an incite to the events and amusements that are happening around the campus and near the campus.

All College Magazines are bold and colourful, this is deliberate with the intention of capturing the audience and keeping it fresh and interesting to the younger generation. After all, college students are more likely to walk past a black and white newspaper as it does not look appealing, interesting or relatable.

The masthead is completely block capitals are colourful in order to stand out on a shelf when it will be amongst other magazines. The layout of the cover is very important and it has to have a student who is happy and a high achiever as well to promote a healthy and happy self image whilst at college - the ideal student - in a way, which is compelling to others who may be struggling or readers who are finding inspiration from other peoples stories.

 

 

The strap lines on College magazines have to be compelling and interesting to the reader.

For example; 'Avoid Sleeping Your Way To The Top' is a very hard hitting line as it is expressing many students will 'sleep around' in order to get good grades and 'extra curricular activities e.g extra credit' but do so in a manipulative way. Especially in America, 'sleeping your way to success' is a frequent occurance on their reality shows or television programmes such as comedy as they are not suggesting that these actions work. This is a humourus twist on the comedy subject as underneath the strap line it says 'Networking 101' the '101' suggests its everything you need to know in order to be successful on your own and how to tackle obsticles in the networking field, as nowadays most coursework and deadlines are now required to be produced on the computer - it is a slight pun on technology but allows the strap line to be eye catching and thought provoking.

 



'10 ways to Survive your Dorms' is immediately addressing the difficult transfer college students face at the start of the academic year, there are always the typical anxieties and worries of not getting along with people in your dorms, mixed sex dorms and personality clashes, financing, budgeting and enjoying student life - this article would give tips and tricks on everything from budgeting and finance loan advice, to how to avoid silly arguments and different clashes that may make living with some people difficult, it is all about making the readers student life a lot better, more comfortable and extremely managable.

For my magazine, I am interested in adding some humour that is slighly colloquial to students and young adults, also using colourful text and striking backgrounds. I plan to make my magazine as interesting as it can be and professionally layed out. I will be taking some tips and tricks of my own from the research I have done on the college and music magazines in order to provide my readers with the most interesting magazine that is enjoyable and informative to the best of my ability. My questionnaire that I have produced will also play a big part as I will get to know my target audience better and figure out what they are most interested in reading and finding out, also their interests, what I can do to appeal to their interests as a reader as well.