Making a Magazine Front Cover 1

Evaluation

Font

Because of the Style of the magazine, I have used a sans serif font to convey the seriousness of the magazine. I have tried to continue this theme with the main cover photo. This is a photo of Steve Jobs that has been altered to be only 2 colours. I have used a black colour and a cream colour, as this is a very professional and stylish looking format. i have used the colour blue for all of the boxes, as this is a very male oriented colour and the magazine is about tech, which is stereotypically a male dominated area. To contrast the blue boxes, I have used white writing that stands out.

Features

I Decided to include 5 stories, a special mention and the date of issue. I decided not to include the price of the magazine on the front cover as i believed that this would take away from the aesthetic I was aiming for. The Special mention about Technology week was so that the cover photo would actually be relevant since this was a lifestyle magazine. if i had not included this, then i Feel that the issue would not follow the brief I was given. I have included 5 stories, each are a different size and about a different branch of Technology, but each have specific key features, such as the white font which is all the same, and the title being underlined. The titles are written in such a way that is makes the reader think about what they are reading and form their own ideas on the topics in question. The main story is also Deliberately controversial to make people get thinking and talking about it.

Masthead

The target audience for my magazine is people from 16-25. This is because people of this age will have a lot of technology that will have a huge impact on their lives, be it at university, jobs, or social media devices for communication.

The Masthead itself is meant to be simple and geometrical in terms of shape and design. The Blocky and straight aesthetic work well with people of this age. they wont have time to decipher a complex masthead and stories, so it needs to be simple.

Shapes

All of the boxes are straight and blue, this was to crate a consistent theme within the cover and make the boxes feel like they should be there. The masthead is also stationed between two parallel blue lines which are reminiscent of lines on a piece of paper. I used this as it gives the magazine a more personal touch, that makes it seem more relevant and appealing.

Brand identity?

I have attempted to create brand identity through the use of colour and font, although i'm no sure if it worked well enough. there is a clear theme, but it is hard to say whether an identity had been created unless there is multiple issues. I do believe however, that if more issues of this magazine could be created, then an identity would form.

How i've created Representation?

The colour scheme I have used, is very relaxed and not bright. This is because of the audience the magazine is aiming for. Somebody reading this would be very busy and rushed, so a chilled magazine would suit their lives  better. Also, thinking about the theories of Curran and Seaton, i have responded to the "concerns" of the audience by talking about thinks like Battery life.

This would be a very realistic issue for someone who spends a lot of time on their phones an technology. this makes the magazine more relevant to people of  younger age, who rely on technology. Steve jobs is also a very relevant figure, as he has been very influential to technology and popular culture in the past few years.

TA Research of my Images

Photo 1
This Photo was my favourite,and the comments have been really helpful. These comments helped me to understand which parts of the photo were actually good, and how to make them better. the comment from Spoopy-Pineapple helped me look at what i could improve with the photo. 

 

Photo 2
this photo i thought was very good, but it appears to have a few things to improve upon which i did not realise. these photos helped me see which parts of the photo were desirable and which parts were not. I should remove the grass in front, and adjust the exposure onto the leaf to make it clearer.

Selection and rejection of photographs

Worst three photos

1.Photo of Vale

I do not like this photo, because I doesn't really follow the rules of photography. There is two main sections in the photo, which goes against the rule of odds. There is also no evidence of the rule of thirds, as the lines on the buildings seem to cut straight through the middle of the photo.

Also, because of the distance I took the photo at, the image is blurry. 

2. Photo of tree and Lamp and things

With this photo, I tried to follow the rules of photography, but I did not succeed with some of them. The rule of thirds can be applied, as the lamp and the tree itself can split the photo up, however if you attempt this horizontally, then the photo is only split into two. I have also made a big mistake when it comes to landscape photography, as the landscape is not level. Also, because the photo was taken through a window, It is not focused on the right features.

3. Wonky Bannister

i took this photo because I thought the effect on the bannister looked cool. As it Seems, that is not enough to make a good photo. Because the Bannister is so long, the camera could not focus on the entire thing, and instead only a small part of it. This caused the rest of the image to be out of focus. the rule of thirds can not be applied as I decided to depend on a diagonal lead line through the photo. Because of this, the photo doesn't look right, and looks almost 'Incomplete'.

Best Photos  

1.Steve Jobs

I Like this photo because it succeeds in what I attempted to do with it. The rule of thirds can be applied, if you follow a line down Steve's nose, and along with his chin and hairline. The Subject is clear and in focus, and the bottom of the photo is level. I like the photo, because it is nothing special, but is good, and works well. For a portrait, you want to be close up, Have a clear subject, and be simple. I believe this photo achieves all of that well.

2. Leaf

For this photo, i wanted to do an extreme close up of a dead leaf that I found. This was because the leaf was completely white and looked awesome. I succeeded in keeping the background landscape level, and putting the leaf in complete focus. I do believe that the photo is slightly too bright however, and if i Knew how to darken it, i would . This would add more detail to the leaf and make it clearer and more distinct. 

3. Dark Light fitting

This is by far my favourite photo, as it started as an experiment and it turned out really well. Because i had never used a professional camera before, i wanted to see what it could do, so I pointed it directly at a light to see what would happen. As it appears, the camera adjusted to the increase in light by Making the photo a lot darker than normal. This leaves a rather 'Ghostlike' effect on the light, and makes the glass stand out. This photo does follow the rule of thirds, and the light splits up the image. The rules on landscape don't really apply here as the camera effect has left it with a completely Black background. 

Research of institutions: Bauer Media

 A History 

“In 1875, Ludolph Bauer has just turned 23 when he sets up a printing plant in Hamburg to produce business cards.”

(https://www.bauermedia.com/en/company/history/)

Over the next 100 years, the same family held this company and started asking magazines, with the first women’s magazine coming out in 1970. A few years later, the Bauer family buys stakes in a local TV network and radio station. 

In 1981 they launched their first women’s magazine I the USA, 1987 IN Britain AND 1991 IN POLAND. Polish and British radio stations followed in 2007, and 2008, and in 2012 and 2015, Bauer expands to Australia and New Zealand .at the same time, Bauer becomes Europe's number one radio collective.   

Bauer embraced cross media convergence in the 1990s, and launched their website, and lots of their magazines also went online. 

Bauer constantly listens to their feedback and constantly makes sure they are supplying what their readers want.  

Homepage 

Bauer advertises its Cross media presence with a large slidely in the centre of the page  

The site says this on every slide of the slidely, emphasising its cross media presence. And telling the reader how influential it is on the industry. 

Included in this Slidely, is slides dedicated to smaller properties of Bauer that have a niche audience. This helps those properties as the mainstream audience of the website could also become the audience of the smaller property. (Jenkins – Audience conversion theory)  

The task bar at the top of the screen tells the reader all of the pages that Bauer can offer. When clicking on these, a menu of sub headings appears below. This helps to declutter the webpage and keep it simple for the reader. Doing this can be considered a convention for websites, and helps an older audience cope with using an unusual website. 

 

The banner, situated below the large slidely, can be seen as a ‘lead story’ it features bright and eye-catching colours which contrast with the general style of the webpage, which is white and blue. Because of this, it feels out of place, and alien. This does however fit with the context of the story, as it is a limited-time training section. By running information like this, it casts a positive view of Bauer and makes them seem helpful. Adverts and training can be seen as a convention for large media institutions. 

At the bottom of the page, Bauer has information on the institution and all associated properties. This is a convention or webpages, as it is a requirement for webpages and companies 

 

Genres and target audiences.  

Bauer truly embodies, 'Build it and they will come'. The have hundreds of magazines and radio stations for every possible audience, both mass and niche. They have a large number of women's magazines, which are a very mass audience, however the magazines can be split into sub-genres, which can refine the audience they get. They also provide specialist niche magazines such as cars and fishing, as well as smaller radio stations that focus on smaller genres of music.