Evaluation H – Skills Development

Ryan Tarran

Preliminary Task Comparison

The image on the left is my preliminary task I made at the very beginning of the course. The image on the right is my finished magazine front cover. In terms of how I have progressed and changed my front cover from the original preliminary task I comparison to my finished product is significant. Before I placed these side by side in this PowerPoint, I still believed that for a preliminary task I did pretty well. Firstly, the main difference is layout and quality of the finish. On my main magazine front cover, I have used a consistent front cover theme to my layout, having my cover lines stick to the edges as much as possible to present the main cover image. I have also added more professional features such as a barcode, price and representing convergence with a website link in the bottom left with the issue date. My main front cover image on the right actually has a person rather than a blurry image of a painting. This creates a connection with the target audience due to it being relatable and therefore gratifies them. Where as beforehand the painting would not

Appeal to the audience, especially when you consider that they would most likely have similar demographics due to the preliminary task representing a college magazine.One main thing that is similar in both tasks is that they had a colour scheme, although in the preliminary task it was basic and not very complementing, it was a colour scheme none the less. However, in my main magazine front cover I feel like you can see how I really progressed from the preliminary task in the development of my colour scheme. It looks much more refined and has a change of colour for different fonts to represent buzzwords and the features.I have also used a much more suitable font for my target audience which I personally believe is more modern and represents that ideology along with it. In my main task I also decided to conform to music magazine conventions and have a superimposition of the main cover image over my masthead. This creates a connection with the target audience through the angle and way the image ‘pops’ out of the page.For my main magazine front cover image I also used a DLSR, professional photography equipment that allowed me to capture a still shot in the correct position. However in the preliminary task I used my camera which doesn’t have a high quality camera to take a ‘camera shaken’ shot which looks poor quality and overall makes the preliminary task look bad.Overall I feel that in comparison to my preliminary task I have managed to develop and refine the conventions which make a music magazine look like a magazine. It is clear that my research and planning has paid off because in comparison it is like black and white. Overall I am very happy looking back and seeing how I have progressed and not only shows me how my skills have developed over the task but how I have managed to refine simple aspects such as the colour scheme, layout and correct usage of fonts for the target audience. Hopefully the target audience will be gratified by my magazine and be able to relate to its ideology which has been developed since the first preliminary task.

Preliminary Task Comparison

The image on the left is of the original contents page of my preliminary task and the image on the right is of my finished product of my Vermin magazine contents page.It is safe to say that my preliminary task contents page and my finished product look completely different, even looking back myself it is hard to believe that I made both products. I think that the only similarity that they share is that back then I planned to use numbers next to my features, other than that the similarities just about end there. This is because since my original contents page I have decided to do LOTS of research and planning on conventions of music magazine contents pages and what does not conform to music magazine conventions. This is because I wanted to place my contents page somewhere in-between conforming and not conforming so that I could create and represent iconography in my magazine brand. I did this by researching unconventional music magazines such as Vibe and some issues of XXL. In comparison to my preliminary task though, it is completely different.

Firstly, I decided to continue my magazine on a strict colour scheme, side by side my front cover, feature article and contents page all instantly look like they are from the same issue. This is the theme I wanted them to represent and it also gives ideology of iconography. Being able to pick up a random page and being able to tell what magazine you are reading from the colour scheme is extremely gratifying and attracts an audience due to familiarity. Unfortunately in my preliminary task I did not stick to a strict colour scheme and therefore my contents page does not look or resemble any iconography to the front cover of the preliminary task. Like I stated previously, this is because I learnt and progressed my skills in colour schemes and what colours could be used for text, backdrops and how they complement each other. I did a lot of trial and error with the blue, white and black until I finally had a colour scheme that I was happy with.Secondly, I have added images. During my original preliminary task I left a space for an image but never really planned it enough to fill it with something. This is something that I took into account during my magazine production and made sure that I planned what I was going to shoot, what images would work best, mode of address and model posture I needed to make a good image for what page. In this case, I wanted a single image backdrop to fill the background of the contents page while the features and image of the feature article filled the foreground. To do this I needed a ‘whole body’ wide angle shot which included a relatively blank but interesting background which I feel I have achieved. This took multiple attempts and is definitely a skill I have learnt compared to when I did my preliminary task contents page and hadn’t even planned what I would do an image of. Thirdly in my main magazine contents page I have added a brief description underneath each feature, giving a little taster of what the page includes. This is to help the target audience find what they are looking for and allows them to scan through to find what they want to read. I have also added a website link (convergence) for a competition, which in the preliminary task contents page I failed to do. I also made the contents page in general much more simplified yet detailed to create a connotation of a modern representation to appeal to a young / mature target audience, which I feel I have done effectively to gratify them as consumers.

The first technique I used in Photoshop to create the backgrounds for my cover lines and rectangular shapes was the ‘Rectangular Marquee Tool’. This tool allows you to draw an outline of a rectangle which can then be used to fill with solid colour or edit images with. I primarily used this tool in my magazine for the background of cover lines, the masthead and in my feature article as a header across the top of the page. This tool was very useful to create contrast against text and represent important parts of the magazine. Some examples of how I used the rectangle tool have been placed below.

Photoshop Techniques #1

The second technique I used frequently was the spot healing brush tool. During my magazine project I didn’t use the spot healing brush for spots. However, I used it to clear up imperfections and blend together the texture and colours of a particular part that had an imperfection. A good example of this is the feature articles photo, there were some marks on the wall and the jacket that I managed to completely erase with the spot healing brush and blend in so that it looked and blended in with the rest of the image.

Photoshop Techniques #2

The Eraser tool in Photoshop is extremely useful as it has a different toggle for the size, width and shape of the eraser. It works in terms of layers and in that case is extremely useful for when you want to make things overlay. In my case when I had my artist on my front cover have a superimposition over the masthead, I used the polygonal tool to cut around his head but then used the eraser to get rid of anything left over from the crop.

Photoshop Techniques #3

The levels tool in Photoshop alters the proportion of red, blue and green (RGB) and when used correctly can make an image look more saturated, therefore more professional and appealing rather than washed out. I used levels on most of my images, making them look more appealing and vibrant. This tool was extremely useful for mild colour correction and saturating and was therefore used often for lots of the images in the magazine.

Photoshop Techniques #4

Original Image Original Image

Although I have already explained it, I believe that I have created an audience appeal through the ideology that my magazine represents as well as its iconography. My magazine is a modern, fashionable twist on a conventional rap magazine. This in itself makes it unconventional and stand out from competitors in the same genre straight away.

Secondly, the magazine has been represented in a modern way. This has been done with the style of writing, recurring colour theme that makes it iconic and recognisable no matter what page you are on. This creates familiarity with the target audience and over time will gratify them as consumers. The same way that white text with a red background in advertising will automatically be associated with coca cola and due to this recurring theme and iconic use of red and white creates a brand trust between consumer and brand. I am hoping that the colour scheme and modern twist on my rap magazine creates a similar effect on my target audience.

Lastly, due to the modern representations of my magazine I am trying to represent that ‘Vermin’ has an ideology of a wealthy intangible value. These values are the driving force that will make the target audience more willing to buy the magazine over other rap magazines as it feels exclusive and expensive and will gratify the target audience (a younger, predominantly teenage audience) the same way that having an expensive watch over a cheaper version will have and make the consumer feel more valuable and unique through purchasing it. These are the values that will appeal to the target audience and provoke consumerism within them to hopefully make my magazine successful.

Audience appeal

During my magazine production I had to use a variety of skills. A very important aspect was probably my research skills. Although I don’t have much to show for it, I looked at other rap magazines for hours on end and looked at how they used conventions to conform to the genre. Other methods I used included the survey monkey survey I made at the very beginning of the production to get a good idea of what my target audience would actually want from my magazine. The research, although not the most Important part, felt like it because I had to know what I was going to make before I made it, otherwise I would end up with products that looked similar to my preliminary task, as I had no idea what or how to make a magazine back then.

Overall I feel that my research has paid off, this can be seen from the progression from my initial preliminary tasks to my finished music magazine, showing that I have paid enough attention in my research to be able to develop upon initial ideas and then be able to make a magazine that conforms to the conventions of the genre.

Research Skills

During my magazine production I only made one questionnaire and have only got 1 person’s feedback on record. Unfortunately towards the end of my production I ran low on time and resources and could not get feedback from about 5 different people. However, I still managed to get feedback from one person who could be a potential target audience member which provided useful feedback. During my production I only did the 1 initial questionnaire. Although this was useful and provided insight into what standards and features would be required of me to put into the magazine, I could have done a few more with different styled questions to further explore what would gratify the target audience. Overall I am happy with how my music magazine has turned out. However I believe the feedback department really is a part of my production that I spent less time and resources on and if I could go back I would ensure that I spent more time on this part of the production as it is the actual interaction between your product and the target audience you made it for, which is in the end all that matters.

Feedback / Questionnaire Skills

During the writing part of my magazine production I had to make sure that I used good literacy. Although not a huge point, it was still important to make my magazine look as professional and ‘proof read’ as possible. This was mostly used in my feature article as I had to write large amounts of text in response to the questions and therefore was most important.

As you can see from the image of my feature article text there was a large amount of text that had to be proof read. Because I typed in Photoshop it was hard to proof read due to it not being like Microsoft word where it highlights misspelled words in red. However, I made sure I proof read it a couple time over to ensure literacy was good.

Literacy