Final Contents Page: InstruMENTAL! Magazine
Posted by Martyn Hollinshead | Labels: InstruMENTAL Magazine | Posted On Friday, 30 March 2012 at 05:00
Final Double Page Spread: InstruMENTAL! Magazine
Posted by Martyn Hollinshead | Labels: InstruMENTAL Magazine | Posted On at 04:59
AS Evaluation Question 7 DRAFT
Posted by Martyn Hollinshead | Labels: Evaluation DRAFTS | Posted On Thursday, 29 March 2012 at 13:32
Looking
back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the
progression from it to full product?
I feel that I have learned a great deal during the
progression from my preliminary magazine, ‘The Bulletin’, to my final product, ‘InstruMENTAL’.
With my preliminary task I wanted to see what I could do to make the magazine
look unique and stand out amongst others. I focused on colour palette and
layout mainly as I saw them as the most striking features of the design I had
created. However I soon realised that there was much more to a magazine than
its appearance. By looking at the features of other magazines I found that my
preliminary magazine was rather bare in content; there were only two sections
and the listings only went up to page twenty-six. A real magazine would
obviously contain much more content than this, so I ensured that the amount of
content included in my final product would be adequate enough to have a
realistic representation. The cover lines were also low in detail and too large
in size. I found that in other magazines there were normally subheadings below
the cover lines to add detail to what was being represented. So I learned that
the content had to be sufficient enough to attract the reader and give the
magazine a professional feel so that it could compete effectively with others.
With regards to the layout, I decided to keep the main format
of the contents page as I felt that its structure had both the organisation and
aesthetic appeal that would interest the reader in viewing the articles; the
large image that took up half of the page worked well to highlight the main
feature article, so I wanted to use this in my final product to give the
magazine a consistent feel throughout. However I completely discarded the
layout of the front cover as it was not suitable for both the image and context
of my magazine. I instead chose a cleaner layout that focused the attention solely
on my artist as this is what the main feature of my final magazine was about. The
masthead also didn’t suit my title, ‘InstruMENTAL’, as the word was too long
for a ‘Golden Spiral’ layout that the preliminary cover contained. I therefore decided
to stretch my masthead across the width of the front cover as not only did this
fit better, but also it gave me the ability to add a banner at the bottom of
the page to help increase the detail shown. Whilst I wanted a clean layout I didn’t
necessarily mean that I wanted it to be completely bare.
In progressing from my preliminary magazine to the final
product I believe that I have been able to construct a magazine that has the
professional appearance and content that it requires to succeed in the current
music magazine market. I have learned that it is important to consider more
than just the way it looks as this is what people purchase it for. I was
satisfied with my preliminary magazine at the time, however in my opinion
InstruMENTAL! magazine is a massive improvement over this, and will fully connect
with my audience.
AS Evaluation Question 6 DRAFT
Posted by Martyn Hollinshead | Labels: Evaluation DRAFTS | Posted On at 12:10
What have
you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
From constructing my magazine I have learnt numerous skills
and techniques for creating multiple formats of media. First and foremost, my
ability to use Photoshop effectively and productively has increased
dramatically. For example, when I began constructing my preliminary magazine I
only had a brief understanding on how the program worked, what the different
tools did and how to use the expansive adjustment options. I therefore searched
through endless tutorial websites and experimented with different techniques
and designs, picking up the knowledge of the program as I went along. What I
found was that as I used Photoshop more frequently I understood just how
complex the suite can be; you can create literally anything you want to, as
long as you know how. I also learnt how the program can be used in a
professional manner for creating advertisements and publications such as the
magazine that I have constructed. From constructing this product I think that I
have benefited somewhat as it has taught me how to develop my skills through
experimentation and 'trial & error’. The main feature that has stood out
for me though in Photoshop is the blending options. From here you can add
effects to the layer you are working on, for example I used it to add shadow to
the text on my contents page to help it stand out and look dynamic, rather than
simply let it lay flat on the page. Furthermore, I found that despite the fact
that shadow is only a small detail of the image, it made a dramatic difference
to the impact of the magazine as a whole; the masthead had the pronounced look
and feel that it needed and the clarity of the cover lines on the background
improved too.
Photoshop however was only one of the tools that I used when
creating my magazine. Another piece of technology that had probably the most
significant impact on the appearance of the magazine was an SLR camera. The
camera in question was a Canon EOS 500D, which had a pixel rating of 15.1
megapixels and a strong built-in flash. An 18-250mm Sigma lens was used in conjunction
with the camera. The reason why I opted for an SLR over the common digital
camera was because the detail of the image is always of a better standard; you
have a much higher resolution to work with and greater control over the focus,
lighting and shutter speed settings. Another advantage with the Canon was that
it could take RAW data of the shots. This image data is uncompressed and so,
when placed in Photoshop, extra tweaks and adjustments can be made to every
aspect of the image, from colour temperature to sharpness and noise levels. To
ensure that the shots I took were sharp and clear I used a tripod for stability
and control over the height and angle. The end result of all of this made for a
vivid end result; the images were sharp and detailed with a good balance of
colour and light. I found that taking the right photos depended on technology
that would be able to reflect the real thing, so that the audience could be
brought closer to the action and feel connected to the photo.
The final piece of technology that I have used to construct
my magazine was my laptop. I decided to use my own system rather than those of
the college as I owned my own copy of Photoshop CS5. This meant that I was able
to spend much more time on the construction of the magazine as well as create
all of the other work (including this evaluation) for my blog anywhere. I felt
this was extremely important as the extra time that was available allowed me to
refine and enhance my product until it was to my liking. A second advantage of
using my laptop was that the specification of the system was more than adequate
to run Photoshop smoothly and without crashes. The program recommends 2GB of
ram, a fast processor and a dedicated video card in order to perform well, and
my laptop met these requirements comfortably. In short this allowed me to have
a consistent workflow in which I could switch between my files, the internet,
Photoshop etc. without having to wait or suffer crashes, meaning that more time
could be spent on editing and less on troubleshooting. In the context of
constructing this product, the computer that you use is important in the fact
that it allows you to manage the construction of the magazine effectively by keeping
all of the resources in one place where they can be accessed quickly and
smoothly.
AS Evaluation Question 5 DRAFT
Posted by Martyn Hollinshead | Labels: Evaluation DRAFTS | Posted On at 01:22
How did you
attract/address your audience?
To attract my target audience I looked at making sure that
the genre was conveyed in the appropriate way so that it would appeal to the
reader as well as meet the assumed criteria. Looking at the majority gender of
the audience, namely males, I decided to use typography that would be easily
associated with them. Rather than use curly, wavy or ‘pop-art’ fonts that are
stereotypically seen as ‘girly’ I used bold, distorted and worn fonts that would
suit not just the target gender but also the genre of the magazine.
Another aspect of my magazine that I developed to attract and address my audience was the content of my magazine. The articles and sections that were featured relate to the lifestyle I assumed my audience have; I have included an ‘Online’ section for example that I believe would appeal to the target age range of 18-28, as this age are actively using the internet and so a website/blog might interest them. Furthermore, as technology advances and influences the way in which we view our media, magazines could become obsolete to webpages, as the costs of running a website are presumably less than that of printing publications. So by attracting the audience to the magazine’s website, in a way this creates a ‘future-proof’ base for the brand to continue were magazines to fall out of public interest.
Another aspect of my magazine that I developed to attract and address my audience was the content of my magazine. The articles and sections that were featured relate to the lifestyle I assumed my audience have; I have included an ‘Online’ section for example that I believe would appeal to the target age range of 18-28, as this age are actively using the internet and so a website/blog might interest them. Furthermore, as technology advances and influences the way in which we view our media, magazines could become obsolete to webpages, as the costs of running a website are presumably less than that of printing publications. So by attracting the audience to the magazine’s website, in a way this creates a ‘future-proof’ base for the brand to continue were magazines to fall out of public interest.
To expand on the relevancy of the articles, I assumed that my
audience would have a fairly strong interest in music, with the majority (approximately
75%) regularly attending gigs and events. I therefore included two concert
reviews and a guide to the best upcoming gigs of this year, titled
“Instrumental! Gig Guide 2012”. Based on
my assumptions, the audience would find this particularly interesting and
informative as it would allow them to plan their year of events by looking at
what is recommended and thus worth the price. To help attract attention to this
section I formatted the listing on the contents page by placing it on an orange
box; this colour contrasted powerfully with the grey background and fitted in
with the colour palette for a professional, consistent look. The text in the
box was enlarged, coloured white and finished with a rough typeface, giving it
a ‘feature’ feel that has greater importance than the other content listed. In combination with the subject matter, this
‘gig guide’ is a strong feature of the contents page that grabs the reader’s
attention with its design and draws them into reading on with its appealing details.
Why is Pyro on fire?
Posted by Martyn Hollinshead | Labels: InstruMENTAL Magazine | Posted On Friday, 9 March 2012 at 05:03
On my double page spread I was struggling for ideas as to how to make the model stand out on the page as my background was making them look bland and dark. So as a last resort I looked through the tutorials on psd.tutsplus.com and I found this:
http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/photo-effects-tutorials/flaming-photo-manipulation/
This tutorial showed me how to manipulate and place flames onto my model in order to make it look as if he is caught in a 'blaze'. This was my end result:
It didn't turn out quite as well as the example on the tutorial, however I am still happy with the result as it now draws the audience attention that my model and DPS needs.
http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/photo-effects-tutorials/flaming-photo-manipulation/
This tutorial showed me how to manipulate and place flames onto my model in order to make it look as if he is caught in a 'blaze'. This was my end result:
Update 1/03/2012
Posted by Martyn Hollinshead | Labels: InstruMENTAL Magazine | Posted On Thursday, 1 March 2012 at 03:04
But when I tried to place it on my front cover (as it is going to replace the main coverline) I encountered an issue where the text would become transparent and unreadable at the top of the lettering. This is because you have to partly erase the top to create a 'dissipating' effect in the flames. The effect though only works on a dark background, and as I was placing it over the guitar it showed this glitch. I'm going to therefore retake my front cover photo in which I will either change the positioning of the guitar so as not to obstruct the text or simply remove it altogether so the text can be readable on the black t-shirt.
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