Evaluation question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real music magazines?

My media product mainly challenges the norms and conventions surrounding music magazines as I have taken a more abstract approach to each of my pages. This hasn't been entirely successful because each page looks different and some look like they don't really they belong in the same magazine as there is little consistency in the theme.However I'm glad that I included something different and original in each page and each page communicated different topics highlighted in the PBRnB genre. The PBrNB genre itself does not follow the norms present in the music industry and there is lots of experimenting which leads to different unique styles. 

I wanted the front page to have a sinister feel to it, and I wanted to communicate this without holding back or sugar coating any of the writing or symbolism involved in the magazine. This was done to imitate the bluntness and sheer honesty some  artists from the genre have in the lyrics, regardless of public opinion - their authenticity is clearly communicated in their songs. I noticed that in most magazines, the creator plays with aspects like power rather than emotions or thoughts so I decided to experiment and try to present the artist though his thoughts without falsely trying to make him look more powerful for the front page. The page is mainly dark, and has a contrasting purple accent to give the page some kind of theme in hopes to attract people. I should have definitely put more attention towards the masterhead as it lacks boldness and doesn't really do the rest of the page justice, I am particularly disappointed with it because I have seen how powerful masterheads can be in other magazines.

The Contents Page was more experimental but I think I achieved the connotations of psychedelics and drug use from the blurry distorted writing and colourful background, but this wasn't influenced by any pages from previous magazines. Parts of it were influenced by artwork related to artists who openly communicate their experiences with these types of drugs. The colourful background was inspired by the acid rap mixtape cover and other images with a similar effect. 

The double page spread is the one that looks the least abstract. This is because I tried to follow the conventions I researched for a double page spread. This was the only page where the influence was strictly from other magazines rather than individual images  or artwork surrounding the PBRnB genre and as a consequence it looks less experimental than the others. For me, the most successful area of my double page spread is the colour variation which was completely unplanned, but I think the contrastingly coloured pages fit nicely together.

Evaluation question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My media doesn't really highlight representations of particular social groups, rather a type of lifestyle or state of mind. As you can see, clothing is not a factor I wanted to emphasise in any of my pages, instead the main focus was the thoughts of the artist - people are supposed to interpret them through their lyrics rather than their physical appearance.

In what I have produced, there are connotations of drug use and emotional instability, this is communicated through the writing  on the front page. These topics are addressed consistently but represented in different ways, be it through colour variations or symbolism through the appearance of text or the ways the images are edited. The three images above the main image in the front cover was an attempt at symbolically representing the three parts of the human personality, the id, ego and superego to communicate indecisiveness and self conflict.

The magazine bluntly communicates negative thoughts or feelings people compress to appear more civil in society, this is done frequently the music. It is an attempt to represent the repressed, often neglected side that many people have that makes them question their morality. 

As far as actual people, the magazine is a reflection of the way artists from the genre represent themselves through their lyrics. The average PBrNB artist is a young adult from around early to mid twenties, as the artists are so honest, they are viewed as heartless narcissistic animals who only care about sex, delusional  and emotionally scarred. This is not the way I attempt to represent these artists but I am going to stay true to their personality - so they may be viewed like this by certain, more civilised and mature groups of people. There are often references to the nightlife and drug use so, you'd imagine that the people represented by the genre often attend house parties and clubs in attempts to temporarily engage with whoever they a sexually attracted to.

Evaluation question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

My magazine is going to be distributed through the Google play store as it is becoming a hot spot for magazine distribution and requires less work for the consumer to gain access to it. This makes it easier for me to distribute my magazine internationally without having to pay for shipping or printing - as it is a virtual copy. My aim is to start selling issues for 99p on the Play store as it is not to expenses but i'm willing to put it on there free of charge because for my Product, publicity is the priority. more people are likely to read the magazine if it is free, as it is the start, I don't care about profit - I am seeking exposure.


I will be looking to have Bauer Media Group distribute my magazine as they have distributed Q magazines which take risks by promoting experimental artists like lady Gaga, so they are experienced with dealing with magazine production companies that take risks in introducing different things to the public. A magazine like mine is risky to distribute as it barely follows the traditional magazine conventions and there are parts of it that spark controversy - like the scribbled out face in the main image of the magazine.

Evaluation question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my magazine would mainly be from 16 - 25 as that is the age where people usually experience stress because they are introduced to a version of the world that alters their perception of life negatively. The PBRnB genre stems from people venting about negative aspects of their lives and people communicating relatable feelings of hopelessness, whether that is in regards to financial issues or flawed attempts at finding love. These topics are relevant for people between this age group. At sixteen, most people want to explore and learn by experiencing new things which is often done through music. This is why the majority of these people seek music outside of what they had previously been pressured into listening to by their social surroundings. The magazine targets individuals from the same age group that is targeted through the PBrNB music genre as the magazine is influenced by the genre in nearly every single way.

Most people choose to listen to artists from this genre as most of the artists are un-afraid to communicate their hardships and emotional state to their audience, regardless of how outrageous that seems and this creates unity between the listener and content creator. Fans tend to stick around to follow the artists journey and each issue from my magazine attempts to highlight an artists current state. This is likely to attract most of the artists fans as these types of artists tend to reject public interviews, so the fans only know what the artists portray through their music. This often is an unintentionally good attempt at publicity because the artists creates a sense of mystery which tends to bring groups of people together out of curiosity in the artist.

The reason the magazine is also targeted at adolescents is because they are intrigued by things that are unfamiliar to them so topics like drugs and sex are likely to make them want to learn more about it through the content, regardless if the artists view regarding the subject is biased. Young people are also more likely to have the time and interest in these artists, so the magazine would be a way for them to engage with the artists beyond the music. I'd imagine that the reader of the magazine would be someone comfortable with being on their own because the music highlighted in the magazine is not likely to be heard by groups of people, these types of topics addressed provoke more of an intimate experience.

I intentionally gave the magazine a dark colour scheme as I wanted it to attract people who are currently in a dark place, so they have someone to relate to and feel less alone in their lonely world. this all sound depressing but the magazine isn't an attempt at promoting this negativity, it is merely accepting that it exists and allows for artists to communicate their feelings from another medium.

Evaluation question 5

How did you attract / address your audience?

For the front page I decided to make the sell lines a compilation of thoughts that seem a bit exaggerated but address issues a lot of people (especially young people) don't really have first hand experience with. Topics like drug abuse, depression and delusion are expressed very briefly through these sell lines which gives the potential consumer a glimpse of topics they may be interested in because they don't really know anything about them. Adolescents lack experience of the real world and introducing them to topics like this will likely intrigue them, especially because they are talked about in popular music - but not with such bluntness and honesty.

The font I decided to use for the front page is the 'Reckoner' font. I used this font because it is bold and it has a sinister feel to it. I made the colour white to contrast the background so it appears clearly on the page. Initially the scribbled face effect I did was an experiment but I thought it complemented the page nicely. I deliberately kept the scribbled face on the main image as that part of the page received the most attention, it was a controversial decision but it gained a lot of attention so I kept it like this in attempt to gain the same type of response from the public. Unfamiliar things either create fear or intrigue people - both start a conversation, and i'm aiming for the most publicity I can get. 

I also mentioned that my artist is working with a familiar artist in the music industry (partynextdoor)  who also makes music from the pbrnb genre. This allows for a larger potential audience as it may also attract some of partynextdoors fans.

Evaluation question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I used a canon DSLR for the photoshoot. With the camera I was able to play different features that affect each shot, I experimented with the focus, white balance and exposure of each shot and unitentionally came across a strange effect. When the battery was low the shot took a while to produce and had a blured effect, showing capturing the movement that occured while the shot was taken and it had a unique artistic effect but I was contemplating whether or not it was appropriate for my magazine.

Through a lot of experimenting I was able to learn a lot about photoshop. Using the magnet lasso tool and other cropping tools I was able to experiment with the layout of text and images on each page. Filters were helpful but gave the page a cheap feel. I was able to work with the colour by changing the hue, saturation and brightness, and that was how I was able to create the colour theme on my double page spread. I was also able to edit my illustration for my contents page through photoshop, using fill effect and some uni-colour filters I was able to make it appear more like it was drawn on the computer. Adobe illustrator may have been an easier alternative but I didn't have access to a bamboo pad so the drawings would have been less accurate.

When organising my research, I used powerpoint to make moodboards so I could categorise inspirational artwork and different magazine conventions. I also used powerpoint for my presentation, however on reflection it may have been more effective to present my ideas through prezi because it has more aesthetic value, nonetheless powerpoint didn't fail functionally and was successful in chronologically showing the research I produced before production.

I used onedrive to save my work online in case something went wrong with the computers I was working on, or my usb got lost. It was frustrating trying to get my work from onedrive to the computer at school because the software that filters inappropriate sites prevented me from directly downloading the work on the computer.
I used an apple mac for the majority of my magazine production but the versions of photoshop changed halfway through the year, they got updated to CS6 as soon as I finished my contents page. Admittedly there were some complications at the beginning as  some of the preferences were altered because of the update but I was able to learn some new commands and change some settings in the process.

Evaluation Question 7

What do you feel you have learnt in the progression from your preliminary task to the full product?

It is apparent through my work that I have been learning while producing each page. I think my font choice is more appropriate, in my preliminary task there were various fonts randomly placed for no real reason, whereas in my current pages the fonts were selected carefully to suit the page and connote certain feelings.

In my preliminary task there was no context or real meaning behind the magazine but with current project i've been able to play around with colour and edit certain images to give the magazine meaning through sybolism. This allowed me to experiment more with different tools and I was able to apply  different effects to different areas on my pages that I never knew existed. I'm glad I was able to work on three pages for the full product as this gave me more of a chance to progressively learn things. At the begining the attention to detail was poor and this resulted in badly cropped images and untidy arrangement of text - this changed when producing the second magazine as I discovered the quick select tool and different lasso tools which helped crop the images more accurately. I also had a better understanding of resolution and dimensions once I started the actual product.

The shots for my current project were planned out more thoroughly than the ones for the preliminary task as each photo had to communicate a certain feeling or hint at certain situations the artist was in. I did a storyboard before the shoot for the actual magazine but for the preliminary task cover I didn't plan at all.I had to follow the concept of mise en scene to convey certain aspects of the artist's life which could be deciphered from, lighting, props, positions; facial expressions had to be specific. In the preliminary task, the aim was to take a photo that I thought just looked good without wanting to portray a specific message.

There were some things I wish I had learned earlier that would have made the production process a lot more easy. During the time I was making my first two pages, I wasn't aware that I could download fonts from the computers at school because I assumed that the action was blocked, so all the text in the first two pages were from cropped screenshots - this was extremely time consuming but I prefered that rather than the pre-installed fonts on Photoshop.

Through experimenting I was able to create different colour combinations, admittedly, to begin with they looked pretty bad but as I progressed I was able to create some colour themes that nicely complimented the individual pages. I also changed the lighting in some of the photos I took through photoshop so they fit better on the page. As I experimented I found myself taking more risks by furthering myself from the standard coventions, mainly in the first two pages - which explains the more abstact appearance.

I changed the text layout on the left page to fit in the box at the top, to make the page seem less empty, I also further enlarged the image on the right after some feedback I was given by some peers, personally, i think the page looked better with the smaller sized image. This is the finished product and it is evident that for this page I tried to follow the conventions of a double page spread as it looks the least experimental out of the three pages. 

I rearranged the pages and enlarged the image on the right but there is still an annoying amount of blank space on each page which makes the pages seem slightly dull. I am pleased with the colour variations and arrangement of different parts of the magazine but I am struggling to find something that can occupy the blank areas on my page. For now I will considered this finished but there may be a few changes made if I am further inspired by some magazine pages.

The photo I shot was heavily edited to fit the rest of the double page spread. I began using the polygonal lasso tool to divide the image into four and create the shape around the model's body it around the model's body. I then duplicated the image and used the magnetic lasso tool to crop directly around the model's body to change the colour of the background (by changing the hue) and keep the original lighting from the photo I took. I then applied the black and white filter to the two right sections to contrast the coloured page.

I have arrived at a completely unexpected stage in the production for my double page spread. After doing way too much experimenting, this is what I have been able to produce so far. It is still not finished as there are quite a few things I need to edit and tidy up but this is the closest thing to the finished product. The writing seems a bit unorganised so i'm going to try to arrange it differently. I might also switch the pages around.

I removed the illustration i previously added because it didn't suit the theme of the page. I also made the text size smaller so I could fit more in that section but i also think it looks better on the page at this size because it feels more like an article. I included the images in the middle and i cropped it using some inspiration i mentioned i would use in the previous post. Currently there are a lot is a lot of empty space in the magazine and the middle image looks like it was placed poorly so i'm going to add a few things to the page and possibly re-arrange some things.

I have gathered a selection of double page spreads which will, in some way, influence parts of my own.

Firstly, this one in particular caught my eye immediately because of the way the text and image is arranged. I think that this is a creative way to combine the text and image as it  forms a unique layout.  I also like the way the image was cropped and I may include something similar in my double page spread.

From this double page spread I mainly liked the small range of colours as it gives the page a more minimalistic feel. Currently minimalstic design is trending across different forms of media and in graphic design, so it may be beneficial to include some aspects of simplicity for my own page.

The drop capital is also something that i'm going to include as it is generally featured in double page spreads and articles. Not only does it provide aesthetic value, it also serves as an indicator for the begining of a text - which is sometimes unclear because of the way it is arranged on the page.

I tried to imitate the iconic disclosure effect on my artist but I don't think the illustration suits the page or fits well on the artist. It could work if my magazine was based around a different genre but that effect clashes with the style of the rest of the page and looks out of place.

The double page spread is currently in the making. Once again I included another illustration but i'm nit sure if it fits well wit the page so i'm going to do a survey and act on it based on the feedback I recieve from my peers. I also added some text which isn't completed yet, I think the font size looks appropriate but I may make it smaller so I can fit more on the page. Also i'm unsure about the layout and arrangement of the text and images so I will try to experiment with it and find some more inspiration from double page spreads online. The purple accent is, once again, is present in the magazine and I want to keep this theme consistent throughout to imply that it relates to the artist and that part of his identity leaves a mark on each page.

Some editing I did for the top banner in the double page spread. I'm still experimenting

contents page

There have been several changes to the contents page as I was recently told that it needed at least three images so I attempted to fit some more of the images i took on the page. it was difficult to make the images fit on the page but after a lot of trial and error I ended up with with this layout. there are elements that were similar to the previous contents page and it still conveys the same message. For me, the page looks far too complicated and chaotic, I would have rather had a minimalistic design but the selection of images fit poorly when I tried making the page less complicated. I got the inspiration for the bar at the right from a mixtape I was listening to (the Chixtape 3), I thought the page looked better with it as it has a contrasts the vibrant colours on the rest of the page.

I changed the main image for the contents page because I was frequently told by my peers that the previous image looked far too similar to the image on the front cover. So I took a different photo of my friend and wanted to quickly show a snippet of  the experimental editing I do through the short video above.

Further editing and experimenting of mini illustration

The image above is a bit sharpened because I wasn't able to download it directly
 Nonetheless, as you can see, I have made a few changes to the contents page, I made the font smaller and added some more text, I also added a box with text on the right, but the weirdest desicion I made is pretty obvious and it was a work of pure experimenting. The little illustration on the right of the main image. I chose to include that in the contents page because I didn't want to overflow it with text so I added the icon to represent the artists independant record label. This was done because nowadays most famous artists promote their record label and they become publicly recognised with it. I'm not sure if it fits but I will surely continue to edit it and try to make it fit subtley within the page.

This was the illustration I made, I drew it and took a photo and developed it through photoshop by adjusting the brightness, adding some artistic filters and adding colour.

Up until now I have done alot of experimenting to get to this stage. The background image is the product of a photo I took which was heavily edited with a number of artistic filters and changes to the colour settings. The main image was cropped from the image bellow, I pixelated it and added a motion blur which makes the image seem a bit distorted. With the combination of the background and the main image I wanted to connote drug use. In the Pbrnb genre drugs are a very significant topic and artists often portray their experiences when intoxicated through their lyrics. The cliche LSD type effect I used for the background is one of the most well known connotations for drug use and feelings of euphoria. The contents page is far from finished and after some feedback i'm going to make the main body of text smaller.

These are the main images that are going to influence the magazine's contents page. The top left image is mainly inspiration for the colours the page will consist of, as variations of bright colours tend to be associated with drug use which forms a big part of the Pbr&b genre. When coming across this Mojo contents page I instantly liked the layout and noticed how the creator played with the focus in the shot creating nice blurred background which allows the text to settle subtley on the page. I won't imitate the way in which the editor used focus but I will experiment with it in hopes to create some type of distortion, reflective of the artist's mindstate. The arrangement of the text and different colouring of the text is definitely something I will take in to consideration in my contents page and it will probably be similar or contain aspects of the one above.

(7:29)

Adressing The Sell Line Arrangement

As you may notice the sell lines are organised in a peculiar way as they overlap the main image towards the end. First and foremost the sell lines signify the artist's thoughts over time and they are what has influenced his music. As you can see around the top no sell lines go over the main image which is meant to show that , to some extent, his thoughts helped him reach fame and has brought him success. However the same mindset also serves as a barrier for his well being and he is having difficulty overcoming this excessive thinking which is limiting his happiness, which is shown with the overlapping sell lines. In essence, the same mindset that brought him fame and financial success is also holding him back from achieving contentfulness and well being.

Many Pb&b artists play with different elements in their videos to connote different stories or feelings and I took influence from that and imitated the same principle in my magazine cover.

Changes To The Masterhead

Something I haven't adressed yet is the change I made regarding the Masterhead's font. Initially, as I mentioned in my pitch, it was supposed to be typed in the 'Basic Title' font, however after adding it to the magazine I realised it clashed largely with the rest of the magazine. It seemed out of place and didn't do the rest of the magazine justice, i'm not sure if the new masterhead (top image) fits the rest of the magazine perfectly but I do like the more abstract feel with the font. In addition, I added some colour to the masterhead - which isn't what I intended to do in the first place, but I think it matches the rest of the magazine nicely as it keeps the purple theme consistant.

The bottom looked empty so I decided to add some more sell lines but in a different style because I wanted to keep the purple theme. I may or may not change the way it is arranged but for now I think It suits the overall layout of the magazine.

Although it looks nothing like this magazine i got my inspiration for the bottom from the bottom of this magazine cover. I was mainly influenced by the way it was arranged and i thought that would be the perfect solution for the empty space in the bottom of my magazine, however after a lot of playing around and experimenting mine ended up looked nothing like the inspired idea.

Today I was mainly working on my sell lines and experimenting with the colour, size and arrangement of the text. The front cover still seems like it is missing a few things but i'm fairly satisfied with the sell lines. I chose to do them with the 'Reckoner' font as it suits the magazine's overall theme but I might edit the sell lines arrangement later.