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

I have learnt that PhotoShop and InDesign both coordinate and work together in the creative process of creating a piece of work, such as the magazine. PhotoShop possesses visually creative elements and tools, such as the paintbrush tool of which I used to blur, draw and blend colours and shapes to better suit and sculpt my images. The eraser tool was also heavily relied on, as it was a simple method to shave crooked edges away from my model, and remove unwanted unsteadiness form her outline. Photoshop also allowed me to apply filters and effects to my images that would take tremendous amounts of time and effort without, as well as a complex layer system to ensure that everything stays organised, and more importantly to stop filters and effects leeking onto other layers, of which took me a while to figure out. I was able to edit and correct camera errors, such as blurs or leaves in the wind, as well as small blemishes on my model, such as a piece of food on her teeth (using the colour blend tool). I was also able to alter the vibrancy of my model's eye using 'hue' and 'brightness' filters, of which I needed to cut her eye and paste onto a new layer to do.


I played and experimented with each tool until I knew the basics, and so managed to proceed to edit and sculpt my images before exporting and reimporting them into InDesign. This software allowed me to further experiment with the layout of a magazine, more specifically the contents page, whereby layout and organisation in the form of grids, was a key element to a successful page. The use of rulers assisted me in allignment, and the use of the 'bleed' ability featured on the setup of the page meant that I could prevent irritating white lines around the edges of the page upon printing.



Blogger, I learnt, is a simple to use blog that has allowed the quick upload and almost cloud-like storage method for my work and images. It also saves information periodically to prevent loss, while also meaning that I can use it's potential as a form of 'diary' for my work.


I used Scribd as an online tool to format and add documents to my blog, as they were not compatible otherwise. This also allowed for more interaction on my blog, bringing a whole host of various media forms to my work.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Attraction and Addressing

I attracted my audience through the use of information relating to the 'average' student's interests, such as the "'Tis the season" subheading. The alteration of the words and play with the idea of it nearly being christmas adds an element of playfulness and generally gives across a tone of informality and little seriousness.

The content included revolves around the highest voted desires and preferences of the students of the college, I also placed these titles on the left hand side; this place is likely to be seen on a magazine rack, and so seemed the most appropriate place to attract the consumers. The titles also cover general topics, as some college students won't like the main titles, and so I have tried to make it appeal to everyone. One method of doing this was to mention College specific topics, such as the NCUS cards, or photography trip, or possibly the mention of competitions within the college. These kind of offers are specific to the students likely to buy it, and so make them feel inclusive and special to the magazine. I also noticed that people did not have much in the way of disposable income, and so made sure the pricing of fifty pence was mentioned clearly, as well as a title associated with saving money.

It specifically addresses the students in similar ways; it is informal to retain some form of friendliness with the reader and mentions specific and generalised topics and items associated with people of the college. The layout is also a key factor, for both the magazine and contents page, as the colourful and unique style can relate to potential readers of the magazine. Students may see the artwork, methods or styles used and understand why and how, as well as appreciate the design; most people I  questionned had some form of interest in media or creativity, and so to create my own images and backgrounds seemed appropriate and likely to please, as they are similar to me in interests.

How does your media product represent particular social groups? -Contents Page

Contents page

The contents page features the same housestyle as the cover, therefore also revealing and representing the audience. The same model is shown, again looking up at the stories, showing a subtle form of being social and interactive with the college stories and ideas.

I also included social networking logos, as college students tend to be extremely social and spend vast amounts of time on the internet. The images represent the students potentially buying this magazine, as my questionnaire revealed a love for technology (hence the mention of digital art),  a preference of the metal genre (hence the picture of a well known artist), general love for music and film (which is why I mentioned those as titles), and an NCUS card of which heavily shows the audience as students.

Seeing as the qualities of the 'average' student (based on my questionnaire) are mainly of a creative persona, I chose to create the whole background myself through the use iof various pieces of software.

How does your media product represent particular social groups? -Cover Page

Cover

My cover utilises the colourful palette and creativity of a college student with the cube shapes and vivid colours shown with the picture of my model. This outstanding colour within the dull colours of the background represents the fun that can be found within daily life, and therefore with this magazine due to the subtle association of the two.

The title was chosen, as it's formal and orderly, retaining the colour palette of the text, while also proving to be presented completely unique, adding to it's individuality. College students I questioned told me that they liked computers, music, film etc., and so the title seemed an appropriate fit. The subheadings chosen represent the target audience due to their appeal to the target audience, and the rotation of the top and bottom ones again add a college-related twist to the order; college students tend to like to escape from their heavy workload, and also find themselves as being disorganised at times.

The model is facing towards the titles, as if attracted to them, and as a person of similar age, by her appearance, to the target audience, they will assume that people of a similar sort (themselves) will enjoy and be attracted to this magazine. 
The magazine also features subtitles associated directly with students of the college, such as the NCUS card. This heavily shows and represents the people likely to buy the magazine, as this is very specific to the audience.

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

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

Below I have created a Prezi presentation analysing the front cover of my magazine in relation to the above question.

http://prezi.com/zp29qhitpajw/trixel-magazine/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

I have completed another presentation of a similar theme for the contents page of my magazine below.

http://prezi.com/zkvkcy5fckdj/most-magazines-feature-3-or-maybe-2-columns-of-which-i-carr/

Finished magazine front cover processes and analysis

Magazine cover process

My magazine front cover began with a transparent 'Background' layer, of which served as the canvas for the cover. This checked base allowed for me to experiment with colours and get a good idea of how certain designs would look on a plain canvas; if I chose to make the background blue it would be harder to experiment.

I then began with importing my chosen image from the selection of woodland shoots I took of my model (Hannah). After the image had been imported, I used the selection tool and enabled the ability to see the transforming tools of the selection tool via the toolbars at the top, and with this I was able to resize the image to fit the canvas. Once happy, I pressed enter to confirm and refocus the image in place. I chose this image as it was very sharp, the lighting was clear and 'warm', highlighting and bringing clarity to her face and clothing, as well as showing one of her eyes clearly. The pose she struck for this image was perfect, in my opinion, as I was able to make more room for text due to her facing sideways; If she had been looking directly at the camera I would not have been able to crop out a lot of the image, but with a sideways pose there is less room being taken width-wise. It also looked incredibly pleasing to have her looking to the text with a warm smile and comfortable feel.

After aligning and resizing my model, I began to delete the background by holding the left mouse button over the lasso tool and selecting the magnet tool. It allowed me to draw around her, snapping into place where heavily contrasting colours met to separate her hair, skin and clothing from the environment. After this was complete and I was satisfied, I managed to clear up any little errors and imperfections with the eraser tool, though I set the softness to quite a high number so as to make any corrections smoother and blend in more with the background opposed to just leaving the image with a rough, 'sharp' outline. I also cut out her eye and placed it onto a new layer labelled 'right eye' (naming it led to less confusion and helped me keep it organised). I did this because it allowed me to later apply a filter to the eye with the filter menu just above the layers, of which I used to alter the hue of the eye and change the shade of blue to a more vibrant and outstanding blue. I also quickly used the brush tool's colour blur tool to spread some of the tooth whiteness over a small black spot that the camera seemed to have captured, possibly a digital error, something in the breeze, or just a spec on the lens.

I proceeded to place in a background I had created at home using a program called 'hexels', whereby I was able to create cube-like shapes and formations that I could add glow to in order to create a digital styled background of which I varied in colour against a black base to add vibrancy to the shapes created; The black base contrasted highly to the colours used, and the glow helped add complexity and generally made it look nicer, adding more 'movement' to the 'still image'. I also decided that on this layer (named background #2) I would also equip my brush tool again, alter it's softness, and create a blurry wave shape at the top of the page to add a little more to the somewhat bland image, and to also give an area for the title and any text to be 'contained' in order to retain some form of org

After I felt that I was done with the background, I searched "DaFont" for an appropriate text, and entered my desired name, 'Trixel'. I chose this name because it had a nice look and sound, as well as linking to the technological genre, the word meaning a pixel with 3 sides. After screenshotting the text and pasting it onto a new layer named "Title" for organisational reasons, of which I placed at the top so that the text would be shown above all layers below it on the list, I used the 'background eraser' tool to remove the white space around the text, and selected half of the text by holding the CTRL key and clicking each piece. I applied a filter to alter the brightness of the text so that it could be seen on the black background, but left the last 2 letter black so that they could spill onto the white section of the background and remain visible, and aligned the text so that the 'i' of Trixel was ontop of a random blob of glowing white I placed for a unique feature to the title.

Lastly, I added white text in a clear and readable font over the cube pillars I created as some form of containment or guidline for the text, which worked nicely, though I needed to use the brush tool, after lowering the opacity, to paint over the cubes (using a dark colour) to lower the glow and general brightness of the colour to let the white headings be seen and not blend in too much with the background. To finish off, I added a barcode I found online to a new layer, as well as the pricing I decided on for the low disposable income of the students, fifty pence, and a 'buzz' piece of text in the bottom left where it would be seen on a shelf, and other various necessities for a magazine, such as the date and contents of magazine.

Finished college magazine front cover

anisation as well as style. The filter I added earlier to the right eye affected the background I added as well, as I had not applied it to the eye layer exclusively, but also to every layer below the 'hue' filter, however, it gave the image a nice, pleasing, smart look that I enjoyed, and so I decided against correcting this. I feel that the general look was pleasing and fitted the genre of technology, music, and digital creativity I was aiming for.

Woodland pictures

For my magazine, I decided to use a young woman as the key model, though this may change at a later date depending the genre and content I find most appealing.
I decided to take the photos in my Nanny's woods, as the lighting could be changed with such ease by literally just turning the camera view according to the perspective of light; Certain areas of the woods were thick with tree and bush alike, making some areas and directions obviously darker. This image was taken in the opposite direction of the sun, so that shadow or darkness did not overwhelm the photo, and instead highlighted darker areas which contrasted against the direct impact of the sun, for example: The dark splits of the bark on the tree here separate areas of the tree, such as where bark breaks or stops, and means that the intensity of the light during this time of day (roughly 12am) can be used to make certain areas of the background and model to appear obviously clearer in a similar way, as well as the general image displaying a brighter show of colours which means that any kind of blur or merging of colours can be avoided to reveal a crisp, sharp, aesthetically pleasing photograph.

 This photograph made it difficult to see the detail of my model's face, and so we changed the lighting, as it was the main cause of the obliterated detail and clarity. Otherwise, I loved the pose and angle of the photo.

 This photo was obviously a little too far away.. But it was something we wanted to try regardless.

 The photo to the left is slightly further back and so reveals less detail to the photo on the right, but I'm still debating which is the best option, as the right one is closer up and looks sharper, however the left photograph would reveal more space for text and background.

 The photograph to the left is really nice, as it possess sharpness and clarity, as well as the background space I would like for things such as text, allowing me to include information while not overlapping or underlapping (basically not disrupting) my model.

I think that I will be using the photos that show my model (Hannah) waist up, as it's the typical style of magazine front covers, though I could just use an image displaying her whole face and nothing else, but doing it waist up would let me include headline specific backgrounds and effects, as well as leaving room for text while not disrupting any features of the image.

I'm happy with the pictures I have, though I would have experimented a little more with scenery and clothing next time as it would add variation to the choices I have and allow a wider range of images that could considered for more appropriate use according to the genre I choose; Having photos in a forest when the magazine is about computers probably isn't very relevant.

Audience Profile

This is the profile for the audiences' responses to the questionnaire I handed out to 10 people at random

Audience Profile

Questionnaire Graphs

   These graphs show the data collected from my Questionnaire in a simple, clear, manageable way that reveals the largest selected option of each question.

     I think I could've used smaller age margins for the first question, as the percentage almost completely filled up on the 15-17 option, which is a far too general age and lacks specifics. However, I do now know the audience's age due to the first Pie-Chart.
     The gender graph clearly shows the fact that I tried to evenly spread the gender of people I questioned, allowing me to analyse a wide and diverse audience and won't reveal any unfair leniencies or bias varieties of answers.
     The Music taste question didn't have any flaws in my opinions, as it allowed the participant to write their own answer, as music taste is a very wide area; A box for them to write a choice allows more freedom and a more accurate and specific answer for something so personal and individual to the person. I was made aware of the fact that 23% of the people favoured pop, and Metal-styled music came a close 2nd, I may feature these two genres mainly if I plan to include music.
     My Monthly media expenses question showed that college students tend to have disposable income on the lower end of the spectrum, 50% of people spending £10 or less on films, music, games, apps etc. per month. This I expected, and I'm happy with the data shown on the graph, as it will let me price the magazine appropriately, as well as also meaning that I could potentially add a section on how to conserve money and get discounts to help the students with leisurely spending.
     I was a little disappointed with the way I had worded the question on Eating out, as it was a '2-part question', and was hard to place into a graph effectively, though I do now know that people tend to attend places of convenience and low cost, such as 'Subway' and 'McDonald's'. No outrageously expensive restaurants popped up in the box-free styled question I chose, revealing that people tend to conserve their money, can't afford to eat out at expensive places, or just choose these places for the take-away convenience and queue-up ordering system.
     The favourite lesson and favourite magazine genre questions displayed data showing the individual's tastes and preferences, and would allow me to better suit the articles and general look of the magazine to suit the audience's tastes, as the graphs I have collected give a clear display of my audience's , Music and Gaming mags seemed to win over the audience. A lot of people said that they attended gigs more than once per month, though more people spent longer than 3 months without attending a gig or live performance, showing that those who do attend gigs will do it regularly, and those who aren't so enthusiastic about the idea will do it rarely. Music was also a popular form of review; People of the college like to hear about newest bands and music released, 46% of people supported this choice.





Questionnaire Grap

Questionnaire

This questionnaire is to help me decide on what to and not to include, what to focus on and the pricing of my college magazine. The questions featured will allow me to create a graph displaying all data necessary to make the magazine the most statistically appealing magazine to college students in general.

Questionnaire

Definition of a Magazine

Magazines.

A magazine is a type of book, usually associating itself to a specific genre, of which provides entertainment, information, how-to guides, scheduled events, or new products and activities associated to it's genre.

 'Kerrang!' is a magazine fixated on rock and metal music, showing it's fans various gigs, events, concerts and newest tracks released by favoured artists of the genre. Kerrang! have also held fun votes and are active in their community, voting for musicians and seeing who is the best looking, or the best rockstar, for example, Andy Biersack won several awards. Magazines like The official Xbox 360 magazine provide guides for gamers, as well as the newest titles adn what they include, as well as the magazine author's rating of the games included. Magazines also feature heavy amounts of advertisement to aid in making profits, as most magazines are relatively cheap, though some magazines, mainly the more popular ones, can sometimes cost up to £8, though these magazines are considered more popular and demanded, as well as having vibrant colour and glossed pages. They are also funded by subscriptions, whereby, for example, you pay a fee for a month and every issue will be delivered to your home. Magazines are mainly distributed as physical books, but can be published online as well.

About me

Hey, my name is Brandon March, a media studies student just starting at City College Norwich. I've set up this blog to share my ideas and progress, and I hope that I will be able to take what I learn and achieve in media studies to be able to understand and use media within business.