Planning - Front Cover Image

In the task I have been given it is mentioned that I must use original images taken by myself and not from external sources such as the internet. As I am reaching the planning stages of my coursework it is important I start to think about the different images I can use in my front cover and if they are going to be suitable.

Image focused on an individual(s)

Some magazines often feature certain individual or a group of people, this is often used to help show the reader that the featured article within the magazine may include these individuals. The image is often one in which the reader can clearly see the individual, they are often centred in the middle of the page in order for the reader to focus on them and not the backdrop of the individual. The image may contain a subheading which is linked into these particular individuals.

An example of this can be seen in the Exposed front cover below. The two men are clearly the main focus in the image, with the text "Public Service Broadcasting"could possibly refer to a band in which the individuals are members of.

For my regional magazine an idea which I had for this could be an individual who has recently become a lot more famous stood near an iconic Sheffield Landmark. The article inside would focus upon the individual returning back to their home city of Sheffield and would include information on their career but also their childhood memories they had in Sheffield.

Image focused on parts of the environment such as a famous building

Instead of using individuals may also use certain landmarks or locations to help suggest that the content within may refer to that particular landmark/location. This is similar to using an individual but instead of the content being about a person it often refers to the location in question. These aren't often that common in comparison to using individuals on a front cover however in certain circumstances such as certain buildings being renovated, changed or removed they may decide to write an article focusing on it.

As my magazine is based in Sheffield the places I would use on my front cover would come from areas within Sheffield. An idea I had for this could be an anniversary issues such as a one year anniversary of the magazine. The front cover would consist of a collection of images taken from Sheffield which are slightly edited with effects. Images could include areas such as the Crucible, Park Hill Flats, Meadowhall and many more.

Images taken from external sources to show which areas I could use, for the front cover I will use images I have taken myself:
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/aug/21/park-hill-sheffield-renovation
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sheffield_Crucible_theatre.png
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1994609

Planning - Colour Symbolism

The colours which I use within my magazine can have many symbolise many different things therefore it is important i take this into consideration when choosing which colours to use for my magazine.

I found the following article online to help me find out more: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/28/color-theory-for-designers-part-1-the-meaning-of-color/ 

Warm Colours

Warm colours include red, orange, and yellow, and variations of those three colours. These are the colours of fire, of fall leaves, and of sunsets and sunrises, and are generally energising, passionate, and positive.

Red and yellow are both primary colours, with orange falling in the middle, which means warm colours are all truly warm and aren’t created by combining a warm colour with a cool colour. Use warm colours in your designs to reflect passion, happiness, enthusiasm, and energy.

Cool Colours

Cool colours include green, blue, and purple, are often more subdued than warm colours. They are the colours of night, of water, of nature, and are usually calming, relaxing, and somewhat reserved.

Blue is the only primary colour within the cool spectrum, which means the other colours are created by combining blue with a warm colour (yellow for green and red for purple). Greens take on some of the attributes of yellow, and purple takes on some of the attributes of red. Use cool colours in your designs to give a sense of calm or professionalism.

Neutral Colours

Neutral colours often serve as the backdrop in design. They’re commonly combined with brighter accent colours. But they can also be used on their own in designs, and can create very sophisticated layouts. The meanings and impressions of neutral colours are much more affected by the colours that surround them than are warm and cool colours.

To Summarise:

Red: Passion, Love, Anger

Orange: Energy, Happiness, Vitality

Yellow: Happiness, Hope, Deceit

Green: New Beginnings, Abundance, Nature

Blue: Calm, Responsible, Sadness

Purple: Creativity, Royalty, Wealth

Black: Mystery, Elegance, Evil

Gray: Moody, Conservative, Formality

White: Purity, Cleanliness, Virtue

Brown: Nature, Wholesomeness, Dependability

Tan or Beige: Conservative, Piety, Dull

Cream or Ivory: Calm, Elegant, Purity

Planning - Magazine Name

I decided to create a digital mind map regarding the ideas I had for my magazine name. The mind map below is interactive and has notes and links to websites if you hover the mouse over certain aspects. I will evaluate some of these names and then decide on a final name at a later date.


Create your own mind maps at MindMeister

Planning - Magazine Layout and Design Plan

I decided to create a layout and design plan for my magazine layout in order to help in the production of my magazine.  I will refer back to this design during the production of my magazine instead of trying to create it on the spot as it can cause problems with things such as continuity.

Planning - Magazine Layout Information

A key aspect to think about during the planning of my product is the layout and design. I found the following website to help me in regards to magazine layout.
http://inspirationhut.net/articles/what-makes-a-good-magazine-layout-the-honest-opinion/

In the website the article has helpful information especially on the layout of magazines, as I am a media student my knowledge on magazine production will be nowhere near a professional level, therefore the example layout images have really helped me in basing the layout of my own magazine. I will definitely apply a similar structure type to the one seen below (taken from the article):

Researching Similar Products - Magazine Websites

To conclude my research on similar products I have chosen to research Magazine Websites as it would be a product I will be creating in my ancillary task. Magazine Websites are very today with the internet expanding at the rate it is. Most reasonably well known Magazines now have Websites which help advertise and show extra content for their magazine. Websites allow magazines to extend their advertising to the internet instead of just billboard advertisements and word of mouth. I will be researching two pages of each website as that is the amount I am required for my ancillary.

Exposed Magazine

Home Page

News Page

Conclusion

Overall I believe that Exposed's Website is a good but not amazing Magazine Website. I found the initial home page was a good representation of the magazine as it followed all the same house style and graphics. It also had easy navigation and it was clear to see the different categories which Exposed Covers such as News, Music, Movies, Fashion, Food and Drink and more. With these categories however it shows that Exposed may have gone too far in what it is trying to achieve, most regional magazines don't cover these categories in such detail therefore it may mislead the reader into believing that it is not a regional magazine and instead an entertainment/music magazine. The news webpage which I also looked into however wasn't really as good as the home page. The webpage was very similar to the home page with the small images and description beneath, however the webpage seemed very bland and nothing really stood out. The most disappointing of Exposed's Website is probably the amount of content on the side such as the Spotify Playlist and Soundcloud links, the content seemed very cramped and unneeded which added clutter to the website which I found off putting. When I design my Website I will make sure it is much more simple than this.

Active8 Magazine

Home Page

Company Background Page

Conclusion

The webpage which Heron Publication offers for Active8 readers is much more of an informative basic website than the website which Exposed offers. Active8 is a very stripped back basic website which doesn't consist of much interactive content like Exposed does. Even though there is not much to offer within Active8s website I feel that it does a good job in being an informative website for the magazine. It is worth considering that the reason Active8 is an effective website in what it does is because it doesn't need to be a big entertainment based website, if the website was like Exposed with the music videos and Spotify playlists it wouldn't be a good representation of what the magazine is actually like. I feel the key with Magazine websites is that they should represent what the magazine is really like, if not this can lead to confusion and disappointment when people expect a magazine to be similar to the website they are viewing.

How this affects my product

By me researching these websites it has shown me two completely different types of magazine websites. The basic, information based website (Active8) and the heavy on content interactive website (Exposed). I feel for my magazine website it would be suitable for me to use aspects of both, it needs to contain information but also needs to be a bit more pleasing for the eye like Exposed.

Researching Similar Products - Billboard Advertising

As part of my ancillary task I must also create a billboard advertising design and also the first two webpages for a regional magazine website. In regards to the billboard advertising I decided to look into trying to find existing examples of regional magazines which use this type of advertising.

After extensive research into magazine billboard advertising I could not find any relevant billboard advertisements which advertised regional magazines. I believe that this was due to the cost of billboard of advertisements, regional magazines are not a very profitable media product in most circumstances and often rely on adverts within the magazines to cover the publishing costs. Because of this most regional magazines use cheap/free advertising methods such as social media, websites and even word of mouth. These reasons are probably why I found it difficult to find any existing examples, because it is not a very cost efficient advertising method for regional magazines.

However as research is very important I decided to look at billboard advertisements for other products to see how they are structured and such. Billboard adverts are adverts placed around popular places such as city centres or near roads where people may notice them. Due to this they are often very large and in vibrant colours or contain a particular image/text to help promote the product/service. Below is an example of a Coca-Cola billboard advertisement.

This particular billboard advert has a very minimalistic look to it due to the popularity of Coca-Cola. A less well known brand will most likely feature more information regarding the product but because Coca-Cola is so well known it doesn't really require a description. This advert is also Christmas themed with the iconic Coca-Cola Father Christmas.

Billboard adverts are also very popular with media with adverts common for TV, Films and Games. Here is an example for the movie: Anchorman 2.

This advert differs from the Coca-Cola one as it takes a screenshot from the film but more importantly includes more information. Below the title of the film is the Paramount logo and the directors/producers/actors within the film. There is also a release window for the film stated as: This Christmas.

Finally another example billboard I found was for Apple's iPad Mini. 

This follows a similar idea to the Coca-Cola advert where it uses a minimalist style. The billboard is plain white and only includes an image of the iPad and the title of the iPad. This style is used because of the popularity that Apple has, they are that popular that they don't need to address what their product is. In terms of my product I will most likely have to go into more detail to describe what my product is due to the fact that my product will be much more unknown in comparison.

Regional Magazine Questionnaire

In order for me to gain detailed primary research regarding the coursework brief I have chosen I decided to create an online questionnaire. The questionnaire will help me gain answers to specific questions which I need to ask in order to gain a greater understanding about my target audience to create a better end product.

My online survey can be found here

Researching Similar Products - Active8 Magazine

As a third and final piece of research into similar regional magazine products I decided to research the magazine Active8. Active8 can be seen as a more similar magazine to that of Gossip where it is basic and doesn't really focus on things such as entertainment which Exposed does.

(Note: Click Images to Enlarge)

Active8 Magazine - Conclusion

The main aspect which stood out at me through my analysis of Active8 was it's use of house-style, while other magazines all have house-stlyes the simple idea of placing the magazines title in the corner of each page stood out to me. It helped keep the magazine more continuos and made it feel like it was the same magazine even though the content may have been drastically different, a problem which I faced when creating my practise magazine. In terms of content it was very parallel to that seen within Gossip where it was aimed at around 30+ onwards. When evaluating through this magazine and Gossip I found the content to be rather boring and felt more comfortable reading the content which was seen in Exposed, which had a target audience of 16-30, with me being 17 I fit into this category and therefore found the content interesting.

Researching Similar Products - Gossip Magazine

Following my previous post on researching Exposed magazine I decided to look into a different magazine in order to get ideas and information from multiple media sources. The next magazine I looked at was Gossip, another free magazine but instead of being over the whole of Sheffield it just focuses on Dinnington and the surrounding areas.

(Note: Click Images to Enlarge)

Gossip Magazine – Conclusion

To conclude my analysis of Gossip magazine I am going to mention a few ideas/features which I noticed during my time researching the magazine. During my time analysing I noticed that personally I felt that Exposed was the more superior magazine in regards to quality of images, layout and writing. It is understandable however that Exposed is better due to exposed printing much more copies and having many bigger adverts which are more reputable than that seen in Exposed. This is predictable however as Gossip seems to be more of a village magazine as it covers Dinnington and surrounding areas where as Exposed covers the whole of Sheffield, therefore having a much larger amount of dedicated readers. Gossip's targets audience seemed to be people of around the age 20-50 as many of the adverts focused on house upgrades, cafes and van hire which would be unconventional for people below their twenties. The magazine seemed to be very relaxed in comparison to Exposed where most pages were filled with vibrant colours and images on different entertainment events. Even though Gossip does not have more readers than Exposed it still has a fair amount of readers which is shown on the front of the magazine as a way to bring more readers in. The research I have done on Gossip has shown the other ways that I can approach the creation of my Magazine, instead of having it entertainment based I could choose to have it more relaxed and laid back as seen in Gossip. It is however likely that I would go down the more Exposed style magazine as I can relate to the content within it and therefore would feel more comfortable and find it easier producing a product like it.



Researching Similar Products - Exposed Magazine

As part of my research and planning it is key that I research similar media products to mine in order to gain ideas and to help further my understanding on the product that I am creating. The research I have done here is on Exposed Magazine, a Sheffield based entertainment magazine which is free but includes adverts.

(Note: Click Images to Enlarge)

Exposed Magazine – Conclusion

After researching Sheffield’s exposed magazine I have come to the conclusion that it is largely a music and entertainment magazine, which is based around people at the age of 18-30. It still counts as a regional magazine however as the material featured in the magazine is all linked into Sheffield including the adverts. This is shown with the features included, which one of them was the Tramlines festival that is located within Sheffield. Also the adverts, which were included, will also have been from local Sheffield businesses, the ale on the first page features a Sheffield page and the advert on the Index page is of the O2 Academy in Sheffield. From these adverts I can put something similar in my own work and put in small adverts based around the local area to increase the magazines authenticity as a regional magazine. However I could also break regional magazine conventions and be more creative by not having adverts at all, I am enabled to do this due to no profit limitations which most regional magazines have.

The Process of Magazine Distribution

Information taken from here

Following on from my blog post regarding Magazine production I am now going to be looking into the stage following production, distribution. Similar to production there are many different aspects to the distribution of the magazine. The distribution is how the product goes from the production line to the hands of the magazine reader.

Magazine Producers
The magazine producers are the people behind the magazine we read, for example NME is produced by NME themselves. Magazine producers have the main control of the way the product is distributed because after all, the magazine is produced by them. Some magazines are produced by the same magazine producers in some situations. Depending on the magazine producers the way in which the product is distributed may differ. NME as mentioned above are a popular music magazine which has a large following of readers who purchase their magazine each week and also subscribers who pay upfront for their magazines. Due to this NME has a much larger budget and power to spend on the distribution of their magazine than say a regional magazine such as my own. Due to the budget they have they can use extensive distributing techniques such as having their magazines in all major supermarkets and post offices, also they now have the ability to host a digital version of their magazine. Smaller low budget magazine producers like the ones who normally create local regional magazines would not be able to do this distribution technique and would probably rely on much smaller distribution methods such as limited copies left in certain post offices.

Publishing Houses
Publishing houses are behind any last minute changes before the magazine is printed. An example of a publishing house is the IPC. The IPC help make sure the magazines are all printed correctly and make sure there aren't any issues with the printing of them. They also help target the different markets included with the magazine being printed.

Advertising Agencies
These are the people who take control of the advertising aspects of the distribution of the magazine.  Advertising agencies are only particularly used by larger magazine companies who create magazines for a profit as they can be quite costly for amateur regional magazine creators. Advertising agencies will from the magazine and target audience given to them begin to research into the market and find the best possible advertising opportunities for that particular audience. They will be in charge of the creation of adverts and other advertising methods, these adverts obviously have to be approved by the magazine producers however. Advertising agencies would not be a good idea for my magazine as it is only a regional magazine and therefore does not have the resources required. However I can do my own research into the target audience and devise adverts of my own.

Retail Outlets
These are the shops and stores where the magazine will be sold. These can be from supermarkets such as Tesco to small village post offices. Retail Outlets are very important to magazines as they are the place where the magazine will be purchased, without them it is unlikely that the magazine will sell. These stores will be paid by the magazine produces to place their magazine in their store. Due to this payment most regional magazines do not do this as they are a free magazine and therefore having their magazine in Tesco would not be an appropriate business plan. In their situation regional magazines often ask small local stores and post offices to place their magazines within their store and will not pay them.

Consumer Habits Towards Magazines and How it Effects My Product

Magazines are a type of media that has been around for a very long period of time. They have been around for much longer than Television and the Internet while still providing a similar media experience, whether it be reading interesting articles or learning something new about current day affairs. Over the course of time the way in which magazines are consumed by consumers have changed drastically, I am going to be researching on this.

Magazines have spent the most of their time in their most original, natural form, printed onto paper.

However, in recent years with the introduction of the internet is reading a magazine in its paper form really the consumers favorite option? Recent figures from sales have shown a decline in some types of magazines such as Music magazines NME and Q according to the Guardian.

NME and Q suffered sales declines of almost 20% year-on-year in a tough first six months of 2012 for the music magazine market.
Q was the worst performer in the music magazine sector, with sales down 16.7% compared to the six months to the end of December and 19.7% year on year, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures released on Thursday.

These figures show a decline in sales towards the Magazines in question, but it isn't just the music magazines which are struggling, on further research it is evident that most Magazines are suffering the same decline. I believe the reason for this is as mentioned above, the Internet. The internet allows users to simply filter out the news articles they want to read a lot quicker than buying a magazine and reading through it, it also works out cheaper too. There are still many people who purchase magazines however it is worth noting that changes in the way that magazines are consumed may need to be considered. Some magazines have already become aware of the changes required and have already began looking into new and exciting ways that magazines can be experienced. I'll continue to mention NME, they have now produced a digital version of their magazine which can be read on digital devices such as iPhones, iPads and other tablet devices.

How does this effect my regional magazine product?

The reason that these consumer habits and changes to the magazine industry are notable mentions to my media work is because my product must try to follow the same realism as an actual magazine would. During the production of my magazine I may choose to add bonus sub-headings on the front-cover mentioning about digital versions of my magazines and social media such as Facebook and Twitter as this adds another level of realism to the product I am creating. Even though my product should try to be creative in some elements it is always important to make sure my product doesn't stray too far away from the real product it is intending to be, a magazine.

The Process of Magazine Production

Information taken from here

During my research and planning section of my work I decided to look further into the production of magazines themselves. Some of the information of included in the production of magazines I decided to skip such as flat planning as this production technique is designed for companies who are creating magazines and placing adverts in them, as this is my coursework task I can decide on the adverts I am going to use, making flat planning irrelevant. I have chosen this as I can use some the aspects which are used in normal magazine production to base my own production cycle on, this could also make my work look more professional.

Content
This is one of the key parts of the production cycle and is often at the start of the production cycle. The publishers will often host a meeting in which writers and image designers for the magazine will come together in order to brainstorm their ideas on what the magazine will include. There maybe multiple ideas for different content for the magazine but only one them will make it to the magazine. In order for them to decide this many magazines will use content that is important and popular to their target market, however they must also try new techniques and content in order to bring more members to their target market. The magazine company will have to decide on content which is a good medium of the two, it uses content that is popular and may have been in other issues but also has content which is new and exciting to entice non-readers of the magazine.

Research and Writing
This section follows immediately after the content is decided due to tight time schedules within magazine production. Editorial staff will be in charge of arranging meeting with interviewees and also background topic research using the internet and other sources of information. They will do background research to a specific interview/press conference before they attend it. During these interviews the information is taken and written down, then to be checked and then produced into the magazine content.

Sub-editing
Sub-editing takes place normally before the page layout or during the page layout. The editor will come in and make decisions based upon the interest of quality control and to make sure all the text and items within the magazine will be able to be read/makes sense to the readers. The editor will also make sure that everything follows the house style of the magazine and cut down/expand the writing if there is too little/much.

Production
After all of the articles have been written and the editorial staff and layout staff begin to layout the magazine often using programs such as Quark, Pagemaker and InDesign. The layout team will often be under the influence of the art director and the editorial staff will assist in adding the text to the work. Most of the time publication companies will use templates for their magazine in order to save time, these templates will often include all the house style features which the magazine follows.

Proof Reading
One of the final stages of magazine production. Proof reading is the stage where the magazine is read through by editors and other members of staff to make sure that everything is correct. This part is essential for finding any spelling mistakes or misprints which could make the magazine production look tacky. After proof reading any changes made can then be saved and then sent off to printing.

Distribution/Printing
After the production cycle is complete the magazine is sent to the printer to be produced and then distributed.

Industry Research - Marketing, Specific Companies, My Magazine

In this slideshow presentation I created I spoke about marketing of regional magazines, specific companies and how I will base my magazine in comparison of different regional magazines.

A2 media industry research from jameskay1996

Planning - SWOT Analysis

When it came to deciding on which task I was going to do for my A2 Advanced Portfolio project I was facing difficulty on choosing. I was torn between either regional magazine print task or the short film task. To help settle which one I was going to choose I decided to create a SWOT analysis table.

Strengths	Weaknesses	Opportunities (What opportunities are there for success?)	Threats (What could hinder this unsuccessful?)
Film: I can try new software and tools to create something I am not too familiar with to then improve my skills.	Film: I felt that I would be better suited doing the print task, as I believe my creativity would have caused boundaries on the quality of my work.	Film: Opportunities for me to create a film, which uses many different camera angles, shots, mise en scene and offers a good storyline.	Film: Struggled with finding a genre and what my film would be about, creativity lacked when writing a script.
Print: I’m more skilled in Photoshop and indesign than I am in Final Cut.	Film: I’ve never used a video camera to record film material, I might not know how to use it effectively.	Print: An opportunity to create a good quality regional magazine that uses a running house style, own taken photos and uses effective fonts and colours.	Print: Taking images and editing them in an effective manner.
Film: I can use knowledge from AS about camera shots and angles and apply them to a project.	Print: I may struggle to find effective pictures.	Film: To advance my camera skills and my skills within Final Cut and other editing software.
Print: I’ve not really had that much time using Photoshop and therefore could increase my skills.	Film: I may struggle to find people who will volunteer to be filmed and also good locations and settings to film on.	Print: Learn better camera skills and Photoshop and Indesign skills.

After evaluating this analysis table I decided on taking the print task route. I did feel like I wanted to do the film task to explore a new area but felt that in the this situation where I was going to be marked for it I felt that a print task could showcase my abilities better.