Final Construct

School Magazine Contents page

Contents page

Research
For my research I look at current school magazines, as they are magazines with experience in knowing what is needed to arouse the target audience and in the aesthetics capacity.

I first looked at a few examples of contents pages from school magazines.

Analysis of school magazines contents page.

- First thing I noticed is that the page has a white background and small pictures, because it is cheaper to print, I would assume it is not a big enough market to sell to make a profit as fashion and music magazines, which can spend much money to compete with competitors by producing magazines with thick covers, photo shoot quality and design.

- The display is organised and simple to complement with its serious theme.

-They both introduce ambitions content to inspire students, 'Never too young to learn about careers' and 'You may say I'm a dreamer'.

-These magazines are made to be sold, this does means there is more effort put in to it, but also that the magazine would not refer to specific points of a school, as it is for students and parents from many different schools. My magazine will be filled with information from the schools point of view and personal thoughts to create a relation with the parents. And give opportunity for them to give feedback and opinions to the points made in the magazine.

To be able to make a magazine where my target audience, I asked them for their opinion on what they would like to see in a school magazine made for parents.

Initial ideas from research:

Future

- Schools plans of constructions.

-New education material for students in bottom set, to get a A.

-Preparing year 13 for an independent life in university.

-GCSE students will be visited with a specialist for their career choices.

- Photography will be a new subject to our school.

Inspire your children

- The key to success.

-Is organisation all you need?

-Idol of the week- Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

-School trips for art, history and languages

students to learn a new culture and get exited for the future.

-Article on awarding from achievements, is it blackmailing?

is this the best way to achieve all targets?

- Is hobby the best way to release stress from school?

School discussions

-Will hire a counsellor solve all behaviour issues?

-New solar panels has been claimed.

-Should Latin be a mandatory subject.

-Is the uniform a way to change the schools pupils behaviour?

- Should the school pay for resources via electronic devices

for independent studying or daily homework?

To show the content of the contents page I will include a few pictures, as it is one of the  features used in the content page by the selling school magazines.

From these I selected these picture to go along with the chosen headlines.

Preparing year 13 for an independent life in university.

-Can they cook and with in a small budget?

Is hobby the best way to release stress from school?

-How exercising effect your final grades.

- Photography will be a new subject to our school.

Why should our students be willing to entry to this course? 

Should the school pay for resources via electronic devices

for independent studying or daily homework?

- The opinion of teachers of students using electronic devices.

Now I create a draft of the final product, by gathering all the information together.

The background is light red as it would be cheaper to print and does not affect reading the text.

As you can see I made A welcome message from the principle, so all parents feel welcomed by the school and enjoy the experience of being aware of  their children's environment.

After asking my target audience for feedback in conclusion I will have to change how it is displayed.

Here you can see that I used red on the font, this was done to bring the schools colours to create a synergy between both pages. The font style I kept the same as it looks serious and simple. 

Instead of the title being 'Contents page' it is now 'In this issue...' , because I thought it was a big coincidence both magazine had this title. I also saw that in the magazine with more pictures the page number are very big and bold, I tried to apply that to my page. As people are used to this I will be easier for them to find information.

Evaluation

To succeed of having the content my target audience (parents)would expect to see in a school magazine to parents, I asked for their and then included headlines which would suggest all the answers to their questions. I was also able to gather feedback through out the development, to have a final piece to their preference. I tried to frequently refer to my main initial points on how the final product should look like-
- Mature
- Eloquent
- Serious
- Formal
I believe I believe I succeeded this as all features hit the priorities.

Final outcomes:

      front cover                               content page

Evaluation

double spread page development

Presentation1dsp from jvmac

Double page spread display

Front cover development

Cover last development presentation from jvmac

Contents page ideas

Contents page apresentation development from jvmac

Band information for double spread page

Princeton
I decide to do my Double Spread page on the band Princeton instead of on my cover, as seen on my first draft post
To do the double spread page I will first look at original music magazines, to have an idea of how double spread pages are displayed and written.
I will also ask my target consumers what they would like to know about the band.
After this I will make a list of questions and send to one of the band members, and hope to be given answers.

The recorded questions are from my young target consumers and the following questions are from a older age group of my target consumers:

-How the members meet each other?
-What was they're inspiration to start the band?
-How many hits have been in the top rank?
-What are they're  top hit?
-What are the members of the band unknown talents?
-How did they come up with the name Princeton?
-When you first start did you do many gigs to become more known?
-Did you get signed to a label?
-How long is the band together for?
-Who is the leader?
-Where do they see themselves in five years time?
-How do they connect to their fans?

-Who's idea was to start the band?

-When did the band become serious/ real?

-Who writes your songs?

Answers



-How did the members meet each other?
Two of the members are brothers (Alex and Erik), the rest of the band met via internet advertisements.

-What was the inspiration to start the band?
We all started playing an instrument at a young age. For almost every musician playing in a band is
the most fun and as the five of us share the same taste in music, we decided to start this band.

-How many hits have been in the top rank?
‘Not Invited’ and ‘Heroes’ made it to several rankings. Our album ‘Autumn Skies’ was #58 in the national album top 100.

-Which one is the top hit?
Our second single ‘Heroes’.

-What are the members of the band unknown talents?
We could start a football team. And there’s a really good cook in the band.

-How did you come up with the name Princeton?
We are from Delft. Delft’s nickname is Prinsenstad (Prince town), because of its association with the royal house of Orange-Nassau since the late 16^th century. So, Prince town became Princeton.   

-When you first start did you do many gigs to become more known?
Yes, it’s very important for a band to play shows. Not only to become more known, but also to develop and grow as a band.

-Did you get signed to a label?
Yes, we got signed to Marista Records, a Dutch Record Company.

-How long is the band together for?
We started Princeton in 2011.

-Who is the leader?
As Presley is the frontman, he is the natural leader of the band. But we all contribute in our own way.

-Where do you see yourselves in five years’ time?
Hopefully playing some nice festivals in Europe. Touring Brazil is another goal. Besides that, keep making new music and record another album is what we’re really going for.

-How do you connect to your fans?
These days it’s quite easy to keep in touch with everyone via social media. But the best contact and interaction will always be during shows, experience it all together.

-Whose idea was to start the band?
All members have always wanted to play in a band. We were lucky to find each other, having this click and sharing the same interests.

-When did the band become serious/ real?
Recording and releasing an album is a pretty serious thing, so that’s been an important moment for the band. We’ve always had the intention to make the best of it.

-When did you first start making music?
Alex and Erik started making music when they lived in Brazil, in the 90’s. Starting with an acoustic guitar, a keyboard and some drum parts borrowed from the school fanfare, ha ha. Inspired by a young American band of brothers, called Hanson.
Presley started singing at a very young age. He acted in musicals like ‘Oliver’. He also performed on national television with a group of young singers.
Rob and Jorg have been making music since the age of 12. They’ve played in a couple of bands before joining Princeton.

-Did you have any other band names beforehand?
Playing another music style and not with the exact same members, we formed Grosh, before Princeton.

-Who writes your songs?
Most of the songs are written by Presley and Erik. But also Alex writes a lot. We finish the songs in the rehearsal room, all together, so everyone can write his own arrangements. 

-Is there a theme of the making of the songs?
Every song has its own theme. A frequently used theme is ‘relationships’. Not only romantic ones, but also relationships between family members, or a person and a place, for example. It’s something everyone can relate to, making it interesting to write about.

With these answers I can create the double spread page text, I will find which are the questions which most would be interesting for my target users, I will also create an introduction paragraph

Double spread page analyses

Double page spread analyses swap from jvmac

Photoshoot selection

Photoshoot Invite/arrangements.

Photoshoot selection

Photoshoot from jvmac

Contents page analyses

Slide show magazine analyses for contents page and double spread page from jvmac

From completing this analysis I now realize how much information there is which not only relates to page numbers but also front cover singers album information, front cover producers information and editors letter.
When I used to look at magazines I would skip the contents page and straight away flick through to see what will be shown, but the contents page is more useful than I thought as you can see all it contains in an organised way and gives more excitement towards specific articles.

From analysing both magazines, which are very different from each other, I will mix the layout ideas to make my on magazine contents page.

To do list

This check list was made so I wont forget to do anything. To be able to see progress and speed my progress as I gave myself a deadline from 13-02-2016

                    to 20-02-2016.






























all these tasks were able to be established before the deadline date!!!! 

Front cover analyses

Magazine analyses from jvmac

From this magazine analyses of the front cover I learned:
-for one character front cover is very rare to use long shots.
-Use a variety from fonts, colours, sizes and maybe use outline to distinguish priority.
- Make a strapline as it very common in music magazine.
- Not spread my cover lines too much and make them too big as I done on my front cover draft.
- In-depth I will choose an another colour to have more than three colours in my colour scheme or I would make an another colour scheme from scratch.
- When doing the photoshoot I will do in a low angle perspective.
- Add accessories which suit and represent my characters personality.
- Place the date(choose if putting the day as well as the month and year) and barcode and website below on the right corner.
- I will include my opinion on one of the cover lines, this gives a identifiable style to my magazine, as people are fans to celebrities they can become a fan of a magazine. 
-The clothes chosen are plain.
- I will not include other characters to my magazine other wise it will create too much distraction from the main character.
-Add the photographer name on the front cover.
-Make my singer contrast very well with background
I will consider these points and make the changes to my front cover.

Front cover draft

This is a front cover draft with all the information I have until now

Froncover 3 derafts from jvmac

What I hope to hear from my target audience feedback.
Interview questions:
- What are your first thoughts?
-  What  are differences of a real music magazine?
- Do you believe the Masthead is bold enough and iconic, what do you think I  should do to improve?
- What is your favourite feature/which features should I keep.

Answers

Apearence for photoshoot

My front cover magazine model would have to look with the very newest trends of 2016 with a few classic references to singers or iconic music genre features.

2016 general beauty trend forecast:
This year is all about defining all your features, with the brow or bone structure highlighted over an understated base.

• Hair is controlled or swept back, as textural elements add contrast.
• Strong groomed brows introduce masculine undertones.
• Rosy lip tints and defined lashes inject a feminine dimension

makeup

hair

2016 fashion trend forecast:

Utilitarian aesthetics and uniform influences represent genderless dressing. This trend is the ultimate unisex look, fusing practicality with sophisticated design.

• Defined by androgynous shapes and uniform styling.
• Key looks include clean-cut overcoats, relaxed suits and chic casualwear.
• Pared-back mono and khaki shades complement functional fabrics.

 Ninas outfit will be:

- A black soldier blazer.                 
-High wasted black trousers.
- High heels with ankle strap.




Here I have tried the makeup look I want to attend for Ninas photoshoot.

                                   

Before                       After

https://www.weconnectfashion.com/articles/2016-fashion-trend-of-the-year

Cover lines

My target audience opinion is to include not too many cover lines, 70% of my target audience said they prefer less cover lines and 30% said to include many cover lines.
To know how much is many or few I will first research the average amount of cover lines.

Pop magazines:

                                                                      

 Rock magazines:

 Mean:

From this I know the mean pop magazine and rock magazine together is 5 cover lines, giving me the maximum of having five cover lines for my pop rock magazine as my target audience prefer less than more.

1- I consider that one of them will have to be about my double spread sheet band Princeton.

2- From my questionnaire where I asked 'What articles do you think the magazine should include'.

This can help me to have the ideal cover line, which both genders and my chosen age group would like. They mostly voted for an article about concert information, songs and lyrics, history of the band, posters and lastly fashion article.

Cover lines ideas.

1-    History of band Princeton                           'How Princeton was born'

                                                                            'Exclusive visit to their childhood'

                                                                            'The tail of Princeton'

                                                                            'The roots of Princeton'

                                                                            'Things you didn't know about Princeton'

                                                                            'How all started'                                                                             'The true story from the very start'

                                                                            'Their secret past uncovered'

                                                                            'Before heroes'

                                                                            ' The very exclusive interview'

                                                                            'Their inside story' 

2-Concert information                                         'On tour stars'

                                                                             ' Exclusive tours'

                                                                             ' Where is the rock around the world'

                                                                             'Where is the crowd heat'

                                                                             ' Worlds best concerts'

                                                                             'Follow the crowd'

3-Songs

                                                                             'Bands making UK even cooler'

                                                                             '10 must have songs'

                                                                             'Top music reviews'

                                                                             'Vibes to die for'

                                                                             'New treasures songs'

                                                                             'Best new vibes'

                                                                             'Most favourite hits'

                                                                             'Killer hits'

                                                                             'Turn up the volume, best hits list'

                                                                            ' 20 lost tracks'

                                                                            'Most talked bands'

                                                                            '20 songs you need right now'

4-Poster

                                                                             ' Free inside! giant posters'

                                                                             'Free! huge posters'

                                                                             'Giant exclusive posters'

                                                                             'Pics to keep'

                                                                             ' Poster special!'

                                                                             'Bonus posters'

5-Fashion                                                          'The rock star style'

                                                                          'The classic looks'

                                                                          'Get the look'

                                                                          ' Wear this and rock the look'

                                                                          ' Fashion Steals'

                                                                          

From section number 1 the most enthusiastic question would be ' Things you didn't know about Princeton' to develop this cover line I will include a number of amount of things to be more specific;

'10 Things you didn't know about Princeton'. This would attract all of the target audience, those who have no idea who they are and want to know what is contemporary and those that are huge fans and think now everything about them.

Section 2 - 'Where is the Rock around the world'  was the chosen cover line as it can link to a rock song 'We will rock you'. Develop I would have to link to pop as well as rock; ' We will poprock you!',

' Where to get pop rocked'.

Section 3- '10 must have tracks' Was the cover line which I thought it has most expectations of caching peoples attention. Sounds quick and easy to look at, no time wasted. 

Section 4- 'Giant free posters' Who doesn't like free stuff! I will certainly keep the 'FREE' word and probably in capital letters.

Section 5- 'The rock star style' Because it links to my rock genre and at the same time a rock star can also be referred to any singer including pop singers. Referring the cover line to music does not scare men as much of buying a magazine with fashion ideas.

Photography

To have a good magazine it must have a good quality image on the cover, the photograph on the cover is the first thing people see in a magazine.

This step is critical.

How to make your picture look professional for magazines:

Music magazine photoshoot tips from jvmac

Background

My target audience preferred to see a coloured background then a scenery,
I will work with this opinion because I believe a scenery background can take off the attention of the singer.
My background will be a contrasting colour from the singers clothes and features, as Mario Testino does.
Contrasting colours: are colours that appear opposite each other on the colour wheel.

My background colour will be chosen with the strict concept of  suiting my general front cover colour scheme:



 

Uses and Gratifications

I will refer my magazine to the use of gratification, so people would automatically like the magazine because of the specific satisfying needs we all have.

Use of gratification from jvmac

http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/short/usegrat.html

Photographer

I decided to follow a photographer's style or ideas, to be able to look like a professional photo-shoot.
To decide which photographer's work to follow, I selected four photographers who work for big magazine names and are currently popular. I then asked my target audience to choose one of them on my questionnaire.
The chosen Photographer was:

Mario Testino has most votes.

Mario Testino's work is mainly for fashion magazines but he also features singers in his work. His work is very powerful, he portrays women as powerful beings with sensuality (usually the models are with bare legs, little coverage and clothing that hugs the figure) to represent femininity. All his pictures include pink which is a stereotypical female colour, which contrasts with the stereotypical male features such as short hair, boxing clothes (men sport) blue background (boy colour). Makeup is used to refine features for a sharper look (bold eyes and cheek bones) His general use of colour is bold and contrasting (black and white, blue and pink and blue and yellow). All his models give eye contact, using fierce direct address aimed at the potential consumer.

Why is eye contact important?
This is called direct address, this is used to interact with the consumer, people are more likely to engage with the magazine as they would sense the feeling of belonging. This is seen on Maslow's Theory:

Belonging is in the third level of the pyramid of needs.

Socialising is a way to feel like we belong, from the thought of being accepted in different groups.

People socialise for enjoyment, and it helps us to feel included in our society. As we all see models enjoying themselves this is showed by smiling, confidence or freedom (independence).

Socialising can sometimes be hampered by boredom, insignificance and insecurity.