When I was planning the production of my magazine I decided to draw out an action plan, (see appendix 1) so that I knew what I was doing at what specific time and when I was meant to finish it. When I decided what my target audience was going to be, as part of primary research, I created a questionnaire (see appendix 2) which contained quantities and qualities data and I gave it to people who were in the target audience range to see what they thought of magazines. As part of secondary research I looked at existing magazines and the different styles magazines, photocopies of magazines, interviews in magazines and internet interviews for music of the same genre (see appendix 3). I drew different layouts of how I wanted my magazine to be constructed (see appendix 4) which helped me decide the best way of constructing a magazine.
In class time we had teaching sessions in which we learnt how to analyse front covers of existing magazines, in terms of denotations - basic agreed meaning we would find in a dictionary, and connotations - an additional meaning or association a word might carry. We learnt how depict a magazine bit by bit from the colours to the layout of the images and the ways in which one photograph maybe taken from different angles to show a different perspective. In learning these processes I was able to develop my magazine further so that the themes included in my magazine would convey different meanings to different age groups and classes, it also helped me to decide where I should take the photographs and from what angles. We also learnt how to use emotive language to change the minds of people to that of the person who used the emotive words.
I took a series of pictures from different camera angles to see which one had the best effect, because different camera angles of a picture can impose different meanings upon an audience, for example a photograph of someone close up will make the viewer focus upon the features and the facial expression of person being photographed. I decided that the clothes the people being photographed should wear were fashionable but yet sporty, so that it conveyed a stylish but ghetto look.
I used a lot of equipment to produce my magazine ranging from a pencil to a digital camera. I used a pencil, rubber and A3 paper to construct my design ideas. I also used a computer with digital editing software to crop my images. I also used a pen and paper to write out my work in rough, then I transferred all the work to a computer with Microsoft publisher and Microsoft word by typing it up and then I used a printer to print out all the work that I transferred to the computer. I also used a digital camera to take my pictures and I used a 3.5 floppy disk to record all the images I photographed.
I had to encounter just one major problem with several minor ones when I was creating my magazine, after I took the photographs for the magazine, I lost the 3.5 floppy disk which had all the photographs stored on it. I overcame this problem by rescheduling an appointment to use the digital camera because I don’t own one and I had to set up another photo shoot with my friends in a different place as the setting I had used before was having some work done to it. When I was doing my re-shoot I wanted to take photos outside but the weather was really bad so I had I a few hours before I could take the photos. I also had to re-conduct my interview as the tape recorder was broken, I had to do the interview again using pen and paper so the interview took much longer than I had anticipated.
When I had created my magazine I gave out draft copies to a focus group of different ages to see if they accepted and what they thought of my magazine. The general response of the focus group was that they thought my magazine was very cool and collective. They enjoyed the article very much and was able to find out what was things was going on in the music industry. Those of the older branch of the focus group found the magazine’s approach very sophisticated.
Finally, I created four pages of a new, teenage magazine aimed at an audience of either or both genders within the range 13 to 19 year olds. I created the front cover, a double page spread and a contents page. I think that the magazine I created was a great success because it has been received quite well with the focus group and my friends say that they like it as well. I never really had too many problems which has helped me very much because I have just been able to get on with what I had to do with not much to worry about. When we were first given the task of creating four pages of a new teenage magazine including the front cover, a double page spread and a contents page, I was quite pleased as I had created a magazine for Product Design at GCSE level so I knew what I had to do and just got on with it. I was very enthusiastic about the task in hand because I like designing and creating magazines for projects. I approached the whole project very professionally because I know that with lots of hard work I could design a very good magazine.
If I was given the chance to do this project again I would approach it in the same way as I have done this one. I would change the genre of the magazine so it covers a wider variety of audiences, something like pop music or a lifestyle magazine, I would change the camera angles of the images and the colour schemes. I would improve the planning by conducting more research and employing more research methods like conducting interviews with people. If I was to do this same magazine again I would change the person being interview and the main image would be focused on a girl with a sexy look to her but the magazine would still be sophisticated with a bit of vulnerability included in it.
I enjoyed this experience very much and I learnt and gained a lot of knowledge from the teaching and creating of this magazine. I found out about how different camera angles inflict different images on people and that if pictures are not anchored down with a caption then they can convey many different meanings a polysemic image.
