‘Urban’ Magazine

In the process of creating my magazine, I began the idea of using a different model in a different location. I wanted a female model that was situated behind a brick wall. After creating this cover (including the previous pictures) - the feedback from various sources suggested it wasn’t the right angle to take on the cover. Therefore I completely changed the whole appearance, and started again. My imaginary entity suggests more males will read this magazine than females, so I decided to use a male model on the cover. I began by outlining what kind of style and look I want to reflect by the images- it resulted in me taking a few shots with a variety. After they had been taken, I changed the saturation, lighting and turned the image black and white on the software program ‘Picnik’. The image shows a young male, who is 21 in reality, who is holding a guitar on his shoulders. He perfectly reflects the style of ‘Urban’ of which my magazine is targeted at. The design of the cover was re-thought and the layout was completely different to my first few attempts. I used contrasting colours, of blue and orange, for the text, with a bold ‘Urban’ in orange. It’s eye-catching as the font is original and suited to the street-grime style. The decision to change everything about my original cover has made me create a bold, well-suited cover,that reflects its target perfectly. The new images are better suited and relate more to the style.

Media Diary

13th September 2011- School magazine mock up completed, aswell as finishing the labeling of devices on the Cosmopolitan magazine.
12th Spetember- School magazine cover mock-up completed.
22nd September- Modern school magazine cover annotaed.
23rd September- Photoshoot planning for my school magazine front cover.
29th September- Modern Music magazine cover annoted- to give myself ideas for when I create my own. Also my Preliminery Task school magazine cover was completed.
13th October-Lifestyle questions for my ideal target audience were posted on my blog.
3rd November- School Magazine contents page completed, diary entry (photoshoot) & potential music magazine cover pictures posted.
14th November- Reseach completed on 'Marie Claire'  magazine Industry.
24th November- New pictures taken for a new start to my music magazine cover.
28th November- Final magazine cover completed, also my magazine rate card completed and posted.
1st December- Semiotic analysis of a current double page spread (in the music magazine industry).
9th December- Pie charts posted- showing the results of a questionnaire.
15th December- I have begun to plan my double page spread.
17th December- I planned and photographed my potential images for my double page spread.
1st January- I started to put together my double page spread on CorelDraw.
9th January- I planned my contents page.
15th- Double page spread is nearly complete.
27th January- Urban contents page is complete.
3rd Febuary- Research for other magazine's.
11th Febuary- Changes made to contents page and re-posted.
24th Febuary- Research for other magazine's contents page.
2nd March- Sorted out media blog, putting the correct labels on each post.
18th March- Evaluation slides were started.
25th March- Question one, two, three and four for the evaluation were completed.
29th March- Evaluation question were all completed.
15th April- Evaluation slides were posted on my media blog.
16th April- Media feedback video completed.
17th April- Magazine video completed.
17th April- Research into Boy London posted.

The Pie Charts show my target audience research, and the answers they gave, which gave me guidance in my magazine decisions.

Semiotic Analysis of a Double-Page Spread 'Vibe Magazine'

MastHead
The MastHead is postioned in the left hand-corner, which is the first page an audience would been directed to. The iconic Rihanna quote 'Whats My Name' is situated behind a yellow block background. Below this 'Rihanna' is presented in light blue in front of a white background- connoting the importance of her name in this double-page spread. The font-size is in proportion to the other text size and main article image.
Main Article Photo
In this issue of 'Vibe' Magaizne, the front cover links to this double page spread (Rihanna features as the main cover image). On the two pages, the image is spread between the two. It makes this image the main focus of the artcile, over the text and the other photos on the far-right. The boldness of her red hair, creates a effective contrast of colours- red and yellow. The shot itself is a close-up, which has been enlarged to fit across both pages and it emphasizes Rihanna's huge success and power.
Cover Lines
As Rihanna is one of the most iconic women R&B singers of this generation, her name backed up with one the most iconic men R&B singers- Drake makes the article of huge appeal for the audience. However Rihanna's name is in capitals unlike to Drakes, suggesting the article will be mainly about the female R&B sensation. The text is in an italic font, making it stand out more, its also larger than the article's text. The cover lines size and font, reflects the importance of Rihanna and her significance in the music industry and article.
Text
The text of the double-page spread article is presented in a tone that suggests a laid back conversation between the encoder and decoder (audience). It primarily is trying to get the audience to buy her album- 'We’ve listened to it 14 times in a row and still don’t hate it’.
Layout
The article layout is text situated around the main article photo of Rihanna. On the left corner page the text is the information for which the article was created. On the right side as a plug device, which 'reveals' some of Rihanna's different hair-styles over her years of fame. This is a feature which would mostly appeal to women, it also makes the article more interesting and focuses on a different angle other than Rihanna's success in music. The hair styles analysis is presented on a black box background, backed up by yellow sub-headings and white writing. This article feature could mean 'Vibe' has an advantage over other competitors who don't offer this information of her hair-stlyes. The styles are presented cronologically, as her younger- self is at the top, eventually going down in the years untill now in 2011.