Task 2 - Case study: Vibe

Also, on the front page, a skyline is used. The skyline is "purple suits, white kicks, and a $30k dress". This skyline relates to Nicki Minaj, attracting the audience's attention. The skyline is used to show the main topic of the front cover. Nicki Minaj is wearing a dress that looks expensive, which shows the skyline is aimed at Nicki Minaj on purpose. Furthermore, Nicki Minaj is placed in front of the masthead, showing how successful Nicki Minaj is and that VIBE is already a successful brand. A bar code is also used on the front page with the price on it in small text.

On the double page spread, the connation of the word "gospel" shows that Nicki Minaj is respecting herself. There is contradiction as she is speaking about how wild she is. However, she says she is going to "tone down on the sexual stuff" showing that she is changing. The word 'gospel' is used to show that Nicki Minaj is going to start behaving appropriately and that she is changing.

Task 2 - Case study: Kerrang

Front page^

Also, on the front page, the connation of " the good, the bad, the pictures they didn't want you to see" shows that people have been behaving badly. It is trying to show that this band have misbehaved, and that they no longer have power over the pictures.The front page has a lot going on. It is very dramatic and there are a variety of things going on, this instantly attracts the audience as there is so much to look at. The amount of teasers used appeal to the audience, especially with the use of the quote" access all areas".

Photoshop notes

Front page cover analysis notes - codes and conventions

Task 1- Production Schedule

Production Schedule (TimeToast)

Induction task- music piracy article & evaluation

AS media- music piracy evaluation

When I was doing research for my magazine, I felt like I had done a good job. I was able to get information from both viewpoints, and I found this quite easy to do. There was a lot of information to get and I was able to find the relevant information that I needed for my magazine. I was also able to get famous quotes for both sides of the argument. For example, I got a quote from Shakira and a quote from Lilly Allen. I was able to get famous quotes and balance the argument. I feel that a weakness of my research skills were that I found it difficult to find the most relevant information, and to find the most relevant quotes and information to be suitable to my magazine.

I feel that my journalistic skills were very good. I feel like they were good because, I felt like I could easily make it address the target audience for my magazine. I felt that it wasn’t too hard to write as it was based on teenagers as a target audience, so I could relate to it more. My article was based on facts and opinions rather than anything else. For example, the quotes from celebrities. However, I did include some statistics within the journalistic piece of writing. I feel like this was good to include as it makes things more realistic and believable. Also, I feel like statistics is more directed to teenagers which is my target audience. I feel like these were strengths of mine, however I did have one weakness. I also feel like my writing was formal. I feel like I used the correct type of language to address my audience. A weakness for my journalistic writing was the opinion. I feel like I could have added my opinion to it to make it sound more convincing.

I had never used InDesign before, but I feel confident with using it now. I have definitely learnt how to use the basic things within InDesign. I know how to apply colour, certain fonts and sizes etc. Also, I know how to place images on to InDesign and do things with them e.g. change the size, the transparency of it etc. I also learnt how to overlay pictures, I can add multiple pictures on top of each other without trouble. I also know where to arrange the placements of pictures and text etc. However, there were some elements that were harder to understand than others, for example the placement of columns. Trying to figure out the best place to put them was a bit hard. However, overall I feel quite confident with using InDesign as I know the most important things that I need to know.

Web publishing was very unusual but I liked it. I didn’t feel as if I struggled with making my blogger. Setting up blogger was very simple. Also, getting the template that I wanted to have was very easy. I liked how simple using blogger was, and I feel that it was very easy to use. Uploading content on to my blogger was also quite easy, I felt that I didn’t struggle with any of it and I didn’t find it challenging. Uploading to blogger was simple. However, I feel that it could easily get quite confusing.

Audience feedback-

I feel that the targets for my improvements should be:

1.    Make sure to include my opinion within the journalistic writing. Not to make the whole thing based on my opinion, but to have my opinion involved to make it sound more convincing.

2.    Make sure I know how to use the majority of tools within InDesign. Although I know how to use some of the things, I need to make sure I am familiar with a few more things within InDesign.

3.    Possibly organise my pictures on the magazine a bit better.

4.    I need to do some research on where the best places are for columns for magazines of certain genres. I need to do some research on how magazines are laid out and the see the common and typical things used.