Final Post

Candidate Name: Shannon Murray
Candidate Number: 8290
Centre Number: 71615
Preliminary Task: Using DTP and an image manipulation program to produce the front page of a school magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in Medium Close-Up plus some appropriately laid out text and masthead. Additionally candidates must produce a DTP mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of the program.
Main Task: The Cover Page, Contents Page and Double Page Spread of a new music magazine.

Final Music Magazine Products

Here are my final products.

Evaluation: Question 7

Shown below is my evaluation question 7:

Evaluation Question 6

Shown below is my evaluation question 6

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Click on the images below to be directed to annotated images on flickr.

(Just in case the text doesn't show up the annotations are also listed in the image descriptions)

Evaluation Question 4

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

During this process I created a target audience questionnaire to find out who my target audience are and this gave me an idea of who I should be targeting in my product. From this I was able to create an ideal reader profile that is shown below.

Evaluation Question 3

Shown below is my evaluation question question 3:

Evaluation Question 2

Shown below is my evaluation question 2

Evaluation: Question 1

Below is question 1 of my evaluation:

Final Draft of Double Page Spread

Shown below is my final draft of my double page spread:

Final Draft of Contents Page

Shown below is my final draft of my contents pages:

Final Draft Cover Page

Shown below is my final draft of my cover page: 

DPS 2 Construction

I then added texture to the back of these pages as well.

I wanted to convey the same style on these two pages so I decided to change the pull quote.
I created a new one using photoshop and inserted that into the page. I used the same font that I used for the title.

I then moved one of the pictures to make the pages look less flat.

I wasn't happy with the remaining pictures so I decided to edit them into a film reel. I found the film reel image on Pinterest and edited it to include images.

I then inserted it into the pages.

I then decided to change the smaller box as well. I created this in photoshop and added the text over it in InDesign using the same font I used for the titles.

DPS Construction

I decided to change the title of my double page spread to make it match the kind of style that I was hoping for. I created a brush stroke banner in photoshop.

I then added texture to the background too.

I then removed the box behind the quote so that the page looked less structured.

I then decided to change some of the fonts on the DPS to give the article a different feel. I decided to use 28 Days Later from dafont.com so the article would reflect the attitude of my artist a bit more. I also made the questions bold so that they would stand out more, as well as the pull quote.

Contents Page Constuction

I then decided that the top bar was slighly too boring so I added some texture to it using photoshop.

I then decided that the background was too plain so I added some texture to that too.

Contents Page Construction

I decided to change one of my images on the contents page as it wasn't the quality that I would like to include. It was a different size so I had to move the contents around a bit to fit it in correctly.

I then wanted to create a bigger title for the awards, so I created one in photoshop.

I then inserted this into my contents page.

I also had to update the thumbnail image in the corner as I changed the cover.

Double Page Spread Construction: Twitter Q&A

I decided that I could make better use of the space in the last two pages of my DPS so I decided to include a twitter question section. I re-arranged the images and columns to fit in the twitter questions on the farthest right hand column. To do this I added a placeholder in the column that i wanted to add the twitter questions to. This gave me the dimensions that I needed to create the image in Photoshop.

I then created a new document in photoshop and cropped it to the correct dimensions. This allowed me to then begin creating the image. I got people on twitter to ask Alexa questions using the hashtag #AskAlexa. I then copied these images, re-sized them and added them to my image on Photoshop.

Once the image was created I inserted it onto my double page spread in the placeholder.

I then decided I didn't like the grey background because it didn't stand out as much as I would like it to, so I changed it to a pale yellow.

Cover Construction: Feedback and Adjustments 2

When I printed my cover out to get a better idea of what to improve on it I realised that the barcode and social media icons were slightly too small so I decided to go back to Photoshop and resize them. I also changed the icons so that they were coloured, just to make them more obvious and look more authentic. I also realised that the masthead wasn't capitalised like I had intended, so I changed it.

Updated image:

Three Products - Peer Feedback

Below I have gathered feedback on all three products together. This will show me areas that I can improve on overall.

DPS Draft 2

This is my second draft for my DPS including the little tweaks I have made. I can now get feedback from my peers and make improvements based on this.

DPS: Tweaks

The first tweak I decided to make the blurb stand out more. I decided to colour it the same colour as the banner. I also added lines below and above the title and blurb.

Next I wanted to add some dotted lines between the columns.

I then decided to colour the questions in the interview in the same colour so that they stand out and break up the text.

I wanted to make the second pull quote stand out more, so I changed the font of a few words and changed the colour of them. I also added speech marks.

DPS Draft 1

This is my first draft of my double page spread. Again, I used InDesign to create these pages as it made it easier to structure my pages and improve the layout. As I had already learned how to use InDesign for my contents page, this wasn't as difficult to create. However, I used some new features, such as drop caps, which took some time to figure out how to add them correctly.