Final Magazine 2

Final Magazine 1

 

Final Website

Website Link- https://15-mhum.wixsite.com/expose

When the reader first opens the website, they are immediately greeted by a pop-up asking them to subscribe to the magazine's newsletter.

 The homepage is primarily in grey scale with pops of accent colours, this house style is congruent to the print editions and shows the magazine's dedication to telling the unclouded truth. I have used a bold typeface throughout to stand out and be easier for a potential reader and to create a sense of brand identity. 

The readers are given a preview of the first edition which would potentially entice them to buy. From my market research I have found that interactive features are very attractive to my target demographic. This is made easy by the Buy Here! that would take them to the shop.

The map icon in the bottom left corner of the main image serves as an Easter egg and takes the reader to a competition page.

The rotating gallery of social media submissions with a call to action encourages the audience to become active for a chance of being in the next edition. Social media links are ever-present along the right hand side encouraging audience interaction.

The 'About Us' page explores the magazine's aims. I have used an image of one of my main cover stars to further create a sense of continuity between the print and online features. The image also creates a narrative as she is pulling off petals reminiscent of the childhood game 'He loves me...he loves me not'. This ties into the purpose of the magazine to tell dramatic real-life stories.

There are also links to my audio-visual element, a podcast called 'Telltale' which invites guest stars on to share their own real-life stories. The YouTube video is also embedded in the webpage allowing for easy access.

Statement of Intent

 How do you intend to use the four areas of the media theoretical framework to communicate to communicate meaning and meet the requirements of your chosen brief?

Product 1- Magazine

I intend to create a magazine which follows the genre conventions of real-life magazines but with a more sophisticated and aesthetically pleasing composition which would appeal to my 16-25 year old target audience. My masthead will be titled 'Exposé' which connotes that these stories are real- which would make my audience more emotionally engaged. My aim is to make the magazine look simple yet sophisticated with a direct mode of address that leans into informal, but not at the expense of sounding too colloquial. I will use my colour pallet to create a sense of brand identity and also to subvert the conventions of this genre as they will not be gaudy primary colours. The front cover will have a high image to text ratio to highlight the importance of the main story. This entices the target demographic to purchase the magazine as the visual elements appeal to the readership, together with the colour palette which will connote youth. By analysing real-life magazines in my research I have discovered that they often use sell lines which reflect their genre, I will attempt to replicate this in my own magazine.

Product 2- Website

The website for my magazine will provide extra content in the form of articles. I will continue to use the original house style of the magazine as well as a consistent logo for Bauer media, thus reflecting cross-platform digital convergence. The layout will be similar to that of the magazine to create a source of brand identity and will create a user friendly platform that will be easy to navigate. To specifically target my demographic I will use multiple technology features and audiovisual elements on the magazine, as well as social media links and hyperlinks for a source of audience interaction, this refers to Clay Shirky's audience theory as audience behaviour has changed due to the internet and the ability for the audience to create their own content. This will be reflected in a Q&A section with one of the subjects from the print front cover. The 'audience' will have submitted questions via Twitter which will then be answered in the form of a YouTube video for the magazine's channel.

Preliminary Designs

 

Tasks to accomplish by October

•  Learn how to use Photoshop
• Make mock-ups of my two front covers
• Create a contents page for the print edition
• Start the website
• 30 second audio-visual element in the form of an interview
• Potentially take more photos

Photoshoot No.2 *Unedited*

 For my second photoshoot, I visited Brick Lane in London as the graffiti would make great urban backdrop. It began a bit more rocky as my model had to warm up to the camera and the idea of posing.

The following images are my favourite and the ones I will most likely use for a front cover after editing with Photoshop. Although, I like the dynamism of the above pictures and will probably use them on my website.

I'll use these photos of graffiti on my website also. Perhaps as a background or in the logo.

I think this was my most successful photoshoot in the way that it anchors the narrative of my intended magazine story. As stated in my previous post, next I will enhance my favourites on Photoshop.

Photoshoot No.1 *Unedited*

 I was quite happy with the results of this photoshoot as they are aesthetically pleasing as my Statement of Intent indicated. 

However, my story idea of an Instagram model being stalked isn't really anchored in the photos. As such I will still use these images but I will come up with a new story to fit them more accurately. 

My next task will be to edit them on Photoshop.