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I have learnt that there are many ways in which you are able to conform the magazine that you are designing. Each convention adds to how it is able to connect to the genre and audience. The audience of the magazine can also vary since every magazine is suited to a certain group of people. My preliminary magazine and my pop music magazine are vastly different when looking at them. The different conventions such as props are able to indicate what the magazine is about as well as the content. For example, in my preliminary, I used the setting of a school library to indicate on the type of the magazine: a factual, school magazine. The model used also had the costume of a student that clearly showed who the magazine was aimed for where as my other magazine showed it was for a wider audience and is used for entertainment, not facts. What exaggerated the informality was the use of costume being casual but also girly. The props used clearly showed that the genre the magazine was based in is music.

Each magazine has a different purpose. Some may be designed to be factual and other may be designed to be more about having fun. This is able to be displayed through the  content that is provided and shown. Since knowing this, I have been able to design a magazine to suit the type it’s usually presented as, not only in the written codes but also in the visual ones as well.

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Preliminary          Final Design
Front covers are what the reader sees first so you have to be able to show your genre clearly. You also need to display the most interesting articles on the front cover so that the viewer will be intrigued and want to read more. Many different types of magazines use this as a way to win over the reader against other magazines of the same category. On my final magazine design, I displayed the articles that not only suited the genre, but also suited my target audience. This was also done on my preliminary by showing school related articles, despite being with different designs. What stands out to the audience though is the main image which typically shows a model. The model is a key part in presenting the magazine and is a way of showing its type very clearly. Since both of my magazines were meant to draw in a friendly audience, the models use a friendly mode of address so as to say the reader will find it more happy to read. Their costumes aren’t as different since the model used in the preliminary is a student and therefore also wears a casual costume. However, since my preliminary, I have been able to adjust the layout so it is able to look more professional and fit in with its genre. I have also been able to manipulate the front cover to make it feel like the image is included in the background as well as the content displayed. This was done by adding shadow and editing the coverlines so they were behind and infront of the model.

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Preliminary          Final Design
All magazines use this as a way to show what articles are displayed where but they are done in a variety of ways. They can be done via chronological or by themes. I have seen this within my research of pop music magazines. However, chronologically is the most popular way. This is why it was used for both my magazines that I created. Editorials are able to be used but this depends on the type of genre your magazine is. For my preliminary, I didn’t include an editorial since it didn’t suit the way the way the magazine was meant to be presented. However, my final magazine included one since it was an informal magazine and adding an editorial added to this. Contents pages are clear to read and easy to understand. Within my preliminary, the contents page was a bit unorganised and the number order didn’t make sense. This was corrected in my final design since I arranged it clearly and made it easier to understand the pages contents. I also included a more of an understanding to the picture, telling the readers why they were shown there. There is also the use of a main image as it is mainly used in many magazines that I have analysed. However, this may not have been appropriate for my preliminary.

I have improved by understanding the different ways in which the contents page is displayed, I was able to improve and add more content to what I had originally shown in my preliminary. I also made it easier for the audience to read, making sure to use alluring word that would draw them in rather than having long sentences. What has thoroughly improved is that layout of the contents, showing the clear separation of each part of the page. I have been able to create a contents page design that is used for many magazines despite their genre. This is a big change, as well as improvement, from my initial design.

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Final Design
Usually, a popular quote by the interviewee is shown in large text, different to the text in the article. This is a way of luring in the reader. Although, this is typically done for informal magazines. For formal magazines, the title is the one to be different from the other text as a way to make it more eye catching for the reader and also as a way to separate it from the rest of the text. Under the title for informal magazines, there is an editorial which acts like an introduction for the readers to get them more invested with what the topic is.

The main image is able to be placed on both pages or just on one but with it being on two, it can show that both pages are connected and not to be mistaken for being two separate pages. Through my analysing, I found this to be quite popular among pop music magazines which are informal. This suggests that formal magazines separate the text from the image. Although, text can also be placed around the image as a way to show shape if it is spread across two. Along with a main image, usually a model the article is about, there is at least one smaller image to add interest and make it more intriguing to the reader. It is usually connected to the topic the double page spread is about.

Unfortunately, I am not able to view my progress of improvement on double page spreads since one was not created for my preliminary.

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My technological knowledge advanced by using Photoshop through both projects we were given. I was able to learn the different ways in which images and text could be placed. This is shown on the front covers of both magazines. All the content on the preliminary front cover was placed over the main image where as on the other magazines front cover, content is placed both on top and behind the image. Editing images also became easier to understand and do as I progressed. None of the images used for the preliminary were manipulated in anyway where as for my music magazine, all the images were edited in different ways. Removing the background in the pictures that were taken was a manipulation that was used throughout and helped with them to connect more to the genre. Not much editing was used for the preliminary but that was because I believe it didn’t suit well with the type of magazine.

The contents page shows a vast advance in technological skills. I was able to have different colours in the background of my music magazine instead of having to stay with a plain colour which was used for the preliminary. I was also able to be able to separate my contents into columns to make it more organised and aesthetically pleasing. Since my preliminary, I have been able to understand how to manipulate text by rotating it. This is shown in my final design and adds to the informal way it is meant to be presented.

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Group work is an important way of learning more about how to improve your magazine. It is also a way of developing your understanding of how your type of magazine should be displayed and presented. In my preliminary, I was not given time to create drafts that had been improved with group help. I was also not given many critiques so I was not able to improve it more. However, for my pop music magazine, I had created drafts which had improved continuously with the critiques I received. For both projects, I was in a group, which helped in the sense that I was able to turn to them if I needed help with understanding how the magazine was meant to be presented as. Through this cooperation, we were able to gain a mutual understanding by adding both our ideas to a final design and improve our knowledge of what we needed to improve for our music magazine.

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Time management is key way of keeping up to date with work. Keeping it balanced helps you with completing the work. In my partner and I’s  final design for our pop music magazine, we were unable to focus on developing our contents page since we were too busy designing our front cover and double page spread. I now know that we should have spent an equal amount of time on each page. I believe our time management was better when we were designing our preliminary magazine since we were able to keep up to date with the work we were given. We also worked together as the same speed so we were able to give each other help with what we were currently doing.

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The roles in media production are very different but also very important. For example, the models are a key part in showing the genre of the magazine. They show it through their clothing, facial expression and how they react to their surroundings. The photographer also has to capture this in different ways that suit the genre. Angles are used for this such as close-ups for pop magazines to emphasise the facial expressions of long shots for rap magazines to show the surroundings. My knowledge of this hasn’t changed much since my preliminary since I believe each magazines images are conventional.