Audience Research Text

Audience Research Redux

1.     Please describe the average attire of a club goer.

2.     What colour scheme would one usually associate with clubs?

3.     What are the major issues in clubbing today?

4.     How much roughly would you expect to pay for a magazine?

5.     What part of a magazine is the main incentive for you to buy it?

6.     Do you like to read

A: Interviews with up and coming DJs

B: Features on major issues in clubbing today

C: Q&A Interviews

7: What age range do you think are interested in clubbing?

8: What icons or motifs do you associate with clubbing?

Audience Research Video 1

Trance-@ction Contents Page

Creation Process of Magazine Cover, Contents and DPS

In the creation of my magazine, I employed the use of programmes other than Photoshop, such as Adobe Illustrator, as it is far more efficient for magazine production. I then exported it as a PhotoShop file. I often adjusted the transparency of objects, and used transparency effects such as Burn and Darken to achieve effects such as the semi-transparent spiral on the contents page. I also took great care to align the text boxes and images on the page to eachother, to maintain some semblance of symmetricality.

The text boxes were generated with the shape tool,, and then made transparent so that the image behind it would be still partially visible.

First Draft of DPS

First Drafts of Front Cover

Mixmag Cover Analysis 2

This cover of Mixmag uses generally quite curly fonts, as the cover story isn't enormously important or serious, and the magazine is acknowledging this. The centre image is, again, not actually a named DJ or celebrity, but rather a generic model dressed in a way that it represents the issue covered in the magazine. The CD offered with the magazine is a vibrant shade of red, contrasting with the blue of the cover and emphasizing that it is a periphery object. As I will be using Mixmag as a style model, I shall design my magazine to have a byline acknowledging the CD. I shall not make any room for the CD on the front cover however, as no issue of Mixmag seems to do that.

Diary Entry 4 (actually current)

I have finally uploaded all of my magazine analysis, as well as some of my audience research, although I am unable to upload the videos at the moment. I intend to rectify this at a later date. I will also continue to work on my rought cut of my magazine while at home, taking photos and retroactively improving my prior blog entries, in particular I intend to scan in the various covers and double page spreads that I have analyzed, though have not yet found images of online.

Diary Entry

Today I produced a rough cut of the front cover of my magazine. I have made some signifigant changes since the last iteration, including differences in the title and overall layout.

I also learned about various graphic design tropes, in particular avoiding making the text too close to the edges of the pages.

Diary Entry 3

As a result of the internet problems the school is undergoing, I will perform most of my work at home.

Diary Entry 2

Now that I have uploaded my preliminary, I have been tasked with analyzing 5 front covers, contents pages and double page spreads of various magazines. I am hoping to have pictures on most of the blog entires, but in some cases this may nopt be possible immediately and so the pictures will be uploaded at a later date,.

Diary Entry 1 (belated)

With the opening of my media blog, I intend on uploading my preliminary sketches of my magazine, and eventually my preliminary mock-ups of a school magazine in the next week

NME Contents Analysis

The contents page of NME is very unusual compared to most music magazines. This is as NME is a general music magazine, not focused on any genre in particular and thus does not attempt to show any bias in this regard. The layout allots every major feature in this issue its own small box on the contents page, containing a photo of the band featured, text from the article and the page number. I will not be using this, as I am attempting to focus solely on dance and techno music, and so a non-specific layout such as this would be innapropriate. I will however, heavily stylize my contents page so as to appear unique and interesting .

DJ Double Page Spread

Unlike most other magazines, the double page spread in DJ does not have any immediate segregated areas for the images or the text, the two being scattered around the page in an irregular fashion. This makes the magazine appear laidback, as though it does not care about the layout. It has a banner at the top, a crumpled Union Jack flag that doesn't appear elsewhere, as this is a unique feature of the article. I am considering making specialized art assets for my double page spread, as it will be a unique feature to the issue of the magazine this appears in.

TILT Contents

The contents page of Tilt is divided into three unequal sections, one containing pictures, one containing the actual contents listings and one containing an editor's note. This segregating of the pages prevents any confusion or overlap of the sections, as it clear where one segment ends and another begins. As this page will be my style model for my contents page, I will put clear lines, segregating the three segments, and also use an image of my front cover in the editors note.

M8 Double Page Spread Analysis

The two pages in this double page spread have different background colours, one is yellow and the other white. The text on the yellow page is arranged in three columns, as is standard and prefacing this is a red introductory paragraph in a different font. The other page, with the white background shows a picture of a major DJ, along with a quote from the article next to her. I intend to emulate this feature, as it provides a brief summary of the article, without needing to read the entirety

M8 Contents Analysis

The contents of M8 features 4 images on the left side of the page, each of a different DJ on a different page, showing that the magazine is perhaps more personality focused than other magazines. Again, there is a consistent font used. The text at the left of the page lists the other DJs covered in the magazines. I will emulate this "dual-column" format as it is very easy to lay out, and easy to read.

M8 Magazine Cover ANalysis

Unlike other dance music magazines, M8's centre image is actually set to the right of the cover, and is actally a named celebrity as opposed to a conceptual cover. The subheadings are set to the far left, making room for the image. A colour scheme of yellow, red and black is used, evoking the colours used on a standard warning sign and signifying that the magazine is in some way taboo or dangerous, appealing to the rebellious side of teenagers. I will aim to make my cover's colour scheme alarming and edgy in order to attract a teen audfience,

Mixmag Cover, Contents DPS analysis

The front cover of Mixmag issue 223 is again humorous in tone, portraying a parody of Paris Hilton leaning on a mixing deck, as the cover story is about Celebrity DJs. The text surrounding the model is all pink and black, colours generally associated with Paris Hilton. Again, text is arranged to the left and right of the model.

The contents page of Mixmag Issue 223 has a single centre image, with it’s page number imposed over it in a large font, as this is one of the most important articles in the magazine supposedly. The actual contents themselves are formatted to the centre of the rightmost of the page, without accompanying images.

A double page spread in Mixmag is in much the same formatting as the previous one, showing consistency between issues. The only things different between the two are the main inage on the right page. The subject is standing in a laidback pose against a wall covered in splatters of paints of various colours, indicating creativity on the part of the subject.