1. AS MEDIA STUDIES
FOUNDATION PORTFOLIO
RESEARCH & PLANNING
CENTRE NO: 11049
ST FRANCIS XAVIER COLLEGE
2. My name is: Elizabeth Adeoye
Candidate No: 2794
3. Preliminary Project – Research & Planning
• How did you think about target audience?
I looked at the age group in which I can most relate to.
• How did awareness of that audience impact
upon your visual design and choice of
language?
I was familiar with the way in which that target audience spoke, I aimed at being able to connect
with them on their level.
• What key points did you learn about Adobe
Photoshop and InDesign in constructing your
artefacts?
I learnt how to crop an image, how to create grids and margins on the contents page.
5. Reflections & Feedback
• What would you do differently next time?
I will look at different magazines, a wider range, and see how they differ from each
other.
• What kind of feedback did you get that might
influence you?
The fact my front cover was very boring and bland. It didn’t also challenge any typical
codes and conventions.
• What aspects of your understanding of Adobe
Photoshop & InDesign do you need to
improve?
How to distort an image and how to airbrush an image using photoshop.
6. The music genre of my music magazine is:
• Genre
I have chosen R&B genre.
• and my chosen title is “The Rhythm” because
“rhythm” represents the “R” in R&B. I have decided
to use this title because when I first thought of this
name it gave a soothing effect. I though that this will
best suit my music genre.
7. So I researched this genre of music publication
and studied:
• Model 1 • Model 2
8. What I learned from this was…..
• Cover Design • Cover Lines
Through the cover design I learnt that VIBE music “VIBE” music magazine always placed their cover
magazine had a house style which consisted of, a lines either on the left or the right of the front
main image placed centre, it used three columns. cover. The main image was made to be the
The main image is always placed in the main attraction of the front cover. This is
foreground whilst the title “VIBE” is placed in the because the main image was always of a well
background. The cover design is very simple, known celebrity. It also used different fronts,
which doesn’t create a traffic effect to the front the names of the celebrities was always place
cover. The barcode is always placed on the right. in larger font compared to the other articles on
the front cover. The front cover also used one
font, which is also used across all of VIBE
music magazine creating a house style. VIBE
music magazine sticks to simple colours for its
cover lines. Again creating a house style..
9. For my music magazine….
• Target Audience:
My chosen target audience, will be females, between the ages of 17 and 28. I have chosen this
target audience because I feel I can relate to them the most, and through my observation I
found that females were most likely to read R&B magazines.
• Frequency:
Every month
• Cover price:
£2.50, I have chosen this price because it is not too expensive for the students, nor is it too cheap
that no profit can be made. It would be easily accessible to all of our target audience.
• Publisher:
Elicit Publishing Company
• Unique Selling Point:
My magazine will be different to other R&B magazines on the top shelf because it will consist of all the gossip,
fashion and latest music R&B can offer. It will be different because not only will it inform the target
audience about the R&B magazine, it will also relate to them on a personal level creating an intimate
relationship with audience and the magazine.
10. This is the face of the magazine
• Front cover
• This is how it works
I have decided to borrow some ideas from the
original VIBE magazine that I looked at. I
decided to align all of my text to the left, and
place my barcode of the right. I decided to
place the main image on the left, I used a piano
as a prop in this magazine, because it is
commonly used the R&B genre. In addition I
didn’t choose to use any straplines because I
didn’t want to overcrowd my front cover. I also
decided to stick to 3 colours, black, red and
navy blue because I didn’t want the front cover
to look over crowded, and I wanted it to catch
the target audiences attention without looking
to busy. I choose the colour red because it was
alarming and bold. It represents the passion
and soul which is paired with R&B.
11. Here are the 4 original photographs I
shot for the project……
12. I modified each photograph; here is
the original next to the final version:
• Raw 1 • Final 1
• Here is how I changed the photograph and why
I used a website called picnik.com to crop, blur and brighten the picture. I blurred the of the piano, and made
the woman the main focus of the picture. I also airbrushed the image to make it more flawless and to
remove any blemishes in the image. In the raw image a chair can be seen, I cropped the image to remove
the chair.
13. And the second one:
• Raw 2 • Final 2
• Here is how I changed the photograph and why
I changed this photograph by simply placing it into Photoshop, so that the image will not distort, the image
required little airbrushing I just simply added a little bit of airbrushing using the airbrushing tool on
Photoshop again to remove any blemishes in the picture.
14. And the third one:
• Raw 3 • Final 3
• Here is how I changed the photograph and why
I brightened the picture again using picnik.com, the image was rather dark due to bad lighting so I decided to
brighten it using the brightening tool on the website. I also airbrushed this image after I brightened it again
to remove any blemishes. Also I used a blurring tool to blur the image of the microphone bringing the
woman again into focus. I did this because I thought she should be main attention the magazine. I added
an effect which made the image appear in an orange colour, I personally liked this effect because made
the image glow.
15. And the last one:
• Raw 4 • Final 4
• Here is how I changed the photograph and why
I changed the photograph by airbrushing the image first of all, again to remove any blemishes in the image, the
image was very dark in the raw image so I decided to brighten it up using a brightening tool on Picnik.com.
I added colour to the image of the girl, and strop the rest of the piano from its colour. I liked the effect this
made on the image, it made the image pop.
16. Here are a couple of research models for
my contents page…
17. This is my contents page
• Contents Page • These are key features…
• Use of different font
sizes
• The use of images
• The use of colour
18. How does the contents page link back to
the cover page?
• My contents page and cover page are linked
together through the use of similar font sizes
and colours and also similar fonts.
19. Key points of contents page
• How have you made the reader want to read on?
I have made the reader want to read on through my editors talk, it creates a bond and an insight into the
magazine, enticing the reader to read on.
• What are the links between images and words?
The images, creating a visual interpretation of the words.
• What determines the dominant stories?
The dominant stories in the magazine are placed in larger text in comparison with the
rest of the articles and information.
• How have you gone about ordering the
information on the page?
On my contents page, I aligned all my articles on the left, and the editors
talk and images on the right.
20. How does the contents page flag up your
double page spread?
• I featured the story on the contents page, in
larger font size. Therefore bringing it to the
readers attention
22. This is why I think that double spread
works
• I think this double page spread works because
the colours represent the genre. It uses simple
colours such as black, red and white. The
images also represent the genre. The text is
displayed around the image, therefore
breaking the typical codes and conventions for
a music magazine.
24. This is how my double page spread works
• It works by simply displaying the text around
the image. It uses simple colours such as re,
black, blue and pink, which are colours
featured on both my front cover and my
contents page.
25. This is how all three components are
linked together….
• They all use the same colours. I decided to do
this, to heavily link them all together. Both the
front cover and the contents page feature the
same articles.
26. This is my re-drafted cover page
• Cover Page
• Key modifications from
feedback
I aligned all the text to the
left.
I added colour the colour
blue to the word ‘PLUS’
to make the front cover
more eye catching.
27. This is my re-drafted contents page
• Cover Page • Key modifications from
feedback
I changed the colour of
the numbers, to make
them stand out.
I used a different font for
the editors talk so that
it will be a personal
message to the reader.
28. This is my re-drafted double spread
• Double spread
29. Key modifications to double spread from
feedback
• I removed the white background from behind
the text the text, from feedback it made the
page look messy and as though it wasn’t well
thought out at all. So I decided to now have
anything on the background of the text.
30. Evaluation
• You can find my blog here:
(URL)
And
You can find my evaluation with responses to the 7 questions
here:
(URL)
NB. Make sure you have completed slides 11-15 with
downloads of the minimum 4 original images before
thinking this is finished. Then erase this reminder.
