Production Diary - Week 9

Throughout this week I have completed a lot of work, including my coverlines, box out text and continuing to improve and design the scaffolding of the magazine.

As I have chosen to use two covers for my magazine, a main cover and a special fan/subscriber edition, I have had to balance time between the covers in order to create them both. For the main cover, I added a masthead as well as the full bleed image which includes the coverline and band names on the front. I plan on adding other coverlines in my next lesson where I also plan on improving the design again as I still feel as though it needs a bit of improvement. I have chosen this image of my model, Ruth (Aurora Storm) for the front cover as she is giving direct address of eye contact to the audience which draws them in, and her bold eyes and red lips connote her danger and seductiveness which appeals to the target audience of the magazine as well as matching the house style of the magazine. Ruth is portrayed as bare which indicates how she's being honest in the article as well as moreso attracting the target audience.


For the special fan/subscriber edition of the magazine, I first used a special device where I had to draw on a pad with a pen which was connected to the computer, so that when I drew on the pad it would appear on Photoshop and transfer the writing to the cover image of that edition of the magazine. I struggled whilst using this device, so instead I wrote various lyrics and quotes from the aritcle on a piece of paper, scanned it into the computer and used Photoshop to brighten and remove the background from the text to later add it to the image. This worked quite successfully and I am happy with the outcome of this cover of the magazine, however next time I need to bring the image in front of the text as I ran out of time to do this. I plan on using any contingency time on improving this cover as it was quite difficult and time-consuming to create, however I think it was worth it as it will overall increase the readership and circulation of the magazine.

For the coverlines and box out text, I simply did some research as to what my audience would like to read about and reflected this in the articles featured, such as the 'Top 50' and various band and artist reviews. The content in the magazine is especially important as it is essentially the main purpose of the magazine, therefore choosing the correct coverlines was important as it could make or break the magazine however I feel that the coverlines that I have used appeal to the audience quite well as they want to hear about arists and new, upcoming music within the indie genre. The box out text was also important as it gives the article an exciting twist which creates a personal relationship with the audience as it impacts hugely on their views and perceptions of the music industry and other artists.

In my next lesson, I plan on continuing to construct my scaffolding and replace the placement texts with my article and images to begin slowly constructing my magazine.