Final evaluation: 

Looking at my genre (indie rock) I spent a lot of my time working on how I would imitate and develop the outcome of my "overall look" to my magazine and the contents. Colour, text and pretension of these elements played a huge role in the outcome of my work.

I looked at how other magazine companies presented artists or this genre on their covers and improved upon my own. Simplicity, minimalist and lack of colour  was mainly what I took from looking into the typical layout. I cut down how much text and imagery I placed across my cover and started experimenting with how I would start to take my target audience into consideration.
Averagely I would be looking at quite a young adult audience and so I thought through what  content would be best to feature. Catch up stories seemed best while complementary images of other younger people kept that young and rebellious alive and well within the theme.

Who?

I researched a lot into my audience and slowly realised that there was quite a age range to be represented. Keeping in mind as to how popular and timeless indie rock has been to the world I started to become more conscious of my older audience members.

I wanted to keep my magazine current and relevant. one of the ways I managed to do this was within my photography. Leather jackets, sunglasses and jeans match the typical look of the much younger target audience which I think is important as it can be hard these days to reach out to a younger audience without some sort of link. These were the visuals I required. The mature, black&white edits were what I mainly kept for the older audience as indie should not lose that old, rebellion and slick theme running deep through it.

TIME INC.

I feel Time inc. is one of the main parent companies that would greatly help the development and growth of my magazine. With around 60 iconic brands and a reach form America, India and the UK they prove to rake in a large audience when in terms of location. Although this is impressive I am more interested in how their small time brands such as NME which do not stretch far outside of the UK succeed. I would like to think that my magazine would be a better success being distributed within the UK only rather than worldwide as I think this type of magazine might hold most popularity there.

Target audience?

My target audience would be the ages of 13-18 and mostly female. Of course this is only one small section of the audience but I feel like my magazine template compliments and matches more to someone of this description. I felt that keeping the look reflects the reader but does not communicate with the audience in such a manner as I must of course consider the range of potential audience profiles.

Attraction 

The colour (or rather the lack of it) held the most importance due to how it linked to the genre of music I was presenting. I looked into the black and white imagery typically used for indie rock albums  to see what effect this would have to my magazine. I felt like this type of photography not only gave it a mature look but a recognisable one that would capture the interest of someone who appreciated this particular aesthetic.

What skills did I gain?

I really needed the aid of what effects I could use through Photoshop and how I could range each edit. Being able to sharpen up text or to heighten colour really made me consider my presentation a lot more. Lightening up parts of my cover made me think about how this would be spotted out of many despite the dull exterior. 

Overall development

 I think from before I now have a much better grasp on how to keep a running theme going through my design when it comes to use of colour. I also think that I have taken more consideration to proportion and how each item is positioned. The main image is now more or less the biggest section of the page and is not bombarded with text. The title is placed clearly but neatly so that it doesn't overtake the page.

I feel I was able to imitate something of a more professional look and clarify my main theme through edits that show important links to my target audience.

Magazine double page spread design:

Magazine contents design:

Magazine cover design no.2:

Magazine cover design: 

Photography: front cover main images

I took some friends and myself to take some photos for my potential front cover images. I asked that they keep it as indie as possible fashion wise and how we presented ourselves. most of the poses and choice of clothing were inspired by indie album covers I went over beforehand.

Case study: Canary Wharf magazine

Style him:

This page is a dedicated section of the magazine to men’s fashion. This already brings in a new appeal from a less likely audience as we know the overall audience profile consists of a female population. Despite having a general audience profile that you are aware of, it’s best to try open up the potential to reach out to all groups so to increase sales

.

"Leather goods":

Zooming in on one of the small articles that appear here, “leather goods” covers a range of things that we assume the typical reader would know of or be interested in. iPhone cases, document pouches and personalized bracelets are small and expensive materialistic things that you would often find in the home of someone who would read this. I assume this kind of person to be working class but just about reaching into the upper living status and in a secure financial situation. A magazine would hardly appeal to someone who might not have enough comfort in their income to be concerned with the latest £85 bracelet from Acnestudios.  You can’t say that it’s not helpful though. They get price, company and location in one small article to the products they advertise without coming off as desperate to persuade which I think is quite a good quality to this entire magazine.

I feel that too often fashion is highly feminized and not available to men. This is something I think media coverage is now addressing a lot more.  By placing this article here it shows that “yes. Men’s fashion is now becoming a much more important topic and we will be covering it”. It’s informative and helpful! A range of clothing material shown here with websites, shops, prices and companies allow a feeling of verity to the reader which is often appreciated when it comes to such a large scale topic like fashion.  

Case study: Canary Wharf magazine

colour

Against this person's light skin and lightly coloured text across the cover, plenty of colours have been applied here to amplify the eye pleasing features to this cover. This is the main image and seems to show quite an artistic approach to the overall look. Linking to the coverlines used here i feel that the red colouring of this woman's lips suggests a symbolism of beauty and feminized arts that can be found within this magazine and its articles. This is quite helpful as it should catch the eye of somebody who might appreciate such things as fashion, makeup or the visual arts. Canary Wharf itself is quite a central area and focuses well around the current movements of London life so it wouldn't be too far off to say that the average person passing by might be interested. There is a purposely darkened background which I think the editors felt would heighten the colouring. It's so highly defined in the detail and eye catching bright that it's hard not to go and grab it.

The colouring of the text is plain as it would be a little overwhelming otherwise as there is so much already going on in the main image. Coverlines are white while the title is a shiny gold. I think that the gold could be linked to jewellery which yet again links right back into the type of magazine this is. This magazine updates within central London on the latest accessories and clothing and so to use the colour gold would be a sharp representation of “wealth”. Our target audience has clearly been taken into much consideration when designing this and the colour pallet. 

audience profile

A well-considered stereotype which does prove to be often true is that women are more often found to personally enjoy the visual arts than the average male. Using an image of a well presented female is often a technique that editors use to capture the female eye as it revolves around the feminized make up culture most women grow up around. Most people do often aspire to become like these perfected figures we spot in magazines daily and so using positive imagery of someone is often effective for a larger interest in the publishing. Despite there being some form of “arts and crafts” across this woman's face it has been perfected and put into proportion with her features. Not a single imperfection. 

Price

This is a free magazine! I really think with how well published and designed this magazine is, it's a pure surprise to find there is no charge. We know that people who usually are around central London or living within central are generally financially stable as a whole so why make it free? I think that because this magazine is already supporting the reader to go out and pursue high priced brands of clothing and other positional goods that it would be a stretch to then charge for the magazine. I’m looking at expensive clothes and yet I had to pay £3 for the magazine. What’s the point? Might as well use that money to buy this stuff without canary wharf magazine’s advice, right? But the whole point is that this advice should be available without thinking about the money in your pocket.

Our audience profile is mainly linked to locational factors and wealth status. This magazine is published around central London and is free at the stands of Canary Wharf. Thinking about the general location I would assume that this is directed to someone who lives within London of course. Wealth also plays a huge role in our audience profile as this is a “high living” lifestyle type of magazine. The average person may not attend a fashion gallery on their typical weekend but someone with enough interest and the funding to do so would which is where money comes in. Of course we can't assume that everyone who picks this up is of the same background and lifestyle but i think this focuses more on those who might return to read another edition of Canary Wharf magazine.

Language

“Explores trends across the world, through the ages”- Trend in fashion is a huge topic that is ever changing. This magazine's target audience would show an interest in this kind of discussion and hopefully be encouraged to read on into the rest of the magazine's content to read this article.

“ART with TECH”- Two very contradicting fundamentals and due to the lack of full expansion on this phrase we are left to wonder as to how this could be happening and how it changes anything. It already covers two things that I know this audience will be culturally aware of.

“The HISTORY of BEAUTY”- Now we’re digging into something that is deeply attached to the cover image. This facial makeover has got to have something to do with beauty as she has undergone a number of changes that give her an unusually positive look. This is the main coverline and so it would be assumed that this is the link.

“Help us to emotionally engage?”- Women are typically all about emotional engaging in most activities. Sad movie? Cute video? Women are typically known to have a stronger reaction to these types of things and our overall audience profile is dominated by female readers I can see why this type of thing would appeal. I like how the word “us” is used here to bring in the reader and engage them as part of this experience. Personal pronouns and use of language that engages the reader really is effective when it comes to encouraging a reader to feel something towards the article rather than feel like a mere observer to it all.