Final Piece on 'Talk Of The Town'

Here is my final piece on 'Talk Of The Town', the magazine.

Cover-page I wanted to go for something unique on my Cover-page, most magazines in general have one item covering majority of the front page but this is not the case with 'Talk Of The Town'. Initially i went for a blue background of an overview of part of the city, but after some reviews from a questionnaire i set out, participants believed the colour was biased towards Birmingham City FC; as their main colour is blue.I then changed it a a gradient PurpleGrey tone with the artistic effect'Glow Edges'. I placed various pictures i took around town of popular landscapes to show that we are about and based in Birmingham.

 I presented the photos in a creative way by having one hung up and the scatted the overs across the page, this added creativity the page.Instead of having a cover-lines across the page i added a footer bar with information on whats included in this issue. Moving the coverlines to the footer gave more space for the pictures and coverlines.

Contents Page My contents page is the opposite to my cover-page in how the pictures are more professionally set out, there is no 'Glow edges'effect in the background and not as much purple. Despite this i am most pleased with my contents page; it has creativity like the Cover-page.

 On the text informing what a feature is about i added red followed by burgundy in a pattern, the main featured articles are followed in similar pattern featuring Burgundy and Purple. The background is a transparent picture of centenary square, it wasn't made clear because it would the attention off the contents and after all it is the contents page.

Double-Page Spread The Double-Page is still successful but not as much as the other two in terms of design/structure. The article is about how an immigrant has settled in to Birmingham, this story is well said but i felt the design could have been better.

I am writing about life in Birmingham yet didn't think to include images of the city, i believe on this page it was more important to add Images of Birmingham than any other page i have done for my magazine. All three pages i have done have completely different formats which can be exciting to for readers because they won't know what to expect.

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Contents page influences (Research into similar products)

After reviewing my contents page page i believed it lacked any real quality, i wanted to make my magazine look as if it was made by a professional and the contents page lacked this by far.

I therefore went to look further into other magazine contents-pages for influences on how i can lay it out better, whilst creative and professional.

Here are the best two out of the magazines i have looked into:

This layout is stylish and simple, it doesn't have a lot of graphical content but
is still effective. It has good mixture of picture and text, some magazines that set
out a mixture text images can  make you confused in the way they jumble it up; not
this magazines contents page though.

This magazine gives most of the features credit by
adding a picture at the top. I like way they remind
you the magazine is XXL and what month the issue is for.
If the page got detached from the magazine, someone viewing
it could mistake it for a rival Hip-Hop magazine e.g. Vibe magazine.

Questionnaire Review (Target audience)

Here is a review on my questionnaire, i did this questionnaire in order to have some knowledge on where my magazine cover-page is currently at and how far it is from the finished item. I asked 8 people the following questions:                                  

Question 1 was about the cover-pages best feature, generally the most popular feature was the blueprint background although others liked the collage effect, masthead and different uses of font.    

Question 2 asks ' is blue an appropriate colour for our mass target audience?' and judging by the blueprint background being the best feature the answer surely had to be yes. A minority thought it could be too masculine and one particular participant believed it was biased towards Birmingham City FC (excluding Aston Villa FC, their fierce rivals).    

Question 3 asked if the text was clear, it is easy for me to see it as clear as i know what i wrote but what did others think?  Most participants believed all the text was readable whilst just under half believed the text showing the web info was difficult to read.

Question 4 and my 2nd font question wanted to know if the font relates to the magazine cover in e.g. too simple or too basic; 5 thought it was relative, meanwhile 3 disagreed.

Question 5 was a vital one asking what needs improving, most people believed it needed to simplified down especially because of how my cover images are displayed. Meanwhile one believes a 'selling line' e.g. 'Best Bargain in Brum' will draw more interest, others thought a different colour scheme would do and another believed the footer is untidy.  

Question 6 was "Would you have preferred the traditional cover picture  or the creative photo collage currently displayed?" 100% believed that my photo was better, which is good because it shows that my magazine could stillbe successful  without being traditional.  

For my final, Question 7 i asked for rating out of 10, lowest mark was 5 and the highest 8.5 but on average and after adding all the other marks; my average Mark is 7/10.  Now i know the ups and downs of my magazine cover-page i can carry on improving it in right way.

Cover-page questionnaire preview (Drafting and Planning)

i will do my second questionnaire, yhis time it'll be on the magazine contents page

Questionnaire on cover-page preview (Target Audience)

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Contents-page review (Drafting & Planning)

Double-Page-Spread review (Drafting and planning)

Double-page Layout Draft (Drafting and Planning)

I thought of trying a new layout for my magazine without having just a plain white background. I have added a picture from centenary square displaying Calthorpe Hotel and Alpha Tower; although the picture is edited in way that not everything is so visible.

Comparing To Time-out magazine ( Research and planning)

Magazine Advert review (Drafting and planning)

Cover-page draft Review (Drafting and Planning)

What's to come (organisation)

I will review my final drafts next week and seek what needs to be improved for a better quality final piece, I will also research into similar products for inspiration.

Final double page spread draft (drafting and planning)

Final Advert draft (Drafting and planning

More pictures from town (organisation)

Here is more photos taken from town, i can use these as original photography for my magazine   'Talk Of The Town'

Millennium Point

Inside Birmingham Library

Inside Birmingham Library

Library Balcony

The Mailbox

Centenary Square View from Library Balcony

Canal

Final Contents page draft (Drafting and planning)

Official Cover-page Draft( Drafting and planning

This is my official magazine cover draft, the photo quality is even better than currently displayed

Pictures from town (Organisation)

Here is a few of the photos taken on my last visit to town:

Birmingham Library 

Birmingham Library and The Rep

Canal Via town/Ladywood

Back of Giant Screen cinema at Millennium point

Back  view of Millennium point (car park on the left)

Overview of North Birmingham

Canal Via Centre/ Ladywood

Official Magazine Draft (Organisation)

I will begin my work on my official magazine draft, this means that i will make my final decisions on my advert article page, Advert, contents page and cover-page and hope to build on them for my final piece.

For the draft i only have to display one of two adverts(the excluded one being a billboard ad) i will do my magazine advert on Millennium Point, a multi-meeting complex but well known for having a science Museum named Thinktank.

I believe that advertising Millennium suits a variety of groups, the main purpose of the centre is to educate and a lot of young readers will learn a lot by visiting Millennium Point; especially Thinktank. Millennium Point also has a cinema which is a major attraction, the cinema extends into the complex's hub( known as atrium)

Photo Planning(Organisation)

This weekend i will take more original photography for Talk Of The Town Magazine, during my next photo takes i target The Birmingham Library, The Mail Box, Bindley Place and canals as well as an improved photo of the Town Hall.

Town Hall

The Mailbox

Canal

Adding effects to my images (Drafting and planning)

I know that adding creativity in parts of my magazine is vital in attracting my target audience, here is simplified editing techniques that i have used as examples of what i mean about adding creativity to my magazine.

In the St Martins edit i added a cement effect, i believe that this effect makes the Catholic Church look historic/ancient, having been around since the 13th century

Soundfile (Organisation)

I will soon be releasing a sound file on my radio advert. I have already uploaded the script but you don't know what tone i'm going to use in words; the way the advert is spoken compared written can have two different influences. for example you can't get as much enthusiasm from a writing as you can in voice.

Millenium Point Advertisement review (Drafting and planning)

Millennium Point Advert (Drafting and Planning)

Here is an advertisement draft on Millennium Point,the photo is not original but i will take an original photo on my next trip to town. I have still not decided what my final advert will be on, but Millennium Point is a possibility.

Photo review/planning (Organisation)

The photos i took  in general were okay i particularly liked ones of Selfridges, Rotunda and The Bull. The photos of The council house and Town could have been better with the quality being not so good. I still need photos of the library where i will go inside and onto the balcony to take aerial shot of a part of the city.

Photographs(Organisation)

Here is the best of photos coming from sundays images in town, i plan too take another spree of photos soon.