Denotation & Connotation

I analaysed two music magzines regarding their front cover and contents. I had to compare and contrast the differences and what their denotations, connotations and design layouts reflected about the magazine. I distinguished the reasons as to why a certain image or design was there. For example looking at typefaces, i learnt the differnce between serif and sans serif and why they were chosen specifically to be applied on to a certain part of the magazine. Furthermore, i learnt why certain colours were picked, what they meant and what was trying to be achieved. For example on the magazine classic rock there was a variety of colours chosen like purple, red, black and orange etc. once identifying the colours i was able to say that red for example was used to make the magazine front cover look eye-catching however most importantly to show that the magazine had an exciting contents. I also looked at the typical page layouts and alignments of texts of two magazines, how they differed and how i could apply what i saw and learnt to my magazine. Moving on i further learnt that a very busy background does not look very good as it does not allow things that you want to stand out look eye-catching. In spite of that i learnt that a busy background has an advantage of being well memorable for a person therefore they know what they are looking for when they want to buy it or in another sense the magazine is estblished in their heads.

EVALUATION
According to my research on and knowledge on the conventions of a magazine, my media product hits many points. Firstly the images are edited like a real magazine though it is not as proffesional as real media companies as yet. Secondly the barcode and more importantly the logos make my media products very much like a real magazine; the logos were also edited.

On from that the target audience of my media product would be 16-19 year olds that are in Chelmsford College. The majority of their needs are met in this my magazine. My magazine attracts the target audience in many different ways. For example the images used on the front cover and contents page are clearly addressing the college students therfore they will understand and see easily that the magazine is aimed at them. Furthermore Because the images are students from the actual college, my audience further understands that the magzien is purely for them.

My magazine represents individuals from todays popular culture and youth culture social groups; that are the so-called 'fashionistas' regardless of being boys or girls and young people that have interest in music, cars, trends and parties etc. practically social groups that 'love' everything portrayed from mass media.

I have learnt many things in the process of constructing my media product. Firstly good use of Photoshop, which i had used before however had not been able to learn fully. Secodnly i was introduced to In Design, which surprised me with all its different editing ways. I learnt how to shoot proffesional photographs and the to edit them to my desired look.

I think i was very good with shooting photos in the making of this media product. However i would have to work a lot more on using In Design to be able to use it for all its goodness!
Eda Karaca

This is my final front cover, which i edited in In Design. I was careful about the colour of the text because the image is of colours that engulfs most colours but black, therefore i outlined the text in black however used red inside therfore the text was not lost in the background image.

This is the photograph that i took for my contents page. I used students on the go which portrays the busy life of students. I also considered race and ethnic issues in this picture, just like my front cover , however this time i used to students from black race and two from white.

This is the edited image for the contenst page, i edited it in photoshop. Although i used people from contarasting races, my actual aim was to make everyone appear the same, therefore put across a message that the succes criteria of life is not about being just black or white, but actually getting eduaction. Therefore this ultraviolet retro look meets my target.

This is my final front cover for my magazine. I put a barcode, which will create a realistic connotation of the magazine. I edited the image in photoshop to create a vintage look and edited the text and logo in indesign, which i made attractive by using loud colours to add a twist to the overall appearance. Furtermore the eye-catching colours creates a visual memory, therefore the magazine will be easy to remeber.

This is my final edited photo, i used Phostoshop to edit this image. I really like the vintage theme which i believe i achieved to my best of capability. However, most importantly i wanted to add a twist to the look of the magazine, beacause the vintage theme contrasts sharply with my contemporary logo inspired by Apple, hence in my opinion evokes how technology has evolved from black and white pictures and hand crafted logos to computer generated and manipulated images.

I chose this particular image because it suits the shooting criteria adequately; there are no distruptions in the background and it portrays a simplistic yet elegant look of these students whilst on the other hand representing the members of Chelmsford College as a whole.

Furthermore the low angle shot shows an understanding of shooting techniques, more importantly though in another sense it almost automatically gives these people who also appear to represent the college students a high status by the low angle shot.

Significantly, my magazine will be for both male and female students as mentioned in my proposal, hence this image meets my target whilst the target audience knows straight away that the magazine is aimed at both genders.
Eda karaca