Billboard

When it came to making decisions on how i would design my billboard advertisement, i researched some of them online. I think the best ones are the ones which involve one main image on a plain background with big bold text, stating the title or a catchy statement.  White backgrounds work the best when making billboards, as any other colour will stand out a lot which is very important. The models clothing is also a big part, the more unusual and eye catching the model looks, the more interest the billboard will get.
Bright colours are also essential when creating advertisements that need to be seen. The bolder and brighter the colours, the more it will be noticed. Also by using short punchy text draws in attention as it gets straight to the point. Rhetorical questions also work very well on billboards as they make the viewers question themselves and possibly motivate them into buying the magazine that is being advertised.
Billboards also need to be located in the perfect area. Preferably an area where thousands of people walk or drive past every day, and in a position where you have no choice but to see it.
I would also consider adding smaller text, showing the title of the magazine if i haven't already or the website address, so viewers know where to find more information; as you don't want to mess up the billboard with a lot of information.
The element of fashion needs to be shown very strongly also, to get across that the billboard is about a fashion related product, this also means you don't need extra text to explain the advert.
After looking into billboard advertisements, i think i will design mine with one big image on a white background, with a simple quote or the title of my magazine, as i think is the best way to get attention from the public.

Fashion website inspiration

I have chosen to mainly look at 'VOGUE' magazines website. I chose this because it is the most popular and known about magazine all across the globe. When ever the name is mention everyone knows what it is and what it is about.

I like the clean layout of this website as its very easy and understandable to use. Everything is spaced out and put in very simple, bold font. I took interest in this website as i was thinking about using this layout for my website. As i mainly like the idea of a big bold title, with big images underneath, explaining the rest of the website and how to get around it. 

Because the website has a very clear layout, this draws in attention from both everyday computer users, to even people who don't use this software as much. This is simply because the website explains everything very well, and all the buttons that indicate different web pages are clearly shown down the side of the page, in clear text. Also by doing black on white makes everything on the web pages stand out a lot more, and also makes everything seem well organised and doesn't scare away users. I like how the home page also has an option to search for anything you wanted to see straight away. This makes it a lot easier for people who know what they are looking for instead of having to go through numerous amount of webpages. 

http://www.vogue.co.uk

I also decided that i was going to insert a page titled 'magazine' to include ways to subscribe to my magazine or view recent front covers and models that have been used. Vogue also use this idea, by dating all their front covers from each months magazine. This can be used for people to look online to what will be in the copy of the magazine that they haven't yet purchased from the shop. This webpage has also continued the clean look with the font throughout the page staying the same. All images of each magazine cover are also neatly organized in rows of 3 so it is very easy to the eye to look at. All dates of each front cover is also clearly stated underneath each. 

Another inspirational fashion website is ELLEUK.COM. This website is created with the Elle fashion magazine which is very popular. This website has a wide range of options on their navigation bar. This ensures the visitors to the website have a choice of what area of fashion they want to look at wether that is catwalk or street style. This website also opens up with a billboard style advertisement at the top of the page, which stands out against the rest of the website as it's very big. I like how this website gives the user the option to search the website for whatever they are looking for instead of them trying to find it through clicking different options. Elle website also has a very simple theme and layout. This is beneficial as it doesn't scare off non-internet users. This also means that the website never looks messy and it's always organized and easy to navigate. 

When I selected the fashion option, a drop down box appeared showing more options, but i selected 'all fashion'. The fashion page includes different boxes of different fashion related stories These are able to be clicked on to find out more instead of taking up most of the page on one story. I think this is a good way to present loads of different options to read about. Also the features of well known fashion artists such as Victoria beckham and Kayne and Kim's child.
  When creating my fashion age for my website, i will try to keep the theme simple like this one as i think its really effective to show all the elements of fashion and the magazine.

Fashion magazine inspiration

When I was researching different brands of fashion genre magazines, I came across the magazine called 'Fashion'. The main thing that caught my eye was the fact that the colour of the clothing the model is wearing, corresponds with the colour of the main pugs and masthead on the front page. I thought this made the magazine very easy to the eye and it stands out a lot as it doesn't look messy, it looks very sophisticated and organisationed. This draws attention from audiences as readers don't want magazines which front covers dont instantly jump out and make them want to buy the magazine.
The image is also clearly forced towards fashion and makeup, as the models are also all well known because of their fashion and are inspire young people who read magazines and watch these famous females.
On this magazine the pugs and pull quotes work very effectively by using different sized text and occasionally different fonts. By using the same font through most of the magazine creates a unique and organised look to the viewers.
All pugs are about mainly fashion, and the bigger the text the more important and are more likely to be interesting towards the audiences. I think colour plays a big part when it comes to designing a magazine front cover. This gives the magazine its unique look which will be known by audiences globally. The colours used can also be used to symbolise different events/things, eg: red - love.
Overall I like the understandable and organised look this magazines front cover gives off at the first look.

Initial Proposal

- The first four pages from an original regional magazine
- Two hyperlinked pages from the magazine's website
- A billboard advertisement for the magazine

Magazine                                                                                              

For my magazine i will be creating a fashion magazine. The mood-board on the right, gives initial ideas of what i want to include on the first four pages. The colour scheme i have chosen to stay within is pink, purple and black. I chose this because the pink and purple will be appealing to the female target audience, and the black will be used for more serious parts of media text throughout the pages. The front page will include a fashion related image and the tag lines that i think will be the most interesting to the audience. The magazine will be called 'Style' and it will be shown very bold on the front cover.  The second page will be the contents page. For each page number i will state the name of the page, with a small description underneath to give more of a clear insight of that particular page. I will also put all titles of pages under the headings of 'On The Cover' and 'Features'. On this page i will also include a fashion related image to keep the audience interested in the genre of the magazine.
On the third page i will include a small article about the model which is being mainly used throughout the magazine. The article will be aimed around the different clothes the model wear and maybe some tips for the audience. In the article i will include a lot of quotes directly from the model and also add some facts about her, to make her more understood by the audience.
The fourth page will conclude with an article about someone who wants their story shared and is interesting enough that the audience will read it. I will use a pull quote on this page to draw in attention from the reader and also an image to do with the article.

Magazines website 

The opening page of the website, will use the same colour scheme as the magazine and will clearly show the name of the magazine at the top. It will have options such as 'subscribe to Style' 'Win' 'News' 'Fashion' 'Horoscopes' and 'Beauty'. The two pages that will be hyperlinked will be the opening page and the 'News' page. The News page will include things such as celebrity fashion, do's and dont's, images, festival fashion, top outfits for 2014. The website will relate a lot to the magazine as they need to be unique but look like they belong together. This will be done by the styling, colour choices and font/text choices.

Billboard advertisement 

The billboard advertisement will include a big photograph of a model mainly showing the fashion and clothing she's wearing. The photograph of the model will also be making eye contact will the camera, which will look like she's looking at the audience viewing the poster. This will make the quote or rhetorical question seem a lot more personal. There will also be a big, catchy heading to the side of the image which will get an interested audience. I want to place a rhetorical question next to the image as it will also get the audience thinking to themselves. A question like 'Are you hearing it from the best?' 'Are you getting the best?' 'Fashion demands to be seen'.

AS Reflection

Looking back at my AS course work, i have picked out the strengths and areas for improvement from all three pages. All elements of this magazine have improved since creating my college magazine. 

Within in the music magazine, one of the strengths was sticking to the chosen colour palette. I found that this was very important to consider as keeping the house style consistent makes the magazine look professional and gives the magazine it's unique look and colour scheme. 

Another strength of my magazine was the use of media language. By making sure the mode of address,  is certainly appealing to the audience which the magazine is mainly aimed at. I also found that consistently using the same range of font and text colours, made each page of the magazine relatable and gave it a professional and neat look. Making sure the cover lines are specially bold, eye catching and interesting is very important to get audiences to purchase the magazine. I found that this was one of my strengths, however each headline on the front page could have been placed more effectively around the chosen image, so the image is still clearly visible as it draws attention to the target audience; but still making sure that the most interesting cover lines are used so no space is wasted by unwanted text. 

One of the areas for improvement would be the mast head on the front page. It needs to stand out from the background a lot more, so it is clearly visible as this is the magazines unique selling point which audiences will first notice. Also by using tag lines such as 'exclusive' on the front page will also draw in audiences. 

One of the strengths on my contents page is the layout. I found that using not too many different coloured text and selective images that match with some of the headlines worked very well. The image used also worked with the layout as the models faces aren't hidden at all by the text. Another strength was keeping the the title of the magazine in the right hand corner of every other page as this is the unique point. On this page i could have made the mast head a lot more eye catching and make it stand out against the background a lot more. 

The layout of my double page spread was defiantly a strength. By using the image as a mirror image, under the media text of the interview. The layout of the text is also a strength as it is all in a font that is understandable and the size is suitable for anyone to read. Also i used tags of social networks, of where to find more information about the band, this was a strength as the target audience of the magazine are mainly who use social networking websites. Also by using a catchy masthead for the interview, draws in attention to read the text. Also the pull quote over the image on the right hand side, draws attention to the most interesting part of the article and also the image. 

Over all i have developed skills when using Photoshop and Word documents, in which i edited both the images and the magazine. I used these skills to create a more professional look to the magazine.