Research into similar products

I have fell in love with this Birmingham regional magazine I have found on Issuu!

It's called SCENE BIRMINGHAM.

I think it looks so distinctive and eye catching, I like the way they have used a contrast of black and white and even blue. The colours work really well together. These are colours I may include together in my own magazine as I think that they really compliment each other. Using more than one image on the front page in a sort of collage form is not something I have seen much of before. I think this looks great! It makes the magazine seem as though it will feature lots of different topics, ranging from beauty, to art, to sight seeing. And these are all elements of Birmingham I know students would like to be shed some light on to. The photography is beautifully clear and this makes the magazine look very professional. I like the way the most important image (alerting the reader it's a Birmingham magazine) is the largest image on the page. I've noticed the way this magazine, even though it's so different and dynamic, sticks to the usual conventions of  a regional magazine - it includes a date line and price. The only thing I would add to this magazine is probably some anchorage text to make it have a clear magazine layout format and to include a bar code. 

I also like how the contents page seems full and buzzing! Also, the way the colours have been carried through from the front page creates a great level of   symbiosis and I think the two page layout is effective because it shows that the magazine is jam packed full of information. The way the same text has been used looks very professional. In the same way the same layout of the images is fantastic, it's different and quite inspirational. I will definitely take this into account for my own magazine. The use of page numbers on top of the pictures provides a high level of coherence for the target audience showing that the editor has really thought about how to make their magazine easily accessible. 

I am going to use this magazine to inspire me for my own work!

Here is the magazine: 

Drafting and planning

Yesterday I went to Brindley Place and took some photos, these are the better quality images that I took.

I'm really impressed with these images because I think they make Birmingham inverse it's stereotypes. The images show Birmingham to be still, quiet and with no rush for life. They all look very elegant. 

On the other hand, the lighting suggests that it is a very busy and bright city.

I think all of these images have the potential to be a great billboard image. This is because 3/4 are landscape, and with research I found that most billboard advertisements are landscape, therefore my images fit in with the conventions of a billboard.

I think the contrast of the bright and dark colours are all highly effective because they'll capture the attention of my target audience as even though the background is quite subtle, the rest of the image on all of them shouts out at people passing by. 

The image that I think is most likely to feature on my billboard is the last one:

I think that it's truly beautiful how the light bounces off the water of the canal. This represents Birmingham as energetic and exciting, and can also represent my magazine in this way. I think I will have a look at this specific image in further detail when producing my billboard. It could potentially be my final image.

Organisation

Tomorrow I will be going to to Birmingham City Centre to take photographs of Birmingham on the evening.

I will specifically focus on areas such as Brindley place as I think I'll be able to take quite dynamic pictures that will appeal to my audience.

Certain photo's I'd like to take may look like the range I've found on Google Images.

Birmingham

These classic images of notable Birmingham land marks will lure the readers in as they make the city look truly beautiful. I will take the idea of these images with me when I go out to take my photos for my magazine and billboard. 

Target audience/ Drafting and planning

In connection to my post on 17/9/15, I had four responses to the questions within my survey.

• Q1: What type of image would you like to see on a billboard?

100% answered "one eye catching image".

• Q2: If this billboard is promoting a regional magazine about Birmingham, what would you expect the main image to be?

All of the answers included phrases such as "land marks", "tourist destinations", "important places".

• Q3: For the front page of the magazine/ main image of the billboard, should the main image be during the day time or night time?

Half answered day time, one said night time and the other said depends on the context.

• Q4: What would you expect the main font on a magazine and billboard to look like? (If it is aimed at males and females)

75% of the answers said "bold and dominant", 25% said "clear and simple".

Here is an analysis of my thoughts:

As 100% of the responses said that they'd like to see one eye catching image, I know that within my photography I need a clear, edgy shot of the city. This differs from my original idea of a photo collage for the billboard, now that I know my target audience would prefer one image I am going to stick to this. I think the main image on both the magazine and billboard must be my decision! Therefore, when I look at the rest of my photography, I will make a final decision depending on what I think looks more effective and eye catching. Finally, I think it's clear that the font I use for the masthead must be "bold and dominant". I am happy with the responses I have collected and they are going to make a difference and great impact on my products.

Once again, my survey can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NHVFJK3

Drafting and planning

I've drafted the layout of my magazine:

• It's going to have the masthead laying central at the top
• The main image in the centre of the page
• Three cover lines on the left of the page 
• The anchorage text over the main image

Here is a draft example:

This will not necessarily be my main image and this certainly won't be my final masthead. This task was to help my find and idea of how I will position certain elements on the page. 

I can refer to this when constructing my first draft of the magazine. 

Research into similar products/ Organisation

I have identified many Birmingham magazines, and other regional magazines within my research that have different target audiences.
Student regional magazine's such as The Scratch found in my previous post on 24/09/15 have given me an insight for how my own magazine will look. I'm at an advantage now too because I've done half of my photography. My photography applies to my target audience well.

My aims for the rest of my photography will be to photograph Birmingham by night to appeal to a range of different people within my demographic. This will take place this weekend.

Research into similar products

I have been researching on Issuu to find magazine's that are similar to the one I will be constructing.
I've found a university prospectus for a university in London, this can be found here...
Issuu magazine

I like the way that an establishing shot of London and a key landmark has been used on the front page. This immediately lets all readers know that the magazine is about London. The fact that the main cover line, or anchorage text, if you like has "London" embedded in it shows that there is symbiosis between the image and the anchorage text; and also the masthead.

The colour scheme is highly complimentary and I like the contrast of the blue and purple. Both of these colours represent wisdom and royalty, which is something associated with London itself. Therefore the editor has clearly thought about the connotations behind the colours they have used.

The only difference between this magazine and my ideas for my own magazine is the fact that I would like to include another two to three cover lines on the front page; this will make my magazine seem a little more informal and appropriate for the young people who will be living in Birmingham, this will mean the magazine won't intimidate them.

An alternative magazine that I have been looking at can also be found on Issuu.
In contrast to the first magazine, this one is actually a regional magazine for Birmingham that is targeted at the students themselves (THE SAME AS MINE). Therefore, this magazine may be very helpful.
This is a link to "The Scratch" magazine - The Scratch.

I'm impressed with how, immediately this magazine addresses the fact it is a Birmingham regional magazine through the use of an image of Birmingham Central Library as the main image. Therefore, readers will quickly and ultimately know what to expect. The choice of the font for the masthead shows that it is for younger people, specifically students as it's quite bold and edgy, rather than plain which would emphasise that it's formal. I like the way a similar, messy font is used for the anchorage text because this kind of font you would surely associate with universities. It kind of looks like someone has wrote this font. The anchorage text is on a white background which also looks as though it it supposed to appear like a 'note' as students in the region would be taking notes for university/college etc.

In the same way, I love the colour scheme in this magazine. It applies the colour scheme of Birmingham City University. This is another clue that "The Scratch" is a student magazine. It includes other typical conventions of magazine's as a whole such as a date line, and various cover stories.

I will use this magazine as an inspiration for when I create my own.

Research into similar products

I have researched into different mastheads that are used in Birmingham products. I have found the Birmingham Mail masthead, Birmingham Post masthead, Birmingham magazine and Love Brum magazine mastheads.

These have all given me some inspiration. 

I like the way the Birmingham Mail masthead is bold and clear, and the way the two colours contrast with each other. It shows that the newspaper is targeted at both men an women, red doesn't just appeal to men or women. 

With regards to Birmingham Post it seems quite formal and professional, which makes it seem as though it has an older target audience. The blue and white also make this masthead seem formal because blue connotes wisdom and loyalty.

Birmingham magazine's font emphasises that it's for women as it's quite curly and feminine. The black font is nice and plain but also seems quite sophisticated.

Finally, Love Brum is clearly directed at women. It's nice how they've used red as it's a connotation of love and romance. The heart in the letter U looks quite professional and suggests that the magazine is feminine.

I have learnt from looking at these mastheads that mine must look clear and simple to look sophisticated, but not too sharp so it doesn't look too formal - this is because my magazine is a student magazine, is the font is too harsh then it will immediately look intimidating. I think that I need to go for a multi-coloured sort of colour scheme to apply to males and females and to a mixed age group between 16 and 25. 

I will use these mastheads as an example and template when producing my own masthead. 

Organisation/ Drafting and planning

Yesterday I went to Birmingham City Centre and took photographs of the key places mentioned in my post on Monday 14th September.

Birmingham Council House

Birmingham Council House

Birmingham Memorial

Sign post for Birmingham attractions

Central Library

Union Jack Owl 

Central Library

Central Library

Ball in City Centre

Symphony Hall and ICC

Birmingham Canals

Brindley Place

The REP and  Central Libray

St Martin's Church

Selfridges

St Martins Church

The Bull

Cannon Hill Park

Birmingham New Street

All of these images will be featured in my magazine and on my bill board. However, this is not the whole collection of images that will be found in my magazine. I will be taking more images this week featuring Birmingham's famous Broad Street to cover the night life aspect, I will be gathering my photo's from festivals and find out more about student life to understand what other types of images I can collect for my magazine and billboard.

I am very happy with the photographs I've taken and I think they'll be very effective within my magazine and billboard. They are the key places that will interest students in this regional magazine.

Drafting and planning

I have researched "billboards in Birmingham" on Google images. 
Billboards in Birmingham
I found out that billboards are not one size but can alter in their size. This is going to be useful information for me to have as it may change the way i which I will create my own magazine based on the size I am going to be able to make it or chose to have it.

The image below shows the different billboards found in the region of Birmingham, where my magazine is based on:

Target audience/ Drafting and planning

I asked my target audience to answer a new survey.

This was based only on what images they'd like to see on the front of a magazine or on a billboard, and what type of font would be appropriate. 

Q1: What type of image would you like to see on a billboard?

• One dominant image
• A collage of images

Q2: If this billboard is promoting a regional magazine about Birmingham, what would you expect the main image to be?

Q3: For the front page of a magazine or the billboard, should the main image be of the day time or night time in Birmingham?

Q4: What would you expect the main font on this magazine to look like? (If it is aimed at male and females)

Here is a link to my survey:

Survey

Research into similar products/ Drafting and planning

One website that is influencing my choice of news is: Visit Birmingham

It has all the key news about Birmingham appropriate to the time of year. It covers all of my choices of what I'm covering. Music is shown through "Birmingham Festival Planner", Leisure through "The Mailbox". Elements of travel can be identified through "Birmingham New Street Station". When thinking of extra articles to add into my magazine, I can refer to this website for a great guideline. 

Further down the home page, sport is addressed as it talks about the "Rugby World Cup 2015" and Leisure is further emphasised through "National Sea Life Centre" and "Cadbury World". I can use all of these subjects within my magazine as they are all suitable for students through: days out, passions for sport, longing for new clothes, attending music festivals and gigs, and finding easy ways to travel around England through the new and improved New Street Station. These stories will be highly relevant in a student regional magazine.

Looking closely at this website all of the different sections that will be included in my magazine are evident. This reassures me that I'm on the right lines, and I am successfully including the right information that a regional magazine should hold. 

However, it is not only the information that has captured my attention on this page, I have been intrigued by the use of images to represent Solihull, the Black Country, Herefordshire etc. This has made me rethink my ideas for my billboard. I think that I should use a dynamic dominant shot of one particular places as this may be eyecatching to my target audience. This is important because my age is within my targeted demographic and if this has captured my attention then surely it would capture the attention of others. To find out whether this is relevant, I am going to conduct another survey on Survey Monkey, I will publish the link in a later blog post. 

Research into similar products

I researched into other Birmingham magazines. This will be helpful because it's the same region, therefore I can use the content of the magazine to my advantage.

I like the way this magazine is straight to the point and is called "Birmingham Living" this is appealing as readers will know it's all about Birmingham. It's also important that Lenny Henry is the cover star; he's a famous Birmingham face - this will intrigue readers and make them feel at home. The cover line "Brum's Business Boom" is effective as the alliteration emphasises that business is doing well. This inspires me to use alliteration on my front page to engage readers. I like the way the different cover lines address different aspects of the magazine, ranging from business. to style to leisure. I will use this within my own magazine to show that it's packed full of relevant, exciting information about various areas. The plain bright font is great on this magazine as it contrasts with the dark background, I like the choice of font because it's not too curly or bold. making this magazine appeal to males and females.This will immediately catch the attention of readers.

Ultimately, I think the way the same font has been carried through from the front page to the contents page gives the magazine a neat edge. I like the way that the darkness of the front page contrasts with the contents page as it goes from a black background to a white background. The way that there are secondary images in the contents page makes the magazine seem busy and interesting. I like the way numbers have been used on the pictures to link them to the article pages. It's highly appealing that the cover star has been used to centre the two pages, this shows he is the key focus throughout the magazine. The articles shown in the contents page cover all of the topics I will cover in my own magazine: nightlife, restaurants, entertainment etc. This immediately shows that this magazine is clearly targeted at the Birmingham Region. 

I am impressed with this magazine and I will use many of these conventions in my own magazine. One key thing I have picked up on is the fact that the masthead isn't influenced by the left third rule, I will also abolish the left third rule in my own front page. In the same way, I think the contrast of the fonts and background is highly effective and this is inspiring me to carefully photograph certain places, so that I can use complimentary colours effectively. The front page is not too busy but it's fantastic and informative, this is the message I'd like to give off in my own magazine. With regards to the contents page, I like the way the stories are spread over two pages, but I think that in my magazine, I will stick to the one page with one dominant image at the centre, and secondary images surrounding it: I will keep the idea of the page numbers on the images in mind and use this in my own magazine. 

Drafting and planning/ Organisation

For the photography element within my magazine, I have come up with some ideas.
As my magazine will be a regional magazine about Birmingham, I have decided to photograph certain places that will be relevant in a student issue e.g.

• Birmingham Central Library 
• Selfridges
• Bars/Clubs
• Music - concerts and festivals
• Brindley Place
• New Street Station
• Cannon Hill Park

Not only will I take photos of Birmingham, on one of my trips to London I have decided to photograph:

• London Eye
• Big Ben
• Underground

This may seem irrelevant, however, within my magazine I could display a competition, if you enter you may be able to win a trip to London.

Not only have I been thinking about photography, I have come up with some articles that could feature in my magazine:

• Student finance - offers from different banks
• "Bar of the week" - good places to go on a night out
• Birmingham Library - opening a new floor specifically for degree level books
• A job advertisement page 
• How to get your hands on tickets to football matches (AVFC, BCFC, WBA etc.) and when the new 50m pool in Selly Oak is opening
• Annie Mac Presents performing at Rainbow Birmingham and where to purchase tickets
• ^ Win a trip to London
• The X Factor comes to Barclay Card Arena
• £300 worth of shopping vouchers for the Bull Ring
• The "best bits" from Fusion Festival
• 200 students from Birmingham collecting their DofE Gold Awards from the palace
• The opening of new restaurants and supermarkets

I am confident that I have covered a wide range of topics that will all be appropriate for a city regional magazine that is aimed at students. I will keep these ideas in mind when producing my magazine.

Drafting and planning/ Research into similar products

I have decided it is time to have a look at why I need a successful billboard advertisement to promote my magazine.

Why outdoor advertising works

While some traditional advertising media are in decline, outdoor is growing. It works because it is seen by everyone who leaves their house.

Poster advertising is highly prominent and does not require the consumer to do anything to access it. You don't have to tune in or click onto it or turn a page. At the same time, most people regard it as less intrusive than other methods of advertising. Indeed, a lot of outdoor advertising engages the consumer, providing colour, humour and insight. In locations where it sits in front of a captive audience — on public transport or at waiting places, for instance — it can even be seen as a welcome distraction.

This information was found at: Billboard research

I understand that my billboard advertisement must mirror my magazine advertisement. Therefore I must use the same font and house colours. This will make my billboard exhibit the same message as my magazine. Furthermore, as you don’t have to pay to view a billboard advertisement, it is obvious that it must be extremely effective and eye catching because this is what people ultimately see by just going outdoors, as it is free to view from the public, it must advertise the magazine to a high standard, causing them to buy it.

From looking at other billboard advertisements, it has stood out that there must be an enormous, clear picture that captures the attention of my target audience. As my magazine is going to be a student issue, I feel it is necessary to make my billboard exciting and fun. Therefore, rather than just placing one image in the centre, I have creatively come up with the idea of a photo collage for my billboard advertisement, an image which will link to all of the topics found in my magazine.

Within my collage, there will be a sports photo, a music photo, something to do with the student news, and attractions in the city centre. 

Here are some examples of images I may think to include:

The German Market in Birmingham - great for students to experience.

Annie Mac Presents, an image from her gig in Birmingham - advertising music events.

A map of key places to visit in Birmingham if they are an EU/International student.

Key news they must look out for.

Selfridges!

Birmingham Central Library - a key place students will visit regularly and the key news about it.

Sports - an opportunity for students to see football/athletics results and chances to win tickets.

I will keep these pictures in mind when I go to take my pictures for my magazine/billboard.

Target audience

In connection to my earlier post on 10/09/15, I have collected 5 responses on Survey Monkey. I have identified that my target audience will be from 16-25 year olds.

I will appeal to them mostly through an effective main image and masthead, including news, sport, events and fashion and involving a colour scheme involving blue and yellow as they were the most popular answers when analysed.

Through my survey, I can now identify that my target audience are willing to pay on average £3.75. I think this price is justifiable as the issue is appealing to students who have strict budgets. Therefore I think this magazine should be sold at this price.

When asked what attracts them to this image:

... the most common answer was:
"main image and masthead".

The answers to my survey can be found in more detail: