Evolution of my contents page

My original plan was to do a double page spread for my contents page, but I soon had to change this due to some of my photos going missing putting me behind in my schedule of getting everything done.

 This was the first draft of my contents page. It included a blocky outline and was well organised but lacked pazas and other wise was boring.











This was the second draft  of my contents, it become a bit more creative and interesting with more colours but at this point the photos vanished and I did not have enough to complete it.

This is my contents page now its more creative and makes better use of space as well as using a more creative colour scheme all together a big improvement over my other versions.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Target audience research on my drafts of my front cover, contents and DPS

Can you identify the music genre from the front cover? please write it below

• Music techniques
• Techniques
• Techniques & teaching 
• Music tech
• Technology
• Music guidance

Is synergy created between the pages? How?

• Not really
• Non 
• No
• Slightly with the use of the blue colour but not massvely
• Not really
• No

Are there iconic, symbolic or indexical signs? What are they?

• The use of lots of instruments
• Lots of instruments
• Instruments they are different and varied 
• Images of instruments on each page 
• Lots of instruments
• Instruments

What do you think the TA is? Age? Gender? Ethnicity? Sexuality?

• 20 - 40 both
• 20 - 30 both
• 16 - 20 both
• 18 - 25 all genders
• 16-20 all
• 16 - 21

What representations are created

• Ukulele
• The use of images of instruments a cross all the pages give the genre away 
• Ukulele. multiple instruments
• Instruments
• Talented player 
• Musician

Is the language formal, informal or a Mixture?

• Formal
• Formal
• Formal
• Formal
• Mixture
• Formal

Is there anything missing? anything you would like to see added? Are there changes you think should be made? 

• The price
• Price and to undo the erasing on the masthead, just leave it behind the model 
• Add the price and remove the weird erased part of the masthead around Lauren's head as she looks like she's wearing a tiny hat
• Add columns, get rid of the fedora , love the model its young and suits the TA
• Do not like the fedora and i am not to sure on the positioning of the joys of music abit cheesy 

Evolution of my front cover

                This was my original image after some photo shop colour changes to her blouse.

This is my first draft of my front cover after i had added features to it, the paritial  erasing of the mast head was to create a image of lauren being the main star and well known. The magazine at this stage needed to improve on colour schemes and the spacing and contents which was on it.

The third draft of my magazine  greatly improved on all of these issues mentioned above and brought in text wrapping and a better colour scheme and organised format for the whole page. The page still did not have enough content but was a step in the write direction.










This magazine was a great improvement overall and brought in a lot more content making the page 'look a lot more busy' and organised. However the erasing of the mast head made it look like the model was wearing a little hat something which my target audience did not like.







This out of all my drafts i feel is my favourite as the colour scheme has a lot more synergy throught the front cover and looks more aesthetic as well as getting rid of the little hat.

Evolution of my DPS

My first draft of my DPS to the left was a bit repetitive in nature hen it came to its style and didn't make the best use of available space. The notes i was given were to improve on my pop art and to make better use of my space.

My second draft to the right i believe makes better use of the space and does improve on the pop art making the style and colouring more unique and eye grabbing. The font also follows this trend and becomes more unique.

This is my current DPS, the layout and coloums are greatly improved and altogether looks a lot more aesthetically pleasing. Thus use of blue throughout all my pages now creates synergy something it was lacking before hand.

My DPS article

Lauren started making YouTube videos early in 2014 for her own amusement. These video’s were how to play the ukulele but she never thought that it would gain a following of wanna-be play ukulele players. Her How to play tutorials and covers of popular songs gained hundreds of thousands of views. She is  now starting to include other instruments into her arsenal of music with her latest cover of Taylor swift on her signature red guitar receiving almost a million hits.

Today we are sitting down with Lauren or Music woman Lauren (by her YouTube persona) and asking her about her signature instrument the ukulele.

 Why do you start playing?

Why did I start playing?, At 15 I'd been playing a variety of instruments for a while; saxophone, clarinet and piano and I had dabbled in a few others, but I had never ventured into the strings section of the instrumental world. As a singer, I thought it would be great to be able to play an instrument that I could practice singing with and also play independently. Whilst the obvious choice was the guitar, I decided to steer clear of the cliche choice for now  and go for something a little different, something that would stand apart from the rest. That something was a ukulele. After a month or so of saving my wages, I bought myself my first ukulele. Nothing special, just a cheap, beginners Uke. At first, it felt strange not having to press keys or blow into the instrument I was playing, but after a rocky period in the first month I got the ball rolling and fell in love with the quaint and gorgeous instrument that is the Ukulele.

What would you say are the top 4 chords you need to play a song on the ukulele?

Lauren told us that the top 4 most important chords were C, F, G and A minor. She stated to us that with these 4 chords you could easily play almost any song as most songs it turned out were wrote around these 4 chords.

We asked Lauren for the top 3 tips for any person just learning this funky little instrument, she told us.

"There are quite a few of these “Top  3 Tips” out there. I’ll try to add something to that with my own personal Top 3 Tips for beginning ukulele players. When I bought my first ukulele I was completely unprepared,  I’ll try to give you some really useful tips that will give you a jump start when you begin playing the ukulele."

1. Get a decent ukulele.

This is the most important one of all when you are serious about wanting to learn how to play the ukulele. There are a few good ukuleles in the £100 range, but you can be sure that an ukulele under £50 is not fantastic. The main issue you will have is that it won’t be able to stay in tune. I speak from experience here. I bought a £45 “Harley Benton” soprano once and it couldn’t keep the E string in tune for even one strum. So be warned!

2. Have fun!

The ukulele is a fun instrument. Some may call the ukulele a toy, so what?, Toys are fun to play with!, It’s a true instrument and you can do wonderful things with it. Don’t make the mistake by thinking that it is an easy instrument, you will need to practice a lot to master it, but even when you only know the basics it is already so much fun! Enjoy playing it and without knowing, you will improve each and every day.

3. First things first, the basics

When looking on YouTube and other websites you will quickly learn that amazing things can be done with the ukulele, but like every skill in life you’ll need to learn the basics first. Don’t try to play some big fancy tab when you are just starting out, learn your chords instead. Start with the majors, minors and then go on with bar chords.

I think it was Marc Bolan who said

'The day you stop practising [your instrument] is the day you will stop playing music, and the day you will stop loving music'"

You can find lessons on how to play the ukulele by visiting Lauren's YouTube channel Music Woman Lauren where you can find her ukulele lessons where you can learn anything from the Beetles to Red Hot Chilli Peppers or her covers of popular songs which make you jealous from how talented she is.

Drafts of my front cover

Draft one                                                                                          Draft two

Draft one is blocky and dosen't make good use of colour schemes as well as being rough around the edges and not using the space well.

Draft two however makes better use of colour schemes and is a major improvement to draft one . It makes good use of the space but is a little too dark to appeal to my TA.

Contents page drafts

Version One

My first draft of my contents page was very basic, blocky and boring. It also had very limited writing on it as well when a normal contents page has 800+ words on it.

Version Two

Version two of my draft added colour, puffs and more text with images this gives it the impression of a more aesthetically pleasing product. The colour cordination goes well together making nice to look at as well as the different fonts being used.