Website deconstructions

By deconstructing these websites, it has helped me be aware of the conventions that have to be included when creating a website. If I didn't do these constructions, I would be going in from scratch when it comes to my constructions and it probably wouldn't turn out as good as it should have. The websites I am decontructing  are the ones I have taken most inspiration from. 
This research has helped me focus on areas that I need to improve on and understand when I create my own website. Before this, I would just look at a website and not know what work has been put into it. I will follow the majority of these codes and conventions so that i can make it look professional. By deconstructing a website, I can now see what conventions are used, why they are used and what effect it gives on the website. It may be a challenge to get the correct layout I want as i tend to be indecisive so that will change now and then, but by using these websites as inspiration I can gather ideas and create a website with all the important conventions included. 

Website deconstructions from shantelle bowman

Link: http://www.slideshare.net/shantellebowman/website-deconstructions-66672301

My competition

I would say I am competing between two different types of magazines. these are North East Life and Vibe. 

I think I am competing with these two magazines because they are the two that inspire me the most. I have took most inspirations from these so I have to improve them and put my own design ideas to create my own unique magazine. I don't want to use the exact same ideas because i want my magazine to be different, and changed slightly. 

North East Life magazine is mainly cultural, and revolves around places and people. This is where i got my idea of using places from. I want my front cover to look like the image above as i feel like I can expand my ideas and make it look slightly more modern. This is where my magazine will appeal to different people. I am using the classic look like the North East Life, but putting my own touch on it with modern images and content. I just really like the layout and mood from that magazine, and with it being regional to my area, I could use it for ideas on contents I will use, and places I the North East I could take pictures of. 

On the other hand there is Vibe magazine which is more family orientated. It focuses on events in Sunderland that would appeal to families who have children. You can really see that it links to Sunderland, and that is where I got my other inspirations from. It helped me see that the colours red and white are used as they link in with the Sunderland football team, and that I could use that idea for my own magazine, website and billboard. Again, I really like the layout of this magazine as it is simplistic. It also gives the modern look which would appeal to young people, where as the North East Life would likely appeal to the older population. They both look like they would appeal to men and women, but each magazine looks like it would appeal to a different age range. 

So in order for me to stand out against these two magazines, I will put my own ideas with the ideas i have front he two, to create a similar yet more appealing magazine to women of all ages. My conventions will all be inspired by these, but i want mine to look individual and a cross between them both, classic yet modern.

This has helped develop my ideas by opening up too different styles, now I need to decide how I will use the both of them to create a magazine that will appeal to people. 

Time management

In todays lesson, I am concentrating on finishing my inspirations and looking at what else needs to be done for research and planning. I have now got an idea of costume, hair and makeup ideas, as well as the images I will use for my front cover. In addition, I have completed conventions of a billboard, website and magazine. This will benefit me when I am constructing my ideas. 

Costume, hair, makeup and prop ideas

Costume, hair and makeup ideas from shantelle bowman

Here is the link:
http://www.slideshare.net/shantellebowman/costume-hair-and-makeup-ideas-66591387

This has helped develop my ideas because I didn't have a clue where to start, but now I have a starting point, I can expand on my ideas. 

Generic conventions of a website

Generic conventions of a billboard

I never created a billboard in my A2 work so I didn't really know what conventions were for one. So doing some research into billboards has really helped me understand what I need to do to create a professional looking billboard. I will also make it regional by altering each convention to fit my region. 

Generic conventions of magazine

I feel that it is very important to include as many conventions as you can, just to get that professional look. It turns a front cover into a magazine rather than looking like a poster. I learned the basic conventions in my A2 work, but I feel like I have a more established idea on what conventions should be included and where they should be. However, looking at the sort of magazine I am creating for my A2 work, most regional magazines tend to be free so may not have conventions on such as the barcode and price.  Each convention has a meaning behind it and makes it distinctively look like a magazine and not just a piece of work. 

(All made using Padlet)

This will help me when it comes to making my own magazine, as it shows what to include on each piece. It will allow me to follow guidelines to a professional magazine, and where/how they should be placed. I knew the basic conventions from my AS work, but I feel like this will help me broaden my ideas more. 

Time management

In todays lesson I have been going through the list of research and planning list to see what I have and haven't done. I have started by trying to complete my inspirations and then I will work my way through similar products. I am also going to complete my deconstructions and see how I can improve on them. 

Facial expression research

This research will help me look at the different facial expressions I could use for my own magazine. I am not using a model for my front cover because from the research I have done, I want to use an image of a landscape. But I can use this for my content pages and double page spread as I will be using models for those.  If I didn't do this research, I don't think I would be able to come up with a 'good enough' pose, it would just be a plain model smiling rather than looking at the meaning behind why they are pulling a certain facial expression. 

Masthead magazine ideas

I still haven't came up with a definite masthead, but I am going to include one which I may actually use. The word I might use is 'Haway', which is a slang word for 'come on' used in sunderland. I want to have a font which is a mix between a fancy classic look, but also a bold and modern design. This is because I am using two main inspirations, I have looked at magazines that are quite old-fashioned in style, and I have also looked at regional magazines that go for the bold, colorful style. These are all taken from dafonts.com and 1001 fonts. 

 (turnpike)

(Whitby brewers)

 (Lemon/Milk font)

(code font)

(poetsen one font)

 (Bungasai)

(Abril fatface)

I am still unsure on what color my masthead will be, but I am leading towards either black or white, depending on my main image. I will test which color looks best when it comes to creating it. I feel like these colours will stand out because I am using quite a detailed main image for my front cover. These colours will make it bold and stand out, I want it to be the eye-catcher of the front cover. 

Websites Inspiration

I haven't really looked into may websites, but there are a few I have in mind. I want to make my website a little bit more modern than my magazine. But in order for them to match, I will stick with the same theme color, font etc. 

This is one of my favorite inspirations for a website. I really like the style of it and it is easy to understand and access. The contents is quite similar to mine aswell which makes it easier for me to get inspiration. I will probably use a similar layout to this, and the articles I include will be to do with Sunderland. The labels at the top all look very neat, but I don't think I will include that many as I am only focusing on three areas. 

This next one is very different to the Crack website. It includes more color in this case pastel colours, and it doesn't really have much to show. I like the layout, but the images and text included aren't very informative as it is mainly dominated by adverts. This makes it look like a national website rather than applying to one region. It also has icons that link to its social media which is helpful if you wanted to contact the company. 

I really like the style of this website. It has a lot of detail and color to it. This would likely appeal to a long adult audience. It is a sort of reality website that includes real events and celebrity gossip. It focuses on art, music and fashion which is probably the reason is looks very artistic and professional. Again, the font on the labels looks quite elegant and old-fashioned, but the design overall is quite modern. I will probably use this as my main inspiration as the style fits with my ideas. This is a website that related to a magazine which are both national. 

Pitch

A2 media pitch - Shantelle bowman from shantelle bowman

Since doing this pitch, I have decided to just have a target audience of women. The ideas I have just wouldn't appeal to men. My decision is based on research and planning, and I think it will be easier if I just include content that would appeal to women. 

Font ideas

Since looking at regional magazines in my area, I feel like they all go for a classic font to give a traditional looking style. This is to tie in with the heritage of the north east, but this is more likely to appeal to an older target audience rather than younger readers. I want to try and incorporate traditional styles with contemporary ideas, this will then broaden my target audience and appeal to both young and old people in the area. 

The one thing I could have improved for my AS, is the font. I never really explored many fonts other than the masthead. All of my cover lines and sell lines were in a font from photoshop which was very basic. So for my A2 I want to make it look more interesting as well as fitting in and looking regional. 

I got these fits from dafonts.com, it is a really useful site with different designs of text. 

However, the 'Ferric' font may not be suitable for the style I am going for as it looks a bit too fancy. It also it quite thin and may not be visible to seen my magazine, where as the others are slightly more bold and will stand out more. 

(made using Padlet)

How deconstructions have helped

By deconstructing all of these pieces, I have learned what codes and conventions should be included in regional magazines as some are different to national magazines. From my AS work I was only familiar with the codes and conventions of a magazine, but now in addition, I have to construct a website with two hyperlinked pages and a billboard. I wasn't confident with what should be included in these pieces of work so by deconstructing different nations and regional pieces, I have seen what I need to include in order for it to look professional. 

Codes and conventions are essential in order to create a valid magazine, billboard and website. And by deconstructing these, you can see the different areas where conventions should be situated and how the genre affects your codes and conventions. For example, a national culture magazine tends to cost a few pounds, where as a regional culture magazine are likely to be free such as VIBE so any can get access to it as they are located around the city centre. However, some regional magazines can cost a few pounds such as NorthEast Life which tends to have more classical content in it. So it al depends on the magazine you are creating. 

After these deconstruction, I have become more confident in creating my work because I now know what to include and what not to include and the differences between national and regional magazines/billboards/websites. 

Time management

In todays lesson I have been doing my recreations. The front cover didn't go to plan, but I can identify where my weakness are and have wrote about that analytically. I feel like my billboard recreation went quite well as t matched the same sort of stile and still looked quite professional. Again i still have weak points which i will work on throughout the year so that i can have a good outcome with some good pieces of work at the end of my A2. 

3 Billboard Deconstruction

By deconstructing three billboards, it will give me an idea on what will need to be included in the one I create. It will also give me inspiration on the designs/style I want to do mine in. However, it is quite hard to find cultural billboards, especially ones that will apply to a region. They revolve more around fashion, food, places and trends. So in order for me to get the suitable ideas, I need to broaden different areas of culture, so I can do one on fashion and one on food etc. It has helped me develop the research on billboard conventions which I wasn't aware of for my AS work. 

Billboard deconstructions from shantelle bowman

Recreation of billboard

                               Original Billboard

                                                      My recreation 

I chose to create a fashion billboard because it was quite hard to find a one that was specific to culture. This Calvin Klein billboard stood out to me because it is a globally known brand. This will then attract a large population worldwide as it has a huge fan base. It also links in with what I will include in my magazine because I will have a little bit contents on fashion and lifestyle in Sunderland. The style of the original billboard imposes glamour and sophistication. This will appeal to a target audience as it advertises the latest trends and fashion. The facial expression of the model is very relaxed, she looks very well established. It almost suggests Independence and power as she is being presented on a billboard. I could use this idea in my own designs as it incorporates with the style I am going for. 

My recreation is almost the same as the original billboard because I feel not much could be done to change it as it was a simplistic yet affective design. Again, this links in with the layout/design I am going for. Eventhough it is 'plain' it still attracts an audience because it is bold and well known. The typical Calvin Klein logo is included alongside quite a large image. I personally really like this about because it looks very professional and 'clean' looking. A potential target audience might like this because it is easy to understand and advertises a huge brand in a very bold design. 

Creating this billboard was quite easy. To do it I used Photoshop which is a software I often used for my AS work. I wanted to get a similar image of a model wearing sunglasses just to create the sun kissed look, and it was easy to find on google images. I then created the text by using fonts installed to Photoshop. The black text stands out against the white background which is glamorous, also linking in with the product, it implies a luxurious product/brand. 

Recreation of a front cover

Original Front cover

My recreation

I chose to recreate a GQ front cover as it looked very professional and luxurious. The contents on the front cover also gave a cultural feel. I intended to include things such as lifestyle, beauty, places and music. although this front cover doesn't include all of the, I still think the layout and style would fit my ideas. 

While recreating this front cover, I chose to stick to the same color scheme, but change a few things around. For the background, I tried to get a similar color so that it would match the color scheme, which is a golden sandy color and white. These colors contrast very well with the conventions used and the design. It was quite hard to get a gold color for the font , but in the end, I found a color that matched. Initially, I saw the simple yet affective design, which attracted me to choosing this front cover as my option. 

By recreating this front cover, I can se where my strengths and weaknesses are. This will help me look into where I need to improve, in this case I feel like it is the fonts. From my A2, i now know how to use photoshop which was a big help while doing this recreation. From here, I am going to look into front covers in more detail and find ways in which I can improve my fonts etc.