Task 3

Magazine Brainstorm

The name of magazine will be about Gaming and Technology, there are several different ideas for magazines to come up with however, in my opinion i think that gaming magazines will have a better opportunity with relevance to sales and on the other hand, i'm very interested in new games and technology as well as the best rated games of the week/month. I aim to create this magazine with the intentions of rating newly released games and technology, even games that may have been released last year if they're still playing frequently they could be found on the Top ten most played games each week. With my magazine, i chose to name it Rated 100, as we annually rate Top 100 Games, and the number one game creator wins a prize. I'd like to make the theme colours of my magazine to be Red, black and white, this is because the red colour stands out sharply with plain colours such as white and black.

Task 1 - D

Research into Adobe Digital Publishing Suite

Step 1:

Adobe InDesign Logo

Preparation: we will start by downloading InDesign version CS5 or CS5.5, then we'll need to update the DPS (Digital Publishing Suite) tools and plug-ins which are add ons for the program itself. In order to view the Digital magazine or book on your iPad, tablet or phone device you will need to download and install Adobe Content Viewer that way you will be able to test your magazine or your project before publishing it fully. However, in order to continue and progress with step one, you'll need to create an Adobe ID and have developer credentials for iOS and/or Android.

Step 2:
Design: After you have managed to download all that is needed and made sure everything is up-to-date at the current time, you can then move forward onto building your InDesign file (vertical and horizontal), add interactivity for your customers and the people that will be viewing your online magazine whether you will make it flashy so it's quite attractive to the eye will depend on your feeling. Then, it will lead on to constructing publications by using the panel called Folio builder which makes everything much simpler/easier.

Step 3:

Produce & Publish: After designing your project you should start to organise and edit your folio to your own standards, apply pictures and different fonts to make your magazine look interesting and eye catching, check your folio metadata there are two types of metadata which are structural and descriptive. However, the difference between these two types is that structural metadata is related to the specification of data structures whilst, descriptive metadata is related to the individual instances of application data. After you've checked your folio metadata you can continue with publishing your folio which is quite straight forward then, create your custom Viewer app with Viewer Builder for your folio.

                                                                                    Step 4:

Sell: After Producing and publishing your digital magazine/e-book you need to start by submitting your app (application) to a store of your choice then after submitting your app to a store you need to then set your price in the chosen store for customers to purchase your app for. Finally, custom viewers may include in-app purchase, subscription, and entitlement. There are different rates that are charged when submitting your app to specific stores, so you may want to research different stores to see which one will promote your application the most or which store has a lot of viewers.

The video which is placed on the left side of this text, thoroughly goes through the stages of the DPS workflow. However, in some of the stages they go more in detail than other stages. The reasons i've referred to this video specifically is because i've gone through many other videos on the internet however, i haven't come past a video which stages where they are able to explain themself sufficiently in a limited amount of time.

C- Case Study 2

Imagine Publishing is a publishing company which is based in the United Kingdom but, publish their magazines and books with aims of them reaching the entire world. It appears that they publish several different types of magazines of different genres which vary from video games, computing and creativity to lifestyle magazines. The company itself was founded in 2005 which is around 9 years ago. The founders all put money into the company themselves this made it a privately funded company however, it is known that the founders were previously all directors of another publishing company by the name of Paragon Publishing which is known for its published gaming and entertainment books and magazines.

The magazines both print and digital which are known and published by Imagine Publishing are: Play, SciFiNow, All About Space & many more.

The company are very creative and they try not to limit themselves to just magazines therefore, they've created books, back issues and DVDs in order to reach their customers. They want to maintain a good relationship with their readers by giving the readers information that they interested in and always want to read about. Imagine Publishing are a worldwide multimedia content producer which specialises in Technology, Photography, Knowledge and Video Games. There total sales revenue has added up to just under 20 million pounds.

They have 20 Printed magazines and 350 Bookazines, which is a slang word for a book mixed with a magazine. They only have a small number of 150 employees, as they don't need many workers as they are now digitally advanced and workers are not needed as such. They have also won a few awards since they started and these are: The Media Pioneer Award, Games Media Award and many more since 2005. The company itself which creates magazines, bookazines and digital products are primarily aimed at the same people who always read their products which are 24-35 year old males which are clearly able to read without problems. Affluent readers want technology magazines with high standard to deliver a high level of quality as well as intelligence. Therefore, all Imagine Publishing do is aim at delivering the most key information to their readers. As this company only really aims it at males who are between the ages of 24-35, it's harder to grab anyone's attention other than the people who the magazines are being directed at therefore, normally you wouldn't expect sales to be so high but, because Imagine Publishing have great experience and they know exactly when to publish specific magazines and the unique steps which are needed to be taken in order to ensure sale success this makes it no problem for them as a company to succeed. As a whole, i see the company as a success and this is simply because they have been able to easily differentiate themselves from other magazines which may be similar topics but, whole different entire content. This is unique and this is what will take them to the heights that they wrote down when starting up this business.

C- Case Study

NEXTMEDIA

Next media is a daily newspaper company which produce magazines globally. They are popular as they have been producing digital/paper newspapers and magazines for around 6-7 years. The well known magazines that Next Media produce are: Inside Sport, Disney, F1 Racing, Hyper, PC PowerPlay and many more. They publish both print and digital magazines, in the other posts it is explained why print and digital magazines may be preferable to you by the advantages and disadvantages of both. However, those are the various print and digital magazines that they publish.


Nextmedia are based around digital and print magazine publishing however, they have been established since 2008 and the company brings together a group of over 40 magazines plus a range of websites, digital properties, DVD's, programmes, books and events. Their aim is to ensure that they're always focusing on providing the best information to different communities across the world, especially Australia as it's an Australian published magazine.




Every company especially publishing companies have different but, similar approaches to publishing. Nextmedia is distinctive and ingenious because they aim to understand their readers as they create content which is used to advise, inspire and engage readers in their affection. Next media publish magazines and newspapers with the major mission of getting as much relevant information into their magazines as possible. The more they are able to do so, this will depend on the sales that will be made because anyone who is recommended about a particular magazine will buy it. Therefore, the more they are able to reach the readers affection, this will determine the success of their sales. It appears that awards/prize wise Nextmedia publishing company haven't won any awards as such however, they are the fourth largest magazine publishing group in Australia, which is pretty much an award as Australia is such a big continent. They create magazines which cover several different types of genres in order to suit all ages' satisfaction, in larger detail there are different genres such as; Children, Active Sports, Technology and Gaming, Entertainment and Lifestyle, Motor Sports and many more. The reason they have so many to choose from is because the more of the variety they have, increases the probability of their magazines being bought/sold. Although Nextmedia aren't an old company neither are they newly established but, they have found a decent strategy on publishing and putting out enough information to the public as they possibly can. As a magazine publishing company whether you produce printed or digitally advanced copies, what helps differentiate between the good publishing companies and the not as good ones is the information that is in the magazine, the layouts of the magazine to help draw the readers attention and many other factors which helps differentiate.

Task 1: B2

XBOX

Figure 1.1

Xbox is a game console which has been sold and is also known throughout the world alongside its biggest competitor "Playstation". Xbox has been around for a while now and has gained so much gamers/users that they have created an official magazine just for information and gossip on new games that have been released just for Xbox and other games available on all platforms. There was a printed magazine and there is still is, in shops for purchase. Now, there's an online magazine which is digitally advanced and saves you from spending money on the store magazines which are almost pointless unless you're in a rush or there's possibly no internet/technology around you.

Figure 1.2

The Xbox magazine has been updated through the last previous years and it seems that they have come up with newer ways to communicate with their readers/gamers with relevance to navigating through the digital magazine itself. They have placed 4/5 icons which are shown on the Figure 1.2. These icons are all game related or made to look game related and this helps draw in the readers attention, when you click the first icon which represents flaming hot (hot news), a small chart falls down/drops down and it shows all the top amusing game related news of the week, the other icons represent: List, Profile/Log In and Search. The fact that they have icons on there page layout in replacement of words is good with reducing space because writing words may take up some of the space and cause the website to become jam-packed.

The Xbox Magazine uses many animated graphics throughout their website and this helps engage the gamers, it makes them feel like they're even more involved and this is simply because it's less boring and more fun when you're able to click links and the words start to vibrate or you click on a specific link or even log in to your Xbox Magazine account for example and it does a short animation displaying your name, it makes you feel that little more a part of the team.

The use of colour is quite normal, the reason I say this is because it appears that there is a specific layout colour but, they are constantly being overshadowed by a numerous amount of video clips which are popping up under new content, etc. However, the layout is set up quite nicely although there are a lot of things which could be a bit more held together and less out of place. But, overall the layout was well designed and thought about, the icons which were used helps to shorten the time which it would usually take to navigate and find a specific article or a part of the page.

Task 1: B

Closer

This is an online magazine, which is well known worldwide for it's exciting gossip. It's similar to all the other well-known magazines, which are out there on the market. However, there are distinctive colours, which are used in this magazine that helps it differ from other published magazines. The interesting layout and use of colours helps to draw attention to readers.

In this specific magazine, they try to keep their interaction skills at its maximum and this is because the more/easier you can interactive with an online magazine the more positive feedback you'll receive from the readers. The navigation system on this magazine itself is actually good because as the magazine is fashion based, they've created the website so that you'll be able to scroll through pictures easily and at the top of the website are various links you can click to fit your certain mood, the link (page) layout is shown below.

As you can see in the picture shown above (navigation links), there are major headings which are: Showbiz, News & Real Life, Style & Beauty, Lifestyle, Closer Diets and Win. Within these headings, subheadings will appear once you click on a specific page, which is shown. In this case, Style & Beauty was clicked and the subheadings shown underneath were Fashion and Hair & Beauty. As "Closer" is based on a black and pink page layout, the headings are in black whereas, the subheadings are displayed in pink. There are a few animated graphics which have been coded into this websites digital magazine and these were used in order for the readers to find it easier to review and read information that they may have missed. The few animated graphics they used were useful. Because this is a model/beauty/fashion magazine they added directional arrows both left and right in replace of next and previous and as you press next or previous there is a sliding transition between the photos in the gallery and this is a neat way of viewing a next picture.

The overall layout of Closer is quite plain however it is quite effective. The reasons I say this is that, the black and pink colours they portray are easy to see. The layout is neat and isn't too flashy or packed, it feels like there is enough/more than enough space for everything to fit and they've done this purposely, this way as a reader you can take your time to read every part of the magazine or which part interests you clearly.

Apart from the headings/page links they haven't actually used any exciting fonts throughout the magazine and this is simply because they want this to be easily read by all ages, all people. They were mindful of peoples eyesight, this is because there are several numbers of magazines online (digital magazines) which have loads of fonts that look very creative but, on the other hand, aren't easy to be read. So, Closer helped preventing this. An example of the boring/dull font used to get information over to a wide range of people with good eyesight or bad eyesight is shown below.

SHOWBIZ NEWS

Depressed Rebecca Ferguson tweets from hospital after going into labour

Task 1: A

Pros of Digital Magazines

Cons of Digital Magazines

Digital magazines come with a low cost budget for the publishers. Digital Magazines are easier to access as they are online at any time. Digital Magazines can’t get ripped/torn, as they’re not hard copy. Digital Magazines are easier to read and this because the pages won’t get stuck together. This will reduce costs of publishing, as you will not have to pay for printing. In a publisher’s point of view, they will be able to distribute the magazines along a large scale of people quicker. There are also no losses from unsold magazines therefore you can only gain profit. The readers, which are needed for the digital magazines to run, are now available on most smart phones, which improves convenience. There is more flexibility shown in the content of a digital magazine than a print magazine. The publishers are also allowed to go much further with content by including videos, etc.

People may not have any technology to access these magazines. At times, the font type and size can be hard to read and requires adjusting. Digital magazines aren’t portable, without a smart phone. You have to wait for articles to load up. You also have to wait for videos to buffer and pictures to download. You can’t touch it as there is no physical appearance. You’ll need Internet in order to access new information or look at another magazine. There may be an added layer of confusion for readers, which is a disadvantage. For most digital magazines, an iPad is required which is a very expensive technology device. You also have to pay for subscriptions in order to read the magazines, which can be expensive, two.

Pros of Printing Magazines	Cons of Printing Magazines
It’s portable. Don’t have to wait for an article to download. It’s cheaper to pay for a paper magazine than subscribe for an online membership. Printing magazines are also taken more seriously by other sources. In the publisher’s point of view, publications tend to be more stable and this is simply because technology doesn’t change quickly.	Printing magazines are only able to aim for one target. However, online can cover all targets. Online will be able to get 100 million viewers for example as it is free and it will be able to reach a lot of people. Hard time leveraging commerce. There are losses made when publishing printing magazines as people may not buy it. Reprinting costs can be high if you make an error.

In the tables above, there are several pros and cons of both Digital Magazines as well as, Printing Magazines. However, they are all in different views. Meaning, the pros and cons are split into different audiences which is the reader (The people who read the magazine/public), designer (the people who design the magazines but, are told what it has to look like) and last but, not least the publisher (The people who publish the final product whether it's online or hard copy, these people send it to major distributors.)