Supporting Document for Website Prototypes

Supporting Document for Website Prototypes

Statement of intent

My target audience is socially conscious, 16-25-year olds, who are middle to upper class. Socially conscious to me suggests that these are people who are interested in the current affairs all around the world and not just where they live. This audience has high aspirations and have a smart, credible, and clear career plan ahead of them. They are most likely to go to university, are high achievers and very social. I have aimed my products at the more left winged side of this audience and my current affairs magazine and website have a more left political bias as I was inspired by the Big Issue and my own political beliefs. This audience is trendy, often using social media and shopping in vintage/thrift stores, they also are very politically active and will take part in protests, petitions, and charity challenges. 

To represent the audience in my products, I plan to use a red to outline the masthead, I want this to be clear to the brand as red is often associated with the left wing (labour). I will also make the topics covered in the contents page as “politically correct” or progressive/liberal. I want my audience to be represented as trendy, moral, progressive and as people who are always trying to aid or educate others. I will plan to do this through the topics I put in my contents page and the main cover story.

In the past magazines were simply a printed product you could buy in store, whereas now they are still sold but the magazines can be found online. Brands now have websites, apps, and email subscriptions as well as multiple social media links. Magazines are now largely accessible, whether its via physical print or on your phone. Magazine house styles are now a lot more unique and bolder as it has to be recognised and stand out across a range of platforms. The New Internationalist is an independent media company and describe themselves as “dedicated to socially conscious journalism and publishing.” Their publishing is politically correct and more left wing and I believe they would be a good publishing brand for my magazine. 

I want my magazine to be more progressive and I don’t want it to follow the traditional codes and conventions of a magazine. I will have one main image and headline on the front page, there will be no cover lines or supporting images, this is because I want people to be intrigued and enticed into reading the magazine. I want to use a font that is modern, simple, and easy to read, this makes the magazine more appealing and sophisticated but simple. I will use the same font on the website, and I will use the masthead from the magazine as the logo for the website to maintain a brand. I will use the same colour scheme of red, white, and black. 

Website homepage prototype

The website was different to what I had planned and didn’t look as real as I had hoped, this was because I only had access to Microsoft word and not photoshop. If I did have access to photoshop the boxes and gaps between would be neater and more equal. The prototype itself looks very plain, but if I actually had the images on there it would look a lot more colourful and busier. The font is the same one used in my print products and the masthead is the same along with colour to create a sense of brand identity.

The image I had planned to go in the box labelled 1, linked to the Boris vs Corbyn article, was going to be two middle aged family friends sitting across a table from one another with papers in front of them to make it look like they were making a deal, I would use a wide shot and the lighting would be artificial and I wanted to edit it so half had the colour of the conservative party and the other half the colour of the Labour party. Similar to this image from Who would the public prefer to be Prime Minister: Jeremy Corbyn or Boris Johnson? | YouGov

Where the number 2 is on the website homepage, is where my 20 second audio clipped would’ve been, the script for this is of an Interview with Greta Thunberg:

·         Interviewer “This all started when you won an essay competition about climate change is that correct?”

·         Greta Thunberg “Yes in May 2018, I won a climate change essay competition in a local newspaper, and then a few months later I started my protesting outside The Swedish parliament building, I vowed to protest there until the Government met the carbon emissions target agreed by world leaders in Paris, in 2015.”

·         Interviewer “And your school strikes and protesting went viral and now you have so many other people protesting and supporting you and the cause” 

The image I had planned to go in the box labelled 3 linked to the article Biden vs Trump was going to be similar to the Boris vs Corbyn image. I wanted to take two separate medium long shot portraits of male middle aged members of my family, in smart shirts and possibly ties and edit them next to each other with a black line down the middle. Similar to this image from Trump vs. Biden: Where they stand on health, economy, more (apnews.com)

 

The image I had planned to go in the box labelled 4 linked to the article ‘animal activists break into lab’ this is the same article that was in my first magazine. For this image I had intended to take a close up photo of a friends guinea pig in its cage, the lighting would be bright as if in a lab and the cage bars would be in shot, this is because when you think about animals being tested on in labs a guinea pig is one of the first things that you think of. It would be similar to this image from Covering a Guinea Pigs Cage at Night – Is it Safe? – Pocket Sized Pets    

The image I had planned to go in the box labelled 5 was linked to the article ‘Boris vs Covid’ this was used in my second magazine. For this image I had planned to have two people in masks socially distanced on a bench around the college, I wanted to have them both looking at the camera, the lighting would be natural and the camera angle used would be a wide shot so they were both clearly in the shot, however because of lockdown I was unable to do this. This would look similar to this image from Social Distancing Date Ideas | Houstonia Magazine

The image I have linked to the article titled ‘Celebrities urge for ocean clean up’ was the closest thing I could get for what I had planned. Before lockdown happened I had planned to go to the beach and take photos of the litter around the beach, and if this failed I was hoping to get a medium close up of the ocean, however as lockdown intervened I couldn’t do this, luckily I had a picture of the ocean which I had taken a few years ago that linked well in well enough to be used instead.

The image I had planned to go in the box labelled 6 was linked to the article ‘crime crackdown in London’ This article was used in my first magazine. I had planned to buy caution or police tape from a local craft store and place it over a door, preferably in college as I could then use the lighting equipment available to create a professional looking image of a ‘crime scene’ using a long shot, however, this wasn’t possible due to college and shops being closed. It would’ve looked similar to this image from Door Police Tape Photos - Free & Royalty-Free Stock Photos from Dreamstime

 

The image I had planned to go in the box labelled 7 was linked to the article titled ‘Americas fight about rights.’ For this image I had planned to have a friend stand outside holding a cardboard sign that said Black Lives matter, as this is a current cause for protest around the world. The person would be in a mask and the photo would be taken from a low angle and it would be a medium close up. It would look similar to this image from George Floyd: Five factors behind the UK Black Lives Matter protests - BBC News

The image I had planned to go in the box labelled 8 was linked to the article titled ‘Helping the homeless’ For this image I had planned to set up a sleeping bag and empty cup against a wall and have a friend sit there, the photo would’ve had natural lighting and would be a wide shot at eye level to get everything in and to make the audience feel equal, however, due to the lockdown this was not possible. The image would’ve looked similar to this one from Homeless people are denied basic health care, research finds (birmingham.ac.uk)

The image I had planned to go in the box labelled 9 was linked to the article titled ’Brexit. Deal or no deal’. For this image I had planned to set up a desk area with pens, papers, plants, and a lamp and have a family friend sit at the desk. This would’ve been done with artificial lighting and at a medium close up at eye level. This image would’ve looked similar to this one from What the country needs most is Boris Johnson back at his desk | The Spectator

 

Website Linked page

The website was different to what I had planned and didn’t look as real as I had hoped, this was because I only had access to Microsoft word and not photoshop. If I did have access to photoshop the boxes and gaps between would be neater and more equal. The prototype itself looks very plain, but if I actually had the images on there it would look a lot more colourful and busier. The font is the same one used in my print products and the masthead is the same along with colour to create a sense of brand identity. The linked page I chose to do was the UK related news, most of the articles have already been seen on the website homepage or the magazine prototypes.

The image I had planned to go in the box labelled 1, linked to the Boris vs Corbyn article, is the same article and image that was on the homepage. It was going to be two middle aged family friends sitting across a table from one another with papers in front of them to make it look like they were making a deal, I would use a wide shot and the lighting would be artificial and I wanted to edit it so half had the colour of the conservative party and the other half the colour of the Labour party.

The image I had planned to go in the box labelled 2, linked to the article Boris vs Covid was the front cover for the second magazine. The image is of a close up of someone in a mask, the only difference between this image and what I had planned is the lighting. If I was able to go into the college, I would’ve had access to the lighting equipment and would’ve been able to have brighter and more professional lighting.

The image I had planned to go in the box labelled 3 was linked to the article ‘crime crackdown in London’ This article was used in my first magazine and on the website homepage. I had planned to buy caution or police tape from a local craft store and place it over a door, preferably in college as I could then use the lighting equipment available to create a professional looking image of a ‘crime scene’ using a long shot, however, this wasn’t possible due to college and shops being closed.

The image I had planned to go in the box labelled 4 was linked to the article titled ’Brexit. Deal or no deal’. This image was also used on the website homepage. For this image I had planned to set up a desk area with pens, papers, plants, and a lamp and have a family friend sit at the desk. This would’ve been done with artificial lighting and at a medium close up at eye level.

The image linked to the article ‘Pandemic Panic’ was not what I had planned. For this image I had planned to take an image of shopping trolleys to suggest a ‘panic buy’, however going into lockdown meant I was unable to go to the shops to take these photos. Instead I used some photos taken in a shop from a photoshoot I had done in the past as the background fit the theme, it was the best I had available.

The image I had planned to go into the box labelled 5, was going to be related to the article titled Man arrested after pedestrian dies in crash in Norwich. This image would’ve been used in the second magazine contents page. For this image I had planned to take a wide angle shot of the family car with police tape on it or I was going to try and take a photo of a police car if possible. Since the shops closed, I was unable to buy the tape for this image.

The image I had planned to go in the box labelled 6, linked to the article titled ‘Royal Christmas’. For this image I was going to have members of my own family pose in front of our Christmas tree, the photo would be a wide shot to make sure everyone was in it, however, due to the lockdown we were unable to see our family to make this happen. The image would’ve looked similar to any of the previous royal family Christmas cards.