Evaluation

For my Final major I decided to do something a little different to everyone else, I believe that most were doing a paper based magazine, however the project I enjoyed most was my Channel X which was very computer based and quite interactive and 3D. So I chose to take my inspiration off that and create a project that would be fun for people to read themselves as well as creating something that is fun for me to produce. So I chose to go for an interactive magazine, it would have things that people can click on, it will be visually stimulating and will be clear enough to view on the ipads and iphones. I believe this is helping me as this is where technology is leading, it is very computer based and not a lot of things are within a book anymore and so I was hoping that this would help me keep up and learn new things.

Whilst creating this project there is a lot that I have learnt, from which programmes I can use to what is most appealing to the eye. To be honest there is more that I have learnt in this project than any before. However because I was having fun with it, it came very easily. One of the most important things I believe that I learnt was to use Photoshop comfortably, I believe that before this project I did not use it in the ways that would help me and now that this project is complete, I believe I am quite comfortable in the software and what it can do, although I know there is still alot for me to learn.

When doing my research I found that there is a lot of magazines that are based purely on men and what they desire in a car magazine, I do not believe I found a magazine purely for men or for mixed sex in-fact. I believe that this is a small portion of people at present however it is growing, the number of females that want to get involved in modifying their own cars has almost doubled since the beginning of the year and I believe that this number will keep growing, and so with the gap in the market, I believe my magazine would fit just nicely with little or no competition. Also I believe that there are not a lot of magazines made for the ipads and androids, although there are some, again not many for women.

I believe in my magazine, the thing that worked the best is possibly my Yellow Rabbit feature, although not one of my interactive pages, it has enough colour and vibrancy to attract the eye without over-whelming it. I believe it is also appealing as there are not a lot of people who have older cars that they wish to modify as the parts are not there, they all have to be modified and created on your own. People do not wish to do the work that they used to they want it easy, fast and cheap.

If I were to do this project again I perhaps would have needed more time so that I could work more on figuring out how to do the individual interactive parts, right the first time.  I would have also made there be more videos and more interactive areas within the magazine itself so that people are not just reading Mod it they are also having fun playing with it and watching everything move.

Talking with Steve McCann

I decided to e-mail the staff at Fast Car on the off chance that maybe one of them would be able to help improve my work or maybe even answer a few questions for me to help with the magazine. As it turned out it was Steve McCann the Photographer that e-mailed back. I started talking to him asking him for advise on my project and so he had a look and here are a few pointers I got from him:-

-'possibly show the Fast Show from a different angle' I decided to go from the campers point of view, I chose to go and write about my own experiences camping, this would be different angle as usually you would see someone writing that has maybe stayed the night in a hotel or perhaps has gone to so many shows that to them the show is just the same as everything else. I believe I can bring a new point of view and a new excitement to the article showing that they are all different and they are not just places for people to race the strip and show off their hard work.

I was later talking to him about my own car and how with first time cars they are not necessarily the looks people go for as they cannot afford them but the convenience that maybe a car is already for them to have from parents or possibly they are just so cheap and ready to go that they cannot pass up the opportunity. To this he stated 'Forget power at your age concentrate on style, insurance is a nightmare' This is exactly what goes through the mind of many teenagers looking for a first time car, they either mix a little power with a little bit of looks or they go purely for looks and instantly spending the extra money on the modifications that they put on.

I later asked him to look through my blog and to tell me if there is anything that he believed could be changed so that it was not to restricting on who it would attract or that I would single out a few people from the rest, so he did and this is what he said: 'You need to change the words boy racer as it is a very negative description giving the perception that all young modifiers want to do is tear around the streets speeding and driving dangerously when the large majority actually are law abiding, careful and want to look after their cars and look cool'. 'The Euro/Dub scene has influenced the UK scene so much in recent years, especially with Fast Car, most of these dub guys barely go over 60mph to avoid stone chips and damaging wheels'.

Further into the conversation we got talking about his work, how he manages to think of all the ideas for the shoots and how he decides which shoots to do and which not to do, along with what his opinions are of how fun it is to do the job. The first he commented on was the opinion 'Even though I am in this game due to the love of photography and cars it does change when it becomes a profession'. I believe the quote speaks for itself.

Next he went on about the shoots and the jobs:

'Shoots take an average of 4-5 hours each'

'In terms of picking cars, I have contacts all over so I hear about fresh builds before most people'.

'When I hear of a car or spot one (I've even found cars on facebook) then I ask the appropriate mag if they want it'

'It's good that I'm left mainly to a free roll and the best themes come when I think of the title before hand and do the theme to suit'

'Before I shoot a car for Fast Car I look at the car, the owner, what he/she does for a living, even a surname could be a theme'

'Other people can give you initial ideas too'

Top ten cars

Looking at a various amount of websites I will post below the top ten cars seen for each category.

Cheap -> Citroen C4/ Chevrolet Matiz/ Daihatsu Charade/ Fiat Panda/ Ford KA/ Hyundai Amica/ Kia Picanto/  Nissan Micra/ Proton Savvy/ Toyota Yaris

Modified-> Seat Leon/ VW Sirocco/ Aston Martin Vantage/ Ferari F430 Race/ BMW M6/ Porsche 911/ Ford Mustang/ SLR Renovation/ Murcielago Audigier/ Audi R8

First time-> Kia Forte/ Mitsubishi Lancer/ VW Beetle/ Peugeot 107/ Vauxhall Corsa/ Peugeot 106/ Fiat Panda/ Austin Mini/ Fiat Uno/ Peugeot Uno/ Peugeot 205/ Renault 5/ Vauxhall Agila

Most seen-> Ford Fiesta/ Vauxhall Corsa/ Renault Clio/ Fiat Cinquecento/ Peugeot 306/ Peugeot 205/ VW MK2 Golf/ Peugeot 106/ Austin Mini/ Ford KA

Other website 1-> Renault Clio/ Ford KA/ Peugeot 106/ Fiat 500/ Ford Fiesta/ Fiat Punto/ Honda Civic/ Vauxhall Corsa/ VW Polo/ Seat Ibiza

Other website 2-> Ford Fiesta/ Honda Insight/ Kia Forte/ Kia Soul/ Mazda 2/ Mitsubishi Lancer/ Smart Fortwo/ Subaru Impreza 2.5i/ Toyota Corolla/ VW Jetta s

These are the most common cars and I have chosen ten, I then sent around an e-mail asking which would be most commonly used as a first time car, these are the results...

1. Ford Fiesta     7

2. Peugeot 106     2

3. Renault Clio     2

4. Vauxhall Corsa     2

5. Ford KA     2

6. Fiat Punto     1

7. VW Polo     2

8. Mk2 Golf     3

9. Peugeot 306     1

10. Peugeot 205     1


As we can see the Fiesta is a clear winner, next in line is the Mk2 Golf, third is running the 106/ Clio/ Corsa/ KA and the Polo and last in line would be the Punto/ 306 and 205.

Inspirational Magazine Layouts

These are a few layouts I have found that are interesting and different, I wanted to show these so that you can understand where my layouts come from.

Magazine Adverts

I decided to look at the different magazine adverts, how they are layed out, how much room they take up and what information is included. Now I know normally the company wishing to advertise does the design however obviously they will not do that in my case so I must research how they fit into the magazine and what information they use to get people interested. So here is 3 advertisements taken from various magazines for various different companies and products.

 These first two adverts are from an extreme sports magazine, aimed mainly at men, this is obvious in the product being advertised. The stereotypical view of a surfer after a surf is having a beer on the beach which is why they chose to advertise beer in this magazine. Also there is no point in advertising it in a young girls magazine as for one they are not legal and for two a larger percentage of men drink beer than women. Next we have an advert for surfing images, this is ideal in an extreme sports magazine as it will make people view the images and want to do what they do. You would not advertise this to women unless they were surfers because they do not tend to do any of the extreme supports, not as much as men. The use of an image of a man on a surfboard also helps attract them as if it were a women it would appeal to a much smaller target audience.

Can you tell that this image is made to advertise for women? Another trick I see they do is make an image purely made for a certain sex [as above] however the images above leave it open to women as they may drink beer and they may go surfing and so are not singling them out. This was produced in a women's fashion magazine and so they will aim it purely at women. This is done by using pink a lot and including things that are purely women such as pink nail varnish.

In conclusion you can tell that it is not only the product that decides what magazine it is in but also the  imagery, type, colours, every little bit that is within the advertisement needs to be thought of and chosen according to the target audience and their decisions as to what appeals to them.

Santa Pod

• Santa Pod raceway is the first permanent 1/4 mile drag strip in Europe.
• Opened Easter in 1966.
• Built on ex army land.
• Fastest all asphalt drag strip in the world.
• It is leased and operated by Trakbak Racing which is based in London
•  It is now the home of European drag racing and has had Andy carter do a 4.5s run at 320.95mph at the European finals 2010 setting a European record
• Santa Pod hosts over 50 events during the race season Jan-Nov, including: National drag race meetings, classic car events, modified car shows (The Fast Show and USC), VW Beetle & Camper festivals (Bug Jam and Big Bang), Japanese performance car events (The JapShows), specialist events (Performance Vauxhall Show, Classic Ford show), Run What Ya Brung (RWYB) public track days and much more!
• Circuit Statistics
  Length: 0.25 miles (0.402 Km)
  Surface: Asphalt
• Contact DetailsSanta Pod Raceway
  Airfield Road
  Podington
  Wellingborough
  Northants
  NN29 7XA
  England

Digimods

I chose to look at some of the digimod cars to see how far they push them on there, especially as this will be modified cars at their greatest.

First of all we have the cheapest method and possibly the most effective method of modifying your car, this would be just the graphics, everything done on this car can be done via a lick of paint or a few graphic prints to stick on. The alloys although slightly differing from the left image can easily be enhanced just by spraying them black,This makes them stand out less and makes them seem a little less than standard.

Next we come to an extremely modified car, these are the type that I want to include in my magazine. This particular car has (to name a few) a bodykit, alloys, new bonnet, spoiler, new lights and lowered springs. I will be keeping an eye out for cars just like this at Santa Pod as I believe they are the ones who have thought most about the styling and have not just thrown everything together and thought after about how it works together.

Last of all I have looked at the cars that have had graphics and major mods to improve the look. This car has gone for the manufactured blue however has added a carbon fibre bonnet, new alloys, a body kit and basically most of the things that the 207 did but with graphics all over it also. This is another style I will be looking out for to add into my magazine as these are the cars you look at and think wow what cars are they and what did they do to it to make it look like that. That's what modifying is all about, creating that wow factor.