Music Magazine Contents Planning

This is how I planned out my contents page. I divided an A4 bit of paper up into 4 secions, and thought of 4 ideas of how I wanted it to look.

Out of these 4 contents ideas, I preferred the bottom right one out of all of them. Again, this is similar to to the lay out of my contents page mock-up for my preliminary task, but I think that this one is the most professional.

This is a bigger version of my ideas, and this is the one I prefer out of them all. The image is quite faint because I used pencil to draw them. If I was going to do it again, I would go around them in pen.

Music Magazine Cover Planning

After gathering all of the audience feedback, I then had to plan what my front cover would look like. I started by drawing ideas on paper. These are the ideas that I came up with.

Out of these four ideas, I think that I like the top left one the best. Even though this is similar to the Preliminary magazine cover, I think that it is the most effective, and most professional idea for a magazine cover. It goes along with the audience feedback, with the main image taking up the majority of the page, the cover lines going over the top of the image, and the masthead being in the centre, and the middle of the page. This is a rough drawing of what my magazine cover is going to look like.

This is a bigger version of the previous drawing, it shows in more detail what I think my magazine front cover is going to look like.

Target Audience Research

This is the questionnaire in which I handed out to my class. I printed 15 questionnaires to get target audience research for my magazine front cover, contents and double-page spread. After I handed it out, I am going to show the results in the form of graphs, and then start creating my front cover, contents page and double-page spread while taking these into account. 

  

These are the results that I got after collecting in my questionnaire, from my target audience. From this, I will have an idea how my front cover, contents page and double-page spread will look like.

By receiving this result, I found out that 60% of people would like to have the image on the front cover take up the majority of the page. 

60% of people would like my magazine to have cover lines that go over the main image. This makes the magazine look more professional, as it is what the majority of magazines do nowadays.

More people thought that the masthead should go along the top, and in the centre of the magazine, than the top left, top right and along the side. This is also a common feature on magazines nowadays.

By asking the audience this question, I would find out whether they would like the name "Bass" for a music magazine. The majority of people thought that this was a good name, so I decided this was what my magazine was going to be called.

By looking at this, I see that I should only put 1 image on the contents page, as this is what the majority of people would like best.

By asking this question, I wanted to find out whether I should put the writing on the contents page in columns or not. The majority of people didn't think that they wanted columns on the contents page, so therefore I would not add columns to my contents page.

The majority of people would like the same style of font that is used on the front cover, to be used on the contents page. This would also make it more professional, and would create a house-style theme.

The majority of people would like to see 3 columns of writing on the double-page spread, meaning that there would be 3 columns of the interview. 



By reading this, it is obvious that the majority of people would like the see the same font that is on the front cover and contents page to be on the double-page spread.

This graph shows that nearly half of the people I asked thought that the orange, black, and blue colour is their favourite. This is the colour I will use for my magazine.

This shows that most of the people that I asked would like to see the colour scheme carry on through the front cover, contents page and double-page spread. This is a common characteristic of a magazine.

Music Magazine Double-Page Article Research

These are the music magazine articles that I had found for my research, and are the ones that I am going to analyse.

The thing that stands out the most on this double-page spread is the "Queen?" title, as it relates to the picture on the right. The fact that they have used a serif type font, it suggests that this magazine is quite exclusive. The blue of the question mark has came from the blue of her glasses, which is very effective, and is what most magazines do in their articles, or for any of their images. The main image is fairly unusual in the way that it is not in direct mode of address. Most magazines that feature images use a direct mode of address, making the person in the image look directly at the audience. In the middle of the text there is a quote, which again, is a fairly common characteristic in an article of a magazine.

This magazine article is unusual, in the way that the title is all different sizes. colour scheme is fairly dark, and doesn't have much colour in it at all, except the little bit under the title, which comes from the red of her top. She is in direct mode of address, which means that she is looking straight at the audience, which draws the audience in to buy the magazine, and read it. The writing is divided up in to four columns, which is also a common characteristic of a magazine. The writing goes over the centre of the page, which hides some of the writing, which could possibly make the audience misread the title. The font is also in a serif font, which suggests that the audience is fairly young compared to a magazine that uses a sans-serif type font.

This magazine double-page spread seems quite busy, like there is too much going on, which I don't want to do on my magazine double-page spread. the colour scheme is also quite busy, there are a lot of colours in this article, which suggests that the target audience is for a younger audience than the other articles I am analysing. The images also suggest this, by having fairly young kids in the top right, shows that the audience is fairly young. Also, because they are using a sans-serif type font, it shows that this article isn't necessarily directed at an older audience, and that it isn't as exclusive as the previous magazine that had a serif type font.

This image, as soon as you look at it, suggests that it is also from an exclusive magazine. This is because of the "got the love", and the fact that the D of the opening sentence is bigger than the rest of the text, and is also in a serif type font. There isn't much of a colour scheme on this article, apart from the red and white that she is sitting on, which may have came from the redness of her hair. As soon as you look at it, you get the impression that it is quite exclusive, due to the fonts, colours and font sizes.

Music Magazine Contents Page Research

After I had analysed the music magazine front covers that I had found, I then had the task to find, and analyse some existing music magazine contents pages. These are the ones that I found.

This is the contents page for the popular magazine "NME". For the colour scheme, they have continued this from the front page, and from the measthead, which creates a house style contents page. They have left no spare room on this, which is a positive because it shows that they have used the space effectively, and I hope to do this for my contents page, when I come round to designing it. The colour scheme is easy to see, and they are contrasting colours, which allows the text to stand out more easily, and be in the audience's face. They have used two images of the band "Oasis", and this links with the passage of text that is underneath it. Again, I hope to do this in my contents page. They have used headings above each of the stories that are included in the magazine, this makes it easier to find the story that the audience may be interested in. The arrows that are next to the stories are good because they allow the audience to see that they are of a greater importance than the rest of the stories on the page. They have used an advertisement across the bottom of a deal that they are currently doing, which promotes the magazine. A unique feature that has been used in this contents page is the band index. This allows the audience to see what bands are being displayed in this magazine, which speeds up the time to look for a band. I have not seen this in any other magazine, so if I create something that I wanted to be unique, I may consider using this feature.

For this contents page, the colour scheme is very dull, which allows the main image to subtly stand out. This means that the main image jumps out to the audience. The way he is looking straight at the camera is quite domineering, which is quite a masculin trait, and the way that he is looking directly down the camera in a direct mode of address makes him seem powerful and makes the audience seem inferior to him. The way that the cover lines go around the image, and over the top, is a good mix because it shows good use of the image as the main feature and a sub-feature. The use of the white text on the red background stands out, which makes it clear to the audience what they are looking at. For this contents page, it seems as though they have left quite a lot of room that is not taken up, which is unusual in a magazine. The "V" in the darker colour of red that is behind the image, is a subtle reminder to the reader that the magazine cover is from vibe, which is a common feature on all vibe contents pages.

In this contents page, you can tell that this is from the popular magzine "Vibe", due to the subtle V in the background behind the image. As well as the previous contents page, there seems to be quite a lot of room left compared to the other magazine covers that I am analysing. With the image, similar to the previous one, he is looking firectly down the camera, in a direct mode of address. This makes the audience feel inferior towards him, and it also makes him look like he is looking directly at the audience. The colour scheme that is used for the contents page comes directly from the image, which represents a feature of contunuity being used throughout this page, amongst the image, background and colour of font. There is only one other colour in this contents page, the red in the hand, that is positioned over his heart. This is quite ironic because it is positioned directly over his heart, and the fact that it is red symbolises love, which stereotypically would not be associated with a man.

For this magazine contents, the main image, as well as all of the previous contents, are very effective. All four of the band are looking at the camera, which again, makes us feel that they are looking directly at the camera. The colour scheme for this magazine, comes mainly from the masthead of this magazine, which is quite simply, "Q" with a red background, which is where the red on this contents page comes from. With this magazine, there is not much space left at all, it has all been used up effectively, which is common on most magazines, however it makes it look like there is a lot of writing on the contents page where there is actually not, which may put the reader off, and not read all of the magazine. The cover lines are places along the left hand side of the contents page, which is different to most of the other contents pages. When I am designing my contents page, I will have to keep this in mind, whether I would want to put the cover lines on the left or on the right.

Music Magazine Cover Research

After I had fully completed the Preliminary Task, I then had to start on the main task. The first thing I had to do was analyse some existing magazine covers, similar to the genre that I wanted to do for my from cover. I then picked these covers, and started analysing them.

 

This magazine is from a very well-known American magazine named "Vibe". The masthead of the magazine is very significant, in many different ways. They have used a sans-serif type font, which suggests to us that this magazine is aimed at a younger audience. The colour of the masthead is also fairly important. The way that the masthead fades from black to red is not a usual characteristic of a magazine, so it is very unusual. However, it links the black of his top, and his tattoos, with the other colour scheme of the magazine, red. With all of the colours on the magazine being contrasting colours, this makes the magazine easy to read, and is also a common characteristic of any magazine.

The main image, in the centre of the magazine is also very significant. The way that he is looking directly at the camera makes him draw the reader into the magazine, as it makes him look at the reader however the reader is looking at the magazine. The colour scheme for the magazine comes mainly from the image. The black of his top make the cover lines black, and they have also took the grey from his tattoos and put that onto the cover lines. This magazine does not include a barcode, which you do normally see on every magazine, but it does include an issue number, a website and a date. This could mean that the barcode is on the back cover, which is an unusual place to have one on a magazine.

This is an example of an existing magazine from "hip hop connection", which focuses on the hip hop genre of music. This magazine cover does have all the common features of a magazine, such as a barcode, date, and the issue number. The colour scheme of this magazine, similar to the previous magazine, uses red, white and black colours, which again, makes the magazine very easy to read. There are actually no proper coverlines on this magazine. Instead, they have listed other popular artists in this genre of music. This attracts the readers to buy this magazine, as these are all also famous artists from this genre of music.

The masthead at the top of the page, and in the centre, behind the image, doesn't really stand out as soon as you see this magazine cover. The magazine uses a sans-serif type font, which also reflects the genre of the magazine. The thing that stands out the most as soon as you see this magazine cover is the main image in the centre of the magazine. As the person on the front cover is one of the top stars for this genre of music, this encourages the readers to buy this magazine as soon as they see it. Another way to help sell this magazine is by including freebies with the magazine. In this case, the magazine includes a free £20 gift card, which persuades the buyers to buy the magazine even more.

This is another fairly popular music magazine named "XXL". The title of this magazine is a different colour to the rest of the front cover, and half of it is also covered by the main image. This is significant because it makes the title stand out, but also at the same time, it makes the main image stand out too. Above the title, there is a sell line. Sell lines aren't included on all magazines, but if they are, it gives the magazine more attractive. The subject of the main image of this magazine is wearing very dark clothing, and does not have much colour at all. I have noticed this for the majority of the magazine covers that I have analysed, that they do not have much colour in them at all. Even though this is the case, the images on the cover of the magazines do tend to stand out.

This magazine does have all of the common characteristics of a magazine, such as the barcode, the date, and the price, which are all in the bottom right hand corner. With this magazine, as well as the previous magazine cover, it doesn't have cover lines as such, they are just names of other famous artists within this genre of music. This helps to sell, and to make the magazine stand out to the audience. Under Ludacris' name, the person on the cover of this magazine, there is something that could also be classed as a sell line, and also gives the magazine some slang. With Ludacris being from America, it acts as American slang, with the 'yo' a$$', and with the dollar signs being used as the s.

In my opinion, this magazine cover stands out the most compared to the previous magazine covers that I analysed. This is because the main image of Chris Brown actually has colour on it, as he is wearing a red top as apposed to a black top that is worn by the previous people on the magazine covers. Again, this magazine has all of the characteristics of a common magazine cover, the barcode, a website, the price and also the date.

Preliminary Task

The preliminary task that we have been set is to create a magazine cover, and contents page for a school or college magazine. The magazine cover must include a picture of a student in medium close-up, and some appropriately laid out text and a masthead. We also are required to produce a mock-up of a contents page. To start the preliminary task, we are asked to analyse different existing school or college magazine covers. These are the three magazine covers that I am going to analyse.

Existing Magazine Research and Evaluation

In this magazine cover for the magazine "college", there is a clear colour scheme for the masthead. The red colour of the masthead comes from the red of her top, so the image of this magazine cover also holds the colour scheme for it. With the red being a contrasting colour with the background, it makes the masthead easy to read, and to stand out to people that read it. The black and blue colours that are used for the cover lines are also contrasting colours, which also makes these easy to read. The colours on this cover are not too brightly coloured, which would make the text fairly hard to read.

With the cover lines being short, straight to the point stories, it gives the reader a taster as to what is included in the magazine. The stories are all places around the main image, which not only makes the text easier to read, but it also shows more of the image to the reader. The barcode in the bottom right of the picture makes it obvious when you see it, that it is a magazine. It also includes a website URL to the college magazine website. All of these features make the magazine stand out to the reader.

This magazine cover is for a similar college magazine, called "college lifestyle". The masthead is in the same position as the previous college magazine, at the top, and the image protrudes over the logo. This makes the image stand out more to the reader. Above the masthead there is a sell line, which makes the magazine sound fairly important and exclusive. For the colour scheme, they have used two very good contrasting colours, black and yellow. These colours aren't too bright, so it makes the text on the cover easy to read. For the "splat!" coverline, a bright pink colour is used. With the cover line saying "let's go paintballing!", the actual image relates to paintballing. They have made it as if a paintball has actually hit the cover of the magazine, which gives a very good effect to the cover of the magazine.

The main image on the magazine cover is a very casual person, holding study books. This would make the target audience of the magazine students that are interested in the latest "gossip". The colour scheme for the magazine comes mostly from the main image, the same as the previous magazine. The black jacket that he is wearing creates the colour scheme, and they have chose to use yellow as the masthead and coverline colour, as it makes the writing stand out. In the bottom left of the picture, in a different position to the previous magazine cover, there is also a barcode, and the price, which are both main features of a magazine cover.

This magazine is mainly a sport magazine, named "college sports". The masthead, as well as the other two, is at the top of the page, at the centre, where the image protrudes over the text. And again, the main colour scheme for the magazine cover comes from the colours in the image itself. Even though yellow and white are a bright colour, and aren't a contrasting colour, they are still very readable on the magazine cover, due to the black outline that they have around them, and the fairly dark background. The main image of the cover has an obvious target audience. Even though the title of the magazine has an all round general audience, the image shows that this particular magazine would stand out to american football players.

With this magazine only having one coverline, this gives the impression that this is only a basic magazine, but it could also underline the importance of the coverline. With the word "sure" being a different colour to the rest of the text, it makes the reader put some emphasis on this word, and makes it stand out. At the bottom right of the magazine cover is the barcode, price and the date, which are all features of a common magazine cover.

Drafts

Before starting on my actual magazine cover, I made some rough drafts on paper first, of what I wanted my magazine to look like. These consisted of 4 designs that I liked, and 1 final design, that I would then go on to use for my final magazine cover. Each of the 4 ideas that I created have everything in a slightly different place, so that everything is different. I decided to do this because it shows the amount of choice that I had when I first started designing it.

These are the 4 designs that I came up with for my front cover. Each one includes the main image in the centre, the masthead, and the cover lines. Each of them also contain a barcode and price, but I then decided that they are not needed in the school magazine, as school or college magazines tend to be a free magazine, and therefore do not need a price or a barcode, but I have included the date and the issue number. Out of the 4 designs, I chose to go with the one in the top right.

Out of the 4 designs that I came up with, this is the one that I chose. I chose to go with this design because with the masthead, sell line and date on the top, they are the characteristics of a typical magazine. I also thought that with the masthead at the top, it makes it stand out more, and makes it more appealing to the reader than if the masthead was at the bottom, which was one of my ideas. After I had drawn these 4 designs, I had decided to change the image that is on the top right, to the one on the top left, of a person holding a book in his right hand, instead of holding it in his left, and down by his side. I did this because I thought that having a book being held on the chest, it would make the reader see that the magazine is school/college based, due to the fact that they can see the book easier. As well as changing the image on the plan, as I have mentioned previously, I decided to take the barcode and the price out. I chose to put the cover lines on either side of the image, and decided to have this protruding over the image. I did this because again, these are the typical characteristics of a magazine, and because I also prefer this layout over the others.

Names for the Magazine

After designing the draft for my magazine, I then had the task to come up with some suitable names for my magazine. This did take quite some time, but I did get there in the end.

Banter - First, this was my favourite idea for the name of the magazine. With 'banter' being a slang word for 'gossip', it would stand out to students.

M.H.S. - I chose this name because it is an abbreviation of my school name, Monkseaton High School, and this is the target audience that I chose for my school magazine.

School Banta - This was the final name that I chose for my magazine. With there being the slang of 'banter' in there, which makes it stand out to students, it also gives the title an 'accent'. With the accent that we have, this is how we pronounce the word 'banter', so I decided to use this to an advantage.

Magazines @ School - This was a name that I quickly eliminated from my choices. I did this because I didn't like the name much, as it didn't appeal to me as a magazine name.

Sell Lines for the Magazine

After the names, I then had to think of some potential sell lines to go on the magazine, as I had put these in my designs. This did not take as long to think of as the names did.

For All Your School Banter - This seemed an appropriate sell line for the magazine, and was one of my favourites before I chose the one I did.

The Only Banta You Need - The favourite of mine out of the sell lines I came up with, which I then went on to putting on my magazine cover. Also, with my magazine being called 'school banta', and the sell line having 'banta' in it, I thought that this was the more appropriate sell line for my magazine.

For Banter All Around The School - This was the one that I discarded first the sell line for the magazine. I did this because I didn't think it suited my magazine.

Banter Central - I also thought that this was quite appropriate for my school magazine, but I favoured the other sell line over this one, so that one went on my magazine.

Cover Lines for the Magazine

I then had the task of coming up with several cover lines in my magazine. These are the ones that I chose.

New School Building - With Monkseaton High School just getting a new school building, I thought that this was appropriate, and should be included on the magazine cover, even though the cover line isn't exactly a positive thing.

Oliver Warden - With this being the name of the student that is going to be on the cover of my magazine, I thought that I should make a cover line with his name on it. I decided to make this into an interview of what the student thinks of the A-levels he is taking this year.

School Food - With the school meals in our school not being the best, I decided to include this into our magazine. I have asked the audience of this magazine a rhetorical question, to which it will be answered inside of the magazine.

Study Room? - With my magazine appealing to all of Monkseaton High School, this bit is to appeal more to the Sixth Form part of the school.

EZA-levels - With A-levels seeming the get easier every year, I have devided to add this onto my magazine. The title of it, being pronounced similar to 'easy levels', would also appeal more to the Sixth Form audience.

Final Draft

After creating the name, the sell line and the cover lines for my magazine cover, I then created a final draft of what my front cover will look like on Publisher. This is the example of what my final magazine cover will look like.

The principal of this draft has mostly stayed the same from my initial design. The only major difference of this from my initial design is the sell line, which I have moved slightly to the right, instead of being in the middle. I decided to do this because of the main image. Because of the image being in the middle, the sell line would go through the student's face, and the colours would clash, and would be contrasting, which would make it hard to read.

After creating the final draft for my school magazine cover, I then had to take a photograph of a student in my school, and manipulate it in a photo manipulation program, which in my case is Macromedia Fireworks. This is the photograph that I had taken of the student in my school.

This is the photo that I had taken for the main image of my school magazine. This is the student named "Oliver Warden", which goes with the main cover line on my magazine.

This is the image after I had edited it in my image manipulation program, which in my case, was Fireworks. I had completely cut the student out, cutting the whole background out. I did this by using one of the tools to highlight and select an area, and then deleted it. I then went around the image in more detail, to make sure that all of the unnecessary bits were deleted.

School Magazine Front Cover

After I had manipulated the image, came up with the cover lines, the masthead and the sell line, I then had the task of making the front cover. 

This is the completed school magazine front cover. It goes along with my draft, having the main image in the centre of the magazine, with the head of the student going slightly over the masthead, and the cover lines going over the top of the magazine. I think that the colour schemes that I have used are quite effective. By using contrasting colours, I have made the text so that it is easy to read, and that it really stands out. I have chosen to use a sans-serif type font, however I think that if I used a serif type font it would appeal more to the audience that I am making this magazine for. For the cover lines, I think that I could have experimented with different sizes of font, instead of using the same size font for each cover line. This would have also filled up more space, as I think on this magazine, there is too much free space, as on magazines today, there is hardly any space. I also think that I should have made the masthead bigger, again, freeing up space on the magazine cover. 

Existing Contents Research and Evaluation

After I had completely finished my magazine cover, it was then time to focus on the mock-up of the contents page for my school/college magazine. I began doing this by finding contents pages from existing magazines and analysing them. I tried to find examples of school/college magazine contents pages, but I was unsuccessful. These are the three contents pages that I found.

This contents page stands out very well to the readers, due to its mixture of bright colours, such as blue, pink and orange. With the colour of the font being black, and the entire background being white, these are contrasting colours, which make the contents page easy to read. includes a number of images, relating to the magazine articles that are in the actual magazine. The magazines are split up into 5 different categories on the contents page. Doing this makes it easier for the reader to find articles that they may want to read.

Even though this magazine contents page seems very clustered, it is still very effective at attracting the reader towards the magazine. The main image, the picture of the drummer, links in with the main title of the contents page, 'drummer', which could also possibly be the title of the magazine itself. With there only being one column for the story lines, and the rest of the page filled with images, minimising the writing on the page also attracts the readers, as most of the people that will see this magazine will only look at the pictures. The colour scheme on the contents page of the magazine does seem to be quite dulll, but still quite effective. The use of the red, white and black are all contrasting colours, which makes the magazine cover easy to read.

Again, this magazine uses the same colour scheme as the previous one, using red, white and black as the main colours. These seem to be the common colours that are used for a magazine for the 'rock' genre of music. Although there is more text in this one than the one before, there still is a large main image of the band that this particular magazine is concentrating on.

Drafts

After analysing the exiting magazine contents pages, I started on the draft of my school/college magazine contents. 

These are the 4 ideas that I came up with for my school/college magazine contents page. Out of the four of them, I am going to choose one one on the bottom left. This is because I think it looks more appealing to my target audience, as a school/college magazine. This is a mock-up of what it will look like.