Flat Plan Design.

I am aiming for my front cover to be more or less layout like this. I planned this so that I would have a clear referral which I could go back to and see if my magazine resembled my flat plan design. The layout I’ve chosen looks quite simple in the sense that everything has been put in a specific area which will grab reader’s attention. I also want a large medium shot image of my mode across my cover this is because this type of shot can quickly engage an audience as well as that the sub stories/headings that will be surrounding it will overlap some parts of the image giving it a cooler and edgier tone. I’m still pondering between overlapping my large image over my magazine title as I’m not sure if it will fit in with my magazine. This type of overlapping is called cover line which are commonly used by magazine to make them look a bit edgier.

Target Audience.

I’d assume someone who bought my type of magazine would be very individual but many people nowadays peoples dress sense are often reflected by what they’ve seen in magazines.

                                                                  

My Character Profile:

This is my stereotypical interpretation of what sort of person would by this magazine:

They’d attend a lot of gigs.

There favourite genre of music would be contained within the magazine.

Have a fair few of tattoos and piercings.

They would wear plimsoles/ converse/vans, band named t shirts, check shirts, leggings, denim skinny jeans or chinos.

There style is often influenced by band members like 'Arctic Monkeys' and 'The Pretty Reckless'. 

They will also have a lot of abstract jewellery.

Rival Magazines.

My two rival magazines would be NME magazine and also Kerrang this is because they fit into the genre of music my artist will be based upon and also my target audience.

I chose those as a front cover as I liked the colour scheme as well as the layout. The colour scheme in the background complemented her eye make-up which draws the readers attention, as well as that I liked the way the model fills the left hand side of the magazine cover which leaves the right hand side for the text. There is a minimal amount of texts which shows the reader the main storied within the magazine.

I chose magazine front cover fro Kerrang! I liked the overall design of this front cover because it breaks all the stereotypical ordered layout of a front cover. When I looked at this magazine the first thing I noticed was the font in front of the band it grabs your attention as it isn’t the regular font. I also liked the way most of the artists in each photo are dressing in black which draws the reader away from them which makes you read the font surrounding it. I found that this front cover had an overall good feel and was out going.



Music Questionnaire.

Music Questionnaire

   1. Are male or female? Please tick.

Male [  ] Female [  ]

2. How old are you?

____________________

3. How often do you purchase a magazine on a weekly basis? Please tick.

Once a Week [  ] Twice a Week [  ] More than three [  ]

4. Which music magazine do you buy? Please tick one or more.

Kerrang [  ]

NME [  ]

Q [  ]

Mojo [  ]

      Other :( please state)        ____________________________________________

     

    5. What music genre best describes you? Tick one or more.

Pop [  ]

Indie [  ]

Rock [  ]

Drum & Bass [  ]

RnB [  ]

Rap [  ]

Dubstep [  ]

Other: (please state) ___________________________________________________

6. What would you consider the best feature within a magazine? Please tick.

Celeb Interviews [  ]

Gig reviews [  ]

New Music [  ]

Feature Articles [  ]

Photo shoots [  ]

7. What are the two features of a front cover magazine that attracts you the most? Please tick.

The overall front cover [  ]

Celebrity featuring [  ]

Colour scheme [  ]

Price [  ]

Related features [  ]

      Who is in it [  ]

8. What are you three favourite artists at the moment?

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

9. What would you like to see on a front of a music magazine cover? Please circle.

The Artist/ Celebrity [  ]

Prize Draws [  ]

Gig Photos [  ]

Photo shoots [  ]

Feature article information [  ]

Conducting a questionnaire is very important when deciding which target audience would ultimately prefer to purchase your magazine. By then you can get a variety of different feedback from others which would be at an advantage as then that would ensure that your magazine has buyers. I conducted a questionnaire to a variety of pupils and adults; aged between the ages of 16 to 25.

What have I learned?

While designing and making my magazine cover, I have learned a variety of different skills and conventions of a magazine. I have a significant more understanding of using Photoshop, as I feel more confident and at ease while using Photoshop. I also learned that different photos can portray different emotions and messages. More so I have learnt a variety of different editing skills which will facilitate when it comes to making and designing my final AS product.

Layout Decisions.

When considering what layout to choose, I have learned that being meticulous is the best approach to have when picking, this is because if you don’t your chose may not be the correct and in the long run it wont go with whatever else you any have within this. My magazines target audience will be based on the stereotypical teenage ages varying from 13 to 16. To achieve this I will compare a variety of magazine which is suitable to the style I want to achieve and check if any ideas may be similar or different to what I have in mind. The principles I have learned and gained from this exercise is you do have to be very particular and focused because if not this could then end up ruining the end product. More so this then links in with a particular section of my coursework where i had to design a magazine front cover which had to cover a certain criteria.

Bad Photography.

This is what I considered as a bad photograph, even though it fitted the criteria of having the model in a medium close up, as well as that the photo as taken evenly and looks proportioned each side. The background is too busy which will automatically draw the reader towards the it more so the downside to this photo is that the lighting could have been chosen at a better stage as the photograph looks a bit dull and dark.

Good Photography.

Good Photography

This is an example of a photo I thought wasn’t as suitable when it became to looking through the variety of photos that were taken. This was firstly because it wasn’t a medium close up meaning that it wouldn’t of fitted the criteria of what was initially needed. I also noticed that the model wasn’t equally proportioned within the photo as she seemed to be more to the left making the photo seem very uneven and busy. More so I found that the background colours looked to bust and clashed with what was worn by the model.

Photography

I took photographs which would feature in the school magazine. I found areas within the school grounds which thought would suitable to show different locations in the school. I took a variety of photos making sure that i would have a wide variety to put on both my front cover and contents page.

Final School Magazine

This is my final School magazine front cover. I used main colours worn by the models so I could replicate this into my front cover. I made the whole front cover very simplistic and not to busy this is so that the audience don’t feel as though they are being over loaded with images and also text. This is then my final contents page, again I kept the three main colours straight onto the contents I did this because I wanted to show a sense of consistency throughout the magazine.

Preliminary Project School Magazine

As a part of my media studies project we were assigned to design and make a school magazine cover. There were a variety of conventions of a school magazine we looked at

Conventions of a front cover were:

-Title

- Sub-headings

- Large Image

- Colour Scheme

- Layout

- Date/Price/Barcode/Website

Conventions of contents were:

- Subheading

- Images

- Page Numbers

- Colour Scheme