Magazine cover draft

I decided to draft 4 covers for my music magazine to help me understand the best photo positioning. These might be used when I take my own photo's, but I might change it depending on how I take the photo's. However, I really like the 1st and 3rd cover ideas which involve close up's that entice and excite the viewer.

Double page spread draft

I drafted my own double page spread which I used a picture from the internet and added text. The layout is simular to the Empire magazine layout which I hoped. By doing this helps me to recognises the size and appropreate posistion I must have my photo and the quantity of text I must use. I will include my own influence to the page so that it wont seem too simular to the magazine which I researched. Ideas which I had includes adding a border, having a bold beginning word instead of one letter and maybe instead on one photo, there could be several.
I went for this photo for it's quirky, sweet and florial display and I find it suitable for the Pop side to my magazine. However, if I where to reflect on this idea of Rock and Pop, cute characteristics may not be appropreate from reflecting on my research on how my magazine should be layed out. Therefore I'll try to create a more beautiful and cool image to the double page spread instead.

Double page spread research

From 'Empire' magazine I love the layout of this double page spread of how the photo takes up most of the page creating an exciting, dramatic and intense feel to the page. My double page spread may not have this impression however I'd like to use this as a reference to how I'd like my double page to look.

Magazine font practice

I decided to practice various font styles for my front cover and use a internet image to get an idea of how the masthead would compliment. After receiving other opinions, I must take some original images and place it with the logo in order to decide fully, however the first and last masthead's are my particular favourite. 

The name I've decided to give my magazine is 'TAP TAP' due to rhythm or a beat. I think the name is catchy, easy to remember and works well with the theme of my magazine which will be 'Rock and Pop'.

Publication Plan and Magazine Questionaire Analysis

Your magazine:

Does it have a positioning statement/selling line? (eg World’s No 1 Magazine)

I do not feel that my magazine should have a selling line, I feel that the masthead and image will attract the attention.

Frequency of publication

From my research, the magazine will be published monthly, this'll give the magazine an exciting quality for the audience as well as better quality and quantity content.

                                                                                                                                

Price

The price will be about £3

Distribution

It'll be distributed in stores and as an online version after finding out that music is highly influenced through the internet. This'll create a wider audience for it can be accessible in various forms.

Rationale: 

What does your magazine offer; what makes it different?

My magazine will appeal to both men and women. What will make it different is not only the combination of rock and pop in genre, but I intend the layout to give an exciting, alluring yet unusual quality. 

Style (who is your target audience)

My target audience aims towards older teenagers (16 years old) to young adults (20 years old) who enjoy quality, natural and exciting news and music.

What is the regular content?

Some of the regular content will involve interviews, popular music and bands of the month, promotion page reflecting on new artist's/artist, letters from readers, Q and A, reviews and gig updates.

Feature content

Some of the featured content may include features into new bands/ artists, popular band/ artist interviews/ story, secrets from the famous and the headline story.

    

House style

Conventions etc

The magazine will include: Headline, cover lines, masthead, bar code, date, URL, social network sites, main image, pug, quotes and the use of left third.

The colours may include:
Red, Black, White and Grey.
I chose these colours for they respond to mature, dark layout which was the popular option from my research.

Contents page

Where will the features be presented?

The features will be presented near the end of the magazine, therefore the audience will be encouraged to look at the other articles and events.

Where will the news be featured?

The news will be featured at the beginning for it stimulates the excitement for the reader till they begin to read the cover article. 

Where are the other cover lines featured?

The other articles will consist in the middle and the end of the magazine. Though the stories will be small yet they will be satisfing to read and quick to finish inbetween the grand main stories.

Double page spread

How will you integrate images, text and graphics?

I may include a large image providing a bold, cool and interesting quality which'll dominate most of the space on the double page spread as well as the right page consisting with text. This layout is common is most magazines and I would like my magazine to take this layout too.

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I have asked 20 people, who are my target audience, about how my music magazine should appeal to them. I think the questionaire was very useful and allowed me to understand how my magazine should be designed. The questions I asked include the following:

1) Which of the following aspects of a magazine you find, the most importaint (first) and least importaint (last):
Images; featured albums; bands and songs; updates on gigs; exclusive interviews; contests or gifts.

2) How often do you buy a magazine?

a. Daily

b. Weekly

c. Monthly
d. Occasionally
f. Never

3) How much are you willing to pay for a music magazine?

a. £0.00- £1.00
b. £1.00- £2.00
c. £2.00- £3.00
d. £3.00- £4.00
e. £4.00+

4) What colours do you associate with a 'Rock and Pop' magazine?

a. Bright, flashy colours- Pink, yellow, orange, light green etc.
b. Mature colours- Red, black, white, dark blue etc.
c. Pastles- Baby pink and blue, yellow, white etc.
d. Dark colours- Grey, black, dark blue, purple etc.

5) What artists do you associate with 'Rock and Pop' music?

6) What tone should a music magazine suggest?

a. A formal tone

b. An informal tone
c. Another tone _______.

7) What words do you associate with 'Rock and Pop'?

8) Which way do you prefer to buy music?

a. Store
b. I tunes
c. Download
d. Other ______.

9) Which aspect encourages you to buy a music magazine?

a. The images
b. The articles
c. The price
d. The colours/ layout
e. The edition= special, exclusive etc.

The results that where given include:

1) Which of the following aspects of a magazine you find, the most importaint (first) and least importaint (last):

50% answered that 'bands and songs' is the most importaint aspect in a music magazine and 13 people found that contests and gifts are the least importaint. From this I understand that the type of content involving the artists and songs is esential inorder for the magazine to stand out. In addition, the gifts or contests seem to be the less likely aspect for customers to buy magazines, though they sometimes can be tempting, what's inside the magazine is what causes people to buy them.

2) How often do you buy a magazine?

From the responses, music magazines are not commonly purchased, therefore my magazine will only be produced occasionally each month. This means that the stories, layout and events will be rich in quality.

3) How much are you willing to pay for a music magazine?

Most agree to pay either £1-£2 or £3-£4. Therefore I will make my magazine about this price.

4) What colours do you associate with a 'Rock and Pop' magazine?

Most voted for Mature colours, then dark colours. To respond to this I will used mature dark colours for the magazine to bring upon a grown up but bold impression.

5) What artists do you associate with 'Rock and Pop' music?

The various artists which were frequent include:

Greenday, Paramore, Nickleback, All time Low, Muse, Avril Lavigne, Pink, MJ, Katie Perry, Kiss and Linkin Pack.

6) What tone should a music magazine suggest?

Most decided for a informal tone, some wish for another tone however did not say what kind. One said a down to earth tone may be appropreate.

7) What words do you associate with 'Rock and Pop'?

The type of words wich make them think of 'Rock and Pop' include:

'BOOM', Roar, Loud, drugs, informal words, colourful, death, Rock, Mosh pit, Fun, Skinny Jeans, Fame, Punk, Rock on, Yeah, Screech.

8) Which way do you prefer to buy music?

Most prefer to download their music meaning that the internet is highly used when finding your favourite music, no longer stores. Therefore the magazine will have links to popular music on the internet or promote websites to fulfil this response.

9) Which aspect encourages you to buy a music magazine?

Most buy the magazine because of the articles, therefore the article for my magazine must be persuasive and exciting towards the audience.

Remake- Remodel Task

In lesson, we presented our remake-remodel of an existing magazine. We revived responses from the students whether the magazines look realistic as well as keeps to the theme of the chosen magazine. My responses are all positively similar however some criticisms have drew my attention. Here is a summary of the responses to each question:

1. Have all magazines conventions been used? How successful are these compared to the real thing?

Most of the responses included that I have used a masthead, a pug, main cover line, cover lines, left third and cover star. However, I did not include the basic codes and conventions like a dateline and a bar code, therefore I must remember to include these in the future.

2. Has original photography been used? Does the photography match the ethos of the magazine? In other words, would you expect to see this photograph with this magazine?

The responses are similar, all agree that the photography is original. Most feel that the photo is clear, uses direct mode of address, been used effectively and it links well with the appearance of the magazine. However, most feel that the photo could appeal to a Q magazine cover, but others think that the photo might not appeal for it looks too creepy and needs to be modernised.

3. Have they analysed their own magazine in depth?
Most agree that I did, however some feel that I need to extend on my analysis. I will progress to improving my analysis of the magazine cover.

4. Finally, give an honest opinion of the 'look' of the magazine. It is a good representation of the magazine it is replicating?
The responses are agreeable and many feel that it looks like a typical Q magazine. The layout is similar to the original as well as the colour scheme and the use of fonts. Some feel that I need to put more work into it in order for it to look professional.

Magazine genre

I'd like to base my magazine on Rock and Pop music. Magazines which are involved with this genre include:

Rollingstone magazine-

NME-

And CCM magazine-

What these magazines have in common to make them seem like a Rock and Pop magazine includes a rather simple masthead- with a single bold colour and a clear font choice. The cover stars are young in age therefore they wear a bit of colour to their clothing whilst displaying a casual pose (mainly in a medium close up) with direct address. These cover stars are wearing stylish and appealing clothing suiting their age as well as towards the target audience. The layout mainly shows the cover lines on either the left or right, the fonts are bold and clear with colours suiting the house theme. The house colours involved in these covers vary between red, black, white, yellow and orange; all bright and simple colours in order for them to draw the audience's attention. Some of the covers include interesting designs to the layout with the use of arrows, underlines and plus signs; this displays a quirky and young feature to the cover.

These magazines mainly have one cover star. I like this idea since the attention will focus on them and their story. Also the backgroud to the cover are very plain and simple therefore, again, the cover star and masthead will dominate the attention.

I will take these ideas and use them for my own magazine, in this way, my magazine will suit the target audience and fit well with the Pop and Rock theme.

Q magazine cover

This is my attempt at producing a realistic Q magazine cover. Compared to other Q magazines, I attempted to keep the layout simular to theirs such as the cover lines displayed on the right or left and the use of the colours red, black and white. The main cover line takes up alot of the attention which is what I wanted. The use of a pug to make the magazine seem exclusive seems to be used in several Q magazines, however, I layed my pug out differently in order to suit the layout.

The photo I used not only keeps to the house colours, but also uses direct address and keeps a mysterious yet interesting motive which could also be an aspect of producing attention towards the target audience. In addition, the cover star is very young of age therefore this will attract the young adults.

Music Photography analysis

Types of language

Tone = tones can change the meanings of words depending on how it is pronounced.
The tone of my magazine I hope to be persuasive and exciting to the reader.

Style = the style characterises the language in it's own personal way.
The style of my magazine will include bold emphasis on inportaint words as well as the use of quotes from the stars to give the magazine character.

Register = for the language to fit a certain setting or perpouse. (e.g. formal setting, informal setting)
The regester will be informal, in this way it'll be more appealing to my target audience of Rock and Pop.
Forms of address = depends upon the type of class, who your talking to and the setting.
The forms of address I will use may include words such as 'I' (refering to the cover star) and some techniques with in the article refering to the cover star.

Vocabualry = body of words used in a perticular language. It can also be a range of styles and techniques of language.
The vocabulary within the magazine will be easy to read and down to earth wich'll be appealing to the young age group I hope to target my magazine towards.

Music artical, contents and language analysis

The front cover layout and the contents page layout link by displaying the bands iconic characters on both pages; the contents includes photo's which link to the cover headings as well as highlighting the main stories by displaying the page numbers in bold; the house colour of red, black and white consist through out the magazine and lastly, the results from the pugs are shown on the contents revealing the secrets to the reader once purchased.

The features shown on the contents include band icons and background stories, questionable photo's which'll encourage the reader to continue and exciting, tense stories hoping to lure the reader.

The main article appears to dominate the contents page with the bands images, this is exciting towards fans to view and read.

The type of language used within the main artical involves quick quotes and phrases, rhytorical questions, ecouraging words such as 'PLUS' or 'EXCLUSIVE' which creates an exciting and fulfilling atmostphere for the readers and fans.The tone of the magazine is exciting, encouraging and loud; this creates a special bond between the magazine and the audience, as if the infomation they are about to discover is very reserved yet gripping. The style involved is bold and engaging; by doing this develops a provoking characteristic to the magazine for the quotes and large text makes the magazine seem unreserved.The magazine regesters to an informal setting and lacks in direct address such as 'you' and 'we'.

The cover and contents reflect one another through the side headings, photo's of promoted bands, the snap shot of the front cover which continues to promote the main artical and the simular fonts and layout of images as squares keeps to the magazine theme. However, the house colours are not consistant between the contents and front cover, also the donomant images differ between the two pages.
The features in the contents page involve updates on tours, new albums and drama within the bands.
The main article in not very donomant on the contents page, it includes images of other various articles and bands however the cover story is minimal.

The language used within the main article involves direct address such as 'your', encouraging words like 'FAVOURITE' and 'EXCLUSIVE', straight forward titles of bands and adverts promoting music to the viewer and the tone is rather informal which works well with the target audience.

The layouts of the cover and contents page link well because of the colour scheme of red, black and white, the photo's of iconic bands shown on the contents link with side cover lines and the logo of the magazine is displayed on both pages trademarking it's individual layout.
The typical feature stories within this magazine involve drama within bands, reviews, features from celebrities and adverts announcing other issues and competitions within the magazine.
The main artical appears on the contence page as a large photo with a bold title and a clear font discription. Other side stories are within the contence yet the main story dominates the page.
The type of language used in the main artical is infomal with quotes from celebraties, abreviations, rhytorical questions and encouraging yet lacks in dirct address such as 'you' or 'your'.

After analysising these magazines, it provided me with a clearer understanding of how I should lay out my own magazine. I like the colour scheme of red, black and white which is very consistant in some of these magazines as well as the informal, snappy words and phrases used within the front cover and contents.