We was given a brief which was to create a music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. The magazine had to be a non existent one so we had to invent the magazine, the front cover, contents page and double page had to be completely original and we could only use at least four original images. It had to have conventions of magazines in the same genre. I researched conventions of magazines in the similar genre to help me create mine, I researched Q magazine, NME and The Clash Magazine. I analysed the language, fonts, layout, image and institution of the three magazines and their font covers, contents page and double page spread. This help with ideas for my magazine and help me understand the conventions of that particular genre which was indie/rock/alternative. I decided this would be the genre of my magazine but what would be the age of the selected audience. From my research I found out that the majority of readers were male and students. This is taken from the NME 'More males than females read NME, 74% are males and 26% are females and the average age of the NME readers is 23 with the majority who read NME being students 42%.' So from evidence students and younger adults are the most common buyers with the NME magazine, my magazine is the same genre as NME so I will target the same audience as them which is students, mine will be from the age 16 upwards. My audience will mostly be males as other magazines of this genres were male and the average age of 16- 30 year olds. Most of my target audience will be students and others will be people in full time employment. After analysing the three magazines, I decided to think up possible names for my magazine, I came up with six possible names Vidal, AIR, Message, Chequered and Indimu. I chose AIR because it was catchy and short and easy to remember. Not only that it stands for all the types of music that would be featured in my magazine, Alternative, Indie and Rock. Once I decided on my name I created drafts of the layout of the front cover, contents page and double page spread. Just to give me an idea where to start.
It was important that all my images and my layouts of my front cover, contents page and double page spread met the conventions of my magazine and the genre of my magazine. So my front cover image had to match the genre, if I used a model for the font cover that was wearing all pink and frilly dresses you would associate it with pop, so it was important that my model matched the genre. I used one of my friends to model, I dressed her in a black Jack Daniel's top, this top shows she is rebellious and quite often the drink Jack Daniel's is associated with rock stars, my magazine has influences of old rock in it. I also put her in her in a leather jacket this also relates to the genre, it gives her a more tough look and the rock star image. To make her more individual she wears a trilby hat which often is associated with indie artists. I also chose her because she has bright red hair which is very individual and stands out and considering the main colour theme of magazine is red black and white it matches in very well. In the image of my front cover she is front of a red garage door, this makes her stand out more as she is wearing dark colours she is the main object the audience focuses on, it also makes the text easy and clear to read as they stand out against the red background. I made sure her body language was appropriate fro the artist she was portraying and the magazine. She has her hands on her hips which make her look very confident and dominate, she takes over the front cover, her eyes are central of the page so she has eye contact with the audience. The feedback from my front cover was more or less positive feedback, six out of ten people aid they would buy my magazine by just looking at the front cover. Many people said I could improve it adding a price tag and maybe changing the fonts so I did these improvements later on. I changed the title of the artist larger and more bold so audiences could recognise that was that featured artist. I also added a price tag so buyers knew how much it cost also feedback from my questionnaire often mentioned I needed a price tag.
The logo of the magazine needed to stand and make audiences realise that’s the magazine logo so in future references they know the name of that magazine and any other it gives it a proper brand name. I used a font that was individual and very bold to the audience, I experimented with many fonts till I found the right one for the magazine, it has a 3D affect so its stands out more and looks more professional. Underneath I put the slogan of the magazine people so people can associate the name of the magazine and the magazine with the slogan 'Give you music a breath of fresh AIR' its cleaver because AIR stands for alternative, indie and rock which is all the genres in my magazine, so basically its saying give your music a breath of fresh alternative, indie and rock. I struggled finding a font for the sub-headers as a lot of fonts didn’t keep to the genre of my magazine. I settled on a font that looks very old school typewriter, because my magazine relates back to vintage music its gives it a vintage feel. I picked font colour that stood out against the background. So readers knew who the artist was on the font cover I used a different font for the artists name, I used a calligraphy style one, this is because its very feminine and girlie, this contradicts the artist however it still sticks to that vintage theme. I had to experiment quite a bit with the artist name font because it was hard to find a colour that stood out I different fonts and colours to stand out, in the end I ended up placing it in a box so the audience know that it is going to be the main feature in my magazine. I also used different colours on more important things that would attract reader like the word 'win' I put in a different font colour.
It was important that I stuck to conventions to a normal magazine, so I placed a bar code on the front cover and an issue date, I also made sure the layout was similar to a normal magazine, like placing the bar code at the bottom, the logo of the magazine in the top left and corner and using and issue date, this kept the magazine as realistic as possible.
When It came to the contents page I struggled with it, My first version of the contents page was terrible, it didn’t have enough page listings, it was hard to read the text and the images looked tacky. So I re-looked at other magazines contents pages to help me. My final contents page used one image, it was an image of my main featured artist 'St. Sunflower'' the image shows the artist in the same place as the front cover however she has her hat in front of her face so you can just see her eyes, this still gives personal contact with the audience, in the corner of the image I made the page number of the double page bigger than all the other so audiences know that this is the main feature of the magazine and boxes round her as the title of the double page spread, I placed the image at the top of the right hand side so the page listing could go at the side. The background of my contents page is loads of leaflets and graffiti on a wall, I took this image when I was on holiday in Barcelona
I enjoyed making my double page spread the most because by this time I had got to grips with the programme Photoshop. My double page spread was on the main featured Artist 'St. Sunflower.' My double page spread had to stick to the conventions of a normal magazine and also had to relate to the audience and the artist. My artist is meant to be a forward speaking, rebellious but talent indie artist who has a rock side. So I wanted to portray this mostly through the double page spread. I also wanted an image that was different to the front cover and contents page so it gave the magazine more variety. I did two versions of the double page spread but my first one I wasn’t happy. Before I started the magazine I took hundreds of photos of my model, in different locations and different poses so I had plenty of images to choose from for my front cover, contents page and double page spread. I was stuck for choice on my double page spread image, I wanted an image that showed her attitude, my first version of the double page spread didn’t show this, it was a good image, it was slightly blurred so it looks like it was taken many years ago and gives it that vintage vibe, however it doesn’t show her attitude and I didn’t know how to extract all colours except one colour on photo-shop, so the yellow sunflower didn’t stay completely yellow like I wanted it too. Also I didn’t like the font of the artist name on this version, so I made another version that would show off her attitude and look more professional.
My first final version of the double page spread was just what I wanted. The image is a mid shot of the model, she has her face down as though she doesn’t want to look at the camera, she is too good for the camera. She is also swearing at the camera this shows her rebellious attitude and how she can be. The photo is in black and white, I chose to this because I wanted her performing name to stand out and it gives it the more vintage feel. It also looks like the paparazzi have taken it after a show because of her pose, it almost as she is telling the paparazzi to go away. Due to her swearing it makes audiences more interested, if she is swearing in her image what will the interview be about.
I wanted to do an interview rather a biographical extract. I interviewed the artist asking her questions that will keep the audience entertained for example ones about 'Drugs' her 'attitude' and her 'Hard life before being famous' These are topics that keep audiences interested if I was asking questions like what’s her favourite colour audiences would become bored, the more gritty the questions the more interesting. Before the interview I included a small intro I did this is a different colour font so you resemble the differences, one convention of magazines is in interviews or a fresh paragraph they use a lot bigger letter to start of the text, I did this to make it look like a real magazine. The layout of the page is the same in all my versions, in my final version the image covers both pages however half the image is just a black background this is so the text would stand out and be easily read. The image of St Sunflower is on the left hand side and text on the right, so you can look back to the picture. At the top of the interview there is the intro so it gives you information about the artist and the interview. Below this there’s the interview. On the side of the image in a box at the bottom left there is the artist name just encase you don’t know who the interview is about. Below that there is two red lines this just gives the page more structure and shows the page numbers. Crossing over both pages of the double page spread is a quote from the interview, this is so if a reader is flicking through and sees the quote it might make them want to read the interview. I made sure I picked an interesting quote to catch peoples attention, I used 'People say I have an attitude problem, I say it's freedom of speech' this also relates back to the image of her and her attitude.
Throughout the magazine I have used the same font, this is readers associate the font with the magazine, the only time I haven’t used the same font is for artist names, titles and logos. On the double page spread I used the vintage typewriter look, so connects with the conventions of the magazine. So people can tell the difference between interviewer and artist I made the fonts different size and boldness, this is so the reader doesn’t get confused I used the same font for the quote however it was a lot larger font and boldness so it stood out. The only different type font used on this page is the name of the artist, this simply so it stood out, also because I have used the same font when I title the artist you now associate it with her. I also changed the font colour to red so it stood out against the image and placed it in a box to stand out more. I had lots of positive feedback from my double Page spread, eight out of ten people said they buy my magazine by just looking at the Double page spread, only two people recommended improvements, that was the back Ground colour and the title font. All the others said nothing needed amending. However even with the good feedback I realised there was a few improvements that was needed. I made the text part into columns because I realised in magazines text is written in columns, mine wasn’t, making it not very typical of a magazine. I also added two more images, both black and white however with a yellow sunflower, this reflects back onto the artist. I also changed the colour of the Title St.Sunflower and added another box saying ‘The Queen Of Original Music’ this is because this is the title the article is advertised under on the front cover.
After creating my magazine I created a questionnaire to get feedback on my front cover, contents page and double page spread. The results made me change my final covers slightly thus making new final covers. My questionnaire did help me in many ways however I only asked open questions, this allowed people to answer my questions freely, however this made it hard to create data out of the answers. Next time I should of asked more questions that were closed and structured. Like Dichotomous Questions, multiple choice and rating questions. I asked ten people to fill in my questionnaire to get a even response back, next time I would ask 20 people to get a wider range of results. I would also not just only create graphs but pie charts as well. Once I had all my answers for the questionnaire, I made graphs I drew them out originally however this was unclear to read so I then used the programme Microsoft Excel to make them neater and clearer for audiences to read.
The programme I used to create my front cover, contents page and double page spread was Photoshop. I have only ever used Photoshop a few times previously. At first I found it very difficult. I got confused with layers, how to crop and scale images and how to use the quick selection tool. However after plenty of practise I now have the hang of it, it allowed me to do many things, It allowed me to add fonts, add other images to my pages. On my front cover it allowed me to add a bar code, create the boxes to put the artist name in. It also allowed me to change the colour of my photo so it stood out more, I also allowed me to get a really good logo for the magazine, by making it 3D and changing the colour to how I wanted it. On the contents page it allowed me to edited the colour of my background so text could be put on top of it, it allowed me to experiment with different fonts, create boxes for different sections of the magazines and I used the quick selection tool to create a graphic around the name St. Sunflower. On the double page spread it let me change my image to black and white and change the contrast. It gave me rulers and guides so my text was all lined up and showed me the spilt in the middle of the page. I like Photoshop as it helps make the magazine look professional.
I also used many other programmes like Excel, this was to create my graphs form the r3esults of the questionnaire, I thought this was the hardest programme to use and took much understanding and patience. Creating and designing a graph was very confusing, I had to look at videos on YouTube on how to make a graph on Excel. I also used the programme Microsoft Word to make my very first basic drafts of the magazine by just using boxes, this is the easiest programme I have used. I also used Blogger to post up my posts. I found it a little confusing at first but now its very simple. It’s a good programme in my opinion because it allows my work to be shown clear and in a way other people can view it with easy access. The other final programme I used was paint, this was just for print screening stuff and cropping things, I rarely used this programme in the process.
If I had to pick an institution for my magazine to published under it would Bauer Media Publishing, this is because it’s a competitive institution to the NME. I don’t want my magazine to be under the same publisher as the NME because were both aiming for the same target audience so no profits would be made so I needed a company that had magazines slightly similar but I wouldn’t have to compete with as much. So Bauer was perfect as they also manage Q, even though Q is slightly similar it has a different target audience to mine. Whereas IPC the publishers of NME have the same audience, it would be pointless to even try publishing my magazine under them.
Next time they would be a few things I would do different, when taking my photos for the front I would take them portrait so it would prevent cropping and stretching my front cover. I would also look to use a different background for the contents page because the background I used made text very unclear. I wouldn’t change much about the double page spread because I am very happy with the outcome of the double page spread and feedback showed a positive response to the double page spread. Overall I’m very happy with my magazine, my questionnaire give me back mixed results, but this may be due to its not everyone preferred genre of music.
