My magazine- artist/bands

I have researched certain genres of music that I would like to see in my magazine. I have come to the conclusion that my genre will mainly consist of Indie/rock n roll. The first artist I have used as an example is Jake Bugg, I personally like his unique singing style. The second video is of Haim, the band is made up of three sisters from America. And the final video is by Peace, this song is very different and would fit in perfectly with the style of my magazine.


Jake Bugg - Slumville Sunrise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4wTRbW0aos

Haim - The wire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TffpkE2GU4

Peace - Lovesick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2irlBYxkGo

Flat Plan

The front cover:

Colour usage: The colours that I will be using on my front cover will be monochrome with one bold colour. I have decided to use these colours because I don't want to distract the colours from the actual front cover. The audience need to be able to actually see what the magazine will contain and by adding too many different colours it will put them off, therefore ending in them not wanting to buy the magazine. My target audience is men and woman so it makes more sense to include colours that will attract both genres. Either the masthead or main heading will be the block colour, which will match the models clothing. 
 

Text usage: The text included on the front cover will be short but sweet. It will bring the reader in but without giving too much away. I will use simple text which will make it easier for the audience see, for example if they quickly glance at the cover, they do not want to be pushed into reading a lot of text, so it will be better for the TA.

Image usage: The model on the front of my magazine, I have decided, will be a female artist or band. I have gone for this because my magazine is, after all, aimed at men and woman, so in the end I thought that a female artist/band would be best to use. The model(s) will be wearing clothing of their choice, I believe that the audience will be able to relate to this more. The makeup will be, again of the females choice. We want them to look as they normally would, it would look wrong if she were dressed up and changed because it will put the person who wishes to buy the magazine off.

 

Layout and Font: The masthead will be at the top of the page with the main image just below it. I am putting it there as it makes the most sense, you will immediately be attracted to it. It will be bold and simple. The main heading will be in-between the masthead and image, this is a step by step view; the reader will look at the masthead, main heading and then the image. There will be a sell line at the right hand side, three different subheadings will be below.

Contents page:

 

Colour usage: For the contents page I will be using the same colours as the front cover, but I will be changing the bold colour, I think that it will make the magazine look a little more unique and less boring. My questionnaire also states that the most popular choice of colour was block colours and black's and whites, I am using a block colour, but have gone against using black and white because I believe that it is too plain and slightly boring.

 

Text usage: I will continue to use simple texts on throughout my contents page because it makes it easier for the reader to understand. The page numbers will be bold and stand out, I may even change the colour to make them more noticeable, the reader will find this useful. The title will be plain and understandable. 

 

Image usage: The images will consist of the bands/artists that feature in the magazine. This gives the readers a taste of what will be inside of the magazine, but it doesn't give too much away. 

 

Layout and Font: The layout of the contents page will have the title at the top because it is what the reader will see first. The left hand side of the page will have the page number and subheading. The right hand side will have three images of bands and artists. I have also decided to place a footer at the bottom of the page which will have text to remind the reader that they can subscribe and enter competitions etc.

Double pages spread:

Colour usage: The colours used will be simplistic and natural. They will compliment the female and match the clothing and makeup. The questions may be a different colour to the answers to separate them and so the reader can tell them apart. The background of the double page spread will be plain, nothing that will distract people from actually reading the article at hand. There will be a quote at the bottom of the page and it will be the same colour as the questions because I want it to stand out so that the reader notices it.

 

Text usage: The questions will be bold and possibly in italics so it is easy to tell which is the questions and which is the answer. The conversation will not be set up but will be exactly what the person has said, this makes the reader feel more a part of the magazine.

 

Image usage: The image will professionally shot and will be a long-shot. There will be three other image used, probably of that person at a gig or 'out and about' doing 'normal' things, this is to make the reader feel more comfortable. 

 

Layout and Font: The title will be placed at the top of the first page, it will be noticeable and bold. Underneath will be the text and main image, I will make sure that the image does not take up the full page, there will be an equal balance of text and image on both pages, this leads me onto the second page. There shall be writing on the left hand side with three images and a quote on the right hand side. There will be a footer at the bottom of this page, it will say something like "Visit the website to see the artist during the interview with exclusives".

Institutional Research

I was asked, for the research of my design to look at different institutions and seek certain information on them. As you can see in the image above, I researched six different institutions and I believe after doing this I have gained a lot of knew information. It has also helped me decide which institution I would like my magazine to be published by.

After looking through the six institutions I have come to the conclusion that IPC media is the publisher I would go for, mainly because they have connections with magazines such as NME, which is close to my magazine as they share the same genres of music etc.  

Front cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread Practice

Here are my four practice attempts at making a cover page, contents page an double page spread.

Cover Page 

As you can see on the front of the cover page there is an image of Liam Gallagher and his band Beady Eye. For my actual cover I will not be able to use this image as of copyright reasons, so I will be taking my own photos. But I decided to use this band for my practice work as the genre of their music fits in well with mine. I created this by using Microsoft PowerPoint. Firstly I selected an image, of good quality, from Google, I also chose a barcode to use. I then added the title TMM (The Music Magazine), I had to create my own title and like this because it is short yet effective, I will probably use this title for my actual piece of work.

Contents Page

The contents page, again was created by using Microsoft PowerPoint. I have included what the readers will see and what type of bands/artists there are inside. One thing that I will have to improve on for actual work is the amount of dead space there is, I don't think that there has been a good amount of information added, this then may bring my final grade down, so it is important that I take in to account what is wrong with this page, in order for me to make it better.

Double Page Spread

The double page spread contains an interview with Beady Eye. Again, I chose to use this band because I researched and found out that they are extremely liked by my target audience, therefore I believed that this would attract the TA and make them want to buy the magazine. This has also gave me a lot of ideas for my own magazine. For example my magazine double page spread will be an interview with a famous musician, I have decided to do this as when I asked my peers what they prefer to read when they buy a magazine the most popular answer was of course an interview.

I will also ensure that I include a few more pictures, to keep the TA interested.

Double Page Spread Analysis

As part of my media project I have been asked to analyse a double page spread from a music magazine.

I have decided to analyse this Jake Bugg article. The way in which Jake has been presented is as though he is thinking about something, presumably important. He is dressed pretty nicely and his hair looks neat and tidy. I also like the fact that this image is the main one, the one in which the audience notice first. The reason, I believe that this has done is because they want the audience to know that this article is about Jake Bugg and Jake Bugg only.

The masthead is in a bold, black font, although the 'By The' has been purposely been changed to italics and is the colour white, this makes the title look very simple, but very effective at the same time. I think that the words 'Bitten by the Bugg' is a pun. It is a play on words, it makes the reader presume that Jake is a very big artist and has a good strong future ahead of him. 

The double page spread contains a lot of key information about Jake. This is good for the reader as it gives them an insight into what and who Jake Bugg actually is. There is a small review on the second page, it mentions what he has done and achieved in the past few months.

Moving on to this doubke page spread of Haim. I like how the title stands out and how the words 'Sing Out' is bold and in colour white, if you notice the word 'Sisters' is the colour black, still bold though. This I believe has been done to make the three different words look unique when put next to one another. 

I like the image of the sisters that has been used, it shows a more fun side to them and it's something in which the audience can relate to, they look just like normal people. The clothing in which they are wearing is nice, you can, just by their clothing tell what type of music genre they like which is; Indie Rock 'n' Roll. 

Finally the text content in this article looks very short, but sweet. It tells us, as the reader who 'Haim' are. There is also three images, of the sisters, pressuambly at one of their gigs. 

The final double page spread I have analysed is this, of Pete Doherty. The Masthead says 'In Good Health', which is very ironic considering he is holding a pint of beer. But never the less this is a pull quote, it brings the reader in and attracts them to this article. I like how 'Good' is in the colour orange, this is double entandre, it has two different meanings, the colour also has connotations of deceit and distrust, which can make you believe that this is going to be a very deep article and will dig into his emotions.

Looking back at the image I notice that he is wearing a t-shirt that looks pretty dirty, this is though a typical Pete Doherty  look. This could also make the readers want to buy the magazine as the image is a full A4 size, which could be used as a poster.

And to finish with the contents. It has alot of text in the article, I like the fact that it is in a smaller font, which allows the writer to include a lot of information.

My mood board

Here is a picture of my mood board. It has a range of different pictures of bands and artists. As you can see I have stuck six different post notes on a few of the images, I did this to show people what I liked about these pictures.

I stuck a note over Miles Kane because I love the way in which the photographer has taken this photograph. Miles doesn't look as though he is looking directly at the camera when you first glance, but when you look at the mirror image you notice that he is. 

Secondly I stuck a note over the large image of Pete Doherty. I think that the words 'Pete Doherty Comes Clean' is very deceiving. Also the colour of the writing has been chosen carefully, the fact that the 'Come Clean' has been written in grey is very clever, as the colour grey does not connote the word 'Clean'.

Contents Page Analysis

This is a image of a contents page from NME. I have analysed it to help me progress in my project.