Barcode

I have decided to take a picture of an existing barcode, to make it look as realistic as possible. This is the barcode I will use:

I might edit this barcode to make the background brighter.

Pictures

Pictures that I plan to use for my magazine include:

 Front Cover

• Will be a picture of my friend Mollie, she is 16 and has bright red hair. She will be styled in either a dress with ankle boots, or a black top, black trousers, ankle boots and a blouse thing. She will have curly/messy hair and will have think black eyeliner on. She will stand against a white background. Then she will sit on a black chair, still against a white background.

Contents Page

• There will be a picture of Brendon, standing against a brick wall. He willbe ina t-shirt with graphics on it, and plain black trousers. He will also have a guitar. (I have already taken these pictures)
• There will also be pictures of my friend Bradley. He will either be sat in a park, with leaves and a scene set up. Or he will be on the street.
• There will also be pictures of two of my friends(girls) dressed in festivals clothes, with wellies and bright colours. They will have UV paint on their face. They will be in a field with a tent up to make them realistic. There will also be cider/alchol cans/bottles to make the scene more realistic.

Double Page Spread

• There will be picture of Mollie (same person as front page),not posed. They will be simple pictures of her smiling/laughing and you will probably be able to see the set (lights) to show that it is 'behind-the-scenes'.

Names for my magazine

Here are the three names that I am currently deciding between for my magazine. As I havnt decided what I would like to name my magazine yet, and I havn't decided which font I would like, I have tried all three names in both fonts. I am also thinking about the name, headline, as the magazine will be largley based around gigs, tours and festivals.

The words on the right are in the font rosewood. I think that this would suit my magazine well because it reminds me of a rock magazine, it is a bold font, and has some detail which will make it stand out on the cover, so it is easily recognisable as the masthead.

The names on the left are in the font Native. I also like this font because it is simple, but also has a good look for a rock magazine. It will stannd out on the page, even if it is just black. I think it is also a good font for the genre of my magazine, because it looks similar to fonts which headline acts would be printed in.

Publication Plan

Publication Plan

 

Name of magazine: Individual/Dynamic/MBS (music, bands and singers)/Bassline

Font of name: Native? Rosewood?

Positioning statement:

Frequency of publication: Monthly

Price: £2.95

Distribution: W.H.Smiths, most newsagents, Waitrose

Rationale: (what is the thinking behind the magazine - have you
identified a gap in the market?)

Style: Indie/rock- Mostly dark with a few bright colours from fonts/pictures

Regular content: Tour/festivals dates, reviews, interviews from bands, latest fashions

Feature content in your issue: Popular musician, middle of second tour, just released new tour dates and it has been rumoured that she is headlining at Reading next year

House style: The font for the title will be big, and bold but will be different from subheadings and article. The article might be in Times New Roman or Calisto MT. The subheadings will be in a similar font, and will be smaller than the headings. They might be bold of in italics.

Analysing Double Page Spreads

Double Page Spread

            The two magazines that I have chosen to analyse for their double page spread are Q magazine and We Love Pop. There are many difference between these two magazines in general, for example genre and target audience and this is shown throughout the magazine in things like their double spread pages.

            The target audience for the ‘We love pop’ magazine is obviously young/teenage girls that are most probably more interested in the person as opposed to the music; this is shown through the layout, the images and the language used. First of all, the language used reflects the target audience of the magazine as it uses simple language for the questions, but picks out the most interesting words to draw attention to the article, for example, the second biggest writing on the page says “There was nothing creepy about Harry and Caroline at all.”. The word ‘creepy’ will attract attention, and make the readers want to know what was creepy. This quote also mentions two other celebrities, which means that readers who are a fan of those celebrities might be more inclined to read the article. A lot of the double page spread is also about Tulisa’s career on ‘X Factor’, which means there might be a lot of gossip in the article and maybe not so much about her music career. The layout and pictures used for this article also reflect what their target audience is. The first page of the article, has two quotes are the top, to show what might be included in the article, but it also has a picture in the middle and writing around the edges. With their target audience being teenage girls, they might acknowledge that they might be more interested in the pictures than the article itself, this could be why although it looks like there is a lot of writing, and the main points from most of the questions have been pointed out so the reader can just skip to the next page. This is also shown by the next few pages, as the second page is just a big picture of Tulisa, and the next two pages have picture taking up a majority of the page and a few questions down the sides, showing that the pictures are the main focus of the page. The pictures used in this article clearly show that their main target audience is young/teenage girls as all of the pictures show Tulisa is bright colours, smiling and usually with one or more other celebrities that will attract the readers’ attention even more.

            However the target audience for the ‘Q’ double page spread is very different and is also shown through the layout, pictures and language used. The target audience for the ‘Q’ magazine article might been either sex aged between 16-30 who are interested in rock music, or people who are particularly interested in the band ‘Biffy Clyro’. There is only one picture used in this double page spread, which takes up one whole page. The picture shows the band, topless, drinking and sat at a messy table, filled with beer cans; this picture reflects the nature of the interview and implies that the band like to party. The caption for this picture says “Biffy Clyro: another quiet night in front of The X Factor” and it is obvious from the picture and the genre of the magazine that this is mocking the TV show and probably people who watch it. The picture links to the article, as the first line of the article reads “It’s Q’s round? What are you having?” After which the band continue to order alcoholic drinks. This shows that they obviously have an older target audience. This article contains random questions such as ‘which board game are you best at’ which shows that this is very laid back interview, but also has nothing to do with their music, just the personality of the band.

The layout also reflects the target audience/genre of the magazine, as on the page with the article itself, there are no pictures and only two different colours in writing, showing that their readers are more likely to read and pay attention to the questions and answers in the interview.

As I am making an indie/rock magazine, I will be using features from the ‘Q’ double page spread to help when creating my magazine. For my double page spread, I will have one picture taking up a whole page, and then the article on the next page, with maybe one or two picture on the page. I will include questions and answers about their career, but from the two articles, I can tell that readers of most genres of music like to read about the musician’s lives away from their music too.

Signs & Signifiers

Front Covers of Magazines

Compare the front covers of two music magazines

 

                ‘Total Guitar’ magazine is a magazine aimed at teenagers/young adults, who mostly listen to rock/alternative music. ‘Classic Pop’ is a magazine aimed at adults over 30 years old.

                On the cover of ‘Total Guitar’ magazine, the background colours are dull, either black or grey, which links to the genre of magazine, however use bright colours, like pink or yellow to draw your eye to the main parts of the magazine, like the cover story. ‘Classic Pop’ also uses a similar technique, that the main colours are black and white. However the main picture on the cover (which links to the main article) is in colour, to show you what the main article will be about. Both magazine cover use yellow to draw your eye to that point. In ‘Total Guitar’ the guitar is yellow, which links to the masthead. In ‘Classic Pop’ the background for the words ‘New Magazine!’ are in yellow, to attracts new readers and to advertise the magazine.

                Another similarity that the covers share is the way that the pictures are used. On both covers, the main focus is the picture. On the cover for ‘Total guitar’, the picture is of someone from Greenday (main article), in the centre of the magazine, in black and white, however with bright pink lettering over and he is holding the yellow guitar. On the cover of ‘Classic Pop’ the picture is in colour compared to the plain background so it stands out. On both covers, there are also at least two other pictures of musicians, both are smaller to show they are sub-articles, and are both either down the sides or in the corners, and in colour. These pictures are different to the main pictures because they are mostly either taken of the band/musician in action, and are smaller. Both covers also have little pictures/icons. On the ‘Total Guitar’ magazine, there is a small picture of a guitar, down the right hand side, about halfway up the magazine, this links to the genre and masthead of the magazine. On the cover for ‘classic pop’, there are two little badges which might link to eighties bands, which is what the magazine is based upon.

 

                However, the magazine covers differ in many ways also. On the cover for ‘Total Guitar’ the main picture is placed over the title of the magazine. This may be because the magazine is already recognisable to the public, however it could make it unrecognisable to a consumer that has not brought it before. On the cover of ‘Classic Pop’, the masthead is clear and is in white against either a red or black background which makes it easy to read and instantly recognisable as that magazine.

 

                Both magazines use a cluster of three. The ‘total guitar’ cover uses band names as their cluster of three, which says “Mumford and sons, The Guess Who, Artic Monkeys”. The cluster of three is used a persuasive technique to show that there is a lot in the magazine, also the band names might appeal to their target audience. ‘Classis Pop’ also used the cluster of thee. “Eighties, electronic, electric”. Alliteration is also used. This could be so that the reader understands that the magazine is about eighties/electric music, and it could also be their slogan which could be easy to remember.

 

From looking at the magazine covers, I have picked out the main features of a music magazine cover and decided what appeals to me as a consumer, and what I will include in my music magazine cover. I like the idea that the colours used link to the genre of music, for example, dull colours link to rock music, and bright colours might link to a pop magazine. I will include this in my magazine to reflect the type of music that will be discussed in the magazine. I also think that the cluster of three is a good way to get your magazine recognised and remembers, and I will try to include this in my cover. I will also put the main story/picture in the centre of the magazine (almost as the background for the cover) and have sub-articles around the sides. When creating my cover however, I will not have the main picture covering the masthead of the magazine, as shown on the cover for ‘Total Guitar’.

Questionnaire Results

Here are some results from the questionnaires that I asked 35 people to complete.
These will help me with making my music magazine as it will allow me to see what genre of music magazine most people would be interested in, in this case, 'Indie'. It will also allow me to see what people would or would not like to be included in a music magazine that they would buy. In this case, most people would not like to read sections about things such as fashion, Therefore  I will not included a fashion section in my music magazine.

Contents Pages

The four magazine covers that we analysed were mixmag, we love pop, NME and Q. Looking at these contents pages in detail, you can clearly tell that the types of pictures, fonts and colours used change according to the genre of music magazine.

For each magazine, there is a clear difference between their target audiences. For example mixmag, is probably aimed at people who are interested in dance music/clubbing, both genders probably between the ages 18-28. NME and Q probably have similar target audiences, being male or female, who are interested mainly in rock music and maybe between the ages 16-30. The most obvious being ‘We Love Pop’ it is obvious that their target audience will primarily be girls between the ages of maybe 7-15 +/- 2 years. This is clearly reflected through things such as colour schemes, pictures and the way that the articles are named. For example, the colour scheme is mainly black and pink, which would appeal to young girls and then other bright colours like blue and yellow. The pictures are all of celebrities within the POP genre, and they are all smiling or posing, majority of the pictures are of boys, again, appealing to younger girls. There are also more pictures than writing on the contents page for this magazine.  And finally, all of the articles mentioned contain a celebrity’s name, implying that the target audience are more interested in the artist than the music they produce.

            The genre and target audience for the magazines are also clear through the layout of each magazine. On both the NME and the Q magazine contents pages, they have the title at the top, in the biggest writing on the page and in a different font to the rest of the writing. They then each have about 6-8 pictures, and all with the appropriate numbers for their articles. They also both have some writing on each picture explaining what each article is about of a quote from the article. Whereas mixmag magazine have a completely different layout, with the pictures being the centre of the magazine. On both pages for it, there are two big pictures and then either 1 or two smaller pictures. On each picture for mixmag magazine, there is also a corresponding page number for the article but instead of a sentence or two, there is a caption of maybe a word or two, making it obvious that the main focus of the page is the picture, which could relate to the target audience/genre of the magazine.

            Looking at the difference between the contents pages for the different genres, I am making a magazine most similar to the NME and Q magazines. I will do a similar thing with the pictures, like using maybe 7 pictures and then either have a quote or a few sentences explain the article it links to.

Questionnaire

As research for our music magazine, we have been asked to create and carry out a questionnaire. Here is my questionnaire:

I have chosen to have 13 questions in total. I think that over 15 questions in a questionnaire is too many, people will not want to answer them and you probably have gone off topic of what you are trying to research. I have kept my questions relevant to music magazines, and what people want/expect from music magazines. I have tried to have a mix of open and closed questions, as although open questions are very helpful and can give more detail, I feel that closed questions are more helpful as you can collect quantitative data and therefore be more decisive when creating my magazine.

Music Magazine Mood Board

This is a mood board of the first ideas that I had for my Music Magazine. From this mood board, with the bands/musicians included, it will be obvious that I haven't gone for a pop magazine aged at teenage girls, but an indie sort of music magazine aimed specifically at people who enjoy that genre of music. My target audience will be both males and females, between the age range 16-26. They should be a fan of mostly indie music, enjoy going to concerts/gigs/festivals (Reading, V Festival, Glastonbury) and should probably be more interested in the music rather than the musician.

Finished Preliminary Task

Here are the print screens of my finished preliminary task:

Front Cover for the School Magazine

Whilst I was completing the front cover, I decided to change little bits from my first draft. I decided to make the masthead bigger, and I decided to change the name of the school. I also decided to add a school logo in the corner, to further show that it was a school newspaper and to add some more colour to the cover.

Contents Page for the School Magazine

Whilst I was completing the contents page, I decided I would have 3 big pictures which linked to the articles instead of maybe 4 or 5 little pictures. I also decided that I would carry the colours scheme of different shades of blue throughout, to add more colour and to reinforce the idea that it is a school based newspaper.


Since starting this preliminary task, I have learnt a lot about maiing a music magazine and the programmes that I used to make it. I have learnt how to create a magazine using Indesign. I have also learnt how to place elemts of the magazine togehter so that it looks like a magazine, such as putting the page number over the picture so that it looks realistic. I have also picked out features of magazines and applied them to my preliminary taks, such as having an explanation of the articles, and having the title bigger than the rest of the text on the page.

I have also learnt a lot about the programmes used. I used photoshop to edit my pictures, where i used the eraser tool, and the magic eraser tool. I changed the colouring and contrast of the pictures. I also learnt a lot about using Indesign like how to place pictures, resize them, and how to change fonts, and colours and placements of texts, all to make it more realisitc as a magazine.