Naming my magazine

 

PRESS RELEASE

In the New Year Bauer Media will be publishing their first ever Indie music magazine. This is a fresh new music magazine, being the only one like it published in the UK, will look deep into the new and upcoming indie artists throughout the year. It will present many in depth interviews with existing popular artists and list all the gigs in your area!

Geared towards a younger audience of 16-21, it will revolve around the trends of the moment that will make it up to date and interesting for that age group to read. It aims to be a way to communicate aspiring artists into the open and involve more people in the music industry.

It will be a monthly magazine that will give time to collect all new bands to interview. Not only will it cover indie music, but branch out to indie style within fashion and other relating areas.

The information for this magazine will be sent out a month in advanced, advertising in other music magazines in the Bauer Media Group such as Kerrang!, Planet Rock and Q that all associate within the same genres, as well as featuring  on Bauer Medias television channels such at 4music and Box television. It will be sent out to local newspapers, local radio stations and college websites to attract the associating younger audience it relates to. In addition, an online addition version of the magazine will be avaliable on apple and Android devices.

For those who want to listen to something new, exciting and bang on trend reach for your latest and only indie music magazine!

*The name of this magazine is still to be decided, and so relating information will be sent shortly.*

My music magazine mood board (2)

My music magazine mood board
On this part of my mood board I focused on the images and layout that will dominate the whole magazine.
For my images, I talked about the different elements of photography that will make my main image interesting and meaningful, as well as relating to my target audience and genre of music. I brought my concern of pastel colours as a colour scheme into the appearance of some of the image, and how light direction will enhance the images appearance. I also started to look at positions for my artist to stand in when having their photo shoot. By looking at all these images, they summaries my idea of a good picture for my front cover.
I also looked at the layout of the images and text on the pages of my magazine. I talk about how I'm particularly fond of the image taking up the whole page, with a white banner round it. I also like the formal arrangement of three columns of text, using a serif font that is classic and looks typed, making it more creative. Looking at these existing magazines for their choice in layout, it inspired me and gave a better idea of what mine will eventually look like.

My Music Magazine Mood Board (1)

My Music Magazine Mood Board (1)
For this part of my mood board I talked about my inspirations from other magazines and images off the Internet that influenced my choice of colour, pattern and typography.
for colour and pattern, I discussed my natural theme I wanted to include, using nature as a pattern for the background of my images, or even just the patterns and colours they consist of. this natural approach will convey the new and exciting content of my magazine, listing new indie musicians otherwise unheard of.
I also discussed the conventions of typography, and how my magazine was quite edgy and different so wanted a typeface that would convey this. I especially talked about a indie trend of the moment that would influence my style of font for my masthead.
Looking at these already existing fonts, colours and patterns really let me decide what I want in my music magazine, and how I will create a design that will differ from others.

Audience profile: my music magazine

 

 

Music magazine:Audience research analysis

Audience research: Music Magazine Questionnare

 

The representation of bands/ artists in music magazines

When we look in a music magazine, it is clear the images that relate to articles about artists are not just taken in a natural environment without any planning previously to shoot the image. So many factors go into the creation of the image, controlled to make their target audience like the image so they will buy the magazine. Also, it’s very unlikely that the artist/ band themselves will decide on this image which can sometimes lead to arguments. The lists below are the main people in order of status that would be the decider on what the image looks like:

1.       The band/ artists manager- as they control the band they will have the biggest say in their image, as they know what attracts their audience and how it looks good in the media, even if it’s against the artists opinions

2.       The record label- they have chosen to take these people on to sing so they must have an image that conveys not only that artist, but the whole company, meaning they must uphold a certain standard of appearance

3.       The magazine company the articles and images will feature in- if  the magazine has a certain image that is a house design, they will want to fit the band/ artist into the same category, so not only will they fit in with the style and feel of the magazine, but will attract the audience that the magazine wants

4.       The stylist – it is their job to create the image that the manager or magazine editor will want, therefore dressing them in on trend items that will inspire the audience to wish they looked like them, and include brands that they can go buy themselves. This can also relate to the advertising of the magazine that appeal to the audience(found whilst collecting audience research)

5.       The photographer- they don’t have much power over the image except the creative way it is taken, making them stand in certain poses that may contribute to the image and style of the artist or magazine.

6.       The audience – even though quite far down the list they have a major role in the way some artists are displayed. It’s their interests that the magazines adapt and refer to, so creating an image that will appeal to them must be considered.

7.       The band themselves- even as the actual singers, it is very rarely they will get a say in their own image if their manager has the control. For most bands its ok with them being able to keep their original image relatively similar to what they like. However other bands are more influenced into wearing outfits and acting to how the audience would want them to be, rather than themselves.

In the Rocksound magazine I had previously analysed, one of its articles featured a picture on Hayley Williams from Paramore. They chose to make her look almost innocent and cute’ with the hairclip and body position as it related to her being nominated as ‘Eye Candy of the Year’. They made her look more feminine for this feature as it emphasises the reason for her being in this article. However it’s an ironic image of their band as she’s known for being a tomboy outgoing character rather than a delicate girly-girl. By the magazines director choosing to do this it attracts their audience more to show she is something of beauty rather than just a musician, as well as creating humour for their fans because they know change in attitude the artist actually is.

Another picture within the same article shows Bring Me the Horizon, winning the best British band. They clearly stand them with no other people in the picture; especially no other women that the magazine has especially chosen to attract the female audience. This way they seem single and so the audience don’t envy then, causing disrupt in the media.

Primary Research Magazine analysis: Kerrang!

 

Primary Research Magazine analysis: Rocksound

 

Primary Research Magazine analysis: The Fly

 

Q4:what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Q3:How did you attract/ address your audience?

Q2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 

Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 

Contents page Final Design

Using InDesign For My Contents Page

To start with, I created a new document on InDesign. I made sure the page was divided into 4 columns with a 3mm gutter between each column. These would be the boundary's for my text to be placed in. I made sure there was the 11mm boundary around the edge of the columns that would keep the text away from the edge the whole way round. I also created a bleed area, so that if I added colour to the background of my contents page, the colour would go right to the edge and not leave a white rim. 

 

From this I then started to add in the features. I wanted to keep the colours I used on the front page to use also on contents page to show consistency. However I didn't just want a peachy plain background with no other colour visible as I thought this would be too plain. Instead I inserted a rectangle using the shape tool and sized it to make it smaller than the page. I coloured it the same peachy colour as the front page and removed the black boarder, however I still thought this wasn't enough. Instead I rotated it 5 degrees to make it a wonky square for the background. I preferred this as it gave a slightly less formal appearance that was fun and would work well on the back of my text and images.

It then came to writing the date and issue number. From looking at my contents page research it was clear that most magazines put theirs on the right hand side at the top, so to make mine look professional I though I should do the same. I continued to use the Berlin Sans FB Demi font to show consistency in my magazine and not make it too crazy with different fonts. I made sure the writing was place in right orientation, as this way it would just miss the peachy square as the background, which I thought made it stand out more.

 

In most of the magazines I researched, they used their mast head again on the contents page. therefore I decided to insert mine at the top left of the page too. When it was straight on it looked a bit plain so I rotated it -5 degrees to go the opposite way of the background rectangle. I liked the effect this gave and so would put this in front of the main image that would be placed below.

The main image I chose was one I took in the under path of St. Stephens roundabout in Norwich. I liked how they displayed all the upcoming concerts in a messy but exciting way on a well used pin board. I though I could use this image as it would go with my new music article, advertising artists soon to visit Norwich. This was different to the image I was going to use that I featured on  my flat plan because I thought this would have a better story to go with it. I put the image into Photoshop because it didn't look very good as it was. I used the blur tool to blur the edges that would give the pin board more attention. I also used the burn tool to darken the edges to do the same. I then imported the image into a rectangle frame I had put in the place where I wanted the image, and fitted it to shape the box.

I also inserted a small version of the front cover image at the bottom of the page as this was essential on a contents page, which would eventually go with my editorial.

 



After adding the images it came to adding the headings. When I created some of the text for the front cover, I coloured the text white and put black boxes behind them to make them look highlighted and stand out. I though this would be a good thing to carry onto the next page and so I made black boxes for all the text to go on to, using the rectangle shape tool. This way each of the headings would be clear and readers will be able to find the different articles easily with the different categories.
I also put a black rectangle behind the 'Updated' logo as it made it stand out more and grab the readers attention to show its defiantly this magazine their reading.

Now I had all the black boxes I inserted all the different headings. I included all the features I had placed in the strapline (Films, TV, New Music, Jobs) as well as 'Features', 'Regulars', 'on the cover', 'Editorial' and 'Contact Us'. This way the reader can find the specific article they are looking for easily with this arrangement.

 For my articles I used my flat plan and questionnaire analysis. In the features column I continued to talk about the Bastille interview and tickets to their gig. I also used the fresher's week calendar and article as this was quite a main article that the people reading this would benefit a lot. The other two articles were things that I thought were quite important for the first few weeks of term, so that people could have advice on getting started in a new environment. In the Music section, I included an article about Sound and Vision week in Norwich, as it relates to the area and the age group reading this magazine, so they can get involved in events held during the period that might interest them for future careers.  For the film section, I researched what films were on at the moment or coming soon to cinemas. I started to research articles for the TV section too, with an article talking about a new programme on BBC3 and E4s 'Quite Big Thursdays' that are programmes suited at the age group this college magazine is aimed for. With all these articles I used Berlin sans FB Demi as the font, and made the title of each article underlined with font size 16 to stand out. The small description of them was then font size 14  so I could fit more articles into each category. For the article that goes with the main image,  I made the writing white and bigger to stand out against the grey background, with the text right orientated to not overlap with the pin board. I will carry on doing the rest of the articles and editorial in my next lesson as there is quite a few to get through.

After adding all my articles and contact information, it finnaly looked like a proper magazines contents page. im happy howw it was arranged in its columns and how my consistent font usage make it look professional and fun.

Contents page flat plan design

Before I went straight onto In Design I wanted to create a flat plan that would be the basic Idea of what my contents page would look like. By looking at my Contents page research I could get an Idea what were good things to include, such as large images, articles with small descriptions and bold headings for the articles to be divided into. so from looking at these I created this rough plan on paper. I wanted to divide the page into four columns like id seen in my research of magazines contents page, and for my main image to go on the left side spreading over two of them. I made sure I created a 1.5cm typing guidance that would make sure it would go no further than that near the edge of the pages. I also made sure each of the columns were of the same thickness to make it look consistent and professional.

Contents page research

http://www.pinterest.com/theresakuhn4/magazine-contents-page-examples/

To look at different Contents pages I researched many magazines on the high-street. They all displayed different colours, pictures and fonts, yet they all kept to a same layout. It was good to look at all of the different types to give me ideas for my own contents page, that would fit well with the same themes and colours as the front cover.

Front Cover Final Design

Stage 3: Adding articles and features

After creating the mast head on the main image it came to adding the articles and other features to make it look like a proper magazine. I started with a strapline that would summaries the main features or interests of this college magazine. after looking at my Questionnaire analysis I found out that the most popular things people wanted to feature in the magazine were Film, TV, New music and job information. Therefore I listed them just beneath the mast head so they spread equally across the page. I also ended the line with the buzz word 'FREE' in capitals and slightly bigger to make it clear how much the item was, as well as putting it in with the list to show it is one of the many advantages of receiving  this magazine. To write this whole strapline I chose Berlin Sans FB Demi as the font as I thought it looked quite similar to the mast head. I would then make sure this was the font I would use throughout the cover lines.

 

Next I decided to add my main feature onto the magazine. I thought I should choose music as the main feature article as there is so much variety. From looking back at my questionnaire analysis I found out that the main genre of music people I asked listened to was Rock or Indie. therefore I decided to choose a band or solo artist who related to these preferences. As this will be a magazine for City College Norwich, I thought I could relate it even further to this area by choosing an artists that was visiting the UEA or The Waterfront soon. After looking on www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk/ and looking at a few artists, I found out band Bastille were soon to visit the UEA on 10th October 2013. They are a indie rock band that were perfect to feature in the magazine, so I decided the feature article should be about them on their new tour. Also as they are quite a popular band I thought it would be great to see them live. This gave me the idea to include a ticket give away to see them, as the readers of this magazine would live in the area of Norwich so the venue would be suitable to win tickets for. I displayed all this information on the left 3rd of the page and made it the main Cover line. I also made it shape around the main image so no writing would overlap and ruin it.

 

Even though my cover line was good, I wasn't completely satisfied with how it looked on the page as it didn't really grab my attention. when highlighting the first line to increase the font size I liked how it changed to make a black box around the word with white writing. I thought this would actually looked pretty good and made the text more dominant on the page. therefore I coloured 'Interview exclusive' and 'plus' white and put a black box behind them to make it stand out more and slightly edgy. 

On every magazine, you see a barcode, the date of the issue and issue number. From looking at other examples on my Magazine Research, it can be placed anywhere on the cover of the magazine and so for mine I though the bottom right corner seemed a suitable place to have it. I made it go up vertically so it didn't touch the image, with the date and issue number aligned next to it. I made the writing quite small as I didn't want it to be very noticeable as another cover line. However I made sure all the writing is the same font, making the front cover consistent in appearance.

Once I had added the main features I thought about what else I should add, as at the moment it looked very bare. When looking at my questionnaire analysis it was evident that every person I asked was on a social media site of some sort, with the top two being Facebook and Twitter. By using multiple platforms to advertise a magazine it will be more popular, therefore I added a Facebook page and twitter account address to the right hand side, making the college magazine articles more accessible with maybe added features only available online. The iconic Facebook and Twitter symbols will instantly grab the readers attention, making it more interesting for the age group it is aimed at.

 

So far I only had one cover line on the magazine so I decided to add something else. From my Questionnaire Analysis people said that they would like to see posters in a magazine, as well as information about the student union or college. From this, I decided to add a new cover line across the bottom of the page to show these things included in the magazine. I thought the idea of a calendar showing the years events in the college would be a good way to display this information as they could then pull it out and keep it to stick on  their wall. This would especially be relevant for the beginning of the year and  Fresher's week as there is always a lot going on, and a calendar to show these different events would be really helpful. Therefore the bottom cover line described the free posters and calendar you would receive with this magazine, that would be very helpful for a new student to the college.

 Finally I decided to add another cover line to the right 3rd of the page. Again, it shaped the main image and didn't overlap. I got the idea of the article from my questionnaire  analysis, as the people I asked said they would like to see information about jobs in their area. Originally I was going to put it in a circle puff, however, this didn't look very good as it seemed to dominant and out of place against the rest of the cover. I also didn't make the writing white with a black background as it is just a cover line and not a main cover line. therefore I left it as it was and it looked better. Once I had finished everything and made sure each side had a 5mm boundary, my front cover was complete!

Stage 2: Adding the mast head

After editing my picture to create the final image I wanted, it came to designing my mast head as the main logo for the magazine, something that would make it iconic and interesting for the reader.
After adding in a new layer to my image, and with the use of www.dafont.com I could browse at the different designs I could use. I originally wanted a style that looked hand drawn to go with the creative and informal theme of the magazine. I though styles that looked like American university banners would fit well, especially as that writing would fit with the age range the magazine will be made for. Here were the main few id selected as possibility's:

However I'm not very good with Photoshop and so when I put each of the previous fonts in the image, they came out pixelated. Instead I chose a simpler design, Bitchen by Thomas Canale, to see if this wouldn't distort them as much. I then realised the thing that would prevent the pixelating is to just press enter so I left the simpler design on there to see how it looks.



 
After putting both my original choice and the experimental choice together, I decided that I preferred the font that I had picked randomly! I feel that the original one was too harsh against the soft edited image, and that the new one worked much better. its rounded ends and thin lines shape well with the soft edges of the photo, keeping its delicate yet interesting look.

 
So after deciding on the new font I made it large to fit the page. Normally other magazine brands pick a colour from the image and use it to colour the mast head, however I thought black would keep the simplicity of the cover, with the curly writing and main image enough to grab the readers attention. I placed the mast head at the top with a few centimetre gap, making sure when its printed there is no run off. Therefore I had finished creating my initial design for my college magazine!

Stage 1: Using photoshop on my image

After taking numerous pictures in different positions I finally found the photo that suited the style of magazine. this picture clearly displayed a model looking like the typical college student, with the relaxed posed to make it casual as well as the folder to show some formality and recognition of she still being in education.I then put it into Photoshop to start editing. Firstly, I increased the hue and saturation to give a bolder colour that would stand out more, followed by increasing the brightness and contrast to make it seem lighter and slightly faded, giving a more delicate and fresh touch.

 

The next thing I wanted to do was to remove the background. I originally thought to use the stamp clone tool and make the whole background yellow like the wall, but in the end I thought it would be better to get rid of it al together. I started to use the magic wand tool, which although worked to a certain extent, didn't edit the bits I wanted it to.it kept picking up on the wrong bits and gave a rough edge which I didn't want. Therefore I used the lasso tool which worked much better to remove the excess and give me the plain background with a smooth edge I wanted.

I then started to experiment with colour for the background. I first chose a red that matched the folder she was holding, using the colour catch tool. By using the paint bucket I could fill the whole background in one. However this didn't really look very good as some of the image had been lost when making it brighter, giving it a rough edge. Also the colour was too bold for the background and overpowered the main image.

Instead I changed it to a light peachy colour, not unlike the models skin tone. This worked better as it made her the main focus of the magazine with the missing edge of the shirt less visible. It also gives a lighter mood to the magazine that I preferred. By then playing round with the different editing tools I decided to use the smudge tool around the edge of the image to make it seem she was coming out from the background as if a misty effect.

I then decided to use the dodge tool around the edge of the figure as well, making the lines around her blend into the peachy background even more. This way some parts were hard to see where the image stopped and the background started, which was something I wanted to achieve.
Before:

 After:

The use of the dodge tool makes the main image almost glow, softening the edges to give the photo a fresh and bright feel.

Overall I like how my picture eventually came out. Even though I'm not very good at Photoshop this gave me good experience to experiment with the different tools and see what works well with what. I'm glad I got rid of the background as keeping it may have made it look less professional, and the peachy colour is defiantly more eye catching. Also by changing it to a red it would have given more focus to the background rather that the image itself, as well as making it harder to see the text I would put on it later. Moreover, it may have come across as a different type of magazine, and no longer look like a college magazine so changing it was the right thing to do. I also like how well the image 'glows' off the page, really standing out as something fresh, which is what the magazine is entirely about; new music, films, jobs and things that interest the college student.

Magazine Research & Design

When thinking about my own design for a college magazine I wanted to look at magazines already being published, to see what techniques, styles and images they used to attract their audience. It was good to look at all different types to see how they differ and what is most common in each of them. This way I could start collecting ideas to create a front cover that related to my audience profile and that would be appropriate for a college magazine.

Questionnaire Analysis

 

Audience Profile for my College Magazine

From the data I collected this was the main summary of images that represented their answers!

Questionnaire on College Magazine

My first step on creating a college magazine was to make a questionnaire. I did this so I could collect information as to what people of my age or older would like to see in a college magazine, whether it was new films or music around at the moment or events and information relating to the college itself. This also let me see the publishing times and price that people would prefer. This questionnaire then gave me the information to create an audience profile.

'Downtown' by Calvin Klein

This advert was created by director David Fincher, including Rooney Mara as the main icon for the new fragrance by Calvin Klein.

 The use of black and white filming captivates the audience and gives a classic and elegant feel to a selection of modern everyday scenes. With the lack of any special effects, bold titles or catchy slogans, the advert gives centre focus to Rooney, with her simple movements and looks enough to enthral you in the scenes. The use of slow motion in the scenes gives you more time to take in what she’s doing, and how the simplest movement of objects is exaggerated to make both her actions and everything around her more momentous.

 When I watched this for the first time the thing that caught my eye was the fashion and dramatic attention on simple things, a normal characteristic seen in perfume adverts. However some people may not see this as an obvious advert for Calvin Klein, and instead recognise her as “the sexy woman from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", making it more memorable for its model rather than the product itself. Using a provocative woman like this not only shows that this perfume makes you more attractive, but captivates a male’s attention and so widens the audience.

The main idea represented from this advert is that the product not only gives you charm and elegance in the everyday routine you endure, but that it almost changes you into a celebrity. However it is not over the top with flaunting a showbiz lifestyle, as you see Rooney’s almost ordinary side with her childish appreciation to a cute puppy and care free dancing with two other children. This makes the audience feel that this product may give them a celebrity quality, yet not change ones attitude that overwhelming showbiz may bring. Therefore the audience feel they can relate to the advert so think that the product is the right one for them.

This advert has been broadcasted to show that the exciting qualities of being famous can be achieved in everyday life with the simple use of the product.

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