Analysis of other magazine/s Front Covers, Contents pages and Double Page Feature Spread

This is the front cover of the music magazine Kerrang! It follows the genres of rock/emo/screamo/metal, etc.
Kerrang! have included the important details of a barcode, price, issue number, date, etc all in the bottom right and corner so that it is still easily noticeable, yet out of the way.
They have used a medium shot of the whole band You Me At Six as the main image, also dressing them all in black and white which could possibly represent Kerrang!'s colour scheme of mainly black and white like the majority of rock categorised music magazines (we almost automatically what genres will be included by this colour scheme) - judging by their logo/masthead. This colour scheme attracts their typical stereotypes as it tends to be what colours they all may wear a lot. The masthead is also at the top of the page as usual, with a skyline above it mentioning more famous bands to lure the audience in. Despite the band being dressed in black (which can be interpreted as a dangerous or mysterious but well known colour for artists to wear) they are all in eye contact with the camera, even smiling or pulling funny faces. This represents their humourous and normal side, despite being incredibly famous since being discovered. Similar to my magazine, they have the lead singer nearer the front and the rest of the band behind, clearly stating who is the 'front-man'. They have used the bands own font for their band name, like the majority of bands do so that it is recognisable, and have included a main coverline launching their career. Kerrang! have done this is large lettering and in yellow so that it is doesn't blend in too much, yet you can still see everything else that is important.
Once again, like my magazine there isn't very much on the left third and this can be considered a disadvantage due to the lack of information and amount of space used. Small images have still been included, images of different bands so that it is clear who will be featured in the magazine and intrigue their target audience more. Also, a footer bar was included on the front cover of this music magazine. It states a type of list of more bands that will be included in the magazine, this is good because it's sneak peaks of what the target audience wants, thus leading them on to buy it more.

This is the contents page of the music magazine NME. It follows the genres of rock/alternative/indie, etc.
Like every other magazine Q has included its masthead/logo, as it is easily recognisable, in it's contents page at the top where it is clearly read. The colour scheme for this magazine is black/white/red so the masthead has used these colours as well as using a clear capitalized font. It has also included a 'this week' section like the majority of music magazines to do, with the date (in the same capitalized font but slimmer and a smaller font size) positioned underneathe. Q have used a different element to what other magazines have used and that is an index in the left third of their contents page. This is a good and easy way to find and include what other bands and features are in this magazine, and that they have stuck to their colour scheme as well as making the font a reasonable size. This also helps as it isn't too crowded but there is still vital information that you want to read. Q has included a reasonable amount of images to represent what genre and what bands they are all about, and have positioned them in the centre of the page including a caption and more information in depth.
They have included a features and regulars sections, like the majority of magazines do and it is all on the same side. It is very clear and they have made their titles much larger than the rest of the font so it is clear what is included.

This is the double page feature spread of the music magazine Rock Sound. It follows the genres of rock/emo/alternative, etc.
I'm particularly fond of this double page feature spread as it's different to the majority of features magazines design with the whole page being an image as well as the editing. The editing is clever as Hayley Williams (lead singer) is the only member in bright colours whereas the other band members are in black and white. Rock Sound doesn't have a particular colour scheme like most magazines do, just the same font for their masthead each issue, so their double page spread has used Paramore's logo (in a vertical large font) and selective colours for the font so they won't blend in with the main image today. In some ways the colour scheme chosen for this double page spread are similar to Paramore's logo colours. This image gives a striking effect and enhances the popularity of Hayley Williams' career, indicating she is the front-woman. In some ways, this could be considered as a disadvantage to the rest of the band members though. The written feature itself isn't particularly long like most features but the picture seems to be the main importance and draws in the audience. The font used is quite small and can be hard to read but they've spaced it well onto the page and don't cover any of the band members' facial features as they are important to see.
Unfortunately for this mahgazine the page numbers are very hard to read, although they make space for every other important aspects and can be traced.

Fonts and Logo Design

I have made several plans and alterations throughout the development and designing of my magazine, especially with the font usage and logo design. In the end I decided my masthead would also be my logo, rather than a logo and masthead separately on every page. My aim was to use an attractive font that would suit my target audience, it's practical, simple and desirable. 

As I wanted a consistency of the same, or at least similar fonts throughout my magazine, I had a long think about what I wanted and chose 'Stone Sans ITC TT' in italic whereas the majority of my Music magazine is in some sort of Stone Sans ITC TT font, just not necessarily italic. For example, Stone Sans ITC TT bold is used for my written feature in my double page feature spread, and everything else in my contents and front cover (apart from the band's name as that is their own logo). I found this an appropriate font throughout as it is very clear to read, still looked appealing to my audience and isn't too pretentious. It also all fit very nicely on each page and I had no troubles with size, blurriness and whatever else can occur. Also, I stayed within my colour scheme of red/black/white/magenta and chose to have it filled in red with a white outline. My original plan was for it to be filled in magenta with a white outline but after seeing the finishing touches to my front cover, it started to blend in too much so I altered it. Now it stands out a lot more, still the same font criteria and still within the colour scheme. Despite doing this, it doesn't overrule the rest of the elements in my front cover, contents page and double page spread feature. The worst possible scenario was that it would have blended in too much with everything or it stuck out like a sore thumb, fortunately it didn't do either with my alterations.

What kind of Media Institution might distribute my magazine and why?

I believe that three Media Institutions would most likely publish and distribute my magazine, they are:

• Bauer Media
• IPC Media
• Future Publishing
  

Bauer Media - It started in 1875, and reaches over nineteen million UK adults across multiple media channels. Bauer Media owns over eighty influential media brands that spans a wide range of interests; some of their biggest selling publications include Q, Heat, Closer, FHM and Kerrang! They produce medias such as charity events, Radio programmes, digital businesses and their own TV channels. This company would be perfect to distribute my magazine as they already publish one of the best selling rock magazines in the country, already having plenty of experience in this department, therefore they would advertise it well so it would have a greater chance of selling, and they know exactly what would be needed in my magazine.Their Radio stations and TV channels would also be perfect to promote my Music magazine, due to it being a new launch.

IPC Media - This company started in 1968, produced over 85 iconic media brands such as magazines like, Nuts, Marie Claire, NME, Horse and Hound, What's on TV, TV Times, Chat, Look, In Style, Now, and Country Life. Also, they use a new phone technology which would help with the publicity aspect of distribution. Once again they produce another best selling music magazine, are extremely experienced, they tend to know the best tricks/ways to race ahead of other magazines and would know exactly what would be needed in my magazine. Their advertising offers access to the wide range of print and online brands, therefore having the advantage to spread the word of a new magazine launch and a greater chance of selling.

Future Publishing - They started out in 1985 with one published magazine and have gradually built up their reputation and are now one of the leading publishers in the UK, as well as being well known throughout the world. It now publishes more than 150 magazines in fields such as video games, music, cycling, technology, photography, film and automotive. Once again, they are another talented and experienced company in the music magazine business, having published Classic Rock and Guitar World. They would know exactly what I would need in my magazine and what to do to make it a success. In terms of advertising, they own all these other magazines as well as holding events every year, so they would also be able to publicly promote. 

Overall I feel that Bauer Media would benefit and be the best choice for my magazine to be published and distributed by. Despite IPC being more appealing, NME would be too much of a similarity to my magazine so there would be no competition for my product. Not only this, the audience would most probably buy one and not the other due to being published by same company, and would generally suit and fit in among those of Bauer Media with it's music magazine experience (as well as my magazine being a new launch and different music genres) and wide range of advertising.

What have I learnt about technologies through the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the process of constructing this product I have learned a great deal about technologies and they have vastly helped and improved my Music magazine, especially how to use Photoshop and InDesign correctly. I also regularly blogged about what I've done during the process of creating my product to help for future reference.

Technologies used to create my product:

• Digital Camera
• Internet Explorer/Adobe Firefox
• Adobe Photoshop
• InDesign
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Office
• Microsoft Powerpoint
  

My main technologies used were Photoshop and InDesign to create my product; Photoshop for editing my images and InDesign to start the template of my Music magazine. Having already worked with Photoshop, I had a rough idea how to work the software and establish which tools to use in order to produce my magazine the way in which I wanted and needed to. I now also understand the important of using tools in the media, how to use them more often and produce any media text in a professional way. It has helped me to add 'brushes and filter' to both my Preliminary task and my Music magazine once it was finished on InDesign. I used basic tools to position and alter my product such as the cut tool, text tool, selection tool,

Tools that I have used in Photoshop when editing photographs:

• Brightness
• Contrast
• Colour balance
• Glowing Edges
• Smoothness
• Curves
• Cut Out

It appears in today's society that an image has to look it's best, whether the whole of it be Photoshopped and almost changing the entire person's features or only using it slightly, but the majority of magazines of modern day society tend to use a lot of it. Despite how the model may look already, manipulation of the photograph must attract the audience and be valid enough for them. It also has to be altered enough to draw in their target audience. Also, I have learnt that a colour scheme is extremely important,  it can alter the entire magazine towards a different target audience or even knocking a magazine off the market. For example, a brightly coloured and child-like product for young adults+ would not appeal to this audience. On the other hand, if it were a black, white and red colour scheme (this tends to be a popular choice) makes the magazine look much more professional and inferior.

InDesign is a complex program at first and I found it quite challenging as I had never encountered it before. We eventually grasped the basics and it became a lot easier to use, and understood it more. It helped to produce the layout of my Music magazine by including the fonts, inserting text boxes for my coverlines and pull quotes, etc. InDesign allowed me to position, alter and rearrange pretty much everything on my magazine to make it look like those of a professional standard.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

From the Preliminary task, I have learnt more and more how to use manually several professional technologies like Photoshop and InDesign to create media products. I have also learnt that the audience is who I mainly need to think about when designing my product, and how my products effect them psychologically. It all depends on the audiences view and the genre that I have chosen for my magazine. My magazine needs to appeal to my target audience the most, as well as keeping an open mind for different audiences no matter who, what or where because if it was to get published then it would mean a greater market and a much more successful magazine. I have learnt several key facts when designing/creating a magazine; they cannot be too vibrant and wild nor too simplistic. For example, if a design is too colourful and crowded, it may not appeal to the audience and they may miss important elements; whereas a design with just the masthead, important information and a main image is too dull to attract an audience. Despite this, I did not carry out as much research as I did for the main task. For my main task I researched and analysed magazines such as Kerrang!, NME and Rock Sound to scrutinize their use of conventions for their specified genre which is rock, alternative and indie music, as well as making sure my own product wasn't too different to others on the market; I figured that something too extravagant or too dull most probably wouldn't sell.

I was aiming to achieve a higher grade for my final magazine than I did in the Preliminary task. I produced drafts of layouts and titles for the front page, contents and double page feature spread so that I had a plan to look at when it came down to creating them on InDesign - I experimented with several ideas but found that my original idea was much more successful and a better choice to use. I found that experimenting and recreating from my plan useful but sticking with my original draft benefit my design a lot more. I had the knowledge of how my finals were going to look, even in my head after looking at my simple, planned out drafts.

I continued to research into magazines until I evaluated other magazines and their use of fonts, images & image sizes, colour scheme, layout, etc. This research was extremely helpful as I was able to compare my magazine as well as refer to other rock/alternative/indie magazines for ideas on images, colour scheme, layout, etc. Evaluating all these magazines helped me notice the differences between my Preliminary magazine and my Music magazine; I hadn't edited any of the images used in my Preliminary task whereas all the images for my Music magazine were i.e. editing the lightness, contrast, colour balance, cut out and other artistic options.

I feel that I have made a huge improvement from the Preliminary task particularly because I felt that I had enjoyed it more because it focused on something I love, have learnt more aspects of Photoshop and InDesign as well as in class. I also believe that I could have improved several other aspects of my Music magazine,  such as placing more in the left third, and my images being cropped, altered and made slightly bigger to attract my audience to my magazine more. However, I'm very pleased with the outcome and the product was a overall success when relating to my chosen genres and target audience.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

There are five models in my main image; 4 males and 1 female, all of which are teenagers. They're all dressed very differently because they are all very different characters, all listen to different types of music but my intention is that they all share the love of rock, alternative & indie music. The 4 males are standing in a row whereas the female (the lead singer) is standing just in front of them all. This portrays that she is 'the voice' of the group, the smallest in the band but is also inferior as she is dominantly the only female and the position increases her importance. Despite this, they are all standing quite close which also represents them having a close bond as normal friends, not just work colleagues. It's not awkward between them, maybe slightly awkward to having their photograph taken though due to being newbies. They all have a slight smile to their facial expressions, this indicates their innocence and being new to the music industry, as well as being normal teenagers who aren't used to posing for the cameras much yet. The majority of males have their hands in their pockets, this therefore holds connotations of either shadiness, mysteriousness or even that they are typical 'cool' teenage boys who follow the trends and actions of the rest of their ages.

On my contents page I have included band names of well-known artists (e.g. Florence & the Machine, White Lies, Paramore, etc) to represent the popularity of my magazine and made clear that it isn't about unsigned bands, just general bands in the media every day. This also instantly allows the audience to assume what genres of music my magazine is about without having to go into depth with it, yet still persuading them to read it after knowing what bands it will include. I have multiple small images on my contents page to show the audience that there are more photographs included of the new band, as well as a whole feature, not just a small entry.

There is an image, on my double page feature spread, of 'Jas Heartly' as a young female which represents her as being confident, inferior and dominant by how she stands upright, hands on hips and looks up into the corner. I included a caption of her name and the band she is, despite it being obvious, to indicate that she is the lead singer and voice of the band, which people tend to associate the band as an individual person (mainly the lead singers) nowadays. I also included a pull quote that she made during the written feature and positioned it just above the image of her like other magazines tend to do so, this also makes it obvious who said it. The pull quote used also represents her character as a normal, funny teenager that enjoys embarrassing a family member, and this connotes how comfortable she is with being interviewed and can act herself in front of anyone. Despite this, she can talk to the interviewer on a serious note, expressing her feelings and emotions which also represents her femininity. This also represents that herself, her band members and 'Lyric' magazine are serious about working in/with the music industry. I also included two other images of the whole band, both with 'Jas Heartly' in the middle of each one. Despite doing so, the fact the band members are all happy and smiling indicates that they are comfortable with Jas being centre of attention, yet still come as a band and not just one individual. In one photograph they are all sitting casually, exactly how your average stereotyped teenager would do so, and the same goes for the other photograph with them all standing against a wall with the same smiles on their faces. This represents the band as the average bunch of teenagers who are new to the music industry but haven't changed their characteristics since becoming famous like other bands do.

Unlike my other drafts, this is a bit messier as I added more detail and needed to include a lot more, especially images and pull quotes. I've quickly written in the pull quotes I plan to use so that I wouldn't forget and the same reason for writing what font I have planned to use in my written features. Although it is quite messy were I have noted where my feature will be written, I made sure I remembered to have it in columns like the majority of magazines. I also noted down that I needed to include captions for each image, similar to what most magazines do too. I then made sure I have a box for where my introduction would go, otherwise I would have also filled up that space without realising.

This is my draft planning for my contents page.
Once again, I made sure I included the masthead, date & issue number, a main images, small images, etc. I also included my regulars, news and features sections like most magazines tend to have in their contents pages. I have also written down what I plan to have in my regulars so that I can plan more as I develop it. I planned to use a pull quote from my written feature, also plan to use the very same one on my double page spread feature. The band's name and band member will also be stated underneath it on my contents page. 

This is the draft I had drawn out in class as I began to plan my front cover. I had to make sure I included all the important elements as follows; barcode, date, price, issue number masthead, selling line, coverlines, main image, header bar, etc. I chose to have my main image in the centre of my page so that the audience would be drawn towards my magazine by seeing the artist/s first. I included a 'win' header footer which would also want the audience to read more, especially if there are items they can win. My masthead stayed the same as I'd planned beforehand with the date, issue number and price above so that it was obviously there, yet out of the way for everything else. I made sure I included my main cover line, small images, coverlines, etc into it too.

This is my draft planning that helped me to choose the title of my music magazine. As I began to plan it out, one of the most simple words had drawn me towards it, most probably because of it's meaning. I instantly thought of 'Lyric' for my masthead; it's simple and everybody knows what lyrics are, they are the story behind the song, well thought of, etc. I've also decided that it will be large and in an italic font, this will hopefully flow well with the rest of my front cover. My magazine will focus of alternative/rock and indie music, all of which also tend to have the most meaningful lyrics in my opinion.

Finished Double Page Feature Spread

This is my finished double page feature spread

Double Page Feature Spread: Step by step

Firstly, I added a black background to carry on with my colour scheme - my front cover and contents page are also black. I wanted to stay the same because it was the most popular colour choice in my survey results, it also works well with the rest of my colour scheme and my photographs. I did this by using the 'Rectangle tool' and drawing a large box over my double page spread. I then used the 'fill tool' to insert my black background. My next step was to include my written feature about the band I created. Unfortunately I had written way too much and some how had to cut it down. Throughout designing my feature, I had to change around, add and delete words/sentences so that it would all fit well together. I inserted my text using the 'Type tool' and once again, used the 'fill tool' to include my white text. I decided not to use the 'Stroke tool' and have an outline as I didn't want it to stand out too much, especially as there's so much written about the band and it'll be too dramatic; so dramatic it would no longer be striking to my target audience. I made sure I changed the first letter of my entire written feature to a larger scale than the rest of it, by scrolling to a size '30' whereas the rest of my written feature is size 12. I did this because most magazines also have their first letter a lot bigger than the rest of the text. To also position and rearrange all my text, I used the 'Selection tool' which allowed me to fit the feature in the way in which I wanted, as best as possible. Like I've said in my previous posts, I continued with the 'Stones Sans ITC TT' font as it works best with my magazine; fitting the standards of my target audience, looks presentable and the right size. 

Now I needed to include the photographs I have taken and edited of my artist/s. I decided to choose 3 photographs; 2 of the band altogether and 1 of the lead singer, as she is the main front man and has a pull quote positioned above her. I included my first photograph by using the 'File' tab, then I clicked 'Place...' to then I could browse and choose which photograph I was going to insert. I did this for every photograph. I also used the 'Selection tool' to position and rearrange all of my photographs - I decided to have each photograph in a corner, all of different sizes, so that my feature would still fit and my photographs would still lure my audience in. I'm very happy with my photographs and how my models posed for me, it fits perfectly with my written feature and the double page feature spread in general. I included a mid shot of 'Jas Heartly', a group shot and a long shot of the band. I then noticed my photographs were looking slightly plain and sharp, so I decided to try different edits until I found something that I thought fit perfectly. I did this by right clicking each image individually, clicked 'Effects' and stuck with the 'Outter glow'.  I really like this effect as it's quote creative, works around my text and still shows the photograph quite clearly.

I used the typical 'copy & paste' trick to include my masthead, which is the same throughout my magazine so that it is considered the magazine's 'logo' and something my audience will remember most about my magazine. I then used the 'selection tool' to move and position it in the top hand right corner so that it is still clearly seen, recognisable but allows the rest of my double spread to be seen more clearly. I've kept everything about it the same including the colours, font, etc. Once I had done this, I decided to add a bit of editing but couldn't think of what as I originally wasn't going to and just carry on with the rest of my double page spread. I decided to include the band's name in large letters, also using 'their' own font that I have used on my front cover, which is 'Lithos Pro' in size 72. I included it by doing the 'copy & paste' trick again, then used the 'selection tool' to move it nearer the space that I had blank, which was the top right hand on my left side of my double page spread. I then decided to add an edit by right clicking the 'Noize' text, then clicking on 'Edit' and had a browse of all the different edits I could use. In the end, I decided to go with 'Transparency' which is pretty self explanatory. I chose this because I thought it would look good if I had an intro part on the top of it, yet my audience could still work out what was said underneath and on top, as well as still having my band's name in large somewhere on my pages - which is what I aimed for.

Now I inserted my introduction over the most recent edit I had made and my magazine started to come together a lot more. I did this by using the 'Type tool', picked 2 quotes that I liked most throughout my written feature and used the 'Selection tool' to position and rearrange them over both of my pages. I chose to have one on each page so that there was something to attract the audience on either side, also that it was evenly spread out. I did them in 'Stone Sans ITC TT' italic font as well as making them a size 22 so that they are quite obviously bigger than the majority of the text on my double page spread. I also used the 'Fill tool' to colour the text in white, then the 'Stroke tool' to include a magenta outline for both. I also did the introduction the same way as both of these, apart from it isn't in italic and in a smaller font.
Next I included a 'Presents...' part underneath my masthead so that it is still quite formal and clearly states that 'Lyric' have spoken to 'Noize' - I did this in the same way as all of the text but decided to have a red outline so that it would mix it up a bit, as well as include more of the colour schemes. I also did the exact same techniques to the caption above my first photograph.

Last but not least, I needed to include my very important page numbers and captions for the photographs. I used the 'Type tool' to insert my page numbers, which I knew from my Contents page, and used the 'Selection tool' to move and arrange them so that they were at the bottom corners. I decided to have them there because the majority of music magazines do so, it looks professional and they're still easy to see even though there is a lot going on in my pages. I also did these at size 30 with a white fill and white outline, just so that they stood out a bit more and still easy to see.
I then included all of my captions, all at the bottom of each photograph. I had slight trouble thinking of different captions that would lure in my target audience and still stuck to the point of each photograph. In the end, my mid shot photograph of 'Jas Heartly' I decided to make it pretty self explanatory and have her name, and the band that she's in. I then moved onto the long shot photograph, on my left hand side, which I struggled with most. I then decided to include a well known saying that they could work by, like some sort of motto for their band which is 'See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.' I then moved onto my high shot of the group and chose a 'trendy' and 'in fashion' sentence that would attract my target audience some more. I wanted to give it a child-like edge to it and meet my audience's expectations. I inserted all of these using the 'Type tool' and typed them up, the 'Selection tool' to rearrange and position them all, and the 'fill tool' as well as the 'stroke tool' to use more of my colour scheme. My pull quotes are white with a magenta outline so I decided to have my captions filled in white with a red outline.

How will I attract/address my audience?

My audience consists ages between 14 and 25, both of sexual preferences, of all sexualities and of the 'alternative', 'rock', 'indie' subcultures. I will include both male and female artists and bands because of this, as it credit my magazine and satisfy my audience.

What would teenage males want in my magazine?

• comedy/funny articles and features
• good-looking women (if heterosexual)
• good-looking men (if bisexual, homosexual or are heterosexual and want some sort of role model.)
• chords for musical instruments
• lyrics
• posters
• interviews
• merchandise pages
• music that they like
• style tips
• swear words
• advice
• technology (old or new i.e. ipods, ipads, mp3s etc.)
• games (wordsearch, sudoku etc.)
  
  
  What would teenage females want in my magazine?
  
• horoscopes
• fashion & make-up
• fashion & make-up tips/advice
• good-looking men (if they are heterosexual)
• good-looking women (if they are bisexual, homosexual or heterosexual and want some sort of role model.
• posters
• technology (old or new i.e. ipods, ipads, mp3s etc.)
• gossip articles
• music that they like
• style tips
• merchandise pages
• clothing websites
• interviews
• chords for musical instruments

The typical audience for my music magazine

My magazine would appeal towards a younger generation, most probably teenagers/young adults of both sexual preferences and a typical white audience. This type of audience would usually shop at local places such as primark, new look, topshop, topman, charity shops, vintage shops, band merchandise etc. and online clothes stores that would be slightly 'alternative'. They will be keeping up with the trends but also altering items slightly, as well as maybe wearing 'vintage' style clothing.

Brands like:

• Urban outfitters

• Brand Neusense

• H&M

• Topshop & Topman
  
  
  
  
  Alternative/rock types of people like tattoos, body piercings, unsigned bands, bands in general, books, photography, guitars, parties, alcohol, clothes, socialising etc.
  Their preferred music is normally alternative, rock, alt-rock, indie, indie-rock, acoustic and unsigned bands or artists that nobody else knows about. 
  
  
  
  

  

  • Females like most things natural i.e. hair, make-up, skin etc. They tend to have 'bed head' or wavy locks and at least a side fringe, will straighten their hair now and again. They won't have too much make-up; foundation, concealer, mascara, maybe some eyeliner, maybe some eye shadow now and again. They'll either be pale skinned or naturally tanned, maybe a slight tan even. May have tattoos or some body piercings. Females will wear t-shirts, band t-shirts, checked shirts, leggings, tights, skinny jeans, floral dresses, cardigans, pumps, military boots, converse and lots of 'vintage-looking' jewellery.
    
    
    
    
    
    

  

  •  Males tend to have slightly long hair, not too long but not short at all and with a 'swoopy' or short fringe. They also like band t-shirts, they like skinny t-shirts, skinny jeans, pumps, converse, cardigans, beanie hats, skinny jumpers etc. Males tend to drink, smoke and do drugs more than the women, very much like gigs too. Some may skateboard or play a musical instrument. May have tattoos or body piercings.

Conventions in Magazines

        A convention - a range of rules and standards expected/required for a specific genre. 

             Conventions can be applied to many different circumstances, they can also be developed and challenged. 

1. Convention - wearing clothes
2. Develop - wearing only black clothes
3. Challenge - wearing no clothes
   
   OR
   
   1. Convention - having a computer
   2. Develop - using a computer
   3. Challenge - reading a book instead
      
      
      My Front Cover
      I have used conventions of a
      

      

      • bold and italic masthead like 'TANK' has done

      
      

      

      • Corner grabber used like in 'Time Out'

      
      

      

      • Coverlines used like 'NME'; one main coverline that is larger than the rest and the others are all a similar size as one another.
        
        
        

      

      • Footer header that includes a list of bands and symmetrical to the bar code, both also at the bottom of the front cover, like 'Rock Sound'.
        
        

      

      • No text touching the edges, all in align with one another and coverlines/text written on the left and right side like 'Elle'.
        
        
        

      

      • Header Bar and main image (mid shot) like 'Kerrang!'
        
        
        

      
      
      
      I have challenged the conventions of the usual presentation of
      
      • the selling line by having it as a 'quote feel' and would have it the same for every magazine issue so that it is recognisable.
      • not having as many coverlines and mixing up their positions a bit more, rather than continuously on the left and right hand side.
        
        
        
        

        

        • I have also changed the usual eye route that 'Rock Sound' uses to not look at the top, my magazine focuses more on the centre of the page.

        
        

        

        • I have not positioned my main image to overlap my masthead like 'Kerrang!' does most of the time.
          
          
          
          
          I have commented on the conventions used in my stages for my magazine front cover and it's contents page.
          
          
          

        
        
      
      
      

Magazine Stories

         There are 3 different types of stories that can be used in magazines:

• Feature
  This is a prominent news story that is written like a short story; it is usually not related to a current event but it can be.
  
• News Feature
  This is written as a follow-up or as a sidebar story that is linked to a breaking news event.
  
• Timeless Story
  This does not have to be used immediately; this information of this story will be just as relevant if it is saved for a future issue.
  
  
  There are many ways of generating ideas to use as a story, these include:
  
• News Stories
• Press Releases i.e. new technology
• Anniversaries of important events i.e. 9/11, Michael Jackson's death, tsunamis, earthquakes etc.
• Calender Events i.e. Christmas, Valentine's Day, Halloween etc.
• Currently goings on; celebrity news, album dates, tours etc.
  
  
  Research is important when writing a story and there are many ways of doing so:
  
• Internet: the web is used at least once every day per person, it is being used so much that Press cuttings libraries are decreasing and only a few are still in use.
• Reference books: libraries are good and open to anyone, you can check facts and figures.
• Press cuttings: most newspapers & magazine groups will operate a cuttings library of some kind, often found online. Press cuttings are everything used in the media, so when researching a specific person you can reference events that have happened in the past. You should use as many as you can, especially when interviewing someone.
  
  
  Writing a story
• The beginning of a story must pull the reader in; the lead (first sentence) but contain a hook (something that appeals to the reader and must make them want to read on), and it should also set the tone of the feature. 

• There should be at minimum one half direct quotes - should try to paraphrase as much as possible.
• Final paragraph - should complete the story, refer back to the lead or use a quote to refer to the future.
• Standard story (news)/basic news lead - needs to include who, what, when, where, why & how of the story.
• A standard feature's is supposed to draw the reader in - make them curious and make them wonder why?
• Here's an example, I thought of:
  'Paris Hilton has launched her new album 'Paris' and another new clothing range' but then being arrested for alleged possession of crack cocaine after being stopped in her car.

Stages: Music Magazine Front Cover

This is my finished front cover for my music magazine.

My last step was to include a footer bar and chose to have it as an 'INCLUDES' bit, with names of big bands of today that would be included in my magazine. I did this by using the 'type tool', then 'fill' and 'stroke' tools once I had typed all of my bands out so that I could apply my colour scheme colours. I chose to do my 'INCLUDES' part to have a red outline instead of a magenta outline, simply so that an audience could tell that it was introducing the bands in my footer bar. I then rearranged my footer bar with the 'selection tool' and placed it on the bottom of my magazine cover, like most magazines, and next to the bar code.

I had the majority of important elements on my document at this stage, my next option was to include a main cover line and several coverlines. The majority of my coverlines were inserted by just using the 'type tool' and then the 'fill' and 'stroke' tools to include the colours and outline colours, all of which still go by my colour scheme of red, black, white and magenta. My coverlines are all information about my band 'Noize' and either under or next to an image of them, using the 'selection tool' to rearrange and place them. They are only one or two sentences long but include vital information that an audience would want to know what is in my magazine. As much as the coverlines on my music magazine do not stand out as much as other elements, they are still noticeable and all in Stone Sans ITC TT bold font.

I added a magazine header bar for my next step, as I needed to include one like most magazines. I couldn't decide what to have as a header bar so I decided to have a prize winning magazine header bar. 'Win! Free gig tickets for a whole year! Win!' was my decision and I did this by using the 'type tool' and having it 'forward' so that it was over my red box. The font for my magazine header bar is the only text that is not Stone Sans ITC TT but instead, I chose DS-DIGITAL font so that it would be more striking for the audience. I chose a red box and white font as it not only stood out from the magazine, it still worked with my colour scheme. I inserted the box using the 'rectangle' tool and then 'apply colour' tool and choosing a red colour. Then I used the 'selection' tool and rearranged and placed it on the top of my magazine. Once I had done that and looked at my magazine properly, I then noticed an empty space which needed filling, so I thought my best bet was to insert a small image of the band by using the same technique as the main image as well as the 'selection tool' to rearrange the image and insert it in the top right-hand corner, just under the magazine header bar.

My next step was to add four very important things; the bar code, issue number, date and price of my music magazine. I added my bar code into the right hand-side corner so that it is easy to notice for when buying the magazine and in a space where I knew it would all come together nicely. I did this by doing the 'copy and paste' technique, then using the 'selection tool' to resize and rearrange it. I then added the date, issue number and price all together using the 'type tool', then using the 'selection tool' to arrange it to go in the top left-hand side of my magazine so that it was parallel to my bar code and easily noticeable. It fits just under my magazine header bar and above the masthead.

This was the start to my music magazine cover.
I chose black as my background as it is one of the colours of my colour scheme and it works well with photographs as well as using outlines in font writing. I came to this decision using my surveys, research, sources etc. I researched other magazines and their backgrounds and came to a conclusion that the magazine that had also used black with the same/similar genres to me, their magazines had a positive outcome and feedback. My survey helped as it also told me that the main colour people had chosen was black. I used the 'rectangle tool' to drag across the A4 page and then the 'apply colour' tool to change the whole page black. 
 
My next step was to add in a masthead that would appeal to my audience, be remembered and give my magazine credit. I had a few problems with my masthead as the more my magazine came together, the more it blended in with it all. As much as it worked well with my magazine, it started to fade and wasn't striking enough anymore. I had to change around the colours quite a lot until I found colours that would make it more appealing and noticeable. The original colour was going to be white with a magenta outline, like my selling point, but I eventually found that red with a white outline was more striking and it still worked with my colour scheme. My colour scheme is now black, white, red and magenta. I used the 'type tool' to insert my text as well as the 'selection tool' to move and rearrange elements on my front cover.  I also did this for my selling line. The font I have used is called 'Stones San ITC TT' in italic and the rest of my magazine will be in this font too, just not as much in italics. I like this font as it has a 'young look' to it and should attract my target audience, which is 14 years old and above. It is also very clear to read, looks nice, not too formal and works well with my magazine once it has all come together.I then had to move onto my selling line which I wanted to have a 'quote feel' towards it. I had a long think about it, also looking at several musical quotes online and "Music is the rhythm, Lyrics are the rhyme. Sit up, plug in and go" popped into my head. There's a flow when reading it and it speaks the truth because music is the rhythm in songs and lyrics are the rhyme in songs. The "Sit up, plug in and go' bit is basically when a person is to sit up and be ready for the music, 'plug in' is when you have your earphones/headphones or speakers turned on and go is to take in the music. Like the masthead, the font is Stones San ITC TT italic but it is in white with a magenta outline. I did this with the 'fill' tool for the main colour and the 'stroke' tool to include my different coloured outlines.
 
I also added a photograph of the main band featured in my magazine as the main image, like the majority of magazine nowadays. It is right in the centre of the magazine and very noticeable, yet it doesn't distract a reader from any of the coverlines, masthead etc. I chose this image of the band called 'Noize' because it is all of them together and can see each member clearly. I chose to put Ellie i.e. Jasmine at the front as she is the smallest, the lead singer of the band and the only female so she is more dominant than the rest of them, but still does not over shadow the other members. The rest of the band, who are all male, are in a line behind her and you can clearly see them all and their facial expressions. I didn't want a dramatic or posey photograph or anything similar to what most music magazines do, I wanted just a simple and 'smiley' photo that would do each one of them some credit as well as still looking like a new, teenage band. I did this by using 'file' and 'open' so then I inserted my main image, the 'selection tool' also helped a lot as I had to rearrange the photograph several times as well as forcing it to fit correctly on my front cover.

Music Magazine Contents Page

My Finished Contents Page
(with the accidental wrong page number in the call-out quote)

Stages: Music Magazine Contents Page

This was the start of my music magazine contents page.
Like my front cover, I decided to go with black as my background again for similar reasons; it works well with photographs, my colour scheme, my most popular chosen colour in my survey, etc. I researched other magazines for this too and found that the majority of magazines with the same/a similar genre use a black background again. They also had a positive outcome and feedback. Once again, I used the 'rectangle tool' to drag a box across the A4 page and then the 'apply colour' tool to change the whole background to black.
I then added a masthead, the very same one that is on my front cover. I did this as it's technically my magazine's 'logo' and when the audience see it, they'll recognise my magazine. Once again, I used the 'type tool' to insert my masthead text, as well as the 'selection tool' to move and rearrange my masthead on my contents page. Another similarity I have chosen is the font, it is 'Stone San ITC TT' in italic but like I said earlier, the majority of my magazine will be in this font. Continuing with this font, I then included the 'Contents' text which stands out across the black background fairly well as I have used the 'fill' and 'stroke' tools to insert the white text and a magenta outline. I used Stones Sans ITC TT bold font as well as using the same 'type tool' and 'selection tool' to insert the text and place it under the masthead, which is also stands out from.
I then included some of the important elements; the date and issue number of the magazine by using the 'type tool', then the 'selection tool' again to place these and my masthead at the right-hand corner instead this time. I did this so there was a bit of a different, and more room for a band's call-out quote and photographs.

My aim was to include a few pictures of the band in this step of my contents page. I included each one the 'file' tab, then 'open', 'browse' and chose each photo that I had saved onto my memory stick. My first image included, which is my main image, is the same as my main image included on the front cover of my magazine - just with a twist. I have used the image that I was originally going to use, my edited version. I really like this version as you cannot see their facial expressions too well and everything looks pixalized. It also looks like something the band 'Muse' would do, looking back at their 'Supermassive Black Hole' music video, which is good as they are one of the bands inspired by this band. It is also a long shot. It has to be my favourite photograph that I have done throughout the magazine. I then included 2 small images of the band that I may or may not use in my double spread feature as I have plenty of other photographs. I included 3 photographs (2 long shot, 1 close-up shot) of the band as I researched other music magazines contents pages (such as Kerrang!, Rock Sound, NME, etc) and the majority of each contents page had a collection of a few images. I also thought this a really good idea, especially that I could play around with each one on my contents page. In the end, I decided to have them in a group together so that all the text can fit around them, as well as them being the centre of attention. I also think it still attracts my young target audience, especially as it is a full view of the band and they are also young themselves.
I then included a small coverline about the features page, on the corner and on top of the main image, to continue to lure the audience in. It states the page number, the band and says, "An interview & pictures of the gang with info about their first tour!" I did all of this by using the 'type tool', 'selection tool' as well as the 'fill' and 'stroke' tools to include the colour in the font. I chose to use a white font with a black outline so that it would all stand out against the photograph, as it is mainly in several colours. The only thing I changed was the page number and bullet point to have a red outline so they do not blend in as much, easily spotted and can go to that page as well as being different to the rest of the coverline. I think the text targets my audience as I have used slang, i.e. info, gang, etc. so that it is still serious and states the important parts of the feature but also includes a 'edge' to it.

My next step was to insert the pull quote. I chose to use, "He's not all sweet and innocent, trust me. Unless his mum's there, that's a different story. He's a mummy's boy." I researched other magazines and soon realised it's quite long for a band's call-out quote but I decided to keep it. I've kept it because it has a good reader's flow and after each sentence, the audience is 'on edge' to read more. It will also attract my target audience14 years - 25 year olds because it is something young people have said about themselves or their friends time and time again. I think this is the aim of a call-out quote itself, to attract the audience even more, even it means a long suspense. I've made it quite striking too and in a large enough text, still in Stone Sans ITC TT italic. I also used the 'fill' tool to insert a white text, then the 'stroke' tool to apply a red outline. I've done all the colours and outlines different for each text box as I think it'd be too plain, although each colour is still in the range of my colour scheme. It separates each text box but each part is striking in itself. I then included the person who said this quote, Jas Heartly (lead singer of the band) and the name of the band afterwards, like the majority of music magazines do to recognise the person. Underneath I included, "confessions from this teen band" then the page number (which this accidentally says 22 when it's meant to be 33 - I later changed this error) so that my young audience will be intrigued to read as 'confessions' tends to be a word used for secrets in the modern age of today. I did all of this using the 'type tool' to insert the text, the 'selection tool' to rearrange and place the elements, and then the 'fill' tool to include the white text and the 'stroke' tool to have a magenta outline. All of which was also in Stone Sans ITC TT but bold so that the quote looked even better in italic.

One of the most important parts to include in a contents page, as researched from other magazines and from what we've learnt in our Media lessons, is the features and news sections. I chose to have these positioned on the right-hand side, under my masthead, title, and date & issue number as well as next to my photos. It fits well and is easily spotted on my contents page, the majority of music magazines also do this - may not be positioned the same but arranged similarly. My aim was to have all of my text work around the images so that it all fit nicely one the page and presented well.
My 'News' would supposedly update every week and include news about different bands of my genre/s whereas my 'Features' would also include different bands each week but each would have their own few pages about the band, what they've been upto, etc. Only one of these bands would have a double spread feature interview though and would have the entire magazine front cover and contents page based on them, and in my case, this was 'Noize'. This would also be updated each week. I chose to do this so that my target audience might be introduced to new bands, or even feel differently of bands they had heard of but haven't listened to, or even disliked in the past. Even if some of my audience continue to dislike the main band mentioned in my magazine in whatever week, there is still all sorts of information on other bands and other stuff to read about. I also included each page number and gave each band 2 pages. I insert the text using the 'type tool', rearranged and placed the text box using the 'selection tool' and I then used the 'fill' and stroke' tools to include the colours. The colours used are still in my colour scheme, just used differently for different parts. I did each title in a white font, with a magenta outline (and made sure they were also in a bigger font than the page numbers and the rest of the text so that they are recognisable as titles) whereas the bullet points and bands a white font with a red outline, and the page numbers were all in white, they were also a slightly bigger size to the rest of the text. I still continued to use 'Stone Sans ITC TT' bold font for this section.

Now my last job was to include a regulars sections, like the majority of magazines also do too. I thought long and hard what was best to include in it so that it would still attract my target audience and they wouldn't get bored. I decided to include the best options that my young target audience would love to know most about; gigs, merchandise, (stereotypically speaking, gigs/concerts and shopping are two of the main activities my target audience favour and it is something for both sexes and all sexualities) writing to my magazine, horoscopes and wordsearches for their entertainment at the end. 'Sing to Lyric' has a catchy edge to it and I know that several young people really enjoy writing, texting and e-mailing their favourite magazines to share their thoughts, experiences, memories, etc, so I thought this was something nice for young people to get involved in and enjoy the magazine a bit more knowing this. Also, several young people of today follow up on their horoscopes so I thought, why not? Reading a horoscope each week is fun, even if it's not for everybody or not even true it's still there to have a laugh with - I assume this will target females more than males though, judging my young people of today and my survey. Wordsearches are always fun to do, of all ages, and can keep a person occupied now and again. There will be about a page of wordsearches that contain bands, genres and music in general. This could also encourage my audience to listen to new bands or new genres if they haven't heard of them before. It is fun as well as educational, in a way.
Like my features, I used the same font and colours for each text as that. I did all of this using the 'type tool' to insert my text, the 'selection tool' to rearrange and place each text box as well as the 'fill' and 'stroke' tools to include my colour scheme.