Flat Plan: Double Page Spread

Colour Usage: I am going to use a black and white (monochrome) colour scheme for my double page spread, because it will match the costume of the model. The monochrome theme is classic and glamorous whilst also having contrasting colours. The background of the image will be white, because I am going to shoot it in a studio, therefore the page which contains the text will also be white to match. I would have the text in a black Times New Roman font because it's easy to read. 

Image Usage: The main image will be very strongly shot considering it takes up a full page. It will be a mid shot again like the front cover, this is because the reader will be able to see the make-up and style more closely which reflects the genre of my magazine. The camera angle will be direct for effect, I have not yet decided on the pose, but the cover star will be holding a record as a prop because it goes with the sixties/mod theme. The three images at the top of the second page will be a montage of shots, carefree of the cover star laughing and looking like she's having fun. 

Text Usage: Narrative voice will be quite informal, the use of swearing will be included but it will be quite conversation based, as if the person being interviewed is having a conversation. It is also appropriate for my chosen target audience to have a more conversational tone. For picture captions and my title and enigma code, I will include puns and alliterations. 

Layout and Font: The layout of the double page spread is balanced in the amount of images and text. I will use a simple for the small text, but for the title and enigma codes and also pull quotes I will use a different font which stands out. I have gone with the ideas of font that are stated on my design, although I will probably change the title font because they both look quite similar. I may put the title text on a slight diagonal so it stands out more, it also gives a quirky connotation. I will use drop caps at the start of the article to emphasise where the text begins. I could also use a watermark just like this example of Q below to give a different effect.

Flat Plan: Contents page

This is a flat plan for my contents page, again like the front cover it is very simple but will stand out a lot more when I add images and colours.

Colour Usage: The use of colour in my contents page would be the same as the colour scheme of my front cover. I will go with the red, white and blue theme, which will match and make the magazine look well presented and in uniform. I may change the colour scheme to black and white which is more clear and classic, it was also a popular choice in the questionnaire I created for a 'monochrome' colour scheme. In a number of ways it could also be more effective but personally I thought the red, white and blue would be more eye-catching. I will decide on colour finally when I come to create my magazine and see which type of colour scheme would be more effective. It might also be good if the contents page was a little bit different in terms of colour to differentiate it from the front cover.

Image Usage: The large image that I have indicated down the right hand side will refer back to the image on the front cover. It will be the largest image on the page because it is the main article. This large image will be a close up of the cover star, maybe a profile of one side of the face which will stand out and show off the make-up and facial expression. I also thought it would be a good idea to use the idea of placing the page number on the image that matches it. The two other images at the bottom of the page will be one image referring to each navigation bar. For example; an image of a live band or an image of an album cover for gig and album reviews, and an image of the person who will be getting interviewed to relate with the interviews navigation bar. The image of the person who is getting interviewed would be a mid shot to give a clear profile of them. Their body language will be relaxed, maybe with their arms folded and a straight look into the camera to make the image look personal to the reader. They will be holding a copy of their album as a prop. The texture of the images will be quite sharp and high quality.

Text Usage: The narrative voice will be the same as used on the front cover. Of course the contents page is there to advertise the articles of the magazine, so I will use alliteration, imagery and enigma codes to make the sell-lines sound more interesting so people will want to read them. I would like to come across as quite informal but still professional on the contents page, so it sounds more personal and as if I am having a conversation with the reader. The masthead will be featured again on the header (title) of the page, next to the text 'contents.' The two images would have captions which will be amusing (puns) referring to what is happening in the image, the name of the person will also be included for identication.

Layout and font: The layout of the contents page is easy to understand, with navigation bars which will have the relevant articles underneath so the reader can find them easily. The page title addresses what the page is, and will also include the masthead to match the contents page with the name of the magazine. The main image will be down the right hand side of the page, and will be of the cover star. I have not noted this on the plan, but instead of the image being so long, I would cut it halfway and have an editors note at the top of the right hand side for the reader, which will explain certain parts of the magazine and be a nice, personal touch. The fonts of the articles will be the same as the front cover, and will be in white with the enigma codes underneath them in red. I would have a blue background which the writing would stand out against. Again going with the red, white and blue colour scheme. The font of the navigation bars will be in bold so they stand out and come across as headers.

Flat Plan: Front Cover

This is a flat plan of my front cover, it's very basic but just an idea of how my magazine will be laid out. 

Colour Usage: When I asked people about colours in my questionnaire, the most popular colours were red, blue, black and white. I'm going to use these colours because my target audience would like to see them in the magazine. It also refers to the theme. I would like to have a colour scheme of red, white and blue, this is because I was focusing on the British rock and roll scene for my genre and thought it would look good as they are the colours of the Union Jack. They are also unisex colours which would attract both genders. Red connotes passion and power and is also used by magazines such as Q and NME in their magazines because it is eye-catching. I think the colour red stands out because it is bright and eye-catching. The colours will contrast by applying for different things, for example; red for the masthead and white for the sell-lines.

Image Usage: I will be using a female model as my cover star, because I am going with the 'mod/60's' theme, she will either be dressed in a Fred Perry polo/shirt and pencil skirt or a vintage sixties dress. As a prop, I will buy a vinyl record which will be featured in the shot as it goes with the genre and theme of my magazine. The hair of my model will be back-combed into a beehive or sixties-esque style. Make-up will be quite natural, with a pale base, black cat eye eye-liner and red lipstick. The camera angle will be a mid-shot, not too close-up and also the look of the model will be visible. The image will connote the genre of the magazine as being quite classic, it will reflect the Mod/Northern Soul/ Rock & Roll genre through the clothing, props, hair and make-up. 

Text Usage: The narrative voice of the text on the front cover will be friendly and have a nice tone to welcome the reader. Quotes from the cover model will be colloquial depending on what they say and what will stand out. The enigma codes will be underneath the main sell lines as a teaser to make people want to buy the magazine. I will use puns, alliteration and metaphors to make my sell lines more interesting rather than just plain and straight to the point. 

Layout and Font: For the masthead and sell lines, the font will be quite basic and easy to understand. The masthead will stand out because it will be in a bold font and will be in larger writing at the top of the page. It will be at the top of the page to inform the reader of the magazine name. The sell lines will be placed at the sides of the main image so they don't overlap and make the lay-out too confusing or difficult to understand. I have chosen this layout because it is quite understandable and looks organised. The main sell line and enigma code which will match the main image, will be in a different font to make it individual and to stand out from the other sell lines which will also make it's importance shine through. 

It's Just Rock & Roll...

The genre have chosen to represent in my own project is Rock & Roll, from the 60's to present day. I'm a huge fan of bands/artists such as; The Who, The Small Faces, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Oasis, The Stone Roses, Jake Bugg and Arctic Monkeys. I thought it would be an idea to base my magazines around this genre because its personal to me and I have a lot of knowledge about it.

Here are some various images and music videos from the bands and artists which will be mentioned in my magazine..

The Who

The Who- My Generation

Posted on YouTube by polydorclassics

This song is one of the most famous and mainstream by sixties rock and roll band, The Who. It was originally released in December 1965 by Brunswick Records.

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones- Jumpin Jack Flash

Posted on YouTube by TheRollingStonesHQ

Originally released in 1968. 

The video below is another by The Rolling Stones. 'Doom and Gloom' is more recent, it was released in 2012. Even though the Stones were a sixties band, they are still popular. They headlined Glastonbury festival this year (2013) and have also brought out a CD. I would feature them in my magazine for this reason, personally I love this band and would buy a magazine to read about them.

 Album artwork for GRRR! The greatest hits album released in 2012

The Rolling Stones- Doom and Gloom

Released November 2012

The Small Faces

The Small Faces- Tin Soldier

Posted on YouTube by WizardODoom

Released in December 1967



The Small Faces- Sha La La La Lee

Uploaded on YouTube by detour066

Released in January 1966.

The Beatles

The Beatles- She Loves You (yeah yeah yeah)

Posted on Youtube by Racheldr

Released in August 1963

Oasis

Oasis- The Hindu Times

Released on April 15th 2002

Jake Bugg

Jake Bugg- What Doesn't Kill You

Posted by JakeBuggVEVO

Released 23rd September

The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses- Mersey Paradise

Uploaded by MarkTurver1990

Front cover, contents and double page spread practise

Another task to help me in my research and planning was the practise designs of a front cover, contents page and double page spread. The images in this post are my work which I created on Microsoft word. I openly admit that it is not my strongest work, and from my feedback and knowledge I know what I'd do to make it better. The masthead of my magazine was R&R (referring to my chosen genre, rock and roll,) I decided to have to masthead in white to match the sell line and strap line. I could have added more sell-lines, but my main purpose for just having one was to exaggerate the main article in the magazine. The image I used was also stretched which lowered the quality, but I now know what to do in order to prevent this when create my own product. The strap-line was 'your weekly fix to your music addiction.' I thought this was a good line to inform that it is a weekly magazine for music lovers who love to know the recent news in music. If I was to create this front cover again, I would certainly add more sell-lines to give the reader a sneak peak as to what else would be in the magazine. The front cover doesn't stand out as much as it could, so I would certainly add effects such as 'outer glow' to the title to make it more visable and eye catching. Another feature I would change would be the size of the barcode, I would make it smaller and maybe change the position.

                                                                                                                                                                                

My contents page design - My contents page was quite plain in terms of text, which I would definitely change. I liked the way it was laid out and thought it was quit sophisticated and an easy navigation for people reading it. However, I didn't caption my images. From looking at other contents pages I like the way some of them add in the page number of the article in the images, so us as readers know that it is going to be about that certain band/artist. I used Q magazines idea of putting the 'contents' text in a different font to differenciate the magazine name and that title. It also hints that the magazine is different and individual. The lines were also quite plain and simple, I would add puns and quirky language to make the articles sound more appetising to the eyes of the person picking up the magazine and reading it. Personally I think that language on the contents page is key, because it gives the whole magazine an expectation.

 

 

Double Page Spread- There are two seperate parts of my DPS because I could not print them in a booklet. I set the article out in columns just like it would look in a proper magazine. I could have written more so that my text didn't look too spaced out and also looked as though it was balanced with my images. The text size is also quite large which does not look very professional. The reason the images are in black and white is to reflect the era I am writing about, I like the way the red title stands out against the introducing image. I could have added a drop cap for guidance, and also should have added captions to my images to make the article more informative.
If I was to do all of this again, I would improve lots of different things. First of all I would write a lot more so the article didnt look spaced out or empty in some places. Secondly, I would add drop caps and captions to all of my images, as well as making sure the image quality was up to standards and the text size, colour and font looked interesting but still readable.

Pull quotes are essential in double page spreads and you very rarely come across an article that doesn't include them. Therefore I would make sure that I would pull out important and interesting quotes from the writing and emphasise them by making them noticable within the text.

 

Simpsons practise task and feedback

As part of my practise work I put together an advert for The Simpsons Movie, from this I got feedback from both my lecturer and someone out of my class. I got improvements which I could make in order to get better marks.

Quantative Research

As part of my research and planning, I created a questionnaire including a varied amount of open and closed questions. I printed out 16 copies of the questionnaire and handed them out to my class so they could fill them in and I could get feedback from them.

These are the questions I asked:

1. What colours would you like to see featured on a magazine? (open)

The main colours which were mentioned in the questionnaire were red, blue, black and white. Mentions of a monochrome theme were included as well as block colours and eyecatching bright shades. Considering these were the preffered colours for my target audience, I will make sure that I have a colour palette which would include all of the popular colours. I was originally planning to do a British rock n roll magazine which would be all red, white and blue to coincide with the Union Jack. Now I have this information, I could carry on my original idea because all of these colours are favourites of my target audience.

2. How much would you be willing to pay for a magazine? (closed) -50p-1.50/£2.50-£3.50/£3.50+

The most popular price that people were willing to pay was £2.50-£3.50, which is reasonable and lies between prices of successful music magazines such as NME & Q Magazine. I will probably price the magazine at £3, because it is the between preference of my target audience. Obviously the magazine is aimed at 16-19 year olds who don't always have lots of money, so over £3.50 would be too much to spend in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, people do spend around £3.99 a month for Q Magazine, but to suit my younger target audience I think it would be a lot better suited to their income if the magazine was priced at £3.


3. What genre of music would you be interested in reading about? (open)

The reason I left this question open was because there are so many different people with different taste in music, everyone prefers different genres. Although I did find when looking back through the answered questionnaires that rock and indie/alternative was a favourite amongst people I asked. This information is useful because I now know what sort of genre to base my magazine on.


4. Which gender of model would you prefer to see on the the front of the cover? (closed) -Men/Women
I asked which gender my target audience would prefer to see on the magazine, this was so I could decide which model to use and how to present them on the front cover. From my results, I know that most people would prefer a man to be the main image. Obviously the image I take will have to be my own and not from the internet, so I will make sure that I find a male who I can use as the cover model for my front cover. The way I would present my cover star would be smart but casual. When I asked one of my friends how they would like a cover model on a magazine to be presented, they said casual and dressing how they would to make it more personal and relatable to them. Now I know which gender and also how to present them, I can now start to put together an outfit for the model and also the pose they will do on the photograph.


5. Would you read a magazine weekly, fortnightly or monthly? (closed) -weekly/fortnightly/monthly (closed)

A key part was finding out how often the magazine would be released, every month, fortnight or week. When I asked different people most of them suggested a fortnightly magazine. Personally I think this is a good idea because it could include more information and will be more informative. A lot of things happen in the music industry, so in two weeks a huge amount could be recorded in a magazine!

6. What type of articles would you like to see? (open)

Reviews, interviews and photoshoots were the most popular answers on this question, with it being a music magazine, most people will be interested on seeing images of the most recent artists in the music industry, along with opinions on new albums. This has given me an idea for my double page spread, to suit this, I could to an interview with a number of photos. This would be more informative rather than a review. By asking this, it has helped me to decide what sort of things to feature in my magazine which would attract 16-19 year olds to read it.

7. What type of features would you like to see in the magazine? (closed) -Quizzes/Puzzles/Competitions

I did expect competitions to be the most popular in this question, mostly because people like being given the oppertunity to win things and most music magazines such as NME and Q always include big competitions and give-aways, which is escapism for the reader. It makes them feel as though they have a huge chance of winning something special. Of course I have considered the sort of competitions to grace the pages of my project, with it being a music magazine I would mostly be competitions with prizes such as; free gig/festival tickets, band merchandise, signed merchandise, meet and greet sessions with different bands and finally the chance to win the most recent CDs/Vinyl.

 

8. What do you specifically look for in a magazine? (open) Eg. Free Merchandise, posters, articles

I found that the preference in this question was posters, from my own experience reading magazines, I do like putting the posters of my favourite bands up on my bedroom walls. Sometimes I find that more interesting than reading articles! The posters are almost like a gift for the reader, something to take from the magazine and use in whichever way they please. Now I know to include a mention of free posters on my contents page which will suit my target audience.

9. What is your hobby/interest? (open)

I collected a various amount of different hobbies and interests from football, socialising, gigging and gaming. From these different hobbies and interests, I could tie them in with the competitions, eg; win the new FIFA game! I would guess that mostly boys would play FIFA, girls too, but just to be on the safe side, I would also have a competition that applied to females. By finding out the hobbies and interests of my chosen target audience, I will now be able to have an idea of the sorts of things to include in the magazine that will apply to all of my target audience.

10. Have you ever been to a music festival? If so which one? (open)

I found that a lot of people who answered this question attended Leeds Festival this year, it was greatly popular. If I was to do a competition to win tickets for a music festival it would be Leeds, as it seems as though most people in my target audience attend it and would be interested in going. Festivals such as Isle of Wight and Bestival would also be fun to mention, because they are popular festivals which sell out within minutes.

11. Would you be interested in going to a music festival in the future? -yes/no

Naturally the most popular answer was yes, as I think the thing stopping 16-19 year olds from going to music festivals is their income. Therefore again I think it would be a perfect idea to have a competition to give readers the oppertunity to win free tickets.

12. Do you attend gigs? If so which ones? (open)

Various different bands were mentioned in answer to this question, inluding:

• Arctic Monkeys
• Jake Bugg
• The Vaccines
• Miles Kane
• Two Door Cinema Club

The bands listed above all fit into the indie genre which was popular when I asked which genre was best suited to the target audience. This has helped me to decide which bands to feature in my magazine contents and front cover.

13. Would you be interested in going to gigs in the future? -yes/no

Exactly the same as the question about music festivals, most people would be interested in going to gigs in the future. Its quite obvious from the responses I've had which bands that my target audience would like to see, I will certainly consider this in case I decide to do a review for my double page spread. I already have photography from gigs that I could use to do this, and it is all of my original work.

Overall, doing this questionnaire has really helped me to understand the preferences of my target audience and the sort of things that they would like to see in a magazine. I know the colour schemes, features, price, frequence and artists that would best suit the people who would be reading the magazine. This will really come in handy when creating my product to make it ideal for 16-19 year old music lovers!