Magazine Contents Page - Final

After making the final corrections I came to my final copy. I had to change some spelling mistakes and made the pictures overlap better by changing the size of the 'outer glow'. I feel that this contents page would appeal to my target audience as it has a DJ theme to it, it's simple and uncluttered and the 'index' allows easy browsing of the magazine. It contains images of DJ's (corresponds to the theme) and a picture of a well known artist which would attract his fans in too. It is also coherent to the front cover and keeps in with the 'house style'.

Magazine Contents Page - Step 4

After speaking to a member of my target audience, I realised that he thought the images didn't look like they really belonged on the page. He thought they didn't blend in, instead they did the opposite and looked like they didn't belong; this was changed by making the images having an 'outer glow' similar to the title of the magazine, which made it blend in. It also makes the images stand out more concentrating on the things that the target audience want to read about, and drawing them in to buy the magazine. I also decided to use the 'outer glow' tool on the headings of my categories to make them stand out too.
In the previous step I thought there was far too much empty space in the middle of the page; therefore I moved the 'features' to the top of the page and moved the pictures down making them overlap, making them feel more connected to the page. By doing this has made the space less empty and made the page relay as the writing is not just in one area of the page, it makes your eyes go all around it. This makes it look more clean and by not overlapping the pictures too much makes it less cluttered. It's simple yet stylish. The readers know they are getting their money's worth.

Magazine Contents Page - Step 3

After step 2 was complete I thought about making the page more eye-catching, I added another picture, this time of a well known singer 'Kid Cudi' which would also attract his fans to read my magazine, as his fan base are also my target audience. Through researching through other music magazines I realised that the page numbers which were paired with images simply had the number written and not the word 'page' which makes the page less cluttered and giving it a simpler look; therefore I did this and increased the size of the page numbers to make them stand out more.
I added the 'features', 'reviews' and 'exclusive in this issue' headings so that the magazine is assessable and easy to follow, I put the correct articles under each category and made the writing green (like the green used on the sell lines of the front cover) to follow through with the colour scheme on the cover, making it coherent. Using the beige from the cover I wrote the headings of each category, these words are surrounded by a green box, once again linking to the sell lines on the cover.

Magazine Contents Page - Step 2

After thinking about the price and other aspects of my magazine I decided that I wanted it to be a monthly magazine rather than a weekly one. From looking at weekly magazines I noticed that they are quickly put together and cluttered, on the other hand monthly magazines are clearer to understand and look cleanly presented. I thought that my front cover looked clean rather than cluttered and wanted to give the impression that my magazine would be easy to follow and obtain information. I also asked a few of my friends if they'd rather buy magazines weekly or monthly and came up with the conclusion that monthly was the clear favourite. I changed the wording beside the title to 'this month' rather than 'this week'. I kept the images in the same place and added page numbers in a white font, standing out on the dark backgrounds, these page numbers will allow readers to quickly flick to the pages that interest them and appealing more to the target audience. I then added three more pictures to the bottom of the page, these pictures are from the recent '02 wireless festival' which a lot of the target audience attend, so they have something to relate to and make the magazine more inclusive. Furthermore, I added a few of the features and their page numbers.

Magazine Contents Page - Step 1

The next step in making my music magazine was to create a contents page, by looking at other music magazine contents pages i realised that the recurring theme was to have the logo (title of magazine) clearly presented somewhere on the top of the page, preferably the left hand corner; therefore I did the same. I copied over the same title design and added a black strip along the top of the page to make it look similar to the cover. The 'outer glow' of the title also looks better on a black background compared to white, the pink looks like neon lights which is usually associated with DJing, which is what my magazine is mainly about. Alongside the title I have included 'this week' (at this stage it was going to be a weekly magazine, but then I changed my mind) which is in white and stands out from the black background, but doesn't stand out as much as the title, showing the title's dominance. To show that this is the contents page I wrote the word 'contents' but this time in black to stand out on the white background and of the box above. I then added to pictures that I knew I wanted to include in my contents page. From my survey I found out that my target audience are interested in new and upcoming DJ's so I made my contents page have a DJ theme, therefore targeting my audience.

Magazine contents page - Planning

This is the planning for my contents page, I made two different plans as I wasn't yet sure on what my target audience would prefer, cluttered or uncluttered. The first one is uncluttered and simple and has a clear 'index' to allow easy browsing of the magazine, unlike the second one which is cluttered and has things going on all over the page. I thought that boys would like the more messy and cluttered approach but after asking a few males of the target audience I found that they would actually prefer something simpler; therefore aiming more at the first attempt of planning. Whilst creating it I ended up constructing something that looked nothing like my plan but it was simple and uncluttered which is appealing to the audience. I kept with the same idea of having the main pictures in one place but I completely changed everything else and constructed something I feel would appeal more to the target audience.

Magazine front cover - Final

After altering a few things I came to my final copy. I added a price of £2.90 which I think is a good price for a monthly magazine, I also asked my target audience of 16-19 year old males and they agreed with this. As this age group doesn't have a lot of money it seems a fair price, compared to MOJO magazine which is £4.50 per issue, my target audience wouldn't want to spend that much money.
I feel that my magazine would appeal to the target population as it has a new upcoming drummer who people are interested in, sell lines that my survey found out that they really wanted to find out about and a coherent colour scheme that looks good and effective. There are things in this magazine that are screaming out to the target audience to buy it, it enables the reader to get 'exclusive' access to the biggest gigs, shows the 'restricted' photos from the NME awards and an 'exclusive' interview with a well known DJ.

Music Magazine front cover - Step 4

The next step in constructing my music magazine front cover was adding a few sell lines and thinking more clearly about the layout and presentation. I made sure they were kept to the sides so they don't get in the way of the main image. I then had to decide on the colour scheme, in the end I chose to continue on using beige as it goes nicely with the drums and title. After a while I thought about the coherency of the product and realised that the beige was slightly too over powering as all the sell lines were in one colour so I changed a few of the sell lines and made them green to go with the artists t-shirt. I decided to make the artist's name green to to make it stand out clearly on the pink drums. Each sell line has the special effect of 'stroke' used on them so they stand out and are more eye catching. For the sell lines I thought about what males really want to read about in music magazines, my survey also came in handy here. From the feedback I found out that they are interested in who the top bands are, how has this newish genre know as 'dub step' come around and what happens at gigs that the public aren't allowed to attend. This helped me generate my sell lines. As the survey revealed that the audience are particularly interested in the exclusive gigs I made sure that they had a chance of attending them, I chose to make the '100' stand out to show that they can attend loads of them, this was done using the 'outer glow' tool in Photoshop for it really to stand out. I have also used this effect on 'DJ Woody' so people are attracted to these areas and notice them more, they have a chance to have an exclusive interview with a talented DJ on the dub step scene which would appeal to the target audience as I had researched this in my survey. For the mode of address I have chosen words like 'exclusive' to show that my readers are lucky to find out about this information as it is restricted and selective so they must buy this magazine as they won't find this information anywhere else. I have chosen the word 'hard' to describe 'Lucas Greenwood' and 'DJ Woody' as it is a word that my target audience commonly use to describe good/talented artists therefore they can relate to this word, the magazine and feel they are inclusive. The size of the sell lines font is 18 this is small compared to the other writing on the page, it is important but not as important as the title and name of the artist on the front.

Music Magazine front cover - Step 3

After not working on my front cover of my magazine for a few days, I realised that my title did not stand out enough, it was too small and didn't look very interesting so things had to be changed. Firstly I made the font size the biggest it could go (72) and I made all the letters capitals so they are sharp and eye catching. The layout then looked better as the title ran over most of the top of the page which is similar to other magazines. I then decided that the letters should not be pink, they should be black and have an 'outer glow' of pink to really stand out against the black background. I also changed the positioning of the artists name to the bottom left hand corner, this was caused by reviewing other magazines to find out where the bar code usually goes as I was sure I hadn't seen one in the bottom left hand corner before. The artists name was then moved so the bar code could be included, the bar code was generated on the Internet using http://www.barcodesinc.com/ which gives the magazine more realism.

Music Magazine front cover - Step 2

The next stage was the designing process which involved uploading my image into Photoshop and starting to alter the title and the font to get it to a stage which will stand out and appeal to the target audience. I started with my title and decided to make it pink to match the drums, this may be a risk as it may turn some boys off but NME used the colour pink on one of their issues and it was a great success, it is a faint pink so its not to bright and feminine. I choose the title of my magazine to be called 'NOISE' as music is noise, therefore you can straight away tell that this is going to be a music magazine. Noise also can be considered as information which my magazine is trying to give out about new drummers and music. I choose a font that would stand out against the rest of the magazine so it is eye catching and making people want to read it. Considering layout was also important, I stuck with the normal forms and conventions of magazines as I placed the title at the top of the page above the artists head. I then considered where i should place the name of the artist, I first of all choose the bottom right so that there was a relay on the page, first of all looking at the title then at the image then to the artists name. I chose a lighter pink colour, beige for this as it goes well with the pink from the drums which it is laying on top of and it shows its not as important as the title of the magazine. With the special effects of Photoshop I managed to use 'stroke' which is an effect which makes the writing stand out, which is clearly presented in the image.

Music Magazine front cover - Step 1

I have decided to put Lucas Greenwood on the cover of my music magazine as he is a new upcoming drummer and is very talented. I went along to one of his rehearsals to take a few pictures of him for my cover, out of all the pictures I chose I have decided that this picture is the best as it shows contrast in colour and in light and dark making him stand out in the image. It also shows his skill as he has all the professional equipment around him, even a microphone as he sometimes sings. The image shows that he is serious about his drumming as he is not looking at the camera. This image appeals to the target audience as most boys between 16 and 19 are interested in drumming and would love to learn how to play them. It looks as if the reader is witnessing the drummer playing live as it is a mid-shot photo and we feel that we are there with him, drawing us in.

Magazine front cover - Planning

This is the planning for the front cover of my music magazine, this has to be the most eye catching and appealing to my target audience as it is the first thing they see. I wanted the masthead to be at the top (like other magazines) above the artists head to make it stand out and the artist to be positioned directly underneath taking the central focus. The sell lines and straplines positioned around the primary image keeping the artist in central focus. This was a general template for the construction part as I kept all of the ideas I used on the plan as I thought this was an effective way of targeting my target audience. I added a few more sell lines than in the plan to make it look like it contained more information and used special effects to made the words stand out more.

Planning my music magazine

• Audience: my target audience are males between the ages of 16-19 who are interested in rock music and also the new craze 'Dub-step' which is different sounds mixed together usually by DJ's to create an unusual rhythm of different sounds and it is heavy on the baseline.
• Genre: Rock, dub step
• Colour scheme: Pink, green and beige pink
• Image: a new upcoming drummer
• Feature: new DJ's who also are into the new craze of dub step, will target target audience as they can find out where to hear all this new music.
• Font: bold and eye catching, standing out from all the other magazines
• Sell lines: stuff that will interest target audience - exclusive gigs, restricted photos, top bands.
• Title: NOISE, music is noise therefore audience straight away know its going to be about music. As the primary image is a drummer, drums make a lot of noise - relating back to the title of the magazine.
  

Music Magazine Readership survey

I created a survey for my magazine to find out what my target audience are interested in, what type of music they like and why they would read a music magazine. The questions were generated by hearing some of the boys talking about new music and music magazines, I built the questions on what I'd like to find out from them. I gave it to a large proportion of my male friends between the ages of 16 and 19 which is my target audience (to the left is one of the completed ones i got back). This helped me in deciding how to target my audience and also what my feature should be on. I found out that 92% of them read a magazine monthly and NME magazine was the most popular. The genre which stood out most was defiantly 'rock' therefore this was vital in my magazine. I realised that music is really important to them and they have lots of ways of finding out about new music i.e. YouTube, Friends and magazines. As magazines was key to finding out about new music I had to make sure that there was stuff in my magazine about new and upcoming bands and music. From finding out why males between the ages of 16 and 19 read music magazines it helped me generate my sell lines for the front cover, e.g. Newest music, upcoming bands, top bands, what happens at the gigs your not allowed/too young to go to and funny photos. These are the things that are going to sell the magazine; therefore had to be present on the front cover. The last thing that had to be decided was the feature, this was relied on by the last question of my survey. If I got a positive outcome (a tick in the yes box) I would definitely have my feature if not I would have to completely rethink it, luckily people were interested in upcoming bands and DJ's; therefore I had my feature decided. This survey was a great and useful idea in helping to target and appeal to my audience as they can find out/ read things they actually want to, making it popular and sell well. If I were to redo this survey I would include more questions like 'Why do DJ's interest you?', 'What other genre's apart from rock do you enjoy listening to?' and some more open questions for more in depth responses, this would help me target the audience more specifically.