Read's Daily Media: Music Magazine

I feel I have kept to the basic layout as that was good to begin with. I have put a main image in the middle of the page which is my cover story as this is very important.

I used white as it is a plain and simple colour and I wanted to see the difference with the light cream colour that I used on my other version.

The fonts I used I think work well for a contents page. The title is with the font Old Newspaper Types which is bolder than other fonts so you know it's the heading on the page. The other 2 fonts I have used all seem to work well. I used tom's handwritten new, for quotes so you can disinguish between the fonts and as it seems like it's handwritting font which can connote the artists' own words as it is a quote from them. Lastly, Arial Rounded MT Bold is used for the text body in the small bits under the artist pictures, this is a simplistic font as it is own a bit of background information and isn't too important.

In the bottom corner I have an advert, in NME magazine they have an advert to promote subscriptions to their magazines but I chose to have an advert for a University open day as for the age range this magazine is aimed at it is more suited than a subscription.

The images I used are the same size except for the one in the middle. The middle image is my cover story so I want that to have more exposure than the other images as I want more people to read this. The images in contrast to the text are colourful as they need to be more eyecatching because they relate to the more important stories in the magazine. The page numbers they are on are written in Premier League as these are bold numbers and eye catching. In a white box they stand out well so you only really see the image and page number, the 2 most important things.

With the main image I chose only to put a quote rather than any other information as it is a teaser like my front cover so if you want to find out more about the mysterious man you have to turn to page 19 to reda the article.

I chose not to put an actual page number on my contents as in my research I discovered that magazines differ from whether they use one or not and I felt mine would suit not having one.

Music Magazine, Double Page Spread Attempt 2 (Left Handside)

This is my second attempt at the left hand side of my double page spread. On this side of the page I have the article which is only half of a complete article as with the title there is not space for a complete article. The article would be completed on another double page spread as this is modelled on a conventional 4 page cover story from many music magazines. Between the story of my article I split it up on the other page with a large image. Having the imageadjacent to the article splits up the heavy reading of the article so then people don't get bored reading, if they find the text too strenuous.

To keep both pages consistent I have decided to use the same font, Underground Between, for the title and the first letter of the article. The stroke behind it is hte same colour, though twice as large for the title as it is bigger. The background colour is too the same with at least one of my right hand side page attempts. This helps show that the pages relate and it also keeps them consistent to one and other.

The title, "Norfolk's Saviour Returns" is important. It tells people that the artist is from Norfolk, but he is special to them as he is labelled as saviour. This also relates to the glowing around the pictures on the magazine of the artist. The position on the front cover is also religious so saviour is a key word to use there in relation to this. The returning factor shows that he has been away.

There is a small bit of information underneath the titlte giving the reader a bit of information about the article as so far through the magazine there is nothing but teasers for them to see about this main article.

The main article tries to remain quirky, with information and quotes about the artist and past details. It is written in size 11 font of Myriad Pro as it is nice, plain and simple to read. There is a clear gap in the middle which seperates the two parts of the article.

With this attempt there is a plain white background, I wanted to see the difference compared to the light cream and see which combination worked better with the other page.

Music Magazine, Double Page Spread Attempt 1 (Left Handside)

This is my first attempt at the left hand side of my double page spread. On this side of the page I have the article which is only half of a complete article as with the title there is not space for a complete article. The article would be completed on another double page spread as this is modelled on a conventional 4 page cover story from many music magazines. Between the story of my article I split it up on the other page with a large image. Having the image adjacent to the article splits up the heavy reading of the article so then people don't get bored reading, if they find the text too strenuous.

With this attempt there is a ligth cream colour for the background as it helps give character and make everything stand out well.

Sunday, 21 November 2010

Music Magazine, Double Page Spread Attempt 4 (Right Handside)

I have now edited my right hand side of my double page spread a lot compared to how it used to look.

Compared to my other attempt this one has a white background rather than a light cream colour. I wanted to again see what the difference was with having plain white rather than a subtle colour.

I started off by resizing the image and making it a lot smaller, leaving in room to add a small border and page number. I took this decison so that it could relate to my other double page spread and it was also important to make sure that I had a page number in there so the reader knew what page they are on. Also adding the border with a background colour makes the 2 double pages consistent, so you know that they do go together.

I put a glow around the artist in the image because I want people to know he is special and he has been classed as "Norfolk's Saviour" so the glow adds to the aspect of him being important.

I levelled the whole image as I realised that I had a red filter over the image because of the original camera settings and this image is as natural as it would be to the human eye.

I used the font Underground Between for the quote as it is very easy to make

out and gets the audience's attention. I made the piece of text at the bottom a lot smaller due to the fact that it is less signifcant information.

I chose to put the page number on the inside of the page because it is unconventional, this way people know that my magazine is slightly different to others and trying to get noticed, even if it is with small details. Another reason is that page numbers are what people often look for and if they don't want to read an article they won't by simply skipping the page number. Having the page number near the spine means that people have to look in on the article to see what page it is meaning there is a higher chance the article will be read.

Music Magazine, Double Page Spread Attempt 3 (Right Hand side)

I have now edited my right hand side of my double page spread a lot compared to how it used to look.

Compared to my other attempt this one has a cream coloured background to help make the image stand out to the audience. The background colour is a near shade to the artist's skin tone which links the background colour and the image effectively.

I put a glow around the artist in the image because I want people to know he is special and he has been classed as "Norfolk's Saviour" so the glow adds to the aspect of him being important.

I levelled the whole image as I realised that I had a red filter over the image because of the original camera settings and this image is as natural as it would be to the human eye.

I used the font Underground Between for the quote as it is very easy to make out and gets the audience's attention. I made the piece of text at the bottom a lot smaller due to the fact that it is less signifcant information.

Music Magazine, Contents Page Attempt 1

This is one of the 2 versions of my contents. I have a light cream colour. I don't personally know if this will work, my feedback will be a help about whether to use this or a white background.

I feel I have kept to the basic layout as that was good to begin with. I have put a main image in the middle of the page which is my cover story as this is very important.

I used this background colour to help enhance the text on the page and it matches one of my options for a double page spread. The colour is different to any colour on the text or images so this means that it is effective at making everything else stand out on the page.

The fonts I used I think work well for a contents page. The title is with the font Old Newspaper Types which is bolder than other fonts so you know it's the heading on the page. The other 2 fonts I have used all seem to work well. I used tom's handwritten new, for quotes so you can distinguish between the fonts and as it seems like it's handwriting font which can connote the artists' own words as it is a quote from them. Lastly, Arial Rounded MT Bold is used for the text body in the small bits under the artist pictures, this is a simplistic font as it is own a bit of background information and isn't too important.

In the bottom corner I have an advert, in NME magazine they have an advert to promote subscriptions to their magazines but I chose to have an advert for a University open day as for the age range this magazine is aimed at it is more suited than a subscription.

The images I used are the same size except for the one in the middle. The middle image is my cover story so I want that to have more exposure than the other images as I want more people to read this. The images in contrast to the text are colourful as they need to be more eye catching because they relate to the more important stories in the magazine. The page numbers they are on are written in Premier League as these are bold numbers and eye catching. In a white box they stand out well so you only really see the image and page number, the 2 most important things.

I chose not to put an actual page number on my contents as in my research I discovered that magazines differ from whether they use one or not and I felt mine would suit not having one.

Music Magazine, Front Cover 3rd Attempt

From my first attempt I have not changed the front cover too much. I have kept the image as it was though editing the colour slightly by levelling it as it had a red filt

er over it which came from the camera I had used.

I have mainly changed the stories on the front of my magazine cover and the positions of them to try to make things seem more set out. Stories on the right hand side are aligned to the right where the left hand side is aligned to the left. I removed one story on the cover about the artist in the picture and substituted it for a headline above the masthead. This is in the center of the magazine and is eye catching. It is like the iamge and is only a teaser as you don't know much about the artist in the picture from the front cover.

With the image I put a glow around the artist. This is because a glow is often associated with an angel and the artist has his arms out like a religious figure so adding the glow makes him seem like a 'saviour' and also makes the audience know he is important. I have also added a shadown to the bottom of the artist to make the image seem less photoshopped than it orignally appeared before. There is only a small amount of grass around the artist and it is hardly sprouting up, this simplises new life and a new beginning for the artist.

I have kept the masthead font as Hard Rock but have changed the font at the bottom to Fucked Plate. Both of these fonts are inkeeping with the cover and also the hard rock theme of the magazine. The stroke around the Fucked Plate font is blue and it is hard to make out in comparison to the other fonts. I wanted it to remain blue because the image is on a cliff near the sea so the blue defines the sea of Norfolk. It also means people spend longer looking at the font trying to work out what it says, meaning they take an interest in your magazine and there could be a higher chance of them buying it.

Compared to my other attempt the difference with this one is that the artist is more central on the cover. In comparison with the new headline he is pretty mcuh in alignment which means your eyes are drawn in to both the artist and the headline.

Music Magazine, Uprising Final Masterhead design

I chose to use Hard Ro

ck as the font for my Uprising Masthead. I chose this font because it keeps in tone with the magazine's type of music genre audience. The font itself is quite easy to make out when at a large size, which being one of the main features on my cover is definitely going to be large. Some parts of the letters are missing which works well because often in the rock world it is not all glitz and glamour, it is not always 100% which this title is not. This means that relates to the niche market of rock fans it is aimed at, it won't be appealing so much to a classical music fan.

The reason I chose a dark blue stroke behind the masthead is that the cover's main image is set on Old Hunstanton cliffs which are by the coast. With the main article being around a returning artist to the area I felt making it blue would symbolise the sea, because the image of the sea on the cover is in black and white.

I think this is effective and appealing.

Music Magazine, Front Cover 2nd Attempt

From my first attempt I have not changed the front cover too much. I

have kept the image as it was though editing the colour slightly by levelling it as it had a red filter over it which came from the camera I had used.

I have kept the masthead font as 'Hard Rock' but have changed the font at the bottom to 'Fucked Plate'. Both of these fonts are inkeeping with the cover and also the hard rock theme of the magazine. The stroke around the 'Fucked Plate' font is blue and it is hard to make out in comparison to the other fonts. I wanted it to remain blue because the image is on a cliff near the sea so the blue defines the sea of Norfolk. It also means people spend longer looking at the font trying to work out what it says, meaning they take an interest in your magazine and there could be a higher chance of them buying it.

Compared to my other attempt the difference with this one is that the artist is less centered. He is more to the left, how he was on the original cover.

Friday, 12 November 2010

Music Magazine, Double Page Spread Layout

This is the basic layout for both of my double spread page, pages.

The one on the left is the page which will contain my article. It has a conventional title and will then have a start of an article as I won't be able to fit an entire article onto my double page spread because on the other page I will be having an entire page devoted to the artist I write my article on.

On the other page I intended to have an image of the artist I will write my article on. There will also be a quote from the artist. These are both conventional themes in music magazines. When doing magazine research I discovered that NME sets out many of their double page spreads this way.

When I create both of these pages I will be making them as two seperate A4 pages because it is easier to see where the spine of the magazine would be and that way you don't have parts of the other page carrying over onto the other page.

Thursday, 11 November 2010

Music Magazine, Contents Basic Layout

This is the layout for my music magazine contents page. On it I have included all the usual things you expect to see on a contents page such as images

and details of articles but I have also taken ideas from other magazines such as NME.

In NME I noted that they had an advertising space for themselves, so in my contents page I have put a space for an advert, this advert will be in keeping of music.

The images and text are for the things that don't occur often in my magazien and I would want to publisise more as these as these are more important than other stories.

I have a list at the bottom of the page for the others articles that I would print, things that often occur in my magazine.

For my first contents page attempt I will expand on my layout.

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

Front Cover Images

I have now decided on the 2 images I wish to use for the front cover of my music magazine; Uprising. This includes the main image of a music artist and also the background image on the front cover.

The image of the artist I chose to use because it is mainly different. In the shops a lot of magazines have the same idea when it comes to the cover, an artist facing the front and taking up the entire page, but this image is more unconventional. The artist to start with isn't facing the camera so that means you don't know who it is, so it can make you want to read on and find out who it is. The way he is positioned, with his arm out in a cross ca

n denote a religious figure, which then putting him on the cliff top can make it seem like he has been sent by God. The clothes the artist is in are very normal because he's just a normal guy who made something for himself, this way it relates to the audience showing that anyone can make it in life.

The background image I chose to use is from Hunstanton Cliffs. I felt that the cliffs are good to use because of their positioning and what they can connote. The view from

the cliffs appears to be endless which could give someone the idea that the artist's music won't end. The cliffs are also up high and near the sea so positioning the artist on the edge of the cliffs, meaning the height adds a meaning of power and also with the sea makes it seem like he is coming out to the world about how good his music is.

I think combining these 2 images works well because the position helps compliment the cliff edge, together it makes it seem like he could possibly have been put there by God because of the cliffs and the sea seeming endless.

In later images used on my front cover the artist has been levelled out in Photoshop and the cliffs have been zoomed in on one specific area and turned to black and white.

Sunday, 26 September 2010

NME Review

NME stands for New Musical Express and is a weekly magazine which has been running since March 1952. The current magazine costs £2.30 to purchase and has 66 pages. I am specifically looking and reviewing September 25th 2010 issues, which has on the front Carl Barat.

Starting off by looking at the magazine in general and the front cover I notice that NME magazine is about 1cm wider than most magazines, and seems a lot thinner. This week's front cover has Carl Barat on it, I personally don't like this cover very much. The colours are used well, the main ones being Red, Blue, White and Black but I think the image in the background is not very well edited. I think that the contrast is a bit off, and makes everything look out of focus. I think that NME want everything to be out of focus so you focus on the face of Carl Barat but I personally don't like this approach. I think the white boarder around the magazine does work well. If I had to take a tip from this front cover on how to do mine it would be to have the words in bright colours, Red is very good to use.

The Contents page I think works really well. It isn't a long list which gets boring it has different images spread out across the page, with the pages not in order (having page 1

2 on the right and 36 before it in the middle). I think the contents works well because it has a white background so the images stand out well and then all catch your eye to the big stories that NME want you to see. With the pictures go some quotes from each article and a small insight into it, which doesn't give too much away but gives you a taster to go and read on. I also like the fact that the rest of what is in the magazine is in a very small column with just their headlines, these seem to be weekly things. For NME it's a good way to make sure the reader goes on to look at these as they don't know what they are so will be intrigued to look at them. NME is also very crafty, as the only time Red is used on the page is to attract the audience to a subscription to the magazine. I like this contents page, it's rather simplistic but at the same time eye catching.

Through the pages there are a lot of adverts to help bulk the magazine out, these adverts are for music and fashion based at the type of reader who likes NME, these tend to be very Indie adverts.

The main article on Carl Barat I found to be rather boring. It had a lot of q

uotes from Carl but at the start I found it to be dull, I'm not a fan of The Libertines so this isn't really my kind of article but the first few paragraphs seemed to be more of an autograph than an interview. I would have expected an interview to be talking about the new solo album Carl is releasing in October but it starts out differently. The picture to the right I also didn't like due to the blur on the gun which actually made me feel a bit dizzy to look at. On the next double page spread there was a nice big timeline of Carl's work, I liekd this feature as it wasn't too deep but gave you snippets into his career, and kept you interested.

In general I didn't like this magazine very much, the paper itself felt more like a newspaper and I didn't really enjoy the other articles. I foudn the size of the magazine to be to wide for my liking. When I do my magazine I will try to base my contents page like there's without copying it, I will also make sure I use bright colours on my front colour for key words.

2/5 Rating

Picture's Source: http://www.nme.com/magazine

Monday, 13 September 2010

Pop music not so Popular for the dead

Music is an expression of who you are, so why has a catholic church in the Melbourne area in the Australia area banned pop music at someone's funeral? It's not just pop music that's been banned, rock music, sports, politically and others like metal. The Archbishop of Melbourne said a funeral shold be a celebration of someone, well why does that mean they shouldnt get the music that reminds people of the deceased, is this really fair?

The Archbishop of Melbourne has sent out new guidlines to over 200 catholic churches in the Melbourne area. Some of the most popular choices for Melbourne funerals have been banned, things such as; the signature anthem for Austra

lian Rules football team Collingwood, Frank Sinatra's My Way and Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.

The ban was introduced after the study had found out the football tune was Melbourne's top most requested funeral song. A church spokesman said that the ban had mixed reactions. I think that this ban is a little silly, a funeral should be a celebration of your life, and your life has been affected by music so it should be your own should what is played at your funeral. I know for sure that if Shinedown aren't played at my funeral, I'll be coming back to haunt a few people.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11256843

Picture Source: http://www.remotepatrolled.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Frank-Sinatra.jpg

Read's Daily Media

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Sunday, 5 December 2010

Evaluation

Music Magazine - Final Cover

Music Magazine - Final Double Page Spread

Music Magazine - Final Contents Page

Music Magazine, Contents Page Attempt 2