Flat plan of mock cover, contents and double page spread

 This is the type of layout that I want to use on my front cover. I think it is simple yet neat as everything is positioned in columns and around the image. The image is the main focal point which will highlight the artist as the main attraction but I have also used a pull quote to engage readers and make them want to buy the magazine to find out more.

I wanted the contents page to be informative yet neat so I have designed this with coloured rectangles that I will use to break up the different pieces of information. I am also going to include two extra images on my contents page of other artist's or stories featured in the magazine so it will attract other people that may not have been interested in the main story on the cover or are unsure on the artist as it will be a new/upcoming artist rather than a popular one. I have included contact details for social media and business on my cover page so that it is easy to get hold of my magazine and it will publicise things such as the website etc. where more information will be shared.

This is the layout I want my double page spread to take, I have decided to use two larger images at each side of my page and position my text around their outline. I am also going to use a large headline rather than having the artist's name largest as the artist's name may not be that well known but the header will interest people to want to find out more about her. I have used the design seen on the previous blog post to ensure the layout is harmonious and looks best to the eye.

Draft article

At just 19, YouTube star Victoria Preston has entered the top 10 charts with her latest single “hazy days” and is set to become one of the UK’s biggest artists. Harmony interviewed Victoria to find out her story of how she went from being a first year university student, receiving up to 100 likes on her covers, to publishing her own creations and gathering up to one million subscribers.

Victoria was first known of under the channel name ‘In Another Life’ covering songs by artists such as passenger, imagine dragons and Bombay bicycle club… the cliché indie pop bands. Her YouTube channel was a quiet place where she could “get away from the everyday and be whoever she wanted”; however, it wasn’t until she turned new and upcoming band, Catfish and the Bottlemen’s top track “Kathleen” into an acoustic melody that we really saw her channel grow. This cover was released on the 12^th of December 2014 and within the first day the likes and views slowly grew from faithful, longstanding subscribers. But, the video didn’t reach its peak until, unknowingly to Victoria, the famous band spotted a link to the video in mention of theirs and sent out their re-tweet with the comment “you heard it here first”. When we spoke to Victoria she said, “it raised from 200 to 20,000 in a blink. I went from getting the occasional like or comment to my phone crashing from all of the mentions and new followers on my twitter”.  Victoria went on to tell us how she was unaware of what had created the manic audience numbers until she later received a text from a friend with a screenshot of the band’s tweet with the comment “omg.”. From here Victoria’s confidence grew, alongside her new love of turning indie rock songs into her own mellow acoustics. Her videos began to receive an average of 10,000 views with larger audience numbers and a new found twitter alliance with Catfish and the Bottlemen who clearly saw potential in this young musician. 

At the start of January 2015 Victoria released her first single “hazy days” which received a great recommendation from her own influential band Catfish and the Bottlemen. We questioned Victoria to why she hadn’t released her own material before, and she admitted that the song was an old creation that had been crossed through with the melody rewritten a dozen times but she’d never had been brave enough to share her own construction. “I can take the dislikes on a cover but not on my own lyrics”.  Nonetheless Victoria’s uncertainty was unnecessary as the video received 12,389 thumbs up in the first 48 hours and within the next fortnight the song was put onto iTunes at the overwhelming request of fans. The song was first seen in the charts on the 11^th of January when this young singer was identified as a breakthrough artist, as her song hit number 37. From here the song climbed its way through the charts, passing rival artists such as clean bandit and George Ezra until it reached position 9 on the 18^th January 2015. Victoria said she was overwhelmed at how the song had taken off since that first hectic day and she was barely starting to believe just how many people had seen her sing let alone the desires for her to release it for download. When asked about what she is going to do with the money she has made Victoria laughed, “Well, I’m certainly not going to spend it on a trip to Vegas or to drop out of university and live off my music like you would expect. I thought about putting it into creating a video to go with the song or for a posh studio to record anything new in but…that’s not why those people subscribed to my channel and definitely not why Catfish and the Bottlemen re-tweeted it. For now I think I’ll save it for a rainy day”.

We asked Victoria what was next for her, would she be continuing with her course at university or heading out to compete in the manic music industry. She told us “although music is what I love to do, the past couple of months have been has been crazy for me so I think I’m going to stick to university for now and after that…who knows. Maybe I’ll get to experience that other life” [laughs]. It’s clear that Victoria is a very talented artist but maybe she is too young to take on this adventure just yet, but we sure aren’t going to underestimate her in the upcoming months as there are definitely some more top 10 hits to be seen from ‘In Another Life’.  

Charlotte Hull, Harmony Magazine. 

Possible layout options (7)

I have used the used the method provided to draw two harmonious rectangles and the lines around it to design some possible page layouts for my double page spread. This will enable me to create an eye-catching, well designed piece of work that will look professional. The one I will use for my double page spread design is the 4th.

Test shots

Evaluating feedback-Survey

From my pitch I received class feedback which then led me to creating a survey so I could answer the questions that I got asked during my pitch with people who would make up my target audience so it was not just my opinion.
The questions and answers in my survey were:

What do you think of 'Harmony' for an indie music magazine name?
The majority of answers for this question said 'good', that it fitted with the music theme and one said "very fitting, simplistic, catchy and would interest the target audience".


How much would you be prepared to pay for a monthly music magazine? (Please select one)

From the feedback received here I have decided to stay with the original price for my magazine which was £2.99 as the majority had chose this.

With reference to your previous price selection, would you rather purchase a weekly or monthly music magazine?

The majority of people I asked selected they would rather by a monthly magazine for the price they have selected and so I am going to make my magazine a monthly one.

Do you listen to any of the following artists? (Please select)

I included this question so that I know what kind of other artists I should include in my magazine. The most popular were Passenger, Bastille and the 1975 so I should ensure to use these in my magazine and advertise them somewhere within my cover or contents page.

Evaluating feedback-pitch

When I pitched my idea for my magazine to the class I received feedback and was asked questions to consider why I have decided to use the things I have or extra things I did not state in my pitch.

Will your magazine be published weekly or monthly, why?
I created a survey to ask more people within my target audience which they would prefer depending on a price they have previously selected. The results from that survey can be found here.

Is there any way of making it appeal to both genders as this would bring in a larger audience?
I have considered this point raised by one of my classmates but have decided to keep my magazine aimed at females as I believe my chosen style and the artists I will include will mean it is mainly females that will buy it. By making my magazine aimed at just the female gender it means I can only include features I believe they will be interested in and not be worried about making everything included gender neutral. However, it does not mean that no males will be included in my magazine as I believe it could still interest some males who are interested in the more mellow side of the indie genre which is what I am trying to convey with the artists I include/design of my cover etc.

How much will your magazine be sold at?
In my pitch I stated my magazine would be priced at £2.99 but I also included a question in my survey to ask more people within my target audience how much they would be prepared to pay for a magazine depending on whether it is monthly or weekly (as previously chosen). The results from that survey can be found here.

Why have you chosen to use 16-22 as your target audience?
I have chosen to use this age bracket as i believe the kind of artists featured in my magazines and the genre of it will be most attractive to these people. I have decided to keep the bottom end of this range at 16 rather than making it older as suggested as the price I had originally stated for this magazine was £2.99 which I believe is affordable for people aged 16. Also, the artists featured in my magazine and the genre of it would be people that these young people may idolize and so they would want to read my magazine to find out about them.

What artists will you be featuring in your magazine?
I want to include only artists that fit within my chosen genre and interest my target audience so I have included a question in my survey about this where they can choose from a range of artists to which they listen to/are interested in. The results from that survey can be found here.

Are there any other magazines you will be taking inspiration from?
I will be taking inspiration from dazed & confused and  clash as I like the way that both of these magazines have set out their cover pages using colour in the picture but minimum colour in the text.

Mock up magazine

I have created a mock up magazine in one hour and the images represent each separate layer I added to create the finished magazine. I decided to use a black and white image to make my magazine look more effective and professional, the image is a mid-shot so the artist stands out and acts as the centre of visual interest.

I decided to use Jukebox from the list of names to choose from as I felt it was the most effective and as it was a longer name I could position it across the top of my magazine. I chose 'Casper Open SF' as the font for my title as it stood out and the letters only had an outline rather than being bold meaning more of the image underneath was shown keeping it the focal point.

Next, I added a barcode, I was going to add my barcode sideways so that it did not take up much room on my magazine but I decided it would fit best as it was alongside my masthead.

I added the price, issue number and date above the barcode as they would fit well in this space and not distract from any of the other information.

Finally, I added the header at the bottom of the page. I decided to use 'Taylor goes to wonderland' as my heading as one of her well known songs is called 'Wonderland'. I used the font 'Cario SF' for this but if I had more time I would have changed this as I feel it does not fit with the rest of the magazine. I was going to use the same font as I used on my masthead but it did not stand out as well in front of the artist's white top so I had to use this font as I ran out of time. This would be one thing I would change if given more time.

Survey

The deadline to complete this survey has now been reached. To see the results from this survey click here.

Reflection on first section of work

Organisation and time management-
I believe that I have kept to the schedule very well as I have kept to the time plan well as all of the required tasks were completed for the date set. However, I believe that if I'd have had more time to do the tasks then they may not have been as rushed and therefore I'd have been able to use a variety of resources to create the work to make it look more intriguing and interesting. Most of the work I have completed has been on Microsoft word which I then uploaded to scribd, this meant that the layout of the work was not as eye-catching or the layout was changed when uploaded/was not as easy to view. I prefer the pieces of work that I have completed more interesting websites such as my fashion/styling post where I used infogram. I will take this into mind when I complete the next section of work as I will try to use a wider variety of mediums to display my findings.
I also believe that if I'd have had more time I may have been more adventurous with my colour scheme/font choice as I would have spent more time researching available fonts and previously used colours within other magazines.

Research and planning-
I have learnt that a lot more research goes into creating a magazine than I first suspected. For example, I would not before have considered looking into the institution that would publish my magazine to check that it is suited for them or to look at the language used in other magazines to see what works and what doesn't. I have learnt that the language I use on my magazine is important to the type of audience I want to attract and the type of reputation I want to create for my magazine. I have adapted my magazine around the pieces of work that I have completed and the language analysis of other magazines will particularly help me when I come to write the article for my magazine.
On my preliminary magazine I used a layout for my contents page inspired by Mojo magazine where the text was featured around my model. I do not wish to replicate this for my actual music magazine as I feel it does not look very professional and clean. Instead I wish to use a simpler layout where my text is aligned in sections with bold headers and the use of colour to attract the audience compared to the images used and the position of.

Technology-
From my preliminary magazine I have found that I can work well with photoshop with using internet resources to help me locate tools and features to help me complete it to a professional standard. I believe that I have adjusted to photoshop well and have been able to complete all of the desired tasks I set out to do on my preliminary without much struggle.
On the other hand, I believe that I will need to put extra work into taking my photographs to ensure that they are to a professional standard so they do not bring down the standard of my magazine as they will be the main focal point. On my preliminary magazine I cut around the model but for my actual music magazine I wish to use a photograph with a white/plain background and position this underneath my masthead.

Update 19/01

Preliminary flat plan
Preliminary task
Examples of other text
Analysis of magazine covers
Analysis of contents pages
Analysis of double page spreads
Colour palettes
Fonts
Language register
Style of my magazine
Analysis of existing titles
Title of my magazine
Fashion and styling
Mood board
Audience research
Audience profiles
Photographers and graphic designer
Institution that would publish my magazine
My pitch

Pitch

Analysis of institution that would publish my magazine

International publishing media corporation, owned by Time INC, is a British publishing company that sell over 350 million copies of their consumer magazine a year. The company was renamed in 2000 to IPC media from IPC magazines as they developed new divisions and now own over 60 well-known brands. The company is split into separate divisions some of which include,

IPC connect which is aimed at the women’s market with magazines such as Now and Woman’s weekly, IPC Inspire with magazines aimed at men such as Rugby world and very successful music magazine NME and IPC Southbank which is targeted at more ‘upmarket’ women featuring magazines such as Marie Claire and Look.

I believe that IPC would be a good institution to publish my magazine as they offer a wide range magazine genres but nothing with a direct female indie focus meaning that my magazine would be unique and attract new audiences for them. The company has lots of experience with different kinds of magazines and in particular with the successful music magazine, NME; this means their producers would know what sells well and does not, where it should be distributed and how I can make my magazine successful. However, I do not know which of the subcategories my magazine would fit into as although it will be mainly targeted at women it is not in the same style as the other popular magazines produced in IPC Connect and therefore it may not fit here. Beings one of the UK’s leading publishing companies and being based in London, which is popular for having the most up-to-date and popular fashion and music, I believe it is the best company to publish my magazine that should fit within the same music category as NME but the same style as offered by their best women’s lifestyle magazines.

Research on photographers/graphic designers

Andrew G Hobbs

Hobbs’ work takes on many styles, colourful and monochrome. His models show a lot of emotion in gestures and facial expressions. His work has appeared in British Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and he has had ad campaigns for Nike and Louis Vuitton. The photographs which use colour appear to have been taken on a white background with the colour edited afterwards as it is often more intense and unusual than could be achieved using coloured lights and backgrounds. When I first saw the images the colour stood out to me as the key focus of his images, making the photo much more extreme and dramatic. The first image stands out as the model is wearing black clothes and the natural colours of her skin make her very dull against the highlighted background. The colour in the third image also stands out as edited as it much pinker than there would be naturally and brightness appears to have been increased. I particularly like the second image which is monochrome and makes the model's freckles stand out. The model looks deep in thought and sad which is shown through her facial expressions, her slightly parted lips and looking away from the camera, but the positioning of her too, leaning against the wall. The last image is an action shot which has been used to show the colours within the model's skirt and to make this the attraction.

Jan Welters

Welters is known for known for capturing the darkness and movement of fashion within unusual environments. A lot of his photographs are taken close up often only capturing the facial features of the model. Welters is a photographer for Paris, German and American editions of Vogue as well as French and British Elle and Italian Glamour as well as doing ad campaigns for Mango and Nina Ricci.

Jan welters takes much more unusual pictures, often using extreme close ups of just the model’s face showing the emotion and work of colour. Although his work is mostly monochrome when colour is used it is used to create an extreme effect that produces a non-naturalistic style.

His second image shows the unusual nature to his photography and how the focus is often on just the head of the model. The bottom two images show the use of colour and how, in the first image, the eye make-up corresponds to the nail colour to create a frame around the model’s face and to create impact. In the second coloured lights have been used to create an unusual shadow on the model’s body and her skin appears shiny to increase this effect.

Stefan Sagmeister & Jessica Walsh

Sagmeister ad Walsh is a design firm that creates adverts, websites, film, books and more. They have produced art for Jay-Z, Warner Brothers Records, the New York Times and the Olympic committee.

Sagmeister is a graphic designed that has worked for the rolling stones and had his work mounted in countries all over the world. He teamed up with Walsh who is a designer and art director. For these inspirational images they worked alongside photographer Henry Hargreaves. I immediately loved these pieces of work when I found the duo as not only were they completely original and bold but they were genius. They have created a new style of inspiring people with unusual materials that, when added to a simple yet beautiful image, create an incredible after effect.  The second, third and fourth style images are my favourite as a lot of time would have to have gone into them to create simple words that create the inconceivable illusion of bubble-gum, liquid and blue powder.

Audience Profiles

Name: Sarah Johnson

Age: 17

Interests: Live concerts, clothes shopping, photography, indie music

Favourite brands/shops: Topshop, Select, ASOS, American Apparel

Favourite artists: The 1975, Passenger, Iggy Azalea, Bastille, Imagine Dragons, London Grammar

Magazine interests: Clash, NME

Studying: Graphic design, Photography, Art

        

Audience research

After looking up my genre on UK tribes i have found out that the key things to do with Indie Scenesters is that they are dedicated to finding the newest music, staying ahead of the curve and having a genuine love of music. The fashion trends include skinny jeans and converse whilst loving brands such as soundcloud and Cheap Monday clothes. Another popular event with Indie Scenesters are festivals which I should take into consideration when creating my magazine as the fashion inspiration for my front cover could be festival related and some of the stories mentioned on my contents page could relate to festivals.

Mood Boards

Identifying my genre of music

Some of the bands/artists that feature in my chosen genre that will influence my magazine as they could feature within and be an inspiration to my target audience.

Fashion & Styling

Indie fashion/styling | Create infographics

Title of magazine

I have brainstormed possible magazine titles to do with the indie genre and music. Out of the choices above my two favourite are harmony and spirit; I like harmony as it will be immediately noticeable as a music magazine and is linked to my genre as it also means peaceful. However, I also like spirit because this is directly linked to my genre and is short and more catchy for a magazine.
During my audience research the main thing that was highlighted about the Indie 'tribe' was that they were "dedicated to music" as "this is what separates them" from other genres. Therefore I believe that it would be appropriate for me to use Harmony as my title as not only does it highlight the music magazine but it is in keeping with my genre. A lot of the magazines in my title research has shorter names but this meant that their name had to be very large to fit across the head of the page or it was centralised. If I use harmony as my title it will be different to the already popular magazines and unusual in the style of my genre.
I think this is a unique name that sums up what my magazine will be about and therefore I am going to use Harmony as my title.

Analysis of existing magazine titles

Analysis of Existing Magazine Titles by CharlotteHull

Style of my magazine

Style of my magazine

The style that I want my magazine to be in is indie. This is because I am already interested in the colours, fashion and music that this genre provides and therefore I believe I will be able to make a good magazine around this. I have created a music playlist, see beneath blog archive, of my favourite tracks that fit with this genre in order to consider some artists that could feature in this kind of magazine.

There are several styles of magazine that I like and so will influence my magazine. I like the way that Dazed & Confused magazine commonly use a mid-shot of the artist on their cover and then positions them either on top or below of the title depending on what is featured at the top of the image.
However, I also like how the image that is used on Clash magazines takes up a lot of the space on the front cover and so I think that I will use this idea on my magazine as I do not want to have a lot of blank space. Colour is also used on the background of some Clash magazines which looks more attractive and appealing to me so I may consider doing this with my magazine. I want my title to fit across the top of my page like the previously mentioned magazines have and the text to fit around the image rather than overlapping it. I also wish to have a more unusual double page spread as I want the emphasis to remain on the image which will feature large on these pages, like the example from rolling stones magazine below,  whilst the writing remains neat and clean.

Language Register

The type of language used in a magazine is important as it will determine the type of people who will be attracted to it and the type of people it is aimed at. The language used will either be formal, often if the magazine is aimed at an older audience or is a higher quality, or informal which is most common in popular magazines. Informal language is often used to make the magazine appear more personal to the user and will use more up-to-date words and phrases.                     

In the above magazine swearing has been used in their main story headlines which could put some readers off as they see it as inappropriate or offensive. In NME the swear word has used an asterix so that it is not as blunt and to try and make it less offensive whereas in Q magazine the swear words are written normally however they are not displayed as large as in the other magazine. This means that the reader may not notice this on the front cover, to make it suitable to be displayed where younger audiences may not notice it, unlike NME where it will be seen and may still be offensive. 

Longer sentences are used on the front of dazed and confused magazine that are often about one story. Most magazines display a short preview of a range of stories to ensure that there will be something to interest everyone within their target audience but longer stories are used in this magazine to make it appear more formal.

In my magazine I want to use more informal sentences with contractions to make my front page more engaging and easy to read. However I do not want to cause offence or for my magazine to be unsuitable for some audiences so I will not use swear words on the front of the magazine and no swear words will be used by my magazine but they may be given by an artist within the cover. I also want my magazine articles to be up-to-date and so newer, shortened words may be used in order to attract younger audiences.

Font ideas

The font is one of the most important choices for my magazine as it will be the first thing that the reader sees when they pick up the magazine to look at the title. The font should be attractive and stand out on the main cover; it should be easy to read but can be different for different areas of the magazine.

For my cover page I want to use a denser font that stands out from the background. The font will be positioned at the top of my page and so will stand out if I use a thicker font so I may decide to use ‘jagger SF’ or ‘Cario SF’ as they will be similar to magazines such as clash and dazed & confused which have a shorter headline but a bolder font to ensure that it fits across the top of the page.

For my contents header and double page spread I may choose something like ‘Gothic 720 Lt BT’ which is simpler than the font for my cover page but provides a more classic effect. This is suitable as my contents page and double page spread will be busier than my cover page and so the title does not need to stand out as much or be highlighted by the style of it.

I believe that the fonts I have chosen will fit with my chosen style of magazine, indie, and match the magazine styles that I like from the research I have conducted.

Colour palettes

Colour Palette Ideas by CharlotteHull

Analysis of double page spreads

Analysis of double page spread, 1 by CharlotteHull

Analysis of double page spread, 2 by CharlotteHull

Analysis of double page spread, 3 by CharlotteHull

Analysis of contents pages

Analysis of contents page, 1 by CharlotteHull

Analysis of contents page, 2 by CharlotteHull

Analysis of contents page, 3 by CharlotteHull

Analysis of magazine covers

Analysis of magazine cover, 1 by CharlotteHull

Analysis of magazine cover, 2 by CharlotteHull

Analysis of magazine cover, 3 by CharlotteHull

10 Magazine Covers that Interest Me

Magazine Covers That Interest Me

Preliminary magazine

Cover page:

Contents page:

I took inspiration from an interview Volkskrant magazine for the cover of my magazine as i used a similar font to make my writing look traditional and classic as well as using the same design for the main picture as they had used a long shot of their model and placed her on top hiding some of the writing. I chose to cut round the main image which i had chosen to use a mid shot rather than a long shot to give me a better quality image that would better fit the space and position it on top of my writing. Also i added a black footer to place the inside topics onto as well as the bar code. The writing for my title and header were contrasting colours to the background image to make them stand out as well as showing that they represent different things and if i were to create more editions of this magazine the black main title would remain the same but the white writing would change. I kept my contents page very simple to allow the main focus to be on the picture but i made the numbers of the page larger to make them stand out.

Flat plan for preliminary magazine

Media Studies Coursework Schedule

Ford (AS) Media: AS Coursework Schedule 2014-2015: AS MEDIA STUDIES COURSEWORK SCHEDULE 2015