Flat Plans- Double Page Spread

The existing magazine's double page spread has three columns on each page, where as mine only has two on each page. I have also split my page in half horizontally, so the four pictures are above the half way mark and the writing is below.

I have put my title in one column, and this will be in Harabara, bold and in capitals.

My double page spread includes four photos, of the same group posing in different ways. They are there to try and get noticed and get people buying.

The four columns of writing:-

First is the title

Second is 'Black Pepper', about them and their new merchandise.

Third is 'Upcoming Gigs' and 'Tour'

Final one is an 'Exclusive Interview' with them.

I have kept the same fonts, Harabara for the title and Nobility Casual for the texts.

The main colour is coming from the photos, however I haven't kept the background behind the title white... it is black with white font. Although, for the texts I have kept the background white, I've made the font blue. Both these techniques are related to the contents page and front cover.

Photos

The first four photos shown here are for my Double Page Spread and one of them is also used in the contents page.

The fifth and sixth is only used on the contents page representing NBA stars and a rapper. The seventh is the main picture on the front cover and it also appears again on the contents page. The eighth is only used on the front cover, to get tickets to their upcoming gig. And Chipmunk, picture nine is a small picture appearing on the front page and contents page, about him at Atlantis.

The first four photos, are pictures of my friends wearing the latest fashion in London of 'Drummer Boy Clothing'. I felt wearing this was very fitting especially as they are wearing the same. I also thought that having a white background was probably for the best, as makes the group look more professional.
The fifth photo are friends also, pretending to be a reviving NBA star and his agent. They are wearing casual, yet quite big fitting clothing, fitting for NBA stars. The setting, is very peculiar, you may say, however the picture was taken just after an interview at their house.

The sixth photo is of an unknown rapper, having just come off stage. The hat is very fitting with his genre of music and so is the nakedness, having been just on stage, girls would have loved it. Setting is him just after a concert and coming into the audience.

The seventh photo are friend of friends of mine, representing a newly formed group. The clothing is very dark, good colours for urban sector, hairstyles are noticeable and they're all posing in a threatening way, effective as urban groups don't look particularly 'nice'. Again, I thought the white background was the best fitted on the professional side, promotion and all.

The eighth photo is again two friend of friends, taken close up and they're representing a duet/remix for the up coming gig. It is a very good picture for advertising. They are very close which is representing, lust for one another which is emphasised so much in this industries songs. I have decided to add a little colour to the background this time as it is a form of advertisement and there isn't as much background to cover and white is kind of a plain colour.

The final photo was taken when Chipmunk came to Atlantis and was just going onto stage, which would explain all the other hands and people in the way. He is a very big hip hop artist which is why he is fitting with my magazine. He is wearing sunglasses, INSIDE, which is very common for urban artists, don't want to show their true identity as such.

Flat Plans- Contents

Contents Page:

My contents page includes plenty of pictures, relevant to what's inside the magazine. I have included five pictures on the contents page alone, which is a lot. With these photos I have managed to include captions about the photos used and tell the readers what else is included and where it is in the magazine.

I have gone with a different styled title. It suits the target audience as Urban industry is a different type of music as apposed to pop and it covers lots of genres, so it is fitting.

I kept to the same fonts, as I said I would for the contents.

The colours are similar to the front cover, however the title of each pages differ.

I have used the same sort of style for the contents page title as the existing analysed magazine. However the rest of page. I have included a lot more pictures and writing. The columns are more or less the same too, however mine are more distinct... the existing magazine contents page has the three columns but a big picture has covered two of them.

Flat Plans- Front cover

I have designed two front covers.

I have decided to choose 'SOUL SCENE' as my magazine front cover.

I feel that the title is more catchy and is as relevant as Street rap in the urban music genre.

I prefer the layout of the title position for 'Soul Scene' and the headlines throughout the page are more clear and neat.
More information given as well.

Soul Scene:

For the text on the front cover and probably all the way through the magazine, I am going to keep it the same font for the text and titles. (Except modify sizes, colours, caps etc.)

For my image, I have got a photo of a 'new formed' group and they will be taken from a distance, won't be standing in a line, will be looking into the camera and stood to suit. The image will cover the whole page.

The text will appear as little side notes throughout the page. 'Soul Scene' will be in capitals and other text will be 'nobility casual' caps also, but smaller.

The colours:

The image of the band members... has a white background and they are wearing fairly dark clothing and very scruffy. This is a mix between other front covers from 'VIBE'.

My front cover is fairly similar in the techniques I've used to the magazine covers that I analysed.
The title and text layouts are prime examples of this. However, I am keeping more consistent than 'VIBE' as I'm sticking to the same fonts throughout.

Therefore, this is fitting with my target audience.

Fonts

I have decided to use sans serif for the title and serif for the texts throughout all of my 4 pages because it seems the most effective and common way, as used in all the magazines I've read.

I have recorded some feedback from my target audience of what fonts people like. Here are the fonts I have picked out, three for the title and three for the text:-

For the title my target audience chose Harabara and for the text Nobility Casual was chosen. 

The font colours may not stay black however. 

For my front cover, the leading won't be very high... probably keep it to its standard 10 point text and 12 point leading. Contents will be slightly less dense as you need to be able to distinguish between each page topic. 

My double page spread will be similar to the contents page too.

I won't change the kerning format for the front page, however for the contents page and double page spread, with the amount of written work, kerning may become more important because words might merge for some and therefore will make it easier to read and I feel making words further apart on the contents page is more effective towards the topics on hand. 

I feel I have kept the title and the text fonts similar to the fonts used in the magazine I analysed, and as I'm targeting the same audience as that magazine, I think it is very fitting. 

Analysis of existing magazines- Double Page Spread

Double Page Spread for VIBE:

There are eight images of the same person, Solange Knowles doing different poses. Seven of them are are along the top of the two pages in black and white. The eighth takes up a whole column and again it is of Knowles but this time in colour. For all of them she is wearing the same clothing.

The images don't dominate the double page, they are simple there to show who it is about and they are pictures of her dancing in her new single.

The articles purpose is to prove that Solange Knowles is as good as her sister but not as well known and how she feels about her sisters success and comparing her experiences with other artists more famous siblings. She has had fall backs but she is still as good as any other

artist and VIBE magazine have noticed this and are promoting her.

For the title, underneath the images... it has been done in capitals, bold and sans serif. The name 'Solange Knowles' has been put in a different colour to anything else on the whole double spread.

There has been one pull quote included and this is to introduce the first paragraph on the second page and this has been put in bold and capital letters.

There is only one caption used. This is to tell the audience where to buy the clothes that Knowles is wearing from... this is part of their fashion part from contents page.

Analysis of existing magazines- Contents Page

Contents Page for VIBE:

The way they have written 'Contents' is a very unique way of doing it. They have done this for all of their contents pages.

The font used is again the same as the front cover... Sans serif for title and serif for text. Very common.

They have particularly used vibrant colours but very fitting with the topic on hand... The main point in this magazine is about Obama and this may not be as interesting to some... They have used Navy blue and black for the writing matching with Obama in the picture...

The contents are split into categories: Features, On point, The best rapper alive (very brief) and Fashion.

Features includes information about Obama which therefore makes it formal.

On point is informal because the topic on hand is NBA and listing is used.

Fashion is somewhat in the middle of formal and informal but effective, as its used in all of VIBE's magazines.

The contents page has just got one big image of Obama himself, I would imagine from the same photo shoot as the front cover. This time he looks happy and friendly towards the audience.

The colour scheme from the front cover has changed... The front cover was more vibrant as it needs to stand out and the contents page is more formal and serious towards matter included in this magazine.

Target Audience

A typical reader for my magazine would be someone probably in the lower classes of society but has enough money to spend on concerts of these artists involved and of course to buy the magazine itself. However, the music would probably suit lower class and teens better than it would of those in the higher classes and older ages. I would not seclude them completely as some might but would not be my first choice to target. I would stay away from the A and B side of demographics which therefore makes my audience fairly narrow but there is always going to be enough teens to be interested in this typical magazine. The sort of interests a typical reader would need is about the urban music industry and there will be some topics about entertainment, culture and lifestyle. The socio economic classification would definitely be lower occupations, you can tell this just by looking at the typical magazine cover. 

Plus by looking existing magazines, looking at the products advertised you can tell that this magazine is for the younger generation, male and females.

These particular magazine target 18-34 year olds and therefore my music magazine will be targeting the same.

Analysis of existing magazines- Front covers.

The VIBE: an example of a Hip Hop magazine.

The title is very catchy and it could be associated with anything, not just hiphop and that's what the magazine want. They want to cover more than one genre in the urban music sector. From cover 1, it proves that they don't just cover music but also views from president, may be important news?

VIBE is an emotion as to is music.

The main title is sans serif (most popular) but the sub titles and texts have used serif, which is also common.

The colours together are very vibrant, which helps to catch peoples eye. The colours are very fitting depending on who is on the front cover, red being related to women and there is famous lady singer on front and blue and black as well for the man.

Vibe magazines aren't consistent, as their titles change size and colour each issue.

It uses a lot of listing in the front cover telling you what's involved in the magazine, which makes it informal.

Vibe is the premier destination for urban music, entertainment, culture and lifestyle for the aspirational 18-34 year old.

The pictures, pretty much tell you who it is targeting. The fact that there is a posed naked singer and Obama trying to win over the influences of younger people as well as the older ones.

1) This picture of Obama would attract people older than their target audience, which could bring more people to buy it. Plus the picture is of half of his head and this makes it more imposing and seriousness of the topic.

2) She is proving that she is 'American Beauty' as well as a good singer, this will invite a lot of men to pick it up, even some women. She is not looking at the camera, all part of the pose and proposed message.

There covers vary between males and females depending on the news that past week/month.

The main sells... the same as any other music magazine except the second is special as its been done with nudity too, can be quite rare. It would also include what's included in this specific issue, i.e. 51 best myspace rappers.. and this would appeal to some.

This particular magazine doesn't have the date, issue number and the price isn't readable. However, there is a rather distinctive barcode in the bottom left.

On the main flash, they are advertising new and well known artists and their new singles. There are also articles on particular topics to do with the music industry. They may not mention interviews on the main flash, however letter from Obama is an important part of this magazine.

Introduction to Music Magazine

For this task, we have to create and design our own music magazine for a target audience of our choice. I have decided to do a Hip Hop genre (which will also cover rap, Rn B etc.) for my magazine and this will probably target teens, however anyone could be interested in Hip Hop. I have chosen this because I know a lot about the music involved and I am part of the target audience.

This task is also a development from the preliminary task and here is the link: http://sdcmediaasalexroberts.blogspot.com/

Evaluation

I think my contents page is very good, however I feel my front cover could have been better. I could have done this by looking at other styles of magazines and now I've learnt this I can incorporate this in my real coursework. By styles I mean, the layout and the way I've done the columns, although I did like the idea about three photos, one for each of the target audiences.

Flat plans

These are my flat plans. 

Fonts: I have chosen two fairly well-known fonts for the titles, sub-titles and texts. I have used Arial bold for the title and sub-titles as it is san-serif and therefore more effective as a title. I have used Times New Romanfor the main texts because it is serif and when altogether it is more readable. This will suit any target audience. 

Unfortunately, on the flat plans I haven't added colour but you will see from my final design where I wanted to colour to go and why. 

The texts are fairly formal in some areas depending on which part of the target audience are being targeted but for example when talking about Freshers, it isn't. 

Instead of just having one photograph, I decided to pick three, one of each of the target audience so it shows that it involves them and may make them want to read it more. 

I have included which term and which issue it is. 

The contents page is not just one long list of what's involved in the magazine, but it has been set out with a separate column, separating again the target audiences and has many other photos showing previews to what's inside. 

Photographs

Here are the photos needed for my front cover.. Teacher, Parent and Student. I have got 2 of each and will pick one of each in due time.

These were taken by me and on a digital camera. 

I decided to use the standard straight on angle for the preliminary task as it doesn't need to show much of a message in this instance. 

With all three of the images together, it would really stand out to the target audience because it shows who it is targeting. 

Introduction to my student magazine- Set task

For this task we have been asked to re-design our college's magazine. It needs to include a front cover, contents page and evaluation. The magazine cover must include a digital photo taken by me and a new title made up by me. My target audience is students, staff and parents.