Sketch of the double paged spread

For my double paged spread sketch I used the rule of thirds to lay out my content. I placed the picture of the model in the centre where it would most eye catching, this would also create eye flow.

Contents page

I used adobe photoshop to create the contents page. I tried to use feminine colours because the target audience the magazine is aimed at are female teenagers.

Sketch of front cover

I sketched how I wanted my music magazine cover to look like. However, I didn't follow my whole plan because I wanted to slightly twist the conventions

Questionnaire

Music magazine questionnaire

Please circle the option chosen and specify any other choices if the question asks:

1.What type of music do you listen to?

RnB Rock Pop Indie Other

2 How old are you?

13-18 18-22 22-26

3.What gender are you?

Male Female

4.How often do you purchase magazines?

Monthly Weekly Once in a while Never

5.What attracts you about a front cover of a magazine?

Photograph Colours Font Other

6.How much money is sensible to pay for a magazine?

£2.00-£3.00 £3.00- £4.00 £4.00+

7.Would a free gift encourage you to buy a magazine?

Yes No

8.Which music magazines do you read?

NME Q Mojo Other

9.How do you listen to music?

Buy CDs Download

10.Do you write to magazines?

Yes No

Analysis of a front cover: 'Q'

‘Q’ magazine is a market leader for the music magazine genre and it is mainstream. It is published by a British magazine published by a German company Bauer Media Group. From June 2007 the magazine had a circulation of 130,179. The magazine also has internet presence therefore, it show convergence.

The masthead ‘Q’ runs over the strap line takes up large area to accommodate for one letter as it stands out. The white ‘Q’ on the red background looks striking. The slug (short burst of information) contrasts with the colours used for the masthead, it has a white background with red writing. The sell lines are at the bottom of the magazine and it uses the same colours. This cover has not followed the conventions of the magazine completely as the sell lines are at the bottom instead of being on the side. A strap line is going across the top of the magazine saying “The UK’s biggest magazine” which shows it has wide recognition.


The cover is a mixture of graphic and photographic images. It covers a wide range of genres so I assume it is both for males and females. The thought bubble from the sailor imagines the Gorillaz riding on a wave could be a metaphor of how exciting their music is.The graphic image on the cover shows the music band The Gorillaz riding a wave. It shows the band members attacking the masthead with a harpoon gun. This could be iconography used to represent child-like behavior. The wave they are riding symbolizes the height of their career. The wave illustration is used as intertextuality as it was created by the artist Hokusai. Inside the wave there is a collage of all artists that have collaborated with The Gorillaz. It shows that with the support of these artists is making the wave go higher. It also links with the “plastic beach” concept of the new CD.The mode of address of the magazine is mischievous and fun. The wave creates eye flow and is about to hit a sailor.

The language used on the cover makes this issue of ‘Q’ very special. It uses words such as “World exclusive Gorillaz”. The sell line shape is in a circle that adds more aesthetic value. The sell lines match the picture “A star studded crew set sail again”. The attacking of the ‘Q’ masthead shows a mode of address. The magazine also has pull out quotes as sell lines to interest the reader and make the cover more eyecatching.

1st draft of music magazine cover

I created my first draft of the music magazine on adobe photoshop. I tried to make my cover colourful to go with the pop music theme. My magazine cover slightly twists the conventions of a magazine as the picture is on the side and the sell line are only on one side of the cover, this is NO accident. The effects on photoshop helped create eye flow. I had to change my front cover picture twice because in the first one the model's eyes are closed.

Analysis of a front cover: NME

The magazine (New Musical Express)is the most popular weekly music magazine first published in March 1952 by IPC Media. According to the ABC statistics(january-june 2009)NME sold 40,948 copies so it is a market leader.It is a mainstream magazine which is targetted at 25-40 year olds but people under 25 read it too.

Most of the magazineis laid out in a conventional way. The mastead of the NME represents brand identity and brand awareness as it is in thick bold letters. The main photograph is of the 'Manic Street Preachers'and there are hardly any sell lines on the sides of the page as they are on the bottom half of the page. The cover uses stereotypical colours of rock e.g.black,red and white. This could give masculine connotations. The band was popular in the eighties so the target audience are older people who have grown up listening to them.

The photography of the band portrays enigma. All the band members are wearing a shade of black.The member in the middle has red hair and lots of eye make up. This gives him an androgynous look and makes the reader unsure about his sexuality.He also has a Welsh flag painted on his cheek, which implies he is welsh.The tatoo also implies they are a successful band from Wales.He has 3 red heart badges on the right collar on his blazer. This could mean the love they have for their band and could symbolise how they only have 3 members left because one had mysteriously disappeared.Perhaps there is no fourth heart badge as they may have felt abandoned by the fourth member. The other badges create enigma. All the members in the band are Caucasian males and look older. Instead of the photograph being in the middle it is slightly to the side and has left a white gap to symbolises the missing band member.

The cover images are suitable as the colurs, images and fonts used suit the rock/indie genre. The readers who have knowledge about 'The Manic Street Preachers' will understand the star significance of the band which will make the magazine issue sell. The readers can identify with the band logo and with the backwards 'R'. A sell line across the masthead says it is a special issue. Under their logo it says the band" gear up for the gig of their lives" which creates drama and makes the reader want to find out more. In the photograph the band members are facing forward which shows a direct more of address to interact with the reader. It make the reader feel like he/she are a part of a musical social group.

Research methods

After finishing my preliminary task, my next task was to do textual analysis of two magazine covers. This task was to see how a music magazine is set out and what different themes they use.

Mock up contents page

Mock up contents page

The next part of the preliminary task was to create a mock-up contents page. I looked at exempler magazines e.g. Teacher,Mizz etc... to see how to layout a contents page. I liked the idea of using pictures to display the page numbers in. The pictures added more colour to the contents page.

I used desktop publishing programme called Adobe Indesign which I found difficult to use. However, I liked the fact that it doesn't distort the pictures as it fills the frame proportionally.

Commentary on the preliminary task

For my preliminary task I created a college magazine cover. I wanted to portray a happy expression from my model to appeal to the target audience as it shows the college is a happy place. I created the magazine cover on adobe photoshop. The programme was easy to use to manipulate the picture e.g. I used cropping and made the end product look good.I added strap lines, masthead, and a photograph to follow the conventions of a magazine.

If I were to improve the magazine cover, I would make the text smaller so it doesn't overpower the page and the text doesn't lay on my model.