Typography on my double page spread

I will ask the peers in my class which typography they prefer. 

Deciding on the background of my double page spread

These are the two different backgrounds i have created for my double page spread. I felt that the colored background lightened the page up, but I also felt it was very different from the house style i created in my magazine as my contents page has a white background. 

The white background, although plainer, suits the house style of my magazine and is also more suited to my target audience as it gives off a more mature look. I also felt that white suited the other colors I used on my double page spread such as blue and peach. 

Questionnaire on my double page spread

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Questionnaire on my front cover

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My finished double page spread

Analysis of my finished contents page

analysis of my contents page by SuzieMaynard

I have also chosen the masthead that was neater and used the name of my magazine, I used the same typography that I used on my front cover when creating my masthead. This was to create a house style through out the magazine. 

Deciding on my contents page

These are my two different styles of contents pages, I will ask my peers in my class which they preffer

The making of my contents page

This is my contents page half way through editing.

• I have chosen to keep it quite plain and easy to read as i felt this would be most suited to my audience. 
• I have used a variety of different fonts to add style to the page
• The master head is the same font and style of my front cover as this creates a house style 
• The style of the contents page is similar to the style of NME contents page, as i found from my questionnaire that this is the most popular magazine for my target audience
• The main image is centered in the middle of the contents page, the article advertised by this image is what my double page spread is based on 
• I have and will add more images around the page to advertise other articles that would be suited for the audience to read 

Various styles of mastheads 

In this masthead I added the word Melody to add repetition of the magazines name, I also made the font of melody the same font I used in my masthead on my front cover to create a house style.

In this masthead I didn't add the word melody as I wanted to make the masthead smaller, but I felt this left out the house style that I wanted to create.

In this final masthead I separated the words so that they weren't as clamped up, I felt this made the masthead look neater. 

What I have done today

I carried on editing my contents page into the style that I had researched (NME). I really like the style on NME contents page and intend to get mine similar.

Other photos I have taken

I liked this photo as it showed a fun side to my band, I edited it so that it had a modern feel to it and also so the background was less obvious and a brighter white color. I also felt that it shows off their individual personalities. 

I like this photo as the band are all looking away from the camera, this makes the reader focus more on what they are wearing rather than their faces. It is a more serious photo of the band. Although the background is white there is an object in the right corner which puts me off the image as I wanted an all white background. 

I like this photo as the background works really well. The artists are also all in a good position. The girls are both crouching and the boys have their foot against the wall. I edited this photo to make it look more modern, although it also had a vintage feel to it. 

I like this photo as the distance between the artists are all equal and the background is clear and modern. I edited this so that the band name was introduced 'Kraze' this creates an identity for the band as a group. 

I will use these photos on my contents page as images of another band

Editing my front cover

This is the process I went through for creating and editing my masterhead

This is the process I went through for adding effects to my main attraction of the article

This is the process I went through in advertising free posters, I made the box opaque so that it didn't cover up too much of the image or look tacky. 

Choosing the image for my front cover

These are the two images I want to use for my front page, but I am unsure on which one to use. I will ask people in my target audience what front cover would attract them most. 

Typography

Gill Sans Ultra Bold

Lucida Calligraphy

Trajan Pro

These are my three types of typography for my music magazine, I was unsure on which one to use as I wanted to create an Indie look but still make it look like a music magazine. In the end i went for the Lucida Calligraphy as I felt it had the most indie and modern look but still kept a typical music magazine style.

Today I carried on editing my photos and designing the front cover of my magazine, I decided to change to font of my magazine as it gave the magazine a more Classical feel rather than Indie. I also added a logo to make the magazine noticeable and original.

Editing photos

This is the original photo I took for my contents page of my magazine.

This is the edited photo, I cropped it to make it fit the contents page better for the style I had chosen. I didn't use any colour effects as I wanted to photo to look natural. 

This is one of the photos I want to use for my front cover, I edited it on iPhoto to get rid of blemishes and I changed to contrast to add more color. 

 

This is another photo I wanted to use for my front cover, I edited it on Iphoto to get rid of blemishes and also to brighten the image so there was not so much of a shadow. 

Results from my questionnaire

Photos taken for my magazine

My Reader Profile

Creating Music Magazine

The front cover

• The front cover is the main selling tool as it is used to persuade the buyer and attract the audience.
• The front cover needs to jump out from the shelf and establish their own reconisable identity
• The front cover shows the readers expectations of the magazine and should show a distinct culture identity
• As we read from left to right and top to bottom the prime position for the most important text is top left
• You should consider the layout e.g. size, shapes, colours

Sentence functions

• Declaratives - making a statement
• Imperatives - giving orders
• Interrogatives - asking questions
• Exclamatives - suprise or alarm

Tricks of Language

• Alliteration
• Sibilance
• Assonance
• Rhyme

Intertextuality

This is where we are reminded of another form of media or saying, such as 'boys r us'. In music magazines this often refers to films or programmes.

Contents Page

• Use the contents page to orientreer the way around the magazine
• This helps us to skip to artists/bands we are interested in
• A set agenda which remains constant in each issue
• We read magazines in a non linear fashion

Information value - the placement of elements reflects their importance
Saliance - the size of the subject reflects its worth
Framing devices - can connect/disconnect elements

My reader profile questionnaire

Click here to view my questionnaire

I will use the answers from this questionnaire to determine the style and format of my Reader Profile

Further Research On The Music Press History

Music Press


In the 1950s-1960s the Melody Maker/New Musical Express were published, the contents was mainly chart and singles, with gig listings.
This formed changes in society in the 1960s with the arrival of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, as it formed drug culture, this changed the nature of music and music writing.

In the early 1970s began "Glam Rock" this included Sweet, Mud, Slade, T Rex. This then escalated into "Prog. Rock" with artists such as Pink Floyd, Emmerson Lake Palmer and Yes. News papers were still largely uncritial of groups, until Prog. Rock bands started spending too much money on staging and lighting. NME then changed its style to meet Punk head they recruited new writers. In the mid 1970s NME embraces punk, where writers began to stop writing simply about music, and write about serious issues such as politics etc. The Music Press then became divided between Musician papers such as Melody Maker and Political Papers such as NME. In the late 1970s-Early 80s readers started to abandon NME because it no longer wrote about music and was too obsessed with "serious" issues. in 1978 Smash Hits launched a new glossy mag, for a younger audience in a smaller magazine format. It focused on "trivia". Including polls, letters, surveys etc, this kept it in touch with the reader. What people also found in the early 80s is that the style in pop music (fashion) became more important than the content.

In the 1980s independent Music labels wanted their own voice and began producing fanzines. These were handmade, but despite that appearance the encouraged a whole new generation of illustrators to contribute. New layouts of magazines were introduced, such as 'The face" and "Blitz" these became popular quickly. These didn't include just music, but information on hairstyles and fashions as well. People experimented with typefaces, layout and graphic designs.

The 1990s were when new technologies began to emerge. Music Videos became popular which changed the way music was consumed. Every single came with a video. The launch of MTV (the first TV market for music videos) made artists realise that a band can make a lot of money with a well made video.

Nowadays there is a limited music press because every thing is pop cultured. Daily newspapers feature pop stars and celebrities.

Flat Plan of My Music Magazine

Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread