Wednesday 19 December 2012

Front Cover:- Second Draft


With this draft I have made a few changes to experiment with my ideas. The cover lines are no longer interfering with the main image and I have changed the colour of the text to fit in with an overall colour scheme. I chose the orange colour background to link with the name of the magazine 'Ash', this makes the cover look bold and makes the cover stand out. However, the amount of empty orange space on the cover makes it seem not as interesting as I would have hoped it to be. For my next draft I will take more pictures to fill more of the space and make it look full of articles and features to read about. If the cover doesn't look as if it contains a lot of articles and interesting features to read then people are less likely to buy it. This draft still has all the conventional features of a magazine but I have moved the bar code to the bottom right hand corner and moved a cover line and an image further up.

Tuesday 18 December 2012

Front Cover - first draft

This first draft shows conventional features of a magazine such as the masthead, headline and cover lines. I like the main image that I have chosen for the cover, however, the cover lines interfere with the image as they cover some of the subject's face. The colour of the cover lines make it difficult for them to be read. Therefore, for my next draft I will change this aspect by matching it more to my decided colour scheme of red, black and white. I will change the position of the cover lines so they don't interfere with the main image. I will think about experimenting with a different image and using that for another draft to see if a different angle of shot works better than this canted angle shot. I like how I have rotated the images at the bottom of the cover as it links to the text 'Reckless take on the U.S', this is because they are positioned as if they are holiday snapshots and appear to look like loose photographs. I am not too sure about the black background, so when I produce my second draft I will experiment with a different colour of background or make the colour more transparent. 

Contents Page- Conventions

 In all three of these contents pages they have  title at the top which conventionally states the name of the magazine and says ‘Contents’. The NME contents page differs from the other two contents pages as it doesn’t say ‘Contents’ it says ‘This Week’ instead. This indicates that NME is weekly and will feature fairly recent news to do with the music industry. They all have the date of the issue with the title.
      •They all have a list of the features in the magazine partnered with a page number that gives reference to the location of the article, usually with the name of the article.      This list is conventionally on the right side of the page but the for the Q magazine contents page it is different since it is on the left side of the page. The list is split up into sections which categorise what the articles will be about usually headed by upper case bold text, for example, ‘News’ or ‘Reviews’.
      •All of the text is usually in upper case font so it is clear for any of the audience to read and understand. The text is usually only lower case if it is either a quote from an article, an extract from a story or the letter from the editor.
      •Usually in contents pages there is a letter from the editor which is demonstrated in Kerrang magazine which talks about what he/she has been up to since the last issue and usually summarises the contents of the magazine in an informal manner. Q and NME don’t have this conventional letter from the editor. If the magazine has a letter from the editor this could reflect the relationship between the editor and the readers, and shows how the magazine has a particular audience and wants to satisfy their needs.
      •A main feature that dominates the content page is the main image which usually links to an article in the magazine which the editor may have thought would attract the reader’s interests. These three contents pages only have either one main image and either one or two other smaller images. For Kerrang's contents page the main image is of a mosh pit which connotes the careless rebellious attitudes of the magazine in particular and shows how Kerrang's fans get so into the rock music and love to enjoy it by taking part in mosh pits.The main image for Q's contents page is of the band, The Courteeners in a countryside setting. This connotes that the band are quite relaxed and laidback and as they are in a natural setting it shows that they aren't a fake band. This could also relate to the magazine showing it's classic and simplistic attitudes. 
      •Each of these contents pages have a continuous colour scheme which tends to reflect the particular genre of the magazine, in this case all of these contents pages are about either alternative or a mixed range of music. Therefore, the colour schemes of black and red or black red and yellow reflects the genre and the magazine’s bold, loud ideology. 


Initial layout for front cover


Monday 17 December 2012

Font ideas


Ideas for the name of my magazine


Photo shoot 1 & 2



Looking through my images from both photo shoots I have gained a selection of images from which I can select to go on my front cover, contents page and double page spread. I have taken a variety of shots with different lighting and different poses which reflect the genre and ideology of my magazine. I could use the images from the first photo shoot to talk about a solo artist and the images from the second photo shoot to talk about a double act in my magazine. I may take more photos to give myself more to choose from, preferably of a band with at least three people because they are the type of acts that I wish to focus my magazine on. I may also take more extreme close up shots since I don't have as many of these types of shots.