Evaluation Question 7

Evolution Question 6

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 4

Question 4 Audio File

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

Final Double Page Spread

This is my double page spread or DPS. I took influence from the DIY magazine I looked at as part of my primary research. I really like the image I chose on the right side, I changed the contrast on it a lot to make it fit in with the feel of the front cover. I also added a quote from the article however I found it hard to place. 

On the right side, I kept it rather simple. I used the same kind of font for the heading I have been using throughout. I also made the typeface of the main article serif to make it easier to read. As large areas of text can often be difficult to focus on. I'm not sure I really like the right page as much as the left page. It just seems too simple. 

Final Contents Page

This is my final contents page for my music magazine. I changed the fonts and aligned the portfolio numbers better to give the page more order. I also played about with the contrast a bit more but strangely I prefer the image on my draft. However, I think after changing the contrast on this image that it makes it look slightly more professional.

However, I can't seem to make it look as similar as I would like to the image on the cover of my DPS. I think the lighting in the image just doesn't want to work the way I want it to. This is the main problem I dislike with this. 

Final Front Cover Design

This is the final cover design for my music magazine. I took into consideration the feedback I had received to make some changes. I had originally done a second draft but sadly the file got damaged and could not be salvaged, but that was good experience to back up my work. However, if that hadn't of happened I don't think my final cover would of ended up like this. I used a different image as I felt the previous one was not well suited for a cover design as the masthead ended up covering her head too much. With this in mind I used a different image which I think worked much better. In my feedback, people had said the contrast was too low so I decided to up the contrast a great amount and lowered the saturation to almost black and white but having the colours still subtly showing. I made the background black, or at least much darker to fit into the theme of the image once I had made the adjustments. I also changed the typeface and the way the coverlines were presented into a serif font called Stencil. This worked much better than the previous font as it helps to make it look more like the genre intended. I also included a better puff as the old one blended in with the coverlines too much, this one stands out much better. I also think this cover ended up looking more professional than my draft however I still think it lacks something without a musical instrument. 

Contents Page Draft

This is the first draft of my contents page. I really like the way the image looks and the low contrast but it needs more images on it - even though I'm slightly worried it would look to crowded. The text needs to be justified as well considering the numbers don't match up, but I thought that it could be related to the overall appearance to the magazine. I might also change the headings, to fit in with my DPS heading. I also want to possibly include the masthead logo in some way but that isn't really compulsory. 

I'm not sure I'll increase the contrast on the photo or not. I liked the darkness of it as the image is quite girly and I don't want it to be heavily dominated by a girl audience as said in my planning. 

Cover and Contents Page Feedback

We did a group session were we looked at other peoples work in our class and give each other strengths, in order to gain feedback so we can improve our work if we wish. I got the following feedback:

1.What do you like about the cover and contents page?

• Consistent theme, interesting and eye catching masthead. Not too busy. 
• Good image which matches the gradient of the cover/contents page.
• Simple and striking, colour-coordinated and consistent
• Clear house-style, good use of colour and font.
• Very professional looking and polished. There is a consistent house style and colour scheme.

2. Can you give me any suggestions?

• More cover lines on front cover.
• More detail on the cover.
• More cover lines and maybe a puff with buzz words, or a slogan?
• More on the cover
• its a bit dark
• Maybe boost the contrast on your photos? Although the colour scheme is quite dark, the photos have such low contrast that they aren't as eye-catching as they could be.
• More cover lines on the front
• Very minamalistic - add more detail

I agree with quite a lot of the feedback I received. However, it would appear that the magazine is coming across as House for the genre. I believe this is probably due to the colours and/or images I used. I agree that the cover lacks details and the cover lines look a bit ... childish. I need to change these and liven up the cover. A puff needs to be added and maybe play around with the contrast a little bit more. 

I'm very tempted to use a different photo shoot. As this just doesn't really appear like a music magazine to me, however I doubt there is enough time do re-do everything now. 

Working in InDesign

Today we had a tutorial on how to do so some things in InDesign. I learned a lot of new things throughout the session.

This was creating a new document and using the ruler as guidelines as to where the text would be placed. You did this by dragging down from the ruler.

Next we filled in the text boxes with place holder text which is randomly generated. It's to help see what your page will look like before you put your actual text inside.

Then we added a Header and a Standfirst. A standfirst is the first piece of text you read, almost as if to break up from the main text of the article.

We then placed in an image. You can either just click and the image in it's full size will be imported or...

...you can click and drag to make it into the size you require.

You can also make the image go behind the text. 

To make a dropcase was more difficult then I thought it would be. Although, it does give a nice appearance to the body of text. 

We then learned how to type on a path by using the pen tool. It's sort of fiddly to use but it ends up looking really amazing.

It's also possible to write within a shape.

So overall I learned a lot of new things about InDesign I didn't know before hand. I will try to use some of these aspects when making my DPS and Contents Page. 

Construction - Evaluating Cover

The aim of my magazine is to provide music on new bands in the Soft Rock Genre of music, so I chose to have a less ‘punk’ model than I initially thought. I think that it could include more of a music element about it, maybe get some photos of the model with a guitar or something. I gave it a darkened and low saturated look because I wanted it to look more ‘rock’ inspired. I’m not sure this works as well as I had hoped.

The coverlines can be read very easily, however I don’t like the way there are placed. I think it looks kind of ‘cheap’ and not so professional. I think I might change these.

The masthead is covering the top of her head but not her face. I think this is ok though. I guess I could of used a different photo but they all seemed to have her face high up, which I should of thought about during the photo shoot.

The typeface is simple, I didn’t want anything too flashy or hard to read. I chose Sans Serif because I think it looks nicer than Serif.

I think the background is fine. I wanted the focus to be on the model/artist so I tried to darken the background as much as possible.

The masthead is easy to read. I originally had the typeface black with a white shadow but I decided to invert it to increase readability. I think the chord design really helps to make it seen as a music magazine.

There is a barcode with numbers underneath. However, I forgot to add the price, date and issue number. This is something I will need to add when revising my design.

I think it is appropriate of the target audience. The artist herself is 18 so she falls between the 16-18 range. She’s also rather cute so might appeal to 16 year olds being slightly younger.

I don’t think it’s particularly music-like. The masthead works really well for a music magazine, being named after a musical term and having a guitar chord worked into the design. The headlines are also music related but I’m not too sure on the image. I think it works ok though, maybe I could add a few music notes or something to help.  

The design doesn’t really look like my original intentions. The masthead does, but I couldn’t seem to get the image to look how I wanted it to. I think maybe because I didn’t know how to so I think maybe I should play around with it a little more to try and make it perfect. The print out made it so that she had pink blotches all over her face and I don’t know why that is when it doesn’t appear that way on the computer.

Overall I think my music magazine is good enough although it could be improved in certain areas, which I will most likely do. 

Pre-production Planning

This was my production plan. I made this in order to organize when I need to do what is needed and then to keep track of my progress. I found it hard to stick to this especially when things tended to go wrong.  

I decided to firstly plan out some possible outfits for my model to wear in the photo shoot for the cover and other pages. I really like the first outfit as it looks sort of punk-like, which would fit the theme and genre of my magazine well - however, I also rather like the second design. I think it would be in Lolita fashion, a Japanese street style, but with some elements of black in it so that it wouldn't be too feminine. This could work as the street styles in Japan were created by teenagers in order to rebel against the average fashion trends.  

Above are some rough flat plans for the cover of my magazine. I prefer the first plan because I would want the model to have a close up rather than a full body shot. I think that it would be a good idea if the cover lines looked like they were cut out from magazines so they weren't just strait and put on there, as the typeface would look to mainstream and boring. After saying that, I prefer the positioning of the masthead on the second design. I think the page is more balanced in composition but I think that it could get a little overcrowded if I wasn't careful. Out of the two I think I prefer the first, and maybe I can use a full body photo for the contest page.  

Above are some more flat plans, but instead these are for the contents page. I prefer the layout of the second plan when compared to the first one. If I chose the first flat plan there is much more room to have a main image as I would like the image to be the main focus. I think the layout of the articles on the second design are more organized but it really doesn't leave much space for images. I think the first plan would work better as the page would look more visually interesting rather than if it was in a typical grid pattern like the below. I would also try and include the font to tie in with the front cover if possible.  

I was trying to figure out what kind of masthead design I would like on my cover, so I did some quick sketches of possible ideas. I like the designs on the far left side. I think the top left one looks the most visually interesting, as I tried to make a guitar chord as I was playing with the magazine name. However I broke the lines up a little to make it appear 'broken' - again playing to the name of the magazine. On another note, I really like the font of the design in the bottom left. I think it fits in well with the genre of magazine I'm hoping to go for, but the large black box behind it doesn't look very appealing.  The two images below include a font that I could use for the DPS and contents page, called Stencil. I like the style of the cut out look. I think it fits into the rock genre rather well. By changing the sizes of the font and having some as capital letters add to the overall appearance. The very bottom image is of my finished masthead design. I chose the one that had the guitar chord incorporated into the design. However, I think I might have to invert the colours once it's on my im ages.  

These were the photos take I took. I decided on the Lolita outfit as it's a street fashion originating from Japan. There are many types of Lolita fashion and this style is Bitter-Sweet. This means it is cute yet also darker in colours instead of lots and lots of pink like Sweet Lolita. I think I'm more likely to use the outside photos as she's wearing her coat, whereas inside they seem a bit girly. Maybe I could use them on DPS instead. I think if I could redo the shoot I would include possible a prop such as a guitar and I would of taken some to so that there was plenty of space to the side of her, so that it would be easier to edit for the contents page or the DPS. When I do use the images on my magazine I think I will make them darker with a higher contrast to make it feel more like a rock/soft rock magazine. 

Questions for Interview: 

1. What are your influences? 

2. Why did you want o become a musician? 

3. Your style isn't typical of a rocker. What is the meaning behind this? 

4. Who's your favourite band or singer? 

5. Can you play any instruments besides the Guitar? 

6. If you could, would you want to tour the world? 

7. What country would you want to perform in the most? 

8. How long have you been practicing music? When did you start to get recognition?

9. Was it hard to get where you are today?

10. What would you say to any aspiring musicians out there? 

These are the 10 questions I will be using for my interview on the DPS. I think they will provide me with enough to write about for the article. 

The articles that will appear on my contents page: 

Features:

Interview with Elizabunni! A New artist putting a spin on rock music!

A Quick Chat with The Arctic Monkeys!

Regulars: 

Editors Note 

Instrument Overview

Top Hits

New Bands

Concerts in Your Area

Tours

Posters

Iron Maiden vs Nirvana 

What Bands are Wearing

The Fan Corner

The Broken Chord Vault

Competitions

Latest CD's

The New Music Videos

Music News

Q&A

Subscribe! 

To come up with my article names, I looked through other magazines such as Kerrang! and DIY for inspiration. This helped a lot to see what kind of articles are actually inside magazines as the contents are very important as that is what the audience will be looking at to decide if they should purchase the magazine or not.