Before I begin the task, I need to research current music magazines and take ideas from their covers and articles so I can make my own magazine look as professional as possible.
I looked at a number of different magazines aimed at different target audiences and focusing on different genres of music so that I could get an idea of the choices I had to make when designing my magazine and how the images, fonts and design I used would effect the ideology and genre of my magazine.
The first magazine I looked at is the popular rock music magazine KERRANG. The front cover of KERRANG instantly tells me it is all about rock music, based on the artists' appearance and the dark colours they use.The way they put the artists photo in front of the title makes it really stand out which I like and also implies that the general public should already know the name of the magazine and should recognize it instantly. The colours and design of the cover makes it look quite masculine but having photos of female artists also make it appealing to females who enjoy this genre of music.
The next magazine I looked at was NME, another popular magazine, aimed mainly at upcoming bands and chart music.
I really like this magazine cover because unlike KERRANG it is not covered in titles and other images which I think gives the image more impact and makes the magazine look more classy. The use of the "WIN!" and "NEW ALBUMS" in red font makes it stand out
The third magazine I researched was MOJO a magazine aimed at those who are interested in the classical side of rock. I like the colours of this cover as although it is simple with only monotone and yellow, it would still be eye-catching on the shelf and looks classy.All of the magazines I have looked at have a bar code, price and date so I need to remember this for my own magazine.
After looking at these three magazines I decided that I wanted the magazine to be quite artistic in its appearance and for it to appeal to many genres of music rather than one specific genre like KERRANG. I also wanted my magazine to appeal to a wide audience as this will increase the distribution of the magazine and therefore the profits from sales, so I decided it should involve all genders and as wide a age-range as possible.
Whilst researching these magazines I also looked at the intended audience, costs and other statistics nd found out that...
For my magazine I need to come up with a catchy name that is easy to remember and that also reflects the ideology of my magazine.
MUD
To me, the connotations of this name are that the magazine is generally for underground rock music, something that isn’t very well known. It also sounds like a more masculine name which could mean the target audience is for mainly males.
I like this name as it is easy to remember and is catchy even though I would prefer to create a magazine that is appealing to all genders.
ANTHEMS
This name insinuates that the magazine is in search of new anthems for its generation, about music that is popular, well known and reflects the readers’ lifestyle.
“Anthems” is a gender neutral name and the target audience would generally be both males and females in their late teens (16-19 years.)
SILHOUETTES
This title sounds quite calm, and the magazine would therefore appear to be about a calmer genre of music compared to rock music, maybe classical. The connotations of this title are that the magazine would be more classy and up-market in comparison to the average music magazine such as “Kerrang” or “NME” and therefore would appeal to an older target audience. I like this title although it doesn’t suit the style of music magazine I would like to create.
STATUS
The connotations of this title are that it is generally for popular music that is in the charts or are popular amongst the underground music scene. It doesn’t really stipulate a specific genre of music which could give me a wide choice of options for my double page spread and photo shoot.
THE CHASE
I really like this title, it reflects what I would want from a magazine, chasing the best music around and letting the public know about it. It is gender neutral and is likely to appeal to people in their late teens; it also allows me to write about both popular and underground music of any genre as it is simply about searching for good music. This is the title I chose.
After choosing my title I had to find a font that represented my magazine in the way I wanted it to. It had to look good as it would also double as the logo for the magazine, it would be how the audience recognized it.
These are
my four favourite fonts, the first one is much more grungy and rocky looking much like the kerrang font. The second looks more gothic to me, and because I don't want my magazine to be specific to a particular genre I decided the first two weren't suitable. The third font is more stylised which I like and doesn't look too serious which is a characteristic I want the magazine to have, I want it to be fun. The fourth I also liked, it isn't genre specific and looks nice however I thought the detailing was slightly feminine so I decided to use the third font for my title.In order to start the front cover of my magazine I needed to plan a photoshoot so I asked two friends of mine who had the look I wanted for my front cover and double page spread. I originally wanted it to be a female duo however the photos of them individually worked better than when they were together so I used one for the front cover and another for the double page spread.
I wanted the models to be good looking females to attract the attention of the viewer and also I wanted them to have different vibes about them, one more indie, one more rocky, so that they appealed to two slightly different groups of people.
These are my three favourite photos from the photoshoot with the first model. I think the use of the discoball as a prop is very effective as it emphasises the fact that the magazine is music related and I also think the composition of all three photos would work well as a front page as the position of the model lends itself to being able to put quotes from the articles and titles of what is featured around the sides of the magazine as is seen on the MOJO and KERRANG examples. Originally I wanted to use the second image as I think the model looks very pretty however after thinking about it I decided on the third image. I made this decision for a number of reasons, firstly, I thought that the second image looked more something that would be found in a fashion magazine rather than in a music magazine and secondly, the photo was taken in black and white and I wanted something colourful and bold on my front cover to immediatley attract the attention of the audience and I thought it would be easy for me to alter the third imagine to increase the contrast and boost the colour so that it really stood out. 
After working on photoshop this is how the picture looked when it was finished. I love how the colours really stand out, it looks really artistic and stylish which is just what I wanted.