Peoples comments about my magazine...

“The colours used are effective and appealing. The magazine represents an ideal music related magazine and the values and beliefs symbolize the attitude of the target audience.”

“It is really good and looks as if it has been pulled from a real magazine.”

“I like the colour themes used throughout the magazine and the striking pictures used of the model are really effective and appealing. However the colour scheme seems a little over used in the contents page, everything matches and I think this makes it look a little unrealistic compared to an already established magazine like NME.”

“The double page spread is really good, I really like how the indie and rock music theme ties into a fashion magazine to create a whole different type of magazine. If this kind of magazine was published, I would certainly buy it.”

All in all I am very pleased with these positive, yet constructive comments.

Evaluation

For my final project piece I decided to do a front cover, contents page and three inside pages (a double page spread with the article carrying on over the page). The magazine is aimed at young adults interested in rock and indie music. Its unique selling point is that it is aimed, both for men and women, but more at women (which is unlike any other similar music magazine like NME and Kerrang).

Before beginning the making of my magazine I researched other music magazines in the market, I especially focused on Kerrang and NME as I know these are popular magazines and are aimed at a similar audience to my magazine. I also looked at Rolling stones and Q magazine. I then began to notice the lack of these rock/indie magazines that were directly aimed at females as most of these magazines had quite a masculine theme. I decided I would create a magazine that would fit into this market niche that was not necessarily directed only at females, but that definitely appealed more to female buyers. If my product was to be put out in the market and distributed to be sold, I imagine it would be sold along side these magazines as they fit into the same music genre. Anthem follows the normal structure of magazines in the sense of where things are positioned, colours themes and font size, but the double page spread challenges the usual form used in rock/indie music magazines. As although similarly to these other music magazines, the page has a separate theme to the rest of the magazine they usually have a slightly more gothic, dark masculine theme whereas my magazine’s is lighter and brighter. This means it looks slightly like the articles in fashion magazines and therefore has more appeal to a feminine audience more than all the other similar music magazines. To make sure it didn’t look too much like a fashion magazine, I included boxes and page numbers that incorporate the original rock/indie theme and colours (black, white, pink and yellow) that I used on my contents page and front cover.
My magazine shows that rock/indie music is not just for males. It shows that the social group music magazines like Kerrang, NME and Rolling Stone are aimed at are not as small as first thought; there is a whole female audience who do not have a magazine that fulfils there magazine needs. There is one extreme (girly fashion magazines) to another (masculine music magazines) and I’d like to think mine sits in between.
During my construction process I have learnt how to use Photoshop and Publisher to create a finished media product, and I have learnt how to learn the tools included along the way (the spot healing tool, the magic eraser tool, the polygon lasso tool etc.). I have also learnt how a good camera can really affect the end quality of a picture. I have learnt where I can find different fonts on the internet and how to download and use them (i.e. opening up the font file before opening the programme).
I learnt how different camera angles and zooms can really change how dramatic and eye catching a picture can be, I also realised how lighting and set can completely change the atmosphere and mood of a piece.
Looking back at my preliminary tack I can see that I have clearly improved. In my preliminary task I focused on using new tools and effects I had learnt how to use, rather than creating a product that follows a basic structure and form of a magazine that appeals to the specific target audience. Anthem looks more finished and professionally finished than my preliminary task and follows a more constant flowing theme throughout where as my preliminary task did not really follow any theme at all.

Construction

I then began my double page spread. I firstly wrote the title, introduction and the interview as most of the things that I included on these pages would be centered around the main text. The text I copied into publisher and used a tool that allowed me to let the text run from one column into which ever other next that I wanted. I did this on seven columns, each leading straight into the other. My title I made large and stretch across the whole main A3 page, I made this text large and bright and placed it on top of a brown coloured box that I created in Photoshop similarly to all the other boxes I previously made, using shaped erasers and drop shadow. I saved everything I made in Photoshop from now on as a gpeg image AND a Photoshop file so that I could import it as a picture into other computer programmes, such as publisher and so that I could also open then back up and edit then with the ability to edit layers separately. For the main title I used the font Stampete that I downloaded from www.dafont.com, I also used this further on in the text to highlight key words in the introduction and for every pull out quote I used. The page numbers, main picture, title background and the advertisement box on the last page. I decided to go onto a third page as I thought my article needed more pictures, and need more space for the text as it didn’t look right squashing it all onto one double page spread. This also allowed me to create an image collage of my interviewee, an advertisement for a competition the magazine is running that links to the article as it also involves new and upcoming bands and a large box at the bottom that has quotes from the general public about the band. I got pictures of six students and quotes from them about the band that I placed next to the picture of the person they belong to. On the third page I did not include a page number as there was no space and it looked silly if I made space for one, but in all other magazines not every page included has a page number. I designed the page number logo on Paintshop. I used the same happy killer font as my title for my magazine, used an A followed by the page number on the same colours that are used in the main colour themes on the contents page and front cover, I think this helps tie in the article to my magazine as it does deter away from the main colour scheme of the magazine as it a feature article and has a theme of its own which in this case I made mainly green, black and muted brown tones, but I did include small bits of pink, yellow and white as well to make sure it still looked like part of Anthem magazine and still gave it a slightly funky grungy feel to it so it did not become to pretty and girly like a fashion magazine.

Construction

After my title I moved onto creating my contents page. I began by splitting the page up by making a large box down most of the right hand side of the page; I decided this would be where my main list of what is included in the magazine would go, with most things included in the magazine underneath a picture on the right with a white background. Secondly I added in my picture main picture. Before adding the picture I cropped it slightly and corrected any imperfections using the spot healing tool on Paint Shop. Once on my contents page I positioned it quite high up on the page to show it was linking to the main story and therefore its importance as the main picture on that page. I positioned it a little way down from the top leaving space for a title. I wrote the title contents in the same happy killer font as my main title off my front page. I decided I would do all the other main titles on my contents page in this font, just a slightly smaller size. I then put a medium length, thin black line a little way underneath the title; I did this because I thought the main title needed to be separate from all the smaller text on the page so I used this line as a graphical design device, to divide up the text. I then started to add in my titles with the appropriate text underneath, I began with the main story at the top and worked down; news, reviews and then real life stories. I did each of the titles in white happy killer font with dots after it, pursuing the reader to read onto the lengthier bits of text to follow. This is apart from the ‘On the cover’ where I added three arrows I then continued adding in text in the same way as down the right column. I then added in pictures, some were the same free posters advertised on the front page Like on the front page they are angled to add interest and to fit more in without covering the main focuses of each one. But unlike on the front cover these did not have any kind of bright border and shadow around them to make them stand out, as this may distract readers’ attention from the main picture. I then added in a circle advertising a competition in the magazine, I made this pink and gave it a drop shadow to make it really jump of the page. I also placed it in the centre of the page; this broke up the page and gave a softer edge to all the lines and angular fonts used on this page. In the right hand bottom corner I could not originally decide what to place here, but soon realized most other music magazines had a small place on the contents page dedicated to advertising their own service of delivering this magazine to the readers’ houses for a reduced price, so I decided that’s what I would do. I used a small simple font, with the title of the magazine in its original happy killer font. I then saved my front cover as a jpeg image and then imported it onto this page, made it smaller and placed it next this advertisement, this is typical of this kind of advertisement in all similar music magazines.

Construction

I then began to add smaller text, such as then bands’ names along the bottom of the page and smaller pictures. Some of these pictured like the one of Same Beeton were links to smaller stories within the magazine, and some like that of Crimson Phoenix where to advertise free posters with in the magazine. I had to experiment with different fonts here to ensure that the fonts still stood out and were easy to read, with out over powering the text and pictures linked to the main story. I then near the free poster pictures decided that the text linking to these was not eye grabbing enough, so I enlarged the font and put it in a brightly coloured circle to make sure it drew readers to this as well as the main story. This is because free products and posters in magazines are often a large decision for new buyers to decide to buy a certain magazine (i.e. if a new magazine does not offer anything different to other magazines, or does not match similar magazines standards then buyers will not want to buy that magazine). After a lot of final touch ups and the last pictures and text where placed on my front cover, I still did not think it had the finished look other magazines did but I could not think of anything else I could add to the page with out it looking too busy or over crowed. I continued to look at other magazines and I came upon the decision to add a thin bright pink bar down the left hand side of the page with simple writing in explaining in basic what the magazine includes “Interviews, news and reviews”. I made this quite bold so that readers could easily see it and tell quickly the basic things they could get from this music magazine.

Construction

To create the basic title I used a simple black box as a background for my title, and then I searched through www.dafont.com to look for a font I thought would be appropriate for my title. If I came across a font I liked I clicked on it and typed in Anthem to see how it looked. I finally came across the font happy killer, downloaded it and saved it so that I could use it in the future if I wished. I typed in Anthem, changed it to happy killer font and changed the colour to white as this tied in with my colour scheme and contrasted well with the black background. I then enlarged it to fit across the page reaching one side to the other, and then re-adjusted the black box to fit the text in snug. I also added in the yellow bar at the top of the page in at this point, which is where I would later add relevant text onto. I choose to have the thin yellow line right at the top of the page, the title right below and then the main picture slightly off centre to left, this made sure the picture still had the full impact but left space for text and other pictures down the right hand side.
I then found a barcode font off www.dafont.com and typed in a few numbers similar to a barcode off an NME magazine, and then made up the last few digits, I then added then small text, which included price which I had decided at around two pounds; this was in a small font size and was simple, thin lettering. In a layer I put underneath this writing and the barcode I made a small bright pink box, this contrasted with the white coloured font on top, separated the barcode from the rest of the things on the front cover but still tied in with the colour scheme of black, white, pink and yellow and added to the eye catching traits on the front cover.
Underneath this box I placed a long thin yellow box and a smaller yellow box above it on the right hand side and used a jagged shaped eraser tool to roughen the edges up to add to the slightly grungy feeling of the magazine. Then in a computer looking font added the text ‘Plus!’ in white. I enlarged it slightly and then added a drop shadow to make the text stand out even more; I then also added a small drop shadow to the yellow boxes to help make them stand out on the page a bit more.
I then added my main story title to the page; I made the slightly more insignificant text smaller and black, with a pink blend around the edges and made the main text (the model in the picture’s name) large, bold and white to stand out from the black picture behind. I gave this large text a drop shadow as well to jump off the page, to really capture possible readers’ attention when for sale and to draw buyers of the magazine into the main story.

Planning and construction

To start with I chose which picture I would use for my front cover, I chose a face shot of my model so that the picture would be up close and eye grabbing, and therefore appropriate for my front page.

This was my original image.>>>

I decided to dress my model in dark colours to contrast with her blonde hair and fair skin and to tie in with the black font and design features I was planning to use on my front page. I put her in a top hat because she is a member of new upcoming band that is regarded as cool but with a bit of a different twist, I decided not to dress her in typical indie or rock chick clothes. I decided to go for the cool, quite fashionable clothes teamed with the big earrings and top hat gave just the right look I was going for.
Once I had decided on the right picture I opened it up using Photoshop and using the polygon lasso tool, I cut my model out from her background because it wasn’t on a good background. I had to be particularly careful around her hoop earrings, as I had not previously thought during the shoot how hard they would be to cut out. Once I was happy with how the picture looked cut out, I blurred and softened some edges around my model’s earrings and hair so that the edges didn’t look harsh and jagged, or unprofessional (You can see the picture up to this stage next to the original picture above). I then zoomed in on the skin to erase any imperfections using the spot healing tool and brightened and darker parts of the skin with the smudging tool.
Before deciding where exactly to place my picture on the page and deciding whether it needed cropping much or not, I decided to make my title to help me have a better idea where these two major parts of my front page should go.

Research and Planning

Double page spreads
NME

The inside pages of this magazine don’t always seem to follow a particular similarity, especially in double spread feature stories or interviews etc. Each one fits in with the interview or story in the text. But they do all seem to follow a masculine ‘modern rock’ theme which is appropriate for the target audience of old teens and younger adults interested in rock music. Both of the double pages fit in with a chosen theme, for example all the fonts stick to a similar style, and all of the colours tie in with each other and the chosen pictures (and often either compliment or contrast with the colours within the main pictures featured).

Audience
As I continued my research into music magazines, I realized although girls and young women do but the popular rock magazines, the magazines are not aimed directly at women as they all follow quite a masculine theme. I realized that there is a gap in the market that can aim a similar kind of music magazine, still for lovers of rock, but maybe with a slightly more light hearted feminine touch so that they appeal more to a female audience. I will research some popular female fashion magazines and take ideas from them to team with what I have found from the rock music magazines I have already researched to help me create my magazine.

Photographs
I decided to look more into what sort of photographs are included in magazines, both on the front cover and on double page spreads. I wanted to find out how the photographs are included in a theme of a page, what sort of background the picture has, who is in the picture, how close up this person is and what sort of things surround the photograph once it is in the magazine.
I came to the conclusion that pictures really do vary from magazine to magazine, and within each magazine itself. Pictures never get too distant, but they definitely vary in how close up they are, what angle they are taken from or placed at, how many people are included in the photograph, whether the picture is black or white and what sort of background it has. I most magazines the picture is tied into a theme either by the theme fitting with the style of clothing the person featured in the picture is wearing or by the colours in the theme matching those colours worn by the person in the photograph.

Themes
Most rock magazines themes are based on a grungy, dark look or an up to date modern rock style. Female fashion magazines often look quite simplistic, artistic looking and modern. I would like to be able to tie these themes together is I can to create an appropriate theme for my magazine.

Colours
In music magazines like Rolling Stones and NME colours like red, yellow, black and white our predominantly used but pink is also used to make things stand out and give the magazine a sort of modern funky slant to it. Fashion magazines often us simple colours black, white a grey with one other colour. I will try not to mix up too many colours like some music magazines do in order to help it appeal to the female audience I would like my magazine to attract, I will attempt to stick to black and white and add one or two colours to appeal the woman’s eye.

Layout
Front covers
Often have a main large picture in the centre nest to a large title explaining it. The title of the magazine is at the top and other stories and smaller pictures go down the sides and along the bottom (alongside the barcode which is generally always at the bottom). My magazine will follow a similar layout to this.
Contents Page
In most contents pages they have a large picture as a main focus point, and then a list of features in the magazine listed down one side with the page numbers next to them. They often have smaller pictures nearer to the edges of the page linking to certain highlighted articles. Most magazines also dedicate a small part of their contents page to a small bit of text convincing readers to register with the magazine to get it delivered to the doors whilst also saving money, this usually has a picture of either the front cover of that issue or of a previous issue of that magazine alongside the text. Most contents pages also have a main title either saying the word ‘contents’ or a word or phrase that is something relating to the main story/article in that issue of the magazine, but normally it is the word ‘contents’.
Double page spreads
These normally have one main picture either across the two pages or taking quite a large chunk of one page, the main text normally fits around this picture. The title goes along the top of either one of both pictures. Under the title there is normally a summary or introduction of what will be included in the main text. Other smaller pictures are often used either to show other places the person featured in the article has been, or a chronological picture gallery of the person or just more smaller pictures linking to the article. Sometimes there is a box at the bottom of a page with pictures of members of the public and quotes they have said relating to something included in the double page spread, whether that is a disgracing picture of a star or a new album an up and coming band has released. Boxes or circles are often used to make a certain piece of random or important information on. And a lot of pages also have a box with writing in that relates slightly to the article, but either leads onto something later in the magazine, links to the next issue or makes the reader want to read because the article they’ve just read has got them in the right state of mind, e.g. entering a competition to win gig tickets to see a particular band after reading about that band. Also these pages normally have the page number in the bottom outside corner of each page, unless something is in the way of it.

Voice
The voice used in a lot of the rock music magazines I read was quite colloquial and laid back, using taboo words and common slang/ non-standard language. At the same time there is a feeling to these magazines that makes you feel like the writer knows what they’re talking about using musical abbreviations for bands, guitar positions and gig venues that makes the reader want to be part of that world the writer is talking about. In the older teenage/young adult female fashion magazines I have been reading the voice sounds more upper class, but at the same time slightly chattier and therefore more appealing to a gossipy female audience. In my music magazine I will try to make the voice I use in my magazine slightly chattier than in typical rock magazines.

Genre
I have decided to go mainly for a rock music genre; I have decided this because rock magazines seem to be the most popular music magazines sold. I have decided however to make mine follow a slightly more feminine theme to fit into the niche I found in the music magazines market.

Text
Content – titles are short, eye-catching and straight to the point. The main text for the double page spread is relevant, but in music magazines especially, often random or slightly out of the ordinary thing can be added in or around the main text to add interest to the article and to give the slightly quirky feel to the magazine that you often get in similar indie and rock music magazines.
Font – Titles are bold, colourful and eye-catching even inside the magazine. Whereas large chunks of text are smaller, simple fonts in plain colours (normally black, or white on a black background) that are easy to read.

Magazine title
When researching I realised there were a lot of different names for magazines (music, fashion and others) and that the names needed to be appropriate for the type of magazine and the audience being targeted. For example Glamour magazine is for young, glamorous, fashion conscious women, therefore the name is really self explanatory. Kerrang and NME are both aimed at teens and young adults interested in rock and indie music, they both sound funky and cool which is appropriate for the target readers. Although I want my magazine to be targeted at females more than Kerrang and NME are, I do want it to have a more musical name, rather than sounding like a fashion magazine. I used my own musical knowledge to think of possible names for my magazine:
-Verse
-Treble
-Anthem
-Crochet
-Alto
-Sonic
-Voicebox
-Andante
-Repeat

I finally decided on the name Anthem because it sounds strong and bold as well as being appropriate from the genre of my magazine. To make sure it would be a popular name I asked 30 college students if they preferred that name or one of the others, 28 said they preferred anthem, 2 said they would prefer another name. Therefore I decided to keep Anthem as my magazine title.

I then tried out a few different fonts to see which one would look best for my magazine, I choose Happy Killer in the end as i thought this was simple, and was strong and bold without lookin too masculine (see in picture, Happy Killer is the bottom font used).

Magazine Research

Front covers

Kerrang

The first thing I noticed about the front cover of Kerrang was that the black and white title is always straight along the top, and the main cover stars are quite large and in the centre of the page, and the top of their heads always cover some of the Kerrang title. The backgrounds of the pictures are often dark or set scenes, not white like typical fashion magazines; I think this adds to the quite boyish theme with in many modern music magazines of this style. Above the top of the title is always a thin strip of colour, that often either has approximately three band names on or something that readers might find interesting (for example new albums, upcoming festivals or competitions). In the centre, or towards the bottom of the page is always the name of the band in the picture, it is either in white, a light bright colour like yellow, or in the band’s usual font (as you can see for panic at the disco). At the bottom of the page, and often down the sides, these pictures are surrounded by a white border, a bit like a normal basic printed photograph might look, and they are often tilted on a slant. These pictures are often underneath a title about free posters in a medium sized, simple white font surrounded by a thin black border on a small band of coloured background. All other pictures are either surrounded by, or next to relevant text.Bright colours are often used as a theme, such as pink, purple, red and yellow, to make the magazine stand out. Black and white are typical colours used on all magazines.

Magazine Research

Front covers
NME

NME always has the black, white and red NME logo in the top left corner and the black and white barcode is always in the bottom right. Most of the titles are in large fonts that are either red or white, and in the middle or towards the bottom right.The front cover seems to always have smaller titles along the top. The colour yellow is used quite a lot as well, mostly to make any titles about free gifts or competitions stand out. Some of the titles are also fitted into the colour theme of the picture, these are often the titles associated with the picture. Shapes used on the front cover are either oblongs down the side of the page, or circles. Both shapes contain texts that are something “special” and probably considered important by the reader or to highlight something the magazine producers think are important for the reader to see (competitions etc.). The Christmas special uses some fonts to make the magazine look like a programme from a pantomime to fit in with the Christmas theme it is trying to achieve.

Double page spreads

NME

The inside pages of this magazine don’t always seem to follow a particular similarity, especially in double spread feature stories or interviews etc. Each one fits in with the interview or story in the text. But they do all seem to follow a masculine ‘modern rock’ theme which is appropriate for the target audience of old teens and younger adults interested in rock music. Both of the double pages fit in with a chosen theme, for example all the fonts stick to a similar style, and all of the colours tie in with each other and the chosen pictures (and often either compliment or contrast with the colours within the main pictures featured).

AS Group 26