Contents Page Sketches

These are the two sketches I have designed for my music magazine contents page. They both follow the same layout of having a large, main image on the left of the page. I chose to use this idea as from the research I carried out into existing music magazine contents pages, the majority of the most successful pages used this layout. In both sketches, they include additional photos, which I would take of 'bands' from the 80's, 90's and today. However, these would be taken in a photoshoot I am soon to be carrying out. Similar to this, my main image for both of these would use an individual from a rock band, holding a microphone. The expression of my copy I will have to decide during the photoshoot as during my previous photoshoot my subject went through a trial of different expressions, as the original idea did not work. Despite this, I would like my copy to connote the idea of a 'rocky' energy, excitement and slight rebellion, typical of my genre of alternative rock music.

After much deliberation, I have chosen my second sketch. I feel this would suit my magazine better, as it is a simpler than the first, which then makes it similar to my front cover, as this also follows a simple composition. In the first sketch, I tried using a masthead I found whilst researching, that I felt worked well. But after sketching this, I now feel it is not appropriate for my magazine. As my masthead for the front cover follows a simple style, on one line, using this vastly different masthead would not mean it did not match, and mean it did not look as professional. I also like the idea of a 'subscription' advertisement for my magazine, as this helps to promote my magazine further to readers, and adds to the professionalism. For the features column, the numbers will be large, meaning they stand out from the page and means it is also attractive.

Finished Music Magazine Front Cover

This is my final magazine cover that I have edited and manipulated using Photo shop. I used my audience feedback to help perfect my front cover. I put many constructive comments to use, as you can see, such as the Paramore sell-lines and the enlarged word 'The' sell-line. Hopefully now my audience would be more satisfied with my cover as I have encorporated different views other than my own.
Overall, I am very pleased with this as a music magazine front cover, and feel it is very successful. I feel without designing a school magazine front cover, this project so far would not have been as successful, in particular my skills on photoshop. Practising taking photos for the school magazine front cover also enabled me to get a greater understanding for the effectiveness, focusing on the angles, lighting, distance, eye contact etc.The areas I am most pleased with are the shot itself. I like how the copy is centralised in the page, with the copy's arm and guitar dividing the page further. The shadow created from the spotlight works really well, as I feel it adds to the professionalism of the photo, whilst casting a the light across his face which enhances it, meaning it stands out to the reader. I also feel the spotlight works well as it gives perspective to the copy, as the copy's clothing is brigher nearer his face and masthead, which again enables the reader to be drawn to the key areas of the front cover. The images i used were photos I had taken from a previous gig, therefore the quality of these are not fantastic; in particular the image of Josh Franceschi which is slightly yellowed in colour. I tried to use Photo shop to manipulate the image, however, in the end I felt the image in more-or-less its original state works best as it also goes with the black-red-gold theme I have used.

Music Magazine Front Cover - Audience Feedback

Progress: Incomplete (Awaiting feedback)
This is the progress I have made so far for my music magazine front cover. Despite it looking quite complete, I still want to improve the front cover and make it look the best it could get. Therefore, I thought it would be useful to carry out some audience research, and use the opinions of others to help improve my magazine.
This was the feedback I recieved:


Positive comments:
+ The masthead behind the image looks good
+ The way the masthead darkens with the shadow of the copy from the light is effective
+ Shadow used around the tagline works well as it matches with the shadow made by your copy
+ Composition is really good
+ The puff hook works well
+ Small image cut out at bottom left of page makes it look proffessional
+ The way the guitar is not obscured by any sell-lines makes it stand out, and highlights your genre of magazine
+ Positioning of masthead
+ Positioning of sell-lines/text arrangments is clear and works well
+ Colour scheme looks good and is appropriate for your genre


Audience Feedback:

Negative comments:
- Paramore tagline too long, means its less eyecatching and too much for the page
- Writing on the banner needs to be clearer
- Barcode is not black and its too big
- Enlarge the word 'The' in your central sell-line
- Make the Paramore sell-lines clearer and bolder
- Date, issue number and price is too big
- Possibly change red banner to black
- Possibly change angling of text in the puff


Front Cover images:


These are two images I took when I went to see Paramore live in Cardiff in December. I took two photos, specifically in mind of my front cover. One is of the band Paramore, the other is of the band You Me At Six. The photos are not of a very good quality because they were taken live and without a tripod of any useful equipment. However, this also adds to the freeness of the music genre, and represents the live gigs aspect, so I feel it does not matter that this is not professionally captured. In the first image, I aim to use the lasso tool on Photoshop to cut out the band member from You Me At Six. I may decide to manipulate these two images on Photoshop to make the image clearer.

Music Magazine Progress

Progress: Incomplete.

This is my music magazine cover so far. I have been using a photo editing program called 'Photoshop' which I have used to enhance my work and create my ideal magazine front cover.
The image (including lighting and effects etc) masthead, slogan and banner are complete, however the white boxes and red box with sell-lines in black font in and the are where I plan to compose the text on my cover. I am pleased with the arrangements of the sell-lines, although feel the words 'The Killers' in the centre of the page need to be bigger.
I am very pleased with the masthead and slogan, and like how I used the tool 'drop-shadow' on Photoshop on the slogan, creating a shadow which works well with the shadow created from the spotlight by my subject.
Whilst using Photoshop to continue working on my front cover, I may decide certain elements of my front cover do not work, and also may decide to include more sell-lines and puffs. Nevertheless, currently I am very pleased with the front cover and the progress I have made.