Draft Music Magazine

This is my front cover draft, i'm happy with the fact that it fits my original draft e.g. use of handwritten font, pastel colours, textural. This is very basic to what I would like to finally create, but it includes mostly all of the things that I will use in the final product e.g. masthead, strap line, cover lines, barcode, etc. I tried to tie in all the elements of the magazine, I made pastel coloured buttons for josh's top to fit in with the pastel colour palette, I used the same colours with text repetitively, I used the same font, I used the button effect on the issue date to match the button effect at the top of the page. Overall I generally am happy with this, but in my final product I will be using a different model, I will be adding more textural effects (as I find the page a little bare) and I will be playing around with other fonts and magazine elements. Overall I give this draft front cover a 7/10

Adam

Adam Godby is probably the best person ever, i just wanted to write a post about him because hes so coool :)

Analysing double page spreads

This is a simple double page spread from a design magazine, I like the fact that there is a statement photograph page, and then the other page is solely concentrated on the written element of the double page. In my opinion this is a great representitive of a double page spread but it is not quirky enough to fit my magazines image, I would like it to have more texture rather than a flat layer.

I decided to pick out another style of double page spread, this time it is a newspaper article, I think this is a good contrasting idea, as magazine is just a lighthearted type of newspaper, but the two are never really entwined. I think the headline and the column idea is quite a good idea and gives a different perspective of a magazine. The only thing I do not like is the quality of the photographs, and the advertisement.

I really like this double page spread as its quirky, quite colourful and arty. The main problem with it is it doesn't have a main focal point, but I like the use of tilted pictures, and the effect that there is more than one layer.

This is possibly my favourite double page spread as it includes most of the other's good points and throws them together, e.g newspaper style, main photograph, messy lettering. I also like the use of colour with it being mainly monochromatic allowing the red to really stand out.

Magazine Analysis

This is Love magazine its a high fashion magazine and it is released twice annually. Firstly, looking at the colour palette it is easy to see that it is very plain, but practical in that it is easily read, and still captures the essence of the photograph used. I think the use of black, grey and white is quite nice although too much of it makes it seem a little bleak, and in need of a splash of colour. I do however really like it on the photograph, i've also seen other photographs in greyscale and i find that it is a very flattering effect on any model. The layout of the whole front cover is extremely simple but to-the-point. We can easily see the theme and spotlight of the magazine by reading the small caption. Looking at the masthead, I really like the fact it is a single syllable, and four letters give an even look to the whole page - as it spreads across the top. I like the fact it takes up the whole width, however I think the font is very formal, and quite boring, but this is infact saved by the 'hand-written' look of the coverline that reads "Fashion and Fame."
Amelia's magazine is based around art and music which the art side of the theme can easily be recognized through the front cover. It is not a common looking magazine, it has absolutely no cover lines - it just relies on the intriguing art work used. I think the colour palette is really nice, but I also understand that they haven't really restricted their palette, as it is a picture - needing many different colours. I love the font of the title saying "amelia's" and judging by that and the overall name, it's easy to see what gender the target audience is - female. Another thing that inspires me - although very insignificant - is the positioning of the bar code, the bottom left hand corner of a front cover is a very popular place to keep it, as it's quite out of sight.

Beginning Idea's for Double Page Spread

Firstly, I know that I want to do an interview, as this is relevant to an up-and-coming music magazine as people will want to know more about featured artists, but also as I can use questions that tie the fashion and art themes into the magazine. I don't want to ask ordinary, boring questions that will just allow you into their musical life, I want to ask other curious questions that may sound childish - but i'm sure it's something people are interested to know. Here are questions that I could use;

What is your favourite item of clothing?, What's your favourite colour?, If you were left on a desert island what item would you take?, Who is your favourite musician?, What is your favourite food?, etc. - silly questions but unusual, fun and could provoke quite interesting answers that can show personality well.

I also want to have a sort of photo montage of the featured artist, it would be good if I could find a way to make the photographs look unusual asthough from a photobooth, or from a polaroid camera or on a negatives strip.

Post-Feedback Magazine Mock

After my feedback from Mr Ford I took his advice into account and changed my magazine a little. The changes I made were editting out the musical notes, and changing the slogan. I also scanned some buttons to test out the effect they could get - I initially thought that it wouldn't work well, as they aren't something scanners are made for but infact I think it looks really good, and goes with the theme along with the ribbon

I also looked more into the coverlines and highlighting key parts of them, as making the font bigger didn't quite capture the look I wanted. So instead I used my pastel colour palette to create rounded boxes with the writing inside. I think this works well, although I feel I may still experiment with this, but this idea is not to be forgotten :) (looks more effective in full size, not blog picture size.)

Teacher Feedback

Speaking to my teacher today (Mrs Frearson) I have been advised to do some research into logo's after giving her my idea of using buttons on the front cover. She also gave an interesting suggestion of using these buttons in the double page spread to show continuity.
Also after looking at my mock front cover, she suggested a colour picker tool so that I can use the greyscale edit but keep certain parts in real colour.