Flat Plan Designs

This is how I imagine my front cover, contents page and feature article to roughly look like. On all of my plans, I have stated where text and image will appear. Throughout the process of making my magazine, aspects will differ, therefore these plans are not set in stone.

Front Cover:

I want a medium close up shot of my model for my front page. I believe this type of shot is more engaging for the audience. I plan to have the image overlapping the title of the magazine. This is a trait I picked up on during my research. "Cover lines" or "hooks" will be placed around the main image, just to add a bit more to the page. It isn’t always the main story that sells the magazine. Sub stories also contribute. The headline for the main story is placed at the bottom, which will cover the model's neck. Placing it here will allow the text to be larger and bolder making it stand out more. Typical conventions such as the bar code, website, price and issue will be placed in either the bottom right or left hand corner.

Contents Page:

I have decided on a fairly simple layout. A large column of text is positioned on the left hand side of the pagel, however it will be split up into categories therefore splitting the text up. An image linked to the one on my front page will appear on my contents page at the very top. Several other images will be dotted around the page to advertise several other stories. A letter from the editor is placed in the bottom right hand corner. I do expect my contents page to differ from this plan.

Feature Article:

I want a large image taking up the majority of the left sided page. The title for the article will cover the image partially and the introduction for the article will be positioned underneath the the huge image. On the other page, there will be the main article and several smaller images.

Questionnaire.

My Questionnaire:

It is important to find out what your target audience prefer in a magazine. By giving them a questionnaire, you gain feedback from the person themselves. The imformation is especially important not just to ensure your magazine will sell, but to esnure it will sell to the correct age group. After collecting all of the information together, I can create a magazine that fits all the criteria. When handing out my questionnaire, I will hand it to those between the ages of 14 and 30 like I specified in my Target Audience post.

1) Are you...

Male or Female

2) How old are you?

.........................................................................

3) What attracts you to a particular magazine?

.........................................................................

4) Do you buy music magazines? (If not jump to question 6)

Yes or No

5) If so, what genre of music magazine do you look at/buy the most?

.........................................................................

6) Are there any music magazines which you buy regularly?

.........................................................................

7) If you don’t buy music magazine, why?

.........................................................................

8) How much would you be willing to pay for a music magazine?

£1.50 - £1.99 or £2.00 - £2.49 or £2.50 - £2.99 or £3.00 or above

9) How often do you prefer magazines to be released?

Weekly or Monthly

10) What do you prefer reading in a magazine?

Article or Interview

Target Audience

To be able to create my magazine, it has to be aimed at a specific audience. For the type of magazine I wish to create, my target audience is of both males and females between the ages of 14 and 30. Many factors in the magazine contribute to this such as: content, layout and style.

Character Profile:

- I imagine someone who buys an indie/rock magazine to be a bit individual.

- They're favourite type of music will be of this genre.

- I don't imagine them to like dance/pop/r&b music.

- When thinking of an individual that would buy a rock magazine, I imagine them to have a completely different dress sense than that of someone who buys a pop magazine. I think the way people dress is in some way reflected in what magazines they prefer to read. If they prefer to dress in darker clothing, I think they are more likely to go for a magazine with a darker colour scheme. As many of the bands/artists featured in these magazine are generalised as goths and are typically seen wearing black, my audience would tend to wear dress like their 'idols.'

- However there are those who buy these magazines who don't follow these trends. Also, those who are at the higher end of the age range, will most probably dress completely different and act different to the teenagers. I will have to take this all into consideration.

- These are stereotypical images of people you would imagine to buy this type of magazine.

My Music Magazine

Style Models:

For my music magazine, I have chosen the genre 'indie/rock.' I quite often buy magazines of this type and I feel like I would be able to create a magazine similar to these. I have chosen two magazines as my style models. These magazines are very well known and are stereotypically known for some main features. NME is an indie magazine. Quite often the colour scheme is very bright and garish. I have specifically picked this edition of the magazine because of the minimalistic colour scheme. I particulalry like how the main colours used are black and white, and the accent colour comes from the models hair. This in my opinion is very effective and a clever way to introduce a new colour to the cover. The bold title of the magazine at the top is easy to spot. I like how the main headline and the subheadings can be distinguished from one another due to the font and text size used.

The edition of Kerrang I have chosen is fairly similar to the edition of NME in the way that the colour schemes are very similar. This front cover is busier than the first as there is a lot more image content. I think that both examples are successfull. Some people prefer to look at more on the cover but some find one image enough of a selling point. In order to only use one image, it would need to be a photo of excellent quality.

My Rivals!

My rivals would be Kerrang and NME as these are the most successful magazines in this area.

What have I learned...

Throughout the process of this preliminary project, I have gained many new skills in photoshop. Some of them taught to me and some through experimentation. I have learned new ways in which to edit lighting and page layout, which are essential in the process of making a front cover and a contents page.
I have learned about the conventions of both front covers and contents pages, and what makes them professional and effective.
I have also developed a sense of good phtography. Previous to the project, when I took photos, I didn't focus on the minor details. Now I know what to look for to ensure I have the best photography possible.

Front Cover and Contents Page - School Magazine

Front Cover:

A buyer’s first impression of a magazine comes from the front cover, therefore it HAS to look appealing. Most importantly you have to have a specific target audience for your magazine, whether it be for children, teenagers or adults. For my school magazine, the target audience is pupils between the ages of 11 and 18. I must ensure that on my front cover it is obvious that there is something for everyone in the magazine and this is displayed in "tags" (sub-headings.) Obviously, interest vary a lot from the age of 11 to 18 there thinking about content took time. For the younger audience, short and simple tags on exciting and interesting topics will seem more appealing to them. The older audience may find these interesting too, however they are more likely to read more serious stories, compared to the younger pupils.

This was my first attempt at my front cover. I chose to enlarge the main image filling the whole page, however at this point I have not edited it in any way. Pictures displayed down the side refer to sub-stories that will be included in my magazine. The Heworth Logo makes it obvious to pupils that it is the school magazine.


At this point I decided to change the title of my magazine. I think its catchy and will appeal to the audience more. I believe the Heworth Logo is enough to show the audience it is the school magazine. I edited the background image and made it brighter and changed the contrasts.


My last job is to add text. This is my final front cover. The short, simple subheadings are clear and effective. I made the text size for these smaller than the main headline as they aren't the focus. I added a drop shadow to the main headline just to make it stand out that little bit more.


Contents Page:

The contents page is difficult to design as you have to think thoroughly on the content for you whole magazine.

This was my first draft of my contents page. Here I have simply added text. I have thought about all of the content in my magazine and have designed a rough layout. I wanted to bring the Heworth Grange colours from the logo into the contents page, so i coloured the page numbers. Little details like this make it more obvious it is the school magazine.

This is my second draft. I have re-positioned the text as I though one column was more effective. I positioned a similar image to the main image on the front cover at the top of the page, linking the two pages together.

This is my final contents page. I have kept to a similar colour scheme to the front page (white with black/grey writing) and adding colour through the image. It is simple a simple, yet effective page. I tried to keep a balance between image and text content. Overall I am very pleased with both the front cover and contents page I have designed.

What makes a good photo?

What makes a good photo? After experimenting on taking photos for our preliminary project, when sorting through them, I was able to pick and choose which photos were the best. It is obvious at first what makes a good photo, but there are some other details which I had to take into consideration.

Good Photo:

The first image was one of my best photos, just because of the sheer quality of the image. It is focused and there is perfect lighting. The image isnt too busy, making it more likely to catch the attention of the reader.

Bad Photo:

The second image was my worst photos. There was dark lighting and it was the wrong location and shot distance. The location could have worked if the picture had been taken closer to the model. However, I did take several other photos in thee same location and they came out fairly well. Sometimes you just don't capture it properly.