work in progress...

contents in progress :)

edits and more attempts...

Photoshoot 2 :)

First attempts :)

Here is my first attempt at my double page spread. the font is too big and so there are changes that need to be made. opinions welcome :)

DPS drafts

Please choose your prefered layout.

1

2

Contents page drafts

 please choose 1 or 2 as your prefered layout :)

1.

2.

Title page drafts :)

 PLEASE VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE :)

1.

2.

3.

Treatment Sheet

Unsigned Magazine

Target readership. Unsigned is a new magazine, with an individual twist. It's called Unsigned because it is all about up and coming new bands on the scene, making it for a more select audience that are interested in the new music scene. It gives small, new bands chance to be recognised and make it on the scene. My target audience is young people between the ages of 16 and 25 that are interested in mainly indie/acoustic/alternative/electro music. The magazine portrays a fashion and style as well: the boho, indie, vintage look, attracting the audience more and reflecting their culture.

Form and style. Unsigned magazine will be a full A4 size magazine. It will include interviews, competitions, photographs, gig and festival line ups, sample EPs, advice and info pages on starting out in the industry, a few fashion pages - for girls and guys and plenty of brand new music. There will a series of colours used, blue will be a commonly used colour used as it is in my title. The magazine will cost £3.50 which is a reasonable and good price within the competative market as magazines such as Q  costs £3.90.

Themes and Typical Features. I have mentioned above some of the things that will be found in the magazine most weeks. There will be another feature that will appear in every issue: a county special, there will be a chance for a band from different counties from across the UK to be featured in the magazine, it will also advertise the local venues that people from that are would go to, giving the magazine a local feel as well as a national one. Every couple of issues there will be a free EP of a new single from band we think deserves a publicity boost because they've impressed us at Unsigned magazine. There will be advice for people that want to start up bands or make it in the business and oppertunities to win tickets to events and festivals, to win recording sessions and instruments and recording equipment.

Potential advertisers. Within the magazine, there will be adverts for new albums and events, festivals, topshop and topman, alcohol, event venues like the O2 arena, music equipment and technology, band merchendise and new tv programmes and films.

Editorial team. the magazine will be created by a group of young people, aged between 16 and 30 because they are the closest to the target audience and so know what is wanted. It will be a mixture of people, of both genders, and all cultures, in order to get an views from all angles to put ideas into the magazine.

Questionnaire feedback

As shown, I only had two responses to my questionnaire online, but I got some people in the class to answer it as well.

Do you think that there is a gap in the market for a magazine promoting up and coming bands? 
Most people thought that there was a gap in the market and it would be a good idea to try.

How much would you pay for a magazine?

I also had this as my poll, people said they would pay around £3 for a magazine.

Would you like a magazine focusing on one genre of music or a selection?

People wanted a selection.

What would you like to see on the front cover?

People wanted bright colours and an interesting photograph, with catchy cover lines.

What colour scheme would be appropriate?
There was a lot of different answers for this, but the 'brighter colours the better' was the overall opinion.
Would you prefer more pictures or more text? or about an equal balance?

an equalish balance, but slightly more photos.

What would you like to see in the magazine?
reviews, photos, interviews, gig listings and musical news were the favourite. I think posters aren't so popular with an older audience.

Magazine Name :)

I have chosen the title of my magazine to be 'Unsigned'. It will be full of up and coming acts that aren't known very well in the music business but are predicted to be hot on the scene soon.

I have made the title like a sticker that you'd find on a guitar case or a band sticker. it will look like it's stuck on the page.

I origionally made it in blue which I like, but I have created some other coloured versions to compare. feel free to comment :)

Photos...

I took a few hundred photos of Nici on Sunday, but here a few of my favourite ones that I think will suit a double page spread interview. Will need to get some more sometime for the front cover etc :)
let me know what you think...

 

 

 

Choosing a Magazine Name

I am trying to think of a name for my magazine and I would be grateful for some feedbacl/opinions/help!
So here are my ideas...

- Roots
- Unsigned
- Strings
- Flick

Questionnaire :D

PLEASE DO MY QUESTIONNAIRE :D


Do you think that there is a gap in the market for a magazine promoting up and coming bands?

How much would you pay for a magazine?

-less than £1
-£1 - £2
-£2 - £3
-£4 +

Would you like a magazine focusing on one genre of music or a selection?


What would you like to see on the front cover?


What colour scheme would be appropriate?

-blue, white, green and red

-black, white, and blue

-yellow, orange, red, green.

-mixture of colours

-other

Would you prefer more pictures or more text? or about an equal balance?



What would you like to see in the magazine?

-reviews of albums and singles

-interviews

-dates of gigs and festivals

-musical news

-posters

-quizzes and competitions

-other, please state




Any other ideas?




Thank you :)

Photoshoot...

I had my photoshoot with Nici yesterday :) got some really good shots, and did an interview with her for my double page spread. photos to follow!

double page spread analysis

 Double Page Spread.

This is  double page spread on the band 'The Temper Trap' from Q magazine. The photograph is the full A3 landscape page, and is a long shot, which is quite unsual on pages like this as they are usually medium or medium long shots. The colour scheme is quite limited but it looks affective. It also reflects the season the magazine was released in. The writing is over the photograph, which is something I will consider when producing my own. The photo is on both of the pages and there is more of that than text. The colours in their clothes are reflected in the brown of the leaves and the cream/natural coloured background. The font is serif making it formal, it is the same in the title as the text on the page. I will use different fonts to make mine more interesting. It is white on a dark background but doesnt detract from the photograph. There is a suprisingly small amount of text on the page, on an article like this you'd expect more text, or for it to carry on, however it doesn't. I am going to need to write more. The interview does not show the questions asked, just facts and quotes, which is really hard to write; I will include the questions in my article. In this case it is possible that they didn't interview all the band members or that the information has come from a press release, this is because of the few little quotes and length of the article. This makes the article quite boring to read as it doesn't come across as an exclusive. There is a caption box for the photo. They have used a drop cap which is quite common at the start of articles and is something I may consider doing. They have continued the house style of the page numbers and logos along the bottom and the email address and date of the magazine.  I really like the leaves in this picture because it makes the band seem friendly and down to earth, not bothered by all the fame and celebrity life style. The article is about their single, where they toured, their new album and what they've been doing.  There's information about the album and a website link.



contents page textual analysis

This is a contents page from the magazine Metal Hammer. They have  used a gothic type font as part of the house style for the titles of the sections. They have used the colours: black, red and white mainly. They have put adverts and images on the contents page to encourage people to carry on reading and buy the magazine. There are band stickers on top of the photos to advertise further. The images on the page of the artists, band members and women signify the target audience of men. The contents is split into subsections, which is typical of magazine contents'. The layout is quite square and neat, apart from the added images of stickers or posters, to look like they've been stuck on top, or to mess it up a little, giving the slightly more chaotic look. The pages are also given a rougher, older look to them to make them more scruffy, because nothing about the metal image is neat.

This is a contents page for the magazine Q. It carries on the house style of the 'Q' in the top left hand corner, and the colours of the red, black, grey and white. Which is also similar to the colour scheme in the Metal Hammer contents page. The fonts on the page are also quite similar to each other and the front cover. The contents is split into sections like the other one; they both have a section for 'regulars', suggesting that they are both magazines with regular customers that like their regular features. The layout is quite formal and neat as each thing is sectioned off with colours which makes it clear to find what you'd like to read. This is relevent because Q appeals to a wider audience and range of people, also it's proffessional reputation and image.

This is a layout similar to how I'd like mine to look like.  

front cover textual analysis

The Big Cheese

My immediate reaction to this front cover was that the masthead was quite hard to read. However for regular readers they would be able to recognise the style. It is clearly quite a popular magazine to be able to do that.

The contrasting bright colours of the pink and green make a bold statement about the magazine and image they are trying to pursue. The colour scheme/house style is continious throughout the text on the page. The stance of the people on the front page portrays a statement of what they are about, which is clearly what the magazine is additionally about, the band chosen are models of the type of customer they are wanting to attract.

The overlayed image of the man holding the cards suggest that the magazine is quite daring and gives an insight into the kind of fun they could have in the magazine.

There is a series of different fonts on the page, which may suggest that they are appealing to an audience of 'different' and 'alternative' people.  There are lots of cover lines on the left and right hand sides. They continue the house style colours of pink, green, black and white. There is a strapline at the bottom of the front cover giving an insight of the music andbands the magazine will be talking about. The distribution is by Comag Specialist and is a independant magazine published by The Big Cheese Publishing. This makes it a slightly unsual magazine compared to the other big named magazines. Which could be more appealing to their audience, it also means it could cover bands that haven't been heard of yet, making it a bit more specialist and different, also reaching to  market that isn't catered for so much because it isn't so mainstream.

Q
Q magazine is a very well known, big music magazine. I find it interesting that the cover lines are in gold and more pronounced than the masthead. The masthead is in the background of the page, behind the band, which could suggest that the magazine is all about the music, but is still easily spotable on a shelf as Q magazine.There is a colour scheme/house style of red, black, gold and white. These are quite grand colours, suggesting that the magazine is important and good quality and something that everyone wants - gold. It appears as a sort of collectors item as apose to a cheap magazine. There are again, a series of different fonts, the more important information highlighted or in a different colour. The colours are also bold and 'out there', which reflects the magazines image and reputation.
Q is published by Bauer London Lifestyle Ltd and distributed by Frontline Ltd.
These are big and official names giving the magazine status.
The magazine name is called 'Q' that relates to queueing up music. It's quite a popular magazine because it covers a wide range of music, appealing to a wider audience.

Vibe
Vibe is quite different to the other magazines I have analysised, because it's a completely different genre of music. It's a Rap magazine, which has a niche audience.The colour schemes are red, grey and black, these colours seem to be quite popular on the front of magazines, I think it's because they are bold statement colours that attract the eye from a shop shelf. The cover lines range in size but the font is generally the same. They have used Eminem on the front cover, who is one of the biggest and most well known names in Rap, this encourages people to buy it because it must be good if Eminem is on the front. He is wearing a black vest top that matches with the colours of the magazine. It's quite 'in your face' which relfects the music and attracts an audience. There is quite a stark lighting, that adds to his 'toughman' image. The fact he isnt wearing much suggests that we're going to get honesty, which is stated in the coverline about him 'coming clean'.
The other names mentioned are Swagga Jack, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Jay-Z and T.I. These are big names in the Rap industry making the magazine seem important and up there in the industry. Vibe is produced by Quincy Jones and published by InterMedia Partners which is a private firm, again for the niche market.

magazine analysis

The beginning of things to come...

So. The prelim task is over so it's down to the hardcore stuff.
We've been asked to create a front cover, contents and double page spread of a music magazine.

Here is my action plan :)

Research and Planning

3.1.11              action plan
                         magazine comparison              

10.1.11            textual analysis                     


17.1.11            questionnaire and polls
                         internet research

Construction

21.1.11           page layout
                        

31.1.11           treatment sheet
                        plan photoshoot

7.2.11             font and colour analysis
                        drafting

4.2.11             drafting

Evaluation 

28.2.11          evaluation


7.3.11            evaluation

:)