These were some of my inspirational covers and two page spread ideas. I liked the idea of a short masthead as it left you a lot more room for main articles, featured articles, info and more pictures. My double page spread was inspired by a Q double page spread. I like the idea of it being plain and simple, but I didn't want it too be too plain that it looses the readers interests. So I came up with the idea of having a mini questionnaire on the side of the page where the readers can send in questions and if they are answered win a free poster of the person in my main feature. I have written the questionnaire and its simple, questions such as 'what is your favourite colour?' ect. I quite like the idea as it is something that a magazine would do to gain readers.
I always knew from the start of my preliminary task that I wanted a plain white background with a central image of a girl, who would be my main feature. However, as I looked through other music magazines I found that only a few magazines used pictures with no background; they tend to look dull and not very interesting. So I came up with the idea of taking a colourful picture and then making the background black and white - which I think could look interesting and grab your attention as the picture will stand out more as it would be in colour. The picture will use all the main techniques, such as direct mode of address. I want it to be like any other cover picture but with a twist. I think it will work as I now have a good understanding of how Photoshop works and I think I will easily be able to edit something like that.
Cover one. |
The cover for this particular magazine is featuring Lady Gaga. The picture used on the cover for the feature is using Direct mode of address. The picture used is a mid shot and is focused just on Lady Gaga herself, it is quite a revealing and sexual picture. The cover itself is very straight forward but interesting at the same time. The colours used are simple yet catchy black, white, red and grey, I think because these colours were used it makes Gaga stand out more as she is obviously a skin colour and she stands out from the grey background. I quite like how her name is flowing through her, to me that shows that she is popular enough not to show her full name. The lexis used is good as you want to find out why Madonna should “move over” and we know how Gaga “has risen” but it must make the readers want to know if Q knows something that you don't.
The masthead is very simple just a Q on the ears of the magazine, simple yet easy to understand. There isn’t really a strapline but you could class “world Exclusive Move over, Madonna…” as the strapline as that is obviously going to be grabbing the attention of the readers, but that is the main article. There isn’t really a banner but again you could class “the UK’s biggest magazine" as the banner as it is in black and white and catchy, usually something a banner does, however a banner does tend to carry featured articles. On the ears of the magazine is obviously the masthead and also a featured article “100 most shocking moments in music” this is a very interesting article, there is no indication as to what they could be only that there in the music industry (a bad song, good song, bad album good album ect..) There are a lot of featured articles on the cover such as “Gorillaz” which are being advertised in the splash on the bottom right. It appears they have been given 5 stars (*****) which is just above the splash saying they have won album of the year, this shows the magazine is up to date with recent albums and that they have reviewed 107 more albums, which could intrigue readers as there might be albums in there that they haven’t seen before and also knowing that this magazine is up to date with the most recent albums. I really like this cover, I think it works well due to the main article and also the colour scheme.
Honey 2010
Cover two.Honey magazine is very popular music magazine. It not only talks about music but also the personnel life as stars such as Travie McCoy who is the main feature on the magazine. He looks as if he is the only article on the magazine. It is usually full of music facts, albums, recent releases, chart topping tunes and exciting new music videos. As you can see on the anchorage text on the cover “Gym Class heroes front man Travie McCoy raps about beefs, breakups and branching out from his band.” the main article is the only feature as its interesting on a recent rising star, so there making him the main subject.
The colours used again are very simple yet catchy, a teal blue with soft pinks and black suggesting innocence with the pink yet a bad and bold side with the black and blue. Blue is also the colour of Travie's tattoos so this could be represented for those. The picture really emphasizes his tattoos around his neck, they stand out and I think that is also to do with the soft pink background. There’s not too much to say about this magazine. It has a very straight forward masthead, it stands out but it is behind the main picture and is hidden. To regular readers of the magazine they are more likely to know the style. A you can't see much it might not attract new readers just as easily, as you don't get a sense of what is inside - it could be the best magazine in the world but you can't see this from the cover. The strapline is simple. ''P.E Heart Break''. There is a date used and also a website so it is professional, however compared to Q its not as interesting, it’s very straight forward but it does not look like a music magazine, or an interesting magazine at that, simple and straight forward is sometimes good but in this case it’s not doing this cover any justice. Q has Colour everywhere and an interesting photo with splashes, Q is aimed at a variety of audiences whereas Honey is aimed at indie/pop. Both covers are using direct mode of address, only Q has an interesting and catchy cover. Honey is simple and sweet, but it needs more depth, if you saw it on a shelf you would think that it was a simple gossip magazine on Travie's life not about his music.
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The layout of this magazine is clever, the central image does not use direct mode of address and I think it works better, it might not be following the readers eye when they see it but it does make it look gloomy and gives the magazine that extra push, it shows its not afraid to be different by just using black and white, but I also think whilst just using only black and white it could come accross as the wrong genre it might come across like a Rock or Heavy metal magazine. Overall all 3 music magazines are different and are advertising different types of music. The colours and layouts used are all different but all good in their own way Q uses a blank page with heavy wording and direct mode of address. It also has a niche audience, whereas the other two have specific genre's. Honey is simple, the layout is simple, the colour scheme is simple, there's not much too it, it does look good in its own way but I think a bolder layout and more featured articles would have improved it. Notion is a little different, it has no direct mode of address but it does have bold text and titles. It uses anchorage text and uses lots of information, possibly too much sometimes but it works.
Target Audience
My final Magazine 'M' was too be aimed at a range of ages, more of a commercial pop stereotype. I had found lots of different trends in other magazines. Things such as upcoming music tracks and not just the ones in the charts at the time. I wanted my magazine too please all ages varying from 16-60+. I think my magazine was more commercial than any kind of rock or punk magazine, as the kind of music I am representing would have been played on radios and in most shops. You tend to find that the music on radio one and capital fm plays a lot of music which is played in shops and local shopping areas which is where everyone will listen and hear it.
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