Evaluation Question 1

1.) In what ways does your music magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of existing music magazines?

The music magazine I created, ‘Apollo’, I created in a way in which it can be easily identified as a conventional magazine whilst still standing out from competitors. I achieved this through following the guidelines on creating a magazine and attempting to include many of the typical magazine conventions.

After decided on the aesthetic of my magazine cover I decided the masthead should be positioned where it is expected; therefore, I placed the masthead at the very middle top of the page. To make it appear a greater quality and to follow the typical magazine conventions I overlapped the main image on top of the masthead.

The main selling point for a music magazine is the main image which is usually placed at the centre of the front cover. A close-up image or a group image is used in music magazines when it features a music artist. I decided my main image should follow the typical music magazine conventions through the subject in the image’s serious body language and facial expression. It is not uncommon to feature a tone setting image on the front cover which gives the reader an indication to the tone of the featured article which it is linked to. The model in the image is looking directly forward as a mode of address to the audience and draw their attention to the magazine.

The model featured throughout the three pages is portraying a rock music artist who is seen as a prominent and popular figure in modern rock music. Even though I took a wide selection of images, I took them all using a similar style to obtain a coherent theme throughout the pages of the magazine that contained those imaged. I have used the same model for all the main pictures which makes it all complementary however, this may have been a risky stunt and limit sales as readers prefer to see a range of articles/interviews/images. It is typical for a magazine to have a variety of images of celebrities on its front cover but I have only included images of one model. I try to justify this decision by putting across in my article how famous the artist the model is portraying is. On the contents page I have used an additional image of an album cover to preview the reviews section of the magazine which is the only variance in image I use. The font cover of the magazine, whilst only having one image, contains the names of several bands which may grab the attention of the magazine’s potential audience.

Because of the coherence in content within my magazine, selecting fonts that suit its overall theme was relatively easy. I decided on fonts that were easy to read and had a relatively serious and minimalistic look which don’t take away attention from the images I used and the colour scheme. I aimed to achieve an overall relatively simple aesthetic for the pages of my magazine and my plain font choices help me get this effect. Although I aim for a degree of minimalism with my page designs, I use images that steal the attention of the reader from the overall plain page design and the ‘ordinary’ font to stop the reader from being bored by the magazine’s overall aesthetic.

 On the front cover I have included very little text, just the essential information and a few sell-line. The contents page includes a lot more text but it is mainly just headings and sub-headings which include brief detail on the features in the magazine. I believe the format and register used needs to be complementary to the targeted audience, if it was informal it would have created an image as though it was for children taking it away from the expected target audience.

FINAL DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

This is my final Double Page Spread including the article.

FINAL CONTENTS PAGE

This is my final Contents Page

FINAL FRONT COVER

This is my final Front Cover page.

Photograph Choices

By using the photography studio and taking photos on location in a studio, I plan on taking my own images and using some of these in my magazine. 

I plan on using one of these images for my front cover. Which John will be my main model/artist for my magazine. I may also use of these for the inside of my magazine, for the contents page.

For my contents page I will use a variety of images, some of which were taken in a photography studio as well as others that were taken in a music studio. By having a range of images it will give an insight of different articles within my magazine. Although I haven't fully decided on what images I will use when decided I will edit them in order to make them look more professional and conventional. Below are some of the images I will have on my contents page.

Colour Palette

 

This is my favourite colour scheme. The dark tones will reflect the serious tone of my music magazine. The first colour is pure black which will be used for text on a white background and will be the most prominent colour used in the magazine. Black will also be occasionally used as a background especially when I use black and whit pictures. I aim to blend any black and white images into a black background. The middle colour (dark grey) can be potentially used for titles of articles to add variance to the typical black colour scheme for text. The last colour (light grey) can be used as a background or boarder on the contents page of the magazine.

This colour scheme is similar to the previous colour scheme just with a red tint to the lighter colours. I have kept black in the colour scheme as I would use it for text also if I was to choose this palette. The second colour is an unusual colour which is a dark shade. I would consider using this colour for backgrounds or the title  of articles when on a white background. The lightest shade on this palette is just a even lighter shade of the previous colour. I don't particularly like this colour as it would only be of any use for a background colour.

This colour scheme uses shades of blue as well as black which would again be used for text and background with this colour scheme. The second colour in this palette (dark blue) is one of the best colours used on any of the palette in my opinion. I 'd use the dark blue for articles with the lighter blue shade being used as the article title. The lighter blue shade would only be used for article titles.

 

This palette uses shades of a turquoise blue as well as again containing black for text and background use. I don't particularly like this colour scheme and I think it's unlikely that I will use it. The darker shade of turquoise would be a good boarder for the pages of the magazine if the whole colour scheme for the magazine was shades of blue and turquoise. The lighter shade of turquoise would be used for article titles on a black background.

 

Coursework Progress: 13/03/2014

Magazine Front Cover:

• I have began editing my cover image in to the front cover itself and changed the colour settings to make the image black and white.
• I have left space for my essential information in the bottom right corner of my cover page.

Magazine Contents Page:

• I completed the features list of my contents page.
• I have completed editing the image that references the cover article.
• I have decided on which album cover to use next to the review contents section of my contents page.

Album cover image being used on the contents page

 

Contents page image referring to featured article