Music magazine front cover

This is the final design for my music magazine. I decided to reduce the size of the main image as the model was taking up too much room and I was not left with very much room to add important information such as the cover lines, issue number and date.

Now, with the extra space, I could add more stories about other celebrities which would help me in the future with creating my contents page as it would give me more to include and more to write about!

Previously, the background was not blue, it was a plain cream colour. That bland colour was quite boring and although it supplied many possible colour schemes that I could work with, it didn't stand out enough. By changing it to blue it gives the magazine more of an edge than before. I can now also continue the blue theme throughout the magazine, for example in the contents page; the blue colours give me a basis to work with.

Music magazine front cover draft 2

I think this photo is more suitable for my music magazine. The reason for this is that it includes a musical instrument, the guitar, which connotes the fact that this is a music magazine and the model also has eye contact with the audience. By maintaining eye contact with the readers, a connection is formed which would hopefully make them more willing to purchase the magazine. 

There is still a problem with the font that I have used for the masthead. It is still far too curly. To make my masthead stand out, I need a stronger, more solid font. The grey colours I have used for the cover lines are too weak. I need to make them bolder so that they stand out for the reader. The grey colour is too dull and doesn't catch the audiences eye. 

Music magazine front cover, draft 1

A main issue that I have found with this design for a front cover is that the model is not looking at the camera. If he were to be looking at the camera, a possible connection could have been formed with the reader.

Contents page draft

Front page draft

Aims and Introduction

Aims and introduction.

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By researching many different genres of music magazines I have finally settled with the decision that my music magazine will be ‘Pop’. I looked at magazines such as Q, Kerrang, Top of The Pops and Rolling Stones to inspire my choice. I have chosen to use pop as my genre as I think it will suit my target audience the best. I aim to entice mainly teenagers who will probably be girls, all depending on the design of the magazine front cover and the content. I think it would be a good idea to bass my content on Pop as it appeals to a very wide demographic as a popular genre, talking about artists such as Justin Bieber, Rihanna and One Direction. 

The magazine that has inspired me the most would be Top of The Pops. I used to read it a lot when I was younger and I think their main target audience is younger teenage girls. They attract these girls by including articles about bands such as One Direction. If I too include articles about bands such as 1D, it may limit my audience to just girls and a few boys. I should try and avoid this by using a wider range of artists and bands to interest a wider audience!

Whilst researching music magazines I discovered many codes and conventions that I was not aware of before. For example, I now know how important it is for the masthead, cover lines and main image to make an impact on the reader so that they are tempted to buy the magazine as soon as it catches their eye! When I plan and write out my cover lines and contents page I will try and keep the text as minimal as I possibly can so that my possible readers do not get bored of large amounts of text. On the other hand, on my double page spread, I will include as much information as I can so that the readers get their money’s worth!

The layout and design is very important in relation to the audience I am targeting. They should both be subtle and not too much to take in at one glance. Bright and happy colours should mix well with the genre of pop. Even from the word ‘pop’ you can tell that it should be upbeat. The image on the front cover will be of one model in front of a plain back ground. I do not want too much going on around him as it may distract the reader from what is important, the model. If there is less focus on the background, there will be more focus on the important information included within the cover lines. The cover lines will be strategically placed around the model to make it look as though nobody is over shadowed accentuates that the audience is important.

To conclude, I will be basing my music magazine on the pop genre, I shall be targeting a young audience and finally I shall keep all aspects of the magazine happy, bright and uplifting. I will speak about both current musicians and those who are up and coming!

Production schedule

I have created this production schedule for my own benefit, it should help me keep on track of the tasks I have to complete whilst trying to achieve a fully produced music magazine front cover. If I manage to get all of these tasks done by the assigned dates, my front cover should be finished in no time!

Task	Start date	End date
Drafting	22/11/2012	22/11/2012
Photo shoot one
Photo editing
Photo shoot two
Photo editing
Photo shoot three
Photo editing
Uploading chosen photos to blog
Producing designs for front cover
Inputting photos
Inputting text
Merging all elements together

Mood board 2 - photo shoot ideas

Mood board 1 - layout ideas

Mind map - double page spread

Mind map - contents page

Mind map - Front cover

Questionnaire analysis

Questionnaire analysis

1)    What gender are you?

As you can see from this pie chart, I asked more women than I did mean about their music magazine preferences, making my questionnaire a bit biased.

2)    How old are you?

As shown in my chart, half of the people I asked were between 16 and 19 years old due to the people available in my class that I could ask. This doesn’t cause a problem though as I will be aiming my own music magazine at this aged audience.

3)    When buying a magazine, what genre would usually interest you the most?

Here, Pop music magazines are clearly the preference of my audience so I shall base my music magazine around that genre.

4)    Out of these four music magazine covers, which do you most prefer?

There is an even divide between the layout of the Top of The Pops magazine and the Kerrang magazine. I shall take it into my own hands to decide which layout that I shall use.

5)   
















Out of these four colour schemes, which appeals to you the most?

There is a clear preference shown in this pie chart, people most prefer the simple red, white, blue and black colour scheme.

6)    How often do you purchase music magazines?

It is very clear that many of the people I asked do not read magazines very often. This may have influenced their responses to other questions in the questionnaire, making it not very valid.

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

Half of the people I asked would be willing to pay £2-£3 for a music magazine. None of the ten people I asked said they would pay any more than £4 so when I create my music magazine, I will make sure it is not over priced.

8)    Do you prefer a lot of text/information on the front cover or not?

People mostly responded saying that they like the information kept simple so when I make my magazine front cover, there will not be too much text and the cover lines will be kept simple.

9)    Out of this selection which musical aspect/person would you rather read about?

The main topic I will be focusing on in my music magazine shall be a feature about bands in the music industry as that is what people clearly want to read about the most. 

1)     Which social class would you say you were in?

    The majority of people that I asked classed themselves as lower middle class. This would mean that their profession would be in supervisory or clerical. As the people that I asked mainly were in my classes, I know this is not true and they may have taken a wild guess as they did not understand the question properly. Next time I will take care to make my questions more specific.