Drawen plans for my magazine

As you can see here I have drawn out plans for my magazine which will help me while making my magazine on indesign.

With the font page I have kept it simple to make it appealing to the eyes which will stand out more than haveing the font cover jam packed with articles. With the addition of the logo in the top right you can see the draft product on my blog. I am going to change the main image to the one I used in the draft however. 

Here is my contents page which is the same as the one on my blog however I have added in my logo into the top hand corner and I would like to add on the bottom of the page a link to a facebook and a twitter page for the magazine. I decided to have this page look like this because I belive that it easy to read and has structure to it. I have used the idea from ''we love pop'' contents page as its works and would attract the intrest of the a teenage audience.

Here is my DPS which I want to use. From my DPS I want it to be a question and answers article. Were when I have the photoshoot I will ask question which will therefore be used for my DPS and some of her quotes will be used as pull qoutes. I will have to take 3 good images for my DPS which I will have a white background to go with the white background.

Here is a plan that I have created for all the diffrent pages that I will have in my magazine.

 

1. Front Page
2. Contence Page
3. Behind the scence with Katy Perry
4. what Jessie J did next
5. Jessie pop into the charts- DPS
6. Jessie pops into the charts- DPS
7.  Compititions
8. Everything you need to know about Taylor Swift
9. How to be Rhinana for the day
10. Ed Sheeran spils the beans
11. Lady Gaga new music album- Art Pop
12. Katy Perry new music album- Prisum
13. Icon Pop new music album- This is
14. lea michlee from Glee makes a music albulm
15. Miley Cyrus dose it again
16. Little Mix mixes no more
     

Looking at DPS to get ideas for my DPS

From doing some research I am hoping to get some ideas for my Double page spread. I have made sure that all the Double page spreads that I look at fit in with my theme of pop.

(Glamour  magazine)Here is a DPS of Alexandra Burke which as you can see the page is split into two with the image of her on the left and the writing on the right. this makes sense as we read from left to right so having the text on the right makes it easy for us to read. in the top right hand corner we have a pug with ''coming soon'' written there which acts as a attraction to when your flicking through the magazine and you see that in the corner you are drawn to it, to find out more. With the image being a full page with hardly any text around her make us forces more on her and she becomes the pin point of the article. the use of pink with the pull quotes makes them stand out on the white background and appeals to the female audience. in the bottom right hand corner we have the web-sight for the magazine and the logo.

Now im not saying this is a bad DPS, I just feel for my magazine I don't think its fits in right with my theme of pop. As its too structure and looks to aimed at a higher target audience than my 11-21 year old females. however there are some element in which I will take away from this and use in my DPS. such as the page furniture and the pink fount for the pull quotes.

(Top of the pops magazine)Here is another DPS but with pixie lot. Now this has a different design in the way its set out to the last one as there more pictures but less text. Now this DPS focus the idea of having a question and answers which is something that I am interested to do on my DPS as this allows me to interview my model when I take the images in the photo-shoot. I like how there lots of page furniture on the page as it grabs people attention however I know that some people may find this off-putting and not read the page. I like how the background is not white and is a nice contrast with the colours of the founts and images used. The main image which is on the left fills the full page which shows that she is the main point of the article. With the secondary images they just add to the page design which works well. I like how one of the secondary images is in an old photography style that you get when using the old cameras which is something that I want to try in my DPS. In the top corner there is a puff that links you to the album that she has made which I think is a good synergy with the product placement.

Over all I like the style of this magazine and will defiantly use some of the ideas presented here in my DPS. I also took away some of the poses that Pixie Lott uses as one of the problems that I had with my last photo- shoot was that I didn't know which poses to make my model do.

(pop magazine)This is an interesting DPS which I like the idea of having the main image spread across the two pages with the text hugging around the image making the image the vocal point of the magazine. The drop cap I think grabbed my attention when I was looking for DPS for ideas which is why I could include a drop- cap in my magazine. Again the background colour works well with the image and appeals to the female audience which is something that I should consider when choosing a background colour for my magazine instead of using white.

This magazine ok and I will be experimenting with the main image across the two pages as I like how I can make the text wrap round the image. It all depends on what images I take in the photo-shoot.

(Q magazine) This article is about Lady Gaga which the drop caps over the text on the right. Now this is an interesting idea but I feel that it cover the text making it harder to read but draws attention to Lady Gaga. The main image again is on the left filling the page.

I took away from this the difference ways that people use drop caps and that the image I take in my photo-shoots has to be big enough to fill the page.

(Now magazine) This DPS has the main image not across the DPS but near the middle of the two pages. This acts as a separate of the two pages. From this along the top there are multiple images of the main person but in black and white which I think gives off a nice effect in juxtaposition with the colour main image. Under the image there is lines which gives a sense of structure to the magazine which make the DPS look professional. The pull quote is next to the image and even though it’s not wrapped in text it’s still stands out next to the image. They have used a white background; which allows the hints of colour that are on the page to stand out more on the page.

I like this DPS it has a clear structure and looks appealing to the eyes which is something that I want to create with my magazine. I think I will take away the use of the lines under the image to separate the page with my DPS as it will make my DPS look professional.

(i love pop magazine) Last but not least I have a DPS of Beyoncé apparently dressing like Lady Gaga. I picked this one out as this DPS uses boxes to separate the different sections of the article. There are many images on this page which makes it hard to know which one is the main image, but you can tell that it’s Beyoncé as she the biggest image on the DPS. The background is black which makes the pink stand out than the white would of.

I got form this the heading of the article as its big and is a pull quote which brings up the ambiguity of what the article is going to be about. I like the use of the boxes but I don't think I will be using them in my article as I think it just looks messy on the page and is more aged at a younger audience.

A note from me :3

ok from doing this I have decided to make my DPS a answer and question interview style article. I will put up some drawen ideas that I have taken away from this and write the articel out in later blogs.

Makeing a music magazine

When making a music magazine or any magazine there are some steps in which you can follow if you want you magazine to be successful : http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2011/08/6-steps-for-producing-a-custom-magazine/

1. Have a deadline of the plan of your magazine to your editor 
2. Design a draft for the magazine which will be looked at by a graphic designer 
3. Have like a story board of all the articals that are going to appear in you magazine.- this is so you can see the content overall and see if it fits or not with your theme 
4. Printing deadline
5. Distribution date (sales and marketing)
6. Content plan 
7. Plan for each article 
8. Check 

Now I have been doing some research into making a magazine on the internet and stumbled on this artical which is in a magazine itself by Cosmopolitan http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/_mobile/campus/cash-and-careers/student-careers/self-publish-your-book-magazine
it basically gives you a idea of what you have to do to make your own magazine. 

1. Hire a designer
2. Get someone to proof read for you (again and again and again!)
3. Find a printer
4. Content is key
5. Realise that it is up to you to sell your product


A NOTE FROM ME :3 
After reading these I have taken aboard that making a magazine isn't going to be like coming in one day and having a magazine in one day. I will have to plan and develop my skills of being a photographer, journalist and editor which is something that I have never done before but I am up for the challenge. 

Institutional context

How you may ask is how am I going to distributed my magazine now ive been thinking that the best way is to got to a big distributing company  like Bauer as they have distributed lots of music magazine which are very successful today and allow them to distribute my magazine to all the supermarkets to get my magazine to its maximum target audience instead of me trying to sell the market my magazine myself. I could make it free to download like a game magazine that I get every mouth sent to my email and all i had to do was subscribe to the web-sight which was free of charge

http://www.gamerzines.com/ web-sight for free online magazine which you can have an online addition or an interactive PDFs

Here are some comments from my questionnaire about having a digital copy of a magazine.

• magazine form because then you have a physical copy and they are alot easier plus you can just read and then disguard instead of having to delete it from a device

• I think I'd prefer to read it on an iPhone/iPad or whatever, as it's less fuss, I don't have to carry anything around, I have it on my phone and it won't get damaged, I get new issues automatically, I don't have to leave my house as I can simply download it at the touch of a button

• Digital Copy - As it's easier to carry around then a magazine (use phone).

• iPhone, easier and cheaper to access

• On a magazine because it will be easier to use because its just there but for phone u have to be worried about 
• connection and u might not see everything but a magazine u will have it with you.

• Magazine form because I personally prefer the feeling of reading a physical publication

• Magazine form, because a hard copy is so good, the feel of one in between your hands, it is so amazing.

• Magazine, because I like physical media

• magazine form - I like to be able to hold it and turn the pages. Also being able to gather the posters without the need for either downloads or printing is good.

• a nice internet page would work :D

• no cause thats stuff is usless if i have no internet

• I'd like to read a digital copy of a magazine, it'd be more comfortable and more ecology.

• paper copy, I like to feel of magazine and also it enables you to cut out things from it

• Physical Magazine. If I wanted it on my Phone I could easily find the info for free. Physical Media is good for Journeys.

• Magazine form because you can keep it and actually feel it and treasure it.

• A magazine type magazine. It's so much more accessible and easier to get.

I can see the benefit from doing this but I don't think  they have a big enough audience to market this as a paid magazine as I only really found out about this magazine by chance. and most people don't like having a digital copy but want a physical copy. 

However if I do go with the big company to distribute my magazine I will have to have them look at the content of magazine and see if they want to take the risk with the pop theme even though there isn't a market for that theme of music. They may make me work with the conventions or not take my magazine until I can show them that I have an audience that want my magazine so I could use the idea of the free magazine for subscribers to get an audience then when i have the demand for the magazine I can get the suppler to supply the demand. 

Development of my front cover and content page

Development 3 in making my magazine where I focused on finishing my front cover and starting my contents page. 

Here is my contents page and I have decided to use the inspiration that I have seen in top of the pops magazine and used my front cover to be in my contents page to show were in my magazine is the cover stories. I though this was a fun and interactive way to help my target audience reader get interested in the articles and be more reader friendly. It also shows that I am following conventions instead of going against them as if other magazine do it, it must work with the audience at hand. 

Looking back at this I need to move the front cover image up to fill in the open gap at the top. move the header to allow room for the logo at the top and I am going to make sure that my section headers are all level as with them being all unbalanced its not very appealing to the eyes.

I have used the founts orange peel for the big headlines and headers and opfifico for my text. This is because the orange peel font bring continuation of using the same font into my magazine and the opfico font is easy to read and has a pop style look to it which fits my genera for my magazine. 

I have used solid pink lines to separate the different articles which I think works well to keep my magazine contents look professional and easy to read. With the use of pink and blue I think that these two colors stand out well together and appeal to the female audience which is my target audience.

For all the articles I had to make sure they were all in line with each other using the same font size of 14. This again was so that it was easier on the eyes for the reader. I have included album releases of the up to date artist for some of my articles. I got the artist from my research when looking at magazine cover to see who was on other pop magazine to know which are the artist that I need to include to attract the right target audience for my magazine. 

As my main header I have used the words ''tune in for...'' this links in to the remix title and when you hear it you get a pop feel to it. I have added the ellipsis to add to the effect of the contents page as when you use them there normally a list after it. So this set up the whats inside the magazine feel; its also eluded to mystery as there is no answer so you are left wounding and wanting to know what your ''tuning in for''. This header is also nostalgic for the older audience for my magazine as ''tuning in'' sounds like your tuning in an old radio. which gave me an idea for my logo which if you look back at my older post when I tried to hand draw my masthead i have a drawing of an radio which i want to see if it fits in with my magazine to be my logo. 

Here is my front cover or what my front cover looked like before and you can see that i needed a way to get my mast head to stand out and basically all my sell line and my heading to stand out more. this is because from putting my magazine out on the shelves in the Tesco and in my college i was able to see that my magazine against the other magazine didn't stand out as well.

Now I have made all the founts bigger and the wight of the font I have increased to allow the outlining of the second color of the font to be a bit thicker allowing for the font to stand out a bit better than before. The colors pink and black and pink and white goes well together as two contrasting colors which stand out and go with the theme of pop in my magazine. Pink is also a stereotypical girls color so it will appeal more to the female side of the audience.

I have moved my masthead from being on an angle to going straight across my magazine as from putting my magazine on the shelves at the supermarket I could see the dominate magazine had the masthead in bold across the top of the magazine. I have left a little space on the top right hand corner as I am planning to put the radio I have hand drawn into that corner as my logo. I have made my slogan go all the way across my magazine which I feel allows the reader to see what it says more clearly than before. 

I'm going to have to sort out my sell line at the bottom as from making the text bigger I have sightly made some of the text go behind the bar-code. I'm also going to have to put the black background back behind my price and issue number as it just doesn't stand out at all. This may be due to the grayish back ground which I will have to go on photo-shop and change. 

A little thing that has happen has now made me bring in someone else for my model of the magazine as I need to find someone who can come in and look the part and I think I may have found someone who I am hoping to get in to do a photo-shoot next Thursday; but I will keep you updated with that in later posts.

Asking people on facebook and people around my college about my frount cover

I asked people on facebook and people around my college to look at my 2 drafts for my front cover and: I need your opinion on which looks better, and your response to these magazine covers and how could I improve on them and make them better. (this is just a draft for my media coursework)

(Facebook)
Just needs cropping, lots of empty space up top...
If it were me, i'd move the model a little to the right, that way the focus of attention will be balance between her and the mag title (it'll be ok to crop her left arm, it'll make the shot tighter). I'll move "remix" a bit lower
Other than that, great job, love the font you used...''

(people)

• The masthead needs to be over or behind the image to make it look more professional.
• Sell line needs to be a bit down and larger- as it quite hard to read.
• Change masthead font as it looks to pixulated- my be due to the printer
• Put text in the space next to the masthead.
• Change the colour of the main head line to something more easy to read.

(Facebook)
I like the contrast of colours, the image on this is more fitted for the style with the darkness of it, whereas the other was to bright.

Tips from my a-level media and film days:

-Make the Main sell-line much bigger
- Move the image forwards in-font of the title.
- Move the price and issue number down next to the bar code and shrink the size of it, for it is unimportant detail. Include a website to the magazine next to the bar code as well.''

(people)

•  Masthead bigger
• The girl needs to look more pop
• The style of fonts looks young and will attract a younger target audience.
• The white font looks good.
• Font for the sell line to be in the same fount as the masthead.

Putting my first draft of a music magazine with other music magazine in shops

Here I decided to put my magazine in the magazine secton in college to see what my magazine will look like agaist other music magazine.

Even though the college library does not have lots of music magazines I still wanted to see what my magazine looks next to them. As you can see my masthead dose not stand out from the other music magazine. Which is something I need to change to follow the conventions of a magazine. 

Another thing which I may need to change is the fonts size of my sell lines. This is because the sell lines on my magazine seems to all merge into one . 

With these I went to Tesco magazine section and but my magazine in the shelves provided and was quite surprised that my magazine fits in well with the other magazine around it. The main difference here is there is more music magazine which shows the sheer competitions of all the other music magazine.

From doing this I can see how my magazine fits in with the other music magazine and see if I needed to change the way that my magazine looks to fit better with its competition. 

I can see from doing this that my background for my image needed to be white and not this dull grey  colour.This is because from looking at the magazine around it; The grey background makes the person in the image look too dark. 

I may need to make my fount bigger to make the magazine healines and masthead stand out a bit more. As you can see that the other music magazine use a white on a dark background/dark on light background. from doing this the masthead stands out more from the rest.