Survey Results

What Colour Combinations Do You Find Most Attractive?

What Features Would You Like To See In A Magazine?

What Genre of Music Do You Prefer?

How Much Would You Pay For A Magazine?

Video 3 - Audience Research

Double Page Spread Analysis

This double page spread is very unusual, in that it does not follow all the normal conventions. One page is taken up entirely by an image which is a device used to attract the audience, adding the illusion of the spread having less text than other spreads. This will attract audiences who would be put off by masses of text. I will not be doing this as it takes up a lot of space however I will be using a large/ several large images to break up the text. 

This article does not have a title, it instead has the artists name in the top right corner, this is so no attention is draw away from the photo. However this technique will not work with lesser known artists as the reader will not be attracted to the article simply by their names. Meaning that this will not work for my magazine as the artist will not be as well known as the one featured in this article.

The giant over layered L is a device also used to make it look like there is less text as it breaks up the page, it also acts as a giant drop cap to hook the audience into the text and get them to start reading straight away. This is a good technique but I will not be using it as it will not fit into my design. I will however be using a large drop cap to get the audience into the text.

Using a similar technique to the last, this double page spread uses a large one page image to attract the audience. However unlike the previous article, this one does not need to use the image to take the edge off large amounts as the text is in relavtively small blocks.

The font is large and attention grabbing to hook the reader in and attract them to the text. This paired with an interesting quote from the text as the title will interigue the audience into reading the article.

The colour scheme of this double page spread draws particular attention to the photgraph as the main colours used are black and white as they contrast to make the text readable, but the artist in the photgraph is wearing a red shirt, making her stand out form the text. I will use this in my article to ensure a contrasting colour scheme.


This spread uses a different way of positioning the photography as it uses the top half of the page rather than  taking up one whole page. This is so a variety of different shots can be merged together. This is a good technique and I will consider using something similar to this in my magazine.

The colour scheme is simple and uses blues and whites to focus the audiences attention on the images and text easily, this is something I will do in my magazine as the audiences attention should be controlled.

Video 2 - Double Page Spreads and Language

Article Writing

 

In preparation for our coursework we had to write a music article. I chose to write about album covers that have caused trouble in the past. Although the main contents of my article was good I failed to write a concluding paragraph which meant my article ended quite abruptly. In future I should conclude my writing correctly to avoid confusing the reader. I also forgot to add a strap line under my title, meaning I lost an opportunity to interest my audience in the article. As well as this I did not include any pull quotes, again loosing and chance to interest the reader. When designing and writing my coursework article I will make sure I include both a strap line and pull quotes when necessary. 

Video 1 - Front Covers and Contents Pages

Contents Page Analysis

The contents page of the magazine Q is quite simple and sticks to the basic colour scheme which helps attract the audiences attention to important titles and page numbers, this will help the audience easily navigate through the magazine as they can locate there areas of interest with ease. I will use this same technique on my contents page to ensure my magazine is easy to navigate.

The contents page contains only two images which is unusual, however the main image is linked to the main article which is important to this issue. The audience will see the image and be attracted to the article. I will use the technique of images but will use more than two to ensure readers are interested in multiple articles rather than just one.

One of the titles is in light grey font on a white background making it unnoticeable to the reader as the text is too similar to the background. For my contents page I will avoid using colours too similar to the background.

This contents page uses only one main image that drastically contrasts with the background due to opposing colours, drawing attention to the image, however the image is not labelled so if the reader is unaware of who the image is of, the image would be totally useless. To avoid this I will ensure that all my images are caption or layered by the title of the article they are linked to.

The titles of the articles are all in large font to draw the audience attention to them which is something I will use but this magazine also has quite lengthy descriptions of the articles rather than just brief sell lines. This is something I will probably not use as it takes up quite a lot of space and is unnecessary.

A quote from one of the articles is used on the page to help attract the audience to the features. I will use this on my contents page to help attract attention to articles of my own, using the same technique of keeping the quote and the source in different colours in keeping with the the colour scheme.

The subtitles on this contents page use black and white to make sure the text stand out and make it more likely the audience will notice and read the text, this will make it easier for the reader to navigate around the pages and is something I will do when designing my cover as it is important that the reader can find what they are interested in with ease.

This contents page contains an advertisement for a regular subscription to the magazine. It is on this page in the hope that readers will notice it when looking for articles and as if it is on this page it will not take up precious space on other pages used for features. If I do decide to include a subscription advertisement in my magazine I will put it on my contents page.

At the top of the page near the titles is the release date of the issue which is important in a magazine however not significant information for the reader, therefore it is in small font and out of the way. Within my magazine I will include a release date, keeping similar font size and positioning to that in this magazine.

Magazine Cover Analysis

This magazine cover is good in many aspects. Firstly the colour scheme is simple and sophisticated, using shades of black and white to contrast block colours which ensures that the colours will stand out and attract attention. I will use this same technique to help my cover be attention grabbing.

Secondly the plainness of the the photo is also appealing as there is not background, simply colour. This is to establish the importance of the main figures and I will be using this in my magazine to build a sense of the main photos importance.

The frequent change in font size makes the text difficult to read however it is essential that some font is larger than the rest as to highlight important words. On my cover I will use a variety of font size but will ensure that the reader will not struggle to read the text because of it.

Finally the font is clear and readable making it easy for the reader to fluently scan the cover and understand all the articles within it. This is an essential component which I will assure I use.


Similarly to the first cover, this cover sticks to a simple enough colour scheme of greys and greens, both colours contrasting each other as grey is dull while green brings a more fresh and up beat feel. Yet again, this contrast in colours is something that I intend to use in my magazine.

The photograph on this cover is over laid by coloured text, I think this takes attention away from the photographs features. I will avoid this on my cover as I think it should be easy to distinguish the artist from the text.

The magazine titles position makes it difficult to be able to spread out the sub- article titles. For my cover I will use the technique of the first magazine and keep the magazine title in the top corner to make room for other text but still frame the title in a way that the audience will be be drawn to it .

Again a bold and clear font is used to help the reader to become engaged in the cover. I will definitely use this kind of font on my cover.

This cover does not use black to contrast white, it instead uses red to which is to reflect the artists dangerous personality. This not only gives the audience more of a connection to the featured artist but is also very bright and attractive, catching the readers attention. I will use bright colours on my cover to attract attention.

The quote on the cover is from the featuring artist, this gives the audience an immediate sense of the artists attitudes expressed in the magazine and draws attention to the articles itself, intriguing the audience into reading it. I will consider using a quote on my cover to entice the audience into picking up a copy.

The artists pose in unusual as he is glaring at the audience or camera, this not only immediately engages the audience through eye contact but also  shows the audience the artists strange persona and could interest them. On my cover I will also use eye contact to engage the audience but will not use it in such an extreme manner.

Mood Board

In Media Studies we created a collage of fonts and photos from articles in magazines we thought were attractive and we could adapt to use in our own magazines.

Briefing

AS media studies this year requires me to design and create a music magazine of any genre for my coursework. The magazine must be made up of a front cover, contents page and a double page spread containing original photography and an original article. My research and planning for this will be posted on this blog as this will help both organisation and help my lecturer keep track of my progress. Research will firstly begin as analysing a hard copy of a current magazine, looking at fonts, photo styles and even layout.