Flat Plans

These are my inital flat plans for the cover, contents page and double page spread. I used inspiration from magazines such as "Q" and "Vibe" which have a similar genre and therefore have a similar audience.

The layouts of each flat plan follow a similar format, with two out of three covers having a central masthead, all having a central photo that covers most of the page with sub-headings coming off of it. With the contents pages I liked the idea of having a photo to the side of my list of what's in the magazine and with the final two flat plans almost identical, that was my favoured choice. Finally, the double-page spreads all vary in their layouts and I couldn't decide which one was my favourite. However, in the last flat plan I realised that I could not use this as the photo would be interrupted because of the page split and although this isn't a main threat, it is the main photo anchoring the two pages, so I decided not to use that.

Music Magazine Title

I have now thought of a title for my music magazine. As it is based on Hip-Hop/Rap, and most titles being colloquial, I have decided to call my magazine "Hop". Although this does not jump out that it is a music magazine, it is colloquial and does have some connotations to it's genre.

For the font of the title, I went through all the fonts available to me and selected three fonts that I thought would suit my magazine and looked professional enough to use. The three fonts I chose were called 'Gill Sans Ultra Bold', 'Hobo Std' and 'Silom'. In the end I decided to go with 'Silom' as it had the best blend of matching the genre of my magazine but still looking professional enough. Also, it had the simple feel to it that goes with the simple image of my free magazine.

Music Magazine Content Analysis & Findings

Here is some content analysis of 'real media' magazine examples.

Music Magazine Title	Vibe	Q	Billboard	Kerrang	XXL	Mixmag	DJ	NME	Clash	Spin
Formal Title	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO
Colloquial Title	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Image 1 person	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO	YES	YES	YES
Image 2 person	NO	NO	NO	YES	NO	NO	YES	NO	NO	NO
Image 2+ person	NO	NO	NO	YES	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO
Logo	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO
Primary Colours	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Secondary Colours	NO	YES	NO	NO	NO	NO	YES	NO	NO	NO
2+ Sub Headings	YES	YES	YES	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Quote Used	NO	NO	NO	NO	YES	NO	NO	YES	NO	NO

Findings

From this content analysis I have found that no music magazines have a formal title, which is not a suprise as no music genres are very formal. What did suprise me is that hardly any covers have used quotes considering almost all have interviews with artists, so there would be a posibility to have a quote. This means that it is not a feature that is used very much anymore.

The content analysis was useful as it helped me to find the conventions in music magazines. From the content analysis I noticed that all magazines tend to have a colloquial title. In terms of images, there tends to be a close up of one person on the cover instead of several people, unless a band is the focus. The photoshoot on the cover then tends to remian throughout on the double page spread and sometimes even the contents page. No magazines had a logo, unlike several school magazines I researched for the preliminary conetent analysis. Most magazines followed the convention of using mainly primary colours, "DJ" being the only example where secondary colours were used, even then it was only small gold font and was mainly dominated by primary colours. Finally, almost all magazines had 2+ subheadings. This gives an in-depth look into what is featured in the magazine, making readers more likely to buy it.

Overall, I have learnt that most magazines keep their covers simple, with primary colours and close-ups of one person and several subheadings to give readers more insight into whats in the magazine itself.

This means that my magazine will be kept 'clean' meaning not very cluttered and will have a picture of one person to keep it simple.

Preliminary Task & Analysis

Analysis

From finishing the preliminary task I have noticed that the font is very apologetic, although it does follow the colours of the Marlwood badge so there is a theme throughout. The layout of the picture fits well for other features to fit around it, such as the logo and sub-headings etc. The title is colloquial but it  is clear that it represents a school magazine.

Genre Examples for Music Magazine

These are a few example of the genre that I am basing my music magazine on, the genre is Hip-Hop/Rap. I chose to use this genre in my coursework as this is the music I listen to. These examples are effective as the three artists on each cover are very well known which  attracts attention to the magazine. The simplicity of the layout of the magazines allow you to fully focus on them and make them the 'face' of that certain issue.

The font in all issues remains the same to create a specific image for the magazine, with the font being unapologetic which matches the whole outlook of the genre. It is worth noting that the Kanye West cover on the far left is the oldest cover and that 'Vibe' have since changed their colouring to make it unapologetic and follow similar colouring of black and red. In all 'Vibe' covers the title is features behind the picture of the artist, this shows the confidence in the magazine as they are well known enough to not have to be 'in your face' with the title.

Competition for Preliminary Task

Here are four examples of the closest competition the school magazine would face. The first two have pictures of several people, and the others keep a more professional look following mainstream magazines, with a picture of one school pupil on the cover. What remains a constant between all four is that they are all colourful designs. Also, the design of the title has changed for both 'Grapevine' magazines which gives a fresh look and keeps readers interested.

Magazine Design Tips

Here is a powerpoint I found using Slideshare, this helped me with design ideas and the magazine design system for my school and music magazines. I have chosen not to use any features explained in the slideshare because although being very professional, the features are for a very formal magazine and so therefore would not match the themes and ideas of my music magazine.

Target Audience for Prelimenary Task

The target audience for my preliminary task of the school magazine is Secondary School students and parents. Secondary This target audience would be ideal as it would give them a lot of information on the school. My school magazine front cover would appeal to the students as it includes a photograph of a student so they would feel that the magazine is inclusive to them, which would make them feel involved in the magazine itself. The fact that the student on the cover is a sixth former would appeal to the younger students as it is a figure to look up to. The sub headings on the cover would appeal to parents as it would give them an idea of what is in the rest of the magazine. Also it would interest them as they can find out what is going on in their childs school, perhaps information that their child could forget to tell them or not be aware of. The magazine would be free to students from that school so it would be a good challenge for rival magazines.

Content Analysis and Findings for Prelimenary Task

Here is a content analysis of school magazines which will help me in my prelimenary task.

School Magazine Title

Grapevine (Marlwood)

Contact (Castle)

School Weekly

Fly

Upbeat

FHH

All Sports

The Griffin

Heworth

CHS Mag

The Kings School

Prep School

Get Ready

Formal Title

NO

YES

YES

NO

NO

YES

NO

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

NO

Colloquial Title

YES

NO

NO

YES

YES

NO

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

YES

Image 1 person

NO

YES

YES

YES

YES

NO

NO

NO

YES

YES

YES

NO

YES

Image 2 person

NO

NO

YES

NO

NO

NO

YES

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

Image 2+ person

YES

YES

YES

NO

NO

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

YES

YES

NO

School Logo

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

YES

NO

YES

YES

NO

NO

NO

YES

Primary Colours

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

NO

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

Secondary Colours

YES

NO

NO

YES

YES

NO

NO

YES

NO

YES

YES

NO

YES

2+ Sub Headings

NO (1)

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

NO

YES

Quote Used

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

YES

NO

Findings

From the content analysis I have found that almost all school magazines have 2+ sub headings to cram in information to entice the reader to the magazine. Other trends include primary colours being used in almost every magazine to keep the image simple as it is quite a formal magazine, with no need for radical colouring. What suprised me about this content analysis is that less magazines had a school logo on them than I expected and only one out of the 13 school magazines analysed had a quote used on the front cover.

Introduction to my Blog

Hi I'm Olly. Welcome to my media blog, here I post will the progress I am making towards my final coursework. Firstly we have to do a preliminary task and for this we have to design a front cover for a school magazine. For the coursework we have to design a front cover, contents page and double page spread for a music magazine.