My magazine front cover

I am happy with this first draft of my front cover however thing there needs to be a few more sub titles making it look less simple, as well as this I think the "win free foals tickets" needs to be a tad bigger to draw more attention, these are all things I will change for My final front cover. 

Idea development...front cover draft

Idea development ...storylines

idea development ...front cover

mood board

Colours are mostly black and white with either red or blue, this links to the union jack as United Kingdom has the most indie culture.

Idea development for names

Reveloution- I like this idea as it goes with the idea of a music reveloution and how indie is becoming the new mainstream, this goes with the style of music that will be featured in my music magazine.

Explosion- This name suits a music magazine as creates the idea of an explosion of music.

MN- This is an abrevation on "music now" immediatly geting to the point of what this magazine is about and what it does.

Analysis of mixmag magazine

Language, Audience and Ideology: Mixmag magazine focuses mostly on dance and club culture music, having a target audience of age 18-mid 30's, the ages when people actually go clubbing and on party holidays like Ibiza (which we referenced to in the headline) 

The magazines name goes well with the theme of this mag by being short and including abbreviations like the word 'mag' for 'magazine' this keeps it in keeping with the target audience. The young pop like sans serif font also adds to the ideology of this magazine, the circular dot on the letter 'i' reminds us of disco balls and lights, the sorts of things you would find at a club. the rounded letters are also not classical or linked to the older generation being more fresh and interesting, much like the music featured in the magazine.

The use of the colour white is good as it makes the title stand out, from the very bright colour of the background/ main image, it is also a fresh young colour that we tend to associate with life, as well as this the colour can be linked to beaches and beach towels linking to the setting of the main image and the headline. 

The main image relates to the idea of somewhere hot linking to the headline "Ibizia 08" we get the idea of a hot setting as the model is in a bikini on a beach with sunglasses are all connotations of heat.The model in this image being dressed in little clothing also ties in with the dance genre as for adverts and music videos for this music genre the females featured in it usually have little clothing on. The model also helps appeal to a wider audience as she is not well known or representing a certain brand, meaning there is no hidden message within the image for example if Keira Knightley was on the front cover of a magazine she is in the advertising campaign for Chanel so would immediately be linked to that certain brand/company discreetly advertising it by putting it in the readers mind.

The bright blue sky and sea which takes up the background of this magazine also adds to the idea it is somewhere hot and for young people as it makes the place look fresh and youthful, summer being something usually that young people relate to more than a boring grey sky/background which would not appeal to them. 

The Cd like case box on the front cover saying "Herve's Party Bombs" party being the key word also portrays immediately the style of music and people that will buy this magazine are people that like party anthems. 

Institution: The institution for this magazine is independent London based Development Hell,  this reflects the magazine well as the magazine also has a niche audience, having independent albums as well. The company does not own many magazines showing how it is more tailored to certain things. 

Contents

Language and Ideology: This contents page is in keeping with the genre of Mixmag, as it's images are key to the party music style, the main image being of a rave/party making the immediate reference, as well as this in the top left we have a girl dressed as if she is going to a party in bright colours which unlike NME and Mixmag uses a lot of. 

Even the black background is used so that the white and yellow catch the eye and stand out to be even brighter. 

The masthead is continued onto the contents page so that the audience are constantly being exposed to the look of it so it sticks in there head. 

Again the contents page also doesn't use a celebrity image, as if celebrities aren't part of the party scene, making it seem nonexclusive as if it is more general being filled with everyday people, almost creating the idea that the magazine is for everybody, it contrasts with Q magazine which creates the high class feel to it.

This could be linked to the institution of the magazine, due to them having an independent publisher, they will not have as much money to pay big celebrities for shoots, trying to create there own style by not using celebrities.

The magazine makes themselves seem high class in other ways using the sub title VIP, VIP means very important person, this creates the immediate idea that, that section is important  and special. It also makes it seem like you will only be able to find it in that magazine.

The colour yellow is used throughout the page to add little splashes of colour, it also links into the main photograph as one of the things our eyes are first drawn to is somebodies yellow sleeve, the album cover photo also has the colour on, the idea of the colour being placed amongst the text helps to tie everything in, giving it a professional quality.

The colour black also ties in with the party genre, because it is a reference to night time which is usually when party music is played.

Institution: The institution for this magazine is independent London based Development Hell,  this reflects the magazine well as the magazine also has a niche audience, having independent albums as well. The company does not own many magazines showing how it is more tailored to certain things. 

Audience: I believe that from the contents page the audience for mixmag magazine is 18-mid 30's having a social class from c1 and bellow, I believe the bracket to go as high as c1 due to the fact that people need the money to go partying.

Language and Ideology: This double page spread for mixmag, creates a young and fun vibe, having bright contrasting colours, which grab the audiences attention.

The main image connotes the party music genre of this magazine, showing two people having a good time. The light in the top left shinning through from the back and the black background are an immediate reference to night time and disco lights which are two things associated with party's. as well as this one girl is holding a drink, making the audience think of alcohol another thing associated with were we hear party music.

The rest of the images spread across this page are all of people in a club environment dancing looking as if they are having fun, making the audience think of this magazine as fun.

Summer and heat is a key season linked with partying and party destination, such as Magaluf and Ibiza, so the girl in the main photo wearing sunglasses portrays this idea across to the audience.

The bubble writing, sans serif font is again something that portrays a younger feel to this magazine, linking in with their target audience. serif font's are not something we tend to link with fun and youth as they are used in newspapers such as The Independent.

The white background to the text keeps this double page light and bright, so that it does not disinterest it's target audience, if it was all dark with dark writing, it would be more in keeping with a Gothic genre, not being conventional to this style of music.

Audience: I believe that from the contents page the audience for mixmag magazine is 18-mid 30's having a social class from c1 and bellow, I believe the bracket to go as high as c1 due to the fact that people need the money to go partying.

Institution: The institution for this magazine is independent London based Development Hell,  this reflects the magazine well as the magazine also has a niche audience, having independent albums as well. The company does not own many magazines showing how it is more tailored to certain things. 

Analysis of Q music magazine..

Language and Ideology: Q magazine is known for it's quality, specialising in quality indie and rock for example the Beatles and U2. This magazine is based on appealing to quality buyers having a more expensive look to it than NME magazine. The short snappy name leads us to our own assumption of what it stands for, the most popular being quality, this is good as it gets the audience thinking and feeling involved as if they made the name as well as this the name is easy to remember due to it being short and snappy meaning it stays in the audiences head.

The masthead of the magazine also helps to portray the idea of quality by being in a serif font having a more classier look to it, the colour red also helps to keep it looking rich as a deep red is a very rich colour and has the ideology of fame and riches due to things like the red carpet. The white on red causes a strong contrast in the masthead making it grab the audiences attention, this is the magazines house style.

The main image of this front cover goes with the theme of quality rock and indie by the artist being a more mainstream indie artist, helping to increase readership and with the use of panthers a deep dark rich looking animal, that it would cost to get showing that their front covers are not just cheap.

The subtext links to the picture well connoting what we see in th image the words "sexy beast" as the artist Lilly Allen is dressed provoctivally in a sexy way and the use of quite verocious wild animals links to the "beast" part of the text. As well as this the word "wicked" is in red making it stand out and connote that its one of the main hings about Lilly Allen as it is repeated twice and highlighted in a dangerous passionate colour as if these two things represent the artist. The use of Black writing makes the black panthers and the dominant colour that Lilly is in link.

The layout of the magazine is also inkeeping with the higher quality style, being simple and not to crowded or fussy.

The front cover also only uses 4 colours not over powering it, the chosen colours are significant on this front cover as they are; red, blue, white and black, the red, blue and white making up the colours of the union jack portratying the music mag to be the best of the british. The colour black adds a dark more rebellious theme to it so it's saying the mag has abit of edge as does the music included in the magazine. The partial nudity of this feature makes her seem confident and bold, representing the magazine in this light as if the readers who buy it will become confident and bold or already posses these two traits, the fact Lilly has her back to us yet her face towards us engages the reader as well as making them think there is more hidden inside the magazine just like the front of her is hidden, so to find out what is being hid we have to pick it up, buy it and read it. 

The puffs at the side of the magazine also add to the appeal of buying the mag with buzz words such as "exclusive" this particular word is also highlighted by the fact is it is in red when the surrounding writing is not, making it stand out.

Institution: Q has been printed by Bauer since 2007. Bauer has a wide audience, printing a wide range of magazine from golf world to Grazzia. Bauer also publish other music magazines such as Kerrang and Q magazine are very different types of music, this again portrays how Bauer publishing are about having a maximum readership and not being true to one style, this is refelcted in the magazine Q as it spreads to different styles of music more than NME however always has the theme of quality indie rock running through. 

Audience: The target audience for this magazine is people inerested in the indie rock genre, who are aspirers and fit into social class c1 and above, as there is a higher clas feel to this magazine.

Representation: The representation of this magazine is hight class indie rock, new and past music, that has had an influence on the genre.

Contents page

Language and Ideology : On this page of the magazine they have put the masthead to show that it is Q magazine as well as putting Contents so people know what page they are looking at, and to make it easy to find. 

The  Q contents page is taken up mostly by the main image, having a simple, classy lay out in keeping with the magazines style. The page does not look busy or overpowered unlike NME, having clear sections each being marked with the key colour red, drawing our eye to that certain section also making it easier to read, the colour of red being the colour we associate with this magazine due to the masthead as well as being a colour linked to music magazines. 

There is a main image of the band The Courteeners not looking trashy but being simply and quite blandly dressed not being to controversial for Q as well as this the page reference is also in red making it in keep with the rest of the page, as well as backing up my earlier points. 

The sub heading "Oasis Special!" is in a gold/silver colour, I believe this is to back up the fact it is a special, using colours which have connotations of wealth as we immediately associate wealth with rare, important and special things.

The band for review, is very similar to the band at the top of the contents page, creating continuity within the magazine, it also shows a similarity to the idea of the black blocks at the bottom of the contents page, being the house style of Q.

Institution: Q has been printed by Bauer since 2007. Bauer has a wide audience, printing a wide range of magazine from golf world to Grazzia. Bauer also publish other music magazines such as Kerrang and Q magazine are very different types of music, this again portrays how Bauer publishing are about having a maximum readership and not being true to one style, this is reflected in the magazine Q as it spreads to different styles of music more than NME however always has the theme of quality indie rock running through. 

Audience: The target audience for this magazine is people interested in the indie rock genre, who aspire and fit into social class c1 and above, as there is a higher class feel to this magazine.

Language and Ideology: This doubler page spread is key to the quality style of Q, immediately looking luxurious and showing continuity of the magazine.

The main photo of Lady Gaga immediately tells us who this article is about, not needing a large title telling us just her name simply in the top left corner of the screen, the fact that Q has an article on Lady Gaga is in keeping with the idea of this music magazine being top of the range as she is a world wide famous artist.

The style of this photo also follows the quality style, having a similar style to a cover shot for Vogue magazine a high end fashion magazine as well as following the black and white antique style often associated with class and wealth. Another reason I believe this photograph portrays quality is due to it's similarities to David Bailey's world wide known photographs which are shot in a very similar style. 

The artist's nudity also makes this article feel more exclusive as if she has posed especially and openly to us the audience, making us feel more connected to the artist, her direct focus to the audience also does this.

I believe the ideology of this article is sexy and dangerous, the idea of the chains and the colour red being dominant really brings across a dangerous side, however her soft hair, open mouth and partial nudity create a sexy inviting feel. As well as this Lady Gaga is known to have more female fans, this article makes her more appealing to the male demographic of the magazine. 

The letter L underneath the main text of this magazine also ties in with the the magazines masthead, being in the same font and colour, creating continuity within the magazine.

Audience: The target audience for this magazine is people inerested in the indie rock genre, who are aspirers and fit into social class c1 and above, as there is a higher clas feel to this magazine. 

Institution:  Q has been printed by Bauer since 2007. Bauer has a wide audience, printing a wide range of magazine from golf world to Grazzia. Bauer also publish other music magazines such as Kerrang and Q magazine are very different types of music, this again portrays how Bauer publishing are about having a maximum readership and not being true to one style, this is refelcted in the magazine Q as it spreads to different styles of music more than NME however always has the theme of quality indie rock running through. 

Genre's of music...

There are many different genres of music for example:

• Pop
• Indie
• Heavy metal
• Dubstep
• R n B
• House
• Rock
• Drum and Bass
• Dance
• Classical

For my music magazine I am focusing on the Indie genre, for example, The Libertines and Artic Monkeys, these are the type of bands that I will be focussing my magazine on.

Analysis of NME music magazine....

Language and Ideology: I will be analysing this NME music magazine, Mastheads are a convention of all magazines, the masthead of this magazine is quite bold however is slightly covered by the main image portraying that the music artists are the most important thing of this magazine even more important than conventions, however we can see enough of the masthead for us to know which magazine it is and for out immediate association to the magazine.

The colour of the masthead says a lot about the music magazine, the red connotes danger, anger and being out there 'in your face' much like the music featured in the magazine and linking to the ideology of it.

The ideology of NME is alternative fresh youth full music being more rebellious.

The main image grabs our attention as every person in the image is looking directly at the reader making eye contact with us, as well as this Beth Ditto is looking over a pair of sunglasses adding an air of mystery or as if we've done something to grab her attention enough for her to look over her sunglasses at us.

One of the first things and one of the most important things of the front cover is the main headline that goes with the main image, as it tells us something about the main image for example who the artist is as well as what the article will be about.The wording of the main headline also links to the type of magazine it is for example the two words sex and skins would not be used in the main headline for a classical music magazine. The strap line tells us also the basic lines on what the article will be about saying "How three punks smashed the mainstream" as well as this it is important that this is in keeping with the stereotypical non mainstream target audience of NME that this band are not originally mainstream and broke the wall between punk and mainstream. 

One of the sub-headlines on the magazine is "blur reunion?" the use of the question mark leaves it un answered making the reader want to buy it so they can look inside and find out the answer to that question. 

The main headline is clever as it grabs our attention using short snappy words and then the title of a very well known song by the main image artist. The colours of the word 'Sex' and 'Skins' are red this connotes danger and sexuality. the colours of white with a black edge on the other words also helps contrast against the red making them stand out.

Audience: The target audience for NME is ages 18-30, mostly being students as it is a cheaper magazine and students live cheaply. The magazine has a social class of C2 to E as the higher social classes go for music magazines such as Q. We can tell that this magazine has a lower social class margin due to its look and price, the magazine is in a newspaper like material unlike the glossy Q.

Institution: NME's institution is IPC media who publish a range of magazines however similarly like NME have magazines for the younger audience such as LOOK fashion magazine, which fits into the same social class and age bracket as NME.

Contents page

 

Language and Ideology: The contents page is bold and colourful much like the front page carrying over the colour scheme we see on the front, showing that they link and are both NME. The Masthead has been continued onto the contents page, always putting in the image of NME into our heads so we remember it. 

The page has a busy layout in keeping with the target audience having 4 dominant colours red, black, yellow and white. these colours are also the colours we see in the Leeds festival advert, which is a indie genre festival, this keeps it attracting the genre taste in music the audience has. 

The ideology of this magazine contents page I believe is fun and young, trying to promote the Leeds festival as all the colours used are the Leeds fest logo colours which are used every year.

The main story featured in this particular issue is Noel leaving Oasis, we know this is the main story as it has the biggest writing and also has a main image which takes up a large percentage of the page, the image is of Noel and co oasis singer however it has been given a ripped effect down the middle reinforcing the idea of Noel leaving the group. The page reference being in red so it stands out. The caption that goes with the image is also in bold capital letters making it easier to see. 

As well it draws us in by having a brief description of the story, so we read that and want to read more, after just flicking through to the contents page. 

Institution: The institution of this magazine is IPC media, tis publishing company produce a range of different magazines however NME is their only music magazine, this shows how the institution is tailored just like the magazine to its audience. 

Audience: You can tell straight that the target audience for this magazine is youthful due to the messy house style and the bright colours, which immediately catch the eye. You can also tell by the faded look of the paper to suggest a unique style as well as making it cheaper, means it has a lower social class of C2 to E.

Double page spread



Language and Ideology: The house style of NME and it's newspaper like appearance is again continued into the rest of the magazine including this double page spread, even the column style of writing of black on white has newspaper connotations.

The main image links in with the title of Glastonbury which stays as a puff on both signs of the magazine.

Colour isn't used as much as it is in the front cover and contents page I have analysed however there are bands of colour which help to categorise the article and draw the readers attention to specific parts, breaking it up from a boring large blocks continuous writing which are normally targeted at an older targeet audience than NME's.

The idea of green can be linked with Glastonbury as it is a festival outside on a field, green will be the dominant colour, so it makes sense to use it in an article on it, so it makes the immediate association to the audience.

The main photo being black and white creates a vintage aged effect, vintage being largely linked with the indie genre and people who listen to the music.

The double page spread however keeps young by not being filled with just black and white photos as well as having more than one photo on the double page spread.

The magazine makes an immediate reference to it's genre by stating in the caption of the photo "The Indie pioneers." due to them saying they are the pioneers it also makes the article seem important if it is on that band.

Institution: The institution of this magazine is IPC media, this publishing company produce a range of different magazines however NME is their only music magazine, this shows how the institution is tailored just like the magazine to its audience. 

Audience: You can tell straight that the target audience for this magazine is youthful due to the messy house style and the bright colours, which immediately catch the eye. You can also tell by the faded look of the paper to suggest a unique style as well as making it cheaper, means it has a lower social class of C2 to E.

Conventions of a music magazine

Front cover:

• Main image - usually centered on the eyes of the person in the image.
• Masthead- title, genre, ideology. 
• Banner headline
• cover lines- selling lines.
• Tag line
• Puffs- e.g "free holiday"(found in corners of front cover).
• Kicker- explanatory line to the banner.

Contents page:

• Features- the articles special to that month.
• Regulars- the articles there every month e.g editorial, masthead.

Double page spread:

• Two pages of the same article
• Main image usually dominates

LIIAR interpretation of the brief-

• Language- camera angles, colour codes, conventions, layout (splash) and house style.
• Institution- E.g. Q, NME, METAL HAMMER, as well as the publishing houses of the magazine and what other magazines the publishing houses publish.
• Ideology- Morals, values, message, synergy, aspirational. E.g NME- new music express; portrays new music to audience quickly, hense the word 'express' like and express train, it also sounds like 'enemy' as the magazine contains indie genre music being the enemy of mainstream music.
• Audience- age, gender, type, social class (target audience)
• Representation- The representation of the central image for example music genre and target audience 

Brief-

Main task- The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by you- minimum of four images.

Evaluation...

My task was to produce the front page of a college magazine.
Overall I believe the preliminary task went well, and I thoroughly stuck to the brief. However if I were to do it again I would of used my time better, being more organised.
I believe the magazine relates well to the brief,  I tried to keep to the codes and conventions I had noticed in other college magazines after analysing them, for example; headlines, masthead, issue no. and barcode, as well as including things like this I also set them in a similar layout to how they were in the college magazines I had looked at.
My masthead particularly stands out being one of the first things you notice about the front cover along with the main image I believe this adds to the authenticity of the magazine.
The target audience for my College magazine is student who come to wyke I believe that it appeals to this target audience well it's story lines all being associated to Wyke and by having a college student on the front cover, as well as this the fonts are more appropriate for the target audience being bubbly and young looking, however more to the female side then the male due to a female being on the front cover and the slightly more feminine colour purple, if I had more time I would try to make it appeal to males as well.
The black and white image of the front cover adds to a more sophisticated style keeping the magazine somewhere in he middle of completely grown up and kiddy like much like the target audience
The language of my college magazine was quite simple and contemporary, appealing to the target audience as it was standard English and was not to over complicated, for example "win, win, win" repetition of the word draws the target audience in and makes it stick in their mind.

Contents page

My final front cover...

Front cover picture posibilities...

My brief draft for the front cover

Here is a rough draft of how my college magazine will be set out and the story lines I will use.

Name investigation

Here is a spider diagram of my 3 favorite names and reasons why i should use them by doing this I realised that the name 'SPARK' has more positive points about it therefore I will be using it as the name of my college magazine.

Fonts

These are my possible names and possible fonts for the mashead of my College magazine.

1. College magazine front cover analysis

 This college magazine front cover ' Secondary teachers' is aimed at both secondary school and above pupils their parents and teachers, we can tell this as the word 'Secondary' narrows down the age group and the word 'teachers' automatically grabs the attention of teachers as they are associated to it.
The bright coloring suggests a younger target audience however not to young as the colors do not over power the front cover.
The main image of the front cover is dominant as it has the most colour included in it compared to the rest of the page, there for catching our eye.The colours of the front page show it have a mutual gender as there is not a dominant female colour or a dominant masculine colour. The headline goes well with the main picture as it says 'Schools of the future' and the picture includes a rocket and a space liek image as that is seen as being futuristic, the rocket however is a pencil this keeps it inkeeping with the school theme of the magazine.
The masthead differs from its usual style as the letter 'O' in 'Secondary' has a a number ten in, this is due to uit being the magazines tenth birthday we know this as 'happy 10th birthday-- teachers magazine' is also incorprated into the masthead.

2. Analysis of a college magazine front cover...

This is an analysis of the college magazine front cover, 'Secondary teachers' the same magazine analysis however they are very different styled front covers, this one having a double spread front cover.
The use of the front cover carrying onto the back is very effective as it makes the magazine stand out more drawing interest to it as not many magazines have this type of layout, as well as this it compliments the headline very well " Do boys and girls learn differently" as one of the sides responds to the girls learning  by having a female on one side and the other to the boys learning by having a male on that side.
This also helps to identify that the target audience is for both genders.
The colour on each side is differnt to suit the main image, the boys sid having blue writing and the girls side having pink writing however both include the opposit colour on the word 'PLUS' this heading however is smaller then the main headline so the gender specific colour is still dominant on the page.
The masthead of the magazine stands out as it is the biggest text on the page, the word 'Secondary ' being bigger this seems to be so it immediately tells you the age group of the magazine,and the word 'teachers' is in smaller writing as that categorises the target audience even more.

LIIAR interpretation of the brief...

Language - Media terminology e.g. media, close-up and masthead. For our brief we will be using a medium close-up ashot and our magazine will include a masthead.

Institution - Producer of the media text. I am the producer of this media text.

Ideology - System of ideas and beliefs.

Audience - Target audience, who the media affects. The target audience for the magazine are students who go to 6th form college.

Representation - How things are portrayed to the T.A.

As Media Production Brief

Preliminary Task- Using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate their grasp of DTP.

Main Task- The front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by you - minumum of four images.