Double Page Spread Plan

This is how I plan to create my double page spread.

Contents Page Plan

This is what I plan to make my contents page look like. My image will take up most of the page and the writing will cover the background of the image.

Front Cover Plan

This is my plan for the front cover of my magazine.

Schedule

Research: Overview

From the reasearch I have done for my magazine I have come up with the house style, name and prices for my magazine.
Title: All that Jazz
Price: £4.50
Colour Scheme: Black, white and gold
Produced: Monthly

Research: Social Media

On Instagram I asked my followers which title for my magazine they liked the most, all of the comments agreed that 'All that Jazz' sounded the best so therefore I chose to pick that for my title.

Research: Interview

I interviewed Katie and asked her what she thought about my ideas for a Jazz music magazine. The questions I asked her were:

• What do you think of my choice to do a Jazz magazine?
• What does the title 'All that Jazz' suggest to you?
• Do you think a target audience of 25-54 is appropriate for my genre?
• Would you personally buy a Jazz magazine and why?
• Have you got any suggestions to what the main features and articles in the magazine should be about?

These were her responses:

• I think that the choice to do a Jazz magazine was very a different and creative choice. You will have to do a lot of research into this style of music as it is not as current as other genres so you may not know much about it as you would need to make a good magazine but will show that you have put a lot of effort into creating this.
• 'All that Jazz' tells me straight away that this is a Jazz magazine which wouldn't leave me wondering about what style of music it is. Therefore, if I was looking for a Jazz magazine this one would stand out to me. The title makes it sound fun and happy magazine as jazz can be upbeat and good to dance to.
• This is an appropriate target audience as the younger generation would not have been around when this genre was popular. The older audiences of 25-54 would have enjoyed this music while they were younger and would rather read a music magazine that they have a good understanding about rather than a style such as rock or house. This also means that anyone under this age range may not be as interested in buying it when they are most likely to buy and read magazines.
• Personally, I would not buy a Jazz magazine every month because it is not something that I listen to often. This is because I am from the younger generation below the target audience. However, I would maybe buy this once to learn more about Jazz music as it is different and not something that I would see often in the shops and would attract me to read something new.
• Interviews from current jazz musicians would be interesting to read as we may be able to find out how jazz music has changed through the years and if they get the same sort of audineces now that Jazz is not the most popular genre anymore. Articles on old Jazz artists and how their life is now would also be good to read as we can find out about how they feel about current music and how their life changed through the years as jazz music became less popular.

Research: Questionnaire responses

I gave my questionnaire 150 people and received 100 back. 80% agreed that they would be interested in a Jazz magazine. These were all over the age of 20 and over 50% were male. 60% of these people said that they would buy there magazine every month so therefore I will be publishing my magazine monthly and the price that was the most reasonable was £4.50 with 46%. 52% of the responses said the colours best suited for a Jazz magazine would be black, white and gold. 'All that Jazz' got 47% of the votes for the name of my magazine therefore this is what i will be calling my magazine. 38% said that they are most interested in interviews in and magazine and 58% said they would like articles to do with modern jazz.

Research: Questionnaire

Research: Audiences

It is important that I research the audiences for my genre of magazine as I would need to make sure that it appeals to the right people. NPR are a big radio in America and they found out the percentages of people who buy Jazz magazines.

Here I found out that the biggest percentage of the audience are 25-54. They also come from group A and B which is people with good proffesions such as doctors, lawyers and teachers who earn a good amount of money and are from the middle class.

Research: Jazz Magazines

The genre I have chosen for my music magazine is Jazz. I have chosen this genre as I think that it is a different style to the music that is around at this time and will be interesting to research into something new. The target audience for this magazine is mostly ages 25-54 and over 50% of those are white men. Jazz singers dress smartly and elegant as the men wear a suit and tie and the women wear long ballroom dresses to show that their songs are sophisticated and they are serious about their work. There are not many famous Jazz singers, but Jools Holland is a modern day Jazz pianist and artists such as Frank Sinatra and Micheal Buble have become famous through swing music which is a developed style of Jazz. Frank Sinatra and Micheal Buble are always seen in a suit and tie or bowtie. However, as Jools Holland is a modern jazz musician he wears just a shirt and blazer. Most music magazines are owned by major international institutions such as Bauer. However, my genre is niche, which means I would want it to be owned by a smaller publishing company who can pay more attention to it.

All of these people are over the age of 25 which is why this genre attracts the older audiences. They have all been represented as smart, respectable and sensible which also appeals to an older audience rather than young because younger audiences prefer brighter colours and something less sensible.

Ideas for my Music Magazine

The genre that I have chosen for my music magazine is 1920's Jazz. This will be a serious and calming magazine for the ages 30-70. The colours that I will be using are black, whites and greys and either a subtle red or brown to stand out for the important writing. This is because these colours are soft and subtle, suitable for the older audiences. My font will be written in serif, italics and sleek writing to make it look elegant like the style of music. This would be published monthly for £5 a magazine as I want it to be printed on thick, high quality, glossy paper.

I have a few possible titles:

• Jive
• Harmony
• All That Jazz

My model will be dressed smartly with a long dress or suit with neat hair tied back with a classy look. If I use a male model, the star image will be like Justin Timberlake. He dresses in a suit and tie or bowtie. My female model will be wearing a long, smart dress with a fur wrap and pearl jewels.

Research: Colour

COLOUR

 

 

When designing a magazine you have to make sure that you stick to a colour scheme. Picking the colour scheme is important because you have to make sure that the colours do not clash. Any colours that are opposite on the colour wheel should not be used with each other, whereas colours that are next to each other work well together. No more than 5 colours should be used on a magazine as the human brain finds it hard to focus and the magazine becomes confusing. 

Research: Typography

Serif and sans-serif are the different types of fonts used for a magazine masthead. Serif uses flicks at the ends of the letters whereas sans-serif does not. Sans-serif is used more often for the mastheads as serif is harder to read from a longer distance.

This image shows kerning. This is the spacing between each letter in a word. Equal spacing makes the word easier to read and makes it look a lot neater.

 

Total Film Magazine Annotations: Double Page Spread

I like the font for the main title on this double page spread as it fits with the retro 70's theme of the film they are talking about. The red and white colors contrast well with the yellow background and are easy to read. The large letter at the start of the article is the same font as the main title which looks effective and would be a good idea for my own double page spread. The image on the right side and the text on the left means that when the reader is flicking through the magazine the first thing they see may not be the picture but the brightly colored background helps to make this page stand out. The writing is set out in a easily readable format making it look readable. However, this double page spread does not use a pull out quote from the article which is something that i think looks effective and will be using for my own double page spread.

Total Film Magazine Annotations: Contents Page

This contents page is different to the others that I have researched as it spreads across two pages. The pictures that they have used on the contents pages are very large meaning they have had to spread it across two pages. As this is a film magazine the large images are good as it shows the readers certain moments of the film, however I do not think that my contents page will need this many large images. They have sectioned the text into columns which I think is a good idea as its neatly lays out the text making what you need to find easy to access. The images have the page numbers that they will be seen on but do not have anchored text so the readers do not know what the image is relating to.

Total Film Magazine Annotations: Front Cover

The image on the front cover for this magazine is good as the woman has full eye contact with the camera, attracting the audiences attention straight away. This magazine cover is different to the music magazine as the cover lines are half images and half pictures. This is good as if you are not interested in the main image you may be interested in something that is on the smaller images. These are on the left side of that page because in a shop the magazines are laid out so that the left side is showing and people are more interested in images rather than text. I do not like the mixture of red and white writing on the bottom right cover line as I think it makes the writing hard to read because of too many different colours in one section.

KERRANG Music Magazine Annotations: Double Page Spread

The image on this magazine is good as the artist is looking straight into the camera. When the reader is looking through the magazine this picture is going to stand out. He is also swearing in the image which fits with the rocky style of his music. However, the image is in the centre of the page so if I was to pick this up in the shop and was to flick through this i would more than likely miss the image making me less attracted to the page. When i make my double page spread I want to make sure that my images are along the outer parts of the page. 

KERRANG Music Magazine Annotations: Contents Page

This contents page has a lot of images with anchored text which I like as it helps to navigate people around the magazine easier. The circle that contains the masthead 'contents' has a worn out effect to it which fits with the genre and makes it looks a little rocky. The yellow writing against the black shape for the section titles work well as the colours make it easy to read. When I make my magazine I will use the idea of writing an editors letter on the contents page because I like the idea that they have written to the readers about their magazine.

KERRANG Music Magazine Annotations: Front cover

 

This front cover has a mid shot of five famous artists and they are all directly looking into the camera. This really grabs the attention of the readers and buyers as they may not be interested in all of the artists but they are more than likely to like at least one of them making this magazine targeted for a wider range of audiences. I do not like this idea as it makes the page look overcrowded and messy. It also does not easily let the audinence know what the main feature of the magazine will be. The masthead is covered by the images making it hard to read, but regular Kerrang buyers would know already know that it was called Kerrang, but this would make it harder for irregular buyers to recognise the name. I do not like the postitioning of the barcode which is on the middle of the right side of the magazine, I think that it looks better on the bottom of the page. The word 'ROCK' has a worn out effect which fits with the edgy genre which I like.

NME Music Magazine Annotations: Double Page Spread

The pictures on this double page spread are placed in the middle of the two pages. I do not think that this is good as when flicking through the magazine you are not going to be attracted by the images which people are more tend to focus on. Although, using a bright yellow background makes this page stand out anyway as it is very different to the rest. When you open the page to read the article the yellow makes the writing harder to read as it is a very small font anyway so using a yellow background does not make it easier. The large pull qoute is good as it is in big bold writing, standing out on the page. It is also quite a strange quote so would attract the readers making them curious about what it means. There is not much of an article as there is only two small paragraphs of writing so when I do my double page spread I will do a bigger article.

NME Music Magazine Annotations: Contents

 

The contents page sticks to the colour scheme of the front cover which is good as it looks neat and matches. The headings for the features and regulars column are against a different colour background which makes them stand out making it easy to find these sections. The black background and white writing is used for the main column 'features' and also for the smaller headings for what is on each page. The fact that these are the same colours makes it hard to figure out what is what at first a look. At the top of a contents page it normally has a headline saying 'contents'. This contents page has the headline 'inside' which is differnt to normal contents but may be hard to recognise that it is the contents without concentrating. When I create my contents page I will be using the headline 'contents' rather than inside as I think that it makes it much more clear to the readers what the page it. I like the idea of making the headings to each column against a different colour background as it stands out. When I create my contents I will use more than one picture on the contents page as this one uses only one. 

                                                                                                                                                                                          

NME Music Magazine Annotations: Front Cover

 

This front cover has a mid shot of the members of Kasabian who are looking directly into the camera. This is good as it attracts the attention of the audience straight away making them more likely to buy the magazine if they are interested in this genre. The regular colour scheme of NME is white and red so using a large, bold, red font for the name of the band 'Kasabian' keeps within the colour scheme making the magazine look neat and professional. They also use white for the cover lines as it is the other main colour of NME and use is against a black background as these two colours contrast well together also making the cover look neat and easy to read. When I create my magazine I will take the idea of using three main colours on my front cover as I think that it makes it easy to read and does not become to messy.

Research: Double Page Spread

BASIC CONVENTIONS OF A DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

 

• The person used for the main image on the double page spread makes direct eye contact with the camera. This creates direct address and entices the reader to buy the magazine.
• A pull quote is used withing the text or along the image. This is normally the most interesting line from the article written to grip the audiences attention.
• The article is written in columns, but with pull quotes or sub headings breaking the text up so that it does not look like too much writing.
• There is normally one main images that takes up one whole page and sometimes crosses over to the other page.
• The first letter of the article is written in a large and bold font to show you where to start reading.
• The journalists name is written somewhere on the article.
• The most important things that are shown will be put to the left and right top corners, so that when the reader flicks through the magazine these are the parts they see and it encourages them to buy it.

 

 

Research: Contents Page

BASIC CONVENTIONS OF A CONTENTS PAGE

 

• The contents will have one main image, usually relating to the feature article.
• There will be other small images on the page, between 3 and 4.
• The images have to take up 50% of the page.
• The colour scheme for the contents page has to be the same as the front cover.
• The small images should have anchored text, usually a quote or description, with a page number directing you to the page this image relates to.
• The writing is split up up to three columns, each with a clear headline i.e Features, Regulars.
• The word 'contents' should be used at the top of the page as a masthead.
• Some contents pages have the magazine title on the contents page as well, if not just the logo.
• The issue number and date is placed at the top of the page.
• Some contents pages have a letter from the editor, subscription information and social networking websites.

 

 

 

 



Research: Front Cover

BASIC CONVENTIONS OF A FRONT COVER

 

• A front cover should have a one main image, a mid shot of somebody. They should look straight down the camera to gain eye contact and attract the buyers.
• A front cover needs a headline that stands out. It needs to be bigger and bolder than the rest of the cover lines.
• The cover has to have a main focus such as a celebrity, this would be the main feature of the magazine.
• Your magazine needs to have attitude.
• There should be three main sections to your front cover. The main section with a large image and the main cover line. Second section with the main cover lines and the third with a few smaller cover lines.
• Make sure there is contrast between your colours, if they clash you will not be able to see the writing.
• The positioning of the masthead is not important. It can be at the very top of the page or a cover line can be written above the masthead.
• Magazines are stacked in the shops so that the left third of the magazine is visible. The most attention grabbing cover lines and pictures should be on this part of the magazine so that you attract your audience.
• Photography sells more and looks better on a front cover rather than illustrations.
• The background of the image you take should be a solid colour. Patterns will make the cover hard to design when it comes to adding text.

 

 

 

Introduction

My name is Yasmin Osman. I am a year 12 media studies student at Chislehurst School for Girls. I have just finished creating a school magzine and have made this blog for the music magazine that I will be creating.