My Music magazine

Magazine name : Tuned
Magazine audience : 16-25
Magazine gender : Mainly male
Magazine price : £2.99
Magazine music genre : Indie/Rock

This is the image which i will be using for my front cover. If you look at his eyes it seems as if he is looking directly at the audience which will catch the attention and will make them interested in the magazine. I used a guitar to represent the music in my magazine what is edgy rock indie music which the audience will relate to.

This example of a contents page from NME magazine we can see many different conventions. For example the layout is very clear and easy to read. We can see that there is a vast list if artists to the left hand side in its own separate text box which is titled “Band Index”. The name makes sure that the reader is very clear on what the section is about. This text box is not very big and only covers a small area of the magazine. The box includes Cutting Class who aren’t well known in the music industry. We know this as that there names are out of the way and don’t cover to much space in the page. The colours of this section also represent NME magazine as the numbering is in black and the font is in red which are the two main colours we see in the NME logo. This reminds the reader that the magazine they are reading is NME and that they have own all the information on the page. NME do this so that they seem to be the key providers of music and that they get the latest news / gossip. The follow on effect from this will be that more people will trust and read the magazine as they appear to have a good research department.

At the top we can clearly see the logo of NME and the text “This Week”. This tells the reader that NME is updated weekly and has new news to be told each week. As a result, more people will read the magazine as it shows that NME gets new news updates and releases each week. The colours of this section again match with the logo and colour scheme of NME. The back background in the text box allows the white text and the red and white logo to stand out to the reader.

In the centre of the page we can see that there is one advert that advertises the “New Noise 2009”. With this being in the magazine it shows that it is at the height of the music industry and its is heavy involved with it. The colours do not represent NME as it does not belong to the monopoly but it does stand out with the rest of the magazine. The fact it does stand out will have been because of the background. The light blue brings out the rest of the colours clearly so that the article stands out from the rest. It advertises “10 acts for the New Year”, this shows that NME again is strong with its information as it is a reliable source. Also in this article we can see a small sub text saying “Get turning to find out who we’re backing”. When the reader reads this they will want to look into the magazine and get a better insight to who NME will be backing. Next to this sub text we can see to double page spreads that feature in this section. This gives the reader a sneak preview and makes them feel that they have all the main information at their finger tips.

Below the “New noise 2009” section we can see there is text that is titled “Plus”. By giving it this name it tells the reader that the magazine has yet more information available to give to the readers. Again, this means that the reader is at one of the first people to hear all the available updates. It is a similar layout to the text box on the left apart from the colour scheme has swapped around as the numbering is red and the font is black. This gives more depth into the magazine and prevents the reader from becoming bored of the style of the magazine. As the artists and sections in this box will be shown more interest to the reader, the text is a lot bigger. This is so that the reader can find the big stories and the big news straight away and so that there is not to much time being used up on reading the contents page.

To the right of the magazine we can see that there is a section involving who the stars are voting for. Again this tells the read that NMW magazine has all the up to date information and that they can get most information from artists. This keeps the trust from the reader in the magazine. This is advertising the “shock waves NME awards 2009”. To keep with the theme of the event we see a boarder around the side of the sub text which clearly represents this category. The result of this is that the reader will be able to read and understand the magazine easier and better. The colour scheme of the text also matches the boarder of the sub text showing that the text belongs to the article. We can also see a picture at the top of the image who is Tom Clarke from The Enemy. This again tells the reader that NME are able to get the top information with top artists. The picture also means that he can be clearly recognised by the reader so that less time has to be spent understanding the magazine.


Now that i have looked at an example of a contents page I will be able to make my own. I will use the conventions i have seen in the example and use some of these to create my own. To do this i will have to complete a hand draft, DTP draft and a DTP final piece. This will mean that all my ideas can be used and put into the page.

This issue of NME magazine, we can see many different conventions and techniques that have been used to attract the an audience.

For example, in most magazine fronts we see text and pictures that are the dominate feature of the magazine. The text is quite bold and catches your eye which is a basic font type and a lot easier to read. This stands out form the text that is presented which gives the magazine the edge of standing out from others. The picture being black and white also shows the main story of the magazine. In this case it is blur returning to the music scene. The picture is represented as black and white as they are shown to be coming back into the music scene as they have been out for several years. Another way the picture tells us that the band are making a return is the fact that the man on the left is dressed differently from the man on the right. The man on the left has older clothes on, for example, rounded glasses, older hair cut, older style jacket and scarf. This is typical for the 1990’s, when Blur where a popular alternative rock group. On the other hand the man in the left is dressed in a much more modern effect. NME will have done this so that we see that Blur are making a come back to a new era compared to what it was before. For example the man on the left has a modern hair cut with and ear piercing. He also has a modern leather jacket on with a plain black t-shirt. This is a typical stereotype of a modern artist.

The black and white colour allows the red boxes with white and yellow to stand out as they are a lot brighter then the black and white. This means that the reader can easily look at both the picture and writing as they both stand out from each other making it easier to read. The colours read white and yellow are also the main colours of NME magazine making the magazine easy to recognise from other magazines.

The sub text of the magazine are also a big convention that helps sell the magazine. For example, one of the sub text looks like the corner off the page has been torn away. This makes the reader feel like they are being aloud to have a sneak preview of what is in the magazine. This plug relates to the main story that we are presented with through the picture being the return of Blur.

They are also presented in basic and simple shapes. Circles and rectangles are used because it is easier for the reader to look at and read. As well as the shapes being simple the sanserif text inside is also basic so it is easier to read. This is important as the circles and rectangles are often of set. With them being off set the sanserif text makes sure that the text is still readable. The shapes of the plugs are often of set because it relates to the genre of the magazine. With the genre being alternative rock and roll, it has its own free style and themes, which are often mess and unorganised. This means that with the plugs being off set we see this being emphasised.

The colour scheme of the text is the same with all text. This makes sure that the magazine stays with the same style and keeps its consistent colour scheme. This is important because having the colour scheme the same makes the magazine look simple and easily recognised to other magazines by having the same colour scheme being consistent. This makes the sub text easily recognised and from other features on the front page meaning that the magazine is easily read and understood as sub text are easy to pick out and read.

The same font is used in the masthead. This keeps the same theme and style of the magazine consistent. But it makes the masthead simple to read and easily recognised. The colours are again set with the main theme and style of the magazine it has set itself. It is placed near to the top right hand corner, this is because you would expect to see the masthead near the top and it is also out of the way from sub text and pictures. This gives more space to put things on the front page like pictures and plugs as well as allowing the reader to understand the magazine easier.

I believe the magazine has represented Blur return to the music scene effectively through the use of stereotypes and imagery which catches the audiecnes attention.

Music Magazine terms

Masthead: The magazine's title. Usually displayed at the top of the page.
Price: Cost of the magazine
Date: Usually weekly or monthly
Issue Number: What number the issue was release at e.g. 1 issue being the 1st made
Barcode: Read electronically and decoded into usable information.
Teaser: One word/phrase acts as an attention grabber
Main Feature: Headline: A phrase that may summarise the main point of the main feature. In large print, different style, bold colours in order to catch the attention of the reader.
Subtitle: Smaller headline that may summarise the feature.
Smaller Feature: Features included in the magazine.
Images: Helps make the page look more interesting. It immediately grabs the readers attention usually shot in a medium or close up shot
Font: Style and size of type face.
Colour: Specific/stylistic/thematic types.
Graphics: Graphical shapes to highlight feature(s)
Offers/advert Blurb: Banner-style shape featuring free products/promotions.

Music Magazine

I decided to call my music magazine "Tuned" to stand out from other magazines and the word "Tuned" is a term used in music langauge for tuning a musical instrusment for example a guitar by using the word it is creating a double meaning. The indie audience will perfer the name as its modern and fresh.

This is the sort of indie music band which will best reflect my magazine and this band "Muse" will be best suited for the indie music audience

In this issue of NME magazine we can again see many different conventions used.

The masthead also follows this as the design of it is very simple and a sanserif design. It has a black background layer and on top of this we have the NME name in red. Around the NME we see that there is a white background that makes the red and white stand out from the black. This means that the masthead are a lot easier to read, understand and recognise. It also makes it stand out from the black, dark background that surrounds it.

The picture that dominates the front page is also a convention as it shows a member from The Killers. He is presented to us in an edgy way which draws the readers attention and appeals to NME Target audience. For example it straight away tells the viewer that there is going to be a main story on The Killers as the main member of the band is the main picture. For the readers who enjoy or are interested in The Killers it will immediately draws the intention and they will want to read the NME magazine

The text that is presented with the picture is a bright yellow, red, with a white. With the black background, this means that the text jumps out with the picture to appeal to the reader. . The white serif text that is a quote from The killers, "We'll have the new album finished for Reading and Leeds." which stands out to the NME audience and the way the text is presented this is what NME have done to grip the attention of the audience. This is because The Killers are a well known band that have many new songs in the charts. So NME magazine have made example of this and put this in the brightest colours that stand out on the page.

Most of the sub text do not have any boxes or boarders around them. This is to keep with the style of the magazine and keep it consistent throughout. Having no boarders around the text means that someone could be miss read or not see the different text.

Carrying on from the previous evaluation

Magazine front cover terms

Genre of music

I am doing the indie genre of music but they are many different types of music genres and they all a diffrent variety from each other:

• Indie- The Kooks, The Killers
• Metal- Metallica, Iron Madien
• Rock- Guns "N" Roses, Queen
• Pop- Britney Spears, Boyzone
• Classical- Maria Callas, Elizabeth Schumann
• Country- Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift
• Dance-Ultrabeat, David Guetta
• RnB- Akon, Dizzie Racal
• Rap- 50 Cent, Eminem

Indie genre

The indie genre in music is a niche market so it represents a small part of the music world but is still popular. Popular indie music magazines include Mojo, NME, Q Magazine and Uncut to name a few.

Music Genre

The chosen music genre i have selected is indie this is what i will focus on in my magazine

conventions of a magazine

Masthead - The name of the magazine and how people recognise magazine.
Date line - the month/ year/ day it is published,
Main image - Often relates to the main coverline and is used to show what the magazine is focusing on
Coverlines - The stories that will get the attention of the reader and often relates to the main cover image
Main coverline- always on the picture usually focuses on whats in the magazine

conventions of a music magazine

• picture of bands or artists
• background information on artists
• advertisements
• information on other festivals
• price
• a main image of artist or band
• masthead
• issue number
• main logo
• selling line
• cover line
• subheadings
• features
• reviews- film, books, music, concerts
• album reviews
• prizes

LIIAR

When creating the music magazine i will be using LIIAR which stands for;
Language -What medium you are looking at. What media terminology you are usingInstitution -Who controls the production process and how it affects the final product
Ideology - The values that are important to the medium and its genre
Audience - Who the product is for, what they will do with it, what does the media product need to fulfill its audiences expectations
Representation - What people/ issues appear in it, how are they displayed/ put across to you, why have they done it that way.

What is LIIAR

LIIAR is the following

• L-language
• I-institution
• I-ideology
• A-audience
• R-representation

When creating a music magazine i will use LIIAR to create my magazine to help me and i will refer to my use of LIIAR

Main Task Brief

I must complete the front page, contents and a double page spread of a new magazine. All images and texts used must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images

Plan for front cover

Planning my college magazine

Name - Wyke Wizard
Main headline - Should we ban the rose gardens
Picture - Medium close up of student. reading a college magazine.
Other stories - First year's exams 2010, new buliding work to Ash, students: is there too much pressure on them ?

The main story on my magazine should grip the readers attentions and stand out giving a clear image of what my magazine is about

Planning my college magazine -

1.Pictures along one side of the page.
2.Page numbers on the opposite.
3.Clear font
4.Date and time
5.Details of the college at the bottom of the page.
6.The page numbers which should be easy to read

Why i did my contents page that way

I my contents page on desktop publisher. I chose a basic layout with both text and image on it , i tried to make it as simple as possible to reflect a college magazine and make it easy to ready and understand

LIIAR;
L-langauage
I-Ideology
I-Institutions
A-Audience
R-Respresentation

Diffrences between a college and a normal magazine

• College magazines are for a smaller audience usually
• College magazines often dont charge for the magazine compared to normal magazines which do charge
• Normal magazines often have a clebebrity on the front cover whilst college magazines usually have someone from the school or a image which is linked to the topic
• Normall magazine have sponsors and advertisements compared to college magazines which do not have any sponsors and advertisements in there magazine

Conventions of a college contents page

Conventions of a college magazine contents page

Page numbers
Pictures
Mast head
Link with the audience
Volume or Issue number
Easy to read subheading

Conventions of a contents page

• Conventions of the contents pages
• House style
• colour
• font
• layout
• image style all similar to front cover and interior
• Use of columns to “block”
• Subheadings to divide contents into loose categories
• Images anchored to copy
• Audience considered
  

definition of a mood board

A mood board is a type of poster design that may consist of images, text, and samples of objects in a composition of the choice of the mood board creator. Designers and others use mood boards to develop their design concepts and to communicate to other members of the design team. The mood board may be used as a frame of reference during the design process.

Mood Board Example

Planning a collage magazine

These are all the planning i need to do to create a successful college magazine

• Spider Diagrams
• Mood Board
• Sketch of the magazine
• evaluation of sketch
• do some more drafts
• do a final draft
• one original image

What i want to do for my college magazine

I have looked at other college magazines and i want to focus at sports in college and how they are a postive or negative influence on students college life

Codes And Conventions of a content page

• picture
• page numbers
• advertisement
• features
• text
• email
• phone number
• outline of main story
• a welcoming
• main title
• subtitle
• prize
• competitions

Codes and Conventions

The codes and conventions of a collage magazine;

• bold picture
• main story
• date
• issue number
• web site
• email
• price?
• title
• advertisement

The Brief

Using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/collage magazine,featuring a photograaph of a student in medium close-up plus some approptriatley 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 orginal,produced by you- minimum of four images.

Presentation of your work: The presentation of the research, planning and evaluation may take the form of any one, or combination of two or more, of the following:

• A presentation using slideshow software such as powerpoint
• a blog
• a podcast