Week 3

This week i focused on my front cover and contents page. I placed my front cover image into indesign(the software we used to create or magazines) and began to use my font to create the mast head and cover lines for my front cover. I played around with the arrangements of my sub headings and cover lines untill i was completley satisfied with the positioning of them. I also used photoshop this week to create the barcode for my magazine. I then went on to create the stories for my contents page, using some that had featured on my front cover also, as well as placing a photo of my DJ into my contents page, leaving gaps to add more photos at a later date.

Technical guide

    I used photo shop to edit my photos, this is one example of my photo before and after editing.

    to create this change I used a number of tools on photoshop, here is a guide of how i achieved this  

    effect.

    1. crop photograph using the crop tool

    2. click on image, then adjustments and select contrast

    3. change the contrast of the photo so it looks more intense and solves exposure problems. Playing   

    around withe contrast and brightness off a photo is nearly always beneficial. you can also use

    curves to get this effect.

    4. after this i then went to image, adjustments and then colour balance.

     i increased the use of the colour blue in my picture as it was a running theme throughout my

     magazine.

    5. I used the spot healing tool to cover the few imperfections in the skin to her complexion was

    more flawless.

    6. I wanted her glasses to be completley black, so began using the clone stamp on the darker parts of

    her glasses and the black off her top to create blacked out glasses.

    7. Finally i went back to image, adjustments and saturation. I increased the saturation to bring more

    colour into the picture.



Week 2

I took my photographs this week. I used a female friend who i styled to create my DJ(Kimi Nandez), i took a range of photos, and i chose; an over the shoulder mid shot for the front cover, a close up for the double page spread and a close up for a small photograph on my contents page. I chose to use a female model as through my target audienc research, i had learned that people were keen to see more female artists and DJs in dance magazines. Through the week i used photoshop to manipulate the photos slightly, playing around with the contrast, saturation, brightness and colour balance untill i thought the photos wer of a good enough standard to be put into my magazine. Meanwhile, i also downloaded a font of a website called 'dafont'(http://www.dafont.com/) to be used for the masthead of my magazine and the cover lines.

photo planning and locations

  

   

   

Week 1

I began to create the layout of my magazine- front cover, contents page and double page spread. I payed special attention to my style model 'mixmag' when doing this, taking on board conventions from 'mixmag' as well as creating my own to insure my magazine is going to look proffesional but unique. As well as working on the layout of my magazine, i began to create some content, I knew that i wanted to include more sub-headings and anchorage text on my front cover than 'mixmag' usually have, so began to create stories for these. I also wrote the article for my double page spread, which i made in a question and answer form between my magazine and a female DJ/ music artist i created called Kimi Nandez. This meant i could now start taking photos for my double page spread and front cover of this artist and begin to work on more content for my front cover.

traget audience profile 2

Name:Nikita

Age:18

interests:Having a dance, clubbing, festivals.

How often do you buy Dance magazine?: About once a month, maybe more if a magazine catches my eye on the shelves and I have enough money on me to buy it.

How much do you susally spend on a dance magazine?: around four or five pound, i will spend more though if the magazine looks worth it- if it has freebies etc.

Which magazines do you buy and why?:tillate and mixmag. I actually have a prescription for tillate. They always have a lot about new clubs and dance events a cross the country, and are always having competitions and prize draws to win things. Once me and i won 2 VIP tickets to the Pascha club in london for an event they were having on-amazing!

What colour scheme do you think would look best for a dance music magazine: pinks, blues, greens, whites. Bright colours that stand out against eachother.

What sort of thing would you like to see in a dance music magazine: club reviews and interviews with artists and DJS. I also like to see what my favourite artists are listening to.

Do you think both men and women read DJ/dance magazines?:Well im a girl aren't I? yeah ofcourse, probably more males than females but all my female friends read dance music magazines so there are some of us out there.

Do you agree with the fact more women should be in DJ/dance magazines?: Definitley! mainly there is just some random girl posing on the front in a bikini but they never actually feature in the magazine. If they started including more female dance artists and DJs that would be great.

target audience research

My target audience, would be male and females between the age of 18 and 28 who enjoy clubbing, dance music and DJ-ing. I created a quick questionnaire and distributed it to a group of 10 people who were within my traget audience specification.

Target audience profile

Name: Lewis

Age: 18

Interests: Dance music, DJing

How often do you buy a dance music magazine?: At least two different magazines twice a month. I like to keep up to date with new artists and dance events.

How much do you usually spend on a dance magazine?: About three to six pound but no more.

Which magazines do you buy and why?: Mixmag and DJ mag most of the time. They always have the best articles and interviews, and always no the latest news in the dance music world. I always go to mixmag if i want to read about new, up and coming DJ's and occasionally have freebies like CD's or chances to win tickets for festivals.

What colour scheme do yoy think would look best for a dance music magazine?: Black, white and then another or a couple more bright colours- something that will stand out against the black and white.

What sort of thing would you like to see in a music magazine?: Well, like i said before, anything about new DJ's and artists, or even reading about older more legendary DJs or dance music artists. I like to read things that are interesting and insightful-like about the DJ's life and why they started to produce music etc.

Do you think both men and women read Dance/DJ magazines?: Oh yeah! It is definitley a unisex market. However you dont see a lot of female artists and DJs actually in the magazines so i would like to see more of that!

traget audience research

Analysis-double page spread

Typically double page spreads have three columns but this magazine has chosen to do for probably as they have a lot of content. They have used a drop capital to immediately draw your attention to the article. A small Polaroid style photo has been placed amongst the article to help illustrated what the DJ j is talking about in the article and make it look more exciting.  The title has been underlined and the DJ’s name has been highlighted in a pink so you know who the article will be about. There is a header along the top of the line which informs you that this will be a question and answer with DJ or musician as it says ‘VIP Q+A’ this would most likely be a common feature in every issue of this magazine.  The large dominating image on the right hand side shows the DJ in a very relaxed style which is done to reflect the DJ’s personality, his clothes choice actually helps to show the reader more about the DJ. There is a quote placed next to the image which has been picked out from the article which would immediately give an insight to the DJ’s personality and what they can expect to read in the article. The quote that has been picked out as it is quite interesting and would relate to the target audience of this magazine as it refers to dancing and music.

On the left hand side of this double page spread we see a photograph of the artist behind some decks to show that he is a DJ. He is wearing a loose shirt and looks pretty relaxed which shows this is where he feels comfortable and is in his element. On the left hand side, the DJ is shown in a suit looking quite dapper which shows that he is also very professional and modern. These photos help to illustrate what is written in the article as it talks about his progression in the music industry. The colour scheme of black, white helps the title and quote stand out as they are written in orange. This is done, so when you open the page you are immediately drawn to these pieces of text. Although there is a lot of text in this double page it is broken up by the two photographs so it looks easier to read.

This magazine has chosen to replace the artists face with a lemon to create ambiguity in the photo. It is ironic because the lemon features in the name of the DJ. The use of ambiguity makes the reader curios, and want to read on. They have used the colour of white, black and yellow which draws your attention to the page as these are originally known as warning colours. They have set ou the article into 3 equal columns and used a drop capital at the beginning of the article. This adds a bt more colour to the text, as well as making the text appear easier to read.

dance music magazine

Codes and conventions-contents page

Primarily, contents pages (especially dance magazines), are image dominated. Usually with one large mid shot photograph which is part of a key story of the magazine, and then a couple smaller ones which are less significant. There should be a title at the top of the page, either saying ‘contents’ are the title of the magazine. As well as this, the writing is most likely to be set out in blocks in a clear font that stands out against the background. The font colour should also fit in with the colour scheme of the magazine. The subtitles of the stories may also be in chronological order, however they may be set out in order of importance or may be sectioned into groups.

Analysis

This is a contents page for DJ magazine. This magazine has decided to organise their inside stories into groups instead of in chronological order to make it easier for the reader to find what sort of stories they are looking for. They have also changed the colour of the font of writing depending on what group it is in. I like the use of colour as it reflects the genre of dance music which is very bold and loud. Pictures are also used in each section to help illustrate what they can expect in these parts of the magazine. The layout of the contents is neat but still has an edge to it by slightly tilting the writing and features section to still appeal to younger, cool people.  The subtitle fonts are all also large and easily readable which helps to make it pleasing to the eye. They also include the statement ‘living and breathing dance music’ which implies that the music would have a lot of information and experience to do with dance music which will further encourage people to want to read it.

This is a contents page from mixmag magazine. Running along the header of the page, the magazine allows the reader to see some basic information, such as the title of the magazine, date of release and title of page this is just to inform the reader of what they are reading and using the title of magazine helps to keep a running theme throughout the magazine. This page has been well thought out and set out in a very neat format where everything is lined up with everything else which makes it look very attractive. The page is image dominated by a large photograph of a party scene which has been edited. This photo goes with the theme of the magazine as people who enjoy dance music are generally young adults to late twenties who enjoy going out and socialising and will immediately jump out to the reader. The use of advertising a free CD will immediately catch the reader’s attention as they are getting a freebie of something they actually want and enjoy- using this technique will build a relationship between the reader and magazine and they will be more  likely to buy the magazine again as they will associate it with good things.  The writing is set out in chronological order and is a white font to stand out against the black background and make it neat and legible for the consumer. The magazine is also using the colour scheme black, white and pink so has included a picture of their main model wearing a bright pink skirt to help fit in with the theme.

This contents page is completely image dominated which helps to exemplify what to expect to see in the magazine. Page numbers are placed in the corners of the pictures also, so that the product consumer can quickly find stories they want to read. The contents page is broken into three categories (features, gears, regulars). This also makes it easy for the reader to pick out what sort of stories they want to read. The colour scheme is black and white, as well as red used to add more colour to the page and to help draw attention to important factors i.e. title, and page numbers on photos etc. The bottom of the page is dominated by a large red box which informs the reader of the names of the publisher, advertising manager, managing director etc. as well as the magazines contact number and place of work. This will allow people to make enquiries and ask questions to the company if they wish as well as advertising the company.

Codes and conventions-front cover

The front cover of a music magazine is essentially the most important aspect as this is what will determine whether or not your magazine will be bought. It must include a main image which will dominate the page, typically a mid shot with the model  looking straight towards the camera so that it catches peoples attention. The model must also fit i with the genre of magazine. The magazine must have a masthead which will be the name of the magazine. This must be large and eyecatching with a legible font. As well as the main image there may be some other smaller images accompanied by some anchorage text explaining what the image is about. There will also be cover lines to tell you what you can expect to see and read in the magazine. Finally there may be a flash or banner used to advertise freebies such as posters and CD's.

Analysis

You can tell by this front cover from ‘raveline’ magazine that they take dance music very seriously and this magazine would most likely be for serious Djs or clubbers. In contrast with most other dance magazine front covers there is no use of bright colours on this page except for the use of yellow on the logo of the turntable. This implies that the only important thing to this magazine is the record which is what creates the music. The title is in a very simple, white, large white font which would immediately grab the attention of the consumer. The use of a simple font makes it look very neat and professional so that the reader of the magazine would know that they will get a lot of factual information from this magazine. The name of the DJ on the front cover is positioned next to the image which has been edited so that a section of the DJs face has been slightly saturated and contrasted which gives the picture a bit more life and makes it appear more interesting. A list of DJ name next to the picture on the front cover informs us that we can expect a lot of information about these particular DJs inside the magazine.

The statement at the top of the magazine ‘The world’s essential clubbing magazine’ is used to so that people will feel like they should but this particular magazine over another dance magazine because it is described as essential. Furthermore the use of advertising their website next to this statement shows that the magazine is going with the times and is using different types of media and not just a magazine.  The dominating image of the DJ ‘laid back Luke’ is very appealing to those who enjoy dance music as he is wearing a very brightly coloured t-shirt which also fits with the colour scheme of the magazine. As well as this, the pinkish tint on the picture and the models body language looks as if he has been caught in a strobe light at a club. The title of the magazine as a spray paint style font and as it is half hidden by the models head creates a rebellious and fun feel to the magazine. This is also done through the DJ name ‘laid back Luke’ which looks as if it has been drawn on in permanent marker.  The other subtitles are arranged on the left hand side of the cover so that they are not interfering with the main image. These are in black and white neat fonts so they can be read quickly and easily.

This front cover is slightly subverting the stereotype of a dance music magazine, as the main model is wearing a lot of dark clothing and has tattoos and a piercing which is typically associated with people who enjoy rock music. By doing this, the magazine is opening their doors to a wider target audience and saying-anyone can enjoy dance music and in turn, anyone can enjoy their magazine. They have used a lot of red and yellow to highlight there main stories and to stand out against the grey background.



Codes and conventions-Double page

spread

A double page spread typically has a large dominating image taking up at least one hole page if not more, and then 3 columns of writing which would either be an interview form or question and answers with a particular music artist. The double page spread will have the same colour scheme as the front cover and contents page as well as other themes. The main title of the double page spread would be large but the writing in the article will be dramatically smaller than on the front cover and contents page.

Initial ideas

Initial designs

 FRONT COVER

I decided when exploring the msuic magazine market, that there was a gap in the market for DJ/dance music style magazines. When searching the internet i could only find around 5 DJ magazines and only a few looked really proffesional. I set myself  a challenge to create a proffesional looking dance/DJ mag based on the style model of 'mixmag'.

      I created a few sketches for my front cover, contents page, and double page spread to give myself a rough idea of what i wanted to create. I then went on to do some target audience research to see what they wanted to see from  my magazine.

  

  

                                                                                                                                                         

school magazine

School magazine photos     Today i began to take photographs for the cover and contents page of my school magazine.

I have chosen to use a mid shot of a sixth form pupil for my front cover. i will use photoshop to minipulate the photograph, and to use certain tools such as the lasso and wand tools, to place the pupil onto a different background.

 Final cut

 This project helped me to get a feel for how a magazine is contstructed. We explored different codes and conventions of school magazines to help is get an understanding for what we had to include and how they contribute to creating an sttractive and neat magazine. It allowed me to explore tools on photoshop and aquire new skills on indesign also. I am pleased with the finished product but obviously would want to complete my music magazine to a much higher level.