Music Magazine contents page

Introduction

We were asked to also create a contents page for the music magazine. It could be a double page, or single. I decided to do a single contents page. I used several magazines to help me come up with stories to use for the contents page such as Q and NME. I also took some new pictures, to represent stories which i had written.

I started my contents page and realised that i had used the same photograph as someone else. So i decided to change all of my contents page as i also did not have enough stories, and it was looking very plain and boring. The picutres on the contents page were not captive enough.

First draft of Contents page




















How and Why

I stuck to 3 colours for my contents page, as i believe more than 3 colours, would look to much and over the top. Those were red, black and white. I used a diagonal line to seperate the top half of the page from the bottom. I used a black background for the top half, and a white background for the bottom half. After creating the background, i thought my contents page, still looked plain and not very appealing. So i used a circle shape in the top left corner, to make it look more funky. By using the custom shape tool, i came across a shape to situate in middle of the contents page. I decided to use it as part of my background, by replacing the layers of my stories, on top of the shape layer.

I used a picture of a female, which i took to represent "The Interview of Hayley williams". I had to change the girl, because i noticed that someone else had used the same picture as me. I also decided to change my pictures of landscape images, to images of actual people, as this relates to magazine contents pages. Many magazines edit pictures, to make them look more effective, or they airbrush models to make them look prettier etc. I decided not to edit any of my pictures for the contents page. Whilst editing my contents page, i noticed that the female model looked to skinny and the male model looked to wide, so i changed the size slightly. I also had to use the Magic tool wand to cut the images, and a rubber to refine the edges.

Origianal Photos









I decided to use a logo for my magazine, aswel as a title. Alot of well-known magazines use logos, and is easily noticble to all readers. I half situated AMP's logo in the top left corner of the magazine. that there magazine is easily noticble. E.g. OK magazine. Ok magazines title is also their logo.

Unfortunately i have lost the image of the female.

Analysis of Contents page

I researched several magazine contents page to try and pick up ideas, and see what techniques they use. I came across this one.

This content page uses a picture for the top of their background. I decided to use shapes of photoshop itsself for a part of the background. I also took the idea from this example, to tilt the stories which are feautiring in the magazine itself.
When uploading pictures, i had to think carefully about where i was going to situate them, so that they did not block any of the writing etc. I took the idea of tilting the writing on an angle, on my contents page also.

Final draft Contents Page

This is my final draft of my contents page and as you can see, it relates to the decription of which i have made above. I have also used to pictures, like the contents page i researched, but i put a border around each image. I done this because, the pictures blended into the background without a border to give the image more effect. During the last stages of processing my contents page i noticed that it was looking a bit bare, above the image on the left hand side. So on photoshop i used a custom shape, which represented a music note.

As you can see my colour scheme for my contents page is the total opposite of my front cover. I decided to use totally different colour on my contents page, to be different and unique as most magazines, stick to a basic colour scheme throughout the whole magazine. I want readers to remember my magazine for this.

Title fonts

I decided on 3 different fonts which i liked for my title, but could only have one, so i asked 100 people what they thought would be the best font for my title. 80% voted for the first one, 5% for the 2nd one and 15% for the last one. So i went with the survey results and used the first font for my magazine cover title.

Pie chart results of Questionnaire

I have put my results of my questionnaire into pie charts, to make it easier to analyse results.

Music Magazine front cover

Introduction

I have been asked to create a music magazine, it has to contain a front cover, contents page and a 2 page article. I have decided that the music genre of my magazine will be Indie/Rock. I decided to use me for the front cover of my magazine. I used a plain black background to emphasise the genre of music which is Indie/Rock. I kept to a simple 3 colour scheme for my front cover, i have used the colours Black, Purple and Green. I am placed in the center of the magazine, looking directly at the camera, i have situated the writing around the image, and over the image, but i have not wrote over the face, as this would not look good. I decided to stick to wearing black and grey clothing, as this contrast of colours, represents the indie/rock style of the magazine. I used story headlines such as Kings of leon, Hayley Williams and Lostphrophets, because they are all indie/rock bands, therefore they fit in well with the magazine as it is based on indie music.

During the process
For the title i took an idea from Q Magazine. Qs title is placed on a square red image in the top left corner. I done the same but the rectangle is purple, and the title green. I also took the idea of advertising a chance to win to tickets to a music festival on the bottom of the front cover, from Q magazine. I used Baby Kruffy font for my title, i had it much larger than any other writing, as i wanted it to be effective and easily readable and noticable. I also added shadow into the background of the title to create more effect. I situated the date, issue number and website around the title. I used Cooper std for all of my stories advertising on the front cover. I had to drop the shadows on all of the writing because it wasnt very readable as it was based on a black background.

I situated the Bar code in the left bottom corner, as it was not over lapping anything, and looked in place. I also resized the barcode by making it smaller, so that it did not take up lots of room on the front cover.

I also used a star shape on the right hand side of the magazine. I used a purple background for the shape, and used green writing. I used it as a advertising and a way to promote the magazine. I used "2 free downloads" as this could persuade the audience to buy the magazine.

I could not find the original photo, for which i have used on my front cover. This photo however is the same one i used for my front cover. It has half been cut though. I had to cut the image by using the "Magic wand tool" i then had to go around the edges of my body with a rubber, but be very careful, as one slip of the mouse, could leave me with half an arm. The original background was blue, i had to make sure there wasnt any blue showing on the image E.g. around the body.

While i was adding the finishing touches to my magazine, i notcied that my skin looked dull and greyish. To change the colour i had to :

• Click on image
  
• Then click on adjustments


• In adjustments there are many different settings, i experiemented with saturation, contrast and brightening, til i found the right colour tone.

School Magazine

The first project which i have been working on in Media Studies, is to create a school magazine. I took a photo of my friend jordan holding a folder, which can relate to school work. I put this on my front cover, i located the picture slightly to the right.

I used 3 colours only on my front page to keep it simple. I used Purple to represent Thomas Hepburn school as the pupils wear purple jumpers, Black and White. I also used 3 fonts, these were Rockwell, Franklin gothic and Tekton pro

I uploaded a picture of Thomas Hepburn himself, and placed the picture in the top right corner, as it was not the most important picture. I also uploaded the school logo and placed it to the left under the title. I also uploaed a picture of the school building site and placed a purple boarder roung to make the picture more effective. I also wrote a persuasive line "Free cinema tickets for 2, in this weeks magazine" so the reader will read the magazine.

For the contents page, i listed the page numbers down the side, so it was easier for the reader to find what they are looking for, and so the contents page looked more organised. I used a plain white background to keep it simple, with a purple border around to represent thomas hepburn school. I placed Thomas Hepburn's school logo on the bottom right of the page. I used all the same black font apart from the title. I used relveant pictures to relate to stories which are feautring in the school magzine.