Front page

My main idea with the magazine front cover was to have a main image almost centred, the masthead near the top (not at the top because it is not conventional for the masthead to be in that place), have a selling line and a date line. These are general conventions for a front cover for any magazine.

The band I have photographed are called Fake Fiction and I know them through their drummer, Tom. I took a variety of different pictures with my Pentax K-m (some are inserted left). The best of the amount that I took was the middle picture. I chose to use this picture as the main image because all the band members are pulling a face and on most Kerrang! covers this is what the band are doing. This shows my front cover will follow the conventions of Kerrang! and it also shows the band in a different light. I took the image while standing on a climbing frame in a children's play area. This shot works well because the three members are equally shown and they are all stood in the same position - which highlights their equality in the band, yet their clothes depict their individuality. I have used the select tool on PhotoShop to select the band members and place them on a black to white gradient background. This is so that the text is clear and that the location of the photoshoot, the playground, is not visible. As I have mentioned in a previous post, I will be producing a punk/rock magazine and Fake Fiction are a punk band. Picking a punk band for a punk/rock magazine is straight forward - you wouldn't have Mumford & Sons on the cover of Kerrang because Mumford & Sons aren't "rock".

In terms of conventions it follows the conventions almost precisely. I chose to follow the conventions because they have been proved to be successful by the target audience purchasing the magazines and through the success of the industry. Though I have followed the conventions I have adapted them to suit the overall needs of my target audience.

The masthead "High Voltage" is near the top of the page, in the conventional position. I put it in the position because it is easy to see on a magazine shelf and therefore will stand out to the target audience whilst not interfering with the page as a whole. I chose the title High Voltage because, like Kerrang, it is related to electric instruments and therefore relates back to "rock" and "punk". To make the masthead stand out more I decided to use lightening bolts for the "I" and the "L" because it is a visual representation of the masthead. The colour of the lightening bolts is white and this is for one main reason. I was originally going to use yellow, as this is the normal colour we see lightening to be, however with the black background this combination of black and yellow is the natural colour combination which symbolises danger. This is not an image I wanted to portray, so therefore I used white. To contrast the white I used red for the majority of the rest of the page and subsequently became the colour theme for my magazine. This is demonstrated well in the selling line which is above masthead and it reverses the colour scheme while maintaining the same aesthetically pleasing design. I used the lightening to separate the text so that the top of the page didn't become cramped. I thought this selling line was important to have at the top of the page because the target audience will be able to see it on the magazine shelf and it highlights the most important parts of the issue. The second selling line located below the masthead. I put the website and the slogan below the masthead is it further advertises the magazine. The colour scheme highlights this further as in the website the white highlights the magazine title and in the slogan the red highlights "best" and "you" which are the most important things in that sentence.

The coverline and the main coverline link together well as the coverline gives a sneek preview of what you will find inside in the main double page interview. The main coverline "Fake Fiction" draws the most attention because of it's size and colours. The process of designing this coverline involved both myself and the band. They initially provided me with their logo, which can be seen to the right, however I thought I could improve it and with their permission and guidance I did. You are able to see my improved design to the left. I wanted to change it because the logo they had sent me looked a bit out of place on the page and it looked cartoon-like, which didn't suit the band or my magazine. I changed the logo so the "fake" was red and the "fiction" was blue, these are the two main colours that are representative of boys.

The barcode and the price and date line are found in the bottom right hand corner so that they do not interfere with the page but they are still a necessity to have on the magazine.

Preliminary Task

Our preliminary task was to produce a front cover of a school magazine which had to consist of a medium close up of a student. This would be the first time I was using the software we'd be using for the entire year, PhotoShop and InDesign. PhotoShop was very user friendly and I got the hang of it after a while.

I took plenty of pictures of my school with my DSLR and also of the student. Unfortunately when I took the pictures of the school it was a very overcast day but this was all taken care of in Photoshop by using “hue”, “saturation”, “lightness” and “colour balance” to make the sky look bluer and to give the school an improved appearance. I used the select tool and selected the sky and then I used the hue, saturation and lightness options to make the sky seem bluer and more attractive.The sky ended up looking a much nicer blue and the building looked a little more modern.

Adding the student into the picture wasn’t a problem. I had to delete the background of the student picture and then ‘inverse’ the selected area. Then I had to try and find the right angle for the gradient, so the student would not be transparent, nor a solid object just placed on a page.

The colour of the title, “St Edmund’s News”, is as close to the school’s Crest colour of blue. This is so that the magazine cover looks similar. Looking at our school’s magazine cover now, we saw that the colours were either the same as each other, the same as on the school crest or complimenting each other. This makes it look more professional, so that is why I have copied this idea. The other writing to the top right of the page is the school motto, what term the school is in and the issue of the magazine. I have done this to keep the motto looking important in the school’s life, to state the term we are in and to inform people how many other magazines there have been before this one.
The crest was straightforward to put in the picture. I did it the same way I did the picture of the student but this time I did not change the gradient because the school crest, in my opinion, should stand out. Therefore I made the crest medium sized and put it in the bottom left corner.
I am very pleased at how my preliminary task has turned out

Research and planning

For my research I will be looking at a variety of different music magazines e.g. NME, Kerrang, Mojo and Q. I have chosen these to examine because I would like to use that genre of magazine and the conventions are demonstrated in these examples.

NME: The New Musical Express published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the 14 November 1952 edition. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music magazine. It then became closely associated with punk rock through the writing of Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill. Many famous artists have appeared on the front cover since the magazine started in 1952, such as: The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Throughout the decades NME hasn’t always stuck to the same genre. When it first started off it was mainly Rock and Progressive Rock but over the years it changed slightly to fit the growing trends in the consumer demand. Different genres it has accommodated for: Rock & Progressive Rock (The Beatles), Punk (Sex Pistols), Grunge (Nirvana) and when Kurt Cobain died it affected his fans and also the music industry because ‘Grunge’ was slowly replaced by Britpop (Oasis), Hip-Hop (Jay-Z), Indie (Bloc Party) and now the magazine has stayed with the Indie and Alternative genres.

Total circulation (ABC January - June 2010): 33,875

Kerrang: The magazine's name is onomatopoeic and refers to the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar. Kerrang! commenced publication on 7 June 1981, initially as a one-time supplement in the Sounds newspaper, which focuses on the genre New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of other hard rock acts. AC/DC appeared on Kerrang!’s first cover. Kerrang!'s first successful period in 2000 when the ‘nu metal’ genre, featuring bands like Papa Roach, Slipknot and Linkin Park, became more popular. Later on, they started covering other bands, like Foo Fighters and Metallica. Kerrang has stayed with virtually the same genre all through the years but maybe swaying more towards Rock in the present day. Kerrang has also broadened its audience by creating a radio station, a TV channel, their own awards (The K! Awards) and their own tour (Kerrang Tour).

Total circulation: 42,967

Q: Q is a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology. Q was first published in October 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing. In the early years, the magazine was sub-titled "The modern guide to music and more". Originally it was to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine.

Total circulation: 88,240

MOJO: MOJO is a monthly magazine. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music. MOJO was first published on 15 October 1993; in keeping with its classic rock aesthetic, the first issue had Bob Dylan and John Lennon as its first cover stars.

Circulation: 94,617

AS coursework

I am retaking my AS coursework. Our task was to produce a music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. Looking at my previous work I have decided to stay with the same genre of Punk/Rock and I will be looking at different magazines that depict this genre e.g. NME, Kerrang, Q and Mojo. I have decided to use this genre of Punk/Rock because its conventions were the ones I were most comfortable to follow and develop because I have been a close follower of NME and Kerrang and their conventions are familiar to me. I have started the designing process and have the initial designs for the front cover, contents page and double page. To the left is my initial design for my font cover. As you can see it is made up of a big main image to show the audience that it is the main focus of the magazine. The Masthead is the biggest text on the page as it needs to stand out, especially on a magazine shelf where only the top will be visible. The main cover line would be slightly smaller than the Masthead because it is still important and needs to stand out but it cannot distract you from the Masthead. This is a conventional front cover, mostly from Kerrang, because the conventions have shown to be successful.

To the right is my initial design for my contents page. The main image is the biggest thing on this page. This is to show its importance over everything else. It may not be the image of the band I will be writing about on my double page spread but I have noticed that in real magazines that the main image on the contents page isn't necessarily the band that are on the double page. The contents Masthead is the biggest text on this page. This is because it shows that this is the contents page and the most important information about what is in the magazine is on this page. There is a smaller picture in the bottom left corner and that is another convention of music magazines and this is probably where I will put an image of the band I will be 'interviewing' on the double page spread.

To the left is my initial design of my double page spread. The main image is the main focus on this page to show the audience that they are a new and upcoming band and to highlight that. The title on this page is probably the second most important thing because it highlights what the page is about so if you are looking through the magazine you are able to find it easily. The text on this page will probably be made up of questions and answers because it will be in the style of an interview. After looking at my initial designs I started to think about the name of the magazine. I initially used High Voltage and quite liked this name. I came up with this because I was thinking about electrical instruments and I was looking at my electric guitar and my amp at the time and saw it said "caution High Voltage" and thought it was a brilliant idea for the title. I chose it because it relates back to music via the instruments and it focuses on the 'music' side of things. Ihave decided to keep this name because I think it works well for my magazine.