double page spread development-content

When writing my article and interview i made sure that the tone was chatty and humorous. My target audience will then be interesting in this as it is in their style of language.

Tired of hearing the same playlists on the radio? Or watching the same videos on MTV? Quite frankly, so are we. Something had to be done, so we thought we’d take the law into our own hands and conduct an investigation to see what’s out there with a truly new sound; sorting out the capable newbies from the unoriginal wannabies! We know you’re looking for fresh new sounds before they go mainstream so we’re pleased to reveal to our readers the full report of our investigation with your help.

Ok, so performing a citizens arrest on a few newly signed artists who we thought were prime suspects in our investigation wasn’t the most orthodox method of capturing new talent…certainly if anyone was on the wrong side of the law it was probably us! But after a few mug shots and our rather unprofessional interview process, using your questions sent in and collecting some evidence we felt we were in a position to find out what’s out there.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. We didn’t have any pudding but we did offer our bands some teas, coffees and biscuits – but only after they coughed up no less than three of their songs for us to take down as evidence. It was these songs that would enable us to determine which of our bands really had what it takes to cut it in our LIVE FEED investigation – and those that would be punished to a life sentence in their basements. It might be tough, but we’ve just had enough of the same old music!!

INTERVIEW

"Anything you say or sing will be taken doen as evidence against you."

Start of the interview, start of the day, what did you have for breakfast?

Nick: I would like to say that we all sat down together and ate a lovely nutritious breakfast, but we stopped off at McDonalds on the way to here. (BiBi butts in) Hey an egg McMuffin is healthy, I was watching a programme the other day and a chocolate muffin and a coffee has more calories.

Nick: Keep telling yourself that my dear. (Gives her a pat on the back)

What’s your favourite body part?

James: Well Dave will have to say his hair. He likes to think that he’s wolverine.

BiBi: not as good looking though.

Charlie: I will leave mine to your imagination

(Everyone laughs)

Whos gets all the girls/ boys?

James: Dave always seems to attract the men, he secretly loves it.

Dave: You’re just jealous of my good looks.

James: Clearly

Who’s your favourite disney character?

Dave: Because we’re on tour at the moment, on the journeys we have got through quite a lot of DVDs and I’m proud to say that The Little Mermaid was one of them, and we all loved it! We all had a sing along, well James did.

Charlie: I’m more of a Cinderella fan, she was my first love

(Band looks at him in disgust)

Biggest musical influence?

Tara: We have supported Example recently, which we were honoured to do. They are crazy live.

Charlie: What got me into singing mind you was the Disney films, such good tunes!

Adidas, Carbrini or converse?

Nick: Can’t beat the old converses.

BiBi: I’m sorry but I cant help relating Carbrini to a bunch of chavs... maybe because it rhymes with Lambrini.

Leading on to the next question what would be your celebratery drink be if you win?

Nick: Well I know what not to buy BiBi.

(BiBi giggles quietly)

Dave: you can’t beat a nice pint of Guinness

BiBi: I’ll have some champagne if your offering.

Craziest thing you guys have ever done?

James: Before I say this we were young, immature and drunk. We hired a taxi and went around London egging people on Halloween-it was fun, until we got the bill.

Dave: Hey you guys still owe me for that!

If you got the most votes how would you thank your beloved fans?

Charlie: We will do a free gig somewhere.

Taylor: Dave will run the London marathon naked.

Dave: WTF.

Taylor: For all your male fans.

Your heard what these guys had to say now. We now call Tulip to the stand...

results of this weeks suspects in next months issue.

double page spread development

I have decided to do a crime suspect theme page. My target audience can relate to this, it's quite rebellious however fun and innocent at the same time. here is the original picture that i took.I had to edit this to make it smooth as this was going to be my main image.

Here is some research on mug shots etc. like this.

I am mainly focusing on a good example of the lines in the background and this image is a great example.

I edited my image to make it similar to the one above. this made sure that

my line up looked realistic. The only problem however is the dead space within the picture, there isn't a lot.

So to fix this problem I just stretched the side to make room for text.

Now I have my basic layout I need to start adding text and headers to the

piece, and start creating some first drafts.

Contents page development

I dont want to use photographs from the shoot on the front cover. So I will use a photo from a different artist as my main contents page cover. To make sure that I show the diverse style of music in my magazine I have chosen lewis on the decks as my main image. He has a completely different style.

The contents page needs to flow from the front cover. In order for me to make this happen with completely different styled artist I will use the same style of my logo in the title of the contents page and maybe the same text.

A contents page can be quite boring so i will make sure that my contents page includes a lot of pictures.

from my research i have learned that my stories need to be easy to read and have a little description next to it as thats what makes it more interesting to look at rather than a huge list.

content of my magazine

in order for me to decide what my magazine will include and what to put where i will base this around my questionnaire and the mind map that i made from all the research i did from other music magazines. i have taken the most popular recomme

ndations from my audience and made those my main stories near the front of the magazine. For the most interesting ones i will add a picture with the story.

These will be my main stories for the page;

not just a mixer- live feed fan shows us what he's got

big band theory-get the update of our band of the month

crime suspects-the newly arrested talent brought to you

band practise- access all areas with WE ARE LAUGHING

the gig guide- all you need to know

the contents page is also split up into sup headings so i will do this too. this is another technique to make it easy to read.

headlines-

features

reviews

regulars

news

all my stories will fit into either of these categories.

features-

live feed advise column- replies to your posts

jamin- angus and julia stone + mr hudson

regulars-

live it highlights- we follow Ellie Goulding for a week

itunes-your requests get you free downloads

track of the month- don't miss out on our chosen track

tab me up- the tabs and sheet music you requested

your snaps sent in- stage embarrassments

reviews-

gigs- al you need to know

new album releases- marina and the diamonds

swish- check out the new gear of the artists

news-

line ups- glastonbury line up released here first

ticket sale- the best source

letters from you- we want to know what you think.

PLANNING

I like this layout. its not too complicated and it breaks up all the text with the pictures. depending on whether my main image is a portrait or landscape will help me decide how i will construct my layout.

This layout although interesting and still includes lots of pictures i feel that there will be too much text on the top and all the pictures at the bottom, it will look unbalanced.

FIRST DRAFT

I think this layer works. because the main picture has a black background i edited it so that it would blend in with the whole page. This breaks down all the images so there isn't lots square boxes. I also where appropriate will work on blending the other pictures into the black background. I have kept a similar colour scheme to the front cover to make if flow. however have introduced green into the text to break it up a little and make it easier to read. i feel however the black background is a bit plain and dull. I will play around with the background and see how it goes.

I have added some effects in the background just to make it that little bit interesting. I then presented my contents page to my target audience and here is the feedback that i got.

Here is my final.

I changed the background. Before the grey was a bit random behind the text but now i edited it to make it grey throughout the whole page. I feel now it looks more professional.

I then showed this to my target audience and this is the feedback that i got back;

Front Cover Development

First drafts

Here is my first draft. I think the main cover story is almost situated in the right place, I want to to be one of the first things you see and therefore it needs to be bold, so i will make it big and use a bold font. It could maybe go more centred in the page rather than to the left. I like the way that the cover stories are listed on the top

third, It breaks down the photograph a bit more making the white bar fit in with the overall composition. However I was thinking of maybe listing some bands but it wouldn't really fit. So i will play around with the composition to see what works best.

I made the gig information a cover story on its own below and made the photos at the bottom smaller. This splits the text up more rather than just having a list on the the top right. I move

the main cover story to the centre and think that it works well here. The only

criticism i do have is the date and issue number could go with the barcode as it looks in the way underneath the logo, and maybe a header and footer could be introduced at the top and bottom to add more interest, i feel that this at the moment looks like it targeted more at females which is not true.

Fonts.

Main cover story.

The main cover story needs to be the boldest. So a bold font is a necessitate. Here are the fonts that I downloaded. The font I choose here, will have to collaborate with every other font I choose. A

lthough the eroded text in the logo works I don't think it will work here. So I will need either the first one or the 3rd. When making my

magazine I will decide on which of the two I will use.

Final drafts.

I thought i would try out my cover without other pictures as i was concerned it will look too busy. i feel now however that its too empty on the bottom right and therefore am going to choose one or two pictures to add in from other shoots i did from other artists. My free poster still needs to be added in. Once i have sorted out the images on the bottom left i will then work out where i will put this. From my cover research a lot of covers have headers and footers on their covers so i will see what that looks like too. I think my main cover font is a good choice. Its bold and having the band in a bigger font makes it more interesting and catches your eye straight away. its also youthful, the text is in all capital locks which makes my cover more exciting. To make it stand out even more i added a darker banner behind it so it is even more contrasting towards the cover image.

Carrying on with this theme i have used the same text throughout the page but edited slightly e.g. its eroded under the big band theory and different colour on my other cover stories. This makes sure that it doesn't seem too repetitive.

I think the header and footer looks good and makes it more interesting to look at. i think the two pictures at the bottom need a bigger bord

er around them as they are getting a bit lost in the main cover image. i also think that the just above the two pictures it would be suitable to add my free poster advertisement above there as there is some wasted space there.

i made the border around the two smaller images quite neutral, however still keeping to the colour scheme. my pictures now stand out and are separated from the main cover image.

I added in the free poster advertisement. This needs to be bright and noticeable so i chose red (yellow wouldn't stand out as much), which still sticks to the colour scheme but stands out with the bright text inside it almost giving a glowing effect.

I then showed my cover to my target audience. Here is the feedback i got;

choosing my cover image.

I have decided that its the shoot with 'kristie and me' that is the most suitable for a main cover image. I photographed them in a cool environment and they also challenge the conventions of other music magazines where their main images are mostly taken in studios. All that i have to do now is limit these photographs down to one.

Having my shoot set outside was defiantly a good idea. the sky gives the who picture energy and makes it more exciting than if it was in s studio.

The sky fills up most of the left third and creates a lot of dead space in the photograph that can be used for text and other photographs. This is a good feature to have however I feel that maybe there's too much empty space and the figures in the picture don't really stand out as much as they should and especially wont when

its surrounded by other cover stories. A main feature of every music magazine is the eye catching cover image, I don't think this image meets this standard.

I like the whole composition of the photograph. There is enough dead space and room for a logo however not too much. The figure is holding a guitar, having this as my cover image would imply straight away that its a music magazine, which is an important feature. The graffiti is the focal point of this photograph although attractive and 'youthful' the figure in the photograph is being drowned out by it, its too over powering. I think I will struggle to make my cover stories and logo etc stand out from it. So therefore don't think it would be a good idea to use this image as my main image.

I really like this photo and think that it is very suitable for my cover image. Theres enough space for cover lines and the logo. It has a good composition, by having the main part of the photo in the middle of the page, which is where the focal point of a magazine cover is. It's almost like an action shot, like she's riding on the side of the train to her next gig, this image would give the magazine a cool stlye which is what i am trying to achieve. The only criticisms would be that the wellies maybe are a little overpowering however text over them could resolve this. Also this girl isn't a solo artist, so having just her on the cover i don't think is a very good idea.

The depth created in this photo through the guitar is effective and leads your eye from the neck of the guitar to the bands faces, which introduced a bit of interest in the photo. The vibrant colours of the clothing is brought out in the picture and the graffiti wall is more in the background but still present, which is where it should be. The bands hippyish style would give the magazine overall a unique cool style which is what I am trying to achieve. I made sure that their rock rather than acoustic style was shown with the electrical guitar rather than an acoustic, which shows that the magazine introduces new different music, not just new artists mimicking current ones. Theres enough room for the logo however finding space to put all my cover lines maybe a problem, as possible space for text is limited.

The vibrant colour and their unique style is being brought out in this photograph just like the photograph above however theres more space for text etc which wont overpower the main picture. The way they are on the train holding on almost like they are on the move like photo number 3 is cool and gives excitement into the picture rather than just a still shot of them stood together. I have decided that this is the image that i will use for my cover. It gives off most good elements from the photos above just without the bad points as well. My only criticism of this photo would be the pole on the top right however i think this can be resolved.

Cover Stories

MAIN COVER LINE.

I decided that after analysing my possible magazine names 'The Big Band Theory-everything starts somewhere' is more suitable for a cover story rather than a name. I have therefore decided that that would be my main cover line. It is a good play on words of new bands and things originating from somewhere, this fits in well with the genre of my magazine and would make it clear to a new reader what my magazine is based around, new music.

OTHER COVER LINES.

For my other cover stories i have taken into consideration the replies i got from my questionnaire and developed other suitable stories

Gig information was a common suggestion I got so I will make sure that I give this story a lot of room on my page maybe listing some newly signed artists that are becoming more known to attract the reader, but also making sure they cover a variety of genres.

Another common suggestion was free stuff being included; this was an important suggestion to take into consideration. My target audience won't be the richest people as most would still be in some sort of education or just starting in the workplace, therefore free stuff being advertised on the front cover would be a good idea. I will make them stand out from the page so it will be clear to a possible customer. Having free bold and clear will make the reader feel like they will be getting something out buying the magazine.

I thought that adding Guitar tabs was a good suggestion that was raised for my magazine. A lot of my audience will be musicians or maybe interesting in learning the guitar and other instruments. Adding this into my magazine with different skill levels and maybe other sheet music for new catchy songs, would be a good idea. It's also another reason to buy the magazine regularly, to get a regular update on new tabs.

I want to make sure that interesting band/artist interview is included on the cover as well. Maybe including an interview but having a slight twist, and other images as well.

Festivals are another way to attract my audience. They are likely to be interested in that sort of thing so including some exclusive line up releases or something similar to that would also be a good attraction.

logo development

Here are a few fonts that i downloaded from dafont.com that would be suitable for my logo.

I chose unique and memorable fonts that would be good to edit.

i continued my search and ended up using the Harbara font from dafont.com. Its simple but has a unique fresh style to it. Its also very easy to edit.

First Logo Drafts.

I started off making the basic layout of the logo, joining the letters together and distorting them slightly.

I then played around on photoshop with the idea of a sound wave joining the two words together. This design makes it more interesting and also relates to the music theme.

Here is my final design layout, i basically just did the same above but neater and took more care on it.

Final Logo

I felt orange wasn't quite right. So i played around with the idea of the sound wave being bright etc and eventually ended up with this. my final logo. I am happy with this, its not very simple which is what most music magazines have however its mix of colours represents the different styles of music and different social groups will read the magazine.

SHOOT 5

SHOOT 4

SHOOT 3

Shoot 1+2

I have taken pictures of a variety of different bands/artists that would be suitable to be featured in my magazine.

Shoot 1

Shoot 2- VerBal GrAFFiTi