Possible Double Page Spread Main Image

I have edited some of my favourite pictures from the photo shoot with Francesca that I think will be best for the main image on my double page spread. I have edited the brightness, contrast and vibrance on Photoshop and also made them black and white to see which will look more effective. After experimenting with different edits, I have decided that I want my main image to be black and white as I think it looks more professional, and fits well with the mature, cool theme throughout my magazine. I have chosen these images as my favourites because I think they look the most slick and were the ones that stood out to me. I also think it is important that Francesca is looking directly at the audience as this is more likely to draw them in.

Possible Double Page Image from alice_faz

Festival Choice

I chose to mention Glastonbury Festival on the front cover in my 'sticker' as opposed to any other festival, as this is the one that is aimed at an older audience, just as my magazine is. Glastonbury Festival is aimed at 'middle-class, middle-aged' people, and part of my target demographic could fit under this title also.

Contents Page Images

I recently attended Beyonce's Mrs Carter World Tour and have decided to use some of the pictures I took for my contents page. I think this will really help my magazine to look more musical than fashion because they are first hand pictures from a real music concert, so obviously fit with the musical genre. It is also unlikely that concert pictures would be featured in a fashion magazine.

Contents Page Progression

This is the first draft of my contents page so far. I have tried to keep within my colour scheme, and have tried to keep the simple and tasteful style I am going for. I have included some more small images and have edited them slightly on Photoshop to make my magazine look more 'musical' than 'fashion'. I think the smaller images of my band and other solo artist reflect a typical music magazine, and the fact that they are all images of males helps my magazine to appeal to a wider audience. I intend to make my contents page look a little busier than maybe my front cover and double page spread as I think this will give more of a musical feel. I will take this into consideration when finishing my first draft.



Contents Page Main Image

I chose this image from the photo shoot to be my main contents page image as I think it has personality, and Francesca's pose adds to the cool vibe of my magazine. Her pose could also link somehow to the article in the double page spread, for example it could show how she's feeling about releasing her new album. I also like the fact it is a long shot and her outfit is fully visible because this is the type of clothing I envisage my target demographic to wear: quite simplistic in terms of colour but stylish and on-trend. I like how there is a gap on the right because this is where I intend to place the text, and that way the image will still be fully on show.
I have edited this image on Photoshop by changing the brightness and contrast to make it look more slick and neat, so it will match my front cover image more and keep my magazine consistent.

Edited Image

Original Image

Improved Masthead

Because my magazine will be more glossy and up-market, I have decided to edit my masthead slightly to prevent it from looking like a fashion magazine as much as possible. My masthead will now be "X Music" as opposed to just "X", just to add a little more of a musical feel. I also think this makes the masthead look more professional, and is a subtle but effective addition.

Front Cover First Draft

This is the first draft of my front cover. I like how it has turned out and I think the colour scheme looks really effective: it makes the magazine look up-market and mature. I also like how the colour of the text and boxes complement the colours of the main image. However, I understand that it could look like a fashion magazine rather than a music magazine at the moment which I will take into account when creating my next draft. I may also trial putting some more images on the front cover (for example some small ones at the bottom), to create more of a musical feel.

Masthead Choice

I tried out my masthead in a few different colours that fit my colour scheme to see which would look best. I finally chose the black X with the white background as after much deliberation, I decided that this one stood out the most on the cover as the black and white really contrast one another. It also stood out the most on the main image due to the colours within it.

Article Questionnaire Results

I devised a questionnaire to help me decide what article story I will use for my double page spread to see what my audience would most like to read about. I asked various people who are part of my target demographic to make sure I fully appeal to them. The results show that the article they would most like to read about is that 'the artist has just released a new album'. This will be predominantly be the base of my story, but I will possibly also add some other questions/features in to make sure I also appeal to the people who didn't choose this option in the questionnaire.



Article Prezi

I created a Prezi to display my ideas for my article story. I have not yet chosen which one I will use but I think all of them could be effective in different ways. I want it to be completely music related so my magazine will be clearly a music magazine, as I am aware that it could look more fashion related because of the genre and theme I am using.



Edited Images

I chose my favourite images from the photo shoot with Lee and Declan and edited them on Photoshop. I chose these because I thought they looked the most slick and are the ones that fit in best with the mature theme I'm going for. I didn't choose the pictures that showed Declan and Lee to be messing around and having fun as I didn't think this reflected the cool, sophisticated feel of my magazine. I changed the brightness, contrast and saturation on two of the images to make them look more defined and polished, however I decided to make one of the images black and white to show a bit of contrast when they are all placed next to each other on the page. This will pull the page together as the image of Ben is also in black and white; in addition, it will fit nicely with my colour scheme.

Declan and Lee's Photo Shoot - Edited from alice_faz

Other Photo Shoot Images

I conducted another photo shoot to gather some images for my contents page. These are another two of my models: Lee Dobson and Declan Ormrod who are both 17. I wanted to use boys for some images for my contents page as I want my magazine to appeal to both genders, therefore I feel this will be accomplished if I include images of both males and females. I chose two boys to be in a band as the other images I will include are of solo artists (a male and a female). I wanted to include features of both bands and solo performers to make my magazine attractive to a wider audience, and to give it even more of a musical feel. I will choose the images I think work best from this photo shoot and edit them on Photoshop to make them look as professional as possible.

Lee and Declan Photo Shoot from alice_faz

 



Double Page Spread Research

I researched some existing double page spread articles from Q and Rolling Stone magazine to give me an idea of what the audience want to read about. They mainly focus on the music of the artists which is what I intend to do. I think the interview style articles are the most effective as they allow the questions the audience might have to be answered, and seem more personal so the reader can connect. This is the style I intend to use. 

Q Magazine

Q Magazine



Other Images

This is one of my other models; Ben Knapper who is 17. Along with Francesca I think Ben fits the look of my target demographic, therefore he will appeal to them. I will use this image in my contents page as a small story feature. I have decided to edit this image to make it black and white as this fits in with my colour scheme, and makes it look more sophisticated (I edited it again on Photoshop). I think Ben's clothing (along with the colour of it) and his stance also fit in with the cool feel of the magazine.

Original Image

Edited Image



Edited Cover Image

After carefully looking through all the pictures from the photo shoot, I finally decided on this image for the front cover. I like the way Francesca's eyes are looking directly at the audience which will entice them to buy the magazine. I think they style of her pose connotes secrecy which will make the reader want to find out about the article inside. This image looked the most professional to me and will appeal to my target demographic as it is quite simple and tasteful. I have used Photoshop to edit the image to make it look even better: I changed the brightness, contrast and saturation. I was considering making the cover image black and white but after some consideration, I have decided that to make the magazine stand out, a black and white edit on the cover may not be the best option. However, I believe this could look effective inside the magazine on other images and will fit well with my colour scheme.

Edited Image



Original Image



Potential Cover Photos

I picked out my favourite pictures from the photo shoot that I think will look best on the cover, and added my possible masthead style onto them to give me an idea of what they could look like. I will edit my chosen image to make it look even better and more professional on the cover.



Potential Covers from alice_faz