Magazine photos

After doing some research, this is my favourite style of a contents page layout, as I like the visuals of having more than one photo and easy to read points.

I like the style of this photo because of the simple background, but with the pop of colour in the light and his clothing. I think it would be a good double page spread background image and have the writing on the left hand side.

This is my favourite image for the front cover. I'd keep the image in the centre with text on the right and left sides.

This is my favourite image which I could use for the contents page with the text on the left hand side.

Close-ups to show personality and to show emotions-making this more personal.

I like this image, as it looks relaxed and fun- a photo that wasn't meant to happen within a photo shoot.

Other front cover main image ideas...

Interview style

I like this image, as I feel that it could be used in the double page spread.

Double page spread layout idea

Masthead ideas

Analysing: "The Devil in I" From Kerrang magazine

This double page spread from music magazine Kerrang is set out as an interview, and has a dark and Gothic style due to the colours, main image and language used. On the left hand side of the spread there is an image of the artist that this article is about, and on the right hand side is where the article is. There are three columns, as well as a pull quote: "I wish there wasn't this inner darkness." This draws the audience in as they want to know what the inner darkness is; they might relate to her. The title "The Devil in I" demonstrates the Gothic theme, and it makes the audience want to know how and why this artist has the devil inside of her. At the top right hand corner is the band name "New Years Day" in which this singer is in. If a reader was flicking through this magazine and saw this band name, they might be familiar with the name or they might be a fan themselves, so it will make them want to pick this issue up. There is a sub-heading mentioning the band name again, as well as their newest album name. It also talks about how this artist has had "traumas" throughout her life, making readers want to know what the traumas are. The Gothic theme has come up again: "She reveals the traumas that turned her world new grave."

Throughout the text the artist's name, band name and latest albums are mentioned a lot, as well as revealing song titles and phrases. This makes readers want to go away and listen to these songs, as the article describes why these songs are great for certain situations. It also talks about this artist's life, and how she became a singer and why she has a Gothic look and style to her. Because this magazine mentions her past, films and previous jobs she's had makes the audience fully aware of why this artist is the way she is, as well as creating a realistic and interesting interview article.

The colour scheme for the double page spread is white, black and red, which are colours relating to horror or terror. This could reflect on the artist's dark personality, and also the heavy music that this band creates. The title has a bold and wide font, but the word "Devil" is much bigger, is in a different font and is in red to make it stand out even more. The font is in caps lock, which is like shouting and it has a medieval feel to it, due to the embellishments on the letters. This font does look slightly old-fashioned but not too much- it still looks modern at the same time. The background has black spots dotted everywhere randomly around the page to make the pages look old fashioned or ripped, referring back to the Gothic theme.

The image on the left hand side is of the main band member in the band "New Years Day", which is placed in the centre of the page. She is wearing a black cape over her head with a velvet texture. Her hair is dyed red and black (reflecting back to the Gothic theme and matching the colour scheme), as well as having black pouring from her eyes, creating a creepy and scary look to the image, showing that she has a Gothic style shown in her personality, the way she dresses and her style of music played in her band. She also has red and black painted fingernails and she has tattoos on her hands, giving a young and rebellious feel to the image. In the top right and left corners are two images of a cartoon moon and sun. This gives an old-fashioned, medieval and Gothic feel to the image, so it looks like the good and bad sides of her.

At the bottom of the page underneath the text is a red text box. The title is "Blessed with a curse", and this box has inside quotes from this artist mentioning other celebrities she isn't fond of and tells the audience why she would curse them. This proves the "Devil" inside of her, and it referrs back to the gothic and witch-craft theme.

Analysing a magazine article

This article has a white background with a main image that is on the left hand side. The image is a DJ (who is talked about in the article) and he is leaning against a wall wearing lots of blue and jeans looking down in a casual manner. On the right hand side is all of the text of the article. There is no title, but a picture of a badge which says "Hello, my name is..." and they've written the DJ's name in the space. This is a creative and different way of presenting an article's title, and it also tells the readers who this DJ is. Underneath this image there is a sub-title telling the readers what this man does and where he's from.

Underneath that there is a small biography about him: his age, type of music he produces etc. In the article, there is a lot of praising for the artist saying how his stuff is great, as well as suggesting and mentioning many albums and tracks from him. There are also some quotes from this DJ to support the article's points, such as "It all becomes clear." Underneath the main text there is a small paragraph about this DJ's favourite ointments and creams, which is random and strange, but it gives the feeling of a young, relaxed and fun person. The sub-title as well as key words within the text are pink, breaking up the text, making it easier to read and making certain points stand out. The rest of the text is in black, and the font is rounded and slightly thick, making it easy to read but slightly different compared to traditional fonts used in articles.

Analysing a magazine article

The mast head of this article is "The Starmarkers". It goes across two pages, but only the end of the word goes on to the next page. The font is very round, thick, tall and easy to read which is in capslock, suggesting loudness or shouting. It is written in black. There is also a sub-title in a much thinner font that isn't in capslock. It tells the readers that the magazine chose him as a new DJ to help them out. There is no pull quote. There is no background image- just the colour white.

The main image is an image of a DJ wearing a black t shirt. He has spikey dark hair with a beard, and he has a serious blank expression looking towards the left, with his body facing towards the front. There's an interesting effect on the image which enhances the colours, to give a cartoonish effect- lots of reds and yellows. The image is in the centre, and the text is on the left hand side in a white text box with black writing, which is a very standard, common and basic font for an article. The text isn't that long, and above it is another text box which is much smaller with two images of the deputy editor of the magazine and the DJ for radio 1. The images are of two men looking straight into the camera with serious expressions. These images are close ups which are in black and white, and above them it says in the same font as the title "The Selectors" in black.

 Underneath the images it tells the readers their names and their occupations. At the bottom of the page on the left hand side says "44 FEBRUARY 2011". Within the text it doesn't tell us a lot about the DJ, and it doesn't tell us any gossip. It talks a lot about where he's been performing, his newest albums and songs, who he's collaborated with and other artists that have influenced him. On the right hand side of the page it says his name, "Jordan Peak" In the same font in white, making the readers aware of who he is as it's written right next to his image, not surrounded by any distracting text.


Underneath that in smaller writing it tells us his age and below that it tells us his key productions. After that there's a short paragraph about how he became a DJ, and then it tells us his website with a white border around the text to make it stand out, making readers want to know more about him and his music.

Analysing an article

In Mixmag's Feb 2011's issue, I found an article all about Tiesto. The main image is a action shot of Tiesto DJing on stage with pink lighting, as well as the audience being in the shot. Tiesto is positioned high up on the stage in the photo, and the audience are much lower at ground level. We can't see the audience clearly as it's very dark, so we can only see a few arms in the air. Because it's so dark, the text is located in this area of the page in white writing so it is easy to read with a black background. At the top of the page it says "The greatest DJ of all Time", which is written in black with a very rounded looking font which is in capital letters, giving the impression of someone shouting, being loud or that music is fun.

The mast head of the article is "Tiesto No.1" in the same font. Tiesto is written in white and No.1 is written in black which makes it stand out and to give a contrast. There is a pull quote on the left hand side of the page at the bottom: "Nowadays DJing is about getting creative." This quote makes Tiesto sound as if he knows what he's talking about and that he's very talented and creative when he creates his music, which makes readers want to know more about him and to listen to his creations. There are four columns of text, and the font is a very basic typical font that is easy to read. The first column is quite small, as the pull quote is located in that column. The fourth column is also small, as it's only a paragraph which finishes off the article, and above it there are three quotes that were sent in from readers: "Trance is my religion and Tiesto is my god." "The lord of trance- he makes everyone on the dance floor feel special" etc. This supports the article saying that the public agree with the magazine that Tiesto is a great well-known DJ.

The text is a write up about Tiesto's career and journey, which includes some quotes from the DJ himself: "Money doesn't buy you happiness." It includes gossip about him, talking about what people think of him and how he deals with negativity, as well as talking about his financial position. The text has some swear words in it to make it seem casual. It also includes when Tiesto performs and his latest albums and songs to make readers listen.

Planning for a double page spread in a music magazine

Here is the character that I will be writing about in my double page spread.

Name: Paul Clarke

Age: 46

Occupation: Ex DJ

Status: Just got married to model Gigi Hadid

Lives in: New York

Paul was bullied when he was in school during his teenage years and music was always an escape. His favourite genres were house, trance, hardcore, electro, techno, liquid drum and bass and garage. For his 16^th Birthday he asked for a cheap mixing desk to practise on and to try out some mixing, so he saved up and he became very good at mixing and creating his own music and did it in his free time and when he wanted to escape the harshness of school life.

Over the months and years he got more equipment and by the end had a full on set that was up to professional standard. He studied music tech at college and was no longer bullied- everyone loved him because of his talents despite his shyness. When he was 17, he got his first job working with “The Silent Disco Company” as a helper to set up and get everything organised for the DJs. After 3 months, he told the company about his ability of DJing, so he performed a set to them, and he immediately was accepted to be part of the company’s DJing crew. He practised and practised and worked with the company for 3 years.

The manager of the company thought that Paul was being kept within his comfort zone to stay with their company- and even though he didn’t want Paul to leave his company, the manager knew that Paul could be big one day. He got in contact with a good friend of his who owned a nightclub nearby called “Cielo.” They had a long discussion and the nightclub owner wanted Paul to perform for a few nights the following week to see how he does, even though he wasn’t well known at all. Paul was over the moon to hear this, and the owner was sceptical because of Paul’s personality. When Paul set up and got going, the crowd went mad and Paul showed his true talent and the owner saw why he was so good. Paul’s shyness did not show at all when he was performing; he was a completely different person.

Night by night more people came into the club and the owner wanted to keep Paul in his club forever. Other nearby clubs such as “Amnesia” and “Le Bain” contacted Paul directly and he performed there as well, and not before long Paul had performed in the majority of the clubs in the area within a year. After a short time he released his own songs to the crowds and they were recognised every time he performed. He created a YouTube channel and posted all of his creations on there, and after a few years Paul got in touch with Vevo to create official music videos and releases. Paul got a record label called “All Night” and his career escalated. Paul's music is described as upbeat, catchy, hardcore, progressive and stunning. He does things from remixes to progressive chill sets to hardcore club tracks. He was mentioned in this magazine, as he has been seen a lot recently in the NYC area and everyone has been questioning where he's been and what he's been up to.

At the moment Paul is still performing, but only a few times out of the year. He went on tour last year, but this year is much quieter. Paul's most recent album was released two weeks ago- "Metronome." This album include top tracks such as "Move," "Unbelievable," "Jig", "Forever" and many more.

 Paul admitted that his biggest hobby besides DJing is flying. He goes in his plane as often as he can, taking guests up with him occasionally. He is living with his gorgeous wife Gigi Hadid. The happy couple recently celebrated their marriage. Paul is happy and enjoying NYC life by visiting local clubs and living in a luxury flat with 7 rooms. 

Photoshoot plan:

I will take many different staged shots with a white background, as well as a few paparazzi images of him shopping in the streets. I want to take some professional staged looking images to make it look realistic and official. I'd also like to take some paparazzi shots, as he has been "seen" around the area recently by lots of fans. He will wear smart casual clothes: coloured chinos, casual shirt and smart but casual dark coloured shoes. I'll try some images of him wearing headphones, either looking down to the side, looking into the camera, holding the headphones or putting them on. I'll take some mid-close ups where he'll look straight into the camera with a slight smile/serious expression with his body slightly turned to one side.

 I'll also try some images of him sitting on the floor with his elbows on his knees, creating a casual atmosphere. I'll also take some of his body completely turned to one side, so we see a side-on profile. He will either look straight ahead, down or upwards. I'll also take some relaxed images of him laughing looking towards the floor. I'll also see if these images look good in black and white or colour.

Survey Responses

I created a survey asking people questions about their personal opinions to help me create my music magazine. I got 79 responses which I was pleased with, and I sent this survey around my school and on Facebook.

The questions:

Are you male or female?

(Majority- female)

What is your age?

12-16

17-20

21-25

26-30

31+

(Most common responses: 12-16: 41%, 31+ :38%)

(Least common response: 20-25: 3%)

What genres of music do you listen to?

Dance/house/trance/garage/techno

Rock/heavy metal/indie

Classical/jazz

Drum and bass/dubstep

Rap/hip hop/RNB

Country/folk

Pop

Other...

(Most common responses: Pop: 51%, Rock/heavy metal/indie: 44%)

(Least common response: Drum and bass/dubstep: 15%)

How often do you listen to music?

Never

Less than 1 hour

1-4 hours a day

5-8 hours a day

Over 8 hours

All day

(Most common responses: 1-4 hours a day-51%, less than 1 hour: 34%)

(Least common response: Never: 0%)

Where do you buy magazines?

I don't buy magazines

Supermarkets

Newsagents

Other...

(Most common responses: I don't buy magazines: 47%, supermarkets: 34%)

(Least common response: Other: 10%. Majority of answers: Subscriptions)

A new dance/house music magazine is coming out. What is your preferred title?

Neon

Bassline

All-nite

7 hours

3am

Night-life

Glo.

Move

Suggestions?

(Most common responses: Neon: 30%, Bassline: 24%)

(Least common responses: 7hours&All-nite: 2%)

Where do you buy clothes?

Topshop/Topman

River Island/New Look/H&M

Supermarkets

Ralf Lauren/Superdry/Jack Wills/Hollister/Abercrombie&Fitch

Other...

(Most common responses: Topshop/Topman: 35%, River Island/H&M/New Look: 33%)

(Least common response: Supermarkets: 16%)

How much would you spend on a magazine?
Under £1

£2-£5

£6-£10

Over £10

(Most common responses: £2-£5: 76%, under a £: 17%)

(Least common response: Over £10- 2%)

How often do you go clubbing/partying?

Never

More than once a week

Once a month

3-5 times a year

(Most common responses: Never: 44%, 3-5 times a year: 21%)

(Least common response: More than once a week: 5%)

What is your perferred content in a magazine?

Adverts

Photos

Freebies/promotions

Posters

Articles

Comic strips

Competitions

Other...

(Most common responses: Articles: 69%, photos: 54%)

(Least common response: Other: 6%. Majority said reviews)

Overall, I can see that the most common genre (Pop) is not the music magazine I'm creating, so it won't appeal to as many people. Also, I think I'll be calling the magazine Neon, as that's the most common response. I will include lots of articles and photos in my magazine, as that's what the majority of people want to see inside. My magazine will be between £2-£5, which I was suprised about- I thought people would spend less. Also, more 31+ responses came through than I expected. I also have found out that not many people buy magazines any more, and the vast majority of people listen to music everyday. This survey will impact on my magazine task, as it has taught me what people really want to see inside magazines, how often they listen to music, preferred genres, ages, gender etc. These results have suprised me, as my favourite answers weren't what the majority chose, which I found interesting.