Main Image for My Article

This is the photo I selected out of the other photographs of my model from the my cover page image photo shoot.

I chose this image as her eye contact between herself and the audience, creates empathy and the suggestion that the model links to that individual and understands them, which is what the magazine I have created, is trying to convey.

I then attempted to Photoshop my image, so that the background was removed to create the professional presentation of an image in a magazine. I attempted to have as smooth outline of the image as possible, however this proved to be very time-consuming and difficult. Therefore, I decided to make a smooth line to the best of my ability and use the basic feather tool when transferred onto my InDesign double page spread.

Written Article

This is my written article that I will include in my double-page spread. I used my model from my cover page image, as I felt it had put the most emphasis on it. Plus, I have already taken my photographs of the model which is time efficient.

My title, headline and introduction is displayed on my initial draft of my article. I decided to have a conversational article as, through research, in my opinion it proved to be the most manageable to produce whilst still maintaining a professional style.

In my written draft, I have also underlined the text I considered appropriate to be my pull quotes within my article.

The AMPlified Interview

What inspired you to pursue music?
Well, I suppose I have always found music a comfort, especially in my teenage years. I was going through a rough patch and there was something about it that just, well, made me think.

Talking of a rough patch, how do you think you are coping with the fame your music has brought you?
(Chuckles) I knew this was going to come up. I’m not going to deny that I was out of control for a while. I was going through a really bad phase in my life. I know everyone says it, but when I started out, I really was just in it for the music. I never dreamt this would happen, and it all just took me by surprise. I experimented with drinking and drugs because for a moment, reality just ran away with me. I went from being a nobody to a somebody in the blink of an eye and I guess I got lost along the way.

What do you reckon was the point where you realised you had to change?
One morning I saw myself on the cover of a magazine. Let’s just say, I didn’t look my best. They must have caught me off guard, and when I saw myself I was shocked! Yeah! I was embarrassed, and a bit annoyed at myself for letting myself get this way. The fact it was a random picture, where I hadn’t made a special effort, meant I couldn’t deny that was really what I had become, and I didn’t like it!

So what did you decide to do to turn your life around?
(Sighs) It took longer than I thought but I knew I had to do something. My close friends and family have all been very supportive in helping me regain my image and kick the drugs. If I am honest, I will still probably drink. I’m not going to lie and say I will never again, because we all know I will. I’m just aiming to do it in moderation.

Has fame surprised you then?
Without a doubt. Suddenly everyone was asking me things and following me around. I definitely wasn’t prepared then. I can really understand how artists sometime find it hard now.

So, with that in mind, do you reckon you have matured since you first began your music career?
Definitely. When I first started out, I was given a chance to explore a life I couldn’t imagine myself ever achieving, but after a while, I understood the consequences of how harsh this new life could be and it definitely gave me a wakeup call. I thought I knew it all. Funny to think it was a only a few years ago. I was a rebellious teen who thought the world was against me. I had just been given a taste of adult life and, I think the fame just added to it. I wanted have my name known for what I believed. I still reckon the only way I can properly communicate this is through my music.

Your unique approach to music could definitely be considered a reason why your audience enjoys listening to it. Do you reckon there is a relationship between this and their young adult age?
I think that they have probably experienced how I felt, either in or just out of that awkward stage of deciding how to make your mark on the world. This could be how they get the message my music gives. Hopefully, my fans can connect with the messages in my music.

You say that this is reason that you hope your fans admire you, do you admire anyone?
Well, as I have said, my music is a big part of my life, and so growing up, I admired many music artists that I felt understood me, like Kasabian. But now, hmm... I reckon I admire artists like Amy Whinehouse, because, although my experience hasn’t been as extreme as hers, I can empathise with how she had changed.

We heard about your spat with Lily Allen over Twitter. Have you resolved this?
Oh yeah, uh, I would say we are very similar in our style, and sometimes this can clash. I don’t have anything against her personally but we are just two people who I doubt will ever get on.

Will you be applying any of your recent struggles to your new album, out January 2015?
I would expect so. It has been such a big part of my life, with so many feelings, I reckon they will end up in a song eventually as I find it quite therapeutic, and perhaps others in a similar position can relate.

That’s a good point. What would you say to someone who was in your position?
I’m not sure I can answer that. All I know is that my family and friends helped me through the worst of it, and I don’t know if I could have done it without their support. So, I would strongly suggest that this person surrounds themselves with encouragement, because it's so much harder alone.

Finished Cover Page

This is my final draft of my cover page, finished and completed.

I added the pug from my drawn draft last, as I felt the other features of the page were more of a priority. However, I did follow through in including a pug, as I felt it strengthened the grid structure and gave it a more professional appearance. I had initially intended the colour of the pug to be red, yet, when I constructed it on my InDesign piece, I felt it drew too much attention away from the masthead, as there was far too much red. This is why I changed it to a subtle colour like grey, which slightly blends with the radial gradient grey background I made, yet still distinct enough to be separate.

Within the pug, the band 'OASIS' to change my original intention of the colour grey, to white with an outline, as a result of the previous modification of the pug's colours. This was essential as the word wouldn't be visible if left unchanged. Then I decided that the band name would possibly attract in fans, and this chance would be increased with the name was emphasized. This is why I changed the letters to capitol and increased the size.

I also added in a barcode, to appear genuine and realistic as a professional magazine. I attempted to make the barcode a size that would be typical of magazine to display. Through research, I have noticed the rotation  of the barcode and placement of the price in various positions on a cover page. However, I found the most common and simplistic was on the side of the barcode where I placed my price, and I changed the rotation to vertical rather than horizontal. I chose the simplistic approach as Q is know for it's clear and well structured presentation, and I didn't want to ruin my replication of this with clutter. Also, I included an American price, as it present my brand as a magazine that national, and portrays popularity that might generate sales, as the audience might consider the magazine as successful if it is available in other countries, especially America, who is known for it's media coverage.

Finally, I decided to added 'BRIT AWARD WINNERS' to the Arctic Monkeys sell line, as it is from real life, and not artificially created by myself, which presents the magazine as real.

Cover Page InDesign Draft: 5

With my fifth draft, I added the sell lines of the cover. I made sure that all the sell lines were on the left-hand side of the cover page and relatively in line with one another. This presents a clear grid structure which conveys professionalism, as it is what magazines, such as Q, ensure to portray, unlike Kerrang! which tends to convey a less well structured presentation.

To appear authentic, I individually modified every sell line. This helps to bring lines closer together, position well and to stand out from each other subtly. From my original drawn draft, I have changed the font of 'inside' to italic, for slight emphasis, but also I changed the colour of 'RATED' from grey to red, as I felt the grey didn't highlight the word enough.

Cover Page InDesign Draft: 4

With the pull quote, I chose to keep the majority of the sentence lower case, as it looked more visually effective and realistic as speech. However, I kept 'CONTROL' in capitol letters because it was the specific part of the quote that would pull the audience in, which is why I thought it necessary to emphasize this with large capital letters and a slight slant.

The explanation of the splash colour was changed from grey to white with a thick black outline, for the sole reason that the text wasn't easy to read against my model's outfit. This is why I chose the same colour scheme as the splash, but change the ratio of outline against the letters, so this it would distinguish the two pieces of text as different, but linked in the shared colours.

Cover Page InDesign Draft: 3

This is the further construction of my front page.
I have added the header bar, enlarging my text and slanting 'BIGGEST' for the dramatic effect of emphasis.
The my reason behind only choosing one header bar, instead of accompanying this with a footer, was as a result of research into the layout of Q magazines, which is a brand that shares my idealistic target audience and Rock/Indie music genre. My research showed that Q front cover never presented both a footer and a header bar, which I took into account in designing, choosing the most common layout of just a header bar. This way, I can ensure my design is an accurate representation of a real magazine front cover, as it shares details that a professional magazine would entail. This element of research is something I found useful when designing my contents page and article layouts.

I have also progressed to the stage of constructing my splash for my main image. The name 'ELLA' was chosen for it's few syllables, making it memorable and easily pronounced, like other female solo artists such as Adele and Madonna. I outlined the text in black to ensure it stood out, as it was the splash and so, one of the most important pieces of text to be presented on the cover. I changed the font to bold arial. The kept the colours of the splash from my drafts the same as I felt they contrasted with each other well enough to stand out, but also not so much as to repel the audience from reading. As well as this, the colours tied in with the colour scheme of red, black, white and grey, and the outfit that also corresponds and may relate to the target audience's style preference. This represents the magazine as having uniformity and professionalism as this has been though out, as opposed to random colours been thrown on to the page.

I moved the masthead across from the draft's originally assigned position, which I then outlined the box of the text to give it a move professional appearance. I used the additional space I created between the masthead and the left-hand edge of the page to present the date of the issue in an outlined box, which isn't apparent on the draft. I felt the date of the issue was necessary to include as it one of the key distinguishing details of a magazine, and without it, or without it properly presented, the magazine I create would not be authentic. The font I used was bold minion pro with the size of 10.

Cover Page InDesign Draft: 2

This is my further development on my music magazine.
I decided to shorten the length of my masthead box and also dramatise the text by vertically lengthening it slightly and using a bold outline (darker on the section I previously emphasized 'AMP', to maintain this).
I also lowered by mast head to allow room for a header bar at a later date in the development, to contribute to the grid structure.

Cover Page InDesign Draft: 1

This is my first draft of my rock/indie music magazine cover page.

I position my cover page image in the right hand side of my cover page (using layers) to create the grid structure for my sell lines and other various features like a pug or a splash.

I then created a grey background with an edit of a radial gradient to present a professional approach and maintain the general colour scheme; complimentary to the primary colours. Upon this, I used the feathering tool to blend the image in with the background around the edges, enphasizing this approach.

After which, I decided to construct my initial development of my mast head. I used the color scheme's bold colour of red to allow the mast head to stand out from the rest of the cover page, as the mast head is what is considered most important; promotion the brand and what audiences will use to reference the magazine. Therefore, it is imperative that this is remembered, albeit in a professional manner. I chose the box shape to compliment the rectangular shape of the cover page and the grid structure I will introduce at a later stage; I felt it is important for a audience to feel a sense of connectivity and linking within the magazine, as if the layout and style were to creative, it might present the magazine as disjointed and not visually appealing.

The play on the word 'AMP' in 'AMPlified' is empahsized through a bolder text to emphasize it's intentional significance. The colour of white for the text was chosen to contrast to the red, I felt this was effective as the audience will be drawn in to read the masthead, and by extension, the rest of the magazine. This colour scheme and text font is shown effective through 'Q's example.

Music Magazine: Drawn Drafts

This is my initial ideas for the front cover of my Rock/Indie music magazine.

I based my splash on colour, size, font and spacing of letters from this issue of 'Q' as it is the magazine brand I am basing my cover page on. This is because 'Q's genre is similar to mine, and so, I thought it wise to adopt techniques it conveys, to present a magazine that would appeal to my target audience.

I also modeled my header bar on this issue of 'Q' as I felt it was not over-detailed and refreshing in it's simplicity. In addition to the grid structure, I decided to only display a header bar, opposed to displaying both a header bar and a footer line, based on research of 'Q's layout. This is evident in the image below.

The masthead colour and layout is also modeled on 'Q'. I replicated this in a similar way as it stands out from the rest of the text on the cover page (the unique colour combination of white on red). However I added outlining for emphasis.

This is my contents page for my music magazine, that I have designed.

I decided to model my contents page of a genuine magazine of a similar genre to mine (rock/indie) to create a music magazine that would be perceived as realistic and professional. This is why I chose Q magazine. The layout and style techniques were easy to use to mold my own idea of a music magazine contents page.

I used all of my cover page sell lines within the features of my draft, as having the pages linking would present the magazine I create as authentic.

Following this, I kept the colour scheme the same as my cover page, and gave the largest picture frame to the model of my splash, as this is what I intend to focus my article on. This portrays this feature of my magazine as important.

I kept my page numbers below 50, which is what my target audience research suggested, as well as my frequency of publishing 'the best tracks this week'. This presents how I have taken my research into account and actively applied my magazine in such a way that would appeal to my target audience. This is imperative in the success of a magazine, as being attractive for the audience will generate interest, that will then lead to sales which will produce profit for the brand, publisher, and any symbiotic relationships the magazine shares with advertisements within the magazine. Plus the more sales, the higher advertisers and artists will be willing to pay to be positively displayed within the magazine, further increasing profit.

On the subject on advertisers, the page numbers I displayed suggest the amount of pages used for that feature. However, for some of the amounts of 3 pages, this will entail a page used for an advertisement. Although, advertisements are not specified within the contents page as research shows that this is not what other magazines tend to present.

With the models I have used, I decided that it would be representative of what my target audience would individually prefer, if I presented both genders. This way, I can portray a female, which my target audience may find desirably appealing, as well as the male artists that will relate to their gender. This does not single out a gender, and will hopefully cover all preferences of this genre. Also, it presents the brand as high in knowledge of all aspects of it's genre.

I chose to use different positions for the models to pose in, as this portrays the magazine as professional and different in the sense that it does not always stick to the repetitive and sometimes boring details. Instead, it conveys it's self as unique, and, for my target audience who may be at that stage in their lives where they are considering what they was to do with their future, it represents the individuality they might be craving to express. Therefore, by being a creative outlet, the target audience may find comfort in being consumer of the magazine, which will generate profit for the brand. As well as this, another reason for choosing a more seductive pose for the female artist in my contents page, is that it plays to attracting the male audience that the magazine targets, which could also generate more sales, and by extension, profit.

This is my drawn draft of the article I aim to produce for my music magazine.

I already had a rough idea of how I wanted my article to be presented like. However, I researched various other professional magazines to assist is perfecting my idea to allow it to be at a stage that would be considered a realistic article for a magazine.
I used layout suggestions from:

I used style and colour scheme suggestions from:

I choose to call the interview 'THE AMPLIFIED INTERVIEW' to reinforce who gave the the reader the article.

Like Q magazine, I ended my article with my brand name, and to further reinforce the origin of the content. This is evident in the Adam Ant article from Q magazine, shown above.

I used the quotation 'out of CONTROL' as my title because I felt that because this was probably what brought the audience to the article in the magazine, and so I wanted to make it clear that this was it's content.

In keeping with the layout of other articles, I made certain that I included details such as credits like words and portrait, drop caps, pull quotes, an image of the artist, the colour scheme of the magazine, the date of the issue, conventional language 'exclusively', page numbers that match the contents page (pages 21 and 22) and subscription and website details to appeal to the technophiles and to portray that this brand has multi-media platforms. This all presents the magazine as professional and realistic.

A selection of initial photographs

These are some initial photographs I consider appropriate to perhaps use within my music magazine, as a used past authentic music magazine poses to base some of my photographs on. The model of the photographs is a female within my target audience age range. As shown through my research, my target audience do favour a singular female artist. I have also used similar clothing and make-up to other models from other same genre magazines (eg, Q, NME), this is in keeping with the audience's preferences, and also ties with my aimed colour scheme (approved in my research) of red, black, yellow and white.

I decided to use this photo as my front cover image, as I felt it had the best quality and representation. The model portrays the representation of my target audience, while also expressing the desire to aspire in life through her facial expressions; to feel free to self express themselves in their preferences; to be original in a society they do not necessarily feel they fit. I chose this representation as it is considered the stereotypical concern of my teenage/young adult demographic, that they have difficulty finding their purpose for the rest of their life. A phase where they have left the restriction of childhood and are embracing the responsibility of the adult world as well as their individuality as a person. Possibly this individuality has a preference in Rock/Indie music which the image is portraying to them that this magazine understand them, and through this connection will making a trusting bond that will generate frequent sales.

I then Photoshopped my cover page image, so that the background wouldn't tarnish my ideal presentation of my cover page. The lack of back ground will now enable me to merge both my image and my cover page to create a hopefully realistic presentation of a music magazine cover, this technique learnt through my practice of Adobe Photoshop and InDesign during my creation of a school magazine cover.

Magazine Photo Shoot Planning Document

Shoot date and time	27/12/13 evening
Image Description	A photo to represent the style my target audience would be interested in.  Of my chosen photo, her stance represents how at ease she is within her music passion (hinting to the audience how the magazine will fulfil their music genre needs). However, her facial expression (particularly her eyes) are not in focused on an eye line match between the model and the audience. This is intentional as it presents the model as looking up; she is looking into her future and contemplating her hopes and aspirations that she wants to achieve. Even possibly looking into the future as she is not sure where it will take her. This either relates to the stereotypical representation of my target audience, of not knowing what lies ahead and that their future which defines them is starting now, but also portraying the freedom in her rebellious presentation that they might desire (linking to tone of the music genre, which is rebellious).
Shoot Location	A household room as the background would be irrelevant to my cover page because I would need to remove this using Photoshop. This is primarily why I chose the model to stand in front of a plain wall, as this would allow removing the background an easier task. Also, the wall is flat, and therefore helpful in allowing my model to use to lean on, as well as being convenient.
Model / person contact Details	My model was my sister as she was within my target audience age range (19 years old).
Permission Details	Yes, my model gave full permission for the photos to be taken and used.
Props	I used the wall as my background (previously stated), my costume for my model, but also  a hand-held light to create the lighting on her face, which is the most significant to the  audience.
Plan of shots	I modeled two of my photographs on magazine poses, and the others taken on initiative. The idea was to create a person that my target audience would relate to in some way and would urge them to buy the magazine and read the contents, which would generate profit.