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.