Double Page Spread Article Research

For my Double Page Spread I want to write an article, therefore I have researched what sort of things feature in magazines such as VIBE using their website because the articles are going to be virtually the same.

Like this article, most of the stories and news are about drugs and troubled lives of Hip-Hop and R&B artists. The article is very short and get's straight to the point. Even though it's meant to be a 'Cool' magazine the language is quite formal, but not too formal to bore the reader. 

My final Masthead design

Here is my final design for my magazine masthead. The orange colour connotates brightness and fun, but the simple text shows simplicty and being laid back. I also decided to put some rectanglor boxes because those types of shapes are often linked with music and show the bass of songs on stereos and/or computer screens. Also, my font is a Sans-Serif font because my magazine is going to be similar to the magazine VIBE which doen't use a Serif font.

Survey Monkey Results!

Survey monkey responses

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Interview idea..

I have researched what type of questions are asked in magazines I want to be similar to mine. I looked at an interview in VIBE magazine.The interview was about Jermiah. Here are some of the questions that were asked:

Which industry chick would you wife up?

You graduated from high school at 16. Are you a genius?

What's the craziest fight you have ever been in?

What's the worst thing your mother ever punished you for?

Your single ''I like'' sounds a bit like ''Birthday Sex''. Would you agree?

The language used in the questions go very well with the genre of music in the magazine. Certain Words like 'Chick' and 'Craziest' are used frequently within the Rap and Hip-Hop music therefore, are used in the interview to create a link with the genre's.

There is also another interview within the magazine which is much longer and has far more detail. This time they are interviewing Usher. Maybe it shows that Usher is more well known, therefore having a bigger interview. Questions that were asked:

Did marriage make you loose your edge?

...How do you feel about that?

What makes you a good lover?

And what do you think about sex?

When was the first time you felt worthy of being called Michael Jacksons heir apparent?

This time the interview is far more personal, it is also more set out as a conversation because when the interview is talking they use words and phrases like 'No.' or 'Because you cheated on her in the public eye' so sometimes, the interviewer isn't even asking him questions. I prefure this type of interview because you can get personal with the celebrities and find out just a little bit more about them. Also, language this time is slightly more formal, prehaps this is because they want Usher to seem more mature than the newer Jerimiah.

Layout

Each of the interviews are laid out with not many pictures, just one or two of the people being interview. For example the pictures of Usher have one A4 page to themselves which makes the layout more modern and clean. They both have lot's of white space on the page to create a more clean look.

Planning!

This is a mindmap which I drew so I could collect all my ideas for magazine together.

MY FLAT PLANS

This is the flat plan for my double page spread.

The front page flat plan.

This is my flat plan for my contents page

About BEAT magazine...

Welcome to the world of the Beat. It's time to relish in the modern lyric. We are here, standing in the middle, screaming your name, taking you to the front of row of the gig, backstage with the stars and on the stage with your mic. Bringing you the latest gossip within the R&B and Rap world. Turn the pages and hear the lyrics of the modern genius, hear the voice of your idols telling you their business. You will be in the know 24/7, because were right there, underlined on your weekly shopping list.

Moodboard

My Masthead Ideas

These are my three ideas of the type of Masthead I believe will stand out and make suit the theme of my magazine. Each one is sopiscated with fun colours to emphasise the fact my magazine is aimed at the younger generation. The fonts are simple, plain and easy to read from a distance.

Reader Profile

This is my reader profile. It includes what my reader is into, who they idolise, and I also have a pie chart which shows how they listen to their music which I got off of my survey.

Music Magazine Masthead's.

This is the masthead for 'Q' magazine, it differs from the masthead of Kerrang quite a bit. Q's masthead is very simple, and alsmost elegant whereas the masthead for Kerrang is very messy and represents the genre of music, Heavy Metal. Q magazine's genre of music is varied, because it mainly mainstream music which can vary in genre. I believe this is why their masthead is so simple, because it has to be able to cover various different types of music. It may have also been designed this way to appeal to the target audience who are mainly male and open minded towards most music but is mainly interested in mainstream tunes.

Kerrangs masthead is very different from Q's. It uses a more complex font, with extra edits such as; lines through the writing, which in turn makes it look rough and representst the genre of music the magazine is based around. Metal. It uses white on black, compared to Q's white on red, it appeals to a different target audience.

How does the journalist use written language to appeal to the target audience?

In this article the journalist uses descriptive language, such as ‘Crumpled crush barriers’ which makes the article seem violent which relates to the idea of the band being a rock band. This appeals to the target audience because stereotypically people who listen to rock music often enjoy violence and being 'rowdy'. The theme of the article is excitement for the band that is playing, often the language used is upbeat and descriptive, like ‘it was like the Pope came to town’ which compares it to a really exciting, important event. To make the article seem more realistic to the reader, the journalist uses descriptive words such as; 'gently' 'screaming' 'extraordinary' and 'fantastic'. All these words describe what is happening in good detail, which creates an atmosphere around the article.

Within the article there are key design features which help support the body copy. There are pictures of the band, with the crowd reaching out to them like they are somesort of God, this also links in with the quote 'It was like the Pope had come to town'. For each body of text there is a photograph which links into the quotes which makes the overall article easier to read and far more interesting.

KERRANG - Analysis

This is the front page of the magazine, Kerrang. Kerrang often features metal and rock bands and is meant to appeal to a target audience who listen to this type of music. Kerrangs masthead is placed right across the top of the page instead of being just to one side, this helps to make it stand out. The lead image is a full body or long shot of a band who features in the magazine,the expressions on the bands faces look serious, this connotates the magazine as being serious, unlike the fun upbeat feel of 'We ♥ Pop'. Cover lines for the magazine can be found on the top of the magazine above the Masthead, I believe these were put here so the reader can see them almost straight away and is drawn into what is going to be featured in the magazine. The colour scheme of the front page links in with the type of music genre that is featured through out the magazine, often the colour black is used to represent darkness which is in turn asscociated with heavy metal. Other colours, such as red and yellow are used because they may represent fire and violence which creates a very 'Gritty' feel around the magazine.

This is the Kerrang contents which includes everything that is featured inside the magazine. It is layed out to carry on the theme of the whole magazine, using the same colours and rough font. The 'lead image' on the contents is of a man with tattos, and looking like he is at a gig or partying. This reflects the 'VALs' of the sterotypical reader. The main body copy on this page is a message from the editor found at the bottom in the centre. Also, because the editors message is rather long it has been edited into two columns with a gutter in the middle to space it out correctly, this makes the editors note look more formal than the rest of the magazine. Like 'We ♥ Pop' featured articles which are not included regually and made to stand out more than regular articles by using pictures and larger text.

This is the double page spread for the magazine. It features a rock/heavy metal band. The lead image, which is of the featured band, is showing them looking down, which could represent them as being powerful and their facial expressions are serious. 

On this side of the double page spread, it features the article about the band, which is split up into two columns and a gutter through the middle to make it easier on the eye, and easier to read and understand. It also has a 'Pull Qoute' which will draw the readers attention the the main body copy.

NME - Analysis

NME, is also a magazine I bought to analyse. Again, it is a different theme to the rest of my magazines I analysed. This time I belive the target audience is young adults between the ages of 22-28 which are intrested in Indie bands and other famous singers. NME's masthead is placed on the top left, much like the 'We ♥ Pop' so it easy to spot on shelves. The colour theme is mostly red because it is a magazine aimed a wide variety of people and reed is one of the most popular colours, it also links in with NME's logo. The layout of the front page is eye catching. The largest text on the screen are the words 'ARTIC MONKEYS' which would appeal to the target audience if they are a fan of the band. The main image on the front page is a medium closeup of the band, The Artic Monkeys.

This is the contents page of the magazine, NME. It uses similar fonts, and images to the front page. The main font used is a Serif font, it is displayed right at the top of the page and the sentence 'INSIDE THIS WEEK' get's straight to the point of what the page is showing. Like most magazines the featured articles are bigger and with images unlike the normal pages which are smaller and less advertised because readers already expect them to be there. Each image is to do with an article inside the magazine.

The double page spread is an introduction to an article about the famouse band 'Artic Monkeys'. As it's an introduction there is not much text and the lead image is a huge picture of the band with the lead singer at the front. It also features a pull quote 'Ive got my leather trousers on' which could appeal to the audience becuase they often like to think of themselves as 'cool', therefore would like the leather trouser look. The colour red is used because it is a popular colour and stands out in the page to draw in the audiences eye. The way in which the band are shown are very laid back and typical lads just hanging around. A straight camera angle shows they are on the same level as their audience and do not aspire to be any higher or more important than other people.

 

The lead singer is postioned at the front of the group, showing power and importance over them, but yet he is still among them and doing similar things to them. His face is serious, this could connotate a serious article but at the same time he is smoking which is linked with being relaxed and chilled.

WE ♥ POP - Analysis

This is 'We ♥ Pop' music magazine. I belive its aimed at young teenage girls between the ages of 12 - 15 because of the bright bold colours and 'Funky' layout. The masthead is is positioned at the top left of the front cover and stands out because its bold font and reconisable logo. Bright colours feature alot on the front cover and throughout the rest of the magazine. Greens are dominant on the front cover, possibly because it represents fun and brightness. Denoted on the front cover is a medium close-up of a famous popstar 'Cher loyd' this may encourage young pop lovers to but the magazine if they are a fan of this celebrity and will be interested into why she is featured in the magazine.Cher Loyds open, fun facial expression connotates a fun magazine. Most of the text on the front cover is bold, in a simple font and ussually in a bright colour or black on a bright block of colour. 'Woah, It's Cher' is placed right across the centre of the magazine which stands out and tells the reader that the article is about Cher Loyd. Another colour featured alot is the colour pink, which presents the magazine as having a mainly girl audience. The layout of the front cover is appealing for the target audience because it is fun to look at, it includes most of the features young girls would be interested in, such as boybands; 'The Wanted Special Posters' this might encourage the target audience to buy the magazine if they are a fan of The Wanted because most young girls enjoy having posters on their walls. It also shows a preview of all the posters avalible. It also shows quotes from some of the articles on the top right such as; 'In the backseat with Olly Murs' and 'In Jessie J's Bedroom' which I think is placed on top right because after the consumer has seen the logo and picked up the magazine they may scan across and these may catch the eye of the reader and encourage them to read these articles. The text also appeals to a younger audience because 'Backseat' is often associated with younger audiences because this is where they sit when traveling in the car with parents etc. Also, bedrooms are often places where younger girls spend most of their time so having an insight in 'Jessie J's Bedroom' may interest them in some way.

This is the contents page of the magazine 'We ♥ Pop' again, the same theme is repeated, with bright colours and famous faces as the photos. The heading at the top of the page is 'WE LOVE THIS' this almost feels like the reader is meant to love what is inside the magazine aswell, it could also be percieved as celebrities are saying 'We love this'. It also shows a picture and a message from the editor on the left which makes the reader have some connection with the people who create and edit the magazine. It also features a similar picture of Cher Loyd that was on the front cover, but this time links in more with the article because it also has a quote from her, 'Ive always been a bit of an Odd-Bod'. The layout shows the 'Featured' articles on the right of the page with pictures and a big page number, these show these percific articles or pages are not ussual within the magazine. Whereas, the normaly featured pages are shown on the bottom left without pictures but still have large page numbers so its easy to read at a glance. Again, right along the bottom of the page it shows the posters avalible including ones other than The Wanted. Again, bright girly colours are used such as; Pink border, and bright orange for some text and page numbers. There isn't much white space which helps the magazine seem fun and busy, this is good for a magazine like this but for a more grown up magazine white space would be needed.

This is one side of a double page spread, the other is shown below. The heading of the page is bold which stands out and introduces the interview. Underneath the the heading there is a standfirst which gives a short introduction to the person being interviewed. Again the colour scheme is similar to the contents and the front cover so it still appeals to the target audience.

                                                                
  On this side of the double page spread there is a 'Pull Quote' which is an interesting quote made larger to draw the reader into the interview. It also features a lead image of Joe Jonas because he is the person being interviewed. This may make the reader want to read it if they are a fan of this particular celebrity. I think they have more white space to make the double spread look less busy and easier on the eye to read.

My Magazine Target Audience

Young Women and Teenagers
Aged between 16 - 20 years of age
Social class: E, D, C2
Lives in: Cities and suburbs, Not in a rural enviroment
Values: Music, Celebrity gossip, Fashion, Having a social life, Having fun, Getting money
Aspirations: To be popular, have a night life, Aspire to be rich, To be famous and loved, Be the centre of attention,
Lifestyle: Unemployed or low paid jobs, try to work hard, Go to college/School/Uni, Live with parents or flats, Socializing, Drink alcahol, Possibly smoking or drugs,

Motley Crew "Girls, Girls, Girls" Video Ananlyse

In the video "Girls Girls Girls" by the Motley Crew, the band have used different scenes and ideas to represent themselves how they wish to be seen by their fans and other viewers of the video. They film themselves surrounded by Girls at a typical american strip club. I think this shows them as being attractive to women and fun people. Also, when they are riding around on their bikes it represents them as being 'Hard' and 'Bad boys'.

50 Cent Video "Candy Shop"

In the video “Candy shop” by 50 Cent, there are many different techniques which are used to present women in a certain way. It is done by using different costumes, props and the settings, which all link in with the theme and lyrics of the video.

In many of the scenes women are seen in either underwear or tiny outfits, these present the women as being sexually provocative. Also, all the women used have perfect skin, hair and bodily assets like their breasts, this portrays women as being always being perfect and ‘sexy’. It may also present them to have lots of money to afford beauty treatments. Although, it can also be seen that they are somewhat ‘cheap’ thus making the women look like they are very much into sexual activities and sexual intercourse on a regular basis.  

The name and lyrics of the video “Candy Shop” portray the women as being tasty, cheap and easy to get hold of just like candy. Another way it presents the women is that they are being used as ‘toys’ by 50 Cent and that he can do what he wants with the women as they are seen to be under his control.

In one of the scenes, we see 50 Cent looking at a painting of the women singer as a portrait on the wall; this could mean that women are only good for being looked at in photos, and in person such as; in strip clubs and movies. Also, at the end of the video it shows him at the actual Candy Shop buying a burger, this could mean that his fantasy is that every woman that works should really be dancing around in sexually provocative garments giving him what he asks for.

I believe the video isn’t sexually empowering for some women as they are shown as cheap candy or as trophys. Although, other women may find it sexually empowering as they may feel more confident about themselves if they are similar to the women on the video and it may even encourage some women to become like the women on the video.

 

College Magazine Research

Above is a College Magazine front cover that I found, I don't like this cover because it is too plain and very boring. I don't think it would appeal to the same target audience as me because of the formal aspect. The picture on the cover shows, what I presume, is the college itself, but it has been taken when it is empty so it doesn't show the exciting aspect of the college. Also, the writing is very formal and doesn't make the magazine look fun and interesting to read. Also the colours are very bland. Although this would appeal to a much older, mature audience.

This is another magazine front cover that I found, I much prefere this one because it is more exciting and would appeal to the same target audience as myself. It has a picture of a person which draws in the readers eye more because people may reconise him. The colours also stand out and are bright, unlike the other magazine cover.

Creating My Magazine - Front Cover

This is my front cover of my magazine. My front cover is the main piece as it is the first thing the reader will see when they pick up the magazine. Because of this I tried to make my front cover, bright, exciting but also modern and stylish as the target audience is young college students between the ages of 16-20.

My main aspect of my front cover is the 'Medium Close-up' of my friend on the front page. This makes the magazine look proffesional and also might make people want to read it if they reconise a fellow student on the front page. He is also relevent as inside the magazine there would be an article and him, 'Student of the month'. He is posed in a casual position because it looks calm and more sophiscated.

My Masthead is a bright red as it is the same colour as the Norwich City College logo which is relevant as it is a magazine for the college. I also added in a picture of the logo, but on low opacity so that it fits in the well with the rest of the front cover. My Masthead is placed at the top right corner so that the eye of the reader is drawn to this first and if the Masthead looks good they will want to read the front cover and hopefully want to buy the magazine. I named my magazine 'College BIZ' because it about College Business. I shortened the word Business to 'BIZ' because it felt more new and different and less formal. It also links in with the word 'Showbusiness' which will make the students feel almost famous if they are featured in the magazine.

Creating My Magzine - Contents Page

Above is my contents page, this is important as it shows whats inside the magazine and helps the reader determine wheather they wish to read and buy the magazine or not. Again, the design from the front cover links in with the contents page as I have used boxes with low opacity and I have used the same two fonts 'Bookman Old Style' and 'Berlin Sans'.

I have also keept with the same colours for the main titles and writing, black and red. with a white background. Also, I incorporated some light lines onto the background because I think it makes the page look more fun and exciting but also good looking. Again, I have added in the picture of the college logo with a low opacity because it links with the front cover and the college, the writing over the top of it is about the Student Union so those two objects fit well together.

(Skills Development) Creating My Magazine - Text, Medium Close-Up, Masthead and Background

Text is one of the most important aspects of a magazine, my magazine uses two different fonts, 'Berlin Sans' and 'Bookman Old Style'. The above picture is of the text on my front cover, I have used different sizes, styles and effects to make the cover different and more interesting. I have keept to three colours, red, black and white. The reason for this is because I want my magazine to have the same theme throughout to make it look more proffesional.

For my Medium Close Up picture, I took a picture of my friend. When I imported the picture onto photoshop I used the Select tool to cut my friend out and paste him onto a plain white A4 background.

I placed my masthead on the top right corner of the page as this is where the eye is first drawn to when people read magazines or website pages. I made the opacity of the layer a bit lower, but not as much as other layers because I wanted my Masthead to stand out.

After I had added all my content onto the front cover, I believe it looked too plain so I decided to add some coloured lines which would be repeated through out the magazine to make it look fuller and stand out more. I believe it goes well with the whole of my front cover because it looks fun and modern. To make these, I simply added boxes, changed the colours, but because the colours were to bright I changed the opacity of the boxes to make them a softer colour.

Creating My Magazine - Masthead

This is my Masthead that I designed, I like it because it is easy to read and simple. I kept to the theme of the City College Norwich logo because it is red. The word 'BIZ' is short for business and is also accociated with 'Showbiz' which is popular in main stream magazines. I used the font 'Berling Sans' for the word college and then I got a font off of www.dafont.com to write the word 'BIZ'.

Magazines I like♥

Click Here To View The Magazine     

I like this magazine because of the great pictures. It's not like a normal magazine with loads of articles, it is purely photos which I like because I love photography. I think the audience of this magazine would be young women aged between 17 -25 who are interested in fashion and also people who design clothes or own a fashion shop. All of the pictures in this particular issue are of one theme, this creates an atmosphere for the magazine. The theme is 'Urban Castaway'.

Click Here To View The Magazine

This also a similar magazine but is fashion for children and also it has more text and would be aimed at people with children or grandchildren. Again, I think it would be aimed at mums more than dads because fashion is more of a womans thing. I like the layout as it shows off the clothes nicely and gives it an innocent feel because of the models being children.

 Click Here To View The Magazine

This magazine is different to the ones I have just looked at, but I still like it because of the creative element. It is an art magazine. I love the layout inside the magazine because of its modern, simple feel which isn't crammed full of uneeded text. I like the front cover because it's different and interesting. On this magazine the Masthead of this magazine is unusual as it is at the bottom of the front cover.

CD Design Research

This is one of the covers I looked at for research. The band is Green day and the name of the CD is 'Internation Superhits' I like the colours and it represents to pop punk genre of the music. I think the silhouettes make the CD cover bold and interesting. Also, the poses that Green Day are in are instantly recognisable by Green Day fans as the lead singer and guitarist is at the front whereas the drummer is at the back.

This is another album cover I looked at, the band is Good Charlotte and the name of the CD is 'Morning Revival'. Good Charlotte does very similar music to Green day. I like this album cover because of the bold bright title which stands out, this is how I want my cover to be like. It also shows the band and again it has the main singer at the front with the drummer postioned at the back.

My Design Brief

CD Cover Design Brief

Band Name: The Option

Target Audience Demographic:  Between the ages of 15 – 20, Females and males, listen to music such as; Paramore, Green Day and Fall Out Boy. Wear clothes like black skinny jeans,’ Converse All Stars’ trainers, Band tee’s and Hoodies. Also stud belts and have a ‘relebish’ attitude towards life. Don’t like being told what to do, can sometimes be very independent but loves gigs.

Genre: Punk rock/Alternative rock

Imagery and colour schemes: Some dark colours but can also be bright, images like guitars, drums, spiky hair for men and brightly coloured hair for women, skinny jeans, stud belts. People at raves and gigs, mosh pits, graffiti and damaged things. Alcohol and drugs may be associated with this type of music.

 

Type Face/Font Styles: Bold, scruffy, red or white, must stand out, maybe a pink glow to add emphasis.

THIS IS MY DESIGN BRIEF WHICH I ORIGINALLY TYPED UP IN MICROSOFT WORD.

CD Back Cover and Spine

This is my CD backcover, it has a very similar design to the front cover as I have used the same colours, font and the same pictures. I have added a barcode and a small copyright paragraph to make the CD look more realistic. This time I have changed the speech bubble to a thinking bubble to make a small change which will make the whole design more interesting to look at aswell as keeping the theme the same.

Also, as I finished my front and back designs quite quickly I had time to make a spine for the CD. This would make the CD instantly reconisble if it was to be in a shelf amongst other CDS. I used the exact same title with the same design as it is simple and easy to fit into a narrow space.

My CD Cover

This is my CD Cover. I like the simplicity of it because its bold and not too messy, also it appeals to the target audience because of the 'punk' colours that are included. Also having the speech bubble with the censored swear word included shows that the CD is not sutible for children. The cover represents what the music is like on the CD and gives the audience an idea about the type of music, because of the name of the CD and the design, e.g the swearing speech bubble. Also to show that the music isn't sutible for children I added a 'Parental Advisory' logo which also made the CD cover look realistic.

My CD Cover Mood Board

This is my CD Cover moard bood, the pictures represent the genre of the music that would be on the CD and also what the target audience like to dress like and what they do. e.g The target audience like to wear converse all stars and go to gigs.