This is a comparision of magazines vs my flat plan

1. Flat Plan Comparison
Katy Marwood

2. My flat plan and a cover
of NME magazine (an
existing music magazine
of my chosen genre) has
the same features layout
at the left hand corner.
The main image of any
magazine is almost always
in the center of the page
and it’s very rare if it
doesn’t. This makes it
appropriate for my main
image to be in the center.
Mastheads are always
located at the top of the
magazine. NME has a very
short masthead, so it
does not need much
space, hence why the
editor has placed it In the
left corner. it also has the
full non abbreviation
version of the masthead
below it, ‘’New Musical
Express.’’ As my magazine
has a somewhat long title
(‘Encounter’) and isn’t
abbreviated like NME,
then I will not need to
have mine to the corner
and mine will be
centered/take up the
space provided.
My flat plan and NME’s front cover have somewhat the same styling and location
of the bands and features or the magazine. My own flat plan has the bands and
features located at the top and bottom of the page, whereas NME strictly has it
featured at the bottom. I want my front cover to have on as much information as
possible, so I will most likely stick to my flat plan.
Most magazines have barcodes located at the bottom right hand corner of the
page. However, some magazines have it at the top or at the side. I chose the
bottom right corner simply because it saves space. As well as the barcode, I
will also include: a date, a price and an issue number. These can also feature at
the top but I would like all the pricing and issue information to group with the
barcode.
I chose to feature two ‘pull quotes’ on the front cover of my
magazine. However, now that I look back at my flat plan I think
I am going to just feature one quote and the artists name (like
NME) so that I can also feature a summary of the article,
without drawing away too much attention of the picture of my
featured artist.
My puff/splash and NME’s are both featured in the top right
of the corner. This feature of a magazine usually is a face
filled with bold images and text to make the reader want to
buy the magazine. In NME’s case, it’s advertising free
posters that the magazine includes.

3. My contents title and NME’s are
both featured at the top center of
the page. NME’s doesn’t state that
it’s a ‘contents’ page instead it says,
‘’NME This Week.’’ I am still
however, undecided whether or
not I will use the title contents or
create my own.
My ‘image of featured artist(s)’ and
NME’s main picture are somewhat
located in the same place. I chose
to feature mine at the top left as I
don’t want the contents page to
look too crowded and a contents
list below it will look good in terms
of the aesthetic of the magazine, in
my opinion.
NME’s ‘promotional’ location
is featured at the bottom of
the page and takes up a
reasonable amount of the
page, this is advertising their
subscription service. My
‘promotional’ feature is to the
left underneath the editors
letter. I chose this as I think
that it does the job just as
good, without taking up too
much unnecessary space,
which could be used for
features and images.
NME’s contents is very sectioned and has an easy, direct way of guiding the reader to whichever page they would like to read. My contents flat
plan has three sections. The first is at the bottom left, it includes a list of the front covers main features with page numbers and then a list of
more things in the magazine that weren’t featured on the front cover. I also have a part where an image of the artist is shown and a number to
direct the reader to the page. This is mainly because some people will primarily be buying the magazine for the artist that is shown and may
not care for whatever else is featured in the magazine, so this image in the right corner will direct them to the double page spread.
Features of my magazine contents that I have included that NME has not featured is social media links and also an editors letter. I think that
editors letters are somewhat important as they let the readers connect with people that aren’t big in the industry like the features of the
magazine. It also gives them a sense of what happened behind the scenes and why the editor may have done things in a certain way this issue,
that they may not have done before. I also think links to social media are very important as social media as whilst it also lets the readers
connect with the magazine outside of a printed edition, it also helps update the audience of any ‘special editions’ or any promotions/giveaways
that the magazine is doing.

4. Whilst researching double page spreads (see ‘double page spread ongoing research’ prezi.) I found out that the most common layout for a
music magazines double page spread is the ones featured here. It consists of a main image on one page and text on the other. Since
creating the flat plan, I have decided that I am still going to use this flat plan but parts of my image will ‘leak onto’ the next page this will
allow me to use the text wrap feature in ‘indesign’. My main reason for this is simply the fact I want my magazine to bring something new
to the table and although it’s just a layout, most magazines seem to copy off each other and I don’t want to do this. I want to offer the
audience something new, something that they don’t see whilst reading other magazines from the same genre.