3. My magazine that I produced has similarities and
differences from other music magazines.
Starting off with similarities between my final
magazine and magazines out now in the media is the
we both have a main image on the front to advertise
to the reader what the article will be about.
The girl in the photo is the main focus of this
magazine. In real life my friend in the photograph
does not play music or perform is so we had to
create a character for her. This gave me a blank
canvas to work with so I could make her be in any
genre, play any instrument and have full creative
control.
I chose to take a headshot on a portrait angle so that
her face is the main focus. This allows possible
readers to glance up, see her face and immediately
know who it is.
I also wanted to follow some of the genre
conventions by also putting a masthead in the top
left corner which is the logo of the magazine while
also adding subheadings and a pull quote.
The header allows people to see the magazine
brand, the subheadings allows the reader a quick
insight into what some of the articles are about
which also allows the reader to see what the
magazine as a whole is about.
The pull quote is from the main article and allows
the reader to have a sneak peak of what the article
entails which could pull them in.
4. To the left is a magazine which helped inspire my
front cover.
The main article is about Florence Welch and she is
the main focus of the front page. The photograph is
up close and personal like my front cover
photograph. It focuses mainly on her face and hands
as Florence is known for her singing and she can play
a few instruments so this links to the photographs
set up.
In the top left corner Q has put it’s signature
logo/masthead and used main colours of red and
white while that differs on the front when they are
trying to match Florence’s makeup. Q doesn’t place
anything under it’s masthead to allow us to know
what Q stands for while I did on my P.U.K masthead
so people could know the meaning of my logo. My
magazine is named after a song called “The Pumped
up kicks” by Foster The people. I chose a song as my
magazine is about music. This differed from the
genre conventions as no other music magazine is
named after a specific song.
Subheadings on the magazine stand out while I kept
mine more blended with the cover so the reader
focuses mainly on the focus article/artist. I wanted
little to none focus on the other articles as I had a
main rising star being interviewed.
This magazine also uses a pull quote which shows a
vital part of the article. This intrigues readers. I
placed mine just off the center closer to the artist
while this magazine places it right at the top.
5. I added a bubble to my magazine front cover to allow
the readers to spot special offers that they could get
if they bought my magazine. I chose a free download
after making a survey and letting the public answer.
This bubble follows the house style while also having
a slight glow of white to make it pop for the reader.
My masthead breaks from genre convention because
of the font that is used. Most music magazines try to
use rather plain fonts unless they are for hard genres
such as rock with Kerrang. But with Q they stuck to a
simple font. I chose to go for a font that I believe will
appeal to a larger audience and also be formal and
playful at the same time.
I followed the genre of conventions by adding a
barcode and essential information such as date of
release and price. This is to allow the reader to know
how much they’re paying for this magazine, whether
it is monthly or not and what number they are if they
wish to collect it. I placed the essential information
with the barcode as I wanted to main focus to be on
the model rather than on the price of the magazine.
I followed a three simple coloured house style by
sticking with red, black and white. These colours are
unisex and appeal to a wider audience. It also ties
with my music genre for this magazine being more
than one which means the colours must be
appealing to more than one thing.
6. My contents page holds the house theme by
continuing the simple red, black and white style. This
makes my magazine look more professional and
neater as it has consistency.
My masthead is re-used with the same font but as
“Contents” and not the original “P.U.K” this shows
the reader that they are looking at the contents page
but still keeping the font to show the consistency of
the magazine.
I also keep the same font for my subheadings as I did
on the cover but have changed the colour to white
so they pop. On this contents page I want to focus on
the contents of the magazine. This means making
each article I have pop so the readers know just what
they’re getting when they are looking through.
I used pictures to highlight the main article and the
two sub articles. These are the top three of all of my
contents. Instead of telling the reader what they are
about I keep a layer of mystery to it so that the
reader is intrigued and buys the magazine to know
more. I use the same font as my masthead to show
the page numbers showing the reader just how
important the articles are. I use white coloured font
for this so the numbers pop catching the reader’s
eye.
At the bottom of the subheadings I have a square
box which holds the site for the free download which
was advertised on the front page. I used a different
font to make it stand out and kept the same white
font as the subheadings to keep consistency in the
house style.
7. Kerrang also continues a house style in their
contents page by using yellow, white, black and red
when they want something important to pop.
Unlike my contents in which I don’t allow the reader
to have a look at the main article until they reach the
page, Kerrang has a picture along with it’s main artist
to show other articles. I didn’t like this as it let the
focus fall from the main artist and onto what the
articles could be.
Kerrang uses the same masthead as it has on the
front page to show that this is the contents page
allowing the magazine to hold some consistency .
Subheadings are used to mark off section of what
the articles are about such as “News” and “Swag” I
did not like this as it allowed the reader too much
insight into what the articles are about. I want the
reader to buy my magazine out of curiosity. My brief
subheadings allow the imagination to run riot rather
than ruining that by putting what it is about.
This magazine goes for more horizontal set up as the
photograph and contents are both half of the page
horizontally. I chose to have mine vertical as it is
easier to read and to understand that one is after the
other. Such as p8 and underneath will be p10.
8. In my double page spread I make the artist the main
point again by having her photograph cover the
entire page. This shows the reader straight away who
they are about to read about.
I use the masthead/logo from the front cover as this
interview is exclusively to P.U.K my magazine and no
one else. This shows the reader that it was one of
P.U.K’s interviewer's who did this.
I use another pull quote like I did on the front cover
but a different part of the article so the readers who
do not know of this artist can get sort of an
understanding towards them before they start
reading. To get a quick look at how this artist is
before delving into the article.
I have a subheading underneath the pull quote to
briefly let the reader know who it is P.U.K has
interviewed and why. This allows the reader a quick
summary of where the interview is going to go so
they know whether they want to continue reading or
turn the page.
I have my question in white while my artist’s answers
are in red. This lets the reader know when the
interviewer is talking and when the artist is.
Through out the magazine I keep my house style of
red, black and white. I also keep my images black
and white with a flare of colour in her hair to follow
the house style.
9. In this double page spread they keep it simple by
having the photograph of the artist to one side while
the article is on the other. I also did this with my
magazine but had the image background follow
through onto the next page to give the page more
texture.
The article has a large red L through it to stand for
Lady in Lady GaGa. I didn’t like this very much as it
made the text harder to read so I chose to not do
this.
The article is very long and the font extremely small
which makes it appeal to a much older audience. My
audience ranges from late teens onwards. I wanted
my article to appeal to those on the go along with all
ages so I made mine easy to read with a size 12 font
and only had a few questions that got to the point of
the interview.
In the main image Lady GaGa is very threadbare. As I
am trying to appeal to a large range of audiences I
knew that my model had to look respectful rather
than the half naked models that are surrounding our
media.
My magazine follows some of the genre conventions
but overall it has it’s own unique style which will be
known by it’s readers and enjoyed by them which
was my main goal throughout.
