The document discusses the design choices made for various elements of a student-created music magazine, including the masthead, front cover, contents page, double-page spread, costumes, camerawork/framing, artists featured, and color scheme. The student aims to create an original magazine that stands out from existing publications like NME, Clash, and Q through unique layouts, shots, styling, and a pastel green color theme. While some elements are inspired by or similar to conventions from other magazines, the overall design strives to be distinctive and appeal to the target indie audience.

1. Evaluation Question 1
Masthead
I believe that my masthead could be seen to be quite similar to ‘Loud and Quiet’. This is because, like my
magazine, the masthead does not have anything on top or underneath of it. The image on the magazine does
not begin until under the masthead. This gives originality to the magazine, as a lot of magazines do not have
this effect. I felt as though it was best for my magazine as I felt it worked a lot better with the image and the
style that I was trying to portray. My masthead could also be seen to be similar because of the fact all of the
letters are large, capitalized and bold. I used this in my magazine because I felt as though it would grab
attention more than if it were not to be this way. This is obviously a popular feature to display a magazine title
as it is used in a lot of other magazines meaning it was a good choice to make. Both titles are also black, which is
another similarity between the two. There are difference between the two mastheads also, the information
about my magazine is placed to the left of the title where as it is under the title in Loud and Quiet. The font is
also not the same.
Graphology & Page Layout
Front Cover
I believe that my magazine goes against a lot of existing magazine page layouts and looks different to current
music magazines. There are a lot of examples of my magazine looking different from magazines that already
exist. Some of these are Clash, iD and NME. Although they are all different from each other, none of them look
like my magazine that I feel could be seen as a good thing. If there are no other magazines that look like mine
this means that there is space in the market for my magazine, meaning there is a chance for it to become
popular. As you can see iD is very simplistic, only including the title, image and a little bit of text on the front
cover. There is also a coloured background. This is different to my front cover for how everything it layout on
the magazine. The masthead is to the side and there is little information on the page. The colour on the
background of the magazine is another reason the two are different as my magazine has a plain background as I
felt as though this complimented my models and the clothes they wore better. However, it could be seen to be
similar for the simple reason of where the ‘come as you are’ is placed, as this is similar to where I have placed
‘Indeed’. Clash also has a yellow coloured background with a lot more text on the front cover. I feel as though
this magazine is different to mine for not only the colour but also the amount of text on the page. My front cover
does not contain a lot of text as I felt it was a better look for my magazine. Although still including bands that
were included within my magazine on the top of the page, there is not a lot more text. I feel as though the
amount of text works on this magazine but would not work with mine. It is also different for the amount of
colour on the magazine. Not only the yellow background but also the same of white, yellow, black and red
writing that is used. The text on my front cover does not change as much; it is mostly black, only using green for

2. the name of the band and white for the quote under it. The masthead is different between the two magazines.
‘CLASH’ is placed partly over the models head, with text placed above it meaning it is not directly at the top.
This is different to my magazine for these reasons. However, there are some similarities of the two magazines.
The placing of ‘James Blake’ is similar to where ‘Indeed’ is placed on my magazine. They are also similar for the
artists pose; a ‘moody’ looking pose staring directly in to the camera. I have also chosen ‘NME’ to show the
differences. One of the reasons that they are different is the shot that is used of the musician. I have used a mid-
shot of the two models whereas the show used on this issue of NME uses a close up which adds originality. The
masthead between these two magazines are also different, NME not covering the whole top of the page whilst
Daydream covering most. However, although not being displayed the same, the pull out quote is similar
between the two magazines due to the fact they have one. I felt as though this would work with my magazine as
it would introduce my band to the reader.
Contents Page
I see my contents page being quite similar to the contents page of Q
magazine. Before creating my contents page, I found this contents page
whilst researching and thought it had a good layout that was easy to
follow and worked well with the magazine. For this reason, I chose to
follow some of its conventions. One of the features I chose to follow was
the page number in the colour theme with the page name displayed next
to it and a little description places underneath. I thought this was a good
way to easily separate the page number from the rest of the text.
However, I chose to make my page numbers bigger than the ones shown
in Q magazine. This was because I wanted to make them more prominent,
I also thought it was a better effect to have the number running along
with the text. I chose to make this green as this was the colour from my
colour scheme. There is then the page name to the right hand side; this
was to inform people what was on the page of the page number that was
just given. There is then a short description underneath on both
magazines. This was to give people a little information about the page so
they were more likely to go to that page. I have also split my pages up into
two fields, features and every month. This was to inform people was
special in this magazine as well as including items that could be featured
every month in the magazine for the re-occurring readers. However, although these two pages share a lot of
similarities, they also share differences. There is a large picture of the band that takes up most of the page in Q
but there are two images of Indeed in my magazines that do not take up as much space. I felt as though it was
more important to focus on the text and the pages instead of the band on the contents page. I also did not
include the ‘review’ section.
Double Page Spread
My double page spread does not follow the conventions of a typical double page spread. This is because,
generally, there is an image on the right hand side whilst all the text displayed on the left. I chose to not follow
this as I wanted my page to be original and to interest the readers. For this reason, I chose to place one of the
duo on either side of the page, with the text presented in columns around them. I felt as though this was a
layout that is not widely used and people may be interested by this and therefore read the interview. However,
there are some magazines that I could say are similar to mine. One of these being the Nicki Minaj double page
spread. I feel as though my double page spread could be seen to be similar to this is because of the placing of
text around the image of Nicki. The text is evenly placed
around the cut out image, providing an outline. This is what
the layout of text is in my magazine, which is more
prominent on the left hand side. When looking at this in the
research, I thought it looked interesting because it did not
look like other double page spreads I had found. My
magazine is also similar for the bold font of each title
heading. Although the two are different, this being a ‘gospel’
whilst mine an interview, you are still able to easily
differentiate between the heading and the rest of the text,
meaning you are able to break up the text easily.

3. Costumes
I chose to style my models in what a typical indie scenester is seen to where, who are my target audience. I did
this so they were able to relate to the band as well as being able to tell they are an indie band at first glance. For
this reason, I did not focus on what other musicians in this genre where wearing as I wanted to portray the
band in a way that made them look like their fans. Indie scenesters are typically seen to wear denim jackets,
patterned shirts and skinny jeans and this is also what I chose to style my models in. The models wear the
same clothing throughout the magazine, meaning that the styling of them is the same on every page. I was
hoping to take shots where they were wearing different clothes. However, I did not get this chance so therefore
had to work with the images of them wearing the same clothes. I do believe the clothes that they are wearing
work well with the magazine genre so I was not worried to use these images throughout the magazine. The
musicians in magazines do not typically wear casual
clothing, which is one reason why they are different to
my styling of models. As you can see, the musician in
‘Loud and Quiet’ is wearing a green coat with a green top
underneath. Although this could be seen as being casual,
there are still some elements of dressing up in this
styling. In ‘Dazed & Confused’ the musician is wearing a
camouflage outfit. This outfit is interesting and is not
something that you typically see people to wear. I feel as
though, even though it is not like other magazines, the
casual feel to my models styling works well with the
magazine, the band and their fans.
Camerawork & Framing
Front Cover
A lot of magazines use mid-shots on their front cover and
this is one of the reasons why I chose to use this frame for
my front cover. I felt as though this presented the duo
well as you were able to see them enough as well as not
being far away to still make obvious eye contact. Vibe and
Mojo have both used mid-shots for the front cover of their
magazine and I feel as though this shot works well for
both magazines. It works well for Vibe as you are able to
see Nicki Minaj’s body language, her hands on her hips,
easily which adds to the look that she is trying to portray.
A mid-shot works well for Mojo as you are able to see all
four members well. It is a frame where you are able to fit
in all four members well but still have them close.
Contents Page
For my contents page, I have used two images of my models, both of these being
long shots. I chose to use this frame as it presented the models in a different
way than the front cover did meaning that it offered variety to my magazine.
Long shots are used in contents pages, if an image is used at all, but not widely.
An example of a long shot being used in a contents page is this contents page
out of Vibe magazine. This is a cut out images of 50 Cent that works well with
the layout as the page names and numbers are running alongside him in the
right hand side. I feel as though a long shot offers more sight of the outfit he is
wearing which is the same for my duo. Contents pages offer a variety of frames
in their images meaning that it is not odd for a long shot to be different. There
are close up used, mid shots, long shots and in some cases extreme long shots or
close ups.

4. Double Page Spread
I used two long shots for my double page spread. I chose these shots purely for the design I wanted to use for
my spread. I felt as though a long shot would work better with my layout as I wanted to have one image at each
side. One of these images would be one of my models whilst the other image being the other model. I felt having
text running along the side of long shot would look a lot better than a mod-shot or a close up. This also meant
the image was tall enough to take up the correct amount
of space without being too wide. For this reason, I did not
base the type of image I took on existing double page
spreads. A lot of existing magazines use mid shots as the
layout of their pages are different to how I set mine out.
An example of a mid-shot being used is this one of Lady
Gaga that was in Q magazine. I mid shot was used as the
image takes up a whole page rather than the side of one.
This image works well with this magazine as it offers a
connection between the reader and musician. This image
also works in this context as you are able to see that she is
naked without it being too revealing.
Artists
As my magazine has an Indie genre, I found that the artists in this genre are very diverse and therefore they
strive to be different. Indie scenesters enjoy finding the newest talent and listening to new music, not music
that sounds like the rest. For this reason, it is a good thing if my duo does not compare to an existing couple.
Indie is mainly a male guitar based genre so any female entering this genre is new and different. This means
that two females entering this genre very different, there are not a lot of popular indie duos out there.
Magazines seem to focus on single artists of a band that usually consists of four members meaning that for mine
to include two is unusual. I see this to be a good thing, however, as I think it will work better to attract more
readers.
Colour Scheme
My colour scheme purposely is original, there are not a lot of magazines that tend to use green in their colour
scheme. My colour scheme is black, white and a pastel green. Black and white is used a lot in colour schemes as
these are easy to work with. However, I chose to include one other colour which I would be able to work with
throughout my magazine. I chose green for the originality, I wanted to interest people through the colour I used
rather than using popular colours such as red. I’m glad that I chose this colour as I found it good to work with
throughout my magazine, for example the page numbers on my contents page.