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1. Fanzine Research
Tom Batty

2. Existing Product 1.
Front cover Double Page Spread

3. Existing Product 1.
For my first existing product I chose a fanzine called Washington Life, special report WL’s Wealth List. My first thoughts
when looking at the front cover is that the colour scheme seems to work well and nothing seems to be out of place. The
masthead should be the first thing that you should notice when looking at any magazine or fanzine and with this fanzine
and I feel that the publishers have accomplished this well. The masthead is colured red which is a very common colour
for a masthead because of how well it boldly stands out. But then the second word ‘life’ is placed in a different font,
colour and angle. The second word is just hanging off the end of the first word ‘Washington’ on an angle and coloured
black instead of red. I think that they have decided to change colour because it wouldn’t have added anything else to the
page and in my opinion wouldn’t have looked as nice. Plus the black on the white background contrastes well to help the
masthead stand out. For the first word, the font used is very art deco and has that Wallstreet vibe going about it which of
course Wallstreet is instantly linked with wealth so seems very fitting to use for this certain topic. The second word is in a
hand written font, so to me it helps the magazine seem more personal to the people you’re going to be reading about.
It’s not as appropriate or professional as you would normally see but because it’s a fanzine the publisher can get away
with it.
The images used I would say are appropriate to the topic. I like the huge dollar sign on the bottom layer under all the
other text and images. I feel that it helps add a lot more to the front cover to improve the look and they will have picked
a dollar sign for the obvious choice of the link with money. The colour choice for the dollar sign would have been taken
into some consideration and I feel the grey works very well in the fact that its nice and suttle which doesnt draw your
attention away from the more important information given. The long line of images across the middle of the page are
obviously members the wealthy list that will be spoken about inside. The images them selves are little screen shots taken
from other images of them at parties or special events. It doesnt look like they have been specially taken in a studio and
edited. A reason on why the publisher has placed them all on the front cover is maybe that its easier to advertise them
all instead of a massive list of their names which wouldn’t look that appealing. The reasoning on why a list of names is
because mass text isnt as appealing to the human eye as some text, a lot of people enjoy seeing a equal amount of
images and text. A final thought on having everyones face on the front is because someone could recognise a face and
want to read up about them.
A final bit of analysing for the front cover is that the rest of the text is nicely fitting and fits in with the res tof the pages
colour scheme.

4. Existing Product 1.
Moving onto the double page spread, my first impressions are that its all nice and neatly laid out giving it that perfect
professional look. For the double page spread, the publisher has kept the same colour scheme throughout which is
always nice to see and just like I said before keeps that processional look to it all. A final comment on the column set up
is there is a money tree implemented into the text. They have made the image fit in well with the columns and by adding
this image the page seems more interesting then having just text. The higher arkie of the pages is well set out and you
can clearly notice which is the title and which is the text filled with information. The words that are bold or coloured are
the last names of the faces shown on the first page. The reason they might have done this is so the reader can easily
identify who they are reading about in that certain section. Also below the picture is a small description of who they're
and what they do so it fits together nicely.

5. Existing Product 2.
Front cover Double Page Spread

6. Existing Product 2.
For my second existing product I chose a gaming fanzine. The fanzine is called Game Insider and on the front cover is
the game God Of War. The reason why it covers the front cover is because that’s what the issue is will be mainly talking
about. This is a normal style for a gaming magazine, the publisher will have a large photo of a new game or highly
anticipated game. The only difference is that there is barely any other side stories spread over the page like that classic
gaming magazine style. The masthead itself isn't the most attracting or mind blowing but its still an effective masthead.
It is still effective because it clearly stands out at the top of the page and I would say that it draws your attention either
first or secondly when first glancing at the front cover. Another reason on why it still does its job as a mast head is the
‘E’ on the end of the word ‘Game’. Its again tilted and placed in a red circle. By doing this the publisher has added a lot
more to masthead and made it more eye catching to public. The other content that will be in fanzine is all placed
towards the bottom of the front cover lined up. With a short one word description and an image advertising
specifically what the stories or information will be about. The reasoning behind this again would be that it helps attract
the customers towards the fanzine if they know what's inside and it adds that little bit more the to page to catch
someone's attention. For this specific fanzine there isn't a clear colour scheme from just looking at the front cover.
Most fanzines wont have a set colour scheme simply because they are image and picture heavy.
The double page spread that I've decided to talk about is about films and the publishers own opinions. Compared to
my first existing product this double spread sticks to the fanzine style with the mass amount of images. On the first
page, its dedicated to just one film(pacific rim: uprising). If all you're looking for a short description about the film then
this is perfect because that’s what it gives you, a short summery. Then has a huge background image of possibly a main
character of the film and then again a smaller image beside the short summary. I feel that this is ideal for a fanzine and
the use of the images here are probably help you recognize the film from seeing about rather then knowing what the
film is actually about. Moving onto the right which is the second page, on that page it contains three different reviews
of the three different films. On the first review its all nicely set in a columns and everything is lined up properly. But as
you go down to the other two, the texts don’t line up properly with the images and doesn’t give off a professional feel
to the fanzine but because it’s a fanzine it doesn’t have to follow the traits of a real magazine. The use of higher arkie
isn't the best and on first glance you cant really tell where it is. What would have of possibly improved the higher arkie
would have been underlining the words to help stand out more or even change the colour of the text but on a black
background it may have been hard to do.

7. Existing Product 3.
Front cover Double Page Spread

8. Existing Product 3.
For my third and final existing product, I have chose a reasonably new published fanzine on the band Gorillaz. First of
all the front cover itself is very full on and in your face like a fanzine should be and they have defiantly accomplished
this by designing and drawing their own comic/anime pictures. A lot of bright colours to catch your eye and to keep
you interested in picking it up for a read. The only writing on the front cover apart from the masthead is just the issue
number and date of release which add a nice touch to the fanzine. The masthead itself is a cut down abbreviation of
the actual title ‘Gorillaz Unofficial Fanzine’ to ‘G-U Fanzine’. Try to fit all of that on the front cover wouldn’t have
worked out well or looked that good. Most magazines do the same thing and its very effective. The colour of the
masthead is red and like normal the publisher will have done this because the colour red is one of the more eye
catching colours and grabs peoples attention well. But its bot as effective on this front cover because of all the other
brightly coloured pictures in the background. The word ‘Fanzine’ is coloured different and is placed in a different font.
The font for ‘G-U’ is in a more hand written almost painted font to maybe give off that more fan published feel.
Another reason of the publisher doing the masthead in this font is to give off more of a personal touch to the fanzine.
Moving onto the double page spread, the title of the topic takes up the first page. Its all in a standard font which is
fitting to the fanzine. The only ting I can take from this title is that they have coloured the key word in red to help
emphasize topic. The word ‘underrated’ is seen mainly as a negative word and colouring the word red seems
appropriate. For the second page, on first glance everything seems that its laid out very professionally. But on he
second glance both the columns of text aren't in inline with each other, ones lower then the other. They have the
same width but aren't lined up correctly. But again this doesn’t really matter due the fact it’s a fanzine. The higher
arkie on this page is decent and you can understand it all fully from the use of the different colour. The final part I can
talk about is the picture placed at the bottom of the page. The image itself sticks with the same cartoon/anime style
on the front of the fanzine. The cartoon image is placed in way that it fits in well with the columns which adds more to
the page. But because of its positioning it’s the reason why the columns aren't in line.

9. Research summary
• What I've learnt from looking at fanzines and analysing them is for the most part
they aren't that different than normal, professional magazines. With fanzines they
are image heavy and are normally on topics that interest certain people. They're a
lot shorter then magazines and don’t contain as much text. In a way I prefer the
idea of fanzines because if you're looking for a certain topic then you get exactly
what you're looking for inside instead of a mass variety.

10. Initial Ideas

12. For my first mind map, I thought about doing a fanzine on hip/hop. I have a decent
knowledge on the subject and love the music that comes from that scene. Like I
mentioned in the mind map there is a few different avenues I could go down and talk
about. For example, I could talk more about the past music scene during the 80s or even
90s or talk about the present day genres in hip/hop. Within both of those strands of
thought I could talk about artist, songs and albums. I feel like this could be one of the
topics I may choose.

13. Idea 2

14. For my second mind map, I chose to do it on the Gears of War franchise. Just like
my first mind map, I have a good knowledge on the topic and would be able to
speak a decent amount of everything with the franchise. I will be able to speak on
each game and give my own opinions, and branch out to the Esports side of
things. I also feel that with this idea, I could make some really interesting designs
to make my fanzine look amazing.

15. Idea 3

16. For my third and final mind map, I chose to think a bit more out the box and
possibly create something different that no one else would think about
producing. I don’t have a decent amount of knowledge when it comes to
American Football and the team follow are the Philadelphia Eagles. I would have
a lot to talk about, such as the history of the club and how far they have come
now in the present day. I feel that the designs and work from this subject would
help me produce some really decent work and make it all very aesthetically
pleasing.

17. Bibliography

18. Bibliography
1. Interviewees, Name. (2018) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on
DATE)
2. Interviewees, Name. (2018) Target Audience Interviews (conducted on
DATE)
3. Washington Life Magazine (May 31st 2007) WL Wealth List
4. GAMEINSIDER (Nov 27th 2017) God of War cover issue
5. Gorillaz Unofficial Fanzine (Apr 15th 2018) Issue 1