Front Page Improvements

I took on board the construction defaults people found with my front cover and I then re-designed some aspects to my front cover. I added more text to the front page, making it look fuller and more complete than the desperity to which it looked before. I have also reduced the feather on the main image; this makes the picture look less blurry, especially around the hands of the subject. I have also re-edited the colouring of the subject on my picture to better suit my magazine. The re-edited front cover is below.

Contents page research 2

Above the annotated contents page and right is the matching front cover for a Q magazine. The reason I included both in this post is so that the unified house style is evident. The Q contents page is the first contents page that I have come across when doing my research that uses a whole double paged spread to get the information across. This may be its unique selling point (UPS) because I have not yet seen this feature anywhere else. Rocksound do have their contents over two pages but not over a double page spread. Even the backgrounds in both the pictures are the same; the big, blurry and yellow lights will both add to the house style of the magazine. The colourings on both the front cover of the magazine and also the contents page of the magazine work well together; the three main colours used for fonts are blue, white and gold - on both pages. The effect of doing this helps to further entice the reader and helps them identify that the two bits of media come from the same magazine. If the house style works you should be able to rip out pages of a magazine and pick them all up and know what front cover or contents page goes with what magazine .

The design elements featured on these Q front covers and contents pages are minimal. The only one that stands out is the 'Q' logo on the top left of the contents page, this is then overlayed with the word 'contents.'

Double Page Spread (First Draft)

A couple of weeks ago we had the newest and most eminent artist in the indie scene this year. After an interview with her we found out her key to being the most successful solo performer of 2012.

What was your individual key to success?

‘Get shit done’, if you stop nancy-ing around and actually put your mind into the music industry and get yourself known you should be off pretty soon- as long as you can sing obviously. I pretty much started at little gigs just to get my name around and it built up from there. I also manipulated social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter mostly – 90% of teens are on there now.

Despite the recent burst of publicity, we have not heard about a possible upcoming tour? Do you think this is likely any time soon?

I will speak to my manager about sorting one out soon, it’s all well and good people downloading my albums – to whom of which I applaud for doing so, but people would like to see their favourite bands and artists live; I would like to give my fans a chance to see me live.

The answer to that question is yes, there should be a confirmed tour by next year; depending on whether or not the manager gives the all clear.

Do you think there will ever be a duet song with yourself and another Indie artist?

I hope so, the indie genre is filled with a group of great people and I would be honoured to work with some of them; I am only a newbie to this stuff so I have to get my head around it all before I start to work with the pros of the business. I would love to duet with a great band though; I think that will be a great experience for me and will also widen my fan base.

What problems have you encountered on your journey to stardom?

Touch wood, I have not actually encountered any! The only real problem I came across was getting my name out there, when it was I was picked up pretty quickly and then I was recording songs like there was no tomorrow professionally. Luckily I have a great manager who usually sorts the problems before they reach me so I don’t have to deal with the boring stuff.

Would you perform across different genres?

I don’t think I could bring myself to do it, I love Indie so much. The meaning and expression behind all the lyrics are too powerful just to leave and say go to Pop music, yes that might be where the money is at but I won’t sell out; I promise you that now, from the heart.

I despise all these artists who get a lucky break but sell out at the last chance, they lose all their original fans and replace them with generic people who listen to this music because the most popular person does.

Kane Boorman

Contents Page Research

Above, there are the annotated contents pages for NME magazines and then the front covers from that edition of the magazine. The reason I have put these side by side is so their is a clear unified house style between the front cover and also the contents page. Judging by the two NME editions you can see that this is the case across the board, also the same band/artist does not appear on both the cover and the contents page, this is to add a unique effect to the magazine; it does not get repetitive and tedious. It also give itself a unique selling point (UPS) to other competitors, such as Rocksound etc.

Even though the covers all have a different formatting, the contents page format stays very similar throughout each edition of the NME magazines. This keeps an effective house style across all of their magazine editions, not just on one magazine - doing this will allow the readers to get a feel of how the magazine is and then relate it back to other NME editions they may have previously read, it easily helps identify the NME branding.

The design elements of NME's magazines are very similar. They feature the arrows pointing towards the actual contents; while researching I have not yet come across a design feature like this; NME seems to be the only magazine including these designs within their contents pages. Also, under the 'This Week' headline in NME contents pages they always feature either a thick black line underlining the headline, or their is a black square behind it; this is evident in the top example which I have annotated. 

Another design element which NME include in their contents pages are the advertisments for a discounted magazine subscription with them. Within this rectangular advert they tend to include a couple of previous magazine's to entice the reader into subscribing.  

Double Page Spread Research

Above is my analysis of a double page spread taken from a NME magazine featuring The Killers. I have tightly analysed the page and the ways in which NME has tried to create a UNIQUE SELLING POINT (UPS) within their double page spread. On this double page spread there are minimal design elements this is because from my research I have found that NME create all their magazine pieces in a simplimatic format; this gets the information across easier and it is also straight to the point. Besides the image and the pull quote the text would be the main focus of this double page spread; there is a lack of design elements to distract the reader.

Above this is my tight analysis of another double page spread, not NME. Analysing two different double page spreads show the difference in unique selling points (UPS) if both double page spreads were NME they would probably be very similar so the only difference would be the pictures and the text.

Also, with the analysis of the two double page spreads above, I have read the articles themselves. By reading this I gain a clear insight into the method of writing that the editors of the magazine will use in order to capture the readers attention. I gained knowledge on the sort of questions that the interviews would ask the interviewee and incorporated them into my own questions and answers on my double page spread. 

Front Page Draft Feedback

Above is my first draft of my Music Magazine,below are the comments that were made on my magazine and what the rest of the class thought of as a whole.

Summary of comments;

• Needs a larger title 
• Bit too much space, i.e. too much background not enough text
• Need to reduce the feather on the main image so it is not as blurry.
• Make everything bigger basically.

What I plan to do with these critisisms;

I plan to enlargen the title to emphasis it more and appeal higher to the reader; it will lure them in. I am going to reduce the amount of space on my front cover by including more coverlines and text. As for the image I am going to reduce the feathering of the pixels so that it does not create as big of a blurring effect on the picture.

Doing these adjustments to the photo should help increase the target audience's opinions on the idea. From research I have found that all front pages for every music magazine have a great front page picture; there is no blur evident.  

Front Page Construction 

  

Coverlines I will use: 

'Leigh Peterson bursts onto the indie scene'

'Exclusive interview with Metronomy'

'Behind the scenes with Luke Black on his upcoming UK tour' 
'Win a Fender Newporter!' 
'Refrain's top 20 albums of all time!'
'Best indie artist of all time?' 

My front cover construction before class feedback

More PowerPoint presentations from Kane

Above is the construction of my Front cover; it is everything up until the class feedback on my current progress.

These are the videos I have made to show how I made my Front Cover