Front Cover Inspiration

I am only going to touch up on magazine front covers as I have previously deconstructed covers before. However this is just to give you a quick idea on Music magazine covers which I like the look of and relate to my genre which is Indie/folk.

As you can see these covers are from Q magazine, however they are completely different as first of all they feature diffrent genders and a group. So I am looking at how the layout of the magazine will be different to fit in with the image used. In these covers I like the way the captions/ tag-lines are placed over the image without cutting out or covering anything important.

• These all also have different shot types, such as the first one of the group, the shots are all mid-shots of the bodys allowing us to see everything from shoulders up, this is so we can see all the members of the band.

• The second cover image is also a mid shot, however it is less close up and slighly paned as if we are looking up to him. This allows enough image to fill up space, without covering up to much area for coverlines. 

• The third cover is a close-up of the artists showing Hair, Face and shoulders, I like the way the coverlines have been placed around her face in her hair, as it contrasts with the brightness of her hair. The image is large covering the whole space making it center of attention.

Magazines I am researching/ looking at for inspiration

These are the three music magazines which I will be focusing on and looking at to help me create my music magazine. I chose to look at these for my project as first of all they are well known papular music magazines and  they all target the same audience (both boy and girls 15-21). Also they all concentraite on the same genre (indie/rock) as  I am looking at and wanting to persue in my music magazine. I chose indie rock for my magazine genre as I know the conventions of this type of music magazine, aswell what type of articles and images are likley to be in them. Indie rock is a popular and rapidly growing genre of music and there are a wide rage of artist I can feature, also being a teenager myself I know a lot of people who like this genre of music and I also like this genre so I have Idea of what to feature and write about, also I know a few band and artists which I can get inspiration from.

All of these magazines have diffrent ways of presenting to their audiences and I am hoping to be able to gain inspiraion from them and convey their skills in text, imagery and layouts in to my music magazine.

Rock and indie magazine comparason

I am now starting my research for my New music magazine...Magazine Front cover Comparison.

These are two different magazine genre front covers. On the Left is 'KERRANG!' a heavy rock magazine, whereas, on the right 'Q' is an Indie-pop magazine. This will enable me to clearly see the differences between the two, so I can specify the elements that are seen on 'Q' and use them in my music magazine.

The front cover of 'KERRANG!' is quite busy with images, the masthead is black with white lines to give an effect it being broken, also there is an area of the masthead covered up by the image, the audience will still be able to recognise the title because it is popular magazine in that genre. Whereas in ‘Q’ magazine the cover is busy with cover lines. The masthead is in the corner a bold red square background with the title text in white inside it. This masthead is on every issue so it is a recognisable title that the readers/audience can easily identify.

 The main image on the front cover of 'KERRANG!' is of a rock band called 'YOU ME AT SIX' who are a very popular amongst the rock audience. The image covers around half of the cover, they are staring into the camera with little welcoming smile on most of their faces, then the main singer at the front is what looks like to be screaming, which relates to the loudness of the rock band and the genre. They are also all wearing black which is a colour you relate to rock music. On the other hand the cover image on 'Q' is of the leader singer in a very popular band in the indie-rock genre called the 'killers' his facial expression is yet again slightly emotionless however I would say it looked more smug as the tagline over the top of him says ' I am more rock and roll than anyone you'll ever meet' this is quite smug and confident as is his look. The camera is also positioned looking up at him, making him look superior, he is also grabbing the opening of his jacket, this is seen to be cool, especially when wearing a leather jacket.

The names of both of the bands are the main cover lines and are bigger and bolder than all the rest, they are also different colours compared to all the other colours used on the cover, such as in 'KERRANG!' the colour of the name of the band/ main cover line is in white making it stand out against the reds and blacks used. In the 'Q' magazine the name of the band is in a light grey colour contrasting against the dark blue/black leather jacket and different compared to the red and black colour theme. Both magazines also have taglines attached to the cover lines which are also different colours compared to the others used, on 'KERRANG!' it is 'Rock's new hotshots...Doing it their way!' in yellow this will attract the readers/audience as they would be wondering how are they different and what is their way. Furthermore, in 'Q' magazine there are two taglines one saying 'I am more rock and roll than anyone you'll ever meet' and the other says 'Brandon Flowers reborn' this will attract the readers as he sounds confident and they will want know how he is more rock and roll than anyone.

The colour scheme used in 'KERRANG!' is quite subtle but strong using colours like white, red, black and a bit of yellow and green, here and there to brighten it up, which all come together as slightly loud colours that are eye catching and bold, which relates to the rock music as it is usually loud and quite striking. whereas 'Q' on the left has a more of a simple  and modern colour scheme of white, red, black and a bit of light grey. They quite bold and bright colours which catch the eye, however relaxing and easy to look at, like indie-rock music is quite calm and catching.

Both of the magazines have names of other bands and artists with in the same genre featured on the cover, this is to widen the rage of bands/ artists to attract more readers as they may not like the main featured band on the cover that much however, one of their favourite bands maybe referenced on the front cover so they know there will be an article inside. Such as in 'KERRANG!' have a banner at the bottom listing different bands such as 'Enter Shikari' and 'Bring me the Horizon' which are popular bands in the rock/ heavy metal genre of music. In addition 'Q' the other artist that are referenced on the cover are 'Keane', 'Florence Welch' and 'Jake Bugg' which all fit in the genre of indie-pop and indie-folk.

All of the elements in each of these two magazines clearly define what genre they are and what audience they are targeting to. 'KERRANG!' is clearly a hard rock and heavy metal genre magazine, who is appealing to 16 - 25 year olds and maybe older in some cases who like this type of music. As for the ‘Q’ magazine the genre is clearly shown to be indie-pop and indie-folk/rock and is also targeted to young adults between the ages of 16 - 25, however they would obviously listen to this type of music.

Contents Page

Final Version

This is my contents page, which gives an insight of what will be featured in this magazine I have continued to use a black and white image so it relates to my cover photo. I also used the same editing and effects as the cover photo, so you can see a clear link and flow on the two pages. I have also added a editorial note/comment to fill space so it doesn't look so blank and also to make it look more professional and well laid out. I have also continued with the colour theme with in the writing by using the red and blue to relate to the logo of the magazine and to see a continuous flow of font and colouring throughout both of the pages.

Here is my overall finished magazine I have created. In this lesson I have edited the whole cover by trying to fill the space efficiently and I have also added more tag lines to give an insight of stories inside the magazine. As well as sharping the edges of the magazine and making sure every thing is in line to give it a sleek professional look. I also took out the south downs logo image as i felt as if it was pointless and just took up space.

Here I have added more tag lines and added the south downs college logo to show that this is made specifically for south downs I have also continued to use the same house style with the colours and fonts with in the magazine tag lines to ensure a professional look.

Magazine draft

Here is my first draft of my Magazine cover, I now need to insert some tag lines and just generally soften the edges. Also I need to make the magazine look professional and finished.

Magazine Cover

Original photo for my magazine cover with no magazine features inserted.

School Magazine:

Title of magazine: ShOut/Shout Out

Initial ideas:

• Target audience: Students- boys and girls aged 16-19.
• About: Events around the area, General info about college, games, buses etc.
• Main image: a close up of a two students, boy and girl.

Ideas for cover lines: 

• Having to wait and getting the bus late...Find out all the new bus Times and changes 
  10 questions commonly asked at job interveiws...
• Gigs and events in your area! 

  
  

IPC Case Study:

IPC Media is the UK’s leading publisher of consumer magazines and websites. In print and online, their famous brands deliver high quality content time and again to around 26 million UK adults in key audiences. IPC Media is the UK’s leading consumer publisher for mass market women. Constantly juggling tasks and looking after others, so these women take pleasure in the occasional ‘me’ time, during which relaxing with a favourite magazine and also women are know to like hearing all the new gossip and fashion tip, in which most magazines provide them with.

Their weekly magazines and websites are packed with inspiration, entertainment, information, advice, celebrity and real-life appealing to women and mums of all ages and these magazines feed interests and give them all the latest gossip and fashion tips. In every home multiple purchase decisions are being made every day by the women of the household. This makes mass market women an ideal advertising audience. as they are known to be the main consumers in the market of magazines.

Upmarket men are adventurous, busy energetic people. They embrace life for its highs and live for the joys of life, they follow their passions consistently and they seek out information and advice to enhance their social lives and the enjoyment of it. IPC Inspire publishes a broad portfolio of magazines and websites catering for the specialist interest market.

For every interest sector, highly respected editorial teams produce authoritative content empowering readers to fully indulge in and enjoy their passion. Confident, selective and exacting in all they do, upmarket women have a wide variety of interests. IPC Media caters for them through a portfolio of famous media brands, printed and online. Delivered to their readers through glossy magazines and exciting websites, IPC Media provides advertisers with wonderful opportunities to associate with famous media brands and connect with millions of affluent, aspirational and inspirational women.

Delivered to their readers through glossy magazines and exciting websites, IPC Media provides advertisers with wonderful opportunities to associate with famous media brands and connect with millions of affluent, aspirational and inspirational women. Predominantly from IPC Southbank and Connect, IPC’s upmarket women portfolio bristles with high quality imagery and high quality editorial - Fashion and Beauty trends and advice, Home Styling, Celebrity, Environment, Education, Business and Real World news.

IPC Media is a leading content provider for today’s man. Operating across multiple platforms and experiential events IPCs iconic brands truly connect with young men offering what they want suck as tips on how to look good and get the girls and as per usual the latest update on the sport in which IPC provides along with many more entertaining interests and articles, and provide advertisers with multiple contact points to connect with and influence, the 18-34 year old male.

IPC has lots of different brands some of which are look magazine, NME magazine and Marie Claire Britain s leading fashion magazine, good to know recipes, Now and style at home magazines. TeenNow , Nuts, TvTimes, Woman's Weekly magazine. This is just some of the well known and really iconic and successful brands.

In April 2012 IPC Media scooped an award for Best Production Team of the Year at the Professional Publishers Association Production and Environment Awards 2012. This proves they are very well respected and a big well known, successful reliable company still going now.

Looking at what I have learnt and seen about IPC and taking everything in to account through my research I can see that IPC have been associated with four main types of target audiences. The audiences they have been associated with are mass market women including mums, upmarket women, upmarket men and men between 18-34.

I think IPC will be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine for many reasons. One of which is that they are the UK's leading consumer magazine publisher. Therefore, this means that lots of people respect and trust the company as they produce high standard magazines and rely on them to continue to make new high standard magazines today. So, in addition it would be appropriate to publish a new magazine as many people buy magazines for IPC have always been excellent and already produce well known successful magazines. Also the people really enjoy reading them and get pleasure out of them. So, it would be an effective idea using IPC as they sales of the magazine would be very high and many people would buy the new magazine and the company would make a lot of money. I know many people would buy the new magazine as they engage with 26 million UK adults and they have sales of over 350 million magazines each year. Which in conclusion, is very impressive and outstanding.

Another reason to why IPC might be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine is that the company has over 85 iconic brands, so this therefore interprets that IPC has a very impressive reputation as they have so many brands. They would not have this many brands if they were not outstanding and they would not have so many worldwide recognizable iconic brands either. So, making a new magazine would be appropriate because again it is likely it would sell well as, many people know of the all brands IPC have they would buy the magazine as they know it will be very excellent. They would know it would be this as all their other brands are.

The final reason in my opinion I think IPC will be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine is because they are exstremely good at making magazines to be targeted at a certain and specific audience. Therefore,when publishing the new magazine they would straight away attract a lots of people to it as they are a well known publisher and would enhance the magazine to reach high sales. This is mainly due to the fact they know how to target and attract magazines to the right targeted audience. Additionally for example if they made maazine made attract and target at 'Pregnant teens' they would put stories and articles to do with children, cooking, activities to do with your childeren and tips on what to get you child and how to deal with pregnancy etc. All with in the magazine. This would therefore, attract the targeted audience and they would think its is very helpful and interesting and the magazine would  start to sell a lot to mums due to have babies or new mums. also they are a proffessional successful company and are lready doing a great job with other successful magazines so Overall, this is why I think IPC would be a very appropriate publisher for a new magazine as I can be certain when publishing the magazine they will enhance its sales and send it off in the right direction.people will but it a, it has been targeted very properly.

 Representations with in teen girl magazines

All of these magazines have many things in common with one another, so are they very similar. As not only are their target audience the same and are primarily teenage girls but also all there stories are similar and link to things you would suggest what girls generally talk about; such as boys, fashion/looks and love. They are the typical subjects that girls supposedly talk about. They portray their targeted audience in many ways displayed on the front covers of their publications. one way they use to attracted the young feminine audience is by using bold feminine colours such as pink and purple as they are colours you associate with girls. As apposed to magazines for more mature ladies, magazines for teen girls use much brighter and bold tones,mainly the colour  pink as you accociate pink with girls.

 Each of these covers that i have chosen use a recurring image used as their main image on the front cover: usually a young, attractive and women who is a celebrity who is current and in the public's interest. They do this to tempt the reader to buy the magazine as young teenage girls who read this may aspire to be like these celebrities, therefore tempting them to buy the magazine as they think that they will find out tips and secretes to look like these women and become attractive. Also present on all five of these covers are images of clothes or captions about style fashion or appearance. The colours of the clothes are bold, bright and girly like the colours used on the magazines and link to the current fashion and target audience. On most of the covers, a price is usually linked with the clothes shown and uses words to make these seem good value such as "only" and "under". These words also connect with the target audience as it is thought that girls are always looking for good deals or a bargains.                     

Also they put in images of celebrities and their fashion and clothes and show cheaper alternative for the readers and also show where you can buy them so readers can go and buy them to wear and look like these celebrities that they aspire to look like.However these magazines may end up have a negative effect on its readers as there are no real message to influence them being more comfortable and happy with themselves. such as on this issue of 'ELLE' magazine it says "GET SHINIER HAIR, SMOOTHER SKIN, A SEXIER BODY" this is an example of a caption of how to look/improve your appearance. But in none of these magazines does it say how to be happy and comfortable with your own body. This is displayed by using attractive however not "natural" women as they have lots of make-up one so called perfect skin and perfect bodies which are usually edited and airbrushed so teens think that they should look like that however its not so easy for girls to make themselves look like that, however they still think they can achieve that.

There are no images with in the magazines which represent the natural women of society that are referred to as more "real" or that are slightly bigger in size. furthermore magazines like this can end up leading its readers in to developing disorders such as anorexia and bulimia and making them conscious of there own bodies. Another negative effect of these types of magazines and there stories is that many of the stories inside are mostly made up and rumors  encouraging its readers that this information is fact, however even though we doubt it. Its like the effects model theory we are sort of being brain washed and we are passive and we accept the media and info we read we read. By doing this it tells the  young readers, that it is okay to twist the truth and also believe everything they read in the media. Furthermore, it introduces stories of unfaithfulness in relationships, sexual ways of dressing/revealing outfits that young girls may want to copy, as these celebrities are accepted and loved in the public's eye and they feel as if they should do the and look the same to be accepted in society. This is a problem as young girls should know how to mature steadily and not before they have grown into their bodies correctly. so teenage girls feel they need to edit and modify there body image to feel normal and be accepted in society.



Magazine Design Terminology

additive color:
Color produced by combining red, green, and blue light in varying intensities. Computer monitors use additive color, while the printing process uses subtractive color. This causes inconsistency between what a designer sees on the monitor and what comes off the printing press.

airbrush (verb):
To retouch photographic images with dye sprayed from a small, high-pressure gun (also known as an airbrush, noun). Similar retouching can be performed digitally with the use of image-manipulation software.

art production:
A term used to describe the process of preparing images, copy and/or layouts for print production. This task typically involves image enhancement, kerning of type, making sure files conform to the printer's requirements, etc.

banner:
The name of a publication as it is displayed on the cover. Also known as the Logo.

bar code:
A series of vertical lines that identify the magazine, the magazine's publisher, and the magazine's price.

blow up (verb):
To enlarge an image, either photographically or digitally. 

bold:
A set of type or font that is heavier (thicker or darker) than the text type of the same typeface. Short for boldface.

camera-ready:
Artwork that is ready to be photographed in preparation for platemaking. While almost obsolete, this term is also used to describe digital advertising files that are properly formated and ready to drop into a layout.

classified ad:
An advertisement that uses only text, as opposed to a display ad, which also incorporates graphics.

design:
The task of arranging art, text and other graphic elements on a page. See also "layout."

display ad:
An advertisement that uses graphics, as opposed to a classified ad, which uses only text.

edit:
To modify and correct a manuscript to conform to the publisher's standards.

exclusive:
Sole distribution or publishing rights given to or sold to only one distributor or publisher in a particular geographic area. Also a news or feature article published by a publication before any of its competitors.

font:
A complete typeface design in any or all point sizes.

genre:
A category of a certain type of writing, such as horror, romance, mystery, science fiction, and so forth.

glossy:
A photograph, image, or other printed material with a shiny surface, as opposed to matte, which is a dull surface.

header:
A headline or title that appears at the top of a page

image editing:
The process of changing and manipulating photographs and other graphics, usually performed electronically using software applications such as Adobe Photoshop.

italic:
A style of type in which the letterforms slant toward the right, used for emphasis and titles of books, magazines, and so forth.

JPEG:
Joint Photographic Experts Group, a sophisticated lossy compression technique for reducing the amount of data needed to describe a full-color, bitmap image.

kern:
To adjust the space between letters so that it appears optically proportioned.

landscape:
An image or page that is horizontally oriented, as opposed to portrait, which is vertically oriented.

layout (noun):
The compilation of text and graphics on a page.

logotype:
A graphic treatment of text, or a combination of text and graphics, that identifies a company or a product. Also the text portion of a logo.

manuscript:
The raw copy for a book or magazine article (either handwritten or computer-generated) before it is edited and typeset.
media:
The means by which information is distributed such as print, broadcast, CD-ROM, World Wide Web, and so forth.

news release:
An announcement of a new book or a new product sent to a news organization for publication.

overlay:
A transparent covering, sometimes made of tissue, that is placed over a page layout for marking instructions for printing or corrections.
pixel:
Picture element. The smallest unit of a bitmapped image as displayed on a computer monitor.

portrait:
An image or page that is vertically oriented, as opposed to landscape, which is horizontally oriented.
print run:
The total number of copies of a publication to be printed, also called a press run.

QuickTime:
A video compression standard developed by Apple Computer, frequently used for video clips on the World Wide Web.

reprint:
To print a article or portion of a magazine using the original materials.
scaling:
The process of determining the amount an image should be reduced or enlarged to fit a specified area

sharpen:
To heighten the contrast between the dark and light tones of an image.

tagline:
An identifying line of text that appears at the top or bottom of a printed page that shows the file name, page number, date, and/or time.

template:
A preformatted document that is protected from overwriting and can be used repeatedly to create new documents.

upload:
To send a file to another computer, as opposed to download, which means to retrieve a file from another computer.

varnish:
A thin, clear coating applied to a printed piece for protection or special effect

work and tumble:
To print one side of a sheet of paper, then turn the sheet over from gripper edge to back using the same side guide and plate to print the second side

X-acto knife:
A cutting device used for making precise cuts in typeset copy, page layouts, or other artwork for the purpose of pasting it onto artboards.

yellow:
One of the subtractive primaries (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) used in four-color process inks

Magazine Analysis 1

For years the term 'men's magazine' referred to one of two things: pornography or sport. But in recent years a new breed of men's magazine has entered the public eyes. Readers today appear to be very much more focused on their self-appearance, and the magazines have found new topics which have effect on the marketplace. Such as Loaded, FHM, Maxim, Men’s Health, Men's Fitness and GQ. The modern men's magazine is about sports and cars as well as sex, fashion, women, and anything else which their editors feel might be even mildly interesting to the audience.

GQ Mission Is To Turn Ambitious Young Guys into Successful Young Gentlemen. The target audience is generally around men aged 21-35. They have attempted to do this by using one of the sexiest actresses in the industry. They have done this as they think this is a good mage to attract the men in their target audience. They mostly focus on middle class/working men as there is a bigger amount of people with in that class and there is many things that will attract them. You clearly see the magazine is targeted towards straight men, as there are images of half naked woman on the cover of most of their magazines. 

We can clearly see who the target audience is, by practically just looking at the picture used for the front cover as well as what is written on the cover  such as "33 Pages on How to Dress, Date, Act (and E-mail) Like a 21st Century Gentleman", clearly stating who the target audience is. The articles featured on the cover are pretty masculine such as " James Bond" who is very masculine and a action type man, also men might inspire to be like him. Also "The meanest chef in the kitchen" is considered to be masculine as men want to be able to cook good meals to impress the woman.

The colours of the featured articles also suggest that it is for a male audience as they have use simple black, grey and white which are suggested to be sophisticated very formal, elegant, and prestigious colours such as (black tie, black Mercedes grey suits etc.) white is considered to be the colour of perfection and white can represent a successful beginning.

The company of the magazine has decided to put on their cover a picture of a good looking well known actress in a bikini "Megan Fox" which is a great image and visually stimulating to capture the attention of a man's mind as well as the main stories advertised on the cover which are interesting and seem good to read.

The image of Megan Fox is the main focus right in the middle and is practically the first thing you look at so it has to be stimulating to the eye, which it is as  she is showing a lot of cleavage and pulling a seductive facial pose, so is sexually attracting the men. So it would have already appealed to the audience which they are targeting.

The taglines of the stories on the front cover give us an insight of what is going to be in the magazine so we know whether it will be interesting or not.

Getting to know blogger!

Things you can do with blogger

• Customize and design you page to suit your personality and  what you like.
• You can change background add images add text videos etc.
• Its easy and free, no cost at all.
• Subscribe to other bloggers and they can subscribe to you.
• Get feedback from your reader and you can also reply.
• Publish posts and images from your mobile devise.

How I think blogger will be useful for my coursework ?

• I think blogger will be useful as it will save me from from carrying around lots of paper and work around with me also I can add images and other media as well as be more creative which will make my work more interesting to look at and read. Blogger is also available to use on smart phones so we can add to our blog when we're out and about so we are not limited to work inside on a computer. Which is easier for me as I am usually out.