Front cover, contents and flat plans with written rationale

I have made 3 flat plans to give myself more understanding of how I want my magazine to look. I made my flat plans using Photoshop which, again, gave me more experience and practice in using the software.  

 Front Cover:

 

Rational on front cover flat plan:

My main dominant image that I am using of the front page, contains light shades. The model for my main image will be wearing a grey top and will have silver jewelry on. My models eyes are blue-green and her lips are pink. Therefore I'm planning on using a three-shade colour scheme. These colours will consist of pink, blue-green and white. Hopefully, by using this three-shade colour scheme, it will look neat, professional and organised. I also think they will contrast well with my main image.

My image that I am using on my front page will be a photograph of myself - as I'm being the model. It will be a medium close up shot (MCU) and the lighting will be bright. With the image being bright, this will make it eye-catching to an audience. Also, it makes it appear more feminine and open, which I think would help attract a female audience.

I want my body language to be inviting and engage with the audience. For me to achieve this, I will need to make sure my body is facing towards the camera. I want my face to look confident - I will achieve this by looking straight down the camera lens.  

At this moment in time, I am planning on having a light pink background. Also this colour background would contrast well with my three-shade colour scheme.

I don't want my front cover to be too crowded. I am aiming on having one main headline, which will be my 'Exclusive Interview' article on my DPS.

My masthead is "Sizzzzle" and will have the strapline "WARNING! Contains hot goss..."

This main headline will be in quite a large font, in comparison to my other sell lines. I am planning on having 3 sell-lines on my front cover.

For my main headline, it will say "'Niamh' an EXCLUSIVE interview with the hot new music artist on the scene"

One sell line will be "Scorching Singles", with this being alliteration it may attract some of an audience. "Pop takes over" will be another sell line, and finally "Sugar and Spice" will be the last. I think these are short and snappy sell lines which create humor and would make the magazine more inviting.  

Contents Page:

Rational of contents page:

Along the left had side of my contents page, I plan to have a rectangular section displaying both the 'Top 20 singles of the month' and 'Top 20 albums of the month'. This will be wrote in a small, but readable font. I will have the section coloured in a light blue, and use the colours black and pink to colour the texts.The actual title of the page 'contents' will be written in the same font as the magazine's masthead - I plan to colour this in a plain black font. 

For my extra images on my contents page, I will use a photo a photo of my main artist. Another will be of 3 boys, whom will act as a young boy band. Finally, for my third extra image, I will use a picture of a guitar and put forward the idea to expect to find an article on the latest music equipment.

In the section where I will write in the contents of my magazine, I aim to come up with some catchy headlines and write them in there. Again, this text will be in a small, but readable font. 

Also, on my contents page, I am planning on advertising a competition at the bottom. At this moment in time I think I will have it to 'win a day with Niamh'.

Double Page Spread:

Rational of double page spread: 

For my double page spread, I am planning on having one main dominant image, which will be of my artist. Around the page, I also want to add a couple of extra images which will connect with the article and show insight into her life. I think the images that would be best to choose would be Niamh with her friends. 

The headline will be 'Niamh: Hot new lifestyle'. This will be in a bold, hot pink font. The connotations that this colour has is that Niamh is a fun, young and bubbly girl. 

In the article, it will talk about 'how Niamh's life has changed'. Also, it will give elements about how her lifestyle has changed - therefore putting across elements of gossip in the music magazine. Along with adding elements of her lifestyle, the magazine will be based around her music. I will ask questions that a reader would want to know and ask themselves. Therefore, this will add to making the article more interesting and inviting. The font for the article will be in  a small, but readable font. 

Proposal Table with Potential Problems

Potential area where there might be a problem	How I will deal with this problem
Front cover images	Since I am the main model for my magazine, I may have some problems when it comes to choosing the right image. This is because I will need to trust someone to be able to take a decent photograph of me, the way I want it. I know what framework I want for my photograph and I know what type of shot I want of myself. With me having to pass over this responsibility, I will not have as much input as I would have liked. If I am not happy with the outcome of the photography, I will have to result in changing my model to someone else. Therefore giving me the responsibility to be in charge of the entire framework.
Article Inside Magazine	On my double page spread, my article is going to be an ‘EXCLUSIVE Interview’. I will be asking my music artist all about her career. I will have to balance the questions and answers so they are the same when talking about gossip and music. One of the problems that I may have when writing this article, is to make it sound realistic but at the same time interesting. Therefore, I need to watch the size of my article. My aim is to make sure it is not too heavily text led but on the same hand not image led.
Images to accompany article	I will be using a few extra images to accompany my article. I will get a few day-to-day images of my artist and place them on my double page spread. A problem I might have with this is making the images look like they fit into the article. Also, on my contents page, I need to take a few extra images of “other artists”. I may have a problem finding enough people willing to pose as other music artists.

Institutional Research

Institution	Details
Emap	EMAP is a media company that publishes magazines, broadcasts radio, and develops specialized TV and interactive media. The company owns industry-leading brands that sit at the heart of business powerful B2B communities like Retail, Health, Construction, Architecture, Fashion and Media.  EMAP has 20 magazines in to business-to-business portfolio, some of which are: - Retail Week - Retail Jeweller - Nursing Times - Health Service Journal - Construction News - New Civil Engineer - Architectural Review - Screen International - Broadcast
Conde Nast	Condé Nast is home to some of the world’s most celebrated media brands. In the United States, Condé Nast publishes 18 consumer magazines, four business-to-business publications, 27 websites, and more than 50 apps for mobile and tablet devices, all of which define excellence in their categories. It targets a range of audience as it has such a wide verity on genres. They have publications in: fashion and lifestyle, Home, Bridal, Food, Travel, Technology, Culture and Trade. Conde Nast has many well known magazine that are very popular in society right now, such as: - Vogue - Teen Vogue - Glamour - Lucky - Brides - Golf Digest - Bon Appetite - Conde Nast Traveler - Vanity Fair - The New Yorker
Natmags	Nat Mags is short for National Magazine Company, it was a British magazine publisher based in London. Since then, it has now merged with Hachette Filipacchi to consolidate as Hearst Magazine UK. It owns many well know magazine that all vary in regards to their genre. Such as: - Cosmopolitan - Real People - Reveal - Sugar Scape - House Beautiful - Men’s Health - Country Living - ELLE - BAZAAR - All about soap - Digital Spy
IPC Media	IPC Media is a British publishing company with more than 60 iconic media brands.  It has a large portfolio selling over350 million copies each year. With many brands, targeting various audiences, it makes IPC Media one of the UK’s leading consumers. Some magazines that they are well know for are: - LOOK - NME - Nuts - Now - Amateur Gardening - Ideal Home - Horse - Chat - Pick Me Up - Essentials - Marie Claire - Boat Builder - Beautiful Kitchens
Future Publishing	Future plc is an international media group and leading digital publisher. They hold market-leading positions in our core sectors: Technology, Entertainment & Video Games, Sport & Auto, Music and Creative. Some of there most known current brands are: - Classic Rock - Total Film - Official Nintendo Magazine - GamesRadar - Xbox World - T3 - TechRadar - BikeRadar - Digital Camera
Bauer Media	Bauer Media Group is a multinational media company, which operates in 15 countries worldwide. They are known for advertising, radio and magazines.  They cover various sectors from charities, football, golf, gardening, lifestyle, men’s lifestyles, motorcycling, outdoor, pets, photography, transport, women’s and many more!   Some of Bauer Media’s most well known brands are: - Closer - 4 Music - CFM radio - Bird Watching - EMPIRE - FHM - Garden News - Go Fishing - Heat - GRAZIA - Golf World - MOJO - Q - Mother & Baby - More! - Your HOURSE - ZOO

Stage 2 Magazine Proposal

Describe your idea for the brief: My idea for my magazine is that it will be a ‘pop magazine’. A magazine that talks about all the gossip in the pop world. It will contain articles and interviews from popular music artists, talking about their new albums/singles and what their life is like on tour.

Genre/ sub genre: The genre I will be aiming for is Pop music and pop artists. The music magazine ‘Billboard’ has inspired me, I want my magazine to be classed under the same genre as that magazine. Whereas the music magazine “NME’ is good and successful, I wouldn’t buy it. Therefore, I would rather go for the same genre as Billboard.

Target audience: My magazine will be aimed at a female target audience, 16-25 year olds. The magazine is for girls who are interested in reading about both music and gossip. For me to achieve this target audience, I will have to have certain characteristics. I will use a more feminine colour pallet and the article will contain ‘scandal and gossip’ which would attract my target audience.

Major conventions: I will have one dominant image on my front cover and will have my masthead at the top of the page. I will make sure my front cover has all of its essential information visible and easy to read. I will make my make sure my main headline stands out and you can easily distinguish the difference when comparing it to other sub headlines. On the double page spread, I will use a kicker and also some pull quotes.

Conventions: I am planning on sticking to the normal conventions used and keeping it similar to Billboard Magazine.

Original images:  I am planning on using myself for my photos. I will make my magazine as if I’m a celebrity music artist. I will have myself as the dominant image on the front cover, and on the double age spread. I’m not planning on using any extra images on the font cover. However, on the contents page, I will take a few extra images of a few of my friends and make them music artists. For my dominant image of myself that I will use on the front cover, It will be a close up shot and will have a plain background. On the double page spread, I am planning on having an interview with the music artist. Therefore, I don’t think I will need many images on my double page spread because I don’t want it to be crowded.

Potential difficulties/ Plan B: The only difficulty that I think I might have is getting the right image. This is because as I am making myself the main artist, I have to trust someone else to take my photographs. Therefore, they may not come out exactly how I hoped. As a plan B, I would have to result into taking photos of someone else.

Inspirational Texts - Music Videos

I have been looking at some inspirational video's of artists I like. I have chosen 5 songs by artists that are likely to appear in my magazine. 

This is a video by Olly Murs called Troublemaker:

This is a video by The Wanted called I found you: 

This is a video by Robbie Williams called Candy: 

This is a video by The Pussy Cat Dolls called Beep: 

This is a video by Taylor Swift called I knew you were trouble: 

Previous Students Work Table/Evaluation

Name of product	What I thought were the strengths	What I thought were the weaknesses
Pinkie	There are strengths on this front cover. They have lots of essential information that is clear for the reader to see, such as the bar code, issue number, price, and masthead.There is a main dominant image that has been used, along with three extra images which help give the reader more insight into what to expect if they where to buy the magazine.There is a main headline and there is also a few sub-headings used.On the contents page, the headlines and page numbers have been structured in chronological order. It has also been framed in a structure in a column, which have also been named (gossip and posters). Images have also been used on the contents page and have been captions, which tell the reader a bit about the story.The double page spread has a clear headline, which is easy to read due to its font and colour. There is also a sub-headline, which ‘teases’ the reader as it makes them want to know why he is “on his exciting future”.	The masthead is boring and not very eye-catching for the reader. The barcode has been squashed and does not look realistic. The price is in too much of a big font in comparison to the barcode. They haven’t added a email address to the magazine, which is a key way in keeping a constant audience.The main image is of ‘Harvey Andrews’ and doesn’t look very attractive for a female audience. This is down to his positioning and he is facing away from the camera.The main headline is very hard to distinguish as it is in the same size font as other sub-headings. It is not eye-catching in any way and is too long for a headline in my opinion. The sub-headlines look unprofessional as the fonts and colours used are unprofessional.The extra images used on the front cover look odd, as they are not framed well.On the contents page, there I no proper structure. There is images just been placed on the left-hand side of the page. They have captions on them, which look unprofessional, as they are too big and in a boring font. There is pink stars floating around which makes it look a five-year old has put it together.The double page spread has very bad framework. The white background makes it appear dull, boring and lifeless. It generates zero attractiveness from the reader; it almost put the reader off reading the article. There is a section of text that is in orange writing – this looks like it doesn’t belong to this particular article story as the colours aren’t in harmony with each other. On other pieces of text on both pages, the text varies in size. This not only making it extremely hard for the reader to read, but also making it look unattractive. There are two quotes that have been used which look out of place and are not eye catching, which is what they are meant to be.The image used, is the same image as on the front cover. It looks out of place and again just looks like it has been dumped on the page.There is a separate article story on the double page spread, which is an interview with a fan. With this being used, it has caused the other section of text to be squashed together and become unreadable!
Sound	There is a dominant image that has being used on this front cover, and has been centred in the middle of the age. The girl is facing the camera which gives which could tell the reader that it is a readable magazineThere is essential information that has been used and is clear to read.There is main headlines, which are clear to read and give the reader some insight in what to expect to read if they were to buy the magazine.On the contents page, the headlines have been well structured on the left hand side of the page. Along with this, they are in chronological order.There is a main image used which is quite large and has a page number which indicates to the reader what artists to expect to read about.There is one other extra image used, which is small in comparison to the dominant image used on this page.There is a headline called 'Competition' with a sub-heading underneath, which gives 'details on how to win tickets to see Rihanna'. This would make a reader more interested in buying the magazine, as they think they would win a gift.The double page has a clear headline and sub-headline, which teases the reader in wanting to find out if that artist is the 'new kid on the block'.There is an image used in the article, which gives the reader a little insight into that artist’s life.The fonts are easy to read and it is easy to distinguish the questions asked by the answers.	The essential information used on the front cover is in to big of a font. It should be in a smaller fontThe word’ exclusive’ would have looked better if it was in a bigger, more exacting font and colour. It is hard to distinguish which headline is the main story.The cover doesn’t look very busy – it looks boring and uninteresting.The double page spread isn’t structured very well. The plain pink background makes it appear dull and boring. The extra images used haven’t been placed on the page very well and look out of place for the article. The images used all vary in size, which makes the page look unattractive.
Rocking Riffs	‘Rocking Rifts’ is a good name for a magazine. It blends well with the main, dominate image used. It informs me straight away that it is going to be a magazine about ‘rock’ music.You can clearly see what the main article story is as the font colour and size is the biggest piece of text on the page.It has lots of other sub-headlines around the page, which makes the cover look busy and interesting.There is essential information on the front cover and it has been placed underneath the masthead at a decent size.The contents page looks busy, and the extra images used clearly show the reader what to expect if they were to buy the magazine.The magazine stories are neatly placed at the bottom of the page and are in chronological order.The double page spread has a structure and uses pull quotes to attract the reader’s attention.	On the front cover, the headlines could be in a bigger, more eye-catching font.The contents page looks overcrowded with several different images. On the bottom of the page there is two boxes with the article headline’s are – the text is hard to read as it is in very small writing.On the double page spread, there is no main headline at the top of the page. The article story just starts at the top left hand corner, which looks, unprofessional and untidy.  One of the images used is very large and doesn’t fit in very well with the article framework. Also, there are no captions there to describe the photographs used.The font that the actual article story is written in a looks unprofessional and could have a better structure. With the background being plain blue, this contributes to making the article look dull and unprofessional.
Evolution	The front page has the masthead at the top of the page. There is a kicker that has been used which tells the reader that it is a music magazine.There is a dominant image used and there is lost of different headlines that would attract the reader. Also, there is a sell line that would tease the reader to buy the magazine, as it is advertising that they could win £!00 to spend in various shops.On the contents page, it has lots of images, which give some insight into what o expect in each article. There is also a list of article story’s, with page numbers next to them. The page numbers are in chronological order.The double page spread is an interview story. You can easily distinguish the difference between the actual question and the response.There is lots of sub-headlines which tease the reader into wanting to read the article. The images used are of good quality and show insight into the artist’s life.	I do not like the name of the magazine. On top of this, I think adding a full stop to the end looks silly and unrealistic for a magazine.There is no essential information used, except from the barcode and the price.It is very hard to tell which is the main headline and which are not. There is a headline, which is in back font and is also a bigger size in regards to the others. However, I don’t know if this is actually the main headline.There is also a few extra images placed around the front cover, these have no structure and look out of place. On the contents page, it is hard to make out the text. This is down to the very dark background that is used. The article stories have no structure at all, and it doesn’t look like an actual magazine contents page. This is because it says there are only seven pages in the magazine.There are extra image that are scattered all around the page that looks unprofessional.On the double page spread, one half is taken up purely of images. On the other side, it is an interview story. The double page spread looks boring, dull and messy. This is mainly down to the huge font used to take up the space. However, it could also be down to the fact that the background is white, which makes it look boring. The main headline isn’t really a headline either – it doesn’t really grab the readers attention.

What I have learnt and what I will take from it for my own work: From looking at past students work, I have looked at what looks good in a magazine and what looks bad. I have learnt that structure plays a big part as it makes the magazine look neat and professional. Also, that the fonts that you use can influence peoples perceptions of the magazine. For instance, if your text is too big, in the wrong colour, or in an un-readabe font, it can all add together to making your magazine look unprofessional. 
These are all qualities, along with many others, that I will take into consideration when developing my magazine. .