Drafting Text

When producing the main text of my feature I first started of with writing a draft version in a Word Document. I then went on to note the things I wanted to include within my feature. Once completing the draft version, I made a few changes then pasted this text into the actual document of my feature, fitting it to the original style/pattern theme.

I also made a few notes on what my magazine would represent and how it would do so. Here is an example of some notes:

Planning/Sketching Page Layouts

When planning/sketching the page layouts of my media product, I took many things into consideration such as following the specific style, images, font etc. When designing the layout of my contents page I decided to use abstract shapes and vibrant colours which represents the personality of the chosen audience for my magazine. When planning the page layout for my feature I browsed through several different music magazines to get a vague idea how feature layouts were displayed. I then went on to produce my own feature and here are some sketches how I planned for my original feature page to look like:

Shooting/Choosing Images

When thinking of an idea on what my main image would consist of I considered what type of background I wanted, the positioning of the models and any props or costumes that were going to be visible so the genre of the magazine would be reflected on the above mentioned. When shooting the images I took quite a few as I wanted to be able to choose from a wide range of images and that I weren't limiting myself to only a few.

When choosing some images I declined a view as some were of the wrong angle an example of this would be the below image. Another reason why I chose not to use the image was that the prop which was the guitar was going off-screen and the positioning of the models were not satisfactory.

Setting Up Images

All the images I took for my music magazine were designed and produced in regards of the attitudes and personality of the aspired readers. I gained inspiration for my images a few weeks before taking them which occured from a combination of magazines and photos.

Planning/Sketching Images

Before I could take my images for my full media product I had to sketch a rough version of how I wanted the models to be positioned and what props were going to be used within the image.

Here are a few sketches of how I wanted my music magazine front cover to look like:

Analysing Front Cover Images

To make sure that I made a convincing front cover to match the genre I browsed many other indie/rock magazines to see which one influenced me the most. I looked at the likes of NME, Kerrang, Q etc to see what sort of style/pattern they followed.

Researching And Designing Mastheads

After deciding what gender my magazine was going to be aimed at I then started thinking of a suitable title that would fit the specific audience. I chose my music magazine to be aimed at both male and female aged 14+. I browsed through several CD albums to see if any song or album title stood out to me. I chose a personal favourite band of mine to use one of their song titles for the name of my magazine: "That Boy That Girl" is a well known hit from a new grindie (Grime/Indie) artists called "Hadouken!" http://www.hadouken.co.uk/ The magazine title reflects on the gender audiences this magazine is looking to attract. I chose to use two different font styles for the title as I believe that when two different things are put together i.e. a boy and girl, they look good together therefore I made the font style of "That Boy That Girl" different to stand out but however works good together when used. I got the two styles from a font design site http://www.dafont.com/

Investigating The Conventions

When producing my music magazine I looked at the conventions of the other music magazines. I started of looking at the front cover of each magazines and identifying the key elements that are used, this consists off: masthead, image, cover lines, puffs, barcodes etc. I decided to add these onto the front cover of my magazine as they look good and are also apart of the essential design needed to complete a magazine.

Exploring Values/Ideologies

Most magazine value their readers as being "loud". However I chose mine to value the lifestyle of my readers therefore this would help in trying to engage the readers. Whilst the majority of music magazines following the tradition of focusing on Q & A style features I chose to use an in depth interview form for my feature which meant instead of asking numerous question its main focus was on the band itself and their music. This was done so it created a sense of communication between band members and readers. I also looked at other magazines similar to mine to see the language they used and how it was done.

Researching Target Audiences

The target audience of my magazine is both male and female. I believe this is different from other magazines as the majority of them tend to aim for atleast one gender not both. I chose my magazine to attract both male and female because I wanted to create a sense of equality between the two. They are also both found around mid place of the social demographic scale.

Investigating The Markert

Before producing my media product of a music magazine, I first had to investigate the market by looking at several magazine front covers, contents and feature page to come up for a specific design that would fit my genre and even to challenge the conventional design.

Front Cover

This was my first draft of attempting to make a music magazine. I followed the convention of a magazine by adding a masthead, image, bannger, barcode etc.




Here is my final attempt of my music magazines, I've developed and improve on many aspects of this magazine such as the cover lines, masthead and more.

Contents Page

I started of producing my contents page with abstract shapes and vibrant colours to make it stand out.




Once put together, here is my finalised contents page.

Feature

I went for a band profile as my feature page, including all the past colours I've used within my magazine.



I then decided that the plan of a band profile looked too unprofessional I therefore chose to do a feature on a specific band. By doing this I changed the style/layout of the page.



After thinking of a few ideas on what would my feature page would look like. I then took some time in completing it.