Contents page draft 2

In this draft of my contents page I have completely started again. So instead of me describing what changes I have done and why I done that I will start from fresh.

With this draft I want to fill the page and make the contents page full of content. In my last attempt I had the idea to keep it simple, light and not full so the buyer doesn't have to search for long to find what theyre looking for. But with further research into music magazine I discovered people want more instead of less in terms of content and how to find it. In draft 1, I focused on the big story's but in this draft I wanted to get everything in here. I find this visually more gratifying and logically better for the user to find more content if they're confused.

The fonts I decided to use are still in the house style of the front cover and the double page spread. I wanted to keep everything consistent throughout the magazine to establish a brand for the magazine. The fonts used are called 'Bebas' ( This font is used for the title and numbers), 'Letter Gothic STD' (Fotnt used for subtitles) and 'Vijaya' (Used under the subtitle to expand on that). The fonts are simple, smart and sophisticated and stay within the house style. This is a conscience decision I made to try and establish the magazine as a brand. The most successful mainstream magazines use the same font over and over and coin that font as theirs. I am hoping to get this status with these three fonts and tie them in with LAME magazine.

The colours used in this is black & white. I didn't want to use any other colours because that would go against the house style and look I am trying to achieve. The only colour on the piece is the three photos on the bottom. I kept them in colour because when I edited them black & white it didnt look aesthetically pleasing and I wasn't happy with it.

In this piece I decided to add links and information regarding the magazines social media sites. I personally think if someone wants to follow us on social media that they will find us on there own accord and companies should'nt force it down our necks. But in case people do want to follow us them the information is there.

Contents page anaylsis ( NME magazine )

Contents page analysis ( V magazine )

Evidence that I have edited a image for my magazine.

These screenshot of the layers menu in photoshop show the different stage and editing techniques I used to create my final draft of my front cover.

The original image showed the actor in the middle of the page in full colour. The image was taken on an iphone. To edit it I cut the around the actor using the magic wand tool, when I got a rough outline I went in closer to get individual pixels. This made it look professional and correctly done. Then with the cut out I made the background black and white and placed this layer below everything else. Then with the cut out, I made this the top layer so it covered anything that was behind it like the title of the magazine. This effect made the actor stand out on the front of the cover. This layer effect coupled with the black & white background made for a dramatic and moody vibe that I planned for. 

What I have learnt from the double page features and contents pages.

Double page spread

From the three double page spreads I have broken down and analyzed I concluded a few things. 

1. The use of a big main image to set the tone of the article and show the reader who the article is about without having to read a word. The effect this has for the reader is that they know what is going on. There is no surprises about who the article is about. 

2. Big, bold title of the article. Mainly a quote from within the interview. This gives the reader a heads up on what to expect the article to be about. Or, for a potential customer to flick through and get interested in the title and want to read the interview. This could lead to a sale.

3. Sounds silly but interesting questions. The articles I looked at have personal questions and random, funny questions that they asked the guest. My piece wont have genetic questions about what they're doing next or how is life ect.

Contents page

The three contents page I looked had a common themes within all them. This is what I have concluded about them.

1. All were very simple and clean. It does its job and told the reader where to find what they wanted.

2. big clear text, not small like the articles. needs to be clear for the customer to read clearly.

Where and when I took my images.

This image is on the double page spread. I took this picture in December 2013 and it is of my girlfriend. I used props like the cigarette and headband. I also added a black & white filter. This is an opinion on my iPhone and I thought it would add an artsy look to the article. This image was taken on a wall outside my house during the day so i could get a clear and crisp image.

This image is of my friend in costume. It on display on the front cover of the magazine. I dressed him in a suit, Ben Sherman shirt and RayBan sun glasses. This image fitted with what I wanted my fictional band to look like. I took this picture in October of 2013. This image was taken on an iPhone 5 with no filters. The final image is heavily edited to make it fit in with the house style of the magazine. I have posted a step by step tutorial on how I edited this image on my blog.

Font choice analysis and explanation.

On my magazine I made very conscience decisions for the best choice of font to best represent my magazine. The choice I made had a few different thing to consider first before settling with one font. 

1. Researching the mainstream magazines to see how effective certain fonts have on the audience. With different styles of font it has different effects with the audience, if a font has blood dripping down from it (Kerrang magazine) it could scary some people because it is used to shock. 

2. Fonts can set different vibes for a magazine. For example Kerrang magazine has blood dripping from its font to have a horror vibe and try to appeal to people who have a strong interest in that scene. Some magazines use cartoon fonts to appeal to younger children, these are normally found on comics etc. Higher "class" magazines will try and use handwriting fonts to make the vibe suffocated and upperclass.

3. A magazine can be seen for using a certain font can almost claim that font. An example of this is the Q magazine that uses one type of font through out the whole magazine. No other magazine does this but them.

Fonts I used

I got my fonts from dafont (http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=603) to use in my magazine. I used a style called script. Within that genre of font I used a font called 'Nirvana'. This font is used on the front cover right through the middle. 

As you can see that this font gives off a certain kind of vibe for the magazine. The font is used by the band that's why I used it. The font is typically used in establishments with money behind it. For example, Barnes real estate company uses the same font as my fictional band. Granted, this company has nothing to do with music but it gives you a example of a rich company using my font. 

For my title on the front cover I used a very bold font and colour to make it easy to read and recognize. I also got this font from dafont ( http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=503 ) in the 'basic' sub genre of fonts. This font falls under the 'fixed width' sub sub genre and is called 'Jane'. I dont know why its called that but hey ho. It has basic features. Its bold, black and stand out on a shelf. I wanted this font to symbolize the magazine. Big, bold and in your face. 

As you can see above that half the text is covered but the actors head. Most modern day magazines do this to fully use all the space available on the page. The aim here is that most people already know what brand your magazine is and therefore don't need to show all the title.

As you see from above Rolling stones magazine front cover title is almost completely covered up. If you didn't already know what this magazine is called then you would struggle to guess the name. I wanted to achieve this affect and I think I have. Not all of the title is covered up so fans of the magazine still know its LAME but just enough to completely use all the space available.