Preliminary Task

These three schools magazine covers are all very different. Magazine cover number one, the Almunir school magazine cover which looks very professional, uses blue as its main colour but also uses yellows, whites, greens and reds with a building and sky as a faded background , with the building filling half of the page this being the central image. By using blue as the main colour this gives of a sense of peacefulness and tranquillity. Also by using sky as the main background this could give the connotation that as a school; they always aim high .There is also some bold copy used ¾ of the way up the cover with a badge above the bold copy and three little pictures in the bottom left corner of the magazine. The badge which is situated just above the masthead is the schools badge and the pictures, which are situated in the bottom left hand corner, could be pictures of the school or things that you will find within this schools magazine. The biggest copy within their cover is the most important things theis being the masthead and the year in which it was made.

By using a picture of the school as there central image and the background of their magazine cover shows that they are proud of their school and want to show off its best features.

Magazine cover number two is very different from the Almunir schools magazine cover. They have only used a minimum amount of colours throughout, these being red and blue. They have used these colours as it is the colours of their school badge .Their magazine cover consists of a blazer , a tie and a badge all of which belong to this particular school. The red in which is used for the main background of the cover connotates the passion and dedication in which this school posses .The Aris cover also has a very different layout to the Almunir cover with the mast head being in the top right hand corner of the cover whereas on the Almunir school cover their masthead was ¾ of the way up the page in the centre. The Aris school seem to use a drawing as their central image where as the Almunir school use a photograph. By using a drawing which a pupil has drawn shows that they are a very proud school who like to get their pupils involved and show off their skills. The use the badge twice within their cover also shows pride towards the school. The masthead is situated on top of a football connoting that they are a school that are good at sport. The masthead is the only copy which is used unlike the other two magazine covers, making this cover all about the pictures.

Magazine cover number three is a lot simpler than the Almunir schools magazine cover as it has a very unprofessional look about it. The copy is in a fancy style which isn’t fitting with the rest of the cover as it contains amateur pictures of various events. They use photographs to flaunt the variety of activities which they cater for and the facilities they have for their pupils benefit. Unlike the other magazine covers this one uses actual photos of their pupils and staff who work at the school rather than just pictures of the school itself portraying that they are also pride of their pupils and school just like the other two magazines. The central image is of pupils at some sort of event holding a banner connotating that they are a very supportive school. Also uses a plain background to emphasise the photographs used. The strap line is in green which goes along with the colour of the school and by. In conclusion all three magazine covers are different but they all have the theme of being proud of their School and the facilities and activities in which each one provides. They show this connotatively and denotatively.

For our preliminary task my design brief was to design a new school magazine and produce its front cover and a mock up of its contents page.

The magazine cover in which I designed is aimed at those students who are in the sixth form. I decided to use a catchy but simplistic theme throughout. Firstly I thought about the structure of my cover, for the main back ground and central image I decided to use the Ashfield school badge which is slightly faded so that I am able to layer other things over the top. The masthead being in the largest font near the top of the page to catch the eye of the students. I have also inserted a strap line which is directly underneath the Masthead .In the top left hand corner I placed a flash with the year and month which the magazine is going to be issued. Down the left hand side a placed some photographs of students participating in different events using direct mode of address. Also I added a banner at the bottom of the magazine cover. Secondly I thought about the colour scheme in which I was going to use, the main colours I am going to use for my magazine are purple and blue. I chose these colours as I thought it would symbolise that the magazine is for everyone, both boys and girls.

The contents page in which I designed also uses the same colour scheme as my front cover as I thought it would make my finished work look more professional and of a higher standard. Firstly I thought about how I wanted the layout of my contents page to be. I decided that I wanted it to also be very simplistic so that it was clear to the reader. Down the right hand side of my contents page I decided I was going to use some pictures that would also be inside my magazine to give the reader an insight to what was going to be in the magazine .I also placed numbers next to each picture so it is easy for the reader to go straight to the page which they where interested in . I decided to separate the bullet points into two different sections these being;things which were on the cover and then the other being extras. I did this so that if the reader saw something on the front cover which they wanted to look at they would be able to find out quickly where to find it.

To create my school magazine front cover I used Computer software such a Photoshop, Adobe Indesign and Adobe Bridge. Firstly I took some photos which I wanted to incorporate into my finished cover. I then took these photos and edited them in Photoshop to make them look as professional as possible. To design my final front cover and put it altogether I used Adobe Indesign where I then brought the pictures across which I had edited using Photoshop using Adobe Bridge. For the background of my front cover I decided to have an image of the school badge however I thought that by placing this picture straight to my background it overpowered the whole page leaving my overall look to be very busy and a bit over the top. Therefore I decide to edit this picture in Photoshop and put a white layer over the top making the picture look faded. By doing this I made my picture look much clearer and not as busy. Also i feel it made the front cover as a whole look of a better standard. On my front cover I decided to use three different pictures showing sixth form at work as I thought this would give a true feeling of what Ashfield post sixteen has to offer .Also I thought by using Ashfield’s own post sixteen students this would give my cover a more realistic feel to it. My central image is a mid shot of an average post 16 student at Ashfield I decided to place this image in an oval shape to look like the shape of a mirror. My reasoning behind this was that I wanted the audience both current and future post 16 students to think that the mirror like shape is saying this could be you either now in a couple of months of in a couple of years and to show that everything is possible. Also to show that achieving successes at Ashfield sixth form is easy with the right facilities and right help .Therefore persuading other who are not sixth form students at Ashfield already to go there. As for the layout of my magazine I used one central image in a oval shape, then on the left hand side of my cover I used three pictures in box shapes which overlapped each other .For the type set on my school magazine front cover I decided to place my banner at the bottom of the page rather than slanted across the page as I thought this would suit better. I also decided to change the positioning of some of the copy features and it made it look a lot more professional. Finally the colour scheme, in my original mock up of my front cover I used the colour scheme of both blues and purples to represent both genders. However when I saw the finished effect with that combination of colours I felt I could improve on this to make it of a much higher standard. So I decided to use the colours off the Ashfield school badge to create my magazine cover.

For my finished magazine contents page I also used the same background as I used on my school magazine front cover. My reasoning behind this is that I thought that by using the same theme throughout my magazine it would make my overall pieces look of a higher standard. I then decided to separate the copy into two sections. These sections being entitled ‘On the cover’ and ‘Extras’. By doing this it made my contents page much clearer and much easier to understand for its target audience. The target audience being people of a younger age who have an interest in the r n b style genre of music. In my contents page I included several images all with page numbers at the side of each one, again making it as simplistic as possible. The images which I chose to use I then edited in Photoshop to get them to the standard of which I was happy with. I then uploaded these images To Adobe Indesign, where I created my contents page, using Adobe Bridge. In terms of layout I decided to stick to pretty much the same layout as my original mock up of my contents page with a few minor changes here and there. For example I added a banner at the bottom with the words ’Aspire’ written as it is the school motto. (when i uploaded the image it cut half of the picture off)

The Industry

The History of Music Magazines

' The Gentleman's Magazine, first published in 1731, in London, is considered to have been the first general-interest magazine. Edward Cave, who edited The Gentleman's Magazine under the pen name "Sylvanus Urban", was the first to use the term "magazine", on the analogy of a military storehouse of varied materiel, originally derived from the Arabic makhazin "storehouses".' 'The oldest consumer magazine still in print is The Scots Magazine, which was first published in 1739, though multiple changes in ownership and gaps in publication totaling over 90 years weaken that claim. Lloyd's List was founded in Edward Lloyd’s England coffee shop in 1734; it is still published as a daily business newspaper.'

Taken From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magazine#History

'The issue of Joseph Addison's Spectator shown here, was mostly devoted to a satire on vain-but-ugly London gentlemen. The picture shows Addison painted in his maturity by Joseph Kneller -- around 35 or 40 '

From http://www.well.com/

Early photographs had to be copied by hand, like this flood scene. Magazines hired photographers to shoot pictures and engravers to etch them. Every photo-technologist sought a method of printing pages directly from photographs. Some succeeded, but their methods couldn't combine photos easily with type. These methods included variations of lithography; they produced high quality reproduction plates which were pasted into books and fine art magazines '

From http://www.well.com/~art/maghist04.html

1883: The birth of mass media Until the 1880s, only the upper classes read magazines. They were small soft cover books, carrying stories that appealed to a classically-educated, elite readership that identified with Europe. The poorfolk read newspapers and weekly tabloids. Magazines were expensive, partly because printing technology limited even the most popular to a run of 100,000 copies; it simply took too long to push any more paper through a press. Plus, until congress created second-class mail in 1879, the American Post Office only carried magazines for short distances, at high cost.

Taken from http://www.well.com/~art/maghist03.html

In 1825, there were fewer than 100 magazines in the country; by 1850 the number had swelled to 600, and magazines were well established as a mass medium.

Taken From http://www.cybercollege.com/frtv/mag1.htm

The end of the Second World War saw a further expansion of the market. New titles emerged to satisfy the needs of increasingly affluent consumers who now had business and technical interests as well as expanding leisure pursuits. Interestingly, the emerging broadcast media - particularly television - were accommodated by the magazine industry that began to produce publications which included listings, reviews and background material. Later spin-offs would include comics based on television characters, and magazines dedicated to specific topics or programmes such as BBC Wildlife and Gardener's World.

Taken from http://www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/Magazines.html

Front covers of magazines and how they have changed and developed over time

After trying for hours to sort the layout out of this part of my blog it still posted them in a totally different layout so iv have had to leave it like this.

Through the decades...

Magazine front covers from the 1920's, 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, 1980's and 1990's

Producers & Distribution

Vibe music magazine is produced by InterMedia Partners which is a large firm that has invested in many different media products.

Today there are very few magazines that are just R&B meaning i found it very hard to find another R&B magazine other than Vibe.From this reasarch i made me think that there was a space in the market for this particular genre of magazine.

Existing Media Texts

Analysis of Existing Covers All three of these magazine covers have similarities and differences. Magazine cover number one, Q magazine uses the colour scheme of mainly reds and blacks throughout their front cover these being very intense colours. Connoting that it is for older and more sophisticated readers. The use of red connotes that this particular magazine is very passionate about music and by using the colour black connotes the determination and dedication there is. However the colour red is only used for the most important parts of the cover, the bits which they want to catch the reader’s eye so they want to read more. Throughout all of their magazine covers they place there mast head in the top left hand corner of the cover, this is so that the reader can instantly tell which magazine they are looking at no matter what else is on each issue of the magazine. Directly underneath their mast head they use a strap line which is in white to contrast and stand out from the dark black background. Their central image is of Madonna who uses direct mode of address to grab the reader’s attention towards the magazine. They also chose there central image to be of Madonna as this is the main article which is featured inside the magazine. There are also other featured articles dotted around the cover. A flash is used on the right hand side of the cover with the background of the flash being the union this showing that it is a British magazine. Whereas the rolling stones magazine has a soft colour scheme. Throughout the cover they use pastal colours which give a laid back feel towards the magazine. However they also use the same colour for the most important parts of their cover. They also use a central image of their main article which also uses direct mode of address. a flash has been placed on the left hand side also giving the reader extra information about what the contents of the magazine is. By covering half of the mast head, located at the top of the cover, with the central image connotes that it is a very well known magazine as they don’t need to show the whole mast head for people to know which magazine it is. Finally magazine cover number three, vibe magazine, an RnB magazine, uses blues whites and pinks for their colour scheme this connotes that it is for young readers and it is a very up to date magazine. By using blue and pink connotes that this magazine appeals to both boys and girls. Just like the other two magazines they use a central image of their main article using direct mode of address to grab the reader’s attention and catch their eye.The mast head for this magazine is in a bold font which is vibrant blue also showing that its for young readers. Vibe magazine also uses the same technique as the rolling stones magazine. They place the central image of the top of the mast head so part of it is covered , also showing that this is a well known magazine. ...................................................................................Analysis of Existing Articles The two magazines articles which I have chosen come from two different magazines these being Mojo and Q magazine. The first article which I chose from Q magazine is called ‘The most exciting people in music- jay z’. Throughout this article the lexical choice of words such as ‘WTF’ show that it is written in a modern and up to date way yet also uses a range of more complex words. ‘Jay-z calls it his WTF face. An expression that sits somewhere between scepticism, disdain and a vain threat that says simply “what the fuck”’. By using modern and up to date artists this attracts the younger readers but also by the lexical choice of words such as scepticism and disdain show the use of complex sentences and words meaning it is also aimed at those readers who maybe a bit older and more intelligent. By writing things such as ‘drug dealing brought money, but he hadn’t given up on hip hop’ tells the reader the exact straight to the point answer rather than leaving the reader to fill in the unknown. For example the writer makes no secret of the fact that jay-z was a drug dealer. Alternatively the writer could have painted him in a much more positive image, by only making a vague reference to his background of drugs. He may have thrown down a love letter to his native New York with empire state of mind, his duet with Alicia keys, but jay-z appears to be a lover of starch English tradition’ . By the use of the metaphor ‘thrown down a love letter’ at the begging of this quote, the writer conveys a sense of jay-z’s passion for his home town by comparing it to a love letter which is a passionate act. The writer provides extra detail ‘his duet with Alicia keys’ increasing jay-z’s status in the eyes of the reader. The lexical choice in this quote are to an extent contradictory with the ‘starched English tradition’ being very posh and formal ,contrasting strongly with the ‘WTF’ expression which is a very offence and street wise slang expression. In contrast, the second article which I chose from Mojo magazine called Blood, guts and rock n roll uses in depth and passionate language which fits with its target audience, those who are very passionate about music. The following quote ‘Hits the crowd like a shockwave’ uses a simile. The lexical choice of the words ‘hits’ and ‘shockwave’ portray a very aggressive and dynamic atmosphere which links with the theme of the article this being rock and roll. Throughout this article the lexical choice includes words which you would associate with rock and roll, such as ‘slams’, bangs’, ‘snare’ and ‘hey’. The syntax of this whole article is short snappy sentences which are easy for those interested in rock and roll to read who are often stereotyped as not being particularly intelligent. In conclusion, both these articles demonstrate a level of interest from the writer in the subject. However the second article on rock and roll shows that the writer has a much clearer and deeper knowledge of the particular subject as demonstrated by his lexical and syntactical choices. The sentences in the rock and roll article are much shorter and snappier than in the article on J-Z, which are longer and more detailed

Vibe Music Magazine

Vibe magazine is a music and entertainment magazine founded by producer Quincy Jones and was launched in 1993. It mainly features R n B and hip hop artists, actors and other entertainers.This magazine is based in new york and an issue is brought out quarterly.Over the years vibe music magazien has been well known for there front covers because of the creativenesses they bring to them. For more information about this vibe music magazine have there own website. http://www.vibe.com/ The reason I have chosen to design a front cover for this magazine is firstly because i particulalry liked the the powerful posed but edgy images that vibe magazine uses throughout. secondly this is the type of music in which I am interested in and I think I will find it easier to produce a cover on something which interests me. Also as someone who likes this genre of music I feel that I can create designs that will appeal to others interested in this genre of music.

Design Process

By making a collage it helped me to combine lots of different magazine designs form front covers, contents pages,and double page articles. Also by placing artist from the RnB genre together with the other designs it helped me to produce my own RnB Magazine front cover, contents page and double page article.

My design brief was to design a new music magazine and produce its front cover , contents page and double page spread

When designing my front cover for my music magazine first thought about the layout. I decided to have a banner that went directly across my central image. I decided to place my barcode in the bottom right hand corner of me front cover. For the name of my magazine I wanted it took look professional and sound professional so I came up with the name electric. On my front cover I also decided to place four different pictures which over lap each other down the left hand side of my page. Secondly I had to think about what colours I wanted to use on my front cover. I decided to use the colours two shades of purple and grey. The third thing I thought about was who I wanted my magazine to be aimed at and the genre of magazine I was going to produce.

( when i uploaded my image all the colours combined and turned out like this)

When first designing my contents page I wanted to stick with the same theme and colours that I had used on the design of my front cover. The colours I used are two different shades of purple and grey. I choose these colours as I thought they would look good together and contrast with the pictures which I planned to put on my finished product. I Also decided to split my copy into two different sections I entitled one on the cover and the other Extras. By doing this it made it’s much clearer and much easier to understand for its reader. I separated the two using pictures, I decided to use for smaller images and one larger image in the middle. These pictures being of things which you would find in the magazine. By doing this it gives the reader an insight to what they are going to find in this particular issue.

Production Process

When creating my music magazine cover the first thing I had to think about was what type of music magazine I was going to create in terms of genre. I decide to create a R n B style magazine as it is something which I have an interest in myself. When creating a name for my music magazine I had to think of something that hadn’t been used before. I decide to use the name electric as I thought it suited my genre well. I then thought about how I wanted my front cover to look in terms of layout. I decided to use the colour scheme of black grey and white as I wanted to keep the overall look of my cover simplistic yet professional. For the masthead of my magazine front cover I also used a font from dafont.com. I placed my masthead at the very top of the page with my central image slightly covering it to give the effect of the picture being more important and being raised of the front cover and in your face.This idea of the central image overlapping the masthead came from Vibe music magazine. I decided to keep the amount of copy As little as possible as I wanted a minimalistic look and i didn’t want it to look to busy and overcrowded. There for I used just one picture this being the central image and five flashes including the issue number of the magazine. I also included the date, price and barcode to make my cover look more realistic. When creating my magazine contents cover I firstly decided that i wanted to use the same colour scheme as I used on my front cover to carry the theme throughout. These colours being black grey and white. As my background I used a plain grey colour as I thought this would contrast with the black and white copy which would be placed on top. Throughout my contents page i used only three images as I still wanted to keep the simplistic look. I then added some copy which I split into two different sections, on the cover and extras I decided to place each section opposite ends of the page. One in the top left hand corner and the other in the bottom right hand corner. I also decided to add a banner at the very bottom of my contents page with the web address, following on twitter and the page number. Finally I added two sphere shaped flashes one about free tickets that could be won and free posters that are included inside the magazine. To create my double page spread article I also used Adobe Indesign, Photoshop and Adobe Bridge. For my double page spread article I decided to do an exclusive interview on a recent band called innovation. I came up with the name innovation as it means doing something in a different way and creating something new that has never been done before. This is what I wanted my band to be all about and what I wanted it to represent. I decided to make my band an all girls band in the genre of R ‘n’ B. In terms of layout of my double page spread, on the left hand page of my article i decided to fill it with a large image at medium close up of the band innovation. My reasoning behind this is because I wanted to draw attention as they are one of the key focuses of this particular issue and are the newest thing on the scene which should generate a lot of interest from readers. I edited the picture of my band in Photoshop were I made it clearer, sharper and of better quality. I also deleted the background of the image so that I just had a cut out of my band to place on to a white background. However I didn’t want to edit my image to much as I didn’t want it to look unrealistic I wanted it to look natural. Also on this page I used a font from dafont.com for the band’s name which I enlarged and placed along the top of the left hand side page on a slightly slanted angle. I choose this particular copy as I thought it represented the band well as it is unique and quite girly. I choose to keep the background of both the pages white as I thought this would make my images and type set jump out more and make the overall look more professional. On both of the pages a decided to draw a line across both of the pages about an inch from the bottom which I then inserted the page number the web address and which issue this particular magazine it was. After looking at several professional magazines which are on the market today both in the Rnb genre and other genres, I noticed that they used this same style which is why i tryed to incorporate this idea into my own magazine. I did this to try and make it look more like a real magazine which you would buy in shops today. On the left hand page I used three separate columns which I placed my interview questions in. I also used another picture of the band from one of the latest events and made my copy fit round these, also to give it a more professional look. Both in the middle column and the far column I placed quotations which I had dragged out of the copy and enlarged, I felt this also gave my article more of a professional feel to it. I placed another font saying Interview from dafont.com at the very top on the left hand side of the right page. Finally the colour scheme, I decided to use the colour scheme of black and white to represent the simplicity of the band and to say it’s all in the name of innovation you do not need to look beyond this. (when i uploaded this image it took a strip out of my central image)