Diary week 2

DIARY WEEK TWO 
This week I did research into 5 front covers, 5 contents pages and 5 double page spreads and talked about all techniques used when making the page. After finishing this I then talked about what I would take from this research in the making of my magazine. With the choice of 5 magazine genres to look at I picked one of each genre so that it is easier to tell the difference in conventions for different music magazine genres. For example a rock magazine will have completely different conventions to a pop magazine.

5 Double Page Spreads

Total Guitar – Double Page Spread (rock)

 Total Guitars double page spread is a very comic book based style. This is shown by the title which is “BIFF! BANG! POWELL!” Not only is this meant to look like a comic book, but it is a play on words as well because the fraise says “Powell!” instead of ‘Pow’ which is the cliché onomatopoeia you would usually find in a comic book when characters are fighting. The Powell stands for the name of the artist in the article. Andy Powell.

This double page spread uses the house style and the colour scheme from the front cover quite well as they have used the same shade of blue. This helps give the magazine some consistency and a bit more professionalism. Another point with the house style is that in the bottom corner of both pages it has the page number and the actually total guitar logo.

If you look close enough you can see that the image on the left actually crosses the centre line which makes this a dominant picture for this double page spread. The image its self is a mid-shot which are usually used to show off props. The prop in this image is his flying V guitar which is a typical rock n roll guitar. Not only does his choice in guitar show that this man must be a serious rock guitarist, so does his costume. He is wearing black leather and he has sunglasses on in a dark room. These are all things linked to these kinds of rock stars.

The article is laid out in three columns which is a perfect amount of text to have in one article, as anymore text and readers of this kind of magazine could get bored. All the text in the article is serif font which I feel gives this rock magazine a little bit of class and tidiness. However the first word is in drop capitals. Usually magazines will have only the first letter in drop capitals but Total Guitar have used the whole first word which just so happens to be the name of the artist.

Overall I really like this double page spread, however I’m not too sure on the whole comic book side of things in a rock magazine. I do like this double page spread and I will maybe try making mine styled around this. I especially like the whole of the first word being in drop capitals.

KERRANG! – Double page spread (Heavy metal/Punk)

Kerrang’s double page spread is again quite apt for their style of magazine. The page is extremely image dominated as you can see however the title takes up a lot of the space as well.

The background to this double page spread is taking up entirely by the image, which Kerrang have been smart about. This is because they have made all images on the page grayscale. Not only does this make it easier to read text above the image but it also makes the house style/colour scheme stand out more. Sticking with the house style, Kerrang have added their title and page number in the bottom left hand corner of every page, and using that famous Kerrang font while doing so.

The font on this double page spread is interesting as it all resembles the cracked glass look, very much like the Kerrang logo itself. As for the actual article, it is all in white sans-serif font on a black background except the drop capital to start the article off. That is a large red ‘M’ in that same cracked Kerrang font. As I said with Kerrang’s contents and front cover, they subvert the codes and conventions of normal music magazines by using sans-serif the whole time and only adding colour to their fonts and titles, while they keep their models as colourless as possible.

Kerrang laid this double page spread out specifically to me more of an imaged based page than a large read. This is shown because the dominant picture takes up the whole background and there are three other smaller images along the bottom of the right page. With the large title as well taking up a lot of the page this only leaves a very small percentage of the double page spread left for text.

I really like this double page spread as it can be seen in two ways. Completely image dominated, meaning that everywhere you look there is large high quality images that Kerrang want you to see; or you can see it in the sense that Kerrang have not put any colour into any images. The only colour is in the house style and the advertisement of their website. I will look to have a dominant image that takes up the whole background while the model is actually only in one half of the image.

Q- Double page spread (alternative music)

Q’s double page spread is all focused on Lady Gaga, which has been made clear as one whole side of the article is a medium close up of Gaga herself.

Their isn’t much of a colourful feel to this double page spread, however the house style has been added as they have used the red of the Q logo for the drop capital.

The drop capital here is massive, as it takes up the whole of the right page. Not only is this drop capital the only colour on the page and taking up the whole background, but Q magazine have chose to keep it in serif font, which isn’t usually the choice for a title or large eye catching pieces of text.

Again Q has kept to their simplistic style of layout by only having the one image and not much colour. This leaves a lot of space for text. Q has used 3 columns to present their work which is the perfect amount for the style of readers who would by this magazine.

I like this double page spread because of the individuality when adding a drop capital the size of the page and only adding colour to that one letter. However I don’t feel this would fit in with a rock magazine.

Top Of The Pops – Double page spread (pop)

Top of the pops’ double page spread, unsurprisingly, is very pink and girly again.

However the colour scheme here is all pink and white on a black background. This isn’t usually a TOTP colour using a black background. This is more something you would expect from a rock magazine. Very much like the front cover and contents page, TOTP magazine have stuck to having between 4-5 images. Most this double page spread is actually text as the large picture on the right isn’t even taking up all of the right hand side of the page.

The fonts are chopping and changing quite a lot within the TOTP magazine and this page is no exception. The title is all in serif font however the first word isn’t bold and the second word is.

Overall I still don’t like the TOTP layout and approach to music magazines as it always seems messy and unorganized. If I were to take anything from this double page spread I would take the quotes that have been put below a picture.

XXL – Double page spread (Hip-Hop)

 XXL have made their double page spread just as you expect, as it is mainly image dominated, the picture is of an intimidating rapper and theirs not much text.

Theirs not an obvious colour scheme on first glance however if u look closely at the quote and the drop capital you can see that the colour scheme is burgundy on white background.

The font on this double page spread is odd, as all the actual article is in sans-serif however the drop capital, the title and the quote at the bottom of the page are all in some sort of Shakespearean old English text. This may have something to do with that artist or it could be the house style for this issue of XXL.

Over all I like this double page spread, but I feel it isn’t suited to the rest of the magazine as they have been so simple with things to then go and use a completely new text is a bit of a mind tease. I will look to add a picture where the background is just as important as the foreground (i.e. in this picture it shows him in his gym, building up the idea of him being a rough character)

5 Content Pages

Total Guitar – Contents Page (rock)

Total Guitars contents page is very different to the front cover in the sense that the background is white, the page isn’t dominated by one image, it is in a blocky layout and the text is organized into three lists of pages and in serif font.

There isn’t much I can actually say about this contents page as it is very simplistic, however you will notice that the issue number and date on the top right hand side of the page is the same colour as the page numbers in the three columns. This is the house style for that magazine. Total Guitar will add a page number or little bits of text in that red font with that same style of font. This is to help recognize the page belongs to Total Guitar.

As for the colour scheme, the house style is about the most colour on the page involving text. There is black serif font in a lot of places to push aside the wildness of the front covers and to show the magazine is serious about their music, as it seems like a better organized and smarter layout that on the previous page.

As toned down as Total Guitar have made this page, the text still gives off the immature, laid back, rock n roll idea. For example the title of the main story is “THRASH RULES!” This I believe is taking us back to the front cover and reminding the readers that although they haven’t gone mental with this page, this is still a rocker’s magazine. Rock magazines don’t usually stick with main stream music and can dwell in the past (i.e. “1986: THRASH RULES!”) which is what Total Guitar have done here, however they have focused their contents page on 5 main images. These 5 images try to show the variety of stories, both past and present, that this magazine will cover. For example they have the Thrash Rules image (main story), they advertise a new guitar amplifier, they also advertise an artist releasing a new album (Elbow) and they have a story about a hard rock café kind of place.

As I am sticking to the rock genre for my music magazine I will take into consideration a lot of the techniques used by total guitar, as they try to almost balance out the madness of their front covers with a more civilized content page, so that every page is not to hectic. I do like how they added their house style in the top right hand corner with the issue number and date. This is something I might add into my contents page.

KERRANG! – Contents page (Heavy metal/punk)

Kerrang’s contents page looks as if they have split it in two, with a large dominant picture of Slash on top and on the bottom organizing their pages into categories.

The house style of this contents page is quite clear, as you can see the large yellow sans-serif font at the top which reads “contents” and below you can see “This Week” in that very same font and colour. All the different categories for the page numbers are in this house style as well.

The Colour scheme is still quite similar to its previous front cover as they stick with the blacks and whites with little dabs of red and yellow. This is nice that Kerrang stick with patterns, which again will make it easy to recognize each page as part of a Kerrang magazine.

Looking at the style of fonts chosen by Kerrang here, you can see that they have used the same smashed sans-serif bold font as Kerrang for all there bit titles. This could class as a house style, as this font will now be linked to Kerrang if people see it anywhere else. Kerrang have chosen to go against the usual conventions of a music magazine by having all text, even articles, in sans-serif. Usually magazines will have their titles in sans-serif to grab people’s attention then they will have all smaller writing in serif font. By Kerrang doing this, it almost gives off the idea that they don’t want to be like any other music magazine, and that they will do what they want. Using sans-serif font for all text really gives the magazine a more informal, laid back feel to it. This is perfect for the heavy metal/punk rockers who would read this.

This contents page is a good example of what I would like to base mine on, however I maybe would like to combine a larger page dominating picture with the contents. On the other hand, when I do my initial ideas I will try out a few different styles of contents pages, i.e. blocky or image dominated.

Q – Contents page (alternative music)

This contents page for Q magazine is still making Cheryl Cole the centre of attention with having a dominant picture as it fills up over half of the page. Q have left a small column on the left hand side to advertise other important pages and two pictures to help that however most attention is still at their main story.

The house style for Q magazine comes from the title its self; the white ‘Q’ on a red background. The red is one of the only colours actually seen on the contents page. This is helped by the fact that all the pictures are either grey scale or the only colour visible is a flesh tone. Q has added red bars going horizontally to help organize the content page, and separate the articles. Q has managed to make their magazine look extremely professional with the simplest of colour schemes by only using red, white and black.

Just like Q’s front cover they have stuck to using serif font a lot more than sans-serif for titles. This again works brilliantly for this magazine as it gives it a sense of class. The whole layout of this content page looks sophisticated, tidy and classy. I do believe that the use of font styles has played a big role in making this magazine look as good as it does.

I like this content page the best with the large dominating picture and only little amounts of text. I will look to base my content page on this as I feel, as a rock magazine; readers won’t want to see a page just packed full with words. It’s all about the presentation as well and having high quality images at everyone’s attention will be great for my music magazine genre.

Top of the Pops – Contents page (pop)

The Top of the Pops (TOTP) magazine front cover on is still just as feminine and as wacky as its front cover. The content page is in a blocky form and has every page listed unlike the other magazines, where only important articles were listed. There is two main images on the page, one being a picture of the front cover which has been labeled the page numbers on and the other picture is of a big band who are featured in that issue in the bottom left hand corner. All the other space is filled up by 5 different boxes with lists of page numbers and articles that fall into the specific category. For example the 5 columns are named “We ♥ boys”, “We ♥ shopping”, “All about you”, “Wins & offers” and “Celebs & gossip”. These are very girly topics as it mainly is women who prefer to gossip and shop.

They have stuck to the house style as seen on the front cover, by sticking to a pink and yellow theme, two stereotypical female colours. TOTP magazine don’t really have any different colour schemes other than their house style which has taking up most of the page.

The text again is all over the place. This meaning that they have, numerous different fonts, they have serif for the title and sans-serif for articles (subverting the codes and conventions of a music magazine) and sections of the magazine look to have been high lighted as if to give them more importance.

If I were to take anything from this content page and add it into mine, I would probably take the idea of having an image of your front cover there and it being labeled with the page numbers. Other than that I still feel TOTP have made this too over crowded and it doesn’t look professional.

XXL – Contents page (Hip-Hop)

This contents page is very good. It still has all the attention of the model from the front cover (50 Cent) and has a long list down the left hand side. I really like how this is laid out as it isn’t too much yet it isn’t an empty contents page. This will be perfect for the Hip-Hop audience XXL receive as they have an icon taking up one whole side of the page while still having all relevant information in chronological order on the right hand side.

  The house style has been branded into this page quite nicely as the red of the XXL logo is in the page numbers and the red bar at the top of the page. Other than this there isn’t a colour scheme. Only that house style with the red on white.

The font is all sans-serif and what looks to be impact, which is a nice, simple and clear font. XXL seem to be able to make their magazine look better the simpler and emptier it looks. This is unique feature as other magazines have to cram their pages full of pictures and text to grab the attention of the readers.

As I said when talking about Q, I really like having a dominant picture taking up one side of the page, however XXL only have that picture which gives that image more meaning and presence. I would like to try putting this technique into my initial ideas and see how it looks, however this could be a risk as a rock magazine might not suit this style.

5 Font Covers

Total Guitar – front cover (rock)

Total Guitar magazines front cover is set out quite specifically to catch the eye of the more ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ audience. This is shown by firstly the picture, which is of the band ‘’Lostprophets’’. This is a three-long-shot of the band members standing with their guitars. The background of the image is a dark sky with lightning strikes meeting on the horizon of the image which almost shows that the Lostprophets are meant to be god like, almost like Zeus.

Secondly, the sub-headings around the page are very famous names in the rock industry with names like, John Mayer, Led Zeppelin, Queen and one of the most famous rock and rollers, Jimi Hendrix.

The colour scheme is very obvious as it is sticking to the blue and white theme on a black, smokey background. The most important info is in white bold text, for example the magazine title and the name of the Lostprophets (main story), whereas the titles for the other articles are in blue, for example John Mayer and Jimi Hendrix.

The layout of the magazine is very clever as it shows the main picture over lapping the main title to show importance. At the top of the page there is a banner advertising that there is 11 tracks to play inside the magazine. Music enthusiast will jump at the chance to have these tracks. Along the side of the banner it names some of the more famous songs included, such as Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to heaven’ and Queen’s ‘Crazy little thing called love’.

Along with this, at the bottom of the page it has a list of songs you can learn on the guitar.

The whole page is still a similar colour scheme, apart from one yellow bubble on it advertising ‘Alice in Chains – learn how to play their 5 greatest riffs!’

Overall it is a very well laid out magazine and is quite eye-catching, despite the dark colours. For my music magazine I will be styling my genre around the rock n roll area, very much like Total Guitar have done. I think it is nice how they have one image on the whole of the front cover as it really dominates the reader’s attention and I think looks really professional. Their colour scheme is excellent as well as they use only two bright colour on a dark background which contrasts against the text and grabs the readers attention.

KERRANG! – Front cover (heavy metal/punk)

The front cover of Kerrang! Magazines are always quite image dominated as shown by this magazine front cover. Kerrang aim to catch the attention of the more heavy metal or punk type of audience. This is shown by the main image on the page as you see a group of young looking men all in suits however you still notice all the tattoo’s on show and the fact that they all have the stereotypical hair cut of a punk rocker. Out of the three images on that page you see people with either the tattoo’s or the punk hair style which really helps give an idea of the kind of music magazine this is. The Kerrang! itself is meant to look like smashed glass and look quite messy. This fits into the conventions of this magazine quite nicely as people think of heavy metal music to be loud and very fuzzy and sound quite messy, so with the Kerrang! sign being all in capitals and having an explanation mark at the end of it, it helps give the idea that the title is been shouted at you or thrown in your face. Another thing to point out is that Kerrang sounds like the sound of a guitar string being plucked. This shows it is a music magazine because the title sounds like a dominant instrument in the heavy metal music industry.

The text on this page is all in sans-serif and very bold writing, again giving out an aggressive vibe when reading this manly magazine. There isn’t that much text on the front cover with this magazine, as they seem to let the images do most the talking. This gives off the idea that the magazine is more aimed at people who aren’t interested in “a great read” and more interested in following their favourite band.  However looking at the text that actually is there gives off again, an aggressive vibe with the use of sentences like “Northern Uproar” and “Storm the UK”. The only kind of punctuation actually used is an explanation mark. There are no commas, no full stops. Only this !

The colour scheme is sticking to three basic colours; white, red and black. I believe they have chose to pick these colours to avoid taking attention off the main images, whereas at the same time still trying to make their titles as eye catching as possible.

The layout of this front cover is quite chaotic and messy, which links back to the title and genre. There main image takes up the whole background, as does most magazines however they have smaller images that are in different size boxes and not inline with each other and the outline of these boxes are different colours as well. Although it seems there is no organization, this will all be laid out specifically to give that idea of freedom and that Kerrang don’t have to follow front cover guidelines.

Overall this front cover is a successful front cover for its genre, as it really gives of the idea that people in this magazine and readers of this magazine can do what they like to do and don’t care about organization. If I were to use any techniques from Kerrang for my magazine I would probably use there memorable title. I believe out of all music magazines, Kerrang has the most recognizable title, simply because of the cracked font and that vital explanation mark at the end.

Q – Front Cover (alternative music)

Q is an alternative music magazine, and is only published monthly instead of weekly. This magazine will be quite main stream and follow the trends and keep as up to date as possible. The front cover shows this simply by the wide range of genres seen on the page. For example you have the dominant picture of Cheryl Cole, who is actually pretty unlike in rock magazines where they will stick anyone on the cover, then the subheadings show there is “Vampire Weekend”, “Muse”, “Snow Patrol”, “50 Cent” and “John Lennon”. I don’t think there could be a wider range of music there if they tried. I believe this is the case because Q was originally published, aiming towards the older target audience as this was a niche market in the music magazine industry. As I slightly touched on before, the main (and only image) on this front cover is a close up of Cheryl Cole, a woman who won #1 two years in a row in the ‘FHM 100 sexiest women in the world’. This shows that magazines like Q rely much more on presentation than some other music magazines. They also show off their success by stating at the top of every issue “the UK’s biggest music magazine”.

The front cover’s picture is almost over shadowed by text, as this magazine is more for an older audience, who will generally prefer a better read than just looking at pictures. Most the text on the page is in serif as well which is a very formal approach unlike Kerrang’s sans-serif text everywhere. Other than the title, at the bottom of the page the magazine says “3 Words. . . Cheryl Cole Rocks” which has a few talking points. One point is that the “3 Words. . .” is a play on words at that is one of Cheryls songs. The most important point about this subheading is that they have got Rocks in capital letters on the bottom of the page, which most people would expect to see in a NME magazine or a Kerrang! However Q have taking this clichéd phrase and simply by keeping it in serif font, they have fitted it to there magazine perfectly.   

The colour scheme is very interesting on this Q magazine as they have used exactly the same colour scheme as the Kerrang magazine however they have used those colours differently. Q is written in white (again in serif) on a big red square which really dominates the page and actually overlaps the main image which is unusual for a music magazine. Most the text is white on a very dark, almost black, background. There are little splashes of red text now and again which stands out along with Cheryl Cole’s bright red lipstick.

This magazines layout is a lot more organized than other music magazines as It is aimed at an older audience, so it does look more like an intellectuals choice of music magazines with lots of articles. This again is shown as the image is background to every bit of text on the page. The image doesn’t overlap any text which gives the idea that this is going to be more text than images in this magazine.

In making my music magazine I really like the organization of this magazine, and the very bold colour scheme matching the models. I would love to add this into my music magazine however it won’t be as obvious as it is here because I am sticking to a rock theme so this might not go as well.

Top Of The Pops – Front cover (pop)

This Top of the Pops (TOTP) magazine is obviously in the genre of pop and aimed at teenage girls. Every model on this front page is a male pop singer and are all classed as “heart throbs” to this teenage girl audience. The only image of a woman on the page is of some fashion guru in the top left advertising her “65 style essentials” for sale. One of the headlines says “Lush Lads Stripped!” Judging by the type of stories and the fact that they could be classed as taboo subjects (i.e. “Pregnant at 13”) this magazine will be aimed at the older teenage girls, probably around 14-16.

This music magazine is hovering on the line between being a music magazine or a gossip magazine, as some of the subheadings are as if you are listening to a group of teenage girls talking. For example the main story is called “OMG! It’s THE WANTED! Who’s ready to date a fan?” The text on this magazine is extremely informal and the magazine title is all lower case sans-serif font which doesn’t usually work for a music magazine however this magazine has a famous TV show which has made this title a well recognized font so he it is an exception. There are so many different fonts on this page it gives off the idea that instead of being a front cover it is more a girl’s diary.

The colour scheme for TOTP magazine is very feminine with all the pinks purples and yellows on a white background. There are only two or three sections of the front cover with black font. This gives the magazine a really laid back feel to it.

TOTP front cover is very hectic with its layout; however in reality it only has three images. It is the way they laid out the text, because they have angled all text boxes, overlapped some text boxes with images and crammed it all in one small space because of a dominant image of “The Wanted”.

When I make my music magazine, quite honestly I don’t think I will be adding anything that links back to TOTP as this is a very feminine magazine, it is much more likely to be categorized as a gossip magazine and I just think it looks really cheesy.

XXL – Front cover (Hip-Hop)

XXL is a very Hip-Hop based genre magazine. Out of all 5 magazines front covers I’ve studied I prefer this front cover as I feel it fits its genre the best. XXL have kept their magazine front covers very simplistic and always use one dominant image to show there main story and the focus of that issue. In this XXL you can see that 50 cent is the center of attention. Literally. Using the rule of thirds, 50’s eyes are smack in the centre of the magazine and there is nothing else at all on the middle row. This really makes the audience focus on his eyes which give of an intimidating look. This fits the style of genre as you normally hear of the hip-hop kind of guy to be someone that will walk arounds streets in gangs and intimidating others.

On the whole of this front cover, XXL only put three sections of text. This keeps the magazine at its most simple and tidy form yet still gives all the relevant information needed about this issue. The text is all in sans-serif which gives it that laid back, informal touch. In the top left hand corner the colour of the font switches between white and black to show different articles featured in this magazine. i.e. “eye candy of the year” (stereotypical sexist term meaning women used by American males who would read this magazine), “Lil Wayne” and “Max B.”

There isn’t much of a colour scheme with this magazine apart from the black and white font on a dark blue background. These colours don’t really stand out. The only thing that stands out is the XXL in the red box. However this is the house style for the magazine and will always have one large red box or some sort of red colour somewhere on the page.

The layout of this magazine is very neat and has made sure that all text is in the top third or the bottom third in the rule of thirds. The middle third is kept clear to bring attention to the eye contact, which because of the way the image was taking; 50 Cents eyes will follow you around as you move, as if the magazine is trying to intimidate you. Very much like the Q magazine, XXL feel the top priority is the actual magazine logo as it is overlapping the main image.

Overall this magazine is brilliant, as it is so empty on the front that because of the rule of thirds people have no choice to see the image as the photographer intended you too. When making my music magazine, I will try to use the rule of thirds to the extent that XXL have here to make sure that the audience really knows where to look.

Diary week 1

DIARY WEEK ONE
This week i researched the codes and conventions of music magazine front covers, contents pages and double page spreads. We would sit in the lesson with magazines and also look at magazines on power points made by the teacher and would make notes on techniques used when making that magazine. 

School Magazine Evaluation

With my school magazine, I have been inspired by the Bishopbriggs Academy school magazine, as I love how simplistic it is, yet gives all the relevant information needed without over crowding the page. I also kept my magazine simplistic with only two pictures on the front cover and only 4 subheadings. With my contents page I have made an almost zigzag kind of layout. By this I mean I have the picture on the left hand side and relevant subheadings and extra information on the right, then visa-versa underneath. As Whitley Bay High School has a blue wave in the background of its logo, I incorporated a blue wave-like pattern onto the bottom of my pages, which I drew out in Photoshop. In the top left hand corner of both pages I added the WBHS logo, as every other school magazine I studied has their logo somewhere.

I found that when I was taking photographs, that using artificial light (the flash) was more successful as it helps bring out my models complexion and really gives them more of a presence on the page. Photoshop CS4 was extremely helpful for making my magazine as I made the wave pattern on the bottom of the page, as mentions earlier, I created a shadowed effect on the title, which I believe looks great, I used the ‘magic wand’ tool to safely outline my models in the pictures and delete the backgrounds without rubbing them out, I edited the hue and saturation on every image to maximise the quality of each picture and finally any marks, scars, blotches or spots on my models, I got rid of with the ‘spot healing brush’. Photoshop CS4 was excellent.  Sadly, I am a perfectionist so with every project I do I always want everything to be perfectly in line and match in size etc. Adobe InDesign was fantastic for this as pictures and text boxes almost jump to recommended lines on the page. InDesign is an easy program to use once you get the hang of it and makes the making of my magazine so much easier.

Overall I believe that my school magazine has been successful in the sense that I have kept that simplistic, yet informative, look that I like for a school magazine, the colour scheme was successful as it all fits together and also links in with the school logo and finally I believe for a first time photographer that I have taken some good quality medium close-up shots.

School Magazine