Half Term what I did

This week I have been evaluating and looking at magazine front covers, contents page and double page spread. I have looked at five double page spreads, front covers and contents pages. Through looking at these this has helped me to see what I like and what I don’t like about magazines. This has really helped me to use what I want to do with my magazine. 

NME Contents Page

This is the fifth and last contents page Research, this contents page is from a NME music magazine. I have done five front cover research, five double page spreads and now five contents page researches.

At the top of this contents page there is a title that says “Inside this week” the date is that the magazine was released is then under this title. I like the way that the title has been shaped so that it fits in in-between the pictures. I will not be using this type of title for my contents page I will be having a bar that runs along the top of the page, as I like the way that this is done.

The colour scheme that is used for this contents page is very plain as there are only really to colours of white and black. I don’t like this as I feel that it is boring and also very plain as well. I will be having three colours in my colour scheme.

 There are main different types of font that are used on this page for each of the different boxes under the images. I do not like this as I feel that it looks very inconsistent. I will not be having lots of different types of fonts on mine I will just have either sans-serif font or serif font not both of them with different fonts.

This contents page is a bit different from some other contents pages that I have looked at. The layout of this contents page is very square like there are three pictures down the left side of the page with page numbers that they are on and a small description. There is the one bigger image with the page number with the description of the page. There is then another two images to the right in a column again with the page number and also the description. Under these to images there is a box white is trying to get you to try and subscribe to their music magazine. There is then another image with the page number and description to the left of the subscription advert. There is also a very thin column which is titles plus. This has numbers of pages and then the name of the pages. There is no real list of what is on each page which I do not like as there are just mainly seven boxes which have the page and other things in like the photo and the page description. And then there is the small list of some of the other pages. I will not be doing this on my music magazine contents page as i do not like the way that this contents page has been done, I like it more when there are certain headings and then the pages are under them in order within each section. 

Spin Contents Page Research

This is my fourth contents page research, this contents page is from spin music magazine. I will be doing one for contents page research after this one then I will have finished all of my contents page researches as well as all of my research on cover pages, contents page and double page spreads.

There is not a really in your face colour scheme for this contents page there is just the two colours of black and dark blue. The text is in black and the numbers and other little things are in dark blue. I will be not having this little amount of colours as I will be having three colours in my colour scheme. I will also not be having so main dark colours as I feel that these colours are very dark.

This is a very different type of contents page as the picture that has been used is the size of the whole page. This means that it leaves a lot less space on the page for the actual contents. So as you can see the content list as been fitted in where it can be, so it is under Duffy’s raised arm as the is a small amount of space here. I like the way that this page has a bigger image on it but I will not be doing this on my own music magazine as I feel that it leaves to little space for all on the things on this contents page.  There are only the feature show in the list of the pages on this content page, I feel that this is because of the small amount of space that there is on the page. I will not just be having he features on my contents page I will be having other pages as well as i feel that there is only a small amount of pages on this contents page.

There is a shadow that comes off from Duffy as there is light shining on her. This has meant that the shadow has left even less space for having things on the page as the text has be to spaced around the shadow as well as Duffy. When looking at the logo for the magazine that is in the top left hand corner it can be seen that her hand covers up some of the logo and that the date and year of the magazine as gone into the shadow which makes it harder for the date of this issue to be read.

There is a quote in the top right hand side of this contents page. I like the way that there is a quote from the singer that is on the contents page. I may do this with my contents page as I like this idea but I may not I do not know yet.

NME Contents Page Research

This is my third contents page research that I am looking at, this is a contents page from NME music magazine. I have as ready looked at to Q contents pages; I will be looking at two more other contents pages after this one.

The colour scheme to this is of red, white and black this is the same to the colour scheme that is used on the Q contents pages.

There is a bar that runs along with has the words NME this week in it this is in bold block capitals. Under the word week is the release date month and year of this issue of the magazine. I will be having a bar on the top of the page, with important information about the magazine in. But I will be having more information that just the date, month and year.

The way that this page is laid out is through there being one picture on the page in the middle, with a small interview with the band. There is a drop capital used at the start of the interview. There is the word “The moment that” in red and the words “Kasabian got romantic in a church” is in a bold font.

There is then a band index down the left hand side of the page which has the words band index in bold black font. There is then the bands names in red font with the page numbers that the bands are on in black.

There is also another column that is on the right hand side of the page. This has the names of the pages, the numbers and a small description about the page. These pages are under different headings. The pages are in order under each of the headings but not overall as they are under the headings. I will be doing this with my contents where the pages are in sections and the in number order under the headings.

There is a subscription advert for subscribing to NME magazine in the bottom left hand corner; this has the colour scheme of black, white and yellow. This has all of the information in about how to subscribe how to call and the website address. I will not be having a subscription advert as I will be having all of the important contact information in the bar that runs along the top of the page.

There is a large red arrow at the bottom of the page this has the words in “The UK’s No 1 gig guide starts p58” this helps to show you that there is something on p58 that may be linked. There is also three smaller black arrow as well that are for things that may be linked. I will not be putting arrows on to my contents page.

Q Oasis Special Contents Page Research

This is my second contents page research, this one is from Q magazine as well like the last contents page that I looked at. 

The colour scheme of this magazine is always the same with the red, black and white. This is a colour scheme that is recognised with Q magazine.

There is a bar that runs along the top of the page, this has lots of important information on the left there is the Q logo and then the word contents. On the right there is the magazine issue number, the month and year of the magazine. There is also the Q magazine website and also there MySpace page.  This is really all of the important information in one place on the contents page. This makes it easy to find the information that may be wanted. I will be doing this on my magazine so that all of the information is in one place where it can be easily seen.

The way that this contents page is laid out is through there being the one really big picture and then there being a list of the page in a column on the left hand side of the page. There is also a box that is at the bottom of the page which has the pages in for the pages and also a smaller picture. The column that is down the left side of the page has three headings the first one is features then there is oasis special and then every month. Under each of the headings there are the page number listed in order with the names of the pages next to them. The pages are in order within each of the sections but they are not in order overall. There is a box that is on top of the picture which has the page number and what the page is called and also a bit of description.  I like the way that the pages are in order within each of the sections and also the way that they are in sections. As this makes it easier to find something that you are looking for. The box under the picture has the page numbers and pages in for reviews. There is the Q logo with the word review next to it; there is then a picture which has the same type of box like the other one, which has the page number in and the name of the page. There is also the other pages listed in this review box. I like the way that this section has the picture in as well as the pages.

There is a really small number that is in the right hand corner of the page, to show what page in the magazine this page is. There is also an arrow to show you to turn the page. I don’t like the little arrow as I feel that this is no need for it as people know that they turn the page. So I will not be putting something like this on my contents page of my magazine.

The font that is used on this contents page is sans-serif font; I feel that this is the best type of font that could have been chosen for this contents page. I will be using sans-serif font on my contents page as I feel that this is the best type of font that could be used on the contents page. I like the way that the numbers for the pages are in a different colour to the rest of the font for the page name and the description. I will be having my page numbers in a different colour to my other font as I feel that this looks better and also helps to make the number stand out more. So I will be doing this with numbers.

Q Contents Page Research

This is the first contents page research that I am going this is a contents page from Q music magazine. I will be doing five of these, I have all ready done five covers and five double page spreads.

The first thing that I see when look at this contents page is the way that there are the squares with the photo in of the people that are on that page, there is also the page numbers. The photos and the page numbers are in squares. Most of the page is taken up with three of these squares. There is then the column down the left hand side with the rest of the pages in. I feel that this looks good but these pages also have descriptions in the column which is important otherwise there is no idea how they are if the reader does not need them. But something that I do not like is that there is then only five pages listed on the contents page. Which I feel is not enough, so on my contents page there is going to be a lot more than just five as I feel that this is a to small amount of pages to give information about.

There is the column that is down the left side of the page which has other pages in but it does not have all of the pages in this list there are only the pages that they feel that will be the most popular. I feel that this is not very good as then you have no idea of what is on the other pages. The column just shows features that are in this issue of the magazine.

Within the features column there is the top page that has a picture with it but the others do not have photos so this shows that this is the top one. The text is also different with this one as there is black bigger bold font for the name of the page and then the description of the page is in red and in a bigger font. There is also more of a description about this page. Something that I like that has been gone for this pages photo is that there is a mouse next to the name of the page and the photo, to show that this page is about “140 songs to download now!”. I like the way that they have used another thing to link to this page I may do this with one of my pages in my contents page.

The colour scheme that is being used on this contents page is the normal colours that Q use which are red, white and black as these are the colours that are used in every issue of their magazine. I think that it would be good to have a colour scheme that is really well know and runs through the whole of the magazine like with this magazine.

There is a bar at the top of the page that has the music magazine’s logo with the word contents next to it and then there is Q’s slogan under this which is “Discover Great Music”. Under this there is a circle which is red like the magazine main colour which they always use in there magazine with the issue number of this magazine inside of it.

Something that is small and normally forgotten about is the page number the issue month and year and the logo that are in the corner of all of the pages in magazines.  These are important when reading a magazine. I will be having all of these things on the bottoms of all of my pages. There is also something else at the bottom of this page but this is on the left side, which is the website address that you can subscribe to the magazine at. This is something that is one a lot of magazine contents pages where they try to make people subscribe to their magazine. I will be putting a website address on my contents page.

When looking closely at the background of this contents page it is not just white, it has very faded out photo from things that are in the magazine like in the top left corner there is the cover of the magazine with Lana on faded out there are also other photos as well covering the whole of the page. I do not really like this i think that it look a bit weird as you can just see the photos and also they can be seen through the main picture on this page.

Q Ed Sheeran Double Page Research

This is my last double page research, this is my fifth research on double pages. I will be doing five contents page researches after this.

  The colour scheme that has been used for this double page spread is white, blue and red. These are the colours that are on the UK flag. This helps to show that this artist is a British artist. The colours have been used in the picture as well. With the telephone box being red and also this telephone box is something that represents the UK. The colours of blue, white and red are on Ed Sheeran’s clothing so this helps to link the colour scheme into the picture. This is something that I will be going to try and do with my photo and my colour scheme, so I will be trying to use my colour scheme in my photo.

I think that the costume that Ed Sheeran is wearing in this photo is cleverly chosen as it has an S on for superman but it also links to his last name of Sheeran. This also links to the title of the article which is “up up and away!” This sound like it links to superman as he is a super hero so he goes up up and away. I think that this would be a good thing to go by have links between the photo and the title through the costume or location.

Something that this double page spread has that other double pages may not have on them is the shape that is with the word winner in this is an outline of a shape this shape does not have colour within it. This means that the background is shown through the shape. If I was to put a shape on my double page spread then I will have a colour on the inside of it as I feel that this looks nice on this, but may not look as good on other 

photos.

The background of this double page spread is a picture, there is the main part of the right hand page and then the text is the main part on the left hand page. The white box that is on the left hand page is faded so that you can see the picture through the white. There is also the blue shape that has the title in which is white that is faded as well. There is then the text that is below in three columns I will be having three columns for my article. There is a drop capital that is used at the start of the article. There is then also numbers at the start of two of the parts of the articles. There is some red text that is at the start next to the numbers. I like the way that the different colours from the colour scheme have all been used really well, and also the way that the numbers have different colours of the colour scheme. This shows the colour scheme being shown well I will be trying to use my colour scheme like this by using all of the colours.

The type of font that has been used for the title here is the serif-font and the type of font that is used for the font in the article is sans-serif font. I think that this looks very good. The font that is used for the title I would not have used as I think that the font looks to thin and would have been better in bold. I will be making my title bold so that it is eye catching. 

NME Lana Del Rey Double Page Research

This is my fourth double page research; I have one for to do after this one. I will be doing five contents page research after this and then I will have done all of my research’s about music magazines.

The colour scheme that is used on this double page spread is the colours white, black, blue and orange. I would not think that these colours would go this well together but they do on this page. There are four colours used for this colour scheme I will not be doing this on my music magazine I will be using three colours for my music magazine. The main title for the article is blue which is see through with orange for the rest of the title. The blue is then used for other bits of text and also for the background of the box that is in the middle of the second and third column and also for the background for the capitation for the picture. I think that the capitation that is one the picture is a good thing to do as it helps to explain what the picture is about and other things to. I also think that the blue box that has been used for the background of the caption goes really well with the black and white picture. I will be putting capitations on my pictures.

There is two drop capitals used in this article there is the first one that is the first letter in the article. There is then another one about half way through the whole article. I will be using a drop capital at the start of my article but I will only be using one. I will also be having my drop capital in a different colour to the text; I will be using one of the colours in my colour scheme.

There are three columns of text for this article on this page. I will be having three columns of text on my double page article as I feel that it looks better with three as otherwise the columns can start to become really thin when there are more as there are lots of columns which end up thin as you are trying to fit them all in. So I will be having three columns like the way that there are three here.

Something else is that my double page spread will need to have page numbers on the bottom corners of the pages. There is the number of the page on the right hand page, but there is not a page number on the left hand page because of the picture. I may do this with my magazine if the picture is in the way of where the picture will be but I will make sure that there is at least the page number on the other page so that you can see what page number the one next to it is so then you can work out what that pages number is. If there is not a picture in the way then I will be having the numbers on both pages.

The picture that has been used here is of the artist that the article is one; this picture has been edited so that it is black and white this helps to make the picture match colour scheme. This picture is also a photo that has been taken as a side on shot. With Lana looking at the camera, her body is facing towards the middle of the two pages which i feel looks good and that if this photo was on the other page and the text was on the page where the photo is then it would not be as good. So this is something that I am going to think about is if the person in the photo is leaning or facing a certain way they it would look best if they were to be facing the middle of the double page. So this will be something that I will be thinking about when I put my photos on to my double page spread.

I really like the way that this double page spread has been laid out, with the picture of the artist on the left hand side and then the article on the right. I also like the way that the title is at the top and then there is a little description and then there are some lines to and then there is the article below with a box with some extra information about the artist in it. I really like the way that this is double page spread is done as a whole. For my layout I will be trying to do something like this as I feel that this is a really good layout that looks really nice. I really like the lines in-between the columns of text I may do this in-between my columns of text.  

Lily Allan Double Page Spread Research

This is my third double page research that I have done. This is a double page spread from a music magazine that stars Lily Allen. This is a typical double page spread that consists of a title, main image and an article. 

The first thing that I will be talking about is the title, as this is the thing that catch’s my eye the most. The title for this article is a long title; it is a quote from something that Lily Allan said when she was being interviewed for this article in this music magazine. The lettering that has been used for the title is very different. I think that the title is very effective, and it looks as though the letters have been cut out from a newspaper. They may have chosen to d this because of the way that Lily Allan is in the newspapers a lot. The black background, the block capitals and the inconsistency of the size of the letters are the factors that make the title look as though it has been cut from a newspaper. I like this title but I will not be having a title that takes up this much space on my double page spread as I feel that with having the title this big and then having the picture take up a whole page, it leaves little space for the actual article. So I will be having a title that is not as big as this.

There is a small amount of text as there is a large shape used up with the title and also with the picture. There is a drop capital used at the start of the article. There are no sub-headings for this article as there is a very larger title so there is not much room and also this is quite a small amount of text. There is four columns of text here I will not be doing this as I will be having three columns of text on my double page spread.

The colour scheme that has been used for this double page spread is white, black and red. The white and black have been used together in the title. The background is also white with the text being black. There are two sections of the text that are red this is the artists Lily Allan’s name and also the person how wrote the article. The picture has also gone with the same colour scheme as Lily Allan has a red shirt on and has black hair and dark make-up all of her clothing and make-up link to the colour scheme.  I like this colour scheme but I will be having a different colour scheme to this and I will also be trying to link the colours used in the picture to the colour scheme as well.

The picture of Lily Allan takes up the whole of the right hand page and then a little of the picture does into the right hand page. This picture that has been taken for this double page spread as a mid-shot from Lily Allan’s waist up, it is not a strait on photo where she is looking into the camera. The photo has been taken were she looks like she is looking at the title of the article.  I like this as it is a bit different as she is not just looking at the camera she is doing something different. 

NME Nicki Minaj Double Page Research

This is the second double page spread; I have to do five of these. This double page spread is from NME music magazine. I will be doing three more of these as I have to do five of these like this the front covers. After these double page spreads I will be doing five contents page research's.

The colour scheme for this is a little different as the colours that are in the colour scheme is light pink, pink and black. This background is a bit different as it is pink and most backgrounds in music magazine double spreads are normally colours like white and black, so light pink is different to these colours.  There are headings for each part of the parts of the article; there is also numbers next to them. The numbers are in a pink colour which makes them hard to see and read as they are pink on a light pink background, so I feel that I will not be using colours that are this close together as it can make it hard read. The heads for each part of the article are black this makes these easier to read. I will be using colours like this for text on my magazine as these are easy to read. But I will not be using this mix of colours.

Something else that is on this double page spread that is on all magazines is the page number and the issue. These can be in different places but they are most commonly in the corners of the pages These are in the corners on this double page spread. I will be having page number and the issue in the bottom corners of the pages on my music magazine.

The font that is used is bold and capital letters for the name of the artist that the article is on. The type of font that is used for Nicki Minaj is sans-serif font. The words that say “The Gospel According to” this is in a hand written type of font this helps to draw your eyes to this font. The other font that is on this page is serif font. There are five columns of text on this double page. I will not be using this many column as I feel that this is too much and I will be having three columns of text. There is a drop capital used at the start of this article, I feel that it would be a good thing to use when I make my double page spread. As this helps to make use of the colour scheme by making the drop capital a different colour I may not make my drop capital a different colour.

The picture that has been used for this double page spread is a simple picture that is a photo from the waist up.  With Nicki looking into the camera, this helps to make up look at the photo as her eyes look like they are looking at you. Another thing that helps to make this photo eye catching is the colours that are used on her clothing as there is a busy pattern on her outfit and then she also has her Jewelly that has lots of different colours and patterns. I will be having my picture where is eye catching as the picture is also important as well as the text. So I will make sure that I have a good picture like this one on my double page spread.

The layout of this page I feel is very good. The way that the font is laid out is really good as the font is shaped around the picture of Nicki this helps to make use of the shape to try and fit all of the text in. Another thing that I like about the layout of this double page spread is that they have made good use of the shape by not leaving a really larger empty space on the page. I will be trying to use the shape on my double page spread as good as I can without leaving a large amount of empty shape. 

Q Florence Double Page Research

This is my first double page spread research. This is a double page from the March issue of Q magazine, on Florence and the machine.

There are many different types of codes and conventions; the first one that I am going to talk about is font that has been used for this article. There are two types of font that have been used here there is the bold capital larger font that has been used here for the title early on and the drop capital of the t at the beginning of one of the words. The type of font that that has been used here is serif font for the title and the drop capital. The serif font has also been used for the name of the artist that the article is on in the black bar at the top of the page that has the white word Florence in it.

Something else that is important about a double page spread is the information about the magazine that is at the bottom of ever page. This is things like the logo for the magazine which is in the bottom left hand corner of the left page. There is then the page number which is also important as these are the numbers that are linked to in the contents for what things are on what pages. Next is the issue of the magazine, so this one says that it is the 2012 March issue of the magazine. These are all the little things that you do not really think about when you are reading magazines. I will be including these all in my double page spread of my magazine. So I will have my magazines logo, the page number and the issue.

There are three columns of text on the left hand page for this article. This is something that I will be doing with my article, as I have to have three columns of text for my article on my double page spread.

The text is on left hand side on this double page and the picture is on the right hand page. This has been done so that the picture does not do onto the other page and the same with the text so that there is an even amount of text to the amount of picture. This picture is a close-up of the artist, Florence’s face. I may do this with my music magazine but I may do it so that the picture comes across over the fold of the double page so that there is more of the picture. But I am not sure what I am going to do yet.  

 There is not a real colour scheme to this double page spread as the page with the font on is just black and white for the font and the background colour. There is the white background with the black text on the page and then there is the bar of black on the top of the page with the white font in it. There is then the picture which has no real colour scheme to it either, as the colours that are used in the picture do not link to the colours that have been used for the text. I will be having a colour scheme for my music magazine as I feel that it helps to make the magazine look better as there is a constant theme running through the whole of the magazine. So I will having a colour scheme for my magazine unlike the one that this magazine has as it is only really black and white and this are normally colours for text and background. 

Rihanna, NME Front Cover Research

This is my last front cover research, this is another NME magazine front cover research. I have done two NME and Q magazines I have also done a MOJO magazine. The next type of research that I will be doing is double pages.

There is a colour scheme for this front page as there is with most magazines. The main colours for the front cover are pink, white and black. These are all used for the font and so of these are used in Rihanna’s clothing and make-up. Rihanna’s clothing also matches in with the colour scheme as she has pink lipstick on and also she has a black top and ring on. This helps to make the text that they have put on her top stand out as it is all of the colours together on her top.   The pink has been used for the main heading and also the artist that is on the front covers name. The name of the magazine is in the same font as the headings. The other font is in black and the bit on Rihanna’s top is white, as her top is black so the font needs to be readable. I like the colour scheme that has been used on this magazine as it is a very eye catch mix of colours. I will be having either black or white in my colour scheme or maybe both. As I feel that this are good colours that mix well with other colours well.

The price of the magazine and the issue number is in the top left hand corner I will not be doing this on my magazine as I think that this information about the magazine is better just above the barcode. On this front cover the barcode is not the normal way up it is on its side. I feel that this may be so that the picture can be seen easily without the barcode being in the way of the picture. I may do this if my barcode is too much in the way of the picture on my front cover of my music magazine.

The type of font that has been used is all in capital letters for the name of the magazine, the white text and the black. The bits of text that are not in capital is the name of the artist which is Rihanna. There is not a lot of text on this front cover as other magazines that I have looked at have had a lot more than this but also had a lot less. This is a good amount of text. On the left hand side of the cover the things that are on this side a listed. This makes it easier t be read and also catches your eye more as there is a lot of text in one place.  This text that is on the left is not in a good place I feel as it makes it is over the top of her arm. The text is still readable but I feel that it makes it not look as good. There is also some text that is on Rihanna’s top I feel that this text has been put here as it helps to make it stand out more as there is the pink and also the white on top of her black top. I think that this looks good as it also shows that this artists name is Rihanna as her name is on her.

There is a quote that is under the name Rihanna this quote helps to make you want to read on inside of the magazine to find out why Rihanna has said this. His is good use of language in the way that they have put the quote on as they you want to know more and why this quote is on the front. I will be thinking about doing something like this as it helps to make people want to read your magazine to find out more. I also like the way that this quote is over the top of Rihanna’s top as it makes the magazine more eye catching and also makes were the text is different to most other magazines. I may also think about have some of my text on my front cover being on top of a part of my picture without being too much in the way.  

NME Magazine Front Cover Research

This is my fourth front cover research, this is a front cover of a NME magazine. I have one more to do after this. After the front covers I will be doing the five double page spreads.

There is a colour scheme of red, black, white. The red is used for the NME title and also for the name of artist that is on the front cover of this magazine. There is also another part of text that is red which is the word by on the left hand side. The white has been used for the text on the left hand side of the cover. The black text is used on the right hand side of the cover. Something else that is to do with the colour scheme is the top that the artist is wearing in the picture; she has a top with a UK flag on. Which links to the colour scheme as the UK flag has the colours red and white in it.  Another thing about the picture that links to the colour scheme is that the artist Mia has red lipstick on these things that are in the picture help to link the colour scheme together through the font and the picture. I think that it is a good thing to link the colour scheme to colours within the picture by having the clothing in one of the colours of the colour scheme I may do this with my music magazine as I think that it helps to tie the colour scheme and the picture together well.

The font that has been used on this front cover is mainly block text that is in capitals. The font that has been used for the name of the magazine is the same font that has been used for the name of the artist on the cover. I feel that this has been used to help make the name of the artist stand out as much as the name of the magazine. The other font that has been used is a mix of serif font and sans-serif font. The serif font has been used for the black font on the left hand side there is also some more serif font under the word “the state of music today”. The rest of the font on the front cover is sans-serif font.  I may use the two different types of fonts sans-serif and serif font but I may only use one type on the front cover.

This picture is a bit different it is still a mid shot. But the woman in this picture is leaning to the right. This is different as the font is not just on the top sides on the picture. The font is in the top left hand corner and also the bottom right hand corner. So that the font is shaped around the picture as the font is in the parts of the picture where there are not important parts of the picture.  This has been done so that the text fix’s around the picture.  I feel that this looks good on this magazine with this picture as the artist in the picture is leaning. I will not be laying out the font like this but I will be putting the font so that it is shaped around were the picture is.

The layout of this magazine is a little different as the font is not all on both sides of the front cover; it is in the corners of the page. The barcode is in the right part of the front cover it is in the right hand bottom corner. This is where I will be putting the barcode on my magazine. The information that is normally above the barcode is in the top left hand corner above the Name of the magazine. This is the price, issue number and issue date and year. I will not be doing this as I feel that the information looks better above the barcode in the corner.  

Coldplay Q Magazine, Front Cover Research

This is my third front cover research that I have done is in another front cover from Q magazine. This is the January 2012 issue of Q magazine.

 The text that is used on this front cover is a mix of bold, capital words and a hand written font. The hand written font has been used for on the top of the page for the words “2011 reviewed” and on the left side of the page for the “secrets of Coldplay” part. The other type of font the font that is bold has been used on the rest of the front cover. I feel that the hand written font helps to make it more eye catching as it stands out from the normal bold, block capitals that are on most magazines.  I like this mix of two types of font helps to make the more important things to stand out. So I may do this with my music magazine.

Something else about the font is that the font on the left hand side is shaped around the picture so that it does not go on to the picture, where as the font on the left does do on to the picture. This is something that was the same on the other Q front cover that I looked at where the font went over the picture on the left hand side. I feel that this is because of the way that the logo is so big and takes up a lot of the shape on the left hand side of the front cover.

The colours that have been used on this front cover are a good mix as the colours that have been used are white and yellow for the text. I feel these have been used as the background is so busy with all of the different colours that the yellow and the white are the main colours that stand out against the background, as they are light and most of the background is black with bright colours on it. I will not want to have a background with this many colours in, as this will make it hard to pick the colour scheme that I want to use. But I do like the choice of colours that they picked for the font on this front cover.

The picture that has been used for this front cover is a picture of the lead singer of Coldplay. The picture that has been used is a good picture as it is very different to the normal type of picture that is used on the front of most magazines where the artist is on the front and is look at the camera and also is in the centre of the page. Another thing that is different about this picture is that it is a long shot that shows his whole body were as most pictures are mid shots of the artist. So this picture that has been used here is very different to the normal type of picture but I feel that this works really well as it is different so it catches your eye more. And another thing is that the background is not just one colour like most backgrounds are it is very colourful. I like this picture as it is different and also helps to make this front cover to stand out from other magazines. I may do this where the picture is not the normal image where the artist is in the centre, with them looking at the camera, and a mid shot. I may do my image were it is a bit different like this image.

The Q logo has the artist arm going throw it I also feel that this helps to make the picture and overall cover standout more. This also helps to bring the logo and the picture together as normally the logo is over the top of the picture and this makes the logo not look good if it covers up some of the picture. It’s not as bad if the logo does not cover some of the picture but if it does then it does not look very good. I like the way that they have done this with the picture and logo.

There is only one main image on this front cover were as something that is different about the MOJO magazine is that it had two smaller pictures as well as the one main one. There is only one main picture on this front cover which I feel is a good thing as this picture is so busy because of the background so then it is best that there is only the one main image. I may do this so that there is only on main image on the front cover, but it will depend on the picture that I will be using on my front cover.

The logo is in the top left hand corner which is something that a lot of the magazines do. There is then the barcode, with the price and the issue number and the date and year of the magazine. This is also on the left hand side of this magazine.  I do not like this as it leaves less shape on the left hand side for part of the picture and the text. Most magazines have the barcode with all of the information on the right hand side, this is where I feel that my barcode with the information will do. 

MOJO Magazine Front Cover Research

This is my second front cover research this one is of a MOJO music magazine. This picture that is shown below has the free CD that comes with it in front of the picture but this is the only picture that i could get of this magazines front cover. 

The colours that are used on the front page of this magazine are bright orange, white and black. This is the colour scheme that is used the background of the magazine is a bright orange at the top of the page and at the bottom of the page it is a darker orange it slowly changes as the colour goes down the page. The Text for the title is black and the other text colours that are used on the top half of the page and white and orange on the bottom of half of the page were the background is darker.  This helps to make the text stand out with from the background. The sub-titles on the magazine are in white throughout the whole of the front cover. The sub-headings are in black for the top half and orange on the bottom. The colour scheme that has been used on this front cover is a scheme of three colours, I feel that three colour’s is a good amount of colours to use on a front cover. I colour’s that have been used are orange, black and white.  I would not choose to use these colours for my music magazine as I feel that they are not a good mix as the bright orange is very bright and then there is a really dark colour of black and then a really light colour of white. And I feel that they do not work together well.

The picture that is used on the front page of this is in black and white which really helps to make the picture stand out from the background as the picture is dark and the background is really bright and light. With the picture having a darker colour scheme it helps to make the magazine stand out as a whole as the background looks even brighter because of the of the dark picture. I like the way that the colour scheme has been linked to the colour that the clothing that is used for the image.

There is only one larger image on the front cover there is also it smaller images on in each of the top corners of the page on the left to show the cover of the free CD that you get. The other on in the top right hand corner this is a picture of McCartney, to go with the article about him. I may do this as a lot of magazines have a couple of smaller images on their front covers as well as the main large image.

The text that is used on this magazine is all in block, capital letters to help this look a lot more important as it stands out. The text that is about what is in the magazine is all shaped around of the picture to help the picture be of a high focus when looking at the magazine.

The type of way that they have worded the text of the articles in the magazine is really good as for one example it say “his new album the only interview!” The words “the only interview “is in larger text that the his new album. This helps to make the only interview look a lot more important than other things on the front of the magazine. I will try to do this with the way that my text is worded as this helps to make people want to read the magazine more. 

Front Cover Research Q magaine

This is my first front cover research I will be having five of these. This one is a front cover of a issue of Q magazine. I will also be doing five contents page research's and also five double page spread research's.

This front cover of Q magazine is different to most Q front covers, as the colour’s that have been used on this front cover are very different. As these colours used have a more of a girly fell to them, the main colour scheme that has been used here are white, black yellow and light pink. The colour’s that have been used all link together very well as the white has been used through the way that it is one of the colour’s in the Q logo and how it have also been used for Lana Del Rey’s dress. The pink has been used for the name of the main artist in this issue of Q Lana Del Rey. The pink has also been used for other bits of text this is the same with the black and the white as these are the main text colours.  The yellow has been used for the big yellow circle that is over to the left on the front cover of this music magazine. All of the main colours have been used together at the top of the page. I feel that the colour’s that have been used here are different to normal colour scheme that is commonly used as these colour’s are very light. For my front page of my magazine I will be using colour’s that are not as light as these colour’s. Also I will be using three colour’s for my colour scheme not four like the way that four has been used here as I feel that three is better as then it helps the colour’s not to be too busy. These colours do not look busy but some other colour schemes may do. Something else that has been done with the colour scheme here is make the clothing match the colour scheme this would be something that I would think about or have it so that the colour’s complement each other well.

The colour red is the background colour that is used on the Q logo this also links to the blood that is running down Lana’s head and this also links to the language that is used under her name on the front cover. Which reads “so what’s so bloody good?” this links to the blood that is running down the side of her head and also asking the question of why does ever one think see is so good. This is in black to help it stand out under her name. I think that they way that they have asked this question on the front cover helps to make people want to read this magazine to find out, I think that this is a good way to make people want to read it. I also think that having this question having to means is also a really good think that they have done here. I would think about doing something like this.

One the this front cover they have put all of the things that they want you to read in black as this helps to catch your eye as there is a lot of light coloured text used on this front cover so as an example they have put the words “Everybody’s mad for…..” in black and also the “so, what’s so bloody good?” also in black as then you read it and it draws your eyes to the words in the lighter colour’s like “Lana Del Ray”.

Something else that is on the front cover that is really important on magazines is the font. There are a couple of different types of fonts that are being used on this music magazine. There is some parts of the text that are in bold and in capitals a example of this is the words “KINGS OF LEON”. Another type of text that is used is a more hand written font which is used for Lana Del Ray.

  The layout of this magazine is that the photo of the artist is in the centre of the page with most of the text to the left side of the page and the text on this side is shaped around of the image so that it does not do on to the photo. The only thing that is on the photo on the left is the yellow circle with the twenty six festivals in. On the right hand side of the page the logo there is not as much text on this side as there is less room as there is the big Q logo. This text does go onto the image on this side as there is less shape as Lana’s arm is down on the left hand side which leaves less shape, for text. I feel that text on the front of magazines looks best when you can see the image easily and also read the text easily as well which has been gone here. I normally don’t like it when text goes on the top of the images but I think that it looks good here as there the part of the image that the text is over is a very light colour. 

Codes and Conventions for a music magazine

These are the codes and conventions that I will be looking at when doing my research on the front covers, contents pages and double page spreads for research.

·         Pictures (cameras-angles, mise-en-scene)

·         Layout and arrangement on the page

·         Types of stories plugged

·         Slogans and logos

·         Text/ font

·         Colour scheme used

·         Language used 

What I have done this week and half term homework

This week we have been looking at music magazine as this is want my actual magazine will be on Monday we looked at music magazines and talked about the different codes and conventions that the music magazines have and use. Then on Tuesday we started to look at front covers we started by look at some and talking about them and then we evaluated are own. The on Wednesday we looked at contents pages and did the same thing that we did with the covers the day before. Then today (Thursday) we started to look at double page spreads we looked at a couple as a class and talked about the codes and conventions of them and then started to evaluate are own.

Over half term we have all been asked to complete five cover page researches, five contents page researches and five double page researches.  Like how we did with are school magazine but I only had to do on front cover and one contents page, so this time I will be doing five of these and also five double page spreads. The reason for this research is so that we have a better idea of the different codes and conventions that are used on different types of music magazines.

For are music magazine task we will be making an front cover, a contents page and a double page spread. This is why I have to do research into easy of these different areas of music magazines. 

School Magazine Evaluation

I handed in both my front cover and contents page of my school magazine on Tuesday 7^th February (today). I have now been given this homework to do an evaluation on my school magazine front cover and also my contents page. I will be doing an evaluation on my music magazine when it is done so this is just to practise doing one, the evaluation will be worth 20 marks out of the 100 marks for the coursework. This is my practise evaluation that is done on my school magazine front page and contents page that I have made.  At the bottom of this post are my finished school magazine front cover and contents page.

In what ways does my school magazine use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

·        For my front cover I feel that I have followed the codes and conventions of existing school magazines. As I have put the name of the magazine in a very normal place by having it at the top of the page. I have also put the name of the magazine to the left hand side as well. Something else that I have done at the top of the page is that I have put the issue number and also the price which is to the left on the top of the page, this is what some of the other school magazines that I have looked at. When looking at the fusion magazine that I used for my research I found that this school magazine had the same layout for the title and the issue number. I would not change where I had but my magazine title or the issue number and i may more the price when making my music magazine. As on a music magazine there is a barcode so the price is normally above the bar-code.

·         Something that I have also done on my magazine that is similar to magazines that I have looked at is the place on the front page where the stories are. I have placed the stories around the picture on the front page so that the text can still be seen and read easier but also be able to see the picture that is on the front cover. This is also done in a way on one of the other magazines that I looked at, but this is not really done on the fusion magazine as the text goes onto the picture. I like it when the picture can be seen and also that the text can be read, so I would not really think about putting the text on top of the picture.

·        When looking at my contents page I found that for my title saying Contents is also at the top half of the page to the left. I have done this in a very similar type of on my magazine to the fusion magazine that I used for research. I also when looking at this I found that the size of the text is also very large as well as this helps to make it stand out that it is the contents page.

·        Something else that I found when I looked at my contents page and compared it to the fusion school magazine, is that I have a  picture on my contents page but on the fusion magazine there is not a photo that has been taken but there are cartoon pictures.

·        One last thing that I through about when looking at my contents page and comparing it to the fusion magazine is that  the page names and numbers are laid out in an different way but they both have the number of the page and the name of the page. But on the fusion magazine there is a bit of information about what is on that page. This is something that I feel would have been good if I had done on my as it gives the reader more information on what the pages are on as the name may not explain what is on the page enough.

What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

·        When I was talking the photos for the cover and also for the contents page, I had to make sure that the camera was in focus and also that I did not have any think in the background or in the frame that I did not want to be in the photo.  To try and get the type of picture that I wanted for my school magazine. I also had to make sure that I got a medium close-up for my front cover, so I had to think about making sure that I got an good medium close-up.

·        When I took my photo I used natural light, as there was enough light in the place where I was taking the pictures. So then there was no really need for extra lighting to be used for my photos.

·        When I was editing my photos that I took in Photoshop I started to learn how to use some of the other tool that I did not know how to use and I also used some that I did already know how to use. Some of the tools that I used were things like the background fill, the magnetic lasso, rubber, select and other tool like these. These all helped me to edit my images so that they had the background that I wanted like the photo that went on my contents page where I changed the background colour so that it would be the same as the colour of the contents page, as the background was white and I thought that it stood out to much on the blue background.

Photo's for school magazine

I took these photos for my school magazine. I had other photos as well but these are the ones that I made the choice to use for my school magazine.

The first picture is for my front cover, I edited the picture so that it had a white background as I thought that the picture would look better if it had a lighter background. As the white background goes better with the blue that I used with my magazine as blue is the school colour. This picture below is the edited picture that was used on my front cover on my school magazine.

This photo is for the contents page of my school magazine. I also edited this photo using Photoshop like I did for the other photo as well. I edited this photo so that it had an blue background that was the same blue as the background of my contents page. These pictures below are the picture before the background was changed to blue and then the one were the it has been changed to blue.