Current Double Page..

Mock Up Contents Page..

New Approach to Double Page..

Double Page With Title & Main Image

Title for Double Page..

First Stage of Double Page..

Black & White Edited Image for Double Page Spread..

Unedited Image for Double Page Spread..

Start of Interview For Double Page Spread..

 We snuck our way Backstage at Harri's surprise gig in Soho and bagged ourselves a cheeky interview!

Hey Harri! Another awesome gig if we may say so! how did it feel to sell out an arena for the first time?
- "Thank you.. It's something you can only dream of, as is being featured in Backstage! I'm so thankful to everyone whos been to a show, or even listened to one of my songs, there's more to come!"

Here's the typical bland question but it needs to be asked.. how did you get into music?
-"Well heres your typical response.. I come from a musical family, i guess being irish it was always around me! I started piano lessons at 7 and didn't enjoy playing untill I was 15 when I started to write my own songs, and nothings stopped me since!"

Who would you say is your biggest influence in music? Madonna? Blondie? Tina Turner?
- "Sorry to dissapoint, but as amazing as those women are.. my biggest influence is my dad. I watched him go to perform in pubs or weddings every night and he still had a smile on his face, even though i knew he wanted more from his career than to be doing that, he told me " I'm happy, I'm doing what I love.. and I'm getting paid for it!" and that will always remain in my head, a slogan I guess."

Front Cover Magazine Analysis..

 NME magazine is relaunching its self, and by having Florence from Florence & The Machine this shows the different audiences and genres the magazine is aiming at they are classes as Indie/Pop. As the image is so striking the sell lines and headings are placed around the close up in a very simplistic way. By having white as the only colour being used for the text.. apart from the word FLORENCE as its in black, to stand out from the rest of the cover, and make it clear who is on the cover of the magazine.The colour of Florence's red vibrant hair also allows the magazine to stand out on the shelf and this is why such a plain colour scheme can be used effectively. Florence's facial expression in the photo is one of disappointment and unimpressed as the main story is "The state of music today" - just by looking at the photo you can tell that it's an attacking story. Within the sell lines are the names of many other bands and artists, to once again show the different genres the magazine is trying to attract.

Q magazine is the UKs biggest music magazine, and again they are trying to attract all different types of audiences by including a wide variety of musical genres. By having Cheryl Cole as the main image of the magazine, they do just that. Once again a simplistic colour scheme of a few colour, in this case 4- red, white, grey & black.. most of these linking to the colours used on the Q mast head. By having alot of the sell lines in capital letters signifies importance and attracts attention as it is bold and makes a statement. By having the mast head overlapping the image of Cheryl it shows the importance of the name of the magazine, as it's the name of the magazine that grabs the attention.. as well as Cheryl. Her expression and pose show her rocky side as well as her having dark eye make up on, and the shot being in the rain - showing sex appeal with the red lipstick & her wearing leather .

Kerrang! magazine is a rock magazine set up in the 80's with Angus Young of AC/DC appearing on it's first cover. This cover uses the generic magazine rule of 3 sections, by having the masthead in the top section, the bold heading of the bands name in the middle section and the images of bands along the bottom. By dividing up the page this has given the magazine a jam packed layout, one which i dont particulary like and i wont be using similar with my final cover.All of the text is written in capital letters and is very full on, signifying what the genres of music are within the magazine. There are alot of colours used and too much text surrounding the cover. The images along the bottom aren't particularly good, and lack proffesionalism as they are live/action photos.Once again the names of many bands other bands are on the cover, but only of the particular rock & scremo genres - so people are well aware of what kinds of bands are within the magazine.

Further Mucking About..

Mucking About With Colours and Headings..

I decided to have a play about with my front cover, and I've added in a bar code, issue number, price, lower banner & central banner. I'm trying out different colour schemes with the cover as i want to make it vibrant as if it would stand out from others on the shelf. I really like the lower banner and people I have asked also have commented on this as it is a feature on a few other rock magazines, and by adding the names of famous bands along the bottom of the magazine it shows the type of magazine that it is without spelling it out.. With the central banner I decided to change the original black coloured font for the word fire! as I think it being in red obviously symbolises the fire, and makes it stand out once again. I originally had the bar code up on the top right along with the issue number and price, but after talking to Mrs Cooksey and realising the valuable spacing it is best to have it bottom left - out of the way.

Cover With Backstage Title..

Edited Main Image For My Main Task

Unedited Main Image For My Main Task

Final Priliminary Magazine Cover

Contents Page...

Preliminary Task...

main image for front cover..

This is the central image that i am using for my priliminary college magazine front cover. I decided on this particular photo as it shows a student in a nice environment, aswell as having a happy student. I found with this image I can add cover lines to the photo without having to stretch the image out - which would make the whole cover look unprofessional.

fonts for the title of my magazine cover..

I have decided on this font for my magazine cover, as its a college based font and it will give my magazine a stand out point from the other college magazines.

I've experimented with the colours for the title, as i wanted to see if a black and white based one would suit it better, or if the orangy coloured title would look better and link into the central image on the cover. I'm yet to decide which of the two i prefer.

analysis of two college magazine covers..

analysis of two college magazine covers..


This magazine front cover looks professional, many of the  reasons for this are:

It has an obvious structure, and has been well thought out and planned.

 It has a simple but effective color scheme of red, white, blue & black. The way they have linked the colors are by using the red from the girls t-shirt to match the title aswell as the blue linking to the t-shirt and writing surrounding the main image.

The center image is a medium close up of a girl obviously of college age, showing the target audience on the cover to attract that audience. As a college magazine you expect to see relevent activities and/or young people.

The titles around the main image use two different fonts to give it contrast and the cover shape, an easy but effective way to make the magazine look proffesional.

analysis of two college magazine covers..

analysis of two college magazine covers..

This magazine front cover is unprofessional, many reasons contribute to this:

  It lacks design and planning, looking like it's been thrown together

  The color scheme, or lack of is where the magazine has its first downfall - the reference to "Halloween" is where it would have been appropriate to have used orange within the scheme, but instead they've used it for "No Play" with no relevance.

The main image on the cover is totally irelavant to the type of magazine - from a college magazine you would expect sports, music or studying to take centre stage. There is a pink banner across the bottom right of the cover with a bit of text within it, not linking to anything.

The magazine also lacks content surrounding the main image, and titles are not clear enough to read at a glance. Using another font and colour would have allowed it to be more visible.

I have chosen to create a magazine front cover, contents page aswell as a double page spread for my a-level coursework. Already i have designed the pleliminary front cover of a new school magazine and have a basic idea for my music magazine. I decided to go with the magazine task as i did well in the task at gcse, i am also the target audience for the magazine i will be creating so i will have a good idea of what it must have to look the part. I have spoken with a band who are friends of mine, and they are more than happy for me to have them as my feature in the magazine! The magazine will have an original photograph of the band on the front cover, then an interview  on the double page spread, as well as having more photos of them, and other "artists" on the contents page.