Final Magazine:

This is final magazine cover that I have made. I have changed so many aspects of this design as you can see. For example, I have cropped the picture (and it is also a new picture that I took from my second photoshoot) and I have also made it black and white because I thought it worked better on this cover than if it were a full colour picture. This is just personal choice for me and I only did this because of creative preference. However I think this works because it allows the reader's attention to be drawn in to this duo and the distraction of the colours are not there and you can just focus and appreciate what is there in front of you. I have also changed the font and where the text is set. Such as I have changed where I put 'The Psychedelic Issue' text (I have also changed it from 'unique' to 'psychedelic' now which I thought looked a lot better)and I have moved it from underneath the masthead to underneath the picture because I feel as though now I have a border around the picture that this looks better and everything looks like it belongs where it is. Also I have moved the barcode and the writing that accompanies it, this is mainly because of the addition of the border and I felt as though this was more subtle than if I had left it in the bottom right hand corner. I have also moved the text that goes next to it slightly more central and I have placed that underneath the picture because of the fact that I wanted it to be noticeable but without anyone really noticing it completely. It needs to be there but not in a obvious way. I have changed all of the font as well, using 'Never Let Go' and 'Quicksand' from 1001 Fonts. I feel as though these fonts fit better with my magazine because of the fact that they are more in keeping with the style of magazines that I most admire and I feel as though both of these fonts work very well together. I prefer working with just two fonts rather than three because of the fact that it looks neater and more put together like I wanted it to in the first place.

My contents page has changed a lot since my first draft. I feel as though I have developed more skills and understanding in how magazines are put together and also I feel as though that my magazine looks cleaner and more sophisticated. Everything is connected in my magazine now. As you can see now, I have developed the whole contents page and changed the font, the layout, the picture, and I have also added more writing to the page with the addition of the contributors and also who works at the magazine. I feel as though the addition of these extra features have enabled me to achieve a more precise and professional finish to my magazine which I have been striving for since I had completed my draft task. I also like the addition of the lines onto the page rather than leaving everything in the free space. It adds structure and centres everything on the page. Overall for this page I am very pleased with the outcome of this because of the fact that I feel as though it looks like an actual magazine and I would probably expect to this in one of the magazines that I am interested in.

This is my double page spread, I am very pleased with this. I didn't have to change a lot to achieve this outcome. I didn't really change the layout at all, just changing the margin in the middle of the page to make sure that if in a real magazine that the writing or the pictures wouldn't be overlapping the crease in the middle.I have changed the font on all of my pages, this is because I felt as though they weren't really what I wanted or expected my magazine to be like. I am more pleased with these font choices because of the fact that they are more subtle and more in keeping with how I expected my magazine to be in the first place. I am also more impressed with the outcome of my images as well because I feel as though that I had got the hang of the lighting and how to generally take pictures to achieve a crisper look and finish to my magazine. I have also changed the separation line of my page number to the bottom rather than the top; I prefer this look because I feel like it makes the page look cleaner and simpler. Rather than everything being squashed on the page together therefore making it look messy. 

Flat Plan for my Draft Magazine:

Front Cover: For my front cover I have created a simple design that reflects my intended design that I will be doing for my draft magazine. Here I have placed the photo in the middle of the cover with a border around the edge, with text at the bottom edge of the photo and at the top left hand side of it. This would be probably be different on the final design because I think the addition of a full image on the cover with the coverlines surrounding it would look better for my style of magazine. However because this is just a draft for my final design I still have time to change anything that doesn't look completely right. Also the font type for my draft will be different to this, as I have already found a font on 1001 Fonts I plan to use a number of fonts to create my magazine from this website. Also I have added the tagline 'The Unique Issue', this is a reference to i-D magazine because they do this on every issue that they produce and personally I think that this adds a certain charm to the magazine because it lets the audience know what to expect in the content of the print which is what I want to do for my magazine. 

Contents Page: For my contents page I have decided that I want a large image in the centre with writing over the top of that. I have taken inspiration for this from both Dazed and Confused and also Clash. They have a very unusual way of laying out their contents page and I would like to be innovative and create something different as well that will really catch the eye of a reader and persuade them to actually glance at the page because of the eye catching design. I have chosen to do such a large picture in the contents page because I think that this really adds a drama and elegance to the magazine as it is just something different to look at in the magazine.

Double Page Spread: For this page I am really interested in making a design that is very simplistic but still interests the eye enough to actually carry on reading. I like the thought of really focusing on having the pictures on one side and the writing on the other because I think that this makes the whole magazine look cleaner and slick. Which is what I want to achieve in my final design. I feel as though the text placement on the page is also incredibly important because that can also make for an interesting design and therefore again, engaging the reader to actually carry on reading the magazine article.

Draft Magazine Article

Article for Music Magazine - DRAFT

This is the draft for my article which will go into the mock up version of my magazine.

Band Profile:

Name: 
The Requiem 

Influences: 
Slow Club, Warpaint, Yuck, Miles Kane, Arcade Fire

Music Style: 
Indie/Alternative, influences of 1960's psychedelia (such as Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and The Doors), Heavy use on guitars (both acoustic and electric)

How many members of the band?
Two - One male and one female

Roles in the band?
Female: Vocals, Guitar (acoustic and electric - depending on which song), occasional percussion piece
Male: Vocals, Guitar (focuses more on the acoustic side - however he delves more into the bass side of the strings, and he adds a bass to some tracks yet again depending on the song)

General Style?
For my models I am going to dress them in quite slick clothing with hopefully a vintage kind of twist on that. I have looked on websites such as Urban Outfitters and Topshop for the female's outfit and also for the male's, however I have also looked on vintage clothing websites to get inspiration for other pieces that hopefully I could incorporate into their style.

Styling for my Models from laurennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Band Inspiration and Style:

All of these bands and musicians (despite their age now - in regards to Jefferson Airplane and Jimi Hendrix) and their certain styles and the colour palettes they seem to associate with themselves are very much something that sparks an idea in my head for what I want my band to be like. Bands such as Yuck and Slow Club have the vibe that my band will have and their effortlessness that they seem to have with their instruments (Warpaint included in this) is just something that I imagine my band to be like. Almost as if they have held a guitar right from birth and it just comes to be second nature.

The band I am taking the most inspiration from though, in both style and music, would be Slow Club. This is because I find their music to be ever-changing and this really appeals to me in a musician because they always offer something new and exciting. My idea that I have had for my band is that they will be a boy/girl combination such as Slow Club, and also the way that this particular band dress as well is something that I am taking into consideration and making sure that they both coordinate and match each other this for me is essential in making my band look as realistic as possible.

Analysis of Magazine Institutions:

Bauer Media Group:

The Bauer Media Group is a German based company that operates in 16 countries, the company was founded in 1875. There is a worldwide circulation of Bauer Media's products, and some 38 million magazines a week are sold by Bauer. Magazine titles such as Q and Mojo are along their list of successful titles along with many other genres and types of magazines. On Bauer's website they describe both Q and Mojo as being:

"MOJO is the world’s largest UK music magazine, delivering a monthly dose of world class journalism and iconic photography to an audience of extremely passionate music consumers. If you’re featured in MOJO, you matter"

"Q, the UK’s biggest selling music monthly magazine, sits at the heart of a cross-platform brand that celebrates the biggest stars in rock and roll and brings you the most exciting new artists. The Q brand has developed a worldwide reputation as a trusted and premium quality voice of musical authority amongst fans, musicians and the music industry alike - one that is founded upon Q's unrivalled access, world-beating exclusives and outstanding production values."

They have a very strong reputation and they also publish magazines along the same lines of genre that I will be doing which is very reassuring for me to see a media company such as this that I know has a very reliable fan base across it's magazines. This production company is possibly one of my many options that I would choose if I was to publish my magazine because I know that a lot of people would have access to it, also it would help the sales of the magazine as well because more people would be buying it every month. I would be very interested to see how my magazine would be distributed within this company because I am making something that will probably only be inspired and bought by a very niche market, so I would like to hope that this company would push my magazine forward and give it the publicity that I desire.

IPC Media Group:

IPC Media is one of the UK's leading magazine and digital publisher. They publish magazines such as NME, which would be the one that I would most appeal to. On IPC's website they describe NME as being a men's music magazine. This is a very different perspective to what I originally thought the target audience was. They describe NME as: 

"NME is the longest published and most respected music weekly in the world. Every week it gives its readers the most exciting, most authoritative coverage of the very best in new music, including award-winning features, the latest releases, live reviews, the definitive guide to the best new bands in its Radar section, as well as a regular look back through the magazine's incredible 60 year heritage."

IPC Media has an incredibly long portfolio of magazines that all have been successful over the years. They sell over 350 million copies of their magazines every year. This to me as well as the Bauer Media Group, like a very interesting and possibly very successful institution to publish my magazine from because they seem to cater for a lot of my target audience. With the likes of NME under their belt, IPC Media would probably be my first choice of publishing company to go down because they are incredibly reliable and successful and would give my magazine the right amount of publicity and attention that would help me get the readership and target audience that I desire. 

Music Magazine Playlist: