CLOSED BLOG

Centre Name: Norbury Manor BEC
Centre Number: 14343
Candidate Name: Kaneez Ahmed
Candidate Number: 9170
Unit: G321

Music Magazine- Double Page Spread

Music Magazine Contents Page

Music Magazine Front Cover

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Since the beginning of the year, I have made a massive improvement since my preliminary task in both my quality of work and also my attitude to the work.

The skills I have developed were discovered by using a variety of media and tools to help and enhance my work and guide myself personally. For instance, to advance my Photoshop skills I viewed YouTube videos explaining how to use the tools.

I have learnt various skills with Adobe CS3 Photoshop such as photograph manipulation, how to use tools such the “magnetic lasso” and be able to evaluate and inspect my work. I would say that I have become more independent in learning for myself with the creation of my magazine and learnt to stimulate my thinking so that it is different and unique.

The preliminary task as you can see is a significant difference to the three pieces I have now created. My preliminary image was used for the front cover and I had no image for the contents page. The text around the preliminary front cover was one basic font with no colour scheme, style or theme occurring within the cover. There was a lack of text features that was engaging to my target audience.

The contents page did not have an image, meant that half the page was plain with that solid colour background. The text on the page were not lined up or straight and in order it looked quite messy and disorganized.

Whereas in my coursework, I would definitely say I have improved and have put much more effort into the work than beginning of the year, also becoming more eager to develop my work. Whilst learning from the mistakes and incompletion's of my preliminary task and tried to not repeat my mistakes and instead learn from it.

Question 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Question 5: How did you attract/ address your audience?

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Linking DPS to Front Cover and Contents Page

Linking my DPS to the front cover and contents page, is reviewed so that an individual can establish the link between all three pieces and notice that it is all from the same magazine.

The colour scheme is way of establishing the link between the three pieces as the three colours black, purple and white have been portrayed throughout the magazine in so many ways. The artists and news has been made relatable and of the music genre I had chosen.

Double Page Spread Layout

 I have used Prezi, to give a detailed account of the process of developing the layout of my double page spread, which explains the difficulties and issues when creating it.

Artist Interview- Mistakes

After I had written my artist interview, I took it to my teacher so that it could be checked and overlooked for any mistakes or changes and improvements that could be made to develop the quality of my interview.

There seem to be numerous mistakes with grammar and the phrasing of a sentence or question. However, I was eager to take on the feedback and make the altercations needed to develop the written quality of the work.

This is an example, which shows one of the questions that I had created and written an answer for. It is highlighted showing the altercation I have made within the answer. The green parts highlighted means that I have added punctuation that I had missed out and have now included the, they are highlighted to show that I have changed the answer.

The highlighted words  in yellow were added in now and before when they were not included which meant that my answer was not grammatically correct or it did not make sense within the sentence.

This shows that I have made numerous changes to all of the answers.

Artist Interview

Interview Questions

1) How would describe yourself within the music industry and why?
“I think this would have to be quite a biased account of myself really, I believe I’m headstrong, different and eccentric. I want to push the boundaries of musical creativity and take it to a whole new level, where people don’t have to try as hard to appeal to their fans by being fake, I want the music to speak for itself and let that do the talking rather than who I’m dating. The music industry is not a forgiving place you know, everyone is watching and judging your every move. I think as a band we have transitioned quite well and become aware of the attention we have received and taken quite well and enhanced it in a positive way”

2) What is the inspiration and key to success for penning an award-winning album?
“Honestly, I have no bloody clue. For every person there is a different story, meaning and memory behind each song. When you do write an album, it’s not typically- oh shit how am I goanna create something the sells. To me it is writing about what I know, learnt, struggled, inspired and overcame in my life and putting it on a piece of paper and feeling like yeah this is what is art of me, obviously it may  not always be award-winning but hey that’s life, but if someone can relate to that song then that is great.”

3) A lot has changed for you, would you consider it a positive or a good?
“I really detest change…it is the sense that nothing stays that really annoys me and the fact that you just have to go along with it. In some ways the changes in my life have been immensely gratifying, I’m getting the opportunities to do things that before I wouldn’t even look at. I’m able to connect with millions of people through that one song and that really touches me.”

I get aggravated off, privacy is something that you slowly start to lose but if you try and keep intact why that should that be the case. The media is a blessing and a curse, I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be a price to fame like there is to everything else, but it is unfair when people who never asked for it and dragged into the mud. It is unnecessary and stupid.”

4) Your band has been quite the fuel of rumours lately, are any of them true?
“The rumours! No they are absolute nonsense. My band and I are one massive family, everything that we put into an album is a bit of every single person in our band. The band is like my brothers and sisters, of course we have a few odd tiffs but at the end of the day there my family, we been through highs and lows and on an emotional terrifying roller-coaster since a young age. They are the first people I talk to if I’ve had a setback or an achievement no matter what. The rumours aren’t even worth addressing because there lies.”

Artist Interview Research

This required me to look at other magazines inspired by my music genre and observe their writing style and layout within the magazine and take inspiration from it. It made me decide what kind of style I wanted to write in and how I planned to show and display it on the double page spread.

Double Page Spread

This is my final double page spread which has been created over the last two weeks and is the final piece for my magazine. It is an interview with the artist who I featured on my front cover of my magazine. This was the most enjoyable piece for me as it gave me the possibility to create a personality and identity behind the fictional indie rock artist.This piece tied the whole magazine together and is probably the piece I myself am most proud of.

I like the layout of my magazine and I am very glad that I stuck to my plan, and was consistent throughout the creation of the three pieces to feature my magazine's colour scheme.However, I would change the image I chose for my double page spread and instead take a larger amount of images to be able to use.

Double Page Spread Image Choices

Double Page Spread Research

NME Double Page Spread:

The Vaccines- NME Double Page Spread

The image is featured on the left hand side and dominates most of the page. It is a picture of the whole group, with the front man being the closest to the camera and the rest of the band members surrounding, they all have angle of gaze towards the camera so that it attracts the reader and slightly intimidates them.

The text and interview is placed on the left hand side and looks organized and clear. It is set in two columns, with the font being at either "size 10 or 9". The colour that is featured in the double page spread and colour theme is the baby blue colour. The blue is used for the first letter of the paragraph and is much more larger than the rest of the text to stand out and draw attention. Furthermore, the rectangles and the quote are both baby blue and compliment the double page spread nicely.

The title is large and spread out across the right hand side in black and instantly catches the reader's attention and is clear and concise as to what the interview is about in the introduction.

There are geometric shapes, such as blue and grey squares which are featured around the edges of the page quite subtly and create a nice effect and enhance the image and the pose of the band.

Overall, to me personally I quite like the double page spread as the image was interesting and clear and different to other shots and gave an idea of what genre the band were in immediately rather than making them look like a pop-star.

The shapes were quite different and added colour on to the page, to not make it look dull. However, I thought that the text was slightly cramped to me and looked a bit too small and that the picture had probably taken more priority.

Contents Page Final

The final contents page.

Contents Page- Colour Choice

My colour scheme was largely influenced by image on the front cover and also my flat plan. My colour scheme consists of three colours, which are purple, black ad white. I wanted to make sure that they were consistently featured through the three pieces I had to create in my project.

For the contents page, I made sure that the colour scheme was incorporated within the text and layout of the page and could easily be identified as the contents page to my front cover.

The masthead featured on the contents page and the font of the text remained the same but at a smaller size. I added it to the page as I wanted their to be a  contrast in the two text which were both quite different, yet met the theme of my magazine. I kept the colour of the font as it was simple and yet effective and stood out.

This is the layout of my features in the column on the right. I made the page numbers and text in the same font, which was "Napa Heavy SF" , although there was a variation in the size of the font. The page number was much larger compared to the text to stand out and guide the reader immediately to the page. The textr was in black as I thought it would loom better the simpler it was.

This text was following the two colours which are purple and white. To make a link to the front cover, this text was a summary of what is to come within this months issue of the magazine and give a brief overview.

Contents Page: Reviewing

During the process, as I was coming closer to completing my contents, I wanted to make sure that there were no mistakes at all or imperfections. I realised that the alignment of my text was not straight but quite wonky and that did not look good or professional.

I had already done spell check on my texts and was frequently doing it, so that there were a minimal amount of mistakes. I had created a thick line which was yellow to stand out against my colour scheme, image and texts as a sort of ruler to check if the alignment of my texts were straight.

The ruler helped immensely as it made it easier to align the text and make it look much neater and clear on the page in a column, and allowed me to know the space I wanted between each feature and avoid it being cramped.

Contents Page Corrections

When I had printed the page out to see whether any of the text had been cut off or it looked crammed on the page and to see whether there were any errors. I noticed that there were a few grammatical and spelling errors in the text. In a professional magazine, there would be no grammatical or spelling errors as it would look unprofessional.

An example would be that one of the main features that is being largely advertised within the contents page, had numerous grammatical errors and did not make sense. When read the text, I realised that it was not clear and would need improved and redone to meet my personal standard.

In order to save myself time, I read each piece of text myself and annotated on the print out of any errors in spellings or grammar. I then used the “spell-check “tool on Adobe Photoshop, to check and correct the errors I had made, and then read through it again as I wanted to be absolutely sure there were no mistakes again. This made it seem more professional and would hopefully prevent me from losing marks due to sloppy mistakes.

Contents Page Featutres

Previously I had done a prototype to see whether I would like a black box to be featured behind the name of the band or artist, with the font colour being white. I asked other people and people of my target audience which they preferred and they thought that it looked better with the black box as it made the text it white stand out compared to the rest of the other text, and also it made the contents page look more organised and it was easier to find what they were interested in. It also fitted to the colour scheme as black was one of the three colours featuring on my front cover.

I incorporated the black box and changed all the names of bands and artists to white in font colour. This made a significant impact, as the layout looked clearer and more simple and less complicated or crammed.

This is how it looked overall, after I had made the altercations, it looked aesthetically more appealing and worked well within my colour scheme.  For the description of the features, I thought that this information I had given was a bit too vague and lacked a concise and clear summary.  In order to make it seem as professional a possible, I did some research on each band itself and looked into current news of the artists and bands and put it into my own words.

Contents Page Features

During the process, of creating my contents page for my magazine, I am recording and documenting each but of the process as I go along to evaluate and criticize the page, in order to improve it further.

This is a print-screen showing that I am currently adding my text in and relating the features to the genre I have chosen by creating it about Indie or Indie Rock Artists on the music scene.The bands and artists are all of or linked to the genre I have chosen ad the news is realistic and relatable to music, as I had intended.

I am trying to keep within the colour scheme of my magazine front cover and not divert it away. The page number are in larger font size at "24", it is is of the same shade of purple featured in my front cover magazine.

The text describing the feature is in size "8" as it should be and not look too large and overcrowded, however clear. I decided to keep the font style the same, as I liked the font and thought it kept the page quite relatable to the front cover.

However, I evaluated my front cover and requested opinion from my target market. The name of the artist or band did not really stand out, and you could be able to differentiate between the description and name of artist.

So I gave the name of the artist a background text box and changed the font of the artist to white, so that it would be clearer and stand out against the description. Furthermore the font size had changed to be slightly bigger than the description, to attract the readers attention.

This print- screen, shows the large difference between  the two separate features. I only altered one of the features, to see what it may loom like and also to gain other peoples thoughts and see what they prefer. All of the people that I had asked said that the first feature was much better as it stood out and complimented the partition lines featured across the magazine.

Contents Page Image Choices

For my contents page, I needed images of other people apart from my model to feature in my contents page. In order to have a variety, I searched for people who I thought suited the genre and look of my magazine. However, some of the pictures do not meet the expectations I had hopped and wanted, so I may retake them and try the same poses with a selection of models and choose between them.

This is an image of another artist, which would feature in my contents page.I took numerous amount of shots, at different angles and also different poses. Some turned out to be quite good, however some images were rather blurry and unable to use. I wanted the indie artist look to remain consist throughout the magazine, although it had been quite difficult.

The person who was modelling for me, is an avid fan of indie rock music herself and buys music magazines monthly. I asked her her opinion of the photos, and which she liked and took the advice given.

Some of the images had disappointed me as they were below my personal expectation and standard.So in the future, I may retake some of the images, in order to gain better quality of the images and to be satisfied with them.

Contents Page Layout

For the construction of my contents page, I relied on my flat plan which I had created to help direct the layout of my contents page. From my flat plan design, I had categorized different events or articles within section to make it clear and able to read. The sections were parted with black lines going across the page.


I decided to draw the lines first, in order to make the rest of the process easier when adding pieces such as images and text within the boxes rather than later.

This is a print-screen, which shows that I created new layer, in order to draw the boxes that would be divisions between each category.. I created a new layer for each line partition, so that if I wanted to alter the layout later on in the process, then I would be able to do that effortlessly.

The print screen on the right, shows that I have names each layer in accordance, to what order each line partition go in, so that it may help me understand the order of my layout.

To draw the line partitions, every time I produced a new layer, I would use the select tool and draw the size of the rectangle I would like and then press the keys “ALT” and “BACKSPACE”. This would automatically change the fill of the box to black.

That is a print screen of what the layout of my contents page looks like so far. My design is the exact replica of how I had planned for it to be in flat plan. In spite of this, I may amend and modify the layout as I add in the text and images throughout the process.This will a guide line for the text and images yet it may need further construction and I may gain opinion and advice from my target audience.

Contents Page Research/ Deconstruction

This is the deconstruction of a contents page, the process should help me understand how I will do my own contents page for my magazine.

This is a contents page from Q music magazine, which features a variety of artists from different genres. Some the features in this specific contents page are based on indie artists. I chose this contents page, as I admired the layout and clarity of it, which made the page work well.

The magazine has kept in style with its own colour scheme of the masthead, showing and demonstrating the importance of the masthead and magazine itself, as well as the artist.The colour scheme is of red,white,black and also gold. Each colour is specifically chosen to give a suggestion of what it may be and the level of importance of it. For instance, the "Oasis Special" is featured in the middle of the column in capitals, which implies that it is key and exciting within the magazine.

The images are of various sizes, as the image of "The Courteeners" is the largest image featured on the page, with a pull quote beside it to attract the attention of the reader and to make them see the significance of the band. Whereas, the second image is much smaller, compared to the other one and another long shot image. The magazine label it with his name and nothing else as it not as important as the main feature.

The text is organised in various compartments, in order to make it easier for the reader to follow and scan what features may interest. This works particularly well, as it does not look cramped but clear and concise.

Front Cover Linked to Research

I took inspiration from numerous magazines that either featured an indie or indie rock artist and evaluated and analysed the layout, features and model pose within the magazine.

Furthermore, and there was a particular artist who inspired the face paint especially for my artist look. This artist is called Gotye who is classified within the Indie Rock genre, his music video “Somebody That I Used to Know” in which the setting and the individuals were exactly identical to the setting of the video.

Immediately when people saw the face design on my model they linked it back to the music video, and many said that they liked the way that there was a distinctive link between the name of the band and the face design.

This is the music video, of the artist Gotye that I was inspired by for the look of my model.The look seemed to have a better outcome than i had thought it would.

Another inspiration was the magazine called NME, which has a various artists of the indie genre.The layout and design is also unique, which I took influence from.

This magazine cover by NME, did have a particular influence as I liked the simplicity of the pose and the angle of gaze was effective.I wanted my magazine cover to have the same effect of this magazine cover in particular.

Front Cover Target Audience Feedback

Respondent 1:
"Well, the colour scheme is attractive and catches the eye and works really well with the image.The feature headings stand out and also how the texts is placed around the image. I find the barcode quite annoying in that size because it is too large for my liking. Furthermore the graphic overlaps the image and kind of overtakes it."

Respondent 2:
" I like the colour and the shapes on the face, because it stands out compared to the rest of the face and also the  band name and the image interest me and draws my attention to what may be in the magazine. Personally there is a bit too much of a focus on purple, and her face could be bigger in proportion to the title."

Respondent 3:
"The text and the font is bold and eye catching, the image really stands out, the colours aren't as vibrant and there is too much of a focus on the colour purple.The graphic is slightly taking up the image and makes it look a bit over crowded."

My flat plan was major influence in the presentation and layout of the magazine. It became a guide to how I planned for it to look. Afterwards, I asked people of my target audience what their opinion was, as well as consulting with my teacher as to what could be developed.

I agree to an extent about the feedback. My image, to me personally I thought is to be quite unique and I am pleased that others would agree. The fact that it is bright and "stands out", is good as that was my aim when developing the idea for my image.

Final Front Cover

This is my final front cover which over the course of the last two weeks I have changed and developed further to the best of my abilities.

As you can see the image was photo manipulated with the face being the only part with colour, and the rest in black and white.The features have been rearranged and also re-worded various times, to appeal to my target audience and also to follow the brief of the project.

For example, I had to change my pull quote as it did not look realistic or professional and it was too long to feature on the front cover. All the bands and artists featured on my magazine are either of the indie or indie rock music genre.

The barcode was an image retained from Google, I added a few touches to it such as the edition number and price of the magazine. I chose the price of the magazine to be £2.99, although when I reflect the price may have been a bit too high.

The Masthead, I believe could have been developed further to my liking, I believe it may have been a bit too simple and maybe did not fit with the rest of the look of the magazine. One thing I am pleased about is the consistency of the colour scheme, which I hope to maintain through the duration of creating the rest of the magazine.

Cover Layout- Rearranging

After consulting with my teacher, I realised that the text seemed quite cramped around the image and there may have to be adjustments.Also it was difficult to see the pull quote underneath the face of the model , so it had to be fixed.

I drew out a sketch of what I could do to change the layout a bit and rearranged certain text boxes and added further text boxes. The overall outcome is slightly different from how it was originally from before and the flat plan. Then I added a banner below, which provided information of what bands or artists are featuring in the issue.

The yellow line along the page was to give me an idea of what text would be cut off, when I printed out the cover.I shifted certain features and text to fit within the line, so that nothing would be cut off, when printed out. The banner at the bottom of the page, follows the colour scheme that I had planned in my flat plan, it also features various artists.

Cover Layout- Spell Check

After adding my features, I was eager to make sure that no mistakes were made when in the text with punctuation or grammar. I decided to spell check the text features, so it would look professional and not amateur.

This is a print-screen, showing that I am checking for potential errors and correcting them. There were a few errors, due to incorrect spelling and grammar mistakes.

I have completed my spell check for any errors and have corrected them.This print-screen shows that I have completed spell check and have been cautious to look out for mistakes.

Shot, Location, Prop Schedule

Cover Layout- Front Cover Features

During the process of creating my music magazine, I followed the flat plan design I had created and was determined to keep the layout of my text neat and organised as much as possible as shown in my  flat plan design. Adding the front cover features, which would attract my target audience and link to the genre of my music magazine.

At the bottom of the cover, there is a short teaser of the interview with the "Geometrix", to give a overview of what is to come within the magazine and also to draw the target audience in. I have also added a pull qoute, to attract the readers into the magazine and question what may be in the magazine.

Afterwards,  started to add the features which would be advertise certain information, that would interest the target audience. I related the features to music artists that were current and linked it to their music such as upcoming albums and tour.

As you can see, artists and bands that are current andof the independent rock genre such as Imagine Dragons are featured on the front cover. The features are laid out around the face of the model, so that it does not effect the face design.

With the text placed around the image, it still looked quite plain to me. I decided to create an effect on the purple text boxes and also take advantage of the Photoshop tools available.

This is a print-screen of how I changed the look of the boxes and the difference to the previous features .I added shadow to the text boxes and a glow to make it look more 3D, to stand out and be eye-catching.

Cover Layout- Graphics

In my flat plan, I have chosen to have an incentive to feature in my front cover, which would be shown in a graphic, so that it would stand out and attract my audience's attention. The graphic would definitely be in the form of a circle, as it uses the space effectively and not taking away the attention from the artist. My graphic would have to coordinate itself with my colour scheme, so I experimented with what colours would work well together and keep to the colour scheme.

These are the potential circular graphics.

The circular graphics are inspired by my colour scheme, which is white, purple and black. The emphasis of the colour scheme is to ensure that I follow the rule which is to have three colours feature for your text; I intend to keep the colour scheme consistently through my magazine. The graphic will be either placed in the left bottom-hand corner as shown in my flat plan; however I am reconsidering the position it may need to be placed somewhere else.

The prototypes I created, was so that it would be easier to envision what it may look like on my magazine and how it could be altered to keep with the colour scheme of the magazine. The prototypes were made using the shapes available on PowerPoint and adjusting the colour of the outline and the fill of the shape. and also the weight of the outline.The prototypes were incredibly helpful in the process of choosing the best graphic and gave me an idea of how it would look on my magazine cover.

Final Graphic

This is the graphic I have chosen as I believe it works the best with my front cover, and follows the colour scheme of my front cover. I have decided to place it in the top right-hand corner, as it works best in that position.

Cover Layout- Photoshop Process

This is the image I have chosen to feature my front cover so far. This is due to my fondness of the liking and the simplicity of the pose, which complements the bright colourful work on the model’s face nicely. However at the moment I am using this as a template so that I can develop my magazine further and then maybe change the image afterwards.

This is my image, which has been transferred on to Photoshop. As you can see, I have made major adjustments such as making the face art in colour, yet the rest in black and white. This was my original idea, which was displayed in my flat plan. Furthermore, I have added my band's title called the "Geometrix" and played around with the colour of the font, and have so far chosen purple.

This is so far what i have achieved.I have now included a pull quote to attract the audience's interest; however it may need to be developed further as it may not be that engaging. I have given a short "sneak peak" into the interview with the band. Moreover, I have figured out my colour scheme and the three colours of my font.The three colours of my font will be white,purple and black.

Concerns and Further Developments:

There are concerns about whether it actually looks like an Independent Rock music magazine, so I may need to create more adverts or clips, which will suggest the genre that I have chosen. Also, the hair colour may need to be photo-shopped to one of the colours that feature on my model's face, to make it even more vibrant and striking, so that it stands out furthermore.

Cover Layout- Masthead and Font Decisions

This is the font I have chosen for the band's name which will feature on the front cover.

This is the font I have chosen for the band's name which will feature on the front cover.

This is a mood-board of the variety of fonts, I was considering to use.

This is a mood-board of the variety of fonts, I was considering to use.

This is a print-screen of my research for the font of my band's name.

This is a print-screen of my research for the font of my band's name.

This was my research for the font, I would choose for my band name which is called “Geometrix”. This name of the band is linked to the makeup and face of the model. During, the process of looking for my fonts I decided to create a mood-board of all the types of font I liked, throughout the research and then asked other people mainly my target audience their opinion of what font they preferred.