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.

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene is to describe and explain the choice of clothes,make-up, props and the pose of my model.

The mise-en-scene was created by constantly referring to the shot list and also the artist profile.The idea was influenced by other Indie magazine covers, so that it would look as rofessional as possible and appeal to my target audience.

My model wore simple block colour t-shirt, which is white because the face was colourful and bold enough and I did not want it to look too busy in the image.The gold necklace was placed there, so that something stood out and complimented the design on the face and did nit clash with it.

There was no other make-up on the model,apart from the face make-up to do the triangles as it may look too much.The triangles were done using eye-liner for the outline and eye-shadow to fill the triangles in with.The colours for the triangle, were colours that also bold yet subtle.I also wanted the colours which featured on the face, in someway follow the colour scheme i had planned for.The hair was left natural and untouched, so that if I wanted to I could photoshop the colour of the hair as easily as possible.

I chose to keep everything else apart from the face quite natural, because if it was too colourful and busy the model may look more like a pop artist rather than a indie artist.Most images of artistson indie magazines were quite simpe, yet striking, so i wanted to make sure that that feature was within my image.

Photograph Manipulation

This was the image that I had chosen and compared to all my other shots which were previously taken. I chose the image by asking a number of people which images they preferred and then selected the image I could work the best with.

With the image I had come to a dilemma, in my original flat plan I hoped to make everything but her face a black and white image and leave the face design in colour so that it would stand out, although I did like the colour version also. Then  I tried my idea on Photoshop and asked various people their opinion.

I used the magnetic tool bar to select around the face neatly, and then I selected the image and adjusted it and played with the colour tones.I settled for the Hue Saturation, which had a nice effect on the image. Most people preferred the image which has been photo-shopped rather than the original.

This is how the image turned out with Photoshop manipulation.

Test Shots

These are the test shots that I have taken during my photo-shoot and tried as much as possible to follow my flat-plan. I took multiple pictures in various poses which, I looked and inspected to see which were good quality and looked professional.

My model is angled toward the side,yet her eyes are towards the camera, which is a slightly different pose from a typical one that is featured in a magazine.I rearranged the position of the lighting, so that it would compliment the model.

Photo Shoot Process

I chose to do the photo shoot in a studio, as it would be much easier to control the lighting and background around my model.My model did various poses, and I tried to follow my shot list and flat plan designs for what I wanted.

Photo-shoot Process

There are images showing the certain stages and the process of the photo-shoot and how I  aimed to achieve the look and vision of my model for my magazine.

By choosing my model who is part of my target audience,she herself had an input in how to accomplish the look I was going for.

My first thought to paint the triangles across her face would be by using face paint, however my model appeared to be allergic to face paint. Although, I did test the theory of using face paint on another person, which failed miserably.So, I tested the look on my model by using eye-liner to draw the the outline of the triangles on her face, and eye-shadow to fill the triangle in.

The overall completed look was actually much better than  hoped.

This was the completed look using eye-liner and eye- shadow on my model.

Shot List

This is my shot list, which describes what type of images I hope to take for my photo-shoot with the person  who will be featuring in my cover page and also double-page spread

Flat Plan Draft

#Flat Plan Front Cover Draft 

This is my flat plan draft of my front cover. The model would be an artist with triangular shapes painted across her face in bright colours. The face painting links itself to the band name called "Geometrix", I am so far intending to pose my model in a mid-close-up shot, as the colours on the face will be bold, it will hopefully draw attention with my target audience.

The layout of the text and graphic is quite simple, due to the fact that the model is already quite vibrant and loud, in order for it not too look too busy. The colour scheme will feature the colour of the bands font and the two traditional colours which are black and white.

A graphic has been placed in the left hand corner which will include a feature an incentive. The graphic will remain within the colour scheme, to blend in with the magazine cover and look professional as possible.

Short quick teaser of the interview with the “Geometrix” will be advertised and also a pull quote to attract the reader’s attention and curiosity.

Flat Plan Draft Of Contents Page

The contents page is organised very neatly with different sections, which may allow the reader to view the contents of the magazine clearly and be able to pick what they are interested in. The contents page will still carry on the colour scheme and the images will be followed with a short summary of what is to come within the magazine.

Magazine Moodboard

Reader Profile

Hello,

My name is Louise, I am 17 years old and currently in sixth form studying Music, Art, and History and also English. I live in South London, with my family which consists of three sisters and two brothers, yet I am the youngest. Whilst growing up my siblings introduced me to various genres of music which pursued me to take a large interest into music.

Music is something I have a large interest in and also would like to develop a career in the industry as a journalist, I am open to all genres of music although, my favourite genre is Independent music which I have loved since a very young age.

I study music currently as I can play a few instruments such as the guitar and cello and also to gain a wider understanding of the industry. It amazes me that music can enable to match your mood and emotions and also have a personal sentiment to someone else.

 With the music industry news constantly updating, I like to keep tabs by looking at certain websites such as www.musicweek.co.uk and look at the artist’s personal webpages to know information. Furthermore, I put Google Alert on things that are related to the music industry and make a habit to read it and analyse the style of writing, also I do like to buy the music magazine NME occasionally, when the contents interests me or an artist I like features in the magazine.

Artist Profile

Visual Magazine Moodboard

Research Of Genre

Independent Rock Magazine

Independent Rock Magazine from kaneezyweezy

This is a collage of music magazines which either feature an independent rocks artist or a magazine that is an independent music magazine.

Analysis Of Data

This is a Prezi which explains and analyses the quantitative data I have collected from my qualitative data.