Planning For My Music MagazineBy Sana Gillani

• Rebel• Ripped • Civilization – ethnically diverse• Hammered • Roar• Animal • Fused – in a guitar, it’s so loud, you’ve

blown the fuse• Rock on• Inception

Initial Title Ideas

Title Tally

Rebel

Ripped

CivilizationHammered

Roar

Animal

FusedRock-onRock-itInception

II

III

IIIIII0

IIIIIIIIIIIIII

0

Final Choice Of Title

IIIIIIIIIII

IIIIII

II

IIII

III

III

Final Choice Of Font

I have decided to use ‘FUSED’ as my final masthead after carefully taking the feedback from my target audience into consideration. ‘FUSED’ has connotations of Rock music. It suggests that the music is too loud, which makes the fuse of the guitar break. It gives a sense of danger and thrill to the audience, making them feel as though they have now become involved, after reading the masthead. This would also make them want to buy the magazine.

I have decided to use this type of font for my masthead, because it suits Rock genre really well. The layout of the masthead suggests threat and danger. The audience are able to clearly recognise that my magazine is based on rock music after reading the masthead.

I have decided to use the colours, red and white, for my masthead, because these are the type colours commonly associated with rock. Also, my research (analysis of music magazines) helped me to decide on these colours. Essentially, red stands for strong feelings, or things of strong sensations. For instance, red has connotations of excitement, strength, blood, sex, danger, violence, war, power, energy, speed, passion and aggression. It is also a very attractive and eye catching colour. It suggests speed combined with confidence. I have decided to use the colour white, which has a good combination with red, and also stands out really well with red.

Rejected IdeasMy target audience rejected other title ideas, which were, rebel, ripped, civilization, hammered, roar, animal, rock-on, rock-it and inception. This is because they all seemed slightly boring and not as intriguing as 'FUSED'. Also, some of them did not point out the music genre, which is rock. Although, the title ideas, 'Rock-on' and 'Rock-it' have connotations of rock music, but they do not quite reach the aim of the magazine. And they also come across as quite dull, boring and may stop the target audience from buying my rock music magazine, as they do not make the magazine come across as captivating or as exiting to read.

My target audience opted out from choosing other font ideas. This is because, they did not come across as appealing, attractive or eye catching to the audience. They were plain, boring and did not suit rock music. The colours were also really boring. If I use dull colours in my masthead, then it would not be eye catching to my target audience and may not give the actual title any awareness of what it is trying to suggest. However, the colours in my final choice of title 'Rock' help to convey what the music genre is and what the magazine will be about.

Plan For My Front CoverImages:For my front cover, I will have an image of the main artist holding a guitar , with his arm going across the strings in the centre, making it appear to the audience that the artist is playing the guitar. This also resembles and works really well with the masthead 'FUSED'. Suggesting, that the artist in the image is playing the guitar with a lot of force, making the fuse break. I may also include images of other popular artists that will be featured inside my music magazine.

Flash:With the help of my previous research of my music magazines, I have decided to use a flash, to grab my target audience's attention. The flash will consist of advertising the chance to grab a hold of two free posters of the rock bands/artists. I will include two small print-screen's in the front cover of the posters, giving the reader a glimpse of excitement of how the posters will appear in A4 size.

Left third/Quote:I will use a left third, providing the reader with useful information that they should know about before purchasing the magazine. My left third will consist of what each page of my magazine will be about, but summing it up in a nutshell, so my front cover page does not appear too informative for the reader to take in, as this may confuse or distract them from the main focus point of the front cover. I will use a pull quote of the artist from the interview on my front cover. This will engage the reader and they would want to read more about the interview with the artist.

Footer:My footer, which is right at the bottom of the page, will consist of other bands that will be featured in my magazine, for example, Arctic Monkeys, Rhythmic etc. The effect that this has on the reader, is that it encourages them and gives them more of a reason as to why they should buy this magazine. The footer also makes the magazine come across as even more exciting to read to the reader.

Skyline:My skyline would highlight that this is a special issue of a certain term. The effect that this will have on the reader, is that it would definitely encourage them to buy the magazine. Also, they would be aware, that this issue has the latest gossip, so they would not want to miss out, meaning they would buy this magazine. This is because they would want to be part of the circle of people who are aware of the latest gossip relating to rock music.

Barcode:I will have this in small, in the corner of my front cover. It will be in small, because it is not that important to the reader. However, the use of it is that it informs the reader of how much the magazine is for and also informs the company of how many copies of this issue were sold.

Plan For My ContentsIn my contents page of the music magazine, I will have an image of introducing a new duo, with the page number just beside it. To highlight, that they have also joined the rock music culture and to give the audience more of an insight into them. Rock music is mostly dominated by white males. However, I am going to change this buy allowing people from different ethnic backgrounds (male or female) to join in the rock music culture. So, in the image of the duo, I am thinking of having a male and female from white and black ethnic origins. I am going to have 'CONTENTS' as my masthead in the left hand corner. On the right hand corner, I will include the date, this is so my target audience are up to date with the latest issue. I will the page numbers on the left hand side, beside the image, with brief detail under the page numbers of what that certain page will be about. Near the bottom, I will include a print-screen of the double page spread, just to make the reader aware of the exciting information that they will gain from reading it.

This is how I am going to display ‘Contents’ on my contents page.

Plan For Double Page SpreadLayout:I will have the image of the artist on one side of the page, and the interview / further information about the artist on the side of the page. I have decided to use this sort of layout for my dps, after researching into other magazines. This layout is also very appealing to my target audience, as it is set out very neatly and easy for the reader to follow along.

Heading:The heading for my dps will be directly related to the artist in the image. For my heading I will use “Return Of The Confounding Ryan Elton”. After reading this heading, the reader would want to read the full page, and would be interested to find out more about how the artist has come back to rock music.

Image:The image of the artist would either be a close up or a long shot. The artist would look directly into the audience, creating a direct connection with the reader. If I choose to have a close up of the artist, then I have got to make sure that I make the image relate to rock, by applying make-up on the artist, his hair should be flicked on side, have his ear-piercing clearly shown in the image. If choose to use a long shot, then I have got to make sure that the clothes of the artist, are bright and relate to rock, such as, ripped jeans.

Drop-cap:I will use a drop capital letter from where I start to actually discuss the artist. The use of the drop-cap will make the text eye catching to the reader, and would make them want to read on.

Text:Where I will include my text, I will split the page into three or four columns. One column will consist of the interview with the artist. The other three columns will consist of information about the success of the artist.

House-style PlanAfter analysing music magazines from different companies, I found that they all had a specific house-style, which they used throughout their magazine.

●So, for my music magazine I am going to make sure that I carry out a house style as well, to give my magazine a unique appearance when stacked on the shelves with the other magazines. I am going to have a similar layout and structure, for example, the masthead, colours, logo, where and how I place my pictures etc.●By using house style will make my magazine very effective for the user to locate where the magazine they are looking for is placed.●I am going to use the colours white, red, yellow, orange and maybe black throughout my magazine. I am going to use similar font styles on my front, contents and double page spread, this is to constantly remind the reader that they are reading a rock magazine. I am also going to have the title bold on the main pages of the magazine, which includes the front cover, contents page and double page spread. ●The font style that I will use for my article and other texts, is Arial, as this is a formal and not fancy font style, to highlight that it is aimed at a more sophisticated and intelligent audience.●The images that I use will have a plain/blank background. So the main focus is just on the artist and there is nothing else in the background which may distract the reader's attention. However, if I do decide to include a background, then I will make sure that the model stands out.