Print based project - A music magazine

By Amie Steele

There are numerous types of music magazines that in sold both in the UK and even worldwide. Here are some examples of these:

• Kerrang• New musical express (NME)• Q magazine• Alternative Press• Amazing sounds• Babble and beat• Billboard• Blender• Chartattack• Glide• Innerviews• Mojo• Music box • The music magazine• Paste magazine• Blunt• Dazed• Drummer• Gramarphone

Front cover

Magazine names and connotations

• Jam – Relaxing, chilled out music. Community. Friends coming together to listen to music.

• Tone – Music that sounds good. Unusual, quirky music that’s unique.

• Echo – Repetitive. A music magazine that gives out a strong, clear and interesting message.

• Vibe – Good feeling. Positive.• Reverb – Musical effect. Individual magazine

that is different from all others. New and exciting. Appeals to people who know a lot about music

Magazine name - REVERB

As a group we have chosen to call our magazine REVERB. A reverb is an electronic device that creates artificial acoustics. I feel this is well linked with the music genre and our target audience will easily be able to identify and associate this. Through carrying out our questionnaires we found people preffered this name. We used this information and expanded on it when carrying out interviews. The feedback we got included people got positive connotations from the name and associated it with laid back, funky music. They thought it was an effective name to call a music magazine.

Font styles

Title: colour possibilities

Purple – Vibrant, attractive, summer, flowers

Grey – Technology, new, exciting, modern.

Blue – Laid back, relaxed, attractive.

Red – Bright, vibrant, exciting, ferocious.

For my title the colour I have chosen is purple because it is attractive and works well with my picture. I feel if I use a bold font it will look effective, attract attention and engage the target audience.

Celebrities/InspirationLily Allen

Eminem

Florence and the machine

Michael Buble

Jessie J

Two door cinema club

Kaiser chiefs

Tinie Tempah

Pink

Lily AllenShe is a well know and popular singer with her own style. She is an inspiration to many young girls and also music fans. Her music is unique. I feel this would work well with my magazine as it is different to all others and offers something new to readers. In other interviews/articles Lily Allen has been portrayed in a positive way as somebody interesting and easy to talk to. I feel my target audience of teenagers and young adults would enjoy to read about Lily Allen.

Pictures of celebrities

Ideas for photo locations

The location of a forest gives connotations of natural, real and pure music. I think the shade of the forest can represent a paticular genre, for example a darker colour scheme including greys suggest a metal/rock genre. Bright, vibrant autumn colours such as red suggest lively genres such as indie or rap.

• Bright colours

• Individual

• Unique

• Bold

• Eye catching

• Stylish

• Natural

Makeup ideas

“The UK’s guide to this years festivals”

Olivia Shakespeare- The truth about- Exclusive information- New album/ Tour dates

Plus• EMINEM new album, critics review! (in a circle)• Kaiser chiefs – the secrets are out• Jessie J – hot new star• Hottest festivals of the summer – Reading, V festival, Glastonbury• Follow Usher on tour• Exclusive posters from the Brits

• http://issuu.com/citycollegemedia/docs/music_magazine_front_covers

Headline ideas

Extras

• Price – £2.99

• Barcodes

Mock-up

Contents page

Examples

I will use the same font used on the front cover with the magazine name in the top right hand corner. When looking at other music magazines content pages I have noticed the majority do this. I feel it will reinforce the magazine name, make the reader familiar with it and work well with the dark colour scheme I use. The logo will appear throughout the

magazine, on the content page I feel it is important to use it in a fairly large size so that it is obvious.

Items on the contents page

I will divide the list of items on my contents page into three separate sections:– Features– Exclusives– Regulars

On the content page I will write about the things that are included in my magazine, for example the stories, reviews, exclusive articles, album charts, posters, etc. These will all be written in a large font with a description written in a smaller font beneath.

Images

• I will include 3 of my own images

• A large image – this image will be of somebody playing the drums. It will have the page number written boldly in the bottom left hand corner

• Two smaller images – these will be of artists faces and a band. It will also include the page numbers in the same font

Mock-up

Fonts

Double spread

The article

Interview

A large image taking up one page of the spread

Boxes with information

‘Olivia Shakespeare’ in a large, bold font

A witty pun The artists tour dates A fan site for readers to look at

White, light blue and dark blue colour scheme

Black and gold colour scheme

Main quotes highlighted

Ideas for poses

The celebrity I chose to copy poses from is Pixie Lott. The singer is an inspiration and admired by many, I thought she would be a good choice as she is extremely photogenic. I feel her photos look professional and portray her in a positive way. When taking pictures I will use a variety of camera angles and distances to vary the pictures. In one picture I will show my character either playing an instrument or using another prop. For this I will use a medium shot as it clearly shows the characters relationships to their surroundings.

Props

Example from NME

I like this double page spread as half the page is an image and the other half is copy. I think the way the title goes across both pages is effective as it brings them both together and clearly shows they are connected. I will do this on my double spread. I feel the image, title and fonts used are all associated with each other well. When creating my double page spread I will consider this and ensure the colour scheme, font type and photograph all compliment each other.

Headline ideasAs the character I am using is fictional I can choose an interesting name, preferably something which I can use to rhyme with a pun in the strap line.- Olivia Bar – America’s hottest star - Olivia Bar – Get up, close and personal with the new indie star- Olivia Bar – new pop star- Olivia Bar – new rock star- Jessica Springer – the Stow’s hot new singer- Olivia Shakespeare

The headline I have chosen is Jessica Springer which is the name of the character I have written the article about. The strap line will read ‘let us introduce you to ‘the stows’ hot new singer’ I have chosen this as the words Springer and singer rhyme, I feel this reads well and emphasises the musicians name to the audience. By choosing to write an article about somebody in a band I feel there will be more questions to ask in the interview and more to write about.

Article

When Ellen Gordon left the stokes to pursue her solo career fans were devastated and genuinely thought they’d seen the last of their favourite band. A year later and the band are back stronger than ever showing off their hot new singer, Jessica Springer. Not know much about her? Have no fear! We got up close and personal with her last week and you can too by reading this interview.Hey Jess, lovely to meet you. Tell us a bit about how the Stokes found you.It’s lovely to be here! Well I’ve been friends with lead guitarist Jason for years. We were hanging out one day making some music and realised it sounded really good. My voice seems to work well with the bands music.It’s great the stokes are back! How long have you been singing for?Ever since I was a little girl I’ve loved to sing! Me and my cousin used to dress up and sing into my mum’s hairbrush for hours.How are you finding it living away from your family in America?It was hard to leave them all behind, especially my mum as I’m really close with her. But we talk everyday and chat on skype too.We’ve heard you were a bit of a wild child as a teen..Oh dear, yeah I was a little. I’d come home with crazy colours in my hair or a new piercing, mum would hit the roof!

So do you get on well with the band?Totally, we’re all such good friends. Even outside the studio and after work we hang out togetherOoh where do you go?We all prefer to not plan and go with the flow so it’s always different. More adventurous! It’s usually bars, clubs and pubs. I love clubbing in London, it’s awesome.Do you find it hard being the only girl?As everyone knows they’re all such lads. But it’s fine, I like beer and playstation and football, I’m practically one of the guys!Do you think people compare you to Ellen?I doubt it as my style and voice is totally different from hers. The band and music we make have changed a lot since then so I hope people realise this.How many instruments do you play and which is your favourite?I can play the piano, guitar, saxophone and violin. The piano is definitely my favourite, such a beautiful instrument!Wow, we’re impressed! What do you like to do in your spare time?I love watching movies, hanging out with friends , ice skating and drawing. If I’m feeling stressed I’ll do some art and it chills me out.

Main quotes“Me and my cousin used to dress up and sing into my mum’s hairbrush for hours.”

“Mum as I’m really close with her”

“I love clubbing in London, it’s awesome.”

“.. I like beer and playstation and football..”

“I can play the piano, guitar, saxophone and violin”

I will use colours and text boxes to highlight the important quotes in my article. I will use a colour that works well with the colour scheme, for example, light blue with a white font.

Mock-ups

Fonts and pictures

Pictures