Final Contents Page

Editor's notes

This is my Editor’s note. At first I thought of writing one which explains my magazine a little, such as what music genre I focus on, and a slight explanation of what’s inside. But when I read examples of other editor’s notes, I found that the ones that do explain about the magazine are rather boring, and people wouldn’t read it very much. So I decided to make mine more interesting by starting the paragraph with a question. I made it sound very dramatic, but I thought that way, more people will find it more entertaining. I mentioned the movie name, “Wayne’s world” which is an 80s film that includes a very good soundtrack in my opinion. And most of the songs are from the 70s and 80s so I thought it would be perfect to mention it, as my magazine focuses on that sort of music genre. I once again added famous 70s and 80s singers and ended the paragraph with the phrase “Dream on” which I stole from the song title “Dream on” by Aerosmith. I also included my magazine name in it to give it a relation. The whole paragraph relates to Blumler and Katz’s theory of Identifying with the audience because it is as if I’m talking to them about what’s good music and not. My magazine includes many puns of famous song titles and I like it that way because people who do know good music will know my magazine is a good magazine. The paragraph is separated into two columns so as a full page, it will look like three columns which follows the generic conventions of a magazine.

Contents images

I added an image of people raising hands at a rock n roll concert to give it a feel of rock. It is layered perfectly and you can still see the text clearly. It is as if the whole contents is a rock concert.

The first image I added is the image on top which I've edited to look more old. The two girls are also on the front page so it gives a relation to it. Her hair is blended to the colour of the frame which makes it looks interesting. They are both looking away from the contents with their names in it, which makes it look like they've got something to hide so people will be more interested. I also added a shadow to it to make it stand out from the brick background.

Secondly, I added an image I took a few years ago of Sting who was in a band called "Police" in the 70s. By doing this I will attract more old fans who are my target audience. The background colour of the image is red and it matches my house style. It also connotes danger and power, so it shows how Sting dominated the stage.

The last image I've added is a collaboration of three similar images. It looks like an album cover and the colour again makes it look like an old photo. She is looking toward Sting as if she were looking towards the amazing future she's still waiting for. She is also looking away from it, which makes it look like she also feels a little nervous about it too.

Contents

These are the features in the contents page. I added exclamation marks and question marks to make it stand out. The numbers are slightly opaque and so you can see through the overlapping text. The numbers are big so it is easily noticeable and looks interesting. 







The news and features are very similar but with the regulars, I thought it isn't as important as the rest of the information, so I made the text smaller and the numbers also smaller and next to the text. People will focus more on the Hot topic and wouldn't be distracted much.

layering

This is how my contents page looks right now. I changed my masthead into a white font with a red background because I didn't want to make it look too much like my masthead of the front page. It also stands out from the brick wall background I added. I added the background image because at first I thought of a white background or red background, but it didn't look very interesting. So I wondered how it would look if I added a background with texture. I chose the brick wall because it could connote escapism from Blumler and Katz's theory.. The term "head against a brick wall" means you trying to do something difficult and therefore feel annoyed. By literally adding a brick wall can be sort of ironic and interesting. There is also a song by Pink Floyd called "Another brick in the wall" so people who know this song and band will be attracted to it as well. The fans will also match the target audience of my magazine. I added the image of the front cover on the right hand side slightly tilted to re-inform the audience what magazine this is they are reading. 

masthead

This is one of my ideas of the contents page. With both "NT"s in a row, it looks interesting. However, images

wouldn't fit neatly if the title were like this. So I tried my different idea too.

I prefer this title better than the last one because images will fit perfectly in here, and it looks interesting. It is unique so it will be remembered more easily than the other music magazines.

Final Piece

Idea 4

I haven't changed anything with this sell line, but now it isn't being covered by the main image as it used to before. It looks as if it is outlining the face, and it fits perfectly.

I changed the position of this sell line as well. on the top right corner above the anchorage text. It is still in the same font, and I changed it into the Godfather quote.

I also changed the position of the album image. It looks as if it were wrapping the elbow and fits perfectly.

I also shortened the quote for NOE so it didn

t look very messy lik in the previous one, and so people can immediately know that it is from the movie, Scarface.

I haven't really changed the generic conventions either, but I once again moved the website URL on top of the barcode, so it can be easily looked at. It doesn't stand out too much, and so it fits in.

I also moved Led Zeppelin to the bottom to give it a slight irony because heaven is on top, not the bottom, so it will make people think and wonder. The sell line about Led Zeppelin also looks like a stairway, relating to what it actually says ; "The stairway to heaven".

Idea 3

As I was looking at my front page and asked people how it looked, some of them were concerned on the hand covering the guitar that looked slightly creepy. The grey hand and the coloured guitar didn't really match. Therefore, I decided to not make it black and white but keep it the same colour, but change the contrast and brightness of the image so that the colour of the guitar would stand out more.
This is how it looks without making it black and white. I think it looks much better because it looks better quality. I was also concerned on how the image was pixelated when I printed my front page earlier. Everything was slightly blurry, and even the text wasn't right. At the time I didn't know how to fix that problem but when I learnt how, I was able to fix it. Now, no matter how much you zoom in, it doesn't get very blurry.



Before










After
 

Idea 2

This is how my front page looks like now.
I added an image to make it look like an album cover of someone else so the front page will look more interesting. The description of the anchorage text was quite long previously, so I shortened it by switching sell lines from another. This way, it wouldn't take too long for people to read it, and the aim for sell lines are to attract more audience the fastest way. And the
description of the anchorage text sounded too typical and boring, so I changed it to the Godfather quote, "I was made an offer I couldn't refuse". By doing that I had a chance to use a different quote I was thinking of after posting the sell lines on my blog. The quote from Scarface, another movie with the actor, Al Pacino; "Say hello to my little friend". I thought this would link the Godfather quote together, and attract similar fans. In the movie Scarface, he uses that quote when he starts to shoot with his gun, whereas in my case, the artist I am introducing is literally a little friend, who is still a ten year old girl. I am playing with words, therefore more people would be interested. I also added the phrase, "Is she the teenage Bjork!?" to attract fans of Bjork as well. Bjork is an international artist from Iceland, so people from different countries will be interested, and will possibly attract more women because I don't want my magazine to be read just by men.
I used the quote " Hasta La Vista Baby" as an album name to once again, attract people who like the movie, Terminator. I changed Baby into Boys because as you can see, the album picture is of a girl. The magazine may look like there is only information about female artists, but therefore will attract more women as well as more men, so it is intentional.
I changed ACDC into Led Zeppelin because Led Zeppelin is more world widely famous, and are the creators of the song "Stairway to heaven".
Here is the original image of the album cover I used. I posterized it and made it look more like an album cover.

Idea 1

This was my first idea of my magazine. It looks okay, but not professional. 

I decided to make the description of the anchorage text, white so people will know that they are related, and also related to the main image. However, I think there is too much white text on the cover, and it doesn't stand out very much so I think I will shorten the sell line in white. I'm not going to cover the main image with any sell lines, only the anchorage text, to show her importance and power. 

When I made this, I used ACDC instead of Led Zeppelin's stairway to heaven. Now as I think about it, I should have used Led Zeppelin because ACDC got the idea of their song title Highway to Hell from Led Zeppelin's song, and Led Zeppelin is more famous among middle aged men. 

As you can see, the size of the font is all varied and doesn't look very neat and professional. When I remake my front page next time, I will keep it fixed. 

I have all the names of bands and album name in red to match the masthead, and making it stand out. By doing this, people will immediately know whether the magazine contains information about their favourite band or not. 

I then added bars to divide the sell lines, but I think it only made it look worse because the already existing mess of the magazine. I will try an add a small one in my final piece.

Sell Line Ideas

These are my ideas for sell lines.
I first tried to use the masthead I was thinking of earlier as a sell line, but I couldn't make it sound very interesting so I decided not to use it.
Later, I thought of how I could use words that would attract more people and checked the word "Success" in the thesaurus, but I didn't find anything better than "Success", so I decided to use that anyway.
I mentioned earlier on my blog that my magazine would be different from the Rolling Stone magazine in a way that my magazine will only be about music. However, as I started thinking of sell lines I thought it would be interesting if I could attract more people by using famous movie quotes as well as famous music titles. I thought of what movies middle aged men who like old music will like and I thought of the famous line in terminator where he says "Hasta La Vista Baby", and the famous line in the Godfather, "An offer he can't refuse". I decided to use these in my sell lines to attract more people.
With the music ideas, I thought of using either ACDC's song "Highway to Hell" or Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to heaven". This year, 2015 is also the 50th anniversary of The Beatles' album "Beatles for Sale" that was released in 1965, so I used that idea as my sell line as well.

Anchorage Text + Generic Conventions

The name "Aggie Pop" is the name of the artist of the main image. I chose this name from the already existing singer, "Iggy Pop". I got the name "Aggoe" from my sister Agatha, who also posed in photographs previously. By the name Aggie, you can tell it is a woman, but still attract men because the audience will think of Iggy Pop, 
and be attracted to it. The fa sof Iggy Pop are mostly men, therefore, this name will also attract the similar age group who are my target 
audience. The font is like it is an autograph by the artist, and looks messy and neat at the same time. Right now the anchorage text is covering the guitar, which I don't like very much because you can't see the colour of it, which is one of the main important things of this main image. Later on, I will change the position of the anchorage text.

I then, added the bar-code + date + issue no. + website details + price on the right hand corner of the page. I used smaller fonts because I don't want it to stand out very much and distract the audience from the main images and anchorage text etc. and I used the same font and colour as the house style for the website and a simple, times new roman font in black for the date and issue number etc. This is because I thought the website details are much more important for us because we want more fans of the magazine, and want them to be with us in many social media.  I also used the rule of three, because ou can see that the generic conventions only cover the third block of the page. By doing this, it makes it look neater.

Skyline

I added the skyline. At first I thought of adding a slogan on the skyline, but because I thought slogans and advertising quotes were too common and boring, I added names of artists and bands that this issue of the magazine will be talking about. I added both old bands and new ones. This way, younger fans will also be attracted, and it will also encourage older audience to learn about modern music. I also added a non-English name in the selection to show we're international too. You immediately notice it is a French name, so it will once again attract more people. I decided to make the + red, because it will match the colour of the masthead and give it a relation. It also fits perfectly on top of the masthead, and looks smart. The edge of the guitar also fits perfectly underneath the skyline.



I also changed the font from the masthead because It will be boring and unimaginative to use the same font. I will use both of the masthead's font and the skyline's font continuously throughout the magazine. For unimportant areas such as the date, and price, I will use a simple Times New Roman font, so it wouldn't stand out too much, and distract the focus from the main image and masthead etc.

Adding the Masthead 2

At first I added the masthead with the main image hiding behind the masthead. It didn't look bad, but with the image being black and white and not standing out much in the first place, I thought it should come in front of the masthead because otherwise it won't stand out at all. This is how it looked when I brought the image in front. I like this much better than before because although it is black and white, it now stands out properly, together with the masthead, This shows the importance of the main image, and people will notice it easily. I also like it because her head is just in between the words MIX and TAPE. This looks like she is the bridge of the two words. She is the one who links two things together. She is the one who brings us together with music. She controls us. There is enough masthead showing to understand what the masthead is saying, and the image is balancing nicely with the masthead.

Adding the masthead

This is how the Gothic image looks with the masthead. I still like how it looks,but now because I've added the red masthead, it looks like blood, and looks more scary. I tried using a different image with her holding her rock-n-roll hand pose.

This is how it looks with the hand. I prefer this compared to the previous image, however by doing this I reduce the space for the sell lines so I cannot use this image anyway.

With the simple black and white image, I decided to add the colour just on the guitar. I think it turned out really well. By adding the colour just on the guitar, it stands out and emphasizes that it is rock n roll. This way it doesn't look too boring and once again, stands out.

 

Front Page 2

I was thinking about the front page of my magazine, and thought that using a young girl as the main image isn't suitable for my theme because my target audience are older men, and I don't think they will be interested in a young age. However, I will use her image in the contents page.

So instead of making her the main image, I decided to take photos of older people. (teenagers)

This image is of  her back with a bass guitar. It gives more connotation of rock n roll, than the images I tool before, because it is an electric guitar, and her hair is messy.
I wanted her to face the other way, because it will stand out more. In most magazine front covers, you can see the eyes of the main image although the mode of address might not be facing the camera. By doing this, people will want to know how she actually looks like, and will want to flip the page. Her turning around may also give a connotation of darkness and loneliness because it looks like she doesn't want to face reality. She's trying to hide something from the audience. Once again, the audience will want to know what she is hiding, and the answer may be in the magazine, so people will want to look at it. This image is difficult to tell if the person is male or female. I have already mentioned that she is a girl, but for people who look at the magazine immediately wouldn't be very sure if she's a female or male. It may be a male with long hair.
This will attract both women and men, because either way, they will be interested to know more about the main image, and who it is.



This is a black and white version of the image above. It looks more Gothic as well, because of the gloomy shadows. This will attract older people because they will think that the image is from some time ago. The gothic feel will attract people too, because it is different from others.
However, it may look a little too scary.
So I tried another simple black and white image.




I like the simple black and white image better than the Gothic image because it is less scary. However, the Gothic image is more interesting than the simple one, so I'll try editing both images and see which one I prefer.

Survey

Create your own user feedback survey

Front Page

1.
 

This is my first plan for the front page of my magazine.

I made the main image black and white, to make a contrast between the masthead and the image. I like how “rock and roll” it looks because of her rock hand pose. If I were to choose this, I would make further adjustments so it will look better.

2.


I changed the font slightly from the last front page, and made it look less tough. This looks as if the font were made of wood, and you can easily see through the font, unlike the last one. Compared to this, I prefer the last one.

3.

I like this colour of the main image because it is kind of retro, and it matches the colour of the masthead. The main image is half faded, and disappeared and looks interesting so I like this front page cover as well.

4.

This main image is in colour, but also dark. The font in this page is like it was written very quickly and matches the rock-style. The denim jacket also stands out and her face is covered with a dark shadow, so I like this too.

5.

This front page has a different masthead from the others, because I wanted to see which looks better. I still like the masthead “MIXTAPE” better, but I gave it a try.

It is once more in colour, but I changed the size of the fonts

of the masthead to make it look interesting.