front page layouts

which of these do you prefer?

double spread page questionnaire

1. what sort of story would you like to see on this two page spread?
2. how many pictures would you expect to see?
3. how many different stories would you like to see on this page?

front page photo shoot.

For my front cover i will be having a large photo of a band or artist. This questionnaire will help me find out what sort of picture would be best for the front cover.

1. Would you prefer a band on the front cover or just a single person?
2. Would you prefer a plain or complicated background?
3. What would you expect to see the artist or band wearing? what sort of colours?

Q contents page analysis.

The page is placed on a plain white background and the biggest picture on the page is placed to the right. its a different picture to the front cover but is from the same photo shoot. There are two other pictures that are under the biger picture. They're both of equal size and are both about articles inside the magazine. The front cover image is shown in the top left corner of this image to show that it is the same article.


The more interesting stories are listed in the right column. The text is written in plain black font and looks average.The numbers of the pages are in a slightly bolder font aswell as the line "on the cover>>". The text underneath this heading is grey/blue.

weekly update

I am currently behind on my project due to days off because of snow. I am working as fast as possible to catch up. I still need to analyse two different contents pages and two different two page spreads. After that i will think of 5 different names for my music magazine and think about what pictures i might put on my front cover.

Questionnaire

1. What sort of things would you expect to see in a teenage music magazine?
2. What sort of price would you be expecting to pay for a magazine?
3. What genre of music would you like to read about in a music magazine?
4. Who would you expect to see on the front of the magazine?
5. Which music magazines do you currently read or like?
6. Is there anything about current music magazines that you dont like?

Q magazine front cover analysis.

The front cover of this magazine also has a limited colour palet. I think both magazines have used this technique aswell as most others because too many colours make a page seem too busy. The background is a plain grey shade and red, blue, white and black are used for fonts and writting to make them stand out. These colours all work really well together and they all stand out from the grey background.



The mast head isn't like other mast heads for magazines. Instead of going across the top, this one is in a red box in the top left corner. Its large and The name 'Q' means that the title can be as big as the box, drawing attention to it as it the biggest block of colour on the page. The strap line is also included in the box for the mast head and is written is a smaller font. It reads "a different take on music". This implies that the magazine will be talking about music that most people would not expect. Bands like U2 and oasis but also more mainstream artists like Lily Allen. The issue date is also added underneath the strapline in small black font.



There is only one single picture on the front cover of Lily allen. This suggests that the main story inside is about her. Her arms go over other parts of the magazine front cover, such as the mast head and some of the other featured stories. Its a long shot and even thought she's high up in the frame she's still looking directly at the audience. The headline "sexy beast lily allen and her wicked wicked ways" suggests that the story inside is going to uncover something about her. Also the beast part is shown by the panthers. It also shows that she has a tough side to her because the panthers look very dangerous and menacing.



In the top right corner are some of the other stories that will be inside this issue of Q. They all start with a blue arrow to show you that its a different story. The names of the bands that the stories are about are written in black bold capital letters.



There are other healdines to tell you what stories will be in the magazine in different places on the page. There are a few at the bottom of the page, seperated by blue and red lines for each story. There is also another to the right of the page just below the middle. This is in a round circle. There is a black circle and a white circle inside, this draws more attention to it. The text inside is a plain black serif font and tells you about an article inside. it reads "the 25 greatest rock movies", this will make the reader interested in the magazine and want to read the article.

kerrang magazine, front page analysis.

The front cover to the kerrang magazine is different to other ssues of kerrang and other music magazines. Instead of having one main picture along with a few more showing some of the main stories inside, it has fifteen pictures on the front along with the main story written in the middle of the page.

The colour pallet used consists of white, black, red and gold. The masthead is along the top of the page, it is placed on a black background and the font is in white. It is edited to give it the appearance of broken glass. The letters are rough around the edges and all join together. This also gives the look of a stamp. This is the usual masthead used for kerrang which gives the front cover a feeling of familiarity. The name kerrang is also the sound you would expect to related to the music that is featured in the magazine.


The pictures are all of different bands and have different sizes. they're not all evenly spread out and some pictures are a lot smaller than others. The picture is usually what catches the eye of the reader but because it displays fifteen pictures, the eye is drawn to the story line which runs directly threw the middle. Your eye is then drawn to the title, then to the pictures.

The text on the banner is a story that is featured inside the magazine. It relates to the pictures on the front cover. The bands on the front cover are the bands that will be involved in the "50 albums you need to hear in 2009" story. It also only tells you a few of the band names of the so that you will be interested in reading this issue.

At the bottom of the front cover there is another banner, this is a smaller banner but it informs you that there are posters inside this issue of kerrang and shows you some of the posters inside. It also tells you "and more" making the reader want to look inside to see what else is inside.

The strapline is sat just above the mast head and is on a gold background. The text is written in black and the different stories inside are seperated by red stars. This is noticed because it is above the mast head so when the reader see's the mast head, their eye is also drawn to the strapline.

Action Plan

This is the start of a new project.


For this new project i have asked to create a front cover, a contents page and a double sheet spread page for a music magazine.
first i will

• research and analyse at least 3 different types of music magazines focusing on different genres of music.
• use my research to create a questionnaire and use my results to help me decide what type of music my magazine will focus on.
• decide what music my magazine will feature and use this information to create a name for my magazine.
• decide what the story on my double spread sheet and ask people if they would enjoy reading the story.
• take pictures that would be appropriate from the stories involved.
• design at least 3 different templates for each reqired page.
• then use comments that have been made about them to choose one and improve on it.
• post my first copys to my blog to see if anyone has any ideas of anyway i can improve my work.
• use ideas to improve for my final piece.