Front Cover Planning

In class i created a flat plan of my cover page on Serif PagePlus 11.

Masthead: As you can see i have decided to have a banner masthead going all the way across the top of the page; this will make it more visible to the reader, so they'll be able to recognise it more easily when they're looking for it on a shop shelf.

Main Image: In my reasearch into music magazine front covers i found that most of them have a big main image filling up basically the whole page, so i have decided to carry on this convention in my magazine front cover. This will also make the cover more eye-catching to the target audience.

Smaller Images: The smaller images under the page will be at the sides, ontop of the main image.

Skyline/Slogan: I have decided that my slogan is going to be "The Louder The Better!".

Front Cover Research

In class today we looked at The Rule of Thirds.
The Rule of Thirds is to help avoid the page looking too symatrical or artificial. The page can be separated into 6 parts.

You have to place the parts of the image that are most important to the viewer where the lines cross in order to catch the reader's eye.The top right hand corner is the reader's natural eye line.

I have made my masthead!

I have finally created my masthead! Here it is:

The font that i chose for my masthead is a font that also appears in my features page and contents page too.

Contents Page Planning

In class we planned our contents page, so here is my plan of what's going to be on my contents page:

• The types of articles that are going to be in my magazine are; Gig Reviews, Interviews, Album Reviews, Introducing New Bands/Artists, History of Bands/Artists, Latest News on Bands/Artists. I found out that these types of articles usually appear in music magazines when i did my research.
• The target audience are the type that just flick through, and only take time to read something if the images or headline really interests them. Also they're the type that gets bored easily and doesn't like lots of writing, so that's why my magazine doesn't have too much writing in it.
•   I have decided that the artists in my magazine will mostly be established, but there will obviously be new bands on the page that introduces bands.
• The house colours of my music magazine are black, red and blue. I decided that all of those colours will appear somewhere on the contents page.
• The text on my contents page will be set out in columns. There will be no pull quotes, because that's the type of thing that usually appears on a features page.
• The language in my music magazine is mostly informal because it appeals to my target market more. There is lots of exclamation marks used, and maybe even a bit of slang. There won't be much text on the page (only the Editor's, and the content that's going to be in the magazine).
•  The magazine sets out to make the reader feel as if they know the artists personally. They do this by using their first names or their nicknames, and using informal language; almost like you're talking to the artist personally. The subjects in the posed images use direct address so it's almost like you're talking to the artist's directly. And the subjects in the live images use indirect address, but the way the photo is taken makes you feel as if you're there with them at the gig.
• Mostof the fonts in the magazine are

Typeface? (Serif? Sans-serif? Elaborate? Feminine? Masculine?)

• I am planning to put the masthead on my contents page somewhere, this will give the page a brand identity.

• There will be a mix of direct and indirect address in the images on my contents page. It'll be the same for posed and spontaneous images.

After created a flat plan of how i want my contents page to look, here it is:

As you can see in the flat plan above, i am planing to have a big image at the top of the page. Then there will be 4 smaller images below the big image on the left hand side, just above the Editor's Message. The images will all be to do with the content in the magazine, except for the image next to the Editor's Message; which will obviously be an image of the Editor himself.

THIS POST IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Contents Page Research