This is the magazine cover I have completed as you can see I have applied many features in which I throuhly feel meet my magazines age rage and genre. These features are the masthead, the tagline, the price, splash headlines, bar code, tagline, incentives and I have created an image after originally taken this image to editing it on a software known as Photoshop.
So firstly I will talk about my magazines masthead, the masthead I have used has been my creation that I have done using Photoshop, I feel that where I have placed the image is good as it will be the house-style that will be kept throughout every edition of this magazines existence. I have used intialism "MK" which is in black with a drop shadow effect used to make it stand out from the background this effect also matches the natural image where by the shadow is on it, this caused a problem as I had to make the shadows match one another. I have than put "Music Key" underneath the "MK" text this tells people where it the "MK" comes from. I came up with these Ideas after looking/researching music magazines which have used this type of masthead for example the "Q" in the Q magazine, The next feature I will talk about is the tagline.
The tagline I have used at the top of the magazine front cover this position is used throughout the magazines edition therefore a house-style is created which is very important so that therefore the audience will know without reading the magazines masthead which magazine this is. I have tried to make it match my audience by using capitals making it stand out and also used red to make a certain word pop from the sentence - Then placed a faded box onto the background of the text this creates a more sophisticated look for the magazine. Once I had done this I created a price fore the magazine.
The price of the magazine was thought up after looking at magazines that I would compete with therefore I decided that in order to make my magazine affordable however to low of a price and people would feel that its cheap and tacky I gave it a standard price of £3.99.
The next feature I have created is the splash headlines these are the names of the artists that will relate to the contents of the magazine. I have made these fonts all the same therefore there is no more than three fonts used on the front cover which is from my research right as they did not use a lot of fonts as it seems disjointed from the magazine. I have used the same colors for each of them just alternating.
I have then created a bar code as this is a standard that is needed throughout the magazine industry I have placed mine on the front cover although some magazine companies place them on the back of the magazine. The next feature I have used is the tagline, this tagline is "WORLDS GREATEST" this refers to the magazine and I have placed it at the bottom, in some ways you could say this is an incentive for the audience as this is what magazines do to encourage people to buy the magazine separating themselves from all the other magazines, however I have used an incentive in the magazine which is Free CD with purchase this is done by many magazines also relates to Ashley Warner the new upcoming star and the main feature of the magazine.
I then created an image using Photoshop for the background of the front cover, to create this cover a lot of skill was needed as it involves keeping some of the image whilst removing other bits, I have erased so things out of the image as i felt they didn't comply with the rest of the magazine for example I removed a stone pole from the fence behind Ashley Warner. Once this was completed I then went and edited the lips and the colour of the top, in order to do this I made a duplicate layer and then made that layer black and white whereby I then went back to the original and selected the colour of the lips once this was done I could rub out the black and white layer to keep the lip shade and the top shade. In order to make the photograph work with the text etc, some text had to be moved as its important in any music magazine that nothing conflicts with the image therefore I took the image and brought it in front of the text to create the look I have in the above image. I also believe that the costume I have chosen is good as it is trendy and meeting my audiences needs (teens) as they will keep up with fashion and gain fashion advice through celebrities and what they wear. I have applied this due to research I have done as seen previously in my blog I have made a blog post about how costume is used in magazines.
This is the contents page I have created for my magazine "Music Key MK", I feel from this contents page that I have applied all the essential features/terminology as after looking through a variety of examples and gaining inspiration from it I have applied them. These features are the images, the page numbers, the strap-lines, headline, production logo and finally the date.
The images I have chosen to use come from a selection of photographs I took I used these because they allowed me to relate them to the main feature and further into the magazine. Firstly the image of Alonzo Lopez is a picture I took and then cut out the background (this was made easier and the background originally was white) however I feel I have made a good job of this edit and feel it goes well with the magazine through its costume the indie shirt which is in current trend. The second image I put onto the contents page was the image of a guitar this is a picture I took my self I then got rid of the background of it I feel this has worked to my faviour very well. This guitar relates to the Ashley Warner story and is available for winning in a contest by the audience, this I have seen doe before in other magazine contents pages - and thought it was a good idea therefore applied it to my own magazine.
From the research I did before the production of this magazine I seen that every contents page had page numbers. These are essential to all magazines so that the reader can go to the required page straight away without any difficulties. It also allows the reader to see everything that is in the magazine without looking through every page, therefore these are vital to include.
The next feature I have used is headlines for example these are "FESTIVAL INFORMATION" I have used these as they appear in all contents pages - as it tells the reader what is coming in this edition of the magazine using minimum writing to do so. Its important to do as it tells that reader what to expect in the magazine.
The magazines logo was the next feature I applied this is located in the top left of the contents page it is used throughout the magazine as it relates to the magazines itself and it becomes the house style.
The final feature I have applied is the date this is important so that the reader know which month this edition is from as many readers collect these magazines.
This is the double page spread that I have completed, this is the page that relates to the front cover other known as the main story in this editions magazine. To create a double page spread there are several key feature to be included these features are; the headline, the columns, the footer, the image and finally the text.
So firstly I will talk about the headline,I have chosen this font as it relates to both the performer and also the magazine (youth), this text is just a text from a site known as da font I have taken the image then made it red. I have positioned the font at the top of the page this is personal preference as from my research I discovered many places to put this headline for example on the left page of the double page spread. I chose red as this relates to my magazine keeping the same house-style throughout the magazine. The next feature I will talk about is the columns, these are essential as they keep the text together neat and tidy not chaotic. I know that many most magazines use these columns as they are a standard in the printing of magazines. It makes it easier for the reader to read to order. The font I have selected for these columns is a house style as I stick to my 3 font budget therefore I have used this font in the contents page as well as others. This leads me onto the footer of the magazine.
When I say footer I am referring to the rectangle at the bottom of the page which holds the magazines logo which as I have stated before is house - style for the magazine image now. I have also put the date in this footer as this will tell the reader in future when this article was produced. This is written in the same font as seen before.
The image I have chosen is of Ashley Warner this obviously relates to what we have seen from the front cover then on the contents page. I have created this gradient effect so that the image begins to fade into the writing section of the double page spread, as I am not going for a chaotic look to the magazine I have clearly left one side clear and have all the writing on the other side. However this works in my favour as I have learnt through my research that you should never compromise the image in better words you should not have text over the main image.
Finally when I was researching double page spreads of different genre I came across this interesting faded letter in the background, therefore I thought that it would be a nice touch to my magazine I feel that it fits in with the audience of the magazine therefore I felt it appropriate to keep it once I had reated it.
