Feature Article =)

The feature article is always the story the artist on the front cover has to tell. It is the main story in the magazine, and usually the first thing the buyers read when they open it. The layout has to be just as interesting as the actual content of the text. Here was my first plan for my feature article:

The layout is simple, but effective in my opinion as the fact that the model is in the middle means that the audience will be focused on that straight away, noticing it is the artist they want to read about. The picture is somewhat indie as she has her tongue out and a cardigan around her neck, as if she doesn't give a care in the world. I put the text around the outside as I thought it looks good in the layout. However, this draft lacked actual realism, the article itself does not even look entertaining, so I changed a few things in my improved and feature article:

I have improved the layout of the text by placing it around her instead of straight down the side. I have expressed the colour scheme still, how I want it to be running throughout the magazine, so I added the same effect I had on my title to the feature article with her name and the main quotation, "The break I've been waiting for". I have added some typical conventions to the feature article such as page numbers on the bottom and the magazine website on the bottom right hand side. This all adds to the realism of the magazine. After comparing my first finished feature article to others, I felt like mine looked empty, so i added a border to the article which has made a huge difference in my opinion.

I believe the border adds to the realism and takes away the empty feeling I had about the other article. I changed the layout too as since the feature article is a double page spread, it would of had a big crease down the picture. I moved the picture to the left so it wouldn't be creased as the picture is the main attraction of the feature article. I changed the colour of the text too as it is more visible to read. When we had the audience feedback session, people still believed that the page looked empty and missed typical conventions such as a logo, so I created a logo and changed my feature article. This is my final and finished feature article.

 I believe my feature article looks a lot more filled now. In the bottom left hand corner, you can see the logo I created and placed to satisfy the customers belief in this being a real magazine. I also added the quote "I'm still in shock!" to the article as that is in a line in the actual article, This is used a lot. Overall, I am very pleased with my final outcome.

The new changes =)

After finishing my first draft, I decided to retrieve some target audience feedback, and the same point kept coming up. My first draft does not really denote a typical indie/rock magazine. So massive changes were needed, however my first draft did come in useful as a style model, all I really done was change colours and the font. Also I needed a new picture as the picture is the most eye catching part of a front cover, and that didn't really show signs of an indie/rock magazine. Here was my first plan, minus a picture as I needed to take some more:

This was a colour scheme I wanted to try out in the beginning of making my magazine, but I left it to one side. The most productive thing that came from this new layout was the title. The title looks so much more effective as having the same text copied twice and having half and half colours on different sides gave it a 3D effect, I was really pleased with it! However, once again relying on my target audience to help me out. They agreed with me on the thought that the red was too bright and 'in your face'. The picture I decided to use gave me the next colour i wanted to try as the background:

I put this picture as my background for my first draft with the new title to see if I was definitely on the right tracks to achieving my goal of creating the perfect front cover for an indie/rock magazine. The only thing that was bad about the picture I wanted to use was the shadow, this is where I got the idea for my new colour scheme.

This is my finished front cover. My new colour scheme turned into Cream, Brown, Orange & White. I have kept the same side stories and free give aways but also added a featured competition which I believe is a good addition to the magazine as it is just as effective as the adverts, being used  as an extra to attract the customers to buy my magazine. I have changed the colour on the title from Black to Orange to follow the new colour scheme. I have also added an extra convention in; a website. I have used the effect 'Drop Shadow' for the text as it stands out a lot more. You can see the effect the drop shadow has on the main story, it makes it bolder. The picture denotes that the magazine is more indie/rock than the previous one. It is also a better picture as the model is looking straight down the camera doing a 'peace' sign which is a message that many bands try to portray in their songs these days. I asked random people in our school who are also in my target audience age group if i could have a few minutes of their time to ask what magazine they would buy. Out of 20 people, 20 people chose this magazine, so it shows that it is a lot more appealing to my target audience.

Putting the typical conventions of a magazine onto my own =)

After finishing the key points to start making a music magazine, (Genre, colour scheme and title) I could start focusing on being precise with my magazine by putting typical conventions on my front cover. The typical conventions of any magazine tend to be one main picture with a catchy brief next to the picture to attract the audience, side stories, bar codes, price, issue number, free give aways and other featured bands. All of these combined will create a brilliant, eye-catching music magazine. The first convention I added was the price and issue number:

I used the same font for the price and issue number as I wanted to set a common theme to follow as all successful magazines, such as 'NME' use the same style font throughout their magazine.  Still referring to real magazines, i needed to add a bar code to my magazine to give the sense of realism to it: 

As mentioned before, the bar code does give a realistic effect to it. I also added the "Featured bands" section to my magazine. I have used indie/rock bands and bands that I like too. The key bit about this section is that it can denote that it is an indie/rock magazine. I filled the 'Flipside' in with white. This made it more eye catching in my opinion. All that was left to add was the main story and the side story, then my first draft of my front cover was finished, ready for constructive criticism:

My finished first draft. as you can see, I have added the main story, side story and the free give away. I have stuck with the white and orange colours for the text to give a theme to the magazine. I also added the orange to the issue and price as I linked it with the name 'Flipside'. I thought that it would be pretty clever to use the different colours (Orange and white) as the borders for the two different things, as if it was flipped around to be different colours. I've placed the text in her eye vision to make it look like she is looking up to it, as well as the title. I have done this to make it look like she is interacting with the magazine, to denote that she has a story to tell. The side story denotes that there are more stories to tell so it would jump out to a wider audience. The free posters will spur the audience to buy it because it increases the buyers if there is free items to give away.

Starting the Front Cover =)

After researching music magazines and getting positive feedback from my surveys, I felt like I had enough research to start creating my music magazine. From what I had gathered, the front cover of a magazine tends to have a big picture with the main artist, so I used the picture I wanted to use for the cover to find my colour scheme. To start with, I need to find a font to use for my magazine. Here are some examples:

These fonts are all different so I decided to put them all in the firing line to be used for my title. I decided to choose the bottom title for my magazine as I felt like the bottom title would appeal to a wider spread of the younger audience which is what I am aiming for. This is what it looked like with the sample font: 

Let's talk about the picture. I specifically took this picture because i had an idea in my head on what i what i wanted my front cover to look like. I had my model look to her top right, as I would have the title there.

. I personally thought this was a good idea as it added my own uniqueness to my front cover. The next task to complete was actually thinking of a main colour scheme to use, as well as a title for my magazine. I decided to use Dark Blue, Orange, & Dark Green. I went for this colour scheme as it the colours on the models jacket are similar, so I decided that it would work better using the same colours. I then needed to think of a title for my indie/rock magazine. I done a survey amongst people in my class to find out the most popular. Here were the choices:

The most popular name was 'Flipside', so going with what my target audience wanted, I decided to stick by the name and it eventually grew on me. So now having a picture, basic colour scheme and a title for my magazine, i could start putting typical conventions on my magazine!