Magazine Double Page Spread Final

This is the final design for my music magazine double page spread. This piece had the most amount of changes from the original mock-up design. Firstly I ended up changing the layout of the smaller images and the body copy. This was partly because I noticed there would be too much writing if I had stayed with the original design. This would have possibly turned some people away from wanting to read the article and made it seem more boring, so I cut down the amount of text space and filled in empty space with another image because according to the music questionnaires I made, many of the people I questioned liked buying magazines for the images inside. I also made my main image take up most of the double page spread just like most double page spreads do. 

I included a header as a way of telling the readers which section of the magazine they are currently at and used the same colours, text font and arrow design to create a symbiotic link between this piece and my other two. For the headline, I made sire it would span a page and a bit so that it would be a clear indication that this is a double page spread. After analysing many other double page spreads, I found that the headline is usually in the form of a quote, sometimes by a member of the band. This would grab audiences attention because it will make them feel like their getting to take a peek in to the mind of the band member, so that is why I decided to let my headline follow a similar flow, and let it be a quote by a band member. I continued the use of purple as on the from cover to help strengthen the symbiotic link.

I included a stand first which is common in double page spreads at the start of the articles. I basically summarises what the article in one sentence without giving away the actual content. The stand first can also be the thing that convinces people to find out what the actual article is about, if they find the stand first interesting. For the main body copy, I wrote a short article about the rise of my band ended up separating the text into two columns. This would not only give me more room to write, but it also made the layout of the text look more professional. I topped if off by inserting a line between the two columns as is done in many other articles with columns. In the middle of the article, I inserted a 'pull quote'. This is commonly used as a technique to interest readers in reading the full article. The way this is done if by making the quote something that the audience would feel surprised or shocked to read about. This way, they become interested and want to continue reading. I included some more quotes at the bottom that would surely grab attention, or they could also be 'boxed text' because they have nothing to do with the 'body copy'.

Lastly, the smaller images I included because they are to do with the article and make the double page spread more image heavy which is appealing to my target audience. I did the same thing as I did with my contents page's images and placed them on white rectangles so that it looks like instant photos so that readers fell like the photos are recent. I also included a keyline with all of the smaller images because it makes it look like the images are jumping out of the page and make them more appealing to look at.

Magazine Contents Page Final

This is the final version of my magazine contents page. As my mock-up design, I kept certain elements the same like the title of the page, the categories of the articles and the types of articles present. I wanted to keep the title of the contents page the same font and colour as the mast head of my cover so that a symbiotic link can be created. I also decided to continue with the same colour scheme as on my cover to strengthen this link. I gave the yellow category tags black diagonal lines that kind of remind you of caution or police tape which brings up the feeling or trouble and rebelliousness. 

For the types of articles, I referred back to the feedback I got from by questionnaire. I checked which types of articles did my audience enjoyed reading the most and what did they prefer a magazine to have inside it. According to that information, I decided on how much of what type of article would I want my magazine to have. That is why there are more pages for new, reviews and guides, and less for things like competitions and quizzes.

On an issue of 'Kerrang' I was that instead of having the date of issue on the cover, they placed it in the contents page, and I think that that way it makes the contents page look more organised if all of the information about the physical copy of the magazine can be found one one page. It also means that the cover won't look as cluttered. I noticed that all magazines have a section where it gives it's customers the chance to subscribe to the magazine, so I thought that would be a nice way to fill in some in the corner of the page with something that was not part of the point of a contents page, but was just as important for a magazine to get more readers.

Lastly, I discovered that on most contents pages, there was a 1:1 ratio of image to text so I also attempted to make my contents page image heavy. I used pictures that have need taken from different parts of the magazine and placed them as smaller versions on the contents page. This would give readers a teaser of what they can expect to see in this issue. Nest to each image I placed a number of the page where the image was taken from, so the readers can just reference the number to the text and go to their article of interest straight away. And finally I placed my smaller images on top of white rectangles to make them have an instant photo looks so that the audience can feel like they just missed the action but the pictures let them see what it was like. These pictures are relating to the fans of the magazine and my target audience. The numbers next to the image links with the article they were assigned to, to show how some rock fans and my magazine fans show their appreciation and enthusiasm for music. I think my contents page fulfils it's purpose of helping the reader navigate through the magazine and gives a few ways of doing this.

I chose not to include pictures of 'Art by Law' because I thought it would seem to repetitive if they were on every single piece of work. However, if I could do this again, I would probably include them, since they are the feature article. It could also help create a stronger symbiotic link.

Magazine Cover Final

This is my final version of my music magazine cover. I have kept many of the features I drew on my mock-up, but I either changed the positions of some of those features e.g. the upper banner, or I added something that I was not planning on. I got the idea for the banners from 'Kerrang', but instead of showing offers, my banner shows the different artists that my magazine is celebrating. I also played around with the colours for some of the text and the text's background to see if any combination would help text stand out more whilst still looking good in the overall frame. The colour of the background I got inspired by an issue of 'Kerrang' with an image of the Foo Fighters on the cover. I think this rich colour is simple and beautiful, but it dose not take any attention away from the main image. I included smaller related images on the cover like they are sometimes included on the cover of NME. I was hoping this would give audiences something like a teaser so they would want to know more about what is inside the magazine. For the main sell-line, I wanted it to grab peoples attention by using the word exclusive and using all big bold letter. The spiky effect I added because it gives the impression that this information exploding and would make my audience want to find out what is so special about this particular sell line. I added a puff in a shape of a guitar pick to remind the audience that this is a rock magazine because you often see guitarists using picks.

I also added the bar code at the bottom corner like in most magazines to make it look more professional and more realistic. I chose this particular font for the title because the feedback I received from my target audience  liked this font best out of my chosen ideas. I made sure the title was bit and would stand out well by putting it on a contrasting background like other magazines like 'Rock Sound' do. I was also taking into account the feedback I received from the questionnaire by making the masthead and main image the main things that grab attention.