Music Magazine; Front cover Deconstruction.

I have decided on "POP" music for the genre of my magazine. POP music is widely recognised in the music industry, however magazines situated solely on POP music are limited so therefore I am going to create my magazine on the major pop sensations and upcoming chart music to interest a wide audience. It will be fresh, unique and new.


Here are three examples of current and past POP music magazines;

Top of the pops is a global music enterprise which give insight onto the music of today. This magazine includes one of the biggest pop sensations of all time. "Britney Spears". The colours on this magazine are pink and purple - Colours that would appeal to a female audience. The cover lines support this as they are feminem and are stories in which a typical teenage girl would be interested in. The effects used on the tag lines are Bold and in capitals to help draw eye attention to the magazine. The Main cover line "OH BEHAVE, BRITNEY" has a purple outline over white font. The white could symbolise purity, which is contradicted by the cover line "behave".
The layout of the magazine is what you would expect from a typical magazine. The main image is situated in the middle with the mast head on top with tag lines down the side. it also has an advertisement banner which appeals to the reader as it infers you are getting more for your money.

Smash Hits is a major pop music magazine from 2000. The colours predominantly used are; Red, yellow, blue purple, white and orange. These colours appeal to both genders of the readership which would be teenagers. The cover lines are based on the major artists at the time; "Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, S Club 7, Steps and Westlife" All these cover lines will appeal to the readership as these artists were widely adored by the target audience at the time. The masthead is large bold letters stating "SMASH HITS" encased in a red box, red is scientifically proven to be the most eye catching of colours and that having red on the page automatically attracts eye attention. The main image is of Britney Spears and Steps, both huge iconic POP music artists at the time. Having these artists on the front cover would appeal to the audience as both had a very huge fan base. The layout is again traditional with the masthead situated on top, main image in middle with tag lines down sides and bottom. Again this magazine has used an advertisement technique to appeal to the audience.

The X Factor is a very successful music talent show on English television which pulls over 11 million views each week.
The colours on this magazine are red, pink, black, white, yellow and orange. All these colours can be identified with both sexes. Where the other two magazines had a sole target audience this magazine has a wide one which could be from teenage to mid twenties. This can be demonstrated by the use of the cover lines which give isnight on the music  

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Here is my final piece of my preliminary task as; My front cover and contents page. On the front cover, the colours I have redominantly chosen to use are green and blue, this is because the "South Downs" logo is in blue and green, I think my colours incorporated well with with the theme of the magazine which was ultimately a college magazine. Both colours appeal to both genders off my readership which is the teenage audience as my magazine's context is college. The font I used was "lushus" I believe it gave the magazine a modern feel and established a fun and quirky sense to the magazine in which my target audience could relate too. I put the font in bold and capital, to create a more dominant eye view. Having it in bold also makes the magazine more eye catching and almost imprints the word "Student" into your mind. I chose to name my magazine "Student" as I believe it's straight to the point and the word "Student" applies directly too my target audience as the readership are students at college. I think this is a strength of my magazine as the masthead is short, simple and easily understood. On Indesign I used "The rectangle tool" followed by the "translucent" effect to create a coloured box in which my tag lines are situated. Again the colour green is used to match the colour scheme of my magazine. I also used a "drop shadow" effect on the boxes to make them stand out from the page and give a 3d effect which will make my magazine more eye catching.

One of the weaknesses of my Front Cover is the main image. I could  have improved this by staging a more appropriate photo and ensuring the model is facing the camera, having the model looking away from the camera draws the connectivity away from the reader. However, the model is looking at my tag lines which draws eye attention to the boxes which would appeal to my readership as it gives them an insight of what is inside the magazine.

The tag lines are used are simple, and used in "Arial" font, I used this font because it's not to fancy and gives a more professional aspect. I also used the "drop shadow" effect on this, to again make it more eye catching. The tag lines themselves are effective as it appeals direct to the readership and demonstrates what is happening around college, which again will appeal to the reader and entice them to read more.

At the bottom of my front cover I used a "advertisement slogan" this would appeal to the reader as it tells them that they are getting more than a magazine, they are getting a chance to win a prize which is ultimately a "free public transport pass" which again would appeal to readers as students often have to pay money in order to get to college such as catching a train, bus or boat.

The Contents Page of my magazine fits in well with my Front cover. Again the same colours are used that were incorporated in my Front Cover, but some were added for example "Red and Pink" just to appeal a bit more to the female readership, and also make the text stand out. Again I used the "rectangle tool" to create translucent boxes in which I placed pictures using the "place" tool. The contents page is more basic and gets straight to the point but still gives a fun professional look.

Overall I believe the project went quite well, I have a more established understanding of "in design" and the functions and tools of the program. I am generally happy with my Designs as this was the first time I have used the software. However I believe i could have used the main image of my Front Cover to an advantage and make the magazine look more professional and also arranged the page to look more professional. The contents page could have linked in more with my front cover and I could have made it more exciting instead of basic and again used better images to support my magazine.

Mast Head Deconstruction

This is my anaylsis for my mastehead: As you can observe I put forward many designs in an attempt to find a suitable Title/masthead that would be attractive as well as professional. All my designs use colours situated with both sex so that it appeals to both genders of my readership. The designs are fresh and fun which fits into my idea of a "fun magazine". However in the end I actually decided on plain text with some design into it. Because I thought it looks more professional and just contrasts well with the whole theme of the magazine.

Font/Colour Deconstruction

Here are two examples off my design work in which I was developing for my final piece. On the left is my text analysis and as you can see I selected a range of fonts for me to choose from for my Front Cover. In the end I selected font seven on the list. I chose this selection because I wanted the Front COver to have afun feel which would appeal to my target audience which is, teenage. And as the magazine is going to be published in college, I wanted something unique, which would stand out and make the front cover altogether more eye catching. The second analysis (picture on the left) shows my use of colour deconstruction. I wanted a colour which would stand out and appeal to both genders. Naturally red would be a first choice as it is the most eye catching of allcolours andis proven that most eyes respond to the colour red better than others. However taking that into perspective, I decided on a multi sex colour which would fit into the theme and colour scheme of my front cover. That colour was Green. the green can be viewed as a "both sex" colour and colour co-ordinates with the south downs logo and the enviromental feel of the Front cover.