deciding the contents page layout ?

This was the original layout I wanted for my contents page, The boxes on the left were meant to be where my contents page featured pictures were going to be placed, I liked the idea first but comparing the boxes with the text the page looked all disorientated. Meanwhile the layout of the text on the right side, also didn't look very organised, Looking at magazines on my genre, there contents pages  had the pictures on the left hand side and the paragraphs of the featured pages on the right hand side. So taking that into account I have kept the boxes idea on the left and Im having the text on the right hand side like the existing magazines have.

Content page title decision

For my contents page, I was undecided what font and colour to choose from, because non of the colours would suit the background, but I carried on and found some good choices to choose from. So I tested some colours and two font choices, The line beneath the Title, I think looks effective beneath the title, due to the fact it stands out and makes the title more clear. The red coloured lines, I really liked them on the black background, On the other hand I decided to go for the grey Bold line beneath the line because I preferred it to go with the yellow font choice. The last one was the final outcome I came up with, because it gives the yellow coloured title choice, and the grey line a more clean cut effect which I think will go well the whole contents page together.    

white plain background

Originally, I had the plain white studio background for the front cover. I needed a subtle background which would not stand out, but look effect, so I was suggested to get  a picture of either my jeans or a jumper, The background is from my jean.
 In photoshop, I adjusted the levels, to make the image more subtle, when I applied it behind the image it worked perfectly, it made the simple white background, more interesting.  

Cover line

On my front cover I needed something to fill in the bottom right of the page, I got inspired by one of the XXL magazines and they had the same type of cover lines, so I thought I can generate a similar thing which can work on the black background on my front cover. I specially like the red lines which separate the cover lines, they stand out on the black,

Meanwhile, I added the barcode, price and the website for my website. As I saw in most magazines the Price tag is represented  in very small writing because thats not the main aim, they just want the customer to look at the front cover and get it straight away not worrying about the price. personally i like the way the price, barcode and website have been placed on the bottom left, I think they fit very well together. 

Masthead decision

These are my developments of my masthead, They all have the yellow filler and the bold black outline so that the masthead stands out. The first one is my favourite because, it fits in with the masthead, trip tunz goes well the font. The second one is a simple font which i think it stands out well on a white background it also has a bolder outline which I think makes it unique.

The rest of the mastheads were just trials, just to see what they looked like on the white background. 

front cover image effects

These two images, are just ideas for my front cover image, I think that these two are good images because they stand out and the blue theme gives it an interesting look. The one above with the main outline of the person, looks really good in my opinion due to the colour blue giving it a vibe look and having not that much detail on a image shows us that it can still stand out and be effective.The effect is done on illustrator or photoshop. The negative aspect is that i could not use this image because in my mind i wanted a white background on my front cover. So the two images specially the bottom one dont go well with the white background.

development of front cover image

This was the chosen image for my front cover,  i had to change exposure, brightness and the offset so that the image had a good effect out on the white background. As my front cover is developing playing around with the main image to make it suit with my text and cover lines is getting harder because if the image is too bright and the contrast is up, the text does not stand out. 

contact sheet front cover images

magazine questionaire

front cover draft 2

This is my second front cover draft, this is planned for being taken behind a white background ideally the studio, i think the person will stand out well, and the font colours  red and gold will go well with the white background. Meanwhile I think that the gold colour magazine name goes well with the white background and stands out.The page still looks empty but in due course I will fill in the gaps so the front cover doesnt look to white.
Overall I prefer this one to my first one because I think the rapper will stand out perfectly and so will the font colours chosen. 

Front cover draft 1

This is my plan for my final front cover, the name is going to be Triptunz, this is because it suits my genre perfectly. At this stage I dont know what kind of background colour  I am going to use so I have just used a dark grey to start off with, but this is not a problem because this can be tweaked later.

Basically the man on the left is a rapper, the typical rapper with chains, necklaces just looking down or either at the reader in calm facial expression, the message I want the reader to get is the rapper on the cover is judging them.The cover lines are all aligned on the right side, because I dont want the image on the right covered with text otherwise it gets really confusing. Finally this is the initial plan, of my front cover but I think the plan will be changed over the development stage.

Contents page prelim evaluation

Another preliminary task i did was the contents page, this was just another quick and simple contents page. The contents page had features of the new things in college like the mez, interviews of second year and a article on healthy living. I think these subjects are included on college magazines mainly. The contents page looks like any with numbers on the side, and then the page subject. The contents page doesn't link with the Front cover, except the font designs. otherwise its completely different, but i dont think that a contents page or any other page on the magazine has to link in with front cover or any other page should have relation or have the same theme. so i kept the two different. Again this is simple like the front cover, but i could of done more but i wanted to keep it simple to see what bits look empty.     

evaluation of front cover prelim

Evaluation of Preliminary Task

As I have finished my preliminary task,I have developed my skills in photoshop and also illustrator, I feel more confident using both of the systems.
I think personally both the front cover and contents are far too simple, but I think keeping it simple was a good idea because all the complex aspects I want to add will be used in my final pieces.
The college magazine was aimed at college students as it was a college magazine, it was trying to attract students, after the summer break or after any college break. Because naming all the new features at the college are done after a break. The front cover image was a close image of a person reading a book on a table and then in the background two other students on the computers. 

Overall I think i did a quick job with the front cover, but i have learned some key points in photoshop which i can use in my main task. also keeping it simple helps to see how empty the page looks if not filled, so i can see what gaps occur when its kept to minimal in the final front cover.

DPS analysis 1

Front cover TA 5

This is another front cover edition of XXL magazine.
This edition has a very busy front cover,   here are various artists making up a classroom. What they have made it ook is a typical classroom with students doing there own things. They have made the cover look very buy, so the reader wants to know whats going on.
The front cover story says "2012 freshmans class BREAKS OUT!"  this connotes the image perfectly, as the reader we see the relation between the text and the class.
The masthead XXL is the same in this edition, although the various artists are covering the masthead we still see the bold, large masthead with the white bold text and red background, the magazine make us see the masthead firstly. Although there a lot going on in the image, the text is placed in various places to jumble things up even more, personally I dont like this lay out because it makes the front cover look very unorganised and disorientated.
If we concentrate on each artist we see they have there own facial expression, when we look we can identify each person in our classroom, the different types of personalities we have. The text on the page has been spread on each side of the page so the artists can be seen as a group.      

Front cover TA 4

This is another edition from XXL magazines, featuring Rick Ross the rap star. The masthead has been placed on the top left but has been changed by colour. The cover story is about Rick Ross, the quote says "THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TOUCH"
This quote connotes what rick ross is doing by him touching the XXL masthead, it is turing to gold, personally the way they have designed the front cover is clever because they connoted the quote. The golden theme carries on, he's wearing gold necklace chains, also linking to his golden touch they want the reader to see.
The magazine want Rick Ross to look big and golden on the front cover, his facial expression signal this, if we think when the magazine published this edition, we would think this would be the face made by Rick Ross when he saw this front cover, That facial expression would be made, this tells us that he knows his golden touch.
The colour scheme of the front cover is well designed because the whole gold theme goes well with black background, black background of Rick Ross's suit. Meanwhile the red Text goes well as well, the cover lines have been aligned on the right hand side on the right hand side, the reason for this they want the reader to see the image of Rick Ross first and then the cover lines secondaly. 

Front cover TA 3

This magazine is the source magazine which is very similar to XXL. They cover hip-hop, like XXL magazine. The cover story is about the beastie boys, The image is in black and white, which makes the masthead stand out which is in red. The way the image is bleeding from the page gives the magazine a wider look, the text is laid out in strips a strip of text on the top and the second strip is three quarters down the page. The three colours of text they have used is Red, lime green and white, these colours make the text stand out on the image.
Personally, the cover looks very dull to me because of the colour they have used on the image, the image doesn't look very appealing to me.
The cover image of the beastie boys, makes us look they are judging the reader, it suggests to me that they are thinking about something coming towards them. The puddle of water in front of them stands out well, this may suggest they have a boundary in front of them to protect them, from someone maybe who they are staring at very eagerly.

front cover TA 2

This is another XXL magazine, they mainly cover hip hop and rap, I picked this magazine due to the fact, the cover was different to other front covers from magazines.
Featuring the magazine is Ludacris a rapper, with some sort of camera, with a caption saying "ludacris will shoot yo ass" this quote on the front, The quote goes well with the image of him well because the camera gun connotes the caption. The seriousness on his face at the reader, tells he looks like he's going to shoot them. The front cover has done a good job connoting the image and caption. Another aspect is that when we concentrate on his hands holding the camera gun, he holding the handle like he's about to shoot them and the fact he is looking through the lens, it connotes he aiming for someone.Overall if we look at the image, of ludacris we get the hint that he's not a happy person by his facial expressions and his actions on the front cover. Meanwhile if we read the pull quote we get the expression, he's not the person to come across.

The page colour scheme is an excellent one , because the main aspect the magazine want to get out is the main cover story so they have chosen colours like black and white mainly on the page to make Ludacris stand out. meanwhile normally we see the masthead always large and the masthead is the second aspect we see when we look at magazines on shop shelfs but on this edition they have positioned the masthead behind Ludacris's head, we dont see the "l. My view is that people who buy this magazine regularly, know straight away its XXL. The Mastehad for XXL has bold white text on a red background. This may signal a clothes tag (size) because they want the masthead to stand out they have used the white on red background and XXl makes us think something big. finally the cover lines have been aligned on the left and right, so they dont interfere with the main image, the colour scheme of the text is black which goes very well with the white background the cover lines stand aswell. 

Final front cover prelim

This is my final contents page for my prelim, i think its simple like my front cover. otherwise the colour scheme goes well, and the font, i used illustrator to help me because personally i find t more helpful putting the whole page together. 

Prelim contents page about screenshot

this screen shot is from my Prelim contents page, i wanted to get a link from my college front cover to my contents page. So i used the font on my front cover in my contents page.

Front Cover TA 1

This magazine is from an american magazine who cover the Rap and hip/hop genre. The name is called XXL, the two magazines I have concentrated on is The source magazine and this one the XXL. this front cover is of Shyne rapper from america.

The magazine has made shyne look like he’s looking at the reader in way that he is judging the reader. Another interpretation is that the fact he’s got a cigar in his mouth is that he doesn’t care whohe is looking at him, the army gear worn by him connotes he’s in the army many soldiers smoke in the army this may be interpreting them. Just by looking at the cigar we get the impression that shyne doesn’t care if people look at him when he smokes. On the other hand the way his head is tilted, this gives the impression that he is looking down at the reader and his eyes are not opened wide so this looks like he is thinking in his head thoroughly.

The cover line at the bottom quoting “SHYNE” is placed at the bottom, immediately we can recognize that the person on the front cover’s name is SHYNE. The masthead XXL has been placed on at the top left, as the reader if take a look at the front cover we see two things which crab our attention the main image of Shyne and the masthead XXL the masthead has been enlarged due to its title of course. The red and the white goes well it connotes the magazine name well, as soon as the reader looks they notice the xxl masthead also the size of the masthead attracts the customer buying the magazine because of the colours of masthead and image as the customer can see this from far. The cover lines have been aligned to the right hand side of the page, the cover lines normally tell us what topics the magazine have covered in that edition, in this edition some cover lines have a rhetorical question, the magazine are making we the readers think about that specific topic they have covered and they have printed the article. In this edition the dateline is on the top of the barcode. The dateline often consists of they year and the month. Meanwhile if we see the barcode, at the bottom of the the magazine have the magazines website, this is another advertising method used by magazines to sell there brand, regular customers would most likely order either online on there website or in stores.

Final Prelim front cover.

Here is my final front cover to my college magazine, I think this design that I have kept is simple, the page looks empty, but I wanted to see how a front cover looked without loads of cover lines. Personally my view is that this one done for my preliminary one, is too simple but the image looks affective because we have someone reading a book, then other students working in the background on the computers.  
For the cover lines on the right are just what I thought of when designing the cover, but one aspect I like is the colour scheme of the cover-lines, the green goes well with the background image.

Overall, I have learned,some key points like keeping the front cover simple may make the magazine look boring and less appealing. The main thing i have learned, is to play with colour, for example, deciding which colour looks good with which colour background.  

cover adjustments

Here is a screenshot of me developing my front cover.

On the left, is me playing with the colours of my sub headings, adjusting background colour, fonts and spacing between the letters

As i am developing my prelim college magazine, i am playing with photoshop and illustrator, to make my magazine work, as in font and background colours going together. Also I have adjusted brightness and levels to enable the text on the magazine to stand out and get the image on the front cover more appealing.

Moodboard 1 artists

Here are some of my inspirational artists/rappers used on my mood-board which I can use on my magazine initially. There is a mix of British rappers and American Rappers, some are also hip/hop artists aswell. 

Introduction and aims

Introduction and Aims

The genre I have chosen for my music magazine is Rap. The reason being its an interesting music genre due to the way its produced. The style of Rap appeals to people who understand the lyrics, so the market sector I am aiming to is 16 to 30 due to the beat, lyrics and bass appeals to this sector. The age group is quite narrow because Rap is often referred to black people and is related to thugs, but personally I think its wrong because due to the lyrics and the beat, rappers are referring to life in general, life on the street and many rap songs refer to social views and political views.  Meanwhile rap is often controversial because rappers have lyrics referring to gang violence and gang culture, personally I like the fact this is included because its showing views of many cultures and society.

Rap is mainly appealing to male audiences but in America especially there is a high percentage of female audiences. So as we are in the UK I hope my magazine will apply for male audiences. Rap is not mainstream in the UK, which doesn’t indicate that its not listened to Unlike R n B rap is not ordinary, but in America it’s referred as mainstream in some parts. My magazine will have an informal cover and theme because rap is linked to street culture as it was started in Afro-American regions so due to the link with street culture.

To get some ideas I have used some mind maps to get some initial ideas on paper. I decided that I was going to do a cross between Rap and hip hop, so I brainstormed four main aspects I was going to cover, firstly which artists/rappers I would concentrate on and get inspiration from. Secondly what colour scheme I can concentrate on, so I gathered some initial colours to use. Thirdly which images I can use preliminarily, consequently how I am going to get images and how to use them in my magazine. Finally what I could include on my front cover, how it’s going to be structured with cover lines etc.

 A thought on artists, is that I have been inspired by specific rappers, like Tupac Shakur and Rick Ross these two rappers specially, talk about life in the “ghetto” basically a part in the specially mainly in the slum area occupied by minority groups in there case groups occupied by Afro-American gangs and how gang warfare influences them, they also rap about life for the children and families.  Another point of interest for me was two main magazines, which have motivated me to do a magazine on this genre are XXL magazine and The Source magazine they both cover genres like rap and hip-hop.  

MInd Maps

AS Media Coursework

 

Task	Date due to start	Date due to complete
Initial ideas and thoughts on paper	Wednesday 19th September	Monday 24th September
Mind maps	Monday 24th September	Tuesday 25th September
Introduction and aims	Tuesday 25th September	Thursday 27th September
Any developments/inspiration of your idea for music magazine	Thursday 27th September	Friday 28th September
Introduction and initial thoughts on preliminary task	Friday 28th September	Monday 1st October
Preliminary task photo shoot	Monday 1st October	Friday 5th October
Development and screen grabs of preliminary task	Friday 5th October	Monday 8th October
Mood boards	Tuesday 9th October	Friday 12th October
Questionnaire	Saturday 13 October	Monday 15th October
Questionnaire graphs and analysis	Tuesday 16th October	Friday 19th October
Development of preliminary task including screen grabs and reflections	Friday 19th October	Monday 22nd October
Finished Prelim pages and evaluation	Tuesday 23rd October	Thursday 25th October
5 textual analysis of music magazine front covers, remember to take photos of real magazines, not from versions on the internet	Thursday 25th October	Monday 29th october
5 textual analysis of music magazine contents pages, remember to take photos of real magazines, not from versions on the internet	Tuesday 30th October	Monday 5th november
2 x Draft layouts of front cover, contents and double page spread	Tuesday 6th november	Thursday 8th november
Contact sheet of all your photographs you have taken	Friday 9th November	Monday 12th november
Screen grabs from front cover	Tuesday 13th november	Thursday 15th november
Peer assessment of front cover and your reflections on those comments	Friday 16th November	Monday 19th November
Screen grabs from contents page	Tuesday 20th November	Thursday 22nd November
Peer assessment of contents page and your reflections on those comments	Friday 23rd November	Monday 26th November
Screen grabs from contents page (you can repeat steps 27-29 as often as you would like)	Tuesday 27th November	Wednesday 28th November
Screen grabs from double page spread (you can repeat steps 30-32 as often as you would like)	Thursday 29th November	Friday 30th November
Final version of front cover, contents page and double page spread (so they appear at the top of your blog)	Monday 2nd December	Wednesday 4th December