Final front cover of music magazine

This is the final product of my music magazine front cover. I chose this layout of my music magazine as I thought it made the magazine look plain and simple yet effective. I think that if this magazine was on the shelves in a shop it would be eye catching as it is very different from all other music magazines. I chose the title 'INSPIRE' as the definition of inspire is ‘to fill or affect with a specified feeling or thought’ I thought this was a good meaning for the name of the magazine as it fills the readers mind with information, feelings and thoughts of music and music is also and inspiration to a lot of people the font which I used for the title is also very delicate and feminine which immediately shows the audience which the magazine is aimed at.

I have only used one picture for the front cover of my magazine as I think if i added more pictures it would take the attention off the main picture. My reason for choosing this picture is the models look very natural which also shows the audience which the magazine is appealing to.

My music magazine looks very original and unique and isn't already available on the market, this in itself will attract the audience which the product is aimed at. I also changed the layout of my front cover to what I had planned, the plugs on the side of the page covered the picture too much and the bottom of the page looked empty with the barcode on its own so I created another plug at the bottom of the page I think this makes it stand out more.

Photographs for my music magazine

Draft of my music magazines

Above is an example of how I am going to create the front cover of my magazine. I want the front cover of my magazine to be simple and to just have one main picture of the band featured in the magazine. I am also just going to have a few plugs on the front cover as I don't want the magazine to look too busy.

Above is an example of how the double page spread of my magazine is going to look, I chose to do the picture as the main feature on the page however I will still have quite a lot of text on my double page spread as this is the page which will have the interview on.

The picture above is an example of what my contents page for my music magazine is going to look like. My contents page will be the page containing the most photos, this makes the contents look more exciting and interesting.

Examples of Music magazines

This front cover from NME magazine is very busy and full, this makes the reader want to buy their magazine as it looks exciting. When creating my magazine I want the front cover to be simple as I think its hard to take in all of the information on the front cover of this magazine as its too busy.

This front cover is from Hip hop magazine, the front cover only has one photograph on and has a very bold title, when creating my magazine I am just going to use one picture on the front cover of the magazine as I dont want it to look busy. I also like how this magazine front cover has only used 3 colours, this is what I would like to create when making my music magazine.

The front cover above is an example from Rolling Stone magazine, I like the way that they have kept to one colour scheme and not used lots of different colours and fonts however they have covered the name of the magazine, this shows that the magazine is well known and people can recognise it just by what you can see in the cover.

Contents Page of Magazines

The contents page above is taken from Rolling stone magazine. This contents page focuses on one main artist rather than all of the artists in the magazine. The picture in the contents page is the main feature of this issue of the magazine, like the hip hop connection magazine Rolling stone don’t use a lot of different colours and just have one picture rather than several. I would like to create my contents page to look like this one from the Rolling stone magazine.

The contents page above is taken from Hip hop connection magazine. This contents page is very simple and easy to use, using one photograph and one coloured font it’s easy to understand. I would like to create my contents page to look similar to this one as I don’t think contents pages should look too full and busy they should be easy to follow and give all of the information needed. The font doesn’t catch the readers attention however the idea of putting the photograph of a celebrity on the contents page gets the readers attention. These colours are used to keep the page simple and so id doesn’t have lots of different things going on.

The contents page above is from NME magazine. This contents page looks very busy and exciting however it doesn’t look easy to follow and read. They have used lots of different colours and fonts making the page look exciting, the title of the magazine is also displayed on the contents page and unlike the magazine above it has lots photographs. As the contents page is the first page in the magazine it’s the first thing after the front cover which the readers look at, this contents page shows the magazine contents as being exciting, fun, busy and hectic. However the page doesn’t give a lot of information, when creating my contents page I would like to create it like the contents page from hip hop connection rather than the NME contents page.

Double page spreads from magazines

This double page spread is an example from hip hop connection magazine, the double page spread is an interview with the artist featured in the picture. I would like to create my double page spread in the style of this one, it doesn’t use a lot of different fonts and colours and it looks really simple yet effective as the title and the picture of the artist really stand out in this double page spread. Although when creating my double page spread I want the picture to be the main feature and I would spread the picture across onto to pages rather than just the one.

The double page spread above is from Rolling Stone magazine, it shows a large image and hardly any text, when creating my magazine double page spread I will have more text as I would like my double page spread to be an exclusive interview with a band whereas this double page spread looks more like and advertisement. The double page spread above is black and white, this is effective as the writing really stands out. I like the idea of using very neutral and not many colours in the double page spread as I think it shows the photograph and the text better it also represents the band in the picture well.

I looked at these double page spreads to get ideas on how to create my own double page spread. This example is from NME magazine, I like how this double page spread was simple, there isn't a lot of colours however it still sands out. I also think that it looks feminine and fits in well with the style of the magazine which I want to create. I think that the picture in this double page spread shows the musicians personality and helps bring her character across to the audience. I like the layout of this double page spread as there is still quite a lot of text even though the picture is big. The colours in the background of the picture are neutral and pale and make the artist stand out in the picture. The title is also big and bold making it noticeable to the reader.

Magazine Identity

Magazine identity

The target audience for my magazine is females age 16-25, I think that this is quite a large target audience however not many music magazines are aimed at this specific audience. My magazine will feature more acoustic and pop music rather than rock music like other music magazines.

I will appeal to my target audience by creating a magazine which I feel is most suitable for them, most 16-25 year old females have an interest in fashion and celebrity gossip as well as music. Although my magazine is a music magazine it will include aspects of fashion and celebrities however it will have exclusive interviews and will mainly have professionally photographed pictures rather than paparazzi photographs.

My magazine will be good quality, will contain a lot and will be issued weekly which makes it more like a womens weekly magazine. The magazine won't be priced too high mainly because it is a weekly magazine and the main target audience is students so they wont want to pay a lot of money for a magazine.