Wednesday, 13 April 2016
Tuesday, 12 April 2016
Monday, 11 April 2016
Sunday, 10 April 2016
Saturday, 9 April 2016
Question 3 - What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?
Hello and welcome to my podcast where I will be explaining my
reasons for choosing which publishing company I would choose for my magazine,
Vibe, to be published by.
Today the Bauer Media Group is Europe's largest magazine publisher and a market leader with its titles, including the key markets of Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, Poland and the USA. The company has a presence in a total of 20 countries. In the 1980s the internationalisation of the media company began with Heinz Heinrich Bauer's expansion into the USA. In 1981 Woman's World was launched on the market there as the first weekly women's magazine – a best-seller of millions of copies even at its beginning. In the 1990s the publishing company successfully adapted to the beginning of digitalisation. The integration of printed and digital media steadily increased: the brand world of the people magazine launched in Great Britain in 2000, heat, naturally then includes the Internet portal heatworld.com and the broadcaster heat radio.
I would use Bauer Media for my magazine as they are a conglomerate company who would make my magazine known throughout Europe, like they did for magazines such as ‘Q’ ‘Mojo’ and ‘Kerrang.’ I believe they have a gap for my magazine genre on the market as all these magazines have a more older and mature demographic, so there is space for my magazine. Bauer Media have pre-established systems for large scale distribution which would benefit my product as it would provide multiple points of exchange. Being the largest publishing company in Europe, they will have many connections within the industry which would mean they would get regular customers for my magazine and their high status would ensure that good quality products are provided.
In contrast to this ‘Mixmag’ have an independent publishing company, with their product aimed at a smaller audience. This type of company would not be suitable for my magazine as I have a large target market, who should have easy access to my product. I believe Bauer Media would be a better publishing company for my magazine as they have better brand recognition and have a space in the market for my product as they don’t publish any other pop magazines. In recent years there has been a massive expansion of technology so therefore I would like my magazine to be available on apps such as facebook and snapchat, as my demographic are the people that frequently use these sites and therefore it would be a good and useful way to promote the magazine so that they see it. I would also like a twitter page for my magazine so that my demographic can communicate with the magazine itself and get their ideas inside it and heard by the company. Another magazine I looked at was ‘DJ’ which is a self published and ran by Thurst. This company is so small it doesn’t even have a website, so therefore I would not choose this comoany as it wouldn’t get me the large target market that I’m after. Although DJ is quite a well known magazine, it is not as well-known as other brands such as ‘Q’ and I believe that they don’t have a space for my magazine as DJ’s demographic is too similar to my magazine.
When deciding which company I was going to choose I realised
there were many different factors to consider as each company offers something
different, so I had to decide which would benefit my magazine the most. After
much consideration I chose Bauer Media Group as my publishers.
Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group; Europe’s
largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire
offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio
stations. Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of
many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio -
widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators. Their strategy is
to connect audiences with excellent content through their broad multi-touch
point brand platforms, wherever and whenever and however they want. Their wide
portfolio of influential brands gives us advantages over pure play magazine or
radio competitors.
Today the Bauer Media Group is Europe's largest magazine publisher and a market leader with its titles, including the key markets of Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, Poland and the USA. The company has a presence in a total of 20 countries. In the 1980s the internationalisation of the media company began with Heinz Heinrich Bauer's expansion into the USA. In 1981 Woman's World was launched on the market there as the first weekly women's magazine – a best-seller of millions of copies even at its beginning. In the 1990s the publishing company successfully adapted to the beginning of digitalisation. The integration of printed and digital media steadily increased: the brand world of the people magazine launched in Great Britain in 2000, heat, naturally then includes the Internet portal heatworld.com and the broadcaster heat radio.
I would use Bauer Media for my magazine as they are a conglomerate company who would make my magazine known throughout Europe, like they did for magazines such as ‘Q’ ‘Mojo’ and ‘Kerrang.’ I believe they have a gap for my magazine genre on the market as all these magazines have a more older and mature demographic, so there is space for my magazine. Bauer Media have pre-established systems for large scale distribution which would benefit my product as it would provide multiple points of exchange. Being the largest publishing company in Europe, they will have many connections within the industry which would mean they would get regular customers for my magazine and their high status would ensure that good quality products are provided.
In contrast to this ‘Mixmag’ have an independent publishing company, with their product aimed at a smaller audience. This type of company would not be suitable for my magazine as I have a large target market, who should have easy access to my product. I believe Bauer Media would be a better publishing company for my magazine as they have better brand recognition and have a space in the market for my product as they don’t publish any other pop magazines. In recent years there has been a massive expansion of technology so therefore I would like my magazine to be available on apps such as facebook and snapchat, as my demographic are the people that frequently use these sites and therefore it would be a good and useful way to promote the magazine so that they see it. I would also like a twitter page for my magazine so that my demographic can communicate with the magazine itself and get their ideas inside it and heard by the company. Another magazine I looked at was ‘DJ’ which is a self published and ran by Thurst. This company is so small it doesn’t even have a website, so therefore I would not choose this comoany as it wouldn’t get me the large target market that I’m after. Although DJ is quite a well known magazine, it is not as well-known as other brands such as ‘Q’ and I believe that they don’t have a space for my magazine as DJ’s demographic is too similar to my magazine.
To summarise this I would like to chose Bauer Media to
publish and distribute my magazine as it is the largest publishing company in
Europe and it has a gap for my genre. It will help get my product known and
create Vibe its very own brand identity. Alongside this I would also like to
use social networks such as facebook, twitter and snapchat in order to
introduce the magazine to my demographic and attract them to become constant
readers of my magazine.
Friday, 8 April 2016
Thursday, 7 April 2016
Question 1 - In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?
FRONT COVERS
VIBE MASTHEAD
My masthead is very conventional as it is a third of the page and goes
across the full width of the page. It is positioned behind the head of my
artist which is conventional as it shows that my magazine is well established
as the readers will already know the name of my magazine, so don’t have to be
able to see every single letters in the masthead to know what the name of the
magazine is. The pale pink colour of my masthead sets the house style for the
magazine. Above my masthead you can see my puff which is positioned
conventionally as it is placed above my masthead, which is one of the first
things a potential buyer will look at, so therefore they will see the puff
quickly after picking up the magazine. I used a superlative for my puff
in order to grasp a readers attention.
Q MASTHEAD
Q’s masthead does have conventions however it is not fully conventional.
The depth of the masthead is a third, which is the conventional size for a
masthead however it doesn’t spread across the whole page, it is in the left
hand corner. Due to the large size of the letter Q and the contrasting colours
of the masthead compared to the rest of the front cover, the masthead is still
a very prominent feature, even without being the conventional size. It is able to do this
as
Q has a strong brand identity and is
well established. The artist’s
heads are still positioned in front of the masthead which is the company’s way
of portraying that they are a well-established magazine company. Their red a
white masthead sets the house style for the magazine. Their puff is positioned
in the same way as mine which is above the masthead in order for the potential
buyer to notice it quickly.
VIBE PHOTO
My feature article photo is a teenage girl pop artist. I chose a single
person and a medium close-up shot as I believe it helps the reader or potential
buyer to engage with the artist. To emphasize this point I also made sure that
my artist is making strong eye-contact, which is conventional of a feature
article photo. My photo is in the centre and her shoulders go close to the
sides of the magazine and her head is just over half way up the masthead which
is a good and conventional size for a feature article photo. She is showing
attitude in order to attract potential buyers to the magazine.
Q PHOTO
Q’s feature article photo is of a world famous band U2 which shows that
Q are a very accomplished, well known and significant company as U2 are one of
the biggest bands in the world, that everyone knows of. Their photo is unconventional for a feature article
photo as the image has not been cut out so therefore all the mise-en-scene is
visible behind, which gives the reader a greater understanding of their location which
gives a hint to what the article may be about. They are also not all making eye contact which means the reader can
only engage with the two that are.The camera is just below eye level so that
the members are slightly looking down to make them look more intimidating,
which is conventional of a ‘rock star’ style.
VIBE COVERLINE
My coverline is conventional as the
font is a lot larger than that of the fonts of the plugs making it stand out to
the reader and therefore making it clear that it is the main subject of the
magazine. It is also in bold and completely capitalized which emphasizes the
importance of it to be seen quickly by the reader. I used a slightly
unconventional technique of giving the letters an ‘outer glow’ as I believe
that this works well with the glitter of the cover stars dress and connotes
glowing lights, such as spotlights, which link to fame therefore representing
the star featured.
Q COVERLINE
Q’s coverline is very unconventional as
it is tilted and goes over the centre of the feature article photo. As the
photo is a long shot, this doesn’t block the artists in the photo, or draw all
the attention away from them, so although unconventional - it still works well.
It is also unconventional due to the font used, the coverline is written in the
same font that is used for the U2 logo, and therefore helps it relate to the
artists. Where my Vibe Magazine used a glow to represent my artist through the
coverline, Q used a font. Although most aspects are unconventional, it does
still follow conventions such as the font being much larger than the font of
the plugs and being bold so that it stands out straight away to the reader.
VIBE PLUGS
Vibe has three sets of plugs that are
flushed right, flushed left and along the bottom.The plugs along the bottom
unconventional as it is rare for plugs to be central on a front cover as this means
going over the feature article photo. As my strip is only thin it doesn’t block
the photo too much and I also changed the opacity so the rectangle going across
is transparent and therefore the photo can still be seen through the plug. The
plugs at the sides are conventional as they are flushed left and right and do
not obstruct the feature article photo. It is also conventional that I have
used a variety of fonts and colors in my plugs, but have still managed to stick
to my colour scheme of pink, yellow and white.
Q PLUGS
Q’s plugs are unconventional as they
going across the entire width of the page and over the feature article
photograph. This portrays that even though Q are conventional, they can be
‘rebellious’ and ‘break the rules’ which represents their demographic. All the
plugs are in the same font as the U2 logo font which means that whilst a reader
may be reading about another artist, the attention will still be on the main
feature article. Q are unconventional here as their font or colour doesn’t vary
at all in the whole of the yellow strip, except for a few slight font size
changes. Another thing that is unconventional is the fact that there are small
photos with the plugs, which is unusual as a front cover usually only has one
photo, but this gives Q a sense of individuality and makes it unique and
different to other magazines. However the plug running across the bottom is
conventional as two different colours are used and it is written in a different
font so there is some variety.
Overall I believe both Q and Vibe are
conventional music magazines, with unconventional features which makes them
unique in the magazine industry.
CONTENTS PAGES
VIBE TITLE
My
title is unconventional due to the font I have chosen to use. I chose the font
‘Finger Paint’ as I wanted to portray how my demographic are fun and creative,
and don’t always stick to the rules. The position of it however is conventional
as it is in the top left-hand corner which is the first place a reader would
look.
Q TITLE
Q’s
title is conventional due to them using a sophisticated font that is bold,
capitalised and clear to read. It is also conventional that they have
positioned it in the top left-hand corner as it would be the first place that a
reader will look. They have also been conventional by using their colour scheme
of white, black and red which means that they’ve immediately carried their
house style through to the contents page, and a reader will see that from the
first word they read.
VIBE (COVERSTAR)
PHOTO
The
photos on my contents page are fairly unconventional due to the amount of
photos that I’ve used, however my cover stars photo is slightly larger than the
photos of the other artists which is conventional as it shows to the reader
that she is the main focus of the magazine. However the size difference isn’t
really obvious as I believe that the article was already highly promoted on the
front cover and I wanted to make sure I covered many other artist articles as
well, to make my magazine appeal to a wider group of people. I used a posed
shot with a lot of personality and attitude to create energy in the photo and
make the reader intrigued to see what the article is about.
U2 (COVERSTAR)
PHOTO
Q’s
magazine is similar to my magazines and is again quite unconventional due to
the amount of photos they have used. Again, unconventionally, the cover stars
are not the biggest photos on the page as there is another band that have a
’21-Page Special’ in the magazine and therefore have the biggest photo. I
believe that this is done due to U2 already being highly promoted on the front
cover, and therefore making this band bigger gives them the chance to be
promoted as well. This photo of the band New Order is unconventional as it goes
across the two pages of the double paged contents, but I believe this works as
it quickly catches the readers attention as it is in the centre of the contents
page. The photo of U2 is very similar to the photo on the front cover, it is
from the same photoshoot which is a conventional thing for a magazine to do.
But this helps any reader who looks inside the magazine to find U2 after
looking at the front cover as they will recognise the photo quickly which means
that it doesn’t matter that the photo itself if smaller than how it
conventionally should be. VIBE GOSSIP
COLUMN
My
‘Gossip Columns’ are conventional for pop magazines and are often used in
magazines such as ‘Top of the Pops’ and ‘We Heart Pop’ however they are
unconventional in magazines as a general. Even though the columns aren’t
particularly about music, they’re about the daily lives of the people who make
the music which attracts readers as they like to know what the artists are up
to.
VIBE REVIEW
COLUMN
I
have included Q’s idea of a review column. This is unconventional for a
contents page, however I thought it would be a good thing to include as I
believe it strongly appeals to my demographic. The social groups of my
demographic are new affluent workers and emerging service workers, both of
which are into concerts, festivals and clubbing, which is what the reviews in
this columns are about.
Q REVIEW COLUMN
Like
the review column in Vibe magazine, it is unconventional. However, again I
think it works as it appeals to Q’s demographic and brings originality to the
magazine.
VIBE GENERAL
LAYOUT
Vibes
layout in general is fairly unconventional as it is a double page spread, and
also has more photos than typically conventional. However it does have
conventions such as clear page numbers and headings for the artists and the
actual photos themselves are fairly conventional in terms of size and poses.
Q GENERAL LAYOUT
Q’s
layout is unconventional as it is also a double page spread and has more
writing and photos than that of a typical contents page.
DOUBLE PAGE
SPREAD
VIBE TITLE
The
positioning of my title is unconventional as it follows the shape of my models
body. It is also quite short as it is only one-word long. I decided to create
my title to be quite unconventional in order to bring originality to my
magazine and also so that the reader sees the photo and title as one so there
is a clear link that they are connected. Although unconventional, l I did
follow a few key conventions such as my title being big, clear and bold and
also it being positioned at the top of the page.
Q TITLE
Q’s
title is conventional. It is big and bold, and the colour contrasts to that of
the background so it is very clear to read. It does its job of giving the reader a brief idea on what the article is going to be about. The font used is also conventional as it is bold and formal so clear to read.
VIBE PHOTO
Vibes
photo is unconventional as it goes along the top of both pages of the double
page spread instead of just taking up one whole page. It is also unconventional
that the photo is not cut out and that all the mise-en-scene is visible. I did
this so that the reader would have an insight into how the artist made her
album, as the photo is taken in a music studio. Although the positioning is
unconventional, the size is still conventional as it is still the same large
size, it is just landscape rather than portrait.
Q PHOTO
Q’s
photo is very similar to Vibe’s so again is unconventional. It goes across the
top of the two double pages rather than just being the size of one of the A4
pages, however it is still just as large as it should be, so the size is
conventional.
VIBE COLUMN
(MUST KNOW)
This
column is unconventional, however I got this idea from Q magazine. I believed
that it would be useful for my demographic, who would be serious about music
themselves, as it gives them an insight into the steps a successful artist has
took to create her album. It also gives them the names of producers and
songwriters to help give others a starting place when trying to produce their
own album.
Q COLUMN (MUST
KNOW)
Like
Vibe’s Must Know column, it is unconventional. However I believe that it gives
the double page spread a sense of originality and makes it unique to other
magazines. It offers its demographic something that other magazines don’t – and
that’s the information they need if they want to become a successful artist,
like the star shown, which helps the reader engage with the magazine.
VIBE PULL QUOTE
My
pull quote is a conventional feature, as it is a part of the text that is
pulled out and enlarged. I chose the quote ‘This life I had been living wasn’t
me’ as I knew that a potential reader would read that before anything else, so
needed something that would intrigue them to the article. I thought this quote
would be suitable as it makes the reader want to read and find out, what the
life she had been living was like, why it wasn’t who she actually is and who
she really is.
Q PULL QUOTE
Q’s
pull quote is conventional as it has been pulled from the text and been bolded
and enlarged. They also chose a suitable quote that would intrigue a potential
reader as ‘I was on tour drinking too much and going off the rails’ makes the
reader want to know what caused her to do this and what she did exactly that
was going off the rails.
VIBE DROP CAP /
STANDFIRST
My
drop cap is conventional as it is much larger and bolder than any of the other
letters in the text and goes down the conventional depth of 4 lines. This means
that it is bold and eye-catching and directs the readers eyes to the start of
the article. It also follows my house style of pink, yellow, white and black
and it is pink and white and the pink matches the pink of my masthead. My
standfirst is conventional as it is a lot bolder than the other text in my
article however, it is unconventional as I have used two different colours. I
did this because I wanted the artists name ‘Aaliyah Hart’ in a different
colour so it could stand out boldly so
it is clear what the article is about.
Q DROP CAP /
STANDFIRST
Q’s
dropcap is conventional as it is at the beginning of the article as is the
conventional size of a dropcap. It also sticks to the colour scheme of the
magazine as it is red and white and therefore continues the housestyle. Q’s
standfirst is also conventional as it is a lot larger than the other text in
the article and is also a different colour so it stands out.
VIBE COLUMN
My
column is unconventional in general of a double page spread, however it is
quite conventional in pop genre magazines. Not all artists can have an entire
article written about them so this feature gives them a bit of advertisement
and also gives the reader an insight of other artists and what they will be up
to soon. This range of artists and information gives Vibe the opportunity to
wider their demographic and expand their magazine.
Q COLUMN
Q’s
column is unconventional for a double page spread however it gives lots of
extra information. It gives information on other artists which don’t have a
whole article to themselves which helps readers and their fans know what
they’re up to and what they can expect from them soon, which adds originality
to their magazine and also gives them a chance to expand their demographic.
VIBE RUNNING
HEAD
My
running head is conventional of a pop-magazine. It carriers the house style
immediately through as well as giving the reader a brief sense on what the
articles on. I used the pink that I used for my masthead so that the house
style is clear and also changed the opacity of it so the mise-en-scene of my
phot is still visible behind.
Q RUNNING HEAD
Q’s
running head is conventional of a music magazine. It continues Q’s house style
through to the double page spread as it carries on the read and white colour
scheme. It also gives the reader a brief insight into what the article is
about.
VIBE PHOTOS
It
is conventional for a double page s[read to also include some smaller photos.
Although, unconventionally, I positioned them all together, this was to show,
in order, the journey the artist went on to create her album and the different
steps she took. Then below these photos I included a captioned photo of her
album cover that I made to show the finished product of her hard work, and to
portray to my readers that this is what you can achieve if you don’t give up.
LI’S SIGNATURE
Including
an artist signature is an unconventional feature however it is a unique feature
that I have decided to use as I believe that it gives the reader a personal
engagement with the artist and highlights that this article is her story, from
her personal point of view.
Friday, 5 February 2016
Thursday, 4 February 2016
Wednesday, 13 January 2016
Double Page Draft 12
Double Page Draft 11
I've added in the photos of my six celebs for my 'In the Pipeline' column and have started writing about them. They are all medium close ups so that the box is like a 'head-shot' of each artist to show who they are, but they're all doing different poses to reflect their personalities.
Double Page Draft 10
I realized I didn't like how I'd used the column at the side of my double page, as I realized I could make better use of that space. Therefore I've made it an 'In the Pipeline' column where I will write a small piece about 6 different 'celebs' with a small photo of them next to it. I've also added my title (which is also the name of her album.) I decided to be original with this and therefore have made it run along the shape of her body. Doing this means that my overall double page spread is organised and neat, as my demographic requested, but also fun and unique which is conventional as pop as a genre.
Double Page Draft 9
I've added in the rest of my writing in my article. I also got rid of the photo in the bottom left hand corner as I felt it didn't fit there very well and the photos looked neater all together at the top of the page, I also already had a photo of her singing so it was an unnecessary photo. I have also added a running head the same colour pink that features throughout my magazine and the 'VIBE' is written in the same font as the masthead. I've also added in a little caption underneath the album cover to tell the reader what it is, where the album is available and the price.
Double Page Draft 8
Here I've added in my three smaller photos, sticking to my measurements I previously measured out so all three are the same size with the album cover at the bottom. They are a columns length and the last photo is in line with the bottom of the main photo so they make one neat rectangle shape.
Double Page Draft 7
I've taken out the photos next to my main image as it didn't like the size differences and how they looked together. I have now carefully measured the depths so that the three photos I upload will be equal sizes when I re-upload them, except for the album cover which will be square shaped underneath the other three smaller ones with a caption underneath it, explaining what it is.
Double Page Draft 6
I didn't feel that having the four photos next to the main image was working, so therefore moved one down to the bottom left-hand corner. This means that the pictures now are not too squashed together and are clearer to see. I also added a 'Must Know' column, which I made opaque so that you can still see all the mise-en-scene behind the rectangle, and the pink matches the pink from the masthead to carry on the house style even more. I've then included all the facts about her new album, where it was recorded, the names of the producers etc as my demographic asked (through my survey) that they wanted my magazine to show a passion for music and a knowledge of music, so therefore I believe the people reading this article will be serious about music, maybe even looking for a career in music and therefore it is useful to have the names of producers and studios. I've also added a drop-cap, matching my other pinks used, as this is a conventional thing to have in an article as it draws the reader to the text. I've also bolded the questions the interviewer from Vibe is asking as the reader will quickly notice the questions, and then want to know the answer, which again draws them to the text.
Double Page Draft 5
I added in my main photo, which is my star in a recording studio. I chose to carefully arrange, and keep the mise-en-scene to give the reader a view of her actually recording her album, which is what the interview is about. My model has a neutral facial expression to portray how making music is her job, not just for fun and that also her album is on quite a serious topic, her songs are telling the listener about the hard things she's had to face in her life, for the first time ever she's telling her story. Beside the main picture are four smaller photos, one which is her album cover, and three which show in more depth her creating her album, recording and producing it,
Double Page Draft 4
I started filling in my feature columns which I decided to make an advertising column for the next issue of the magazine, which relates to the star the double page spread is about. I got this idea after reviewing other pop magazines and noticing they often give away free posters in issues. I also wrote, and chose a font for, my pull-out quote, and made a signature for my star, Aaliyah and placed it at the bottom of the last column of writing, so it is as if she is signing off from her interview.
Double Page Draft 3
After comparing my double page spread to other magazines, such as Q, I realized that my font size was far too large and therefor made all the main writing in the article smaller so it is now a size 9.
Double Page Draft 2
I then added in my stand-first which I made pink, matching my masthead, so that the house style continues into the magazine. I started writing out my article, which is an interview with my cover star about her new album and have planned where my pull-out quote is going to go.
Double Page Draft 1
Creating an Album Cover
I started off with three photos I'd taken, where I had got my model to look straight into the camera, as I believe if the artist is making eye contact with the buyer, it grips them more as they feel like they can connect more with the artist. I then also got her to look to the left and the right so that I had her at 'all angles' as I believe that links to her album title 'Absolute-Li' as it's as if it's completely her - her fans can see her now from all angles. I asked my model to have neutral facial expressions in order to create a sense of mystery to her album which would draw the demographic into buying it.
I firstly uploaded the photo of my mode looking straight forward as this would be my main, central photo for the album cover, I then added effects to the photo in order to change the colouring. As I wanted to carry on with my sense of 'mystery; to this album, I took a lot of the colour away, especially from her face so that the photo is mainly black and white, with just a hint of colour on her lips and nose. The colour effects I used are as labelled in the photos above.
I then added my two side photos, In order to not take too much attention away from the main photo I used the opacity tool so they are clear, but subtle and behind the main photo. The fact that they're not as clear as the front facing photos portrays her albums message that everyone can see the front face she puts on, but now for the first time she's starting to let people see the other sides of her, however they're not as clear to see as the front facing her. Her album is about showing her fans who she really is, and not who she was pretending be.
This is the final album cover. The title is a play-on word as Aaliyah's nickname with her 'fans' is Li so instead of Absolutely it is spelt Absolute-Li to emphasize that her album is 100% the real her.
Tuesday, 12 January 2016
Contents Draft 14
I finished writing out my review column and then used a line guide in order to line everything in that column up, to fit my demographics request that was shown in my survey results, which was for my magazine to have an organised structure.
Contents Draft 13
I finished filling in my two new columns, and also my writing for each artist. They've got more writing individually than a typical magazine would give an artist, but again I've taken my inspiration here from Q's contents page, and believe that as every artist mentioned has their own photo it is a more personal description, as the reader can see them, therefore I can write more about them as individuals and as my contents is a double page I have the space to do this. I've also added in my page numbers which match the pinks of the two gossip columns and the pink in the review column (which is the pink from the masthead) so that the house style is clear throughout the magazine. The numbers are very bold so that my magazine can fit it's purpose of being able to easily navigate the reader around the magazine and the number is very close to it's artist so it is clear which number is for which artist,
Contents Draft 12
I moved a few of my artists around so that everything fitted better on my contents pages and to try to reduce the negative space to as little as possible. I've added two boxes one called 'Celebs and Gossip' and one called 'All About You' as when researching pop magazine contents pages a lot of them had these sections, or sections similar to this, therefore it looked like a popular feature for a pop magazine to have so I added them into my magazine in my own way. Even though these are technically more 'gossip' than music, I believe that there is a very fine line between gossip and music, and the gossip is all about the pop music stars. Also due to big pop-magazines like Billboard having these columns on their contents page, it must be a usual thing to have in pop music magazines. I also added the social media links for the magazine at the bottom as I believe that artists careers are a lot to do with social media, and most readers will have it so it is a good way to advertise the magazine and make it more popular (and also a way to keep customers buying the magazine regularly as if they see the magazines tweets, they will feel like they know the magazine well, almost like they are the magazine's 'friend' as they can keep in contact with the company even when not reading the magazine.)
Contents Draft 11
Contents Page Draft 10
I no longer liked how I was doing the page numbers (again) so I took them away. I think I will just add the page numbers in on their own, not in a box or bubble, but in a bold font and a colour that contrasts to the background.
Contents Page Draft 9
I've changed the font used for the title of the contents and I didn't like the other one. This one has a slight 'drawn on' effect which I think emphasizes the ideas of 'fun and creative' which pop-music displays.
Contents Page Draft 8
I've started measuring and filling out my review columns, so I will have two 'Live' sections, three 'New' sections and one 'Reissue.'
Contents Page Draft 7
I've started to plan out the page, where artists will go etc, so I have an idea of where I am heading with the contents page. I have also tried presenting the page numbers now in circles rather than speech bubbles as I believe they look more sophisticated.
Contents Page Draft 6
Contents Page Draft 5
I added a grey background so that my house-style carries on into the contents page, I've made sure that the grey used is the same shade as the grey on my front cover.
Contents Page Draft 4
I've started adding speech bubbles from the artists which will have their page numbers inside. The reason I'm doing this is to create a more friendly and welcoming vibe to the magazine, so it's like the artist is talking to the reader when they see the contents page. The reason for them all being different colours is to represent a sense of fun and freedom, yet still sophisticated., because even though my demographic are well educated, they are still young.
Contents Page Draft 3
I've started adding more photos of my artists and planning where to position them. I've also added my review column. Originally I was going to do the column the same width and height of the actual column it's in, but after looking at Q's review column I liked this way they had presented it.
Contents Page Draft 2
My first photo is the width of the first column as this will make my column clear. I've also made sure that one of the heads goes over the the contents banner as this is a conventional thing to do, as it makes it seem as if the artist is actually part of the magazine instead of him just being a picture within it. This gives the magazine a friendly and welcoming vibe,
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