BASS FRONT COVER

This is my final magazine cover, I decided on this look as I was aspiring to achieve a very urban r&b related cover and after looking at inspiration from other covers such as Vibe and XXL, i believe I achieved this. The main parts of the cover that I think are effective is the colour scheme and the main image. I tried to keep this as simple as possible because through looking at other already existing magazines, they tend to have 3 or less colors. In terms of how I chose my tag lines, I wanted to make sure that readers could easily identify the magazine as being a urban genre. I also featured already existing famous artists as that would automatically appeal fans.

INITAL IDEAS FOR MUSIC MAGAZINE

I will be designing a music magazine based on Urban music which covers R&B and Hip Hop. The purpose of my magazine will be to entertain young people with interest in the music genre and enjoy reading the latest gossip about celebrities, plus getting insight on the latest music. Because of this, straight away my magazine is going to have an audience of young people, the ages of 16-21, I know this because I conducted a questionnaire which identified this age group as being the strongest. The fact that my magazine will be for such a young group of people, I need to make sure that it is fresh and current and will entertain them.  In terms of what will feature on my magazine, I will need to take into context things such as the title of the magazine, cover lines and tag lines. Ideas for my cover lines will be lines such as “the hottest new music” “fresh artists” and “drama between Rihanna and Beyonce”. These are all cover lines that will grasp my audience’s attention as they make my magazine sound extremely exciting. It is important that I engage my audience as they are so many, already existing music magazines which claim to offer the same things mine will. I will take strengths from a wide range of magazines in order to apply them to mine and make it as effective as possible. Additionally, I have had to consider possible titles for my magazine. I need to pick a title that will instantly grip people and make them want to purchase it. titles like "music" or "rhythm and rhyme" have no originality to them which is why I chose 'BASS'. it stands out and directly appeals to the public and makes the message being put across easy to understand and identifiable to music.  The presentation of my magazine is vital as things such as the front cover image, colors and dimensions all contribute in making it visually appealing. Because my magazine is going to appeal to a broad audience, I cant just have gender specific colors or images as this wont make it as marketable. In terms of where it will be taken, either in a simple setting or a blank canvas will work quite work. I particularlly think a white canvas as a background will be the best option as it allows the coverlines of the cover to stand out and it allows you to edit the image and be more creative with it.

The next thing is the publishing of my magazine. I would publish it fornitghtly as through my questionnaire I discovered this was how often people bought music magazines . It will also need to to be up to date with seasonal changes and any events that take place, this will help in keeping my magazine relevant and utlimately keep my readers interested.

This is my inital flat plan of how I would like the front cover of magazine to look like:

Flatplan for my contents page:

Flat plan for contents page:

CONTENTS & DOUBLE PAGE SPREADS INSPIRATION

For my third and fourth pieces of research, I decided to do research on existing contents pages and double paged spreads. I decided to do this as I felt it would give me additional help in understanding the type of look I'll need to achieve in order to create a successful magazine.

The two contents pages are from Vibe magazine and the reason I chose to specifically use examples from Vibe because I liked the simplicity of it and the ability to easily allow its readers to read the information but also be unique with its design. Elements such as the text font flows as it is the similar style used on Vibe's front cover. This helps readers to easily identify the magazine and also make it more visually appealing

For the double paged spreads, I took examples from Ebony Magazine. One of the main things which appealed to me about both spreads is how captivating they are. In both spreads they have used very powerful images which have appealing qualities to them. This is something I'll need to capture for my own magazine as the image is what initially makes the first impression.

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR MUSIC MAGAZINES

To also contribute to research for my magazine, I conducted a questionnaire to a range of different people in my college and the public. In total I asked 30 people as I didn't want a large scale questionnaire but something I can easily use and analayse. From my questionnaire I found that the strongest age group is between 16 and 18 and the type of music magazine they enjoy is urban which is great news as thats what I'll be basing my magazine on. Through my questionnaire I also found out the type of content which the public would most be interested in. This is all very useful information as it helps me to make a even more effective and enjoyable magazine.

RESEARCH INTO URBAN MUSIC MAGAZINES

I've decided to do my music magazine based on a urban genre. This covers music such as r&b and hip hop. I specifically chose to do this kind of genre because its the kind of music that im already very fimilar with and I feel I would be able to embrace it better and make a magazine based on it to a higher level. In order to get inspired in making my magazine cover, I researched magazines which already specialise in this genre and found magazines such as vibe, ebony, r&b and billboard. In terms of the covers that really grasped my attention, I chose the 3 on the left hand side. These will hopefully, along with others inspire me to make a strong cover.

By looking through at all the different kind of magazines I know the element which i'll need to make the strongest is the main image. A music has to make sure that its image is really strong as it what ultimately uplifts an artist and make them appealing to an audience. Its different to a fashion magazine as their selling point is the clothes however in this instance the selling point is the artist themselves. 

The next thing to take into mind is my coverlines. From the magazines I've researched, they tend to name other big artists on the cover as this helps readers identify the selling point and hopefully entice them into buying it. In terms of the structure, my coverlines have spaced out porportionatley making sure the main image isnt covered, their visible and easy to read. I specifically looked at the Billboard cover of alicia keys as inpsiration as I like how it plays on her latest single "girl on fire" as the main cover line. This instantly stands out and fans across the world can pick up on it.

After looking at the visual elements, I need to go into

more depth about my audience and the group of people who would be interested in my magazine. Covers like both my Vibe magazine examples would appeal to males as Lil wayne is a notorious rapper famous for his music group young money but also his own solo career. Just from the design to how intimidating and powerful he looks, its not something a young female would be appealed to. Just as the cover with Beyonce, it very much plays with the male gaze through how lustful she looks. You could also argue it appeals to females as Beyonce over the years has built herself up to be role model therefore female readers would envy her looks and read in the magazine in admiration. I need to make sure I do further research into my target audience so I know the age group.  I can do this by conducting questionnaires and making sure I ask a variety of people with different ages, gender, perspectives etc but with the same interest in Urban Music.

MAGAZINE CONTENTS PAGE

This is my final contents page, i found making my contents page fairly easy because I already had things such as the colour scheme etc sorted since I had done my magazine cover. Because of that, it was just the simple case of making it look professional and bringing my magazine together as a complete project

FINAL MAGAZINE COVER

I am finally pleased with my final magazine cover. A lot changed throughout the process of making it as i was constantly unhappy with the text, layout image etc which meant I kept going back and changing things. To show how my magazine changed this is how it first appeared when I thought i was done and dusted:

Although the image remained the same, a lot of my taglines, colour scheme and the font style changed as I thought it didnt look very professional and seemed unfinished. I decided to be a bit more bold with my cover and go for a brighter color scheme which would really stand out. This is something I pointed out in my plan. When i first started making my cover I realised that I wasnt doing a lot of the things I had mentioned in my plan which is why i was always unhappy with it. Intsead, I decided to look for inspiration and look at magazines such as VOGUE and COLLEGE which both have magazines which are nicely done. Their magazines are very appealing to the eye in terms of how they grab your attention from the image all the way to to the text and so on. I'd like to think this is something I tried to do and hopefully achieved. Another thing which I made a change to was thew title, to begin with I tried to be quirky by calling it 'Ur' Future, however after looking at magazines for examples I found they only used one word which stood out, was easy to remember and quite catchy. This lead me to the direction of 'Generation'. Generation is a strong word which stands for diversity and a group people as a whole. In terms of my magazine, this is a young generation magazine which is for young people to turn to for advice on colleges but also on having fun and any tips and ideas they may need. This is represented through my cover lines, I picked "top 10 colleges in hampshire and they want you", " thank god its friday, hottest spots in the south", "what uni's want; top tips to success", "make money whilst studying; quick and easy","college couture, outfit ideas to impress" and "splat! lets go paintaballing". I personally think that these are effective cover lines as they tell the public what type of magazine Generation is and also have appealing qaulities to them which my target audience would appreciate. I made sure how they were layed out would also contribute in the design of my magazine and took into consideration all the colors being balanced and it not being too overpowering.