Band Identity - Style and Posing

18:31 music , Music Magazine 0 Comments

To get some ideas together about band identity I have decided to make some mood boards to help with creativity. These boards are to help with style and posing for my models. I made these boards in Photoshop and each board is based around different bands that fit the genre that i am aiming for in my magazine.

Research Into My Target Audence - Questionare Results

17:45 music , Music Magazine 0 Comments

I took results after 10 people had taken my questionnaire. I used prezi so display these results.

Research Into My Target Audence - Questionare

17:40 music , Music Magazine 0 Comments

In order to better understand who to target my music magazine at i decided to put together a questionnaire on polljunkie which is a free online poll making website. I used this site because it allowed me to make the poll and upload it and then strangers were able to find it and take the poll, this helped me gather results from people who were willing to take the poll.
Here is the link to the questionnaire: www.polljunkie.com/poll/xdkfej/music-magazine

Analysis - Double Page Spread

16:55 music , Music Magazine 0 Comments

 This is a double page spread from ‘Mojo’ Magazine. Similar to NME this features a main image that takes up all of a page. Again the colour scheme is consistent, this time with the black background carrying on across both pages and text in white. An accent colour is present again in the form of a golden shade used to draw the eye to important names, quotes and figures. This double page spread does not have the article in columns or have any quotes wrapping round the text like the article in NME magazine; however, it does have the beginning letter of the article, in this case a ‘W’, much larger than the rest of the body of text, it is also indented into the article.

Analysis - Contents Page

16:53 music , Music Magazine 0 Comments

On the contents page, there is a small masthead of the magazine. This is used to remind the reader of the magazine that they are reading. It is also to associate with the listing of the music charts, which has been provided by the magazine. This is a unique feature that the magazine provides.

‘Contents’ is placed at the top of the page, and used a bold font in black. This informs the reader of what the page is, making it easy for them to find. This font is also very bold against the white background, clearly stating what the page is. 

On the page there are multiple images relating to the stories listed below. There are also page numbers associated with each image, making it easier to find the article that this image relates to. The main image is of an artist, who is situated on the center right of the page. This causes the reader to look down the page to where the articles are listed. 

The colours consist of whites, blues and blacks making it very minimalistic. This allows the page to look neat and easy to read, with main information being highlighted in the blue. This is also a very calming colour, helping the reader to easily navigate the page without being distracted by too many features.
The page has been split up into two sections, with the directory of the articles on the right, and the charts on the left. This allows the reader to easily navigate around the page and find the information they want quickly. 
This page is also unique compared to others with the use of the charts. Showing the no.1s and selected songs of the week, it really gets into the feel of a music magazine before getting into the main parts of the magazine. However, this isn't distracting from the rest of the page, and fits in well with the layout. 




 By having one of the leads of “140 songs to download now!” they are able appeal to the audience of the magazine. Due to it being a music magazine, this will highly interest their readers, which is why it has been presented in a bold, black font. 
The magazine has been well laid out with text boxes to display the information down the left side of the page. They layout clearly represents what is contained within the magazine, with images situated on the right side of the page, with page numbers for the corresponding articles.  The large image of Lana Del Ray suggests that this is the main article within the magazine. This will attract the audience which are interested in the artist. 
The colour scheme for this content page is minimal by using reds, blacks and whites. These colours are quite neutral, yet the red allows certain features to stand out against the page. The titles and the numbers for the stories are in red which suggests that they are important to the magazine
The main image is of Lana Del Ray, suggesting that she is the main focus within the magazine. She is looking directly at the reader, creating eye contact and attracting the reader to the page this image also further stands out against the page by using a close up shot of the artist, while having blood on her face. This adds some mystery to the theme of the article, which can cause the reader to become more interested in the contents of the magazine.
The content page uses a lot of direct modes of address such as “we” and “you” which makes the reader feel like they are being directly talked to. It is also very demanding with ‘140 songs to demand now!’ This causes a sense of urgency among the reader, causing them to want to see this list and what they are supposed to download. 



The main image is a mid shot of the vocalist from the band The Bronx who is shown singing at a gig. The image is larger than the others on the page, showing that it is the main feature of the magazine,. This is then coupled with the page number of the article and a brief description of the article. The page number is also in a yellow, bold font, causing it to stand out against the image. This further implies that this is an important article which should be read by the reader. 
 There are many images on this page of a variety of articles to attract different types of readers. Like the main image, they are coupled with the page number and description. This is to give the reader a taste of the article before they are to read it.
The date and issue number are important features as they show how current it is. This then informs the reader of previous issues that they may have missed. Also they are in a white font contrasting with the black box, helping it to stand out. 
Like the title at the top of the page, yellow bold sub headings in the same font as masthead have been positioned underneath. The sub headings show the reader what the main areas of interest the magazine features. 
The colours consist of yellow, black and white. This is minimalistic, with the yellow being used to highlight the main features of the page such as page numbers.  Red is also used at the bottom of the page for subscription deals to the magazine. This also allows it to stand out against the page, and helps to further advertise the magazine and interest the reader into getting future issues. 

Analysis - Front Cover

15:21 music , Music Magazine 0 Comments

This is the ‘Kerrang!’ magazine. The front cover has a masthead in a bold red and has a broken up/shattered affect, symbolizing the style of music that the magazine focuses on. The mast head is the same on every issue of the magazine however it does change in colour depending on the theme of the magazine. Punk Pop focuses on being different from the mainstream and challenging the codes and conventions set by society. This magazine fits to those codes and conventions by having 5 people on the front cover all coming from different bands; this is contrary to the codes and conventions of a music magazine as traditionally the front cover only has one person/band and does not mix. The large “2015” in the center of the page ties in with the colour of the red of the masthead showing that there is clearly a link between the two and it’s of importance. Andy Biersack (the front most male) is reaching out his hand which appears to be presenting the lead story, presumably to do with the main image that is shown on the cover.


‘Q’ Magazine has a very distinctive logo that is prevalent on every magazine that is printed, the distinctive red background and the bold letter ‘Q’ is now widely known. The bold red is present throughout the front cover in terms of the font colour for the splashes. Q Magazine has a style where the name of the featured band or artist is shown over the image. This is carried across every magazine that is produced. This magazine focuses more on the rule of thirds meaning the left 3rd has more splashes so it can be seen easier when viewed on a shelf where traditionally the right most two thirds are covered by the next magazine, this helps audiences see the magazine and become interested in the splashes before they even see the whole front cover. Unlike “Kerrang!”, Q shows the bar code on the front of the magazine which shows that it conforms more so to the codes and conventions of a music magazine. The whole layout is very clean with a white backdrop to the main image. Brandon Flowers is dressed in a black leather jacket which contrasts the background and catches the eye better.


NME Magazine is another major music magazine that I will be using for inspiration. This particular front cover features “Florence” from “Florence and the Machine” The main image is a close up of the artist which has high key lighting, this gives the effect of higher contrast between the pale skin and the vibrant red hair of the singer, to continue the contrast all of the splashes and masthead are in white to stand out against the red background. However the name of the artist is contrast to the whole front cover as it is in a black font. This clearly stands out so the audience can link the picture that is very bold and almost aggressive with the black text that has the same affect, this indicates that Florence is the name of the person in the main image. Again this magazine fits with the codes and conventions more than “Kerrang!” magazine in the sense that it sticks to the rule of thirds and has a bar code on the front of the magazine.

Research Into Similar Products - Double Page Spread

14:39 music , Music Magazine 0 Comments

I have put together a mood board of double pages spreads that link with my music magazine. This will hopefully inspire me to make a double page spread that fits with the codes and conventions of a music magazine double page spread.

It appears that double page spreads normally have a model taking up half the page and the other half filled with text. Graphics appear to be important to the double page spread so i will have to take this into consideration.

Research Into Similar Products - Contents Pages

14:02 music , Music Magazine 0 Comments

Like the mood board for the front covers i have also found some examples of contents pages to get a better fell for the codes and conventions for music magazines.

Research Into Similar Products - Front Covers

13:57 music , Music Magazine 0 Comments

Here i have made a mood board of different music magazines to see what already exists in the market, by doing this i can begin to get a feel of the codes and conventions that exist in a music magazine.

Music Magazine Plan

13:52 music , Music Magazine 0 Comments

This is the first post for my final task, In this section i have to create a music magazine that consists of a front cover, a contents page and a double page spread. Here is my plan for the project.