Draft #2

As previously said, I was unhappy with my draft cover, and so I have constructed another draft in a more preferred style. As also previously said, I really liked the 'punk special' issue of Sniffin' Glue magazine:

and so I have based my new draft around this design. The centre image of the female model was taken recently in my second photoshoot, whilst the other two images of the male models came from my first photoshoot. I pieced them together quickly just to get an idea of how I wanted my cover to look. 

As I didn't have the required technology at home, I had to use several websites such as picmonkey.com to edit the images, and I finally pieced them together on Microsoft Powerpoint as it was the best software I had to offer from home. I then decided to draw the text on, rather than typing it, as I couldn't download any fonts which suited the style I was going for. I then showed my initial design: 

to one of my teachers so as to get a second opinion; and because he said he liked it a lot, I created a proper draft on Photoshop, using the Bamboo Pen tablet which enabled me to still create a drawn on effect although it was entirely done vitrually. This is my second draft, created on Photoshop:

  

  I like everything I have done so far, although I feel that there is too much space left uncluttered down the sides, as I am going for a busy and slightly edgy look. I stuck to what I had originally come up with, although I left out a few pieces of text which I felt needed to be altered better to fit my chosen style, though this clearly needs to be added back in upon deciding how I want the cover to read, and decided to add a green tint to my cover image so as to create a 'grunge' look, as I thought black and white was a little boring, as well as adding a price under the issue details. 

My magazine is not targetted at the majority of youth culture, and therefore, I think a little chaos within the layout and the typography etc. is entirely appropriate and would result in creating something fresh and different and would break the conventions of a typical music magazine, hopefully in a good way. However, I think I should incorporate some existing fonts as well as using my own hand, as nothing seems to jump out at the minute and I think a bit of variation would make it look more interesting (which is something Sniffin' Glue have achieved). 

I will organise another shoot with all three of my models as soon as possible, so as to be able to pick an image which will best reflect my magazine as a whole and have a few more to choose from.

Test Shots #2

I organised another shoot with my female model and took these photos in the college studio using appropriate lighting and a plain backdrop. 

My favourites are:

Draft Magazine Feedback

Having asked some of my classmates to comment on my first draft, the responses I received were very constructive and generally positive. The photos I had taken were given quite a lot of praise, as the poses, costume and choice of backgrounds 'reflected the genre' of my magazine, according to my peers. I am also pleased with my pictures and intend to take more incorporating the same style. However, my teacher commented on the cover image and said that it wasn't working due to props used, and I agree that this is a problem and will bear this in mind, although he also commented on my chosen model several times and said that she had a sense of 'charisma' which couldn't be wasted.
Praise was also given to my chosen masthead; both the name and the font. I agree that the title of my magazine works well, but my teacher felt that the font needed to be more conventional and 'blocky', and so I will think more about this and will begin looking into a range of different fonts. The colour scheme used on the front cover was commented on as being 'unclear', which I agree with, as I rushed this when creating my draft and instead based it around the colours my model was wearing, as opposed to choosing what would work well together. I am unhappy with my cover as a whole and will change most aspects of it, including layout, colour scheme and font choices.
My contents page layout was well received by students and was even noted as looking 'professional', although I think it is slightly sloppy in places. My teacher also liked the layout, and so I don't think I will make many changes to it, except from the choice of colour scheme and fonts etc. which I feel are currently letting it down.
My double page spread was also well received, and praise included the way I had picked out certain colours from the background and used them to highlight pieces of text, as well as how said text was positioned. My teacher suggested a few changes such as; crediting the writer and the photographer, making the bold text on the right hand side smaller, ensuring that the collumns were the same length and width, and adding pull out quotes to break up the text. I wanted to add pull out quotes when creating my draft, but I ran out of time, and so will definitely make sure that this is something I do next time. I also agree with the other comments made and will take them on board. I once again do not like the colour scheme I have chosen, and I particularly dislike the background colour behind the main article, which was also used on the front cover and looks very dull and boring.
I also posted a link to the post showing my draft magazine on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook, and received a comment from a friend, who suggested a few alterations on each page. He generally liked my contents page and double page spread, as most others seemed to, but proposed slight changes including; adding more pictures to the contents page, and changing the background effect on the right hand side of the double page spread. With regards to the cover, he stated that the image looks stretched, the barcode/text should be tidied up (as my teacher had also said), and that more text was required around the model to fill the empty space and create the busy style I was going for. I agree with all of this and will consider these points when creating my final piece.

Sniffin' Glue Magazine

 

 

I also really like the look of Sniffin' Glue magazine, and although I had not planned on making my magazine in black and white, I think that maybe this is something I should consider. I like the typography used which looks like it has been scribbled on really quickly, and also the cut & paste style layouts. The images look very rough and uncut, which would fit in with the genre of my magazine, and the general untidiness of each cover, especially the 'punk special', works well and is still clearly readable despite this. Each issue has the same general layout - masthead etc. at the top, image in the middle, subheadings etc. at the bottom - although the 'punk special' changes this slightly by crowding the middle section, which I think looks amazing and could potentially be a design that I base my next draft on. I like the random placing of the text and the different fonts, and because the image is simple, this does not make the page seem too busy, either. I think with the right use of colour and image, this could look fantastic.

Ray Gun Magazine

 

 

 

 

 

        

 

 

 

I like the style of Ray Gun magazine and hope to base my final product on their designs, simply because they are so unique and striking. Ray Gun (when it was around) broke the generic conventions of a typical magazine cover more often than conforming to what was most common, but their covers did not look poorly put together despite this, which is one of the main things I love about them. For example, the first of the two Elvis covers has an extremely strange layout in that the title of the magazine is not the biggest piece of text on the page, the image is not centered and cannot be identified easily, and the positioning of the typography and also the barcode do not resemble a classic cover, although this still works somehow and appealed to a certain audience; one similiar to mine, I presume, due to the styles and feature stars used. The other Elvis cover creates a mirrored effect and incorporates bold colours with a neutral background to ensure that the space is not cluttered, as well as positioning text and barcodes in strange places, once again, but making it look enticing and quirky rather than wrong. I like the Iggy + Perry cover because of the grunge look it portrays, which is created by the green tint used to enhance the simple image, as well as the masthead, and the dirty looking, contrasting dark/light colour palette in general. I also like the layout of the white cover, which completely throws traditional magazine layouts out of the window and places an image at the top of the page and fills the entirety of the bottom with cut & paste style text. Most stick to white and black text and then use a colourful background, which is what I wanted to do with my magazine, although I couldn't do this for my draft due to time and the clothes my model was wearing, which I think works well and stands out. The choice of fonts used throughout are all amazing, in my opinion, and because the images are not busy, this allows for bold colour choices and typography. I will refer back to this post when I create another draft.

Magazine Playlist

I have composed a playlist of songs which I feel best represent the influences, ideas, style, genre, mood, aesthetics, vision etc. of my magazine, as I felt that I had not expressed fully what I intend to achieve. Some of the songs I have chosen specifically fall under the category of 'punk' music, which was the vibe I was originally going for, although I think that this would limit my audience slightly, and so I have included some heavier songs and also some more alternative/pop songs, so as to attract a wider audience.

1) My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark / Fall Out Boy 2) Now / Paramore 3) Fascination Street / The Cure 4) The Wind Blows / The All-American Rejects 5) Kill The DJ / Green Day 6) Little Death / You Me At Six 7) Settle Down / No Doubt 8) Too Many Devils / The Bronx 9) Dead Man's Shoes / The Virginmarys 10) Shadow Moses / Bring Me The Horizon 11) Boom Shake The Room / The Blackout (cover) 12) Feeling This / blink-182 13) Kill Me / The Pretty Reckless 14) Breed / Nirvana 15) White Riot / The Clash 16) Blitzkrieg Bop / The Ramones 17) Liar / The Sex Pistols 18) In Too Deep / Sum 41 19) What You Want / Evanescence 20) Alpha Omega / Architects 21) Radiosurgery / New Found Glory 22) Like It's Her Birthday / Good Charlotte 23) Hey Supertstar / Madina Lake

Completed Draft Magazine: Self Review

 

Despite slightly veering away from what I had originally wanted to achieve with my first draft, I think that these designs work well enough and are okay for a mock. As my cover star was wearing a red top, I couldn't have a colourful background much like I wanted, nor could I use purple, and due to lack of time I couldn't create any amazing visual effects, and so left my photos unedited and didn't think about the new colour scheme as much as I could have done. My front cover began as my flat plan had indicated, but one of the teachers in the Media department gave me some advice whilst adding the final touches, and so this changed last minute. I was originally going to use the photo of my model with her fist in the air, but I was told that it didn't make the layout easy to work with because it wasn't a central image. I was also told about the different styles of layouts and that an 'F' layout would work best with the image I had, and so I placed the text accordingly to fit this style, although I may stray from this when creating another piece as I want to be experimental. I didn't realise that I couldn't use the masthead font throughtout, and so choices of different fonts were rushed and not well thought out after I became aware of this. The idea of having text placed over a block of colour (specifically a black rectangle) was brought to my attention by Kerrang! magazine, and almost my entire contents page was influenced by NME magazine. My double page spread was once again influenced by Kerrang!, and after making my article a bit longer and adding some pull out quotes, I don't think that there are many alterations I would still need to make, other than choice of fonts and colours, as I think the style of image and layout work well together (unless I decide to change the layout completely). I don't want my contents page to look boring, and so I will not stick to a black, white and red colour scheme next time, as I think this is done too often, but I think it fits in nicely with a genral rock theme. I don't like the text underneath the image because I think there isn't enough of it, but I think that there is too much text down the side, and I will research into some different contents page designs so that I can create a unique, new style. Overall, I think my draft magazine gives off a very Kerrang! vibe, despite the fact that there is limited text on the front cover, which is something I will try to stay away from next time, as I want my magazine to look a bit more quirky and classic 'punk', rather than mainstream pop rock and 'emo', and so I will take some ideas from the 80's and the 90's magazine Ray Gun, although recent music will heavily feature and this will include a range of different rock music. I think that this will work better than what I have done because it will be similar to Kerrang! but will also be completely different.

Mock-Up: Test Shots

 These are all of the photos I took for the first draft of my magazine.

My favourites are:

 

Despite my lack of experience in photography, I think this shoot worked quite well considering I had never done anything like this before. Having walked past the graffitied wall featured in some of these photos on a regular basis, I had kept it in mind for a backdrop, and thought it would be perfect for a shoot of this kind, as it created an edgy, punk, street look. The two guys I asked to model for me, Bill & Richard, brought their own instruments and dressed themselves as I had instructed - in jeans, dark colours, hoodies, leather jackets etc. The girl I asked to model for me, Ella, brought a change of different outfits, all of which were either black or a range of bold, striking colours, as well as being 'hard' looking, which reflected my chosen music genre. I knew she would be perfect for this kind of shoot because, naturally, she is also a perfect example of my chosen target audience, and Bill & Richard the same. As they are all people I hang around with daily, I knew that they would look good together if I was to place them in a band, and I think they came up with some amazing poses, which will hopefully create a fun vibe about the magazine. The only problem with the outdoor setting was the fact that it was such a windy day; this is why in some of the photos, the models' hair is strewn about all over the place. I didn't think this was a massive inconvenience, however, as the look I was going for was meant to be 'rough' looking anyway, and so I think this factor made the shoot look all the more real, although maybe not as professional as it could have been. I decided to take some photos of Ella on her own, as well as the band photos, because I knew that I wanted a single person shot on the front cover, and as I want to use a bold background colour, I knew that I had to take these photos on a plain background, so as to make editing easier later on. Before taking the mid shots/close-ups of Ella, I dressed her in a more stylish, plain outfit, made sure her hair was neater and applied some make-up to her face, so as to attract an audience at first glance and to make sure that the image wouldn't clash with the background I was to choose, as well as giving her a pair of drum sticks, as she plays the drummer of the band, and this was something I forgot to do whilst taking photos outdoors. I probably won't use the picture with the drumsticks, as I think this may limit the audience slightly and may clutter up the page, but this is something I will consider next time. I really like the third photo down, but it is poor quality due to lighting, and so I think the second photo will be my front cover image, as it is striking but simplisitic and she generally looks great. Despite my decision to use a purple background, I think, due to the clothes Ella was wearing, that I may have to change this, so as not to create a clash of colours on the cover. The outdoor photos will appear on the contents page and double page spread. I am almost certain that I want a photo of all three band members on the double page spread, although I think I will have to play around with the contents page as I am unsure as to which photo(s) will work best and if I want to use more than one. Overall, I think this was a successful shoot for the first draft of my magazine.

Draft Article

“It’s Now or Never”

Despite being in the spotlight for an extremely short amount of time, The Simple Things have taken the unpredictable world of rock by storm.
But do they have what it takes to go all the way?  

From supporting blink-182 to making appearances at both Reading and Leeds festivals, The Simple Things have had a brilliant 2012. Now, two months into the new year, and the pressure is on. 

The band have been working on their self-titled debut album since last June, which is said to be released on 23^rd March. “We’re so eager to get some real stuff out,” says frontman, Bill Attfield. “We’ve been waiting a long time for this.” When asked if their feelings were only positive towards the album, he stated “Generally, yeah. I mean, how could this be anything but incredible?! We never thought we’d get such an amazing opportunity. It's extremely scary at the same time, of course. There's a lot of pressure resting on our shoulders at the minute; we have to embrace the chance that we've been given before it passes us by, and if the fans don’t like the album then we’re pretty much f*cked (he laughs) but we can do nothing but hope for the best. It's now or never. We’re so overwhelmed by everything that we don’t really have a lot of time to worry anyway. At least we can say we tried if everything goes pear-shaped!”  

The band have a certain charm that is left fresh in your mind for days after witnessing one of their live performances, not to mention the stage prescence of their controversial, female drummer who has a way of blasting your ear drums into obvlion after only a few blows. Often compared to Tré Cool, we have no suspicions as to why; Ella Wilkinson's incredible actions and facial expressions will get the crowd roaring if all else fails. "I just go for it. Being the drummer, I think you need something to make you stand out from the others who have closer contact with the audience, and it's also just a lot of fun for me. I hate those guys who just sit there and bang on the drums without even trying to seem engaged in what they're doing, no matter how obscured their view may be from the stage. I try to sing along as much as possible as well. That way, Bill's vocals seem more bearable (she laughs). I'm kidding, Bill's amazing and he knows it. I just get left out (she laughs again)."

Hoarding the desire of making it big but never truely thinking it possible, the guys (and gal) from small town Lutterworth, Leicestershire were blown away when Epitaph Records, the label associated with You Me At Six, The Blackout and Bring Me The Horizon, among others, approached them and offered them a 5 year contract. "I couldn't believe it!" says bass player, Richard Lowdon. "We'd played a few small gigs in town and posted some of our songs on YouTube, but we never thought things would escalate as quickly as they did! We are so, so, so lucky, and I hope we never forget that."

Colour Scheme

For my mock magazine, I have chosen to use a purple, white and black colour scheme of something to this effect:

I think that this will reflect the genre of my magazine, as they are dark, bold colours, and will create a striking yet easily readable cover. Although other colours may feature depending on the clothes my model will be wearing, I want to stick to these colours predominantly.

Pitch Feedback

When pitching my magazine idea to the class, I wasn't given much praise nor many criticisms, I think mainly because the class had very different ideas to me and were not as interested in my chosen idea as much as the others, as they didn't tend to listen to the genre of music I was going for and so didn't know what to expect. They mainly asked questions which I couldn't answer yet, although a few of my friends said that my idea was unique and caught their attention. My teacher thought that a punk rock magazine was a 'fresh' idea and I could pull it off well if I put enough effort into it, which is what I am aiming to do. I hadn't come up with a name at this stage, but I have now decided to call my magazine 'Jaded', as it means 'dulled or satiated/worn out or wearied', which is expressive of how my target audience may generally be feeling, and my magazine will aim to give them something new, as well as being the title of one of Green Day's songs from the punk rock album American Idiot, which is the kind of music I will be putting out in this magazine. I hadn't given much thought to how many pages I would include in my magazine, or at what price I would sell my magazine and how often it would be sold, but considering the fact that Kerrang! magazine has an average of 60-70 pages per issue and sells each for £2.20 and is printed on rough paper, I think a price of £2.99 for a 100 page magazine of the same quality would be reasonable. However, although Kerrang! is sold weekly, I think I would sell mine fortnightly instead, as the amount of detail would be hard to achieve weekly. Q magazine is sold monthly and is printed on glossier paper, which reflects its price of £3.99 per issue of about 166 pages, and so I think that this confirms that my decisions have been made justly. There was some confusion as to what kind of music would be featuring in my magazine, as my pitch stated 'punk, alternative rock', but I think that my previous posts have cleared this up a significant amount and the vagueness of the genre is what will interest my readers, as my magazine will feature a range of music influenced by bands such as The All-American Rejects:

and blink-182:

as well as bands such as Nirvana:

and Ramones:

I informed my teacher that I had a friend in mind to pose for the front cover of my magazine, as she fits the look I am going for without much alteration, and that I would take photographs of her and another two band members for the contents page and double page spread. Due to cancellations I have not been able to take any photographs at present, but this is something which will be done very shortly. I want to have only one person on the cover of my magazine so that it doesn't appear cluttered, but the abstract font choices and a bold background colour will be sure to make it eye-catching and stand out, despite the minimalistic style that I hope to achieve. I will take photographs of my cover star on a bare background, so that editing later on will be much easier, and I will hopefully take photographs of the band as a whole outside if the weather will permit it, against a graffitied wall or an old building, or possibly even in a wooded area, so as to make the band seem rebellious and interesting, although if this cannot be done I will take similar photographs for the contents and the double page spread as I will have done for the cover.

Jaded Magazine (mock) Flat Plan

This cover was inspired by Raygun's David Bowie issue (see previous posts). Possibly purple background. Black/white text. Crimes Times Six font. Image of female on the cover.

This was inspired by NME's contents page w/ Arctic Monkeys (see previous posts). Possibly purple text (with some black), white background, black subscribe box (possibly yellow text to stand out). Crimes Times Six font for headers, unsure of font for other text.

 This double page spread was inspired by Kerrang!'s feature article on Architects (see previous posts).
The headers will be written in the same font as the previous headers, Crimes Times Six, but I am unsure of which font I am going to use for the rest of the text at this stage.