how my magazine should be layed out

After researching the conventions of both a magazine and a music magazine I will now be able to produce mine a lot easier. I feel I know what my magazine needs, and I will apply everything I discovered to the making of my music magazine cover, contents page and double-page spread.

MY DECISIONS

WHO TO FEATURE: I found it difficult to decide who I wanted my magazine to feature. With many choices available I decided to photograph different 'artists' and 'bands' to see which I prefered.

COVER

MAIN IMAGE:
For my magazine cover I will use a large image of my chosen artist. They must be looking into the camera, so that it is as though they are addressing the audience. I did not come accross any magazine were the artist on the cover is not looking at the audience. Also the artist is hardly ever smiling, which I also need to take into consideration whilst shooting my photos, I need to be sure that the facial expressions are the right ones. My magazine will feature a band rather than a single artist and i have chosen to do this as I feel it is most likely to appeal to my intended audience; teenagers to young adults. The image will also be a medium close up, as it says in the brief. It is a very popular shot for a cover of a magazine and I will therefore use it to make my magazine look realistic.

MASTHEAD:
My masthead will be placed at the top of the page, in the left and corner. It will be located here as when magazines are put on a shelf it is the left hand side that the audience can see, and the top is the first place they look. I will put the writing in red, outlined in black, then outlined again in white to be sure it is deffinatley eye catching. It will need to be perhaps the most distinct feature on the page and I intend to make this happen. I will experiment with fonts to ensure I have the one that looks the best and make it appeal to the target audience as much as possible.

COVERLINES:
I will use snippets and coverlines on my magazine cover to inform the audience on what is inside. It will give the viewer clues as to what the magazine contains information on and tells them the aim of the magazine. I will also need to use a main cover line, telling the reader what the main story is and what band or artist the magazine features. The main coverline will be presented in a larger, bolder and brighter font to make it obvious which the main story is, compared to the rest.
LOGO AND DETAILS:
I will put the logo, along with the details at the very bottom of the page. This is to let the reader know that it is possible for them to find out extra information that has not been included within the magazine. They can also contact the magazine institution in case of any problems or questions that need to be answered. The website will also be put on the cover, simply to advertise other magazines etc. that the institution creates. The logo will allow the audience to identify the maker of the magazine or the magazine itself.
DATE: I will make the date has been included in order to let the audience know how relevant the magazine is. Because my magazine will be issued monthly, the audience can see which month the magazine is from and which issue it is. They will then know that the information it contains is relevant to the time period they want.

COLOUR SCHEME:
I will use the colours red, white and black as after researching the colour scheme, these are the colours that a music magazine with a genre of pop/rock, tend to use. After looking at existing magazines, I now know that these colours are suitable and the correct ones to use. The useage of red shows alertness, and the theme I have chosen to use is supposed to be in your face, which is what these colours do. They each contrast against one another which makes everything on the cover stand out and appear more attractive.

AUDIENCE:
The audience I will be aiming at will be a female one. I will target females that are teenagers to young adult as I feel I can relate to this audience well, being a teenage girl myself. I need to make sure I am using the right fonts and colours in order to attract them, which I discovered during researching. I also need to consider occupation. As my magazine will be aimed at teenagers to young adults the majority of this audience are going to be college and university students. Therefore I need to consider the price of the magazine. Putting an expensive price on it would mean my target audience would struggle to purchase it. Keeping this in mind, I have decided to make my magazine monthly, so my audience can afford it. It will also be reasonably priced so that they are able to purchase it.

CONTENTS

IMAGES:
I will use six images on my contents page. One main image and five smaller ones. The five smaller ones will give the reader an insight on what else the magazine covers, and the bigger image will again inform then on the artist/artist the magazine mainly features. I may put an effect on the main image, as many magazines do this, for example a magazine called "DRUMMER" has used an image of a drummer and presented it in black and white. Two smaller images will be placed at the bottom of the page, in the right corner. The other three smaller images will be at the top of the page, two in the top right corner, and another underneath. The main image for this page will be placed in the centre, but at the right hand side.

TITLE:
The headline of page will be placed at the top of the page, big and bold. Although not as distinctive as the magazines masthead. This is will simply read "contents", to inform the reader further on what the page is. I will make it uniformly colured to the full colour scheme of the magazine; red, black and white.

COLOUR SCHEME:
I will make everything within the contents page match everything both on that page and on the music magazine cover. I will make everything red, black and white, and follow these guidelines throughout. I researched how the colours should be on a contents page, and on most music magazines, the colours on the contents page are uniform to those on the front.

HEADLINES AND STORIES:
I have not yet decided on what stories to use, these can be found in an individual post. I will list them down the left hand side, as shown in my drafts, and put them in a colour such as red to match my colour scheme. The ones presented as coverlines on the front of my magazine, I will present in a different colour on the contents page to make it clear on which these stories are.

LOGO AND DETAILS:
Similarly to the magazine cover, I will place the logo and details at the bottom of the page.