Preliminary task.

This is my front cover for my School magazine, I use an image of a student at the front of the school, so it was easy to realise it was a school magazine. I stuck to the same colour scheme, red, white and black, which was also inco-operated into the logo, which is 'S' from 'school' and 'F' from 'fun' and a turned bracket. I put in a masthead, slogan, banner, puffs, a barcode and a few cover-stories. FOr these I used 3 different fonts so it did not look the same and there was a variety on the page.

The masthead will be placed in the centre of the page, the font being Fluffy Slacks BTN and size 72. The colour will be red to follow the colour scheme of the front cover. The images will be small, but not small enough to not know what they contain. They will show what is in the rest of the magazine and refer to what it said in the text. The text will be a reasonable size 26/28 and still follow the colour scheme on the front, it will be easy to read and attract the audience with ‘fun’ words. Puff’s will be used, to make the first letter of each line larger to stand out more to audience. The number at the bottom of the page will just make it easier for the audience to know what page they’re on. The route of the eye allows the readers/audience to follow along mainly the text rather than the images, because the text is more important. With the principle of thirds, hotspots are mainly placed on the text and images. The background will just be plain white with a black border so it doesn’t distract the audience from the main parts within the page.

Do you like competitions in a magazine? 16 answered yes and 8 answered no.
(Also is the same for 'Do you like a range of fonts on the front cover?')






Do you like a range of colours on a magazine front cover? 23 answered yes and 1 answered no.








Which genre do you like in a magazine? 16 answered Rock, 11 answered Pop, 8 answered Punk, 7 answered Metal, 7 answered R&B, 0 for Jazz and Classical and 9 answered Other.












How often do you read magazines? 0 answered everyday, 1 answered Twice a week, 7 answered Once a week, 9 answered Once a month.








How much would you spend on a magazine? 17 answered £1-3, 8 answered £4-6 and 0 answered £7-9.








Do you like having a main image on a magazine front cover? 24 answered yes, 0 answered no.








For a title, what size do you prefer? 11 answered Big, 12 answered Medium and 1 answered Small.








What is your age? 0 answered 10-13, 16 answered 14-16, 7 answered 17-19 and 1 answered 20+.








What is your gender? 14 Answered Male and 10 answered Female.






I will use these results to construct my magazine, I will use them to consider how my magazine will look, for example to font sizes, what will be included and how it will be put together in general.
I have found out from this questionnaire that:
- Competitions are a good feature in a magazine.
- A range of fonts suit a magazine well.
- Rock is the genre that I will be using and I will aim it at the target audience that like Rock.
- Magazines are more likely to be read once a month.
- The best price for a magazine is between £1-3 so I will go for the middle, £1.99 or £2.99
- Having a main image on the front cover is well suited for a Rock magazine.
- The masthead on the front cover needs to be at a medium size, not too big or not too small, so it's easy to read.
- My target group is from 14-16.
- More males answered my questionnaire so I will use colours and font that apply to them and also females.

People included: Hannah Taylor (Photographer), Matt Divkovic ('artist').
Date: Before February 2012
Location: (No specific area yet.)
Equipment: Camera.
Props: Possibly guitar.
Costumes: Skinny jeans, stylish belt, converse, hoodie, stylish t-shirt. Masthead
HEAR THE DRUM


Slogan
The drum is beating through your heart.


Cover line
Never seen before singer interviewed inside!

Quote
I love making people happy with my music.

Banners
CONCERT TICKETS!
WIN BAND MERCH OF YOUR CHOICE!

PLUS 2 DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD POSTERS!

Interview.
So, this month, HEARDRUM has been speaking to a BRAND SPANKING NEW Singer. Here, we interviewed this young man who insisted his girlfriend stayed in the interview with him! Aw, young love!

HTD: “So, Matt, we’ve heard this is your first interview in these kinds of conditions, how do you feel?”
Matt: “It doesn’t seem that bad, plus I’ve got my lovely girlfriend next to me, nothing can really go wrong.”

HTD: “Well, it’s great that to hear! Do you care about how people see you and your music?”

Matt: “No, I don’t mind, I know that I don’t like some artists’ music, so I understand that not everyone will like me.”

HTD: “Well, that’s a great way to look at it. So you’re 17 with a very pretty girlfriend and now you’ve started a career? What about College or University?”

Matt: “I’ve always been interested in music and singing and girls, haha. I used to sing in the shower, put a few words together to make a song; I didn’t think I would end up here! I left school at 16 at the normal age, I wasn’t interested in College or University, I do have a job though so I do earn money, it’s not that much of a problem.”

HTD: “Your song has been sold to thousands around the world, it must all be new and a big shock for you, surely? To suddenly be noticed as a star?”

Matt: “I guess so, I was used to singing in front of friends for a laugh every now and again, but now people around the world are singing my song, wow.. It is a big shock, but it’s really nice.”

HTD: “It looks like you’re dealing with it well and your girlfriend here, Sophie, how do you feel about your boyfriend suddenly having girls all over him?”

Sophie: “Erm, well. I guess I’m used to it by now, every couple has their problems with someone trying to get at them, so now it’s become a norm, you learn not to be bothered by it. I’m so proud of him to get this far, I told him to pursue in his singing and he did.”

HTD: “So Sophie here helped you pursue into singing, Matt? Do you like the decision you’ve made? You can’t go back now, really.”

Matt: “I do like the decision I made and I’m glad Sophie helped me go forward, I love writing songs, I love singing and I love making people happy with my music. So becoming an artist around the world is exactly what I want. Plus, I’ve got a bit of extra cash to treat my girl.”

HTD: “Ah, I see. Well, we hope you the best and I’m sure we’ll see you soon, Matt! I wouldn’t be surprised if you end up on our magazine again, you’ll certainly be inside it often. Aw, aren’t you a sweetie!”

Matt: “Really? You’d feature me inside your magazine? ”

HTD: “Of course we will, we want you to be big, Matt! We love your music so everyone should know about you!”

Matt: “Thank you very much! I’ll mention that you helped me on my road to success and trust me, I’ll be buying this magazine whenever the new ones come out!”

HTD: “Hahah, it was lovely speaking to you Matt, good luck and most importantly, have fun!”

Contents page.

03 Interview with ‘Matt Divine’.
05 News from bands.
07 Poster specials.
11 Black Veil Brides Info.
15 Gigs and concert tickets.
17 Bullet For My Valentine.
19 Album reviews.
22 Artist and band reviews.
24 Band merchandise.
27 Asking Alexandria.
29 avenged Sevenfold.
31 Download tour.
35 Questions and answers.
38 The Letter Black.
40 My Chemical Romance.
42 Band Merch Competition.
44 Skillet updates.
48 Added extras for you.
50 Next weeks issue!

For this draft, I looked at magazines I’ve researched to look at how they are produced and where the main features are placed.
I placed the masthead at the top of the page with part of the image covering the bottom middle of it, to show that the image is just as important as the text. I placed the cover-line directly over the image to show the audience what the main image is about and what is featured in the magazine. I placed the barcode on the bottom right hand corner of the page, including the price beside it so the audience look from the main features on the magazine before looking at the cost.



From looking at the layouts of the magazines, I discovered that the title is spread across both pages at the top, the image takes up the whole of one page and the text covers the other page, using this I placed my layout like that, including a kicker on the title of the story for it to stand out.

From researching into the contents pages of magazines, I took note that the title isn’t that large and does not take up much of the page, but is easily noticeable. The page itself has more image than text, with captions on the images as well as what pages they are featured on. On a few of the contents pages, there was a little banner near the bottom which either spoke about what was in the magazine further on or what was available, competitions as such.

From looking at the font styles on rock magazines, I have found out that the masthead has a unique, house style font that represents the magazine; it is stylish with a slightly aggressive tone due to the genre. The other fonts on the cover have the same type of style as the masthead, but are visibly different. I used another tally, asking 20 people again which one they preferred for the masthead and which one they would choose for the slogan. The others I will use throughout my magazine. I chose these fonts because of their aggressive and 'rocky' style.

Masthead:

Kingdom hearts- ///////// 10- 10 people chose this font, a few reasons for it was that they chose it was that it is 'rocky', 'stylish', 'aggressive' and well suited.

Burgfest- // 2- The 2 that chose this font said that it is a 'cool' font, but not right for a

Party Business- //// 4- "This font looks good." I asked someone who chose it, I also asked someone who chose another one about it. "It's alright and has the right look for the genre, but a few of the letters look odd."

Blade 2- /// 3- "It looks rocky and scary, but it doesn't work as well as the others."

Dotum- 0: This font, I feel is too simple and bland for the magazine.

Gabriola- 0: "It does not have the style that rock magazines hold." Was said by someone who I asked.

Arial Black- 0: This font does not have the 'rocky' look that I am looking for.

Bernard MT Condensed- 0: When I asked why this font wasn't a possibility, it was said that it 'didn't suit the genre'.

Kingdom hearts is the font I will use for the masthead, I then asked the same 20 people about the font for the slogan.

Slogan:

Burgfest- //// 4- The people who chose this said that they liked how it looked against Kingdom hearts.

Party Business-////// 6- One person said "it fits in, matching the masthead."

Blade 2- // 2- "It has too much for it." One person said who chose a different font.

Dotum-// 2- One person said "it looks like it's from a typewriter, it looks cool."

Gabriola- // 2- "It contrasts, I like it".

Arial Black-// 2- "It looks alright against the title, but it looks plain and not original."

Bernard MT Condensed- // 2- When I asked the two people who chose this, they both said that they liked how it suited against the masthead.

I have chose Party Business for the slogan, though the results I got was quite levelled out.

From researching into magazines, the main colours used are black, white, red and occasionally yellow. The colour black connotates power, white connotates purity, red connotates passion and yellow connotates idealism.



I was testing different colours to find out which one worked best with a magazine I wanted to produce, I used the colours that I saw on the magazines that I’ve researched. I was trying to find the best colours that worked together, I went around with a tally to find out which colour suited best, I asked 20 people on their vote. From the results, I have found that having ‘Red, Blue and Black’ had the most votes, I have decided to use these colours on my magazine, I used the normal red and black colours and added in blue to add a different mood.

/// - 3 : These colours contrast well together, black connotes power and white connotes peace, the red connotes blood and passion which work together well in this magazine.
/////// - 7 : The red here connotes passion, blood, the blue connotes a sense of royalty and contrasts well against the red whilst the black works against, but also with them both.
//// - 4 : The black that connotes power contrasts against the white which connotes purity and peace, the yellow that connotes happiness mixes well with the other two.
// - 2 : The black, which connotes power works well with the red which connotes blood and passions, they contrast well and the yellow which connotes hope and happiness mixes in with them both.
//// - 4 : The red which connotes blood and passion contrasts with the white which connotes peace and purity, the yellow mixes in with them both because it connotes happiness and hope.