Double Page Spread Research

 The double page spread ultimately shows the artist in a good or a bad light - the bottom line is that it should reflect their core personality effectively. A bit of comedy and banter never goes amiss in the double page spreads as musicians are generally the excitable and creative members of society so they should be shown this way. The colloquial language helps the audience understand the person in the interview and can relate to them as an every day person - as they aren't speaking like a grammatical robot. I think the audience appreciates honesty and the person being open as it adds drama as well as creating an interesting topic of conversation. The interviewer and interviewee must click as well and be on the same wavelength as if just a casual conversation between two mates. I think the other thing that attracts the reader or can uninterest them is the structure and format. If there is too much 'waffle' then the audience has no where of interest to read and nothing is separated. If you are someone that doesn't like reading too much then massive chunks of text look UGLY. By grouping the interview into paragraphs-  one per question - you can read the bits that are actually of some interest to you. It also makes the page very presentable and not like some kind of pretentious broadsheet newspaper.
The images are very high quality and are generally in some sort of relation to the content of the article. For example - Nergal Behemoth's feature is titled "Crimbo on a beach for the black berserker?". There is a picture of him being his nutter self with a christmas tree-simple yet effective. The blue theme is a constant also. The questions and response are segregated. I can also see a reoccuring addition of a quote enlarged. Normally its comical or just plain stupid - therefore also comical.
 The name of the artist is the largest at the top of the page for all the shown. Then a brief description to lead into the article - acting the same way as a blurb does on a book. It is more of a statement. " Music's got a new big gob - Example has already pissed off half the pop world with his tongue-lashings, so Dan Martin got him to deliver his verdicts on the pressing issues of the day" Simple but written with character and a good sense of humour. EVERYTHING IS WRITTEN IN A CASUAL AND INTERESTING WAY. None of this essay format/senior school examination writing style. It's as if it is the first thing that comes to your head written down. The stereotypical of a successful artist in the business of rock or some other genres is that they do not care what people think of them and are arrogant. I think their open honesty is respected and appreciated - this is what sell the magazines. Example's feature is actually based as you can see on him being gobby. I actually have Example on twitter and he loves a good bitch - so as a customer I could relate to this (some of his offensive tweets are shown). I think arrogance is healthy in a muscian as long as they can back it up and the double page spreads seem to show this arrogant side. As they are opinionated as well the drama increases with every question. I can see the key is for the interviewer to ask probing questions as the interviewee will most probably answer them. The double page spread ultimately shows the artist in a good or a bad light - the bottom line is that it should reflect their core personality effectively. A bit of comedy and banter never goes amiss in the double page spreads as musicians are generally the excitable and creative members of society so they shoulkd be shown this way. The colloquial language helps the audience understand the person in the interview and can relate to them as an every day person - as they aren't speaking like a grammatical robot. I think the audience appreciates honesty and the person being open as it adds drama as well as creating an interesting topic of conversation. The interviewer and interviewee must click as well and be on the same wavelength as if just a casual conversation between two mates.
There is also no censorship in terms of language - the stars can say what they like. There often is a "I don't give a f*ck" somewhere. As most customers in the audience are late teenage years or in their twenties they can get away with it. Also makes it more informal and brutally interesting.
In terms of house style - there is definitely a case of continuity. The colours of the image also have to agree with schemes on the page itself. For example in the feature with Ian Watkins, he is holding some misletoe or something (I think? but anyway it's green thats the main point). This colour is echoed in the font colour at the top of the page therefore there is a nice contrast and relation. Ultimately the colours have to agree with each other like the All American Rejects page where there is a desaturated picture with a theme of red white and black. Example's page has a reoccuring appearance of electric pink which is used as column headers and filler. I have to try and establish a decent colour scheme to make my page seem tidy and together

Final Music Magazine Pieces - XLR

Front Page Image Development

Stage 1 - After identifying the photo I wanted on my front page I needed to manipulate it to a get the required look - afterall this is the most important image of a whole magazine. As you can see I took the photo against a lovely creamy wall which actually looks hideous in downlighting. Not to add my shadow showing on it from taking the picture. To eliminate this I took full advantage of the magnetic lasso tool as I am not the most confident in my freehand lassoing skills. I then dragged it onto a blank white background like most music magazines are from my research.
Stage 2 - Now I had a nice pure white background I needed to locate my model. After much deliberation I put him slightly to the right of the centre with the intention of his head to be over the XLR logo. I cleared all blemishes using the spot healing tool and then lightened the contrast to make it clearer. I also free transformed the image to make it larger and dominate the page.
Stage 3 - With an ideal picture I needed a few finishing touches. To give it more depth and perspective I added an inner and outer shadow to define the outline and his features

Contents Research

Right..on to magazine contents pages. Although less important in my eyes than the front page it still needs some sort of correspondence or unified house style. I can see that magazines that are weekly have generally only one page. My magazine too is weekly so will be one page. The banner across the top has the masthead in..the 'contents' is in the same font but a different colour which highlights what the page is actually about. This 'Kerrang' contents page is dominated by one main image with 3 smaller images overlapping it taking up two columns. The information on the right hand side is kept into one neat column which the banner overlaps across the top. The whole page sort of evolves from the main image of the girl. The numbering is in different colour to the text and the numbering on the images is easily identifiable. The categories are highlighted in black and yellow in a structured manner. There is a subscription promotion on the right at the bottom. In terms of colour schemes there is not a lot of continuity but the font is not as varied so you can see the continuity here.

This page is from my personally favourite mag - 'NME'. I think this a lot more aesthetically pleasing. The font initially of 'Inside This Week' hits you and then you are drawn to the Kings of Leon image. The feature is actually a controversial and potentially offensive subject which actually interests people - offence sells! (I can actually empathize with the strapline unfortunately). I really like the numbers in the bottom right of the images and a brief description underneath. It looks very presentable and clean cut. The whole page is very 'boxy' to put it casually. The column rule is kept to so everything is in place and it all fits. The same sizing of images left to right is roughly the same. It on the whole is a simplistic and spacious design which I prefer as opposed to the 'Kerrang' one.
I am leaning towards well structured contents page with listing as well as this box technique as above so I can combine both styles. Listing has the advantage of making the page look more crammed and uses up more space whereas in the boxing everything is easier to take in once at a time.

Mid-Production Evaluation/ Feedback

So far, so good I think. We have just had a peer evaluation so I thought I would try and use this as my consumer research. By adjusting my products to the 'customer's' liking I can say that I actually have listened to what people want - not just what I believe is best. I personally am very pleased currently with my progress on the other hand. My feedback was generally positive which is obviously encouraging. "Very good front page, nice fonts" and "The colours are effective as well as layout". It was my aim to have a corresponding colour scheme which you can see is echoed in my contents page although there is little to see as of yet. The image itself was rather hard to capture as my 6'4'' rugby friend as a model was rather hard to direct and not very open minded - I did however expect this.  Bless him. By cutting him out onto a blank white canvas and lightening thew image slightly it suddenly had a lot more potential as its clarity was enhanced.  "Nice and clear picture" was mentioned. The masthead was also viewed positively with it being compared to NME and Q which were my intentions but to also have my own twist on it from my research.
On to the content on the front page...although all relevant to my alternative theme there were some doubts raised as to whether or why I in fact had 'An interview with comedian Russell Brand" on the front cover. I can answer this directly by saying that the content does not necessarily have to all be about music. For example Q had a comedy week with interviews from Ricky Gervais and company as well as NME's main strapline on one issue "The Inbetweeners - Meet NME's New Work Experience Kids" which goes to show there can be a diverse range of content. The colour against his shirt apparently was "slightly hard to read" which I can empathise with. It is a challenge in itself to get a colour which stands out on a dark shirt and a white background together. I can see this will be an endless amount of time adjusting the density of colour on a frequent basis and somehow always changing my mind. The quote I am most happy with is the one about the layout of the front - "The layout of the text is good, not leaving much space yet not looking too crammed due to the different colours for each line". It was mentioned that I could perhaps add more to the banner across the bottom which I wouldve picked out myself and will develop on. It's positive we are all actually on the same wavelength. So in conclusion I just need to carry on and make a few minor adjustments - as well as actually finishing my contents page.....

Target Audience

Every magazine or media product needs a target audience for it to sell effectively
From my magazine research - most of the magazines are based at around 17-30 years of age - both genders.
My magazine will be following these groups in general.

The teenage/young adult market - Indies Scenesters, Hipsters, Trendies and Craft Kids.

Indie Scenesters - Those who want to be ahead of the current market. Fashion conscious Styles: Tight, Vintage, Independant (basically not mainstream). These are the ones breaking away from the crowd. Festival goers. Ever changing list of bands they like. Rely heavily on the internet and quite high on magazines. Retail interests include American Apparell, Uni Qlo and Urban Outfitters. Bands that not many have heard of are high on the list of importance.


Hipsters - Like also to be ahead of the game. Prefer to be recognised as the trendsetters. Live life to the fullest. More affluent than indie scenesters and highly retailed fashion items are of great interest. Fashion is very important. Slightly retro mind set. The snap back generation. Also interested in gadgets and latest technology. Always out and about..don't stay in!


Trendies - Got the cash to splash. Early to mid 20s and very middle class. Likes: Urban Outfitters/Topshop. Educated well with a like for reading on current/mainstream affairs.

Craft Kids - Making the best of what they have. Retro taste. "Make do and mend". Like anything with a guitar or bass. The different and independent members of society. Creative and have a good ear for musical talent. Positive and excitable people.