For my music magazine, I decided on the name 'FRESH'. I think this is a good name because my magazine is based on new R&B music, and I think that the word fresh represents new, fresh music and artists that people want to read about. I played around with a few different fonts and colours to help me decide what the title of the magazine should look like.
I also had a go at presenting the word 'contents' like they did on vibe magazine.

My two favourite fonts are probably the one in black writing or the one thats highlighted in black. I know black and white are quite boring colours but I want the background of my front cover to be white so that the image stands out better in colour, and as black and white are contrasting colours,

I think that the title should be either black writing or highlighted black because it looks bold.

For the image on the front, Im going to take pictures of one of my female friends because most R&B magazines have female artists on them such as Rihanna or Beyonce and I think that a picture of a woman is more appealing to both men and women.

Research

This Contents page is from the R&B magazine 'Vibe'. R&B magazines have a different approach towards women than most other music genres and this is shown on this page. R&B music is very much orientated towards sexual women and appearance. The image used on this page represents this. The image of the music artist 'Ciara' is used as she is very popular and this could attract more readers. Her minimal clothing, sexual pose and high heels add to the R&B music stereotypes. Vibe magazine is read by both male and female from a teenage age upwards. This image used can appeal to both male and female in different ways. Women can look at the image and do one of two things; either idolise Ciara or feel negatively about the image. Men can look at the image and admire Ciara. The layout of this contents page is detailed but basic. With just a faded grey background and black and white text, everything is easy to read. Although the font is quite small, everything has a heading and the layout of 'Contents' is big, bold and white to stand out. Ciara's clothes and the colour scheme of the whole contents page match to make the magazine more formal.

 

Thoughts on preliminary task

As my contents page for my college magazine is only a mock up, I didnt put pictures up for every page but i put coloured boxes to indicate where they would go. I numbered the pages evenly because I would want the pages to be double page spreads for each one. I put things in the magazines that I think students would find interesting. All the colours on my contents page match the front cover so you can tell that they are the same magazine.

Overall I think that I managed to capture the codes and conventions of a real magazine effectively. This is because my magazine cover used a medium close-up shot of the cover star as well as using text over the top of the photo, similar to a real magazine. Furthermore, my contents page uses photos along one side with page numbers on top and then a list with further details and page references, comparable to a real magazine. In addition to this, I think the colour scheme used (blue and white) fits the target audience (school students) appropriately. However, one thing that could be improved is the magazine’s heading on the cover; if made slightly bolder and possibly in a different font, it would stand out more and therefore be more successful.

I think the images that I used for my final college magazine fit the pages well. The medium close up shot fits the page well and has a plain background so it isn't too distracting to the eye and you can concentrate on the actual person. The colours that the cover star is wearing match the colour code used for my magazine (blue).

My second draft of my contentes page shows where I want to put the pictures of whats going to be inside the magazine. I think if the contents page shows images of the most interesting things that will be in the magazine, it would make people want to read the rest of the magazine.

Music Magazine

This was my first contents page for my music magazine that I did, its not very colourful or detailed because it was just to get an idea of where I would put the writing and what sort of things I would put in the magazine.



This is my final mock up of my contents page for my preliminary task. Now I can start working on my music magazine!

Research for music magazine

As part of my research for my music magazine, I looked at Flavour, an R&B music magazine. I think I will relate to this magazine mostly in my work because it looks good and can help me with my magazine because its set out well.

The image on the front of the magazine gives you an idea of whats going to be on the double page spread inside. In my opinion, if the image is good, then it makes you want to read the rest of the magazine. So the image that I choose to put on the front of my magazine has to be interesting and eye catching.

I've noticed than on most R&B magazines, the image is mostly of one person as they tend to be R&B solo artists, not bands.



On my first draft of my contents page, the page numbers were just random, I've now changed them so that they go up in two's because it looks better being more even. I've done upto twenty pages because its only a college magazine and I dont think it needs anymore than that.



I added an image from clipart of an ipod so people know what they are winning if they enter the competitions in the magazine. I think an image of the prize would also make someone want to read more of the magazine if there's something in it for them. I also rearranged the writing and made it all the same font because I think it looked too messy being different fonts. I've moved the picture of the computers to the other side of the page because i think it looks more organised if all the writing and the pictures are down the same side.



This is my final contents page before I added all the final writing and pictures..

This is my second draft of my contents page. Although. its not perfect, I prefer this one because I like the darker background and I think it looks better without all the boxes. Because its darker, i think it makes my magazine look a bit more professional whereas my first draft looked a bit childish in my opinion.

This contents page isn't finished yet. I think it needs a lot more pictures and some more things to make the student want to read the magazine.

This is my first draft of my contents page for my college magazine.

I tried to match the colour scheme with the front cover by using the same shades of blue and white writing.



Music Magazine

Before I started my music magazine, I researched R&B magazines. I love the pictures on Vibe magazine.

Final Cover

I think this is my final college magazine cover! I'm going to show a few people it to see if they can see any spelling mistakes that I may have missed or anything they think I could improve, but overall I'm happy with my final cover! Since my last post, I have changed some of the font on the cover because I didn't think it fitted in with the rest of the magazine.