Cover Image

After taking 60-70 photos with my digital camera I uploaded the images to the computer and chose the most suitable ones for use in the magazine. After consideration, the image chosen for the front cover was the following:

This photo (already cut out onto a background with the polygonal lasso tool) shows a single person as apposed to a band to focus in and enhance the impact of the image. The guitar faces the audience whilst the figure faces away showing the 'face' that he shows the audience whilst not revealing his true face. This also links with the title of the magazine, 'infamous', in that he doesn't want to be seen by the camera.

I used a number of photoshop functions to turn the first image into the second one. First of all I cropped out parts of the image that would not appear on the cover. Next I used the adjust hue/saturation option to enhance the lighting and tone. I darkened the guitar using the burn tool to have less reflections as it looked a little grey. When I was happy with the colours of the photo I focused on the features of the model. I used the spot healing tool to get rid of a birthmark on his arm and even used some copy and pasting on the hair to even it out (on the right side he has more hair on the second image above the guitar). The final modification I made to the image was using the patch tool on the shirt to remove some of the wrinkles. This was because the shirt was actually a little small on the model and it made it look more fitting.

NME - On the cover

• The title
NME stands for the New Musical Express and also sounds like the word ‘enemy’. This makes it more memorable as the reader notices the pun consciously.

• The masthead/title logo
The masthead is in a much more formal font in contrast to Kerrang!. It is made up of a block colour (in most issues this is red) and an outline with sharp edges. It also takes up quite a large proportion of the cover

• The strapline
The strapline is promoting a festival guide within the magazine and emphasises the word ‘free’ by changing the colour. Both ‘free’ and ‘win’ are emphasised on NME’s cover as well as Kerrang!

• Cover lines
There are very few cover lines to make room for the main story. ‘Green Day’ is written in huge letters across the width of the page, as this band is particularly famous and especially with the target audience of the magazine.

Other cover lines are on the left of the main photo and at the bottom of the cover. As the main story is so important to this particular issue, the other stories are fairly out of the way. Mentions of other famous musicians within these cover lines entice potential readers who are ‘on the fence’.

• language
Although the fonts used are more formal than Kerrang! The overall feel of the magazine remains casual. This is to connect easily with the audience and make it more comfortable to read, especially for younger readers.

• Individuality

The use of words like ‘exclusive’ and ‘secret’ suggests that the reader of this magazine is getting something that readers of other magazines wouldn’t.

KERRANG! - On the cover

• The title
Kerrang is an Onomatopoeia for the sound of a guitar strum. The guitar is the figure instrument for rock music.

• The masthead/title logo
The masthead is capitalized and in a big eroded font. It also creates the effect of lights coming from behind the text as though in concert. This creates a rock atmosphere for the rest of the cover.

• The Strapline
The strapline ‘The damned things get ready to invade!: ”we want to do everything!”’ is promoting a story within the magazine. The use of casual language and the aspiration of wanting everything gives the band an energy.

• Cover lines
The cover lines don’t reveal much about the content of the issue. There is a list of the bands ‘covered’ in the magazine, but it doesn’t state whether they are interviews, photoshoots, reviews or previews. The bands listed have a range of audiences in order to appeal to a greater audience.
The use of words like ‘win’ and ‘free’ creates an added incentive to buying the magazine for people who are wondering whether to buy it or not.

• language
Everything on the front page is emboldened and capitalised which ‘shouts’ at the reader, but it is also written casually to connect with the audience and create a relaxed tone.

• Individuality
Kerrang!’s unique selling point would be their music channel and radio station. The audience of these shows would be more inclined to buy a magazine from a brand they already know to talk about the bands that they like.

WGSB Review-Contents Page

Music Magazine - Initial Research: KERRANG!

KERRANG! magazine general information

• Which company publishes the magazine?

Emap

• What is the target audience according to the publisher’s website?

The age group is around 14-17 although in previous years it was more around 16-24 due to the magazine featuring more poppy bands recently. 60% of readers are male and 40% female.

• Cost

£2.20 per issue

• How often is it published?

Kerrang! it has been a weekly magazine for 25 years and is currently on it's 1339th issue.

• Circulation?

52,272

Music Magazine - Possible Names

This is a list of possible names for my future music magazine, as it will be a rock music magazine the name has to fit the genre. Emboldened names were most popular within a 30 person survey aged 16-17.

Amplified
Gestalt
Max Volume
Max Drive
Pumped
Switch On!
Infamous
Victorious
Tireless

I decided to have a look at all three by writing them in fonts appropriate to the style of magazine (rock). This means that the fonts have to be 'loud' in order to metaphorically shout at the reader. Typical traits include BLOCK CAPITALS, emboldened, and contrasting colours.

Font 1



Font 2



Font 3

WGSB Review (Finished Front Page)

This is the finished cover of the school magazine. I added more cover lines to create a more flowing front cover.

To make my front cover, first I took lots of pictures of students in different poses that would relate to a school magazine, this included; reading books, writing, typing and walking. After I took the pictures I chose one to be the main picture on my front cover, this turned out to be an over-the-shoulder shot of a male student reading in the library.
I didn't like the background at this point so I desaturated it out, but I still wasn't happy with it so I deleted it and started to make my own background. I used different brushes to make bubbles and smoke effects on the page.
For the title I made a list of possible names and chose the one I felt was most fitting. The name I finally chose was 'WGSB Review', this is because it works well as a formal title for the type of magazine I wanted to make. I chose a font that I liked and used the FX to make it stand out, I added the school's emblem to the center to complete it.
I then added the cover lines and the date to help create the final look for the cover. At first I used double punctuation marks (!!, !?, ??) to add emphasis to the cover lines but it took away from the formality of the rest of the cover so I decided to leave them single.




This is the cover that I have designed so far. I was unsure which background to use as the one on the far left uses colours taken from the school badge but the one on the right has a higher contrast of colours. Eventually I decided to get opinions from others and go with the majority vote. The first background was chosen by the majority of the sample as it also brings out the text about the main story.

Preliminary Task

using DTP and an image manipulation program, produce the front page of a new school/college magazine, featuring a photograph of a student in medium close-up plus some appropriately laid-out text and a masthead. Additionally you must produce a mock-up of the layout of the contents page to demonstrate your grasp of DTP.