Research Rationale

Magazine Typography

The mood board clearly shows a variety of fonts, sizes and colours used in various music magazine mastheads. From the moodboard we can see the consistency of the three colours used; black, white and red. These colours are mainly used for music magazines with genres of RnB and Rock, however, for the pop magazines, more bright and vibrant colours are used. From these colours, we are able to make out who the target audience for the magazine is. For example, the ‘top of the pops’ logo uses the colours pink and yellow, suggesting that it is aimed at young girls. There are also many different styles of fonts used for various music magazines.  They are mainly big and bold, which make them stand out and easy to read. For my pop music magazine, I am considering to use bright colours to attract the reader as well as my target audience. The font will be bold and quite girly, as I will be using swirly fonts and colours like, pink and purple. However, I am planning to research more pop magazines, to get a better understanding of what pop magazine mastheads are like, and how I can make my masthead look unique, yet professional.

Magazine Deconstruction

Introduction to Brief

The brief that we have been given is to create the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. I have mixed feelings towards this brief as I feel both confident and nervous at the same time. I initially had a lot of ideas that I was considering carrying out, regarding what genre I would want my magazine to be, as well as who the magazine will be aimed at.  Due to the preliminary task we had done towards the starting of the year, I feel quite confident and prepared for this brief, as I am able to use the skills I had learnt previously, again. These skills would help me to boost my confidence even more, as well as helping to make my magazine seem professional. I am mostly excited about using Photoshop once again, as I have already had experience in how to use it; during the preliminary task we were set. I am considering to create a either an RnB or a pop magazine as these are the genres I normally listen to. Therefore, I will most probably be aiming the magazine at teenagers or young adults, as being a teenager myself; I have an idea of what type of music and magazines they would read. However, despite these ideas, I am still quite nervous as to how things would go during my production work, and turn out in the end. Another thing I need to take into consideration is how I manage my time, as well as producing a professional music magazine, which is of a good quality. On the whole, I am very excited to produce the best piece of work I possibly can and start blogging again!

PRELIM TASK: Audience Feedback

These are the responses I received from the target audience for who the magazine was aimed at. 

Name: Alina Khan 
Year: 12
Feedback: "The magazine gives a professional look and seems attractive. The colour and                       design is idealistic for young people as these are the main things that young                           people look for in magazines".

Improvement: Background colour could be more attractive and appealing.


Name: Rubab Mirza
Year: 12
Feedback: "The vibrant colours and stylish fonts made the magazine look worthy of reading/                     buying". 

Improvement: "The front colour could have more coverlines on it".  

PRELIM TASK: Finished Product

This is my final magazine front cover and contents page. The flat plan I had initially created differs from my final magazine, as I added a few minor changes to make my magazine seem professional. These changes include font colour changes, coverline changes and font size changes to my magazine front cover, and alignment changes to the images and text on my contents page. I decided to carry out the changes on my magazine front cover to make it look the same quality as some of the renowned magazines. I changed font sizes to make the magazine look more attractive and focus on the main coverlines, as this would intrigue my target audience. I then changed the colour of one of my coverlines to make it look more bold and easier to read. I also adjusted the sizes of another coverline and made it the font a bit smaller, as it was not one of the main coverlines and therefore, the size had to be reduced. In order to make my magazine front cover relate to my main coverline, I decided to change my pull quote. The change enabled my main coverline and the magazine cover itself, look relevant to each other. The changes made helped my final front cover to look striking and as the same quality as well-known magazines. The changes I made to my contents page were very minimal as I only adjusted the images and text and made them both vertical, rather than diagonal. I carried out this change to make my magazine look more professional and appealing to my aimed age range.

Due to the alterations I made to my magazine front cover and my contents page, my overall magazine resulted in looking more cohesive and it was obvious to tell that they were from the same magazine. The effect which I had added on both my front cover and my contents page makes my magazine stand out and attract the reader. The colour scheme is kept consistent and all 3 colours have been used. The bold colours which I have incorporated in my magazine help to engage the reader and look eye-catching. I have also integrated a graphic of a black circle in my contents page, which I had previously used on my front cover, to make both the front cover and contents page look interconnected. This is effective as it makes my magazine and its theme look consistent, as well as helps to intrigue the reader. 

PRELIM TASK: Contents Page Image Choices

I have decided to use these 3 shots for my contents page as all 3 pictures make it clear that the models in the images are students. Another reason why these images are ideal to be included in my magazine is due to the target audience who are being aimed and also because they meet the theme of my magazine; balancing social and college life and getting organised. Due to the models' expressions, we can evidently see that they are socialising with one another, which meets my theme of balancing social life. The shot taken in the middle makes it clear that this is a college magazine, as the model is reading a book and looking like she is doing something productive. Although there is no presence of the angle of gaze, I do not see it as a problem as these shots were intended to be taken naturally, in order to show the audience what college students get up to and also to see their natural behaviour.