Rock – Metal,

Punk Rock, Pop

Punk etc.

Pop – Chart Music

Culture – African,

Chinese, Indian,

Tribal etc.

Hip Hop

Techno – DJ, Rave

Folk/Country

Blues/Swing

Jazz

Classical

Western

Reggae

Gospel/Religious

Magazine Genre

After looking at different publications and

magazines, I have decided that the main theme

of my magazine is going to be Rock Music. I

really like this genre of music, so I think that

my final product will be very detailed and have

a lot of stuff in that will appeal to the reader. I

have also been buying Rock magazines for

many years, so I know the kind of features that

are in them. I want aim my product to people

between the ages of 14-20, this will enable me

to make the content of my issue current and

more appealing to young people in this

generation. I have mainly being inspired by

Kerrang Magazine (Bauer Media Group) and

Rock Sound Magazine (Sonic Publishing). I

will be selecting a House Style that doesn’t

include many colours, I found that during my

research that Rock magazines do not use many

colours in an issue, but the colours used stand

out and look effective.

Bands In The Chosen Genre.

Blink 182

Fall Out Boy

System of a DownSlipknot

A Day To Remember

Pierce the Veil

The Foo Fighters

Bring Me The Horizon

What I Want To Include In My Magazine - LayoutI am creating a cover page, a contents page and a double page spread. Here are

some of my ideas for the layout of each page.

Feature Image based

on main story in the

centre of the cover.

Puff offering

something to the

reader.

Main Headline with

small description

underneath based on

the main story.Skyline across the

top talking about

another feature in

the magazine.

Several titles that

highlight other

stories in the

magazine.

Background that

ties in with the

main image

(colour wise)

Section showing

the posters on

offer in the issue.

A Masthead that stands

out just below the skyline.

Background – I really like

the idea of making each page

look like a page from a

notebook or scrapbook

(MCR Magazine – Hammer)

so I would like to look at

having my magazine look

very artistic and unique.

Text Layout – Like most of

the magazines I have

looked at, two coloured

fonts are used – one for the

main title of the story and

page number and the other

for the small description of

the article.

Featured Image – I am going

to put an image at the top of

my contents page that links to

my main article from the front

cover.

Editor Description – Like Kerrang, I

am going to put a section on the

contents dedicated to the editor of the

magazine (me). This will include a

photo of me, a sub-heading and a

small paragraph.

House Style – All of my

writing will be in the same

font and the colour palette

will be limited but suited

to the target audience.

I am planning to put

the issue number and

date of publication at

the top of the page

under the contents

heading, so the reader

knows if it is the most

recent edition of the

magazine.

I am going to have the word

‘Contents’ in the magazine

logo’s font in the top corner of

the page so the reader knows

this is the contents page.

I am going to have a

couple of shapes on the

page with information

in, I am planning on

having one that tells

the reader about a

competition that is in

the issue. I will put the

page number on so

they know where to

look for the details.

I really like the idea of having an over-

view of the issue on the contents page, so

I think I am going to include one on my

page. The over-view will mainly focus on

my main story but I will also cover topics

that are on the cover and mention the free

items that my publication is offering.

I will have a bold title at the top

of my page that is clear to the

reader and tells them the title of

my article. This title will not

necessarily say directly what the

text is about, but it will hopefully

draw the reader in because they

want to know what it is going on

about.

I am going to have a column

that provides the reader with

extra information regarding

the featured people in the

article. So for example, if I

am talking about how much

money someone makes, I

could have a section that

compares how much they

make to how much other

people make.

I will be putting photos in that I

have taken with a

watermark/copyright logo across the

bottom left corner of the picture

(example underneath).

Background – Following

the notebook/scrapbook

theme, the main

background will be

created to make the pages

look like they are from a

book.

Underneath the bold title, I

will be putting a brief

summary of the article. This

will say more about it than

the headline, but it won’t

entirely give the story away,

so the reader will hopefully

be more interested.

My article will be

sectioned into equal

paragraphs that are not too

long, this will make it

easier to read because

there will not be a lot to

take in at one time. The

text will also be in the

same font, size and colour.

I would like to include

quotes from different people

about my subject matter, and

I would like to add images of

things that are related to the

featured people, so if it is a

band, I could include

merchandise or album art

work.

My featured image will be

bigger than the other

pictures that will be

featured on my double page

spread. This will be the

most important image, and

it will stand out the most to

the reader.

Colour Scheme With a magazine, it is very important that the colours used stand out to the reader and

match the genre of the publication. Below, I have come up with some colour schemes

for my issue. I have kept it limited to four colours, this is because I don’t want my

magazine to have too much colour in it, as this may put the reader off.

This is a simple colour scheme, this will

mean that the reader will not be distracted by

the colours.

I like these colours, but I think three is a bit

too distracting.

Like the scheme above, this one has three

colours, and despite them being fire colours,

I think the reader will be distracted.

I want both male and female to read my

magazine, so using Pink and Blue could make

it more appealing to both genders.

Colour Scheme 2 After looking more at Kerrang covers, I noticed

that there have been quite a few issues that use

the colours Black, White, Blue, Pink and

Yellow. I think that this colour scheme looks

very effective and as a result, I would like to add

an extra colour to my colour scheme. Because I

know it works, I would like to have Black,

White, Yellow, Pink and Blue. I did think that

three colours would be too busy, but it turns out

that I really like the look of it, so it is an

exception. The yellow is hardly used and

because it is only used in few areas on the

covers, it stands out and doesn’t clash with the

other colours. I am planning to have the

majority of colour as Pink and Blue, I will be

using the Black for my text, White for some

backgrounds, and Yellow for headlines, words

that I want to stand out and highlighted text. I

am confident that my newly formed colour

scheme will stand out and make my magazine

look appealing to the buyer.

FontTo make my magazine look neat and tidy, the majority of the text on each page will be in

the same font, size and colour. I have sampled with some fonts below which I think will

look good in my magazine. Every word is going to be in caps lock also, to make sure

every word is clear to the reader.

Arial

Bookman Old Style

Century

Ebrima

Georgia

Lucida Sans Unicode

MS Gothic

Nirmala UI

ARIAL

BOOKMAN OLD STYLE

CENTURY

EBRIMA

GEORGIA

LUCIDA SANS UNICODE

MS GOTHIC

NIRMAL UI

I personally feel that the Ebrima font looks the best, so this is the font that I will be using

in my magazine.

Page Layout The MCR Hammer Magazine has inspired me

greatly on the layout front. I really like how

each page is styled like a scrapbook and I

would love to have a magazine based on this

layout. Obviously, my genre is Rock Music so

I couldn’t have flowery backgrounds and love

heart stickers, but I do believe I will be able to

come up with something that will not only suit

my target audience and genre, but will also

look very effective at the same time.

I found a double page blank sketchbook

on Google

Images:http://dotgrid.co/product/sketch

-book-a5-manilla/ and I think this is

how I want my double page spread

especially to be set out. The sketchbook

also ties in with my targeted audience,

because people who like Rock Music

are stereotyped as people who are very

creative and spend a lot of time drawing

and painting, so I think this page style

works very well.

Pinterest

On my Pinterest account, I have

created a board called ‘Media’ and

I have pinned some scrapbook

page ideas. This is giving me some

inspiration for the pages in my

magazine and it has been a great

help for me. I definitely will be

taking some ideas from what I

have found. Something that I

found that I like especially, is the

layout on the bottom left image, I

think that this style looks very

detailed and well thought through.

I would love to get this idea into

my magazine somehow. I also

really like the flags on the top left

image, I think they look really nice

and make the page look more

interactive.

http://uk.pinterest.com/emilymoorby/

Featured Images

Here are some examples of the kind of photos that I

would like to include in my magazine. I have got:

-Close Up (Image 1)

-Medium Close Up (Image 2)

-Long Shot (Image 3)

-Medium Long Shot (Image 4)

I will be taking my own photos for my magazine

and I am very excited to do this. I am planning on

adding a review to a show that I took some photos

at and I will use some of the images, I will be using

a model for my front cover image and I am planning

on making a music merchandise advertising poster

to put in my issue.

Name of Magazine - Ideas

As I want to make a Rock Music Magazine, I have come up with some ideas for a name based on the genre. I have checked that there are no magazines with the same names as the ones I have thought of because this could create a copyright issue.

Name of Magazine - DevelopmentOut of the ten names I thought of, I have picked my three favourite;

- Power Chord (a key element of Rock Music)

- Crowd Surf (an action often performed at a Music Show)

- Plectrum (used to play a guitar, can be called a Pick also)

Before I choose the name straight away, I am going to experiment with

different fonts to see which name looks the best in which font. This is not

only the name of my magazine, but it is the Masthead of the cover page, so

it is very important. There are a couple of factors to consider when coming

up with a magazine name, they are:

-The name has to be easy to remember so it sticks in people’s heads

- It can’t be too long, otherwise it will not fit across the top of the cover

- It needs to relate to the genre of the magazine

- The font needs to be bold in order to stand out

- It has to be read-able.

I am confident that the three I have picked suit all of these factors and I am

very excited to experiment with different fonts.

Idea 1 – Power ChordTaken from http://www.urbanfonts.com

Above, I have experimented with five different fonts from UrbanFonts.Com. I have put

circles around the ones that I like the most. I chose the ones that I did because not only

do I like the look of them, I think they all match my music genre and target audience

(14-20). I also picked the sketchy one as an idea because I want my magazine layout to

be in the style of a notebook/scrapbook, so I felt this font suited my ideal style.

Idea 2 – Crowd Surf Taken from http://www.dafont.com/

Out of the five fonts I selected, I only really like the last one. Like other magazines say,

they provide the reader will exclusive news about subjects, so using a ‘Top Secret

Stamp’ could imply that what is inside my magazine is topics that only I know about,

and this may draw readers in, because they want to know what I know about a band for

example.

Idea 3 - Plectrum

Taken from http://www.fontsquirrel.com/

I like the Black Casper font especially because I think it follows my scrapbook/notebook

theme as it looks like the letter have been taken out of a newspaper and glued down to

form a word. I also really like the Blackout font because it is very simple but very slick

and appealing at the same time.

I have selected my top three fonts from my experiment with the different styles. I

have also been thinking about the name of my magazine, and out of my three, I prefer

‘Crowd Surf’. I feel this way because, most people know what Crowd Surfing is, and

some people may not know what a Power Chord or Plectrum is. I also think Crowd

Surf sounds more interesting. So, below I have tried out the words ‘Crowd Surf’ in

the three favourite fonts that I selected.