Main Task Proposal (Music Magazine)

For my main task media product, I am required to create a Music Magazine, based on a genre of my choice. In order to research my chosen genre of modern, up to date music, I have carried out various tasks to find out which existing music magazine titles are the most successful and the presentational and content elements they use, in order to gain inspiration for my own magazine. Also, using my Preliminary Task materials, I can take the positive aspects of production and visual content, in order to make my production methods better for the main task.

After carrying out a research process and based on my own interests and knowledge of music, I have chosen to base my magazine on the genre of modern music; this includes a wide spectrum of music genres, but particularly focuses on popular culture music, along with any genres which are successful today. For example, country and rock artists are featured in the charts today, along with alternative, metal and indie. I have chosen this genre for numerous reasons, including;

-          This is the area/genre of music I am most familiar with.

-          I am a member of the target audience which are most interested in popular culture music.

-          I feel that there is a gap in the magazine market for this genre of magazine, as from research; I have found that most existing music magazines are specific to one genre, aside from NME and Q.

-          This area of music includes a wide range of genres, meaning a vast target audience, particularly aimed at 16 – 25 year olds.

-          I am able to gain first hand research, as I am part of this teenage demographic and I am able to find out information from this age group directly.

The History of Popular Culture Music

Popular music belongs to a number of music genres which have ‘wide appeal’ and typically is distributed to large audiences through the music industry. Popular music is a generic term for music of all ages, which appeals to popular music tastes. It is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often aimed towards a youth market. Pop music has absorbed influences from most other forms of popular music, but as a genre is particularly associated with the later rock style, along with RnB.

The modern day music charts focus on individuality; what makes the next big pop star famous is their angle on their music genre. For example, Lady Gaga has been the biggest pop music phenomenon of this year. She is widely recognised as being different and edgy, making her very successful. The genres differ a lot in the modern day; with the likes of Taylor Swift who focuses on Country genre music, Nickelback who focus on Rock and Metal music genres all topping the charts. This reflection of modern day music reflects individuals’ music tastes, not consisting of one particular genre; this is part of the reason that I chose this genre for my magazine, as it means that each issue will be different to the last. This will make it exclusive and exciting for readers, and also means that it will have a vast target audience; however focusing on the teenage and young adult demographic.

Existing Media Products for This Genre

There are a number of existing and highly successful media products for my chosen genre. These include NME magazine and it’s matching website. Also, there is Kerrang magazine, which also has an interactive website with the issue’s content and a music channel. Another widely popular existing product is Q magazine, which also has a website. From research, I have found that all existing music magazines of the popular culture genre tend to have a website, which is promoted a lot on the front cover of the magazine, to draw attention. MTV has to be the best known infamous music media broadcaster, which has numerous TV channels and websites. Other popular channels include 4Music and The Box. All the above media products can inspire me for the creation of my media product.

Existing Product Names

During my research of existing media products of the popular music genre, I have been able to find out some existing titles and names and the reasons behind them. For example, Q magazine was named with the intention of relating the to the term ‘cue’, which indicates the start of music. However, this name was changed to Q, otherwise the meaning could have confused with snooker. Q is an edgy and one syllable name, which provides a memorable title for the magazine and music channel.

Rolling Stone magazine relates to the ego of the music stars it provides articles about; it implies the reckless Rockstar lifestyle of modern music stars, and also directly links to the Rolling Stones, an iconic English rock band formed in the 1960s. This direct name link instantly creates a target audience and also reflects the music genre of the magazine effectively.
Another magazine I researched in detail was NME, which stands for New Musical Express. This name gives the sophisticated impression of a newspaper, but really it is a magazine. It also relates directly to imply the focus genre of ‘New Music’. It can also be abbreviated to make it memorable and an iconic logo.

Kerrang magazine’s name is onomatopoeic and refers to the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar. I particularly like this name, as it is inventive and imaginative.

Taking this research into account, I have noticed that music magazines are named to directly link to the nature of music it focuses on and the names are also short and snappy, making them impacting and edgy.

Research into Producing Companies

Bauer Media Group

·         Worldwide circulation magazine titles amounts to 38 million magazines a week.

·         Includes Q magazine

·         Kerrang magazine – Rock music genre

·         Mojo – Originally by EMAP

EMAP

A British Media company (East Midland Allied Press) with a turnover of £1.1 Billion in 2006. It became a business magazine based producing company, however originally published music magazine Mojo.

Time Inc – Owns IPC Media

IPC Media is a London based company, whose large portfolio sells over 350 million copies of magazines a year.

·         NME: New Musical Express

·         Marie Claire

·         Nuts

·         Entertainment Weekly

Typical content of current publications – how much they cost and their frequency/number of pages

Latest exclusive stories – interviews with music stars

Photoshoots with music stars – attracts attention to the cover
Download charts and Top 40/10 charts
Music lyrics
Exclusive preview articles about new singles/albums
Concert ticket adverts
Product advertising – e.g. CD’s, vouchers etc.

Publishing Frequency Research
NME – Tabloid size, with glossy printed pages. It is published weekly and costs £2.20.
Q – Published monthly and costs around £3.50.
Kerrang – Costs £2.20 and is published weekly. Total circulation of 43,000.

Possible Names for My Magazine

Here are some of my own initial magazine name ideas, trying to make them reflect the content of new music I intend to include, and the features of existing successful titles:

Pulse/ The Pulse
Tune
Rhythm
Flame
Adrenaline
Launch
Platinum 
Raise The Roof
Tempo
Rock On
iLoveMusic

From this list of possible names, I will choose one that is most appropriate, by making a shortlist and surveying my media class to find out which name they think is the best and most suited to the genre and target audience.

Analysing a Recent Magazine Cover and Contents Page

After carrying out some internet research about circulation figures and popularity, I have decided to take a Q magazine front cover and Contents page, analyse them for stand-out features and typical content, to enable me to see what makes a successful music magazine media product. Here are my annotations, added to the original cover and contents page of the December 2010 issue of Q.

Magazine Popularity Research

In order to gain some background knowledge about the best selling, and therefore the most successful existing music magazines today, I have used the internet to find some news articles about the rise and fall in circulation figures this year for music magazines. Here is some of the information that I found -

Mojo overtakes Q as top-selling music magazine

Bauer monthly overtakes sister title, as weeklies NME and Kerrang! slide more than 20% year on year

Mojo has overtaken its sister title Q to become the biggest-circulation paid-for music magazine, while there were big drops for music titles New Musical Express, Kerrang! and Metal Hammer in the latest circulation figures out today.

Bauer Media's classic rock magazine Mojo had an average monthly circulation of 98,484 in the second half of last year, down 2% year on year but up 0.8% on the previous six months. It overtook fellow Bauer title Q, which fell 8% year on year and 5.4% on the first half of the year to 94,811.

IPC Media's Uncut held onto third place among the paid-for rock music titles, despite a 13.3% fall year on year to 75,518. It was ahead of Classic Rock, which was up 1.5% year on year and 1.3% on the first half of 2009 to 71,242. But there were big year on year drops for the other titles in the rock music sector. Future Publishing's Metal Hammer was down 16.9% year on year and 9.2% on the previous six months to 41,777.

It was just ahead of Bauer's rock title Kerrang!, which tumbled 21.3% year on year and 4.9% on the first half of 2009 to 41,125, while IPC's NME fell 20.6% year on year, and 6% on the previous six months, to 38,486.

This article shows me that in 2010, the most successful paid-for music magazine was Mojo, which is a magazine devoted to the genre of 'Classic Rock'. This indicates that all ages who are fans of the genre occasionally or regularly buy this magazine, with an average monthly circulation of 98,484. Q Magazine, the sister to Mojo magazine, has shown a drop in circulation, and this product focuses on the genre of Modern Music, giving reviews of new albums and such like. As this popular magazine's circulation rates are falling, I feel that I could create a magazine of a similar genre, in order to help boost the popularity of this music genre magazine. Based on this genre, NME is also a good example of a successful magazine which I can refer to.

Music Genre Explanation

Having chosen music genre for magazine, how does it represent anyone associated with the genre?

Music Genre Focus:

After researching some existing media products of the same kind (music magazines), I have been able to clearly see some successful examples of what makes them so popular, in terms of their target audience, elements used on the front cover and cover lines with images which draw attention. Taking this into account, and the experience I have gained from creating my Preliminary task magazine products, I am able to make a decision and proposal of what I will create for my Main task of a Music magazine cover, contents page and feature double-page spread.

From my own interests and most of the teenage demographics’ interests, I have chosen to base my Music magazine on the ‘Modern Day Music’ genre. This means that style models such as the Rolling Stone cover, which I analysed for research, provide me with some good examples and inspiration for my own magazine. I have chosen this genre of music, as it varies from day to day, making new and exciting and it also includes a wide range of music types, as the music charts today are diverse and range from hip hop, dance, and mostly pop.

Target Audience/Readership:

By including stories and articles about the modern music industry, I believe that the magazine would attract a vast amount of different age groups, as modern music is designed to suit everyone, but in particular, the teenage groups of society. I have found from research that teenagers buy the most magazines yearly, and so I have decided to target my music magazine directly at them. Also, as I am in that age category myself, I am able to relate to the modern music charts and also be able to design something that will attract my age group in content and appearance.

Representations:
The representations that the modern music genre includes tend to consist of the glamorous, typical music stars and also the alternative stars which get media attention by doing crazy or unique things. Also, the love of music tends to show with modern music stars, such as Lady Gaga, Leona Lewis and Michael Buble. They are represented as having great talent and also being very rich and famous, which some of the teenage demographic may admire or aspire to. As part of my magazine, I will represent modern music artists in a similar way, making them seem very relatable and real people, not the negative media attention where they try to make up harmful stories about them. I will design my magazine to focus mainly on the talent and personality of music artists, rather than their personal lives.

Looking at presentational elements, the modern music genre uses bold and contemporary typography and fonts in order to catch attention and give the appearance an exciting edge. Also, exclusive images are used to attract an audience of a music artist at a glance. I will use these two elements in particular, in order to target it at young adults and teenagers.

I will use some skills that I learnt on computer design programs such as InDesign and Photoshop for image manipulation in my main task products and also use my research to take inspiration for coverlines and the way that they use language and layout to also make a successful, exciting image for the front cover.

Magazine Names:

During research, I have noticed that most music magazines have names that link directly or vaguely to the content they include. For example:
NME – New Musical Express – Relates directly to the ‘new music’ of the time and includes chart coverage etc.
Rolling Stone – Reckless but good and talented lifestyle of music stars (particularly rock) and song lyric references.
MOJO – Relates to ego of music stars and in this example, rock music artists.

After this research, I have decided that most of the existing names are short, punchy and easy to remember, meaning that they can have a big impact amongst other magazines of a similar genre.

Here are some of my own initial magazine name ideas, trying to make them reflect the content of new music I intend to include, and the features of existing successful titles:

Pulse/ The Pulse
Tune
Rhythm
Flame
Adrenaline
Disco
Launch
Platinum
Raise The Roof
Tempo
Rock On
iLoveMusic

From this list of possible names, I will choose one that is most appropriate, by making a shortlist and surveying my media class to find out which name they think is the best and most suited to the genre and target audience.

Additional Magazine Research

Another popular music genre magazine that is popular today is 'NME' magazine. This is a British magazine in origin and is widely successful. It is published weekly and had a total circulation from July to December 2009 of 38,486. It was first published in March 1952 and it was the first British paper to include a singles chart.
It is the most associated with popular music culture and festival culture. The genres of music that it features are diverse, dependent on what is popular at the time. It also has a vast target audience, of young adults, teenagers and fans of all genres.

Here is an analysis of a typical NME magazine cover and the features that it uses to grab audience attention and appeal to its target readership.

This cover relies heavily on bright, eye-catching colouring of the graphic to grab attention and the connotations imply that the music industry is a lively, exciting and involving industry, which would particularly appeal to a target audience of young adults and teenagers, or anyone interested in the new modern music scene.

The use of a white background allows the black and red typography to really stand out and draw attention. Bold, sans serif fonts are used to make a dramatic impact and advertise the exclusive music stories that the issue includes. The masthead font also looks condensed, to be more professional in appearance. The main image used takes up most of the 2nd and 3rd thirds of the page, forming the main focus of the cover. Also, it is a medium shot, with direct eye contact to attract you to the magazine. The image represents iconic music stars of the time and this draws attention. An effective use on this page is also that it uses a wide range of typography to make the page stand out and reflect the ever changing trends of the modern music world. The cover lines focus on short, snappy wordings and heavy emphasis lies with promoting gigs, attracting a wide audience of young people to the magazine.
Puff space is relied upon on this cover to promote competitions for the readers, which also generates attention.
The iconic NME logo forms the main masthead, which is easily and globally recognised, and does not interfere with the image placement, which gives it a professional aesthetic aspect.
After looking closely at this cover's presentational elements, I think that it is a highly successful cover, as it presents the music interesting in a modern, interesting and exciting way, generating a wide target readership, resulting in high circulation figures.

Existing Product Research - Rolling Stone Magazine

Rolling Stone music magazine was first published in November 1967 and has been hugely successful ever since, with a circulation of 1.4 million. It is based in New York City and is a US magazine in origin. It's fortnightly content is devoted to music, politics and predominantly, the new popular music culture of the day. It gives reviews, star interviews and regular music charts. As this the popular music culture is an area of music I am particularly interested in, I may consider this as the music genre I would like to 'copy' for my own magazine.
The typical target readership for 'Rolling Stone' tends to be young adults and teenagers, due to its focus on new popular music culture and the stars that includes. This is a vast target audience, therefore making it more popular as this demographic tends to read the most magazines per year.


Typical Rolling Stone Front Cover:
Looking at the elements of this existing front cover, I can analyse it in order to establish its target readership and what makes it so effective. The most dominant feature of any Rolling Stone magazine cover is the iconic image. These are taken from photoshoots of world famous music and occasionally acting stars. The image is used to form the entire magazine cover, including the background. This instantly draws fans of the featured artist to the magazine. The main coverline then links to this image and effetive typography and fonts are used to make the text stand out from th image and also draw attention. On this cover, two fonts are used for the coverlines and text above the masthead. It has a 'circus' type design and I like this as I find it visually effective.
The main title Rolling Stone logo forms the masthead of the page, and is placed behind the main image, which is a common trait of the cover, from my research. The iconic red and white typography is recognized worldwide and changes dependent on the cover. I really like the overall appearance of this front cover, as it is effective and I know the magazine to be great in content, after having read it myself.
Here is an analysis of the basic elements:

Beginning The Main Task

In order to make some initial decisions, I need to carry out some background research and analyse some existing media products. The main focus of the Main Task is a New Music Magazine and will involve preliminary research, practical production and evaluation. I am required to create a double page spread, a front cover and a contents page of a new music magazine. I will now carry out sufficient research to help with the designing process.

FINAL PRELIMINARY TASK DOCUMENTS

Here are the jpeg conversions of my final Contents Page and Magazine Front Cover.
After getting feedback from the teacher, I was able to make some final editing changes to the front cover and contents page, and then export the file to save it as a final jpeg format.

Overall, I am very pleased with how my preliminary task products have turned out, considering I had little knowledge of InDesign computer program before I start my AS Media course. I have been able to use the program to create a professional looking document, which I am proud of. I feel that I have used various elements of college life to inspire the front cover. However, I do think that it isn't as professional as I would have liked, due to a few appearance issues I'm not entirely happy with, but this leaves room for improvement for my Main Task, and this I will work on.

Looking at my Contents Page as a whole, I am also very pleased with the end result. I am pleased with the way that it directly refers to and resembles the magazine front cover, and I also feel that I have used an unusual layout, giving it a more contemporary feel.
I found that I was able to use a wide range of images, both taken from the internet and taken from a first hand source (myself taking the photos around college site).
If I was to improve the contents page in a particular way, I would experiment with background shading, to see if this improved the visual appearance in any way. However, I am pleased with it as it stands. To improve for the upcoming main Magazine creation task, I will make sure that I experiment with backgrounds to widen my knowledge.

Overall, I feel that my products incorporate all I intended them to, and therefore I am pleased with them.

Final Contents Page

After the process of editing and arranging, I managed to create a final design image of my contents page. I used a basic layout that I drew out as a flat plan, and then added details to it, in order to create a full contents page, incorporating all the cover lines from the front cover, and a few more to fill up negative space. Here is a screen shot of my final design Contents Page.

Contents Page Production

After finishing my front cover designing, I have used my flat plan designs and the front cover image itself, in order to create the basis of a contents page. After adding some relevant images and a condensed version of the magazine masthead, I decided to add some page numbers and play around with the layout until I created something which I thought looked visually effective and similar to the corporate image of the front cover. Here is a screen shot of my contents page in production.

Final Copy of Magazine Front Cover

After a little more editing and adding of cover lines, I have now finished my final magazine front cover, and here is a screen shot of it from InDesign. I have found that I have become increasingly comfortable with using this program and some of the effects it can create on a document.

I am pleased with my final front cover as a whole, and I can now use my flat plans and the front cover design to create a contents page, which is my next task.

Creation of Front Cover Process

Here is a Screen Shot I took during the creation process, showing my thought processes and my magazine image as it stands. I have imported my two edited images I am going to use as the focus of my front cover. I am now experimenting with layout, font, images and the masthead to create a final design.
I have been constantly referring to my previous designs and flat plans in order to create this front cover, and also I have referred to my research to take inspiration from existing magazine designs, which has proved useful.

Final Masthead Decision

I have decided on this masthead image, as I think it incorporates all my previous designing work, and also looks effective on a magazine front cover layout. I decided on the green coloured background,  as it compliments the colour scheme based on the SouthDowns College logo, and it also forms a universal appeal, to both boys and girls. It is also current, eye catching and suits the nature of a college magazine image.

Photoshop Editing Process

After creating an initial blank InDesign Document, in the more compact format measuring 17cm x 22.5cm, I decided to import an image first.
In order to create a visually effective image, I used my original photo I had taken and opened it for editing in PhotoShop. Here, I used colour filters to adjust the brightness and saturation of the picture, along with using editing tools such as the 'healing tool' to wipe out any imperfections or unwanted shadowing in the picture. I decided on this image (below) because it fits the criteria, shows a college themed setting and also relates directly to my planned cover lines and nature of the magazine. I also used the crop tool, to bring the focus to the girl in the photo, and also cut out any 'empty space' in the background.
After finishing editing the photo, I saved it in an 'EPS' format, which enables me to add it to my InDesign front cover file, in high resolution, giving a good quality image overall.
Here is the comparison of the photo below:

Original Image 

Edited Image (Final Copy)

Flat Plan Sketch Decision

After creating and deciding on a masthead, logo and font designs, I have decided to rework my Flat Plan Sketches, meaning that I have taken inspiration from my first 2 original designs, however haven't replicated them exactly. I have designed this using a different media, Microsoft Word, to show my thought process on the layout of my magazine front cover.
Here is a summary of my new Flat Plan Sketches, forming the design for my Magazine Front Cover.....

Experimenting with Photographs

Photograph 1 - Zoomed out Shot

After planning and starting to create the basis of my magazine front cover image and design, I decided to begin to take some photos that could be for possible use on my front cover. The criteria is that it has to include a mid shot photograph of a student, so given this, I asked one of my friends to be in my photos.

Here are some of the photos that I took, using the basis that it was in a college corridor, including a window to see out of the college and the student (Emma) was looking happy and comfortable at college, indicated by the folder she is looking at.

Photograph 2 - Wider angle shot

I like this second photo, as the facial expressions are more relaxed and happy and would reassure first year students, that read 'Choice' magazine, that college isn't as scary as it may seem, and that it's a comfortable place to be. I have used the setting to indicate it is on the college campus, and to also show the freedom of clothing that students have.

I experimented with different camera angles and settings, in order to see what my options were for the photographs, before I edit them on a computer.

Photograph 3 - Direct Eye contact

For this third photo, I used more direct eye contact, in order to grab attention to the image and show the facial expressions more clearly.

With some editing on Photoshop and InDesign, I think these photos could form the basis of the focus image on my magazine front cover.

Experimenting with Image and Cover Lines

Using my previous designs, I decided to use some of the heading to create practice cover lines. I used my proposal to decide on some possible front cover line topics, such as money, first day at college tips, information about the sports oppurtunities at college and the success of students' work.
Using these topics, I wrote some cover and tag lines as possibilities for my front cover designs.

Title Image/Logo Decisions

After experimenting further with my previous Typography designs, I have decided on which font, colouring and overall layout I would like to use. In the screen shot below, you can see that I have used InDesign to continue my designs further and show my process of thinking as I designed.

I used an image of the South Downs College logo to inspire my designs, using the green and blue colours predominantly. I am doing this to relate the college magazine directly to South Downs College and its students who are more than familiar with the college logo.

I have decided to use a font that is quirky, easy to red but has a young, fresh looking style of its own. It appears to be slightly graffiti-like and can appeal to both genders of students, which fits to my initial ideas. Also, it has individual characters which are different to the rest, showing individuality and also it makes it eye-catching.
After deciding on what font and colourings, I decided to experiment with the arrangement of the two words 'choice' and 'magazine' in order to create an effective logo. I used a rectangle shape and drop shadowing to see which arrangement looked best. I am pleased with these designs and will go on to make a final decision when I create the Magazine front cover.

Experimenting with Typography

After deciding on what name I would like to call my college magazine, I have been experimenting on InDesign with different fonts which could work/look effective on the masthead of the magazine front cover. This is the starting and focus point of the magazine, so I would like to make this look professional
Here is a screen grab of the progress I have made with typography.

I have used a variety of fonts to experiment with colours and effects to work towards creating a masthead/title logo for my magazine.

Using effects such as drop shadows and positioning, I have been able to create some effective ideas that I may use for my final cover designs.

Magazine Proposal

Here is my written Proposal, explaining my plans for my College Magazine.

Proposal– Samantha Ashman

I am planning to design and create a new college magazine. As I attend a college myself, I have chosen Southdowns College in particular. I have recorded my initial design and layout ideas and here is an explanation of my ideas and details about my magazine and its content.

Target Audience -   I plan to aim my magazine specifically at students in college education. This means an age demographic of teenagers, specifically aged 16 to 19 years old. Within this student group, I would particularly be aiming my magazine at new students to the college, in other words ‘freshers’. In order to create a strong sense of target audience, I have also decided to mostly aim my media product at a female audience, as from research, I have found that there are more female students at Southdowns College than males. However, some aspects of my magazine will suit both genders. This target audience is relatable to me, so I feel I will be able to create a magazine to suit it well. This age group are also typically interested in buying magazines regularly, so I will use this to my advantage when creating my magazine.

Decided Title -   Taking into consideration my target audience and the theme that my magazine will be an ‘academic journal’ consumer magazine, I needed to make a decision on which name I would title my magazine with. I have decided to name it ‘CHOICE’.
I think that this name was the most relevant, catchy and appropriate to the nature and target audience of my media product. The thoughts behind it include:

-          It reflects the ‘choices’ new college students have to make when they decide on which college to enrol in, how students choose to live their college lives and which paths they choose into their future careers.

-          Reflects the freedom of choice students of today have

-          It is easy to remember and short

-          It applies to all of the student target audience

-          Its catchy and memorable

-          It is a small word that can easily be edited in terms of font and style

-          No existing magazines are named this

When I first started planning magazine titles, I had a long list of possible names, however I disregarded names such as ‘The Lowdown’, ‘@College’,  ‘Voice’, ‘Future’, ‘Freedom’ and ‘Identity’. I felt that these names had less relevance to my target audience and magazine overall.  I think that ‘Choice’ is a versatile title and I will therefore include it in all my future designs.

Ideas for Taglines -   I have found from my research of existing magazines that tag lines are less popular today, however, if a magazine does have one, it can make it stand out from the rest. The tag line is an extra branding slogan that links to the magazine title. For my magazine, I think that a tag line would work well and be beneficial, as it helps to reinforce the audience’s memory of the magazine. Based on my chosen title of ‘Choice’, I have thought up some tag lines which link to the magazine name. For example; 'The College Lowdown' and 'Your college. Your choice.' I will decide on one of these slogans during the designing process of the masthead and the name logo.


Typical Content -  Considering the target audience my magazine designs will be aimed at, I have been able to list some ideas of what it will include typically in terms of content. I have many initial ideas of things it could include. Here is a list of the definite things I will include in every issue of ‘Choice’ magazine:

-          Pull out plan of College and local out-of-college events

-          News from around Southdowns College

-          Feature articles written by College students

-          Job Vacancy news

-          A Film Review (latest cinema releases)

-          Updated music chart

-          Note from the Editor

-          Student Shout-Outs

-          Advice about being new to the college (debut issue)

-          Sports Page

-          Arts Page

-          Photo Collage – promoting college successes

I think that all these aspects would be successful and suitable to my target audience, making them interested in reading the magazine. Based on my target audience, I have also thought up some other things to include as possibilities. For example, it could include a lecturer/teacher advice column, tips on driving lessons and theory tests, exam stress advice and a Student Voice/Union page spread. When I come to the designing stage, I will decide on definite content due to creating some cover lines.

Ideas for Cover Lines -  After listing some possibilities for content, I have decided on 6 possible coverlines, providing me with a good amount when I come to choose the final ones for my designs.
Nervous? Worried? Excited?  - Freshers, we have first-day tips for you!
Turn up that Volume – The top 10 you should have on your Ipod.
Get Active – Sports at College advice
Be Money Wise – Why money really matters
What’s Going On? - Get your pull out planner inside.
WIN! – Your chance to win Festival/Gig tickets inside!

These are some initial ideas for coverlines, which I may adapt when it comes to designing the front cover.

Time of Year for Publishing -     Considering the idea that I have decided to publish my college magazine fortnightly, I think that the first debut issue should be released at the start of the academic year, therefore early September. I started college myself on the 19^th September, therefore this would be a good week to release my magazine’s first issue. This means that the college will be at a height of activity, with a new intake of ‘fresher’ students, which are all my target reading audience. This also means that it will be an Autumn issue, so this might affect my choice of content.

Frequency of Publishing -  As my magazine is college themed, I have decided to make it a fortnightly issuing magazine. I think this would be most appropriate, as it means that students can regularly get information about the college events and it may also make the magazine more popular, as it is available more often to them. I think that monthly issuing wouldn’t be frequent enough and weekly would be too frequent for a college environment.

Dimensions of the Cover -  Looking at today’s magazines, there are many different options for size formats and I have chosen the smaller, more compact format which has cover dimensions of around 22.5 cm by 17 cm. I have chosen this smaller format, as it would suit my target audience well, better than the typical bigger format magazines. The small size means that it easier for students to pick up off a shelf and carry out or put into one of their college folders. I think that this type of magazine would be more successful in this size, so I will base my designs and flat plans around this format.

Front Cover Imaging -  The criteria given to me states that the front cover main focus image needs to include a medium close-up photograph of a college student. Based on this, I have been able to decide on what sort of image I would like to be on the front cover. I have decided to take a photograph that links directly to the magazine title, as it is the debut issue cover that I will be designing. Based on the theme of ‘Choice’, I would like to include an image which shows a student in a relaxed environment, looking happy in their studying. For example, I could get this image by taking a photograph of a fellow student, either on the college campus or outside of college, depending on which background I would like. An image possibility would be a student reading from a book or folder, looking happy with the ‘choice’ they made to go to college. This could be in a place outside of college, in a relaxing atmosphere, showing the freedom and independence of college. Differently, I could take a photo of a similar nature, but within a college campus setting.

When it comes to the practical creation of my magazine front cover, I will decide which scenario photo to take, however they are both relevant and I think that they would be effective as a magazine focus image.

Contents Page Appearance -  In order to relate directly to the front cover coverlines and stories, I think that it may be effective to keep the appearance of the contents page relating to the front cover in some ways. For example, the masthead title/logo could be featured on the contents page in some way. Also, the colour theme will be continued from the front cover. I think I will keep the colour scheme simplistic, including the use of black and white, as this tends to be popular with modern magazine publishing.
When I come to designing the contents page, I will also decide on some relevant images to improve its appearance and to portray the nature of some of the page titles/coverlines.

Possible Fonts -  In order to create a professional looking contents page and front cover, I plan to use a series of fonts, but not too many, that all look professional and link directly to the college theme and student target audience. I have researched some fonts on Microsoft Word and online sites such as dafont.com to get some inspiration about which fonts I might like to use in my designs for the front cover, masthead and contents page. I have used the theme of teenage years to search for some appropriate fonts, and here a few ideas...

AR CENA     BLUE HIGHWAY     Maiandra GD   Showcard Gothic  Mufferaw 

These are some possibilities for my designs, but final decisions will be chosen nearer the designing stage.

Main Image Initial Ideas

After placing a main image into my flatplan drawings, I have been noting down some initial ideas as to what I would like my main focus image to include/look like.According to the brief, I need to include a medium close-up shot of a student to be the focus image of my magazine front cover. Based on this, I have been able to plan a few possible photograph ideas.

• 1.       Mid close-up of a student working in a college classroom or lab
• 2.       Student walking in one area of the college e.g. the walkway past the South building
• 3.       Student stood on stairs – upwards angle camera shot to place emphasis on the student
• 4.       Student in a quiet, relaxed environment e.g. in the LRC Library or on a computer
• 5.       Student giving a presentation to a college class
• 6.       Student interacting with a lecturer/another student
• 7.       Student studying outside of college
• 8.       Student outside of college, reading from a folder – looking happy in their choice of going into college education
• 9.       Student in cafe with friends – having lunch, or a conversation etc

I will decide on a final set up for an image at a later stage in my magazine planning. I have tried to make each scenario planned to photograph relatable to my target audience of college students, and in particular, first year students. I would like to link the image to my magazine title and the coverlines also, as most successful magazines use this technique, which I noticed from my prior research. The image I choose to take needs to attract students to the magazine and also fit my criteria.

Flatplan Scan 2

This is a scan of my second designs for flat plans. This design uses a different layout and design for the masthead. I will also consider this design when I come to decide on my final layout.

This design is a little more detailed than my first design. I have used an ongoing theme of speech bubbles and square images to create a design that carries on from the front cover into the contents page, which creates a more corporate image.

Flatplan Scan 1

After deciding on which size magazine format I wanted to use for my designs, and the magazine name, I have been able to draw out some rough designs for the contents page and front cover layouts.

Left:
I have used some rough sketches to map out a possibility of a layout for my magazine's front cover and contents page. I have used features from successful magazines and knowledge from my research to do this.

I will consider this design for my final front cover flat plans.

Magazine Format Research

In the current magazine market, there are variations in the sizes of magazines and how many pages they contain. After looking at some existing magazines, I can see that certain types have different cover dimensions.
For example, a normal, bigger size magazine generally measures 26.5 x 21cm.
I have also found that there is now a 'compact' format of magazine, which makes it a smaller size with dimensions of around 22.5 cm x 17 cm. 

I have decided that my college magazine should be the compact format, to make it easier for students to pick up off a shelf and carry around or put into one of their folders. I think the magazine would be more successful in this format, so I will base all my designs and flatplans around this smaller format.

Final Choice on Magazine Name

Definite Magazine Name and Reasons Why I Chose It:

After taking into account all the existing magazine names and the target audience which I aiming my magazine product at, I have decided that the magazine name will be ‘CHOICE’. I feel that this is the most relevant, catchy and memorable name out of the list of names that I came up with. 

It also reflects the 'choices' new college students make when they decide on which college, which subjects they enrol in and what career path they choose. It also relates to how students choose to live their college lives and which 'paths' they choose into their future profession. I think it also has appeal, as it is easy to remember, is a short word and has multiple meanings. Also, from prior research, I know that there aren't any existing magazines of this name, so I have chosen it for my designs. 

My Target Audience Decision

After taking into account all the possible target audiences I could aim my magazine at, I have decided to aim it at the interests of students in college education. So this means teenagers aged 16 to 19 years old. The particular group of students that I am targeting my magazine at however are new students to the college, in other words ‘freshers’. I have also decided that this magazine would be mostly aimed at a female audience, as there are more female students at Southdowns college than males, however, a male could read my magazine, as I will include topics/content to suit both genders. I have chosen this target audience as I feel I can relate to it and this age group also tend to be interested in buying and reading magazines regularly.

Initial Ideas - Magazine Names

In order to create an effective magazine name to be featured in the masthead, I need to think of a name that is catchy, simplistic and would appeal directly to my target demographic of (Southdowns) College students. I have been listing a series of ideas and words that could create an effective magazine title and logo.
For example, I have thought of the following initial ideas for names:
The Buzz
Noise
Loud
Vibes
YourChoice
Freedom
Future.
@College
Direction.
Studentz
Voice
BeHeard
YourWorld
The Lowdown
College 24/7
YourChoice
Choice.

I think that all of these name ideas have relevance to college life and students, therefore they may help me to decide on my magazine name in the future, for the final designs and flat plans.

Initial Ideas - Content

Considering the idea that my magazine will be classed as an 'academic journal consumer' magazine, here is an extensive list of all the ideas for my magazine's content that could be considered for the final designs:

- Pull out plan of college events

- Student offers - NUS card discounts

- Articles written by students

- Advice columns from lecturers and students

- Job vacancy news

- Advice/tips for driving lessons/theory

- News on past events around college

- 'Arts' Showcase section

- Music Charts of that month

- Film reviews 

- 'Student Shout Outs' - Messages from students themselves

- Student Voice/Union page

- Sports page

- Photo collage page - people's photography and art work

- Student calendar for each month - pull outs

- Events outside college 

- Advice on bars, clubs etc outside college campus

These are most of my brainstormed ideas for my magazine's content and I may consider some of them for coverlines and the contents page listings.

Pre-Production Research

In order to gain some useful background knowledge about existing Student/college magazines, I have saved some images of the front covers of the magazines, and I have analysed them. This has helped me gain some inspiration for my magazine, in terms of cover lines, mastheads, images and layouts.

Right, the 'Student Magazine' front cover. Looking at this cover, I can take some useful inspiration from it. For example, I like the layout of the cover lines, it sticks to the idea of the cover being split into thirds, with the central mid-shot image being central and the cover lines scattered left and right. The font used for the masthead is emphasised by being white in colour and is placed in the foreground, on top of the image. The sans serif font is also effective, as it is the stereotypical font associated with American College varsity and student life in general. I may consider this font for my designs, as it is impacting and effective. In terms of colour, this cover uses two bold and impacting colours of red and green, bringing the clothes from the picture to tie in with the font and 'St Patrick's Day' theme. This is an effective professional tool. I can see how it appeals to a teenage audience, as it is vibrant and the cover lines would interest them, for example, 'what to do when you're 20' as this is relevant to them. The model used for the photo looks a little old to be a college student and I don't like the pose, however, it suits this particular cover.

Left, The National Student Magazine cover. This cover has a more simplistic layout, which is effective as it draws attention with a white background, placing emphasis on the image. I personally don't like the lack of cover lines, as it doesn't make the magazine issue seem that interesting or exciting. However, I like the use of two different contrasting fonts and colours for the masthead. This is effectively eye catching. I also like the use of image editing, which I plan to use on my central image, along with the use of shadowing, like in this picture.
The use of graphic design is effective with the bottom central cover line also. I intend to experiment with different fonts for my cover lines too, as it draws attention and gives the cover depth.

After researching this covers, I can see stark differences and I will use this background knowledge as design inspiration.