Magazine Layout
Using my music magazine research i am now going to sketch out ideas of layouts for my main cover, contents page and double-page spread. I have alot of varied ideas thanks to annotating and looking into how magazine companies design layouts.
Front Cover Layout Plans
I really want my music magazine to look realistic and not like a school project, therefore i am choosing idea four as my main layout for my front cover. However, I haven't yet thought of a name for my magazine, I think as i progress through my planning it will come to me naturally. I think this layout looks the best and not too much going off like possibly Idea two, i also like everything to be central as i think it looks neater and better looking so this cover is perfect.
Contents Page LayoutsAfter sketching out layout ideas for my contents page i have come to the decision of making idea four the final layout design. I really like this design as i took aspects of the other contents page ideas and put them all together onto one page. However, when designing this on Photoshop i don't think i will have the scattered photos at the bottom as messy as i have sketched out, i think it would look too out of place and not neat enough if it was as untidy as that.
Double Page Spread LayoutsBecause of the amount of writing on the front cover and contents page i am choosing idea two as my double page spread. It's quite controversial actually seen as half of the first page is just one large image of the main cover celebrity but instead of the medium close-up of just head and shoulders i will be shooting a long shot with the star posing head to toe. I will also include where the clothes are from and how much they are on the same page with small text at the bottom and a large quote what the celebrity has said in the interview that will draw the reader in to read the interview. On the second page will be an interview that i have already written down and planned with possibly a few relevant photos scattered around.
Final Layouts
My final layouts are displayed to the right, I have chosen these layouts in particular because i think they all have a similar look which will make them look asif they are all from the same magazine. I will also make sure that the colour scheme will be similar or maybe even the same throughout the pages.
Magazine Colour Scheme
I conducted a small questionnaire researching into what type of colour schemem appeals to people in my target market. I printed out 30 copies of the questionnair ans gave it to a variety of people aged between 15 and 25. I found that nobody at all was interested in a neutral colour scheme and the favourite was bright. Therefore i am going to go with a bright colourfull colour scheme as this is the mosy favoured colour scheme and hopefully will appeal to my target audience.
Magazine Colour Scheme
I conducted a small questionnaire researching into what type of colour schemem appeals to people in my target market. I printed out 30 copies of the questionnair ans gave it to a variety of people aged between 15 and 25. I found that nobody at all was interested in a neutral colour scheme and the favourite was bright. Therefore i am going to go with a bright colourfull colour scheme as this is the mosy favoured colour scheme and hopefully will appeal to my target audience.
These is the excact replica of the questionnaire i handed out.
As i have displayed below, all of the people in my class circled a bright colour scheme.!
Magazine Name
I conducted a another small questionnaire asking family and friends in the same age-range chosen what was their favourite Magazine name; I handed out 20 copies. To the upper left is the exact replica of the questionnaire which asked people to circle one of their favourite names. The options were: Phat Beats, Beat Freak, Phunk, POW!, Musik, Oh Sh*t and Purple Beat. Basically these were names that just came to mind which i thought were relevant and original. To the upper right is the results displayed on a bar chart, People of my age range preferred "Beat Freak" which i was happy about as this was one of my personal favourites. No one liked "Musik" and "Purple Beat" whereas "Phunk" came in close second.
According to my results i am going to choose "Beat Freak" as a final name decision for my music magazine. I think it is an excellent name which is unusual, relevant but still original. I will now play around with different types of font styles.To the right is a selection of fonts i have experimented with, i think all of them are really nice but i think my favourite one is either the 5th or 6th one down. Therefore I am considering using the fonts, "Berlin Sans FB Demi" or "Cinema Gothic BTN Inline". I don't want anything too over the top as i think this would make it look amature and childish.
(left) This is a rough plan of the masthead on Beat Freak magazine. I want bright colourful stripes behind it to make it stand out.
Target Audience
Brainstorming
Below is a brainstorm looking into what Beat Freak is going to be about.
Main Cover Image
Beat Freak is an RnB/Chart music magazine that will appeal to mainly 15-25 year olds who are interested in all of the top songs in a particular month. It specialises mainly in RnB, but any style and any artist that is new and/or popular at that moment in time. For the January's 2011 issue i really wanted a young, female artist who's character was very over the top and suited the genre of Beat Freak. I have chosen the name "Mz Frank" for the young female character. I have drawn out several illustrations of her in different outfits which i think will suit the genre and colour scheme of the front cover. Below I have annotated each illustration and will use this as a guide to styling the young female character for the front cover. As you can see she has a unique hip-hop/grime look mixed with a girly style and a hint of sex appeal so she appeals to men aswell as women. I have based her character and look on N-Dubz/Nicki Minaj and Lady Sovereign as she raps aswell as sings.
Above are the actual outfits i want Mz Frank (me) to wear for the photo shoot. As you can see outfit 1 is very hip-hop orientated, outfit two is quite quirky and outfit three is very girly.
Drawn-out Copies Of Beat Freak.
Here are the exact hand-drawn replicas of my Beat Freak main cover, contents page and double-page spread. Everything on the designs will be produced near enough exactly how it is on my drawings.
(left) This is my Beat Freak main cover, i took allot of inspiration from several "Billboard" magazines that caught my attention. I want it to be jam packed full of information, text styles and sizes to give it an interesting factor so people will want to read it. I have also listed on the front cover that because this is the first ever issue of Beat Freak it comes with an exclusive Beat Freak t-shirt suitable for any gender. I also want the colour scheme to be bright and funky.
(right) This is a hand-drawn replica of the contents page for Beat Freak, i want it to look neat and well-organised but have a sense of craziness to it also. As you can see i have also labelled each section of contents list with different headings to help people find what they want straight away. I also have the cover star (Mz Frank) have a small introduction section at the top which is what i found was a similar technique used in music magazines all ready on the market. I have also incorporated a popular technique of labelling photos with numbers which is a different way of displaying contents. 
(left) first page, (right) second page) These 2 separate images are the separate pages for my double-page spread, I really wanted alot of the textual interview displayed as music magazines aren't just about the photos, people are also interested in reading about new artists. The first page with the large image of "Mz Frank" is going to be displayed as if she is holding the fact file below her herself, i will use photo shop in order to do this effect.
I have also used lines in order to show where the writing will be, where the large speech marks are i am going to take an interesting quote out of the interview and display it so people will want to know about it and therefore read it. The second page is mainly text but again with a second large text section where i will display another quote. The photos are also scattered everywhere.
(left) This is the interview and fact file written out in rough, i have planned it all before so i can simply copy it off the paper. It is on 6 sides of paper, hopefully this will be enough to fit onto the double page spread. It isn't an exact replica; just a guide.
