After completing my magazine pages, i printed them out and handed them to a variety of people in my media class. I then asked them the following questions:
What do you like about the pages of Beat Freak?
What don't you like?
What would you do to improve the pages?
Person 1: Kelly Eastwood:
What do you like about BeatFreak?
"I really like the colour scheme and how it shows all through the magazine, all of the pages link in a way. It looks very bright, busy & proffesional. I also like the use of pictures on the pages."
What don't you like?
"errrmmm.. i like everything really"
What would you do to improve the pages?
"I don't know, everthing looks really good so.. nothing!"
Person 2: Jamie Staniland
What do you like about BeatFreak?
"It all looks like a pro did it, decent colour scheme and better than mine!"
What don't you like?
"Some of the photos are bad quality, some parts of it look abit childish and wouldn't really appeal to particular people"
What would you do to improve the pages?
"Thos critisms were abit picky but i wouldn't change it!"
Person 3: Mr Carr (Media Teacher)
What do you like about BeatFreak?
"I like the columns on the main cover, I also think the effects of the font sizes and styles look really good together and the spacing a photos are good and have ownership of the page."
What don't you like?
"ermm.. I've noticed you need a price on the magazine cover and the double page spread's background it abit plain."
What would you do to improve the pages?
"Put a price above the bar code on the main cover.
Alterations to Beat Freak
To include a price on the main cover- £1.-99 special price including a free t-shirt.
Possibly change the background on my double-page spread.
Possibly change the photos.
Facebook Feedback
Below is a video of Heather, Kelly & Hairett discussing what they liked about Beatfreak and what they would improve!
Below are a couple of tee-shirt and hoody designs that are also involved with Beat Freak. The clothing can be ordered off the Beat Freak Official Facebook & Twitter Pages and of course the Official Beat Freak website (http://www.beat-freak.com/). The clothing designs aren't definate designs but a rough guide to the style. I want them to appeal to my target audience and make people want to buy them. The tee-shirts would probably be around £12 and £20 for the hoodie. There are also novelty mugs that would be a quirky gift idea for a Beat Freak Music Magazine fan!
T-Shirts
Above is a simple t- shirt, it is unisex and would retail for around £12-£15 and would be sold online only. I have chosen for them to be sold only online as it would be easier and cheaper instead of selling them in stores like TK MAXX for example. This polo shirt would could in a variety of different colours also like purple, yellow and pink. I think it would look great on a person chilling out at home, going out or going to a latest RnB concert!
Hoodies
This is a Beat Freak hoody which would retail for around £20-£22 online only. It would also come in a variation of colours like purple with white writing, lime green and pink writing and in other bright funky colours. I think the price is quite reasonable for a hoody of this quality and could also be seen as a collectors item of a collector of Beat Freak merchandise.
Novelty Mugs
This novelty mug is a great little novelty gift that would be perfect for a stocking filler or a little birthday present! It has a retro look to it and again would come in a few other different styles to add more of a variety. This mug would retail from £5 - £8 and would be sold online.
Developed Ideas & Designs:
Girls Tee
This is a developed idea of the plan t-shirt, as you can see there is a wider variation of colours and this has long sleeves. I think this would also be appealing to teenage girls or maybe even adults who were into Beat Freak Music Magazine, this kind of top would retail for £14-£16.
Boys Tee
This is another developed idea of the plain t-shirt but obviously for a teenage boy or male adult. As you can see this top has more variety of colours and this had long sleeves also. This would retail for the same price as the developed girls tee- £14 - £16 and would be available online.
Hats
These hats above would also be available online only, the first one would be £10 whereas the second grey one would be £35 as it is a customised "New York Yankees" cap. The £10 hat is a plain, i heart beatfreak cap which anyone can wear and the grey cap is more of a hip-hop style. The hip-hop style cap has beatfreak sewn into the front which is a very cool effect and extremely popular with hip-hop lovers.
Boxers
These boxers above are available exclusively on the Beat Freak website and would retail for around £10 a pair. They are a mens pair and are a sort of novelty gift that would be perfect for valentines day for an example. They would also come in a variety of colours like purple, lime green, neon blue and neon orange.
Jewelry
This gold-plated chain above is also available online only and would retail from around £40 - £50. It is customised and exclusive to Beat Freak fans everywhere. It would be perfect for a blinging party accesory and would also be available in silver.
(left) This is a print screen of the start to the front cover of Beat Freak. I have decided to start over again because i think its really nothing special. I have changed the design on my hand-drawn sketches and am now going to change the whole design. I have changed it because it looks boring and not bright enough.
(Right) This is the new start to Beat Freak, I absolutely love it and the colour scheme is so vibrant and exactly what i had in mind, as you can see i have allready started the writing down the left hand side of Beat Freak's Cover, I am inco-operating the colour scheme into the text also.
(left) agazin this is my work in progress i have added alot more text down the left hand side in-co-operating the bright colour scheme. I chose this particular colour scheme because i think it is really unusual and not similar to any other Music magazine trademarks. I chose the coloured stripes behind the masthead because i think it could symbolise the lines on a peice of music. The lines the notes sit on in order to play a peice of music with a violin for example. However, this magazine doesn't specialise in classical music so i made it more modern by adding bright colours.
(right) This is all of the text finished for the main cover, all i need now is the photo of Mz Frank placing in the midde gap of the page.
Finished Page
Above is my final main cover, i added the photo of Mz Frank on there with a posey, attitude pose with a bit of a sexy pout. I chose this shot in particular because it shows she is a hip-hop/rnb star and she can appeal to men aswell as women.
Contents Page
Production Process
(left) This is the Mz Frank section to my Contnets Page, as you can see i jhave incorporated a matching colour co-ordinated border around where the photo is going to be located. I have also shown in the star that she was the "cover" star of Beat Freak.
(right) this is the column sketched on my rough replicas which is displaying the numbers and contents of pages in Beat Freak. I have colour matched each sections of the headings to make it alot easier to find things. The headings are: News, Features, Reviews, Concert Crazy, Swag & Famous Last Words.
(left) this is my contents page with the photo of Mz Frank added, i wanted a different look for Mzfrank this is why i changed the hair style, outfit and expression. I also flipped the image to make it look asif she was actually looking at the contents of Beat Freak.
(right) Here i have added photo frames in order to put photos relating to the pages in. I have also coloured the frames in the different colours of the colour scheme to in co-operate the colour scheme.
(Left) I have added more and more photos in each frame including the numbers of the pages on the photos. I have filled the 75 box with i photo of a male, in the other box i have taken photos of trainers and cut them out in order to fill the other box.
Finished Page
Double-Page Spread
Production Process
(left) To start off my double-page spread i began with designing the "fact file" at the bottom what Mz Frank is going to be holding. I put it on a tilt to make it look more interesting and fun, i also copied the coloured stripes from the main cover but gave them a twist but tilting them.
(right) This is when i started to write down the interview, i decided to make the interviewer questions all the different colours of the colour scheme to make it more clear that those were the questions and the black text was the answers. I haven't added any effect to the text yet so at the moment it does look a tad flat and un appealing, but when i start adding different effects hopefully that will make them stand out abit more.
(left) here as you can see ive added another column of the Mz Frank Interview. Also according to the plan i am going to add photos of Mz Frank on the second page dotted around inbetween the writing for example.
(right) this is my double page spread but with me added to the page. I think it is really effective how i've taken a photo of me holding a board at the photoshoot but yet cut the board out wia photoshop and editied it on the page to look as if Mz Frank (me) was holding her fact file.
(left) This is my double page spread nearly completed, i took a photo in my house of a really vintage-looking picture frame. I cut it out in photoshop and edited it around the fact file. I did this to add abit of quirkiness as the rest of the page is rather modern-looking. I have also put another frame intwined in the second page of Mz Frank at a gigg.
Above is a video of the photos taken for Beat Freak music magazine, due to the size of videos allowed on blogger i had to compress this video to make it under 100 mb. This is why it looks of poor quality and uneffective, However it does show how many photos was taken in different locations and how many different outfits we're worn. I wanted to show different expressions and feelings mixed along with cockiness and a Hip-Hop feel.
This really helped me grasp photoshop back before starting to make my magazine pages, i had recently used photoshop but it had been almost a year since i used it. It really helped me learn the functions of how to use it again. And also i think this cover looks really similar.
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 Layouts
After 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 Layouts
Because 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.
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.
Actual Outfits
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.
Person 1: Kelly Eastwood: 
Person 2: Jamie Staniland
(right) this is the column sketched on my rough replicas which is displaying the numbers and contents of pages in Beat Freak. I have colour matched each sections of the headings to make it alot easier to find things. The headings are: News, Features, Reviews, Concert Crazy, Swag & Famous Last Words.
(right) This is when i started to write down the interview, i decided to make the interviewer questions all the different colours of the colour scheme to make it more clear that those were the questions and the black text was the answers. I haven't added any effect to the text yet so at the moment it does look a tad flat and un appealing, but when i start adding different effects hopefully that will make them stand out abit more.
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 Layouts
Double Page Spread Layouts
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.
(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.
