Star Profile

Star Profile;

Name - Ava Costella AKA Ava

Age - 22

D.O.B - 4th March 1990

Personality - Ava Costella is a new upcoming R'n'B artist; she does not only sing but writes her own music also. She has a confident, fun loving attitude; someone that would appeal to a large audience. However although she likes to have her fun, she works very hard and is very good at what she does . Her first single has just been released and has hit No1 in the charts; this portrays good things for my star.

 

Reasons;

I chose the name Ava Costella because I wanted a name people would remember and as Ava Costella is an unusual name it is more rememberable. Earlier in my blog I thought of different names I could use, Ava Quinn and Eva Costella were two of the names I thought of; I liked the name Ava simply because it was short and simple, one I could imagine on a front cover of a magazine however I didn't like the name Quinn; I thought it was too plain and simple so I looked at the other last names I had thought of, and Eva Costella jumped out at me; the last name Costella seemed as though it was a foreign last name, which would attract the audeince as something foreign is different yet intriguing.

I chose her age to be 22 years old because I wanted her to still be in her 'young and wild' days however I wanted her to have a bit of maturity about her so having her in her early 20's would suit.

Her age reflects her personality, I wanted my star to have a fun side to her personality so the demographic audience would find her excititng and enjoyable and perhaps be able to relate to her songs more if they are full of things that seem upbeat and fun. However, I want her mature also so the target audience can see her as a hard working role model that loves to have fun but also loves to work hard at what shes good at. Plus, I feel like people would take her more seriously if she is more mature and not young and silly.

Front cover

I have been working on the front cover for my magazine and this is where I have got to; I have printscreened certain things I did and uploaded them also to show how I altered my front cover to make it look better.

This is towards the start of my creation. I simply put in the masthead and altered its size so it covers nearly all of the page at the top. I then place my star over it suggesting she is newer than the magazine itself. However I was not completely happy with the image as I thought it wasn't as perfectly blemished or noticeable as other stars are in my earlier research.

To change this I wanted to make her skin look smother, her cheekbones more outlined and her lips more red to match the masthead, as I am comfortable with the app I have on my iphone I used that to make her skin look more smooth...

For the cheeks and lips I used the paintbrush on paint.net...

 

 As you can see I have drew dark and light lines on the lining of the cheekbones so they stand out more and I have painte the lips more red and put white lining on there for the 3D effect almost as though light it shining off them.
I then added the writing on the front of my magazine, I was searching for a plain font but also one that could slightly match my masthead otherwise I felt it would look odd, I searched for fonts and found this one

I liked this font when I saw it as it slightly matched my masthead font, as it is slightly square but also has curves in it. I tried this out on my front cover and liked it so I used it.

This is where I am at with my front cover so far...

 

 



drafts

These are my drafts for my front cover, contents and double page spread.
However, I am using these drafts as a starting ground, I may not actually live up to what these drafts look like exactly. Some of the things I might do differently are; have a different picture on the front cover; not have a selling line; have a different quote for my double page spread and other little things, although these drafts are going to be my starting point.

photographs

I have taken the photographs I said I was going to take in my post yesterday.
I have not yet edited the pictures, or changed them in anyway; however I will be doing that when I am trying it out with my masthead and coverline.
I have deleted photographs that were not good quality or photos I felt wouldnt look good in my magazine.
All in all, I have 45 photo to play around with and choose out of, these are some of my photographs...

My photographs

I will be taking the photographs for my magazine tomorrow at around 4pm; the photographs will be taken in my house and I will be using my sister as a model for my magazine.
I will be using two cameras, I will be using my Iphone camera as the effects you can do on an iphone are good and will work well with my magazine e.g. I can make the models face smooth as though it has been air brushed. I will also be using a professional camera; purely because this camera will take good quality photographs.
For the background of my photographs I will try to use plain coloured backgrounds, my original idea was to use a white wall or put a white sheet up but as I can erase the background I will not see this is as a major priority.
I am going to take my photos in my house; first of all I will take them downstairs against a white wall but as that is an small palce I will take my other photos upstairs in my room against a red wall.
I will want my model to wear a tight black dress, with her hair down perhaps,  as it will outline her figure and will catch the eye of the audience I am targetting my magazine at. I will also want my model to wear high wasted shorts, with a bandoe/boobtube top and heels, with her hair either up or down; having her wear this will show her skin tone off and show her legs.

echo with backgrounds

I have uploaded this to my blog to show I have tried out different backgrounds for the front cover of my magazine. The idea of having a block colour or a fading colour in the background came from my research of vibe magazine, e.g.

However, by trying this out I can see that I do not like a block colour in the background and I'd much rather have a faded background. I tried the faded background in different colours also...

Although the background on the left has a different style of font for the masthead I can still get an idea of what it will be like on that background. Nevertheless, between these two backgrounds I prefer the grey one as I feel its a more subtle colour therefore I can put more brighter colours on top of it.

Backgrounds

I have been playing around with some backgrounds using the colours I suggested lower down in my research.

This is the background without any adjustments to it. I like the colour as that's the colour I suggested earlier on in my research, however I think its too obvious with the colour contrast which makes it look unprofessional, also the dark colour might dominate the page...

... I then adjusted the brightness and contrast level and this is what it turned out like, this is slightly better than the first one however I am not sure of the colour, the pinkish colour makes it look more of a 'pop' magazine rather than an R'n'B one.

I started to play around with the 'grey' colour for my background. I used word to do this as there are fill affects on there that would be useful. This one has the grey coming rom the bottom which would make the masthead and anything else that is towards the top of the page stand out...

... I then changed it to the opposite way so the grey is coming from the top rather than the bottom, this would make the cover line and anything else at the bottom stand out. 

'Echo' Fonts

I have been looking at different fonts for my masthead and these are some examples of what I have looked at...

I chose to try out this font because I think an italic font suites the word 'Echo' itself, however I don't know whether this font would stand out to the audience as its a common looking font and it wouldn't be dominant on the page.

I chose this font because I've looked at other magazines and their font seems to be a simple one yet it stands out a lot. I might play around with this font and space out the letters across the page to see if it adds a unique style to it.

These are the magazines I saw that gave me the idea of doing a simple font ...

This is another example of a simple type of font however it is slightly different to my last one.The letters seem to be slimmer and do not look like the 'norm' so this could be a good font to have, however I will need to make sure it still stands out as it is a thin font so it might blend into the magazine.

This is a font I doubt I am going to use, simply because its a see through font so it wouldn't take much for it to blend into the background, however saying that it is very different to any other font and may draw attraction as long as it is dominant on the page so this is one I am going to think about.

I chose this font because I like the way the first letter is extended, I think this would be a really good font to use for a magazine; it is unique and stands out. I will be trying this font out to see if it is the one I want to use for my magazine.

I really like this font also, as I can see it being used on a magazine. The line above it would make it fit perfectly at the top left corner of my magazine so it looks as though it is a part of the page. This is one I will definitely be trying out on different backgrounds.

I like the line across this font; it makes it different and almost fits with the R'n'B genre of my magazine as it has an edge to it and it is not the 'norm'. This is another font I will definately be trying out as I like it alot.

I chose this font because I thought it was rather unsual and different. I dont quite know whether it is something I'd use in my magazine and personally it looks like it suites a 'pop' magazine rather than an R'n'B one, however I do think it is quite a nice font.

MASTHEAD NAMES

I have thought of names for the masthead of my magazine and these are what I have come up with...
Sound
Sound is a very basic name for my magazine but it gets the genre of the magazine across to the audience straight away. Although it is very simple and basic, it may be quite catchy as it can be easily remembered; a rememberable masthead is a good thing to have and may even make it sell more. However, I am not sure as it is basic but also it looks quite boring.
Bass
Bass is a good name for my magazine, as it links with music and its quite catchy. However I can't picture this name on my R'n'B magazine, perhaps because 'bass' doesnt really link with R'n'B.
Wave
Wave came to mind as I though of 'Soundwaves', I don't think I would use this masthead as I don't think its very rememberable and this would impact on how well it sells.
Motion
Motion is a word I found through googling the word 'sound' and I thought it was rather catchy, however comparing it to some of the other words I have thought of I don't think it stands out that much.
Echo
I really like this name therefore this will more than likely be the masthead I use for my magazine. It is simple yet catchy, and it is not an extremely common word so it would not sound as boring as 'Sound' would. Echo relates to music as music is a sound and echo connotes to sound.
Muse
I thought of the name 'Muse' through the word 'Music'. Muse is a good name for a music magazine and I think it'd be a rememberable masthead for my magazine. However, as 'muse' is an actual word, the audience might take 'muse' literal and not understand how it links with music

After looking through all of the names I came up with I have decided which one I will be using for my magazine. 'Echo' will the masthead for my magazine, as this is the one I liked best. Echo is related to music, it is simple however not boring, and it will be a masthead that is not hard to remember.

MAGAZINE COLOURS

These are all the colours I put together as ideas for my magazine colours, I made sure I put together a variety of colours so the decision I make is a stable one and so I dont end up thinking of other colours and changing it. Alot of the colours are basic block colours; I think these type of colours suite the R'n'B genre best as R'n'B is quite loud and noticeable, and so are the block colours. The colour I like the most is the burgundy, I like it mixed with the cream and grey and the tan colour. I also like the red with the white and black, however I think red with a grey may look nice also.



PUBLICATION PLAN

PUBLICATION PLAN 

My Magazine.
Selling Line; The selling line I am going to use is 'Britain's Award Winning Music Magazine' this will convince the reader that this is a great magazine to buy as it is 'Award Winning'. However I do not know whether I am going to include a selling line just yet, but if I was to include one that is the selling line I'd use.
Frequency of Publication; In my draft publication plan I said I would be publishing it weekly, however this has changed as my questionnaire shows that my target audience would buy the magazine more monthly therefore I will be publishing the magazine every month
Price; The price of my magazine will be £2.95p, I have chose this price as in my questionnaire I found out that my demographic audience would spend £2.50p-£3.50p on a magazine monthly, therefore I chose a price inbetween those two prices.
Rationale; My magazine will include a lot of information about R'n'B artists and other artists, it will also include fashion and information on music.
Style; My magazine will be aimed at teenagers up to young adults, simply because the older generation may not be interested in the music artists involved in the magazine. The much younger generation may not understand it or it could be inappropriate if the story involved in the magazine is quite personal and descriptive.
The Regular Content; The regular content in my magazine will be interviews with stars; I have chose this as a regular content as in my questionnaire my audience voted 'Star Interviews' as something they'd like to be involved in my magazine so I thought it would be a good idea to make it a regular content. Also the layout of my contents page will be kept the same each month so all of my issues can be easily linked together to know they are all from the same company.
Feature Content; The features I will be including in my magazine are elements like, fashion advice, interviews with stars, information on music e.g. top 10 in the charts, elements like horoscopes will be included for entertainment purposes.
House Style; I still havent managed to decide on what colours I am going to use, I am going to try out different colours together to decide what colours will suite and compliment eachother
Contents Page; I have many different ideas for the layout o my contents page so cannot fully desribe what it will be like as I have not chosen yet, I will be sketching out my ideas and uploading them to my blog to show the different ideas I have.
Double Page Spread; In my double page spread I will use colours that are in my front page and contents page to link it all together, I will also make sure the star that is in my double page spread looks the same as what she does on my front page.

contents draft extended

I have been looking at different types of fonts and ones I could use in my magazine, I decided to take a piece of writing out of one of my draft contents, I took 'Whats New' out of my latest draft contents and tried out various fonts for that title. If I was to use that draft contents for my final contents I would want the title 'Whats New' to be in italics like it is in the draft therefore I have only tried out various italic fonts rather that fonts I am certain I will not use.

 

Out of the three fonts, I like the second font however don't think it would go with the style of my magazine or look very prefessional, therefore if I had to choose the best font out of these three for my magazine I would choose the first font, as I like the way it looks like someone has wrote it.