Front Cover Idea

I have been thinking about what to put on the bottom right hand side of my magazine front cover, I did not want to put another feature as I feel the front cover would look boring and be overwhelmed with writing. So I decided to look around at magazines, particularly 'vibe' magazine as that is an R'n'B magazine that I have looked at quite a lot throughout making my magazine. I came across this magazine...

This is a front cover that I have shown earlier in my blog, but the thing that caught my eye on it was this; this seems as though it is a feature but styled differently, however as I do not want another feature I am thinking of doing a pug but in this style...

 

Contents

Here I am altering the brightness/contrast/radius of my photograph of the shirt and bag. I have done this because the two pictures of my models are bright and felt the picture of the shirt and bag was too dark and looked out of place. 

 



 Here I am using the rubber on paint.net to rub out some of the picture around the number due to the fact the page number '54' did not stand out enough.
In this screenshot I am using the rubber on paint.net to rub out the background of this photograph as you could clearly see there were sheets behind which looks unprofressional, I then coloured it back in white so it looks as though there is a white background.
 

Front cover

Today I have been working on my front cover; the last time I posted about my front cover, it looked like this...

Today I have added more writing on the left hand side, a web address and I have changed the price sign. The writing on the left hand side is about other stars that are featuring in the magazine, one being 'Drake' and the other being 'Rochelle'.

I chose to put 'Drake goes old school, because I find a lot of R'n'B fans, love the R'n'B classics; therefore this would be something that would catch there eye and perhaps makes them want to know  why or how.

I chose to put the feature 'Rochelle in all her Glory' because its something that would make my audience want to open the magazine. The word 'Glory' connotes to 'God' and being 'Glorious'; so my audience may think Rochelle is almost 'God-like' therefore would want to see what that feature is about.

CONTENTS

Today I am starting on my contents page, I have put the contents masthead in the corner of my contents page so the magazine links, and so my audience feel as though the magazine is continual rather than disorientated; I kept my font the same on the word 'contents' as the font used on my front cover for the same reason.

Once I had added my photograph in, I tried out a background that might add excitement to my contents rather than having it plain. This is one of the backgrounds I tried out; I realised I did not want a background behind my model as it looked odd on the contents page.

DPS



This is my finished double page spread, I have made the questions to the interview bold so it is obvious as to what part is the question and what part is the answer. I have uploaded this to my blog so it is clear as to where I am at with my work.

DPS - Second Half

This is a quote from my interview that I am using as a title for my interview, I decided to use this quote as for a celebrity to say those words would be intriguing and make my audience question as to what the artist means as being in the music business is a lot of hard work.

 I felt the quote looked quite plain and didn't stand out, so I decided to put a black background on it so it stands out more; once I had done this I liked it so this is something I will defiantly keep.

DPS - First Half

Today I am starting on my double page spread...

 

I thought the red eyes in this photograph made the photo look less professional as in magazines the photographs are perfect, so this is something I made sure I took out. I also coloured the lips in red like I did on my front page; this is to match her lips with the letter 'A' and to link the magazine together as the masthead is red and my model has red lips on the front cover.

 

 

 

 

I decided to play around with the 'A' in the background as it might look better if I edit it. The first thing I did was brighten the letter which softened the redness and made it stand out less; however when I put my model against it I did not like them together, the 'A' looked too soft and did not suite the dominant model.

The next thing I tried was making my model black and white and having the red 'A' in the background; I did not like this either as the red 'A' did not suite the black and white, and I much preferred my models skin tone being shown.

DoublePageSpread

I have been starting to make the first page to my double page spread, I did my work on paint.net and have had to decide on fonts and have had to edit my picture to make sure it suites my double page spread
As I want a huge letter in the background behind my star, I firstly started to look for fonts I would want that letter to be. I looked on the website fontcubes and found various fonts I liked, I wrote out the letter I am using in each font so I could copy each one and compare them...

I like the first font as I think it looks quite formal, which suites the fact it’s an interview and would suite the photograph I am using also. Plus I think that the two sides of the A being different sizes (one thick/one skinny) adds more excitement to the letter and stops it looking boring. The red used in it however adds a slight informality to it, which is what I said I’d involve in my magazine – formality and informality. The red will also suite the photograph.

When I put the second font against the rest of them it just didn’t seem to stand out for me, personally I feel it looks too boring and wouldn’t suite the double page spread or the photograph I put in front of it as my star looks very stylish and blemished and this is not the vibe I get from this font.

Although I think this font is a nice, I don’t think it would give the effect I want it to give. Similar to the last font, it is very square and basic-although it does have some elements that are different and more exciting than the last one-I just don’t feel it would be the font I want, I feel it looks too bold and thick, whereas I want something that would stand out however is still quite elegant.

I like the last one, as it’s similar to the first; the font looks quite formal and elegant which matches the photograph. The only fault I would say about this font is it may be too thin to have in the background therefore would not stand out the way I wanted to.

In conclusion to this all, I have decided to choose the first font simply because it will suite my double page spread best and out of all of them it stood out to me the most

PHOTOGRAPHS

 

As I have been thinking about my double page spread I have thought about what photographs-out of the ones I took-that I would be involving in it, I have came to a decision and decided on this photograph. Originally I thought about having two photographs on my double page spread but as I am thinking of having one of them take up a whole page, I think it would be too much to have another one so I decided to have just one instead.
I chose this one because I like her pose, it suites my magazine and I think my target audience would like a photograph like this being in the magazine.

 

 

 

Photographs for my Contents Page

These are the photographs I have taken for my contents page.

1) This photograph represents my charactor 'Jay Roman' who is mentioned on my front cover; on the front cover it says 'Jay Roman, how he does it'; the writing on my front cover represents the attitude of my charactor in the picture - he looks very confident, almost arragont with the 'cheeky' type of smile I asked my model to do, as if he knows he's good at the work he does.

 

 

2) This photograph is one which has been shown earlier in my blog but I decided to put all of the pictures I am going to use in my contents on this post so its clear to me when I look back at what pictures I am using for it. This is another photograph of my star 'Ava Costella', however in contrast to her photograph on my front cover, her hair is down and she has a dress on; also her pose is very different. I decided to have her hair down, to show her 'wild side', as the picture on the front cover looks like she 'means business'. I am hoping that when the audience see this other side to her they will be more intriguied to read the interview and find out exactly what she is like. I got my model to do this pose, as I see it as she is almost bringing them into the magazine more, like she is leading them in and looking back at them to make sure they are following; almost like she is saying 'come inside' through her pose.

 

3) This photograph is of a denim shirt with studs on and a red bag with studs on. This picture represents the fashion page in my magazine, as I already have two pictures of models on my contents I felt it would be too much to have another one so have clothes was something different and perhaps interesting for my audience. I purposely included the red bag because the colour links in with masthead, and as I was using the studed shirt having a studed bag fitted in the picture. 

 

 

 

Double Page Spread

My double page spread will entail and interview with a star, this star will be the same person that is on my front cover - Ava Costella, I came to the decision of having an interview on my double page spread earlier on my blog due to my questionnaire.

Recently I have been thinking about my interview and what it will be like, for e.g. how formal/informal it will be, as in my questionnaire my demographic audience said they would like my magazine as a whole to my informal and formal I thought it would be best to have my interview formal and informal.

To do this I will have the questions being asked quite formal and upfront, whereas the answers will be exactly how the artist is saying it, therefore more informal.

I have written out some of my interview that I will be putting in my double page spread...

Interview

So, your new to the scene and you've already got a No1 hit - how does that feel?

'Oh god, you know what, it hasn't actually sunk in *laughs* I don't think it will for a while, but I feel as a new artist I've had so much support from the public which has helped out alot with my first single so I feel I owe a lot to them, but the fact it has managed to get to No1 in the charts just pushes me to do more'

As a new artist, we as an audience are always intriguied to know your background - So, what was your childhood like?

'Oh of course, although I do try to keep most of my personal life ''on the down low'', I do think its good as an artist to let your fans know you as a person not just a singer. And I loved my childhood, I mean, who doesn't? No work, just eat, sleep and play *laughs* I  remember as a child I always used play games that involved action, I either imagined myself doing some badass fighting or having powers - thinking about it I was quite boyish, I never really played with barbies that much-always got bored'

At what point in your life did you realise you wanted to be a singer?

'Oh thats a good question actually, I think it was when I was around 16/17, it's weird because usually artists say that they started singing from a young age and wanted to be a singer from a young age but with me I honestly never thought of singing until around the age of 16/17 and that was simply because my family and friends complimented my voice everytime I sung along to a song - I've always seen it as fate I suppose'

You write your own music, did that come naturally when you started singing or is that something you learnt?

'*laughs* You know, everytime I get talking to anyone they always mention the fact I write my own music, when in my opinion its exactly what an artist should do, I mean, I just feel if you dont write your own music its not from the heart so how do you expect your audience to believe what your saying. I've always loved writing poems and stuff, even as a child, it just comes naturally to me. And when I realised I was a good enough singer, I just automatically started to write my own songs'

Is there anyone in the industry that you dislike?
*Hmm* well I wouldn't say I disliked anyone inparticular, but I will say there are certain people I dont get along with as well as others. But its just life, your not going to get along with everyone, and in this industry you've got to put it to one side and be mature about it otherwise the press will kill you with the stories.

Well thank you Miss Costella, however we have one last question for you, when is your album coming out?

*laugh* Finally, I've been waiting for this question! My album is coming out February the 16th, it is something me and my producers have worked very hard on so I'm hoping all my fans will buy it and love it!