Leila- Warp Records

Leila Arab, better known as 'Leila' is an female musican who has worked with the like of Bjork. She has been signed by Warp Records and released her debut hit 'Dont Fall Asleep' which did quite well but has since not appeared in the charts despite the albums she has released. She is best known for the creative flae that is apparant in her music and her album covers are recognisable becase of the artistic appearance.

a drawing for my contents pages

Mock Ups

Mock Ups

Mock Ups

Photos of Cover Star

Content of Double Page Spread

Pop interview

Back Story For Cover Star

Photo of Model Featured on Cover

Mastheads

Double Page Spread

After designing and creating a cover for my magazine will be creating a contents page, the ocntents page i ill be designing will only be a single page but i have been given some very good ideas by looking at this double page contents from a food magazine. I like the large picture on the rigt page as the bright colours of the asparagus really contarast well with the sheer shite of the back ground.


I am very interestind in re-creaing this look myself using a pair of pink converse shoes which i think relate to the genre of my magazine perfectly, will be using the same composition as in the this picture with the overlapping and i am also interested in using the shadow effect as it really make the images stand out. A very rounded font is used for the enlarged numberson this page, this makes the magazine appear freindly and laid-back, i am also hoping to achieve this mood for my mgazine and therefore will be using a similar font. Although i usually do not like things to be represented in an organised and totally paralell way i really like the simplistic effect that has bee created with the line of contrasting photos on this page, i could re-create this effect on my cover by photographing objects related to pop.

Critical Analysis

A very striking picture of a very famous music artist is used to grab the attention of customers on this 'Citizen K' magazine cover. The use of such a well known singer lets the readers know that this a very high-budget and serious music magazine, its also really defines the target audience to people who are interested in the music that its represented by the artist featured on the cover. Because the top few inches of the magzine is likely to be the only section visible to customers whilst on sale in the ahop 'Citizen K' have decided to overlap the masthead with the face the well known artist, this will let everybody know who is featured in the issue nd hopfully boost sales by people who are interested in this particular artist buying the issue. A very neat structure is used for this magazine, this shows that the target audience for this magazine is for slighly oder and slightly more neat and upper class people than magazines with more 'scattered' layouts such as 'Vibe' and 'Smashhits!'. The priceon this magazine is backed on a different colour than the rest of the cover to make it really stand out, it is very important that i price my magazine well. If i price my mgazine to high then the targte audience will not be able to afford it as they are only teenagers and may not have a job or a disposable allowance, i also need to make sure that i do not price the magazine to low as then not enough profit will be made and also a low price make make people think that the magazine is slightly tacky and/or lower class. The typical three colours colour scheme is used on this magazine cover with black white and grey, this drab colour pallette makes the cover seem civilised and also gives the impression that it is aimed at a middle-ages target audience. The bland colour scheme makes the red star on which the price placed stand out even furthur to the customer, the star is also placed high up the magazine, i believe in the hope that it will show when positioned in the shop, perhaps with more expensive magazines. This will help sales of the magazine. All in all i think this is a very effectve magazine cover all though i am much more fond of a rougher less structured apperance personally.

Critical Analysis

Raygun Magzine.

Raygun magazine is a music magazine with a heavy art influence, this magazine really inspires me as i am very into art and would really like my magazine to have a strong art influence that is very apparant. Raygun does not follow the typical dynamics of a magazine as the masthead it not placed the very top of the magazine and all of the text is the same size. I particularly like the'typewriter' font that has been used as it has given the cover a very rustic look. Andy Warhol has been used as the cover star of this magazine, in the picture Warhol is showing the whites of his eyes the whole way around his iris, this makes his seem shocked and the wide-eye look is very effective at helping to pull the consumers in as it really makes you stop and look at the picure. The pictures only reaches just beyond half way up the magazine cover and it stopped at the bottom of the mans forehead, this makes the picture look fascinating and unconventional which hlps the magazine to seem unique. Making a magzine unique is very important because with sucha wide variety of magazines in display in the shop it is important to do whatever is needed to make the consumer take a longer look at your magazine. I am very fond of the black white and red colour scheme that is used on this, i could adapt this colour scheme to work with my magzine buy substituting the red for a pastel pink. I like the granulated look that has been given to this picture as it makes it look vintage, i will not be using this effect on my main picture as it is very important that my magzine looks brand new and up-to-date so that reflect the up-to-date artists featured inside. I will be very interested in using elements of this cover on my own cover, espeically the off-centre writing and a-semetric lines. I will also be looking through differnt issues of 'Raygun' to see what other ideas the designer has to offer as i am very inpired by their work.

The masthead to 'Raygun', unlike other magazines, is not the same evry week as the font, postitioning and size variates from issue to issue, this is yet another element that sets this magazine aside from the rest. I would be reaslly pleased if i was able to make my magazine as unique as 'Raygun', i canachieve this in a number of ways such as, a 'lob-sided' layout with lines that are not parelell, a picture cut off with a straight line and a simple but effective font.

Thorough Analysis of Target Audience

Defining my target audience will be key to my research as i cannot make an decisions about presentation, fonts masthead, colour schemes or another important parts of the magazine cover without knowing who i am aiming the magazine at. After looking at a few examples of exsisting indie style magazines i have decided that the target audience for my magazine will be girls aged 15 and over, most of the indie magazine that are in shops at the moment are aimed at both boys and girls of a usually older audience. It is also very important to me that i represent all areas of indie. Although my magazine will be aimed purely at females i do not want to over-do the cover with bright pinks and stereotypically 'girly' features as indie colours and more neutral instead of bright generally. Another thing that i will have to consider is the size of the magazine, all current indie music magazines are A4 size, this makes them easy to flick through and enables for alot of information on each page, however, recently some fashion magazines have been printed onto A5 pages, this makes them fit well into handbags. All of the A5 size magazines are aimed at women as the smaller size would not work well with mens hands as they are normally much bigger. To help me decide what size to make my magazine i asked 30 girls from the target audience age range which sized magazine they prefered, out of the 30 girls only 6 say they preffered the smaller sized magazine with comments such as 'its so easy just to pop in your bag for the bus' and 'i really like the more petite magazine as its really easy to hold when your lying down in bed' on the other hand the 24 gilrs that preffered the A4 sized magazines said that they find the smaller versions to fiddly and the writing 'barely readable'. After talking to these girls i have decided tat my magazine will be printed onto A4 pages, this will allow me to hopefully fit more information onto my double page spread. I will also have to decided on the age and gender of the person that i will be using as the cover star, an 18 year old boy is likely to attract the eye of the girls but a teenage girl is also likely to grab there attention as they may see it as somebody to relate to. I will also have to decide what text will help to attract my target audience, i can use up-to-date slang words to help the readers really connect with the magazine and therefore hopefully boost sales. I will also have to consider the positioning of the magazine in the shops, as teenagers do not generally spend alot of time in newsagents and paper shops, it would be a sensible idea to position the magazine at eye-level so that they will hopefully see it as they walk by, a striking masthead should also help to achieve this. During every decision i make i will have to consider my target audience because every single piece of the magzine needs to appeal to them.

Target Audience

The target audience for my magazine will be girls over the age of 16, i will have to make sure that the cover appeals to the target audience as it would be very easy for it to appeal to a younger audience if i am not careful, i will have to make sure that I dont use to much of teh clour pink on the cover as that may make the magazine appeal to a younger audience. I will be able to make the magazine appeal to an older audience by using an older model for the main photo on the cover.

Moodboard

Within this moodboard i have included a variety of images that relate to pop music, it has inspired me with objects to include in the photo on the front of my magazine and sections of the double page spread. In industry designers will create moodboards to inspire them and also to communicate indeas through a vast number of images, often on a very broad subject to help it eb explained and to communicate their intentions.

What is Indie?

Coursework Start

Today, I will be starting coursework in media. For the coursework i will be designing and creating the front cover, contents page and double page spread of a music magazine. For the magazine i will need a specific genre so that i can determine who my target audience will be and then decide on all furthur elements of the magazine such as the colour scheme, font style, masthead, overall mood of the cover and the picture to be used on the cover and then what will be included in the contents page and double page spread. The cover will be extremely important as it is all that the customers will see when deciding whether or not to purchases the magazine or not. To help me to make my effective and up to the standard of the current market i will be analysing exsisting magazines.

The genre i have chosen to use for my magazine is Pop. I will be aiming the magazine at girls aged 16 and over.