Research - Music Magazine Front Cover - Similar Product Research

By Deanna Hammond-Blackburn and Emma Hall

The central image is of Florence Welch from 'Florence and the Machine'. It is a close up of her face with her hair filling most of the space, leaving very little background visible. She is in direct mode of address, staring out of the magazine. This catches the readers eye and is enhanced by her eye makeup. The cover photo is anchored to the strap line: 'FLORENCE', which is simple but striking. The masthead, 'NME', is in a simple sans serif bold font that is white and very clear against the red image. The price, £2.30, is located above the masthead in a small font so it can be visible when the magazine is in a rack. There is a pulled quote; 'I would never have got through the X Factor auditions', which adds intrigue and arouses curiosity as to why she thinks this. It also gives a sneak peek into the cover story. There is a plug: 'The state of music today', which lists the major articles featured in the magazine. The use of the list structure is simple but effective. The magazine uses a buzz phrase, 'special edition', which draws the readers attention to the differences in house style and makes the magazine seem an essential buy. The classic colour combination of black, white and red is not the magazine's house style, which interchanges colours but keeps the font style and the neutral background the same each time, to show consistency, whilst giving each edition its own individuality through colour, according to what artist they feature each time. The magazine also uses AIDA through its use of several special edition covers. It raises awareness of the new magazine format whilst stimulating interest by changing it each time. This invokes a desire to buy the magazine for its new special edition covers.

Florence is represented in a fairly traditional way for a woman, with her hair curled and make-up on to accentuate her natural beauty. However, her image being the only photo on the front cover of a popular magazine is quite an achievement and  shows her as being quite independent. She also defies the narrow conventions of popular representations by being very pale, and having vibrantly coloured red hair. This in particular relates to the individual style and daring of indie magazines.

Preliminary Task - Front Cover Analysis

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By Emma Hall

This is my banner, which shows the date and edition.

This is my masthead, which is the name of the magazine, and uses a house style of blue.

This is a list of other stories in the magazine. They use appropriate Leading and Kerning in a Sans Serif font.\

This is my cover story mid-shot, with the photograph I chose from my shoot.

 This is my strap line which details my cover story.

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My front cover has a good layout, in my opinion, and the different elements do complement each other. Also, I think the cover story was a good choice, as it was simple, and only required the subject to hold some tickets, to make the photograph relevant to the story. However, I think the font types used are a bit boring and not very inviting or inspiring, especially on the strap line. The blue colour works well, I think to stand out from the background picture, whilst still having a sense of cohesion, ans the light blue complements the green grass and sunny lighting. On the other hand, the flash, I think, is not in an appropriate colour. Although the orange makes it stand out from the other elements and draws the reader's eye to it, the colour is a bit too different from the rest of the magazine's colour palette, and so doesn't quite fit in. I chose to put the masthead 'On Form', in a box, so that it would look different from the strap line, and not just be another horizontal line of text. This would have worked better, I think, if either the box was a slightly different shade of blue, or had some kind of effect on it like an embossed outer edge, of some kind of gradient fill, as this would make the box (and by extension the masthead) look more interesting and sophisticated than just a plain box.

Transferring my paper plan onto Adobe Photoshop was quite simple, overall, though there had to be some natural alterations, such as changing the wording of the stories to fit around the photo. Also, it was difficult to find font types on the programme to match what I had in mind when designing the cover. I tried to keep in my my plan during the photo shoot, and realised I had to keep adjusting to make sure there was room for things like a banner and a masthead. However, when I opened my photo up into Adobe, it wasn't exactly A4 size, like blank magazine cover, so it had to be expanded to fit, which meant some portions of the photograph were lost. This I turn meant my careful adjustments during the photo shoot were almost obsolete, and I had to try and work round the new expanded image.

By looking at real school magazines like this one, I can see that there are more sophisticated techniques I could employ to make my magazine look more professional, like using translucent background to enable the reader to still see the photograph underneath. This example also shows that banners do not have to be in straight lines, and that linking the colours right throughout he magazine cover really helps blend the different elements together. It also includes the school's logo, which immediately make the cover look more official.The writing 'What's Going On @' is also along the line of the banner, which is an inventive use of text which I could use to make in conjuncture with a slanted banner to make a more interesting cover.

Preliminary Task - Front Cover Analysis

By Deanna Hammond-Blackburn

Masthead 

Purple and orange colour scheme

Background: work environment

Headline promoting main article

More info on main article

Other main story

Flash promoting a different story

Analysis

The colour scheme of the front cover, purple and orange, are effective and I chose them because together they both have positive representations; purple has connotations of luxury, orange has connotations of happiness, brightness, energy. This is good for a college magazine and appeals to the audience. The masthead is effective as it is bold and clear, catches the eye and is easily readable. I decided on the blocky font as it has connotations of solidity and support; this is a direct representation of the Sixth Form and the slight patches on the masthead make the title more interesting and fun. The main photograph for the background fits the purpose and audience; the subject is a young student who attends the college and therefore can relate to the student audience, the image is located within the college and shows a good working environment. The image fits the brief of a mid-shot. The cover stories for the magazine are good, I chose them as they are stories which most students at college would be interested in, if they are first years then they will want to see the prom photos, those students wishing to further their education can find information in the magazine and the students taking particular courses can find more info on any trips.

If I did this magazine cover again I would improve the background photograph, make it more eye-catching and refine the mise en scene. However overall I think the front cover is effective and matches purpose and audience, fits the brief and is overall aesthetically pleasing. I would perhaps change the colour scheme though as it is more feminine currently and could be improved by making it more gender neutral.

My design transposed onto my front cover pretty well, the basic layout is the same and the main colours are the same. The main differences are in the typography. For the masthead the font on my design was more spiky and layered with two colours on each letter, but the masthead on the actual cover looks more effective as it is clearer and better fits the purpose/audience. The headline on my design was also more colourful, each word was a different colour, but on the cover I stuck to orange and purple which again looked much more effective and professional.

Similar Product Research

This college magazine is very different to what you would expect, it looks very professional and uses a photo of a famous singer in their background. With a pale blue and yellow colour scheme it promotes a calm but happy environment, which is good for a college atmosphere. I don't think the main image is a good representation for a college although it is a good way to make the magazine popular.

Preliminary Task - College Magazine Front Cover And Contents

By Emma Hall  

Completed front cover for my college magazine

Completed draft of contents page for college magazine

Preliminary Task - College Magazine Front Cover And Contents

By Deanna Hammond-Blackburn

Completed front cover for my college magazine

Completed draft of contents page for college magazine

Preliminary Task - Peer Assessment of Photographs

By Emma Hall

Person 1 chose this photograph because:

This is good because the subject is clear and the background is to do with the college magazine. The lighting is good because everything is in good detail. There are good spaces for writing and the masthead. The subject is also smiling and looks proud of her achievement.

Person 2 chose this photograph because:

You can see the college in the background and the lighting means you can see the face. It’s also good as the girl looks casual, and is holding up some tickets for the reader to see. The only problem with this photograph is that it’s slightly too dark overall.

Person 3 also chose this photograph because:

The person is looking at the camera and smiling in a relaxed way, like in professional magazines. Also, the tree hanging over in the background is positioned well to make the photo look balanced, and artistic. In addition, the light that comes in makes the sky, grass and school look bright and inviting.

Preliminary Task - Peer Assessment of Photographs

By Deanna Hammond-Blackburn

Peer Assessment:

Person 1: I think this photo is the most superior because it uses a lot of space in the photo and the subject is at the bottom of the photo so there is space for titles at the top. The lighting in the shot isn't too dull but isn't too bright and the camera is in focus so there is no blur and the image isn't too sharp or perfect, therefore the photo is not ethereal in quality.

Person 2: This is a good image because there is a nice clear image for the heading, the framing is really nice because the subject is in the centre and the computer on the left balances the person out on the right. There is also a nice gap at the bottom for text. The subject also has a nice expresson; she is working hard but still having fun.