Cover Line planning

I have decided that before I add my cover lines, I want to add a line above my title, speaking of the awards it has won, and or been nominated for, such as 'Best new music magazine', and 'Hottest upcoming magazine.' Before I can add this, I need to adjust the positioning, and location of my title. At the same time, I also have to decide what my cover lines should be advertising, and how they should be doing it. Firstly, I need to decide how many cover lines I shall be putting on my front cover. I have chosen to go with 4, including the one advertising the main artist of my magazine.

To begin, I have to decide what kind of awards my magazine has been nominated for, or has won.  I want these to be real awards, such as Best UK music magazine, and Most Promising new music magazine. Of the awards I have found, I have chosen to claim my magazine has won the Best UK music Magazine 2012, as the time of creation is at the end of 2012, and the start of 2013, so the award would fit the magazine. This award could have also been given my NME, so this could also feature on the cover.

Next I have to decide what I want to make up my cover lines. I have come up with several, however, of the ones I have created the ones I have chosen are as follow:

"Matt Bellamy: The price of fame."
"The Joy Formidable: In the Shadow of a Legend?"
"You, Me at Six: Making waves in the UK!"

Along with this, I also have to design the promotional piece/cover line on the artist I have on my front cover. For this, I was thinking of having a direct quote from the article on the double page spread. For this, I was thinking along the lines of:

"Bringing music back to the good ol' days!"

Front cover initial draft

As I work on the different aspects of my front cover, I shall explain each step, and each choice I have made. and what I have changed in the image. Firstly I opened up a new photoshop PSD, with the following specification:

After I had completed this, I was left with a blank, A4 sized plain PSD. I intend to put all the different elements together, over the top of this, to create my full cover.

Next I have to crop my front cover image, and place it onto my background. To do this, I shall utilize the quick select tool. With this, I can quickly highlight the sections of the picture I wish to get rid of, or in this case, remove the centre image from.  Next, after removing the background, I have to overlay the two pieces, and transform my image. This will have be decreased in size, as the background has been made on a smaller scale.

Next, I have to add my title to the work. The font I have chosen, Birth of a Hero, has to be downloaded from dafont.com. Firstly, I have to download the font, then install it. Once installed, the font can be found in photoshop.

Now I have to insert my title onto my photoshop file. I start by selecting the text tool from the toolbar.

Now I just have to select my font, and then create my text, and change the size of my font to make it visible and legible.

Now I think the image is too dark for the background, so, utilizing the curves tool under brightness and contrast, I shall make it brighter.

 Now I think the image stands out much more, and I am far happier with the result. 

Alternative rock magazine styles/conventions

When choosing/designing my photograph and front cover, I had to abide by the conventions of Alternative Rock magazines when deciding how I want to comprise my front cover. Firstly, from my research into the covers of magazines, I have discovered that Artists who have a unique/quirky style about them are always shown to be the centre of attention. With this thought in mind, I will be sure to make my main photograph the focus of the picture, ensuring that as little of it is covered as possible.

Along with this, I also intend to make my cover lines in the house style for my magazine, as to not have the problem of a messy magazine such as Kerrang! where the cover lines do not fit the magazine they are on. Therefore, I plan to have my magazine utilize a dark red, and black colour scheme, so I shall try to match the cover lines to this style.

Additionally, when comprising my front cover, I shall ensure that the cover lines take up less space than on the magazine Kerrang!, as this makes the magazine look too messy, and as though there is too much information on the page. Whilst I may utilize some of this messy style on my cover, I will attempt to limit this as the magazine would no longer be suited to it's genre, and would appear to be a more heavy rock based magazine.

Furthermore, the positioning of my title is very important to the layout of my magazine. I intend to have it at the top of my magazine, as expected. I shall also have it in-front of the rest of the magazine's content, otherwise the title could get lost behind the images. This will also help my magazine be instantly recognizable, and stand out.

Next, I have to think about the style of my model who shall be appearing on the cover of my magazine. Since I am going for a quirky/unique style for my artist, I needed to utilize a suitably unique outfit. The outfit in question is comprised of a tail-coated suit jacket, a black shirt, a pair of red trousers and a black top hat. My model's nails were also painted red and black. This is because the outfit resembled that of a magician, and since my artist needed a gimmick, I decided to mix the outfit, with photos involving playing cards.

This links back to my research, as I found that many front covers feature artists with similar gimmicks, such as the photograph on the left, in which the title of the story is linked to the cup in the photograph, which also matches the jacket worn on the cover.

Lastly, I have to ensure that my cover features a large title, giving the name of the artist on the front cover. It also has to be of a contrasting colour to that of the background. In this case, I could utilize red, to match the house style I have planned.

Reasoning behind front cover photos

For my photographs, I chose to dress my models up in a style which would match the genre of my magazine. Since I was going for an alternative rock magazine, I decided to go to the extremes of the genre's magazine covers: One fairly normally dressed artist, such as those seen on the cover of Kerrang!, and one dressed in a very quirky manner, like those seen on the cover of NME.

I took inspiration from Kerrang! for my first model. I dressed him up in fairly plain clothes, with a red leather jacket. This, much like the colouring I have planned for my title, and cover lines is bright, and a contrast to the plain clothes. and so should stand out from the rest of the cover. This mirrors a magazine such as Kerrang! where the main artist on the cover appears to be wearing casual clothes, such as those the artist would wear off stage. However, I have utilized the red jacket which lis my way of putting a spin on what i have already seen. The jacket also bears the 'Superman' logo across the chest, so if I featured that model, I could draw specific mention to it, and utilize it as part of the artist's character/persona.

The next model I dressed up in a more unusual outfit, comprised of a tailed suit jacket, a top hat, a cane, and a pair of casual trousers/a casual shirt. Her nails were also painted black and red to mirror the black jacket of the suit, and the red trousers she was wearing. This is because some of the artists featured in Alternative rock magazines have a very quirky/unique style, and I wanted one of my artists to be no exception to that rule. As was seen with the artist on the cover of NME, I have also chosen to utilize props, in the form of a cane, and a guitar. As the full outfit resembles some form of magician, and the outfit is primarily comprised of red and black, I have chosen to utilize a playing card gimmick for my magazine, as it matches the outfit my model was wearing. Ultimately, I prefer these photographs to those of my male model,because they seem to suit the genre of my magazine slightly better than the other ones, along with the fact that I prefer those photographs, due to the fact that they are far more varied, and there is more that can be done with them.

Front cover Fonts: Outside Source Fonts

Apart from the fonts which were pre-loaded on Photoshop, I have also been looking at outside sources, such as dafont.com. On websites such as this, you can find different categories of fonts, which can be utilized on different softwares, such as Microsoft word, and Photoshop.

To the right is the front page of dafont.com. For my magazine, I am looking for a warn effect text, and so I shall begin my search in the Eroded category.

Here is the initial 4 fonts on the page, with the top one being the most highly rated. 

The first on this list is known as Broken Type. Already, this font is far more to my liking than the others I found searching through photoshop. Whilst Broken Type font is far more to my liking than the other fonts I have cover, I shall continue searching for others, in case I find a better one.    

The next font I viewed was called Birth of a Hero. This font is practically perfect for my needs, as it has the warn look I am after, along with the rounded style of text I initially planned to have. However, I have so far only searched over the first page, so i shall conduct a further search, before making my decision, to ensure I have looked over all the font. 

The next font that I found to be to my specification is called The Maple Origins. Whilst this font possesses the square style, and the warn look, it is hollow and white, which is something I find to be not to my style/liking and therefore I don't think I shall utilize this exact font. 

Front Cover Pre-loaded font choices

Apart from my front cover images, and text, I also have to consider the font of the text. Since I am doing an Alternative rock magazine I will need to match my font appropriately. From my research, I have looked at several fonts, and have noticed that they generally in blocked capitals, and, in the case of the Q magazine, and the Kerrang! magazine I looked at, the text has a warn/old quality to it. With that in mind, I have began my search for fonts on the program photoshop, which is the program I shall be utilizing to create my cover.

Firstly, I have to select the colour I desire for my font. This shall be Red for my test, and possibly Red for my final magazine, as it is a strong colour which stands out, and contrasts well with a dark coloured background, which is what I shall more than likely use.

Firstly, I have to select fonts which I feel would suit my magazine from those that are available to me. Without too much searching in the pre-loaded section, I found a font known as Madison Ave. This font appealed to me, as it appeared to have the warn look I am after, however The text to me looks a little too rounded, as I envisioned the text to be more square-shaped than that font.

The next font I came across searching in  photoshop's pre-loaded fonts is one known as Stellar Kombat. This font is far more to my liking, as it has a far more angular text, and yet this text is missing the warn look. Whilst I could always make the text warn look myself, I will continue my search or the fonts made available to me, and I shall save this font as a possible back up.

Here is an example of a font that I like, however, I can't see it working for the title of my magazine. Bleeding Cowboys is the title of the font to the left. This font could work for a different style of music magazine, such as a heavy rock, or some such magazine.

Here is an example of a font that is more like what I am looking for. It has a warn-like look, yet still isn't exactly what I am looking for, as it doesn't have  single, uniform shape/size. I feel that, although this font possesses the warn look I want, it doesn't seem to fit the purpose of the font.

How are artists normally portrayed on the front of Music Magazines?

Artists are portrayed in a myriad of ways on front covers. Some have Artists face the camera, showing specific emotions, such as shock or happiness, where as others show a specific body pose, and certain body language. To help me understand what constitutes a good front cover picture, I shall look over previous magazines and work out what kind of photo will allow me to access or attain a high grade.

Kerrang!

Firstly, I shall look at the magazine Kerrang!, which is one of the most readily available music magazines in the UK. The issue I have chosen to look at shows the lead singer of the band Paramore turned slightly to her right, holding a photograph of herself. The clothing that is being worn is very simple, though that is more to do with the style of the artist rather than the style of the magazine.

The body language is closed, with her arms being drawn across her chest, to hold the photo next to her face. She has her head turned to one side, and is displaying a look of disgust, and or shock to the reader. Whilst I will not be utilizing a story such as the one featured on the front of this issue of Kerrang!, I might utilize something to do with another photo, as this seems to stand out above everything else on the page, even though there are larger, and more obvious pictures on the front cover.



NME

On the front cover of this NME magazine, the main image is of the lead singer of the band Oasis. His is directly facing the camera, with his head turned slightly to one side. His body posture is very open, and his hands are out in front of him, holding a cup of tea.

The reader's eye is drawn to his face straight away, as it contrasts well with the deep crimson coloured background. He is also wearing a white suit, which is of the same colour as the tea cup, which makes the central image stand out even more. There is also a crimson ring, the same colour as the background located on the right hand.

The main picture only has to contend with a few other smaller photos for the reader's attention. The contrast in colours is something I shall try to take into consideration when I am taking my photographs. I shall only use small photographs to promote additional stories on my front cover.

On the front cover of this NME magazine is the artist known as Mia. The main image is of Mia, sitting down, with her hair blowing back, whilst she is smoking a cigarette.

Her gaze is almost looking down on the reader, as if to show a look of either disapproval, or disgust, which links well into the magazine's main story. Her body is slightly hunched over, which reinforces the idea of disapproval, and suggests to the reader a look of defeat, or futility, once again relating back to the main story of the magazine.

The clothing is a union jack style dress, with a denim jacket over the top. This plain coloured jacket draws the reader's eye to her face, so I shall attempt to utilize a plain colour,as to make my artist's face stand out. I shall also attempt to use pale lighting, as that is utilized in this magazine to good effect.


Q

Here is the front cover of the magazine Q. The artist featured on the front is Matt Bellamy from the band Muse. I really like this front cover, as it seems to be drastically different to all the other covers I have looked at.

The main image, which takes up nearly the entire cover, is of Matt Bellamy smashing the Q logo with his guitar. He isn't looking at the camera, but instead at the logo of the magazine. His body is bent over, as he is finishing swinging his guitar round.

He is wearing a black jacket, which is covered in red lines/linings. This, once again, is more to do with the style of the artist rather than that of the magazine. The look on his face appears to be one of either intense concentration, or one of anger, which would explain why the logo has been smashed.

The background is also fairly plain, which is something I shall take into consideration when taking my photos, for my magazine. I shall also, as with Q and NME, give my artists a unique style, that makes them stand out, like the jacket in this picture.

BBC Music Magazine

Here is the front cover of an issue of the BBC Music Magazine. The artist featured on the front is Sarah Chang. I am not particularly fond of this cover, as it the colouring is too plain for my liking.

Her gaze is directed at the reader, or as though she is looking off into the distance. She is wearing bright colours, which do contrast well with the background, as it is rather plain. She is also holding a violin, which relates to her music.

There are also very few other photographs on the front cover, which doesn't distract from the main image. This is the only thing that I find to be to my liking about this cover, although it is also a feature of a number of other magazines, so it isn't unique to this magazine.

Target audience

Through my research on the website UK Tribes, I have chosen my Target audience. Utilizing my skills, and the research I have done, I have decided to make an Alternative Rock Magazine, and therefore my target audience would be the Young Alts section of UK Tribes.

According to UK Tribes, Young Alts are fans of bands such as Greenday, You Me At Six and Bring The Horizon, and like brands such as H and M, Kerrang!, NME and Vans. They also utilize media such as Facebook, YouTube and Kerrang!

UK Tribes state they utilize the internet and magazines more than any other form of media, so I would know how to advertise my magazine effectively. I also know not to advertise in cinema, or in newspapers.

Here is an example of a member of my target audience, which I created using the H and M dress up page, utilized for designing entire looks at once, using H and M merchandise:

Alternative Rock is a type of Rock Music, which emerged in the 1980's, which is most commonly associated with Loud music, and distorted guitar sounds. Now more commonly associated with 'underground rock', alternative rock is actually a brand of rock which differs greatly from its sound, social context and regional roots.

Examples of Alternative rock bands/artists include: Muse, The Joy Formidable, 30 Seconds to mars, All Time Low, Blink 182 and Linkin Park and Panic! At the Disco.

To the right is a photograph of a member of my target audience. His name is Matt, and when asked where he shops, and what he buys, he told me he buys clothes from shops like H and M, and Top-shop. He buys music magazines like Kerrang!, and NME, thus making these an ideal audience to market my magazine at.

Here is an example of some alternative rock:





This is one of my preferred genres of choice, so I feel I will be able to perform well in the task of making an Alternative Rock magazine.

Youth market categorization

To further my understanding of my target audience and to enable me to design the magazine to entice my target audience into buying it, I have been researching a website known as UK Tribes.

Uk Tribes is a experiment set up by Channel 4 and Crowd DNA, in 2009. It was attempted twice, once in 2005, and again in 2008. On the first trial, around 50,000 responses were gathered. The second trial produced around 38,000 responses. The aim of the experiment was "to explore the youth in honest terms, and as described to us by young people themselves." From the results gathered, twenty one groups were noted, and categorized into larger sections, or groupings. These include groups such as:

• Street Rats
• Emos
• Skaters
• Geeks
• Chavs
• Indie Scenesters

Since I shall be either designing a classical music magazine, or an alternative rock magazine, I have chosen to look at the groups that would allow me to market my magazine to both these audiences. The section that would give me the most insight into the target audience for a classical music magazine would be the 'Rahs' section.

From the website, Rahs are described as "Once derided, it's now cool to be posh. Here's the tribe that unites everyone from P Diddy to the young royals." From the Rahs page, the brands that are favored by the Rahs include:

• Timberland
• Jack Wills
• Cartier
• Ralph Lauren
• Fat Face

The Media utilized by the Rahs include:

• Facebook
• Grazia
• Bebo
• The Daily Telegraph
• Myspace

From this, I have gathered a great deal of information about what kinds of brands and such would be inside a classical magazine. I have also discovered what the best way would be to advertise this information, as UK Tribes also shows the different types of media utilized by each group. From this I can see that the best way to advertise my Classical music magazine would be to advertise it on the internet, on the radio, and at a cinema. Controversially, the worst way to advertise would be on TV, as the Rahs section of UK Tribes states that they have a smaller interest in television than any other form of media.    

For an Alternative rock magazine, I wouldn't be trying to appeal to Rahs. Instead, I would be trying to appeal to another group known as the Young Alts. Described by UK Tribes as: "Young Alts are after something different, but beyond that, they're not exactly decided." "Thanks to the internet the alternative lifestyle is now totally accessible and influential, and this is a huge, welcoming and diverse Tribe..." Young Alts are exactly who I would be aiming an Alternative music magazine at. 

Young Alts preferred brands include:

• H and M
• HMV
• Kerrang!
• NME
• YouTube 

The media brands preferred by Young Alts includes:

• Xfm
• Bebo
• YouTube
• Facebook
• BBC Radio 1

From this, I can see that Young Alts have a very unique style which is something I would take into consideration when designing my magazine. To advertise an Alternative rock magazine, I would utilize the Internet, and magazines as my key ways of advertising. I would make special use of websites such as Facebook to advertise my magazine to the target audience to the best of my abilities.  I would also advertise brands such as H and M, HMV and Kerrang!

Magazine Analysis 2: Classical music

General

• BBC Music Magazine, is published by BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC.
• The target audience are fans of classical music, with sections focused on Jazz, and world music.
• BBC Music Magazine costs £4.99 per issue.
• BBC Music Magazine is a monthly publication. 
• BBC Music Magazine has a circulation of 47,104.

The Cover

• The Magazine was titled as it is, as it is a music magazine, which is published by the BBC, and as all BBC intellectual property is titled with the prefix BBC, which is the brand identity, and the company only has to add the suffix of the chosen object, in this case music, as it is a music magazine.

• The title, or logo is the word 'Music' at the very top of the page. The letters 'M', and 'I' are both in a strong serif font, whereas the other letters appear to have a less formal font. This draws the reader's eye to the 'us' section of the title, as it stands out being surrounded by the formal font shape. The 'U''S' and 'C' all also look like writing found on a music score sheet, so the reader could interpret the title as the kind of writing you could find on sheet music. This cleverly appeals to a niche audience, as this style of text can be equated with the genre of music being advertised.

• The main image is of the late Sir Georg Solti. His gaze is directed at the reader, which is designed to make the reader feel as involved in the photo as possible. The facial expression shows that of contentment, or reflection, which intrigues the reader further, luring them in to buy the magazine. Sir Georg Solti has his hands clasped together, resting on the side of his head. This is a very relaxed gesture, which reinforces the idea of contentment in the photograph. The clothes being worn are a dark coloured shirt, which contrasts with the bright gold and white text surrounding the picture, which allows the magazine to stand out from other magazines. 

• The only other image that appears on the front cover is a graphic of the CD that comes free with the magazine. This is placed where the CD would go for sale, and is only visible after the removal of said CD. This is to allow the reader to know instantly if their CD has gone missing, and to know what to look for before buying, in case the CD has been stolen. The picture itself is incredibly small, as not to draw the reader's eye from the main image.

• The content promoted by the coverlines, designed to lure the audience in, includes a celebration to the life and times of Sir Georg Solti, the other artists who are featured in the magazine (Chick Corea, Richard Morrison etc), and a large section of blocking, which states other key articles that are featured in this particular issue. This is one to draw the reader's attention to what is in the magazine, and hopefully convince them to buy it. 

• The type face utilized by the magazine to promote the coverlines are all formal, which are sans serif. The only one that breaks this rule is the headline promotion of Sir Georg Solti, which is written in a more elegant font, designed with a hand written quality. The other way that this differs from the other coverlines is that it is written in gold, suggesting its importance to the magazine, or the fact that it is the magazine's main story. The rest of the text is written in white, to contrast with the darkness of the background, and to make it stand out. There is a
• lso some darker coloured fonts over the golden coverlines on the right hand side of the page, but these are only titles of the stories, which are designed to draw the reader's attention to the stories below.

• The cover's mode of address is a very formal tone. The language used to entice the reader include words such as 'Exhilarating', and 'Conducting Legend'. These words/phrases evoke certain emotions from the reader, such as excitement, and anticipation. Other cover lines utilize words such as 'Harrowing', and 'Tortured'. These are also used to evoke sadness and empathy from the reader, and also rouse their curiosity in such a way so that they buy the magazine. Compared to a magazine such as Kerrang! the language used is formal, and seems to pull the reader in by stirring more emotion in the reader, whereas Kerrang! is designed to pull the reader in by making use of various fonts, and the promise of exclusive news, than is offered on the cover of the BBC Music Magazine.   

• The magazine title looks unique. For one, the text on the page isn't overwhelming, as it was with Kerrang! and the photograph is placed behind the text, as opposed to in front of it, which is a feature used in other music magazines. The text is all in line, with it all straight, par one advertisement for BBC Radio 3 in the top right hand corner. This helps to create a very neat layout, which other magazines, particularly rock magazines don't have.  The colour of the main picture of the magazine is dark, whereas most magazines prefer bright colours to draw the reader's attention. However, the subtlety of this magazine definitely makes it stand out.

• The only other thing that is distinctive about this magazine's format is a flaked effect toward the bottom of the page, where several areas, particularly behind the cover lines on the right hand side of the page, have small, white shapes around the photo. The fact that this is prominent in two areas suggest that is is not a printing error, but in fact another way of enhancing the cover image. Additionally, the BBC Radio 3 advertorial looks like it comes from another magazine, which makes it stand out.