Music Magazine Evaluation

My finished Double Page Spread

This is my finished double page spread for my music magazine.  I decided not to change the length of the introduction because I felt that it sat nicely in the space available and removing it meant that their would be even more white space, which my target audience said they didn't like.  I also didn't change the amount of colour on the page because I didn't want the page to be too over crowded with different colours as I already had different colours on the image on the page.  The reason that I didn't want to change the colours of the clothes was because I liked how they stood out from the other colours and it would also mean having to do another photoshoot which would take too long to do.

Double Page Spread - Audience Opinion

After completing my front cover, contents page and double page spread I printed them off and asked my target audience their opinion on my work.
The things that my target audience said they liked were:

• the signatures on the article
• the alternating colours on the title and the rest of the text on the page
• and the positioning and the size of the image.

The things that my target audience said they disliked/ would change were:

• the introduction for the article is too long
• could add more colour onto the page
• and the clothing doesn't fit the colour scheme.

As these are things that my target audience would change I will try to make my double page spread suit my target audience better.

My finished Contents Page

This is the finished design for my Contents page.  I changed the background for the top image so that it fits in with the colour scheme better.  However, I decided not to change the image backgrounds so that they were all the same because I wanted the image for the main article to stand out against the others and i didn't want to have too much of the smae colour. 

Contents Page - Audience Opinion

After completing my front cover, contents page and double page spread I printed them off and asked my target audience their opinion on my work.
The things that my target audience said they liked were:

• the different sizes I used for the numbers
• the simpleness of the design
• and the black line dividing up the writing plus the consistant colour scheme.

The things that my target audience said they disliked/ would change were:

• the backgrounds of the images should be more consistant and bright
• the bottom image looks warped
• the images could have the same coloured background.

As these are things that my target audience would change I will try to make my contents page suit my target audience better.

My finished Front Cover

This is my final design for my front cover of the magazine.  I have made changes to the front cover by adding a red line around the bottom sell line so that it can be seen and I also changed the colour of the price and the issue number from black to white and added a shadow. 

Front cover - audience opinion

After completing my front cover, contents page and double page spread I printed them off and asked my target audience their opinion on my work. 
The things that my target audience said they liked were:

• the images and how they overlap the text
• the colour scheme
• and the simpleness of the overall design.

The things that my target audience said they disliked/ would change were:

• the bottom sell line disappears into the image
• the bottom looks slightly cluttered
• and the price and the issue blend into her hair.

As these are things that my target audience would change I will try to make my front cover suit my target audience better.

Contents Page Making Process

This is the process that I took to create my contents page.

Contents Page Update

I have now finished all three sections of my music magazine.  I have tried to keep the same overall house style on each page and I have tried to make them look professional.  Now that I have finished all three parts I am going to ask people in my target audience their opinions on my work so that I can change anything that they dislike or they feel should change slightly.

Contents Page Update

As I have now finished my front cover and double page spread I can start to work on my contents page for the magazine.  I will use the same colours that I have used for the front cover and incorporate the the text and layout style of the others so that it is clear they all come from the same magazine.

Double Page Spread Making Process

This is the process that I went throuh to create my Double Page Spread.

Double Page Spread Update

I have finished creating my double page spread today and I have checked that it fits in with my front cover.  It has taken me a week to complete it to a high standard that I think looks professional.  I decided to add in the extra quote above the main image because there was an extra space that was originally meant for tour dates and information on their CD.  However, because I added this into the black box at the bottom of the page I decided to add a quote that will draw in people attention as they are flicking through the magazine.  I have also decided to add signatures for the band members to make the article look more personal and as though it is them who has written the article. 

Front Cover Making Process

This is the process that I went through to create my front cover of my magazine.

Double Page Spread Update

Today I will start to create my double page spread.  I will use similar colours to my front cover as well as the same fronts so that it stays with the house style of our magazine plus it looks professional and clean. 

Front cover update

Yesterday I finished creating my front cover for my music magazine.  It has taken me a few weeks to finally get the front cover right after many attempts and many different versions of my front cover.  I have finally settled on a front cover that links in with the other editions, looks like and pop music magazine and also looks professional. 

Photoshoot

On Thursday 10th January we had a photo shoot for our magazines.  Our models were Lucy Sparling and Emma Johnson.  As they were used for both Aimee and Sophie we felt that my images were too similar to the others and so I decided to take some new photos with new models.
These are some of the originals:


On Wednesday 30th January I did another photoshoot with Adam Lambert and Charlotte Tindle as my new models.  I edited the band from two girls to a girl and a boy to show the seperate magazines more easily. 
Here is a sample of the new photos that I have taken:

Contents Page layout

 

This is the basic layout for the contents page of our magazine. To keep the housestyle the same throughout each edition we have decided to have the title of the contents page along the top, the main contents that goes into the magazine down the left hand side of the page and any images that go on the page fit into the space on the right hand side.  For my contents page layout I will have a large image of the band that goes with the main article taking up the magority of the space available for the images.  I have then added in extra images on the top so that they break up the blocks and also shows some of the other available article that would be in the image.

Main Article - Version 2

This is the second version of my article for the double page spread.  For this version I have decided to change from having two females in the and to having a male and a female member.  I chose to have Henrik come from Iceland as I felt that it added more detail and reality to the band.  I think that this adds to the article as it makes them seem more human and it also adds a more converstional tone to the article because I have made it so that he sounds as though he has spoken it in an Icelandic tone rather than it being written.

MEDIA MAGAZINE ARTICLE

Unlock the Lockbox Band!

Hinrik Hauksson – Tina Constance – Lockbox

Lockbox are the new ‘it’ band of today so it is no wonder we had a hard time getting them to sit down for 5 minutes and answer some of your questions. But we caught up with them whilst on a break from rehearsing for their tour of Britain.   Having spent many years travelling between Iceland and the United Kingdom Hinrik Hauksson says that he is just happy to be seeing more on the UK than just Yorkshire.  Tina Constance, on the other hand, is overjoyed to be fulfilling her dream of making music and having more than just her parents listening to it … 

                How did you get into the music career?

Well, that was a tough one. We decided to form our band 'lockbox' in year 8 at school. I suppose we were never serious about it.  We were playing a birthday party for a friend in the town we used to live in. There was a record producer there, quite accidentally, and they thought we had great opportunity and the rest you already know.

Speak for yourself I was deadly serious, [laughs].  Yeah that was such a fun time.  We thought that we were the coolest people in school because we were in a band and we used to charge £5 a ticket for people to hear us play.

                When did you learn to play your instruments?

I first started playing guitar when I was 6 years old. I had my lessons in primary and secondary schools. I think it was the sound of the guitar that really got me into it and in the end I found that I could just pick it up and play any song that I hear on the radio [laughs].

I never actually learned to play an instrument until last year.  I’ve had singing lessons for as long as I can remember though.  My uncle bought me a piano for my birthday last year so I promised him I’d learn to play. I have to say that I think I am doing very well.

                Who is your idol and would you ever love to meet them?

I have to say my idol is very much Dolly Parton because I grew up listening to her on the radio every day. We own all her albums and I used to play them in a loop.

I would have to agree with you there.  Dolly Parton was always playing in the background in our house.  I don’t know if I would ever want to meet her for the simple reason that ‘you should never meet your hero’s’.  I like the feeling I get just from knowing that they did the same things that I am doing now in my career. 

                How did you get into music?

I think my parents, and especially my sister, Gabríella, were very supportive of my music and decisions, but I think on the whole, was my music teacher who really inspired me to follow my dreams because she said that as long as I believed in me I could do something. And I've done [laughs]!

For me it was my uncle.  He passed away this Christmas, and I miss him so much, but he was always there when I was younger.  He used to play the piano and the bass so his house was full of music and he always seemed so happy.  I think that that happiness is what drove me into music.

                How are you coping with the fame?

It's hard. I'm not going to lie. But I love it. It's amazing! Everyone is so nice and patient with us, especially our agent, Imogen.

Yes, she would have to be with us.  I love the fame, I think that we can help people with this fame we have as I don’t think enough people use their fame for the right reasons all the time any more.

                What is it like playing your music in front of a live audience?

Indescribable!

A-MAZ-ING!  Everybody at our concerts is so nice and very supportive.  What I find so wonderful is when the audience start to sing along with us. 

I still cannot believe they are coming to see us play. I keep imagining that they are all going to go to a different concert when they realize that we are playing and not some of these larger bands.

                What do you do in your spare time?

Sleep [laughs]. It is incredibly tiring to be in a band. There are concerts and gigs, advertising and marketing plus the actual writing and recording music. In between I have just time to sleep for a few hours before I'm back to write another song or at an album signing. [Laughs]

Personally, I spend all my time trying to learn the piano, badly. 

                How are the fans?

The fans are great [laughs]. They are all very supportive to us. I've found, and I'm sure Tina has too; they come in hundreds and follow us everywhere. In a way, it is quite disturbing to know that they are able to find us wherever we are. [Laughs] But I think it's the price that comes with fame.

I love them ALL!  It’s very funny having fans that dress exactly like us and follow us when we are out shopping and they don’t actually go away until we sign an autograph.  I want to thank them all of being so kind. We love you all! 

 

Lockbox’s new album ‘Beneath the Sun’ is out on the 22^nd February and is available for download on iTunes and on CD in many retail stores.  Their tour of Britain, ‘Lockbox Opened’ starts in Carlisle on the 19^th August and runs until December 9^th.  For more information on tour dates and exclusive interviews with Henrik and Tina visit their website at www.lockbox.co.uk.

Front cover layout plan

 

This is the layout that I am going to use for the front cover of my edition of the magazine.  The Masthead and the Skyline are at the top so that they can be seen.  We have also added the barcode and the price up at the top of the magazine as it is different to most of the magazines available and it breaks up the top of the boxes at the top of the magazine to makeit look more interesting.  With the main image covering the centre of the magazine it allows room for all the sell lines to go down either side of the image.  The anchorage text will go across the image towards the bottom of the page so as not to cover the image too much.  

Double Page Spread Layout - Final Design

 

This is the final design for my double page spread in the magazine.  I have taken the design that the majority of people I asked said that they prefered and I have edited it so that it includes elements from the other layouts that people said that they wanted. 

 

I have included an introduction to the article so that people can quickly understand what the article is about.  I have also added extra space for the article as I didn't feel there was enough space for it all to fit onto the page nicely and it also fits with the third design that people said they wanted as the article text is spread out and not just in one block.  I decided to keep the space for the future releases as it is easy to see and is a good space to advertise the bands music. 

Double Page Questionnaire

Questionnaire

 

 

I asked twenty-four people which of the three double page spread layout designs they would prefer to look at.  Out of the twenty-four people 50% said that they prefered the first layout design, the green titled layout, because of the proportions of images to text and title.  Although 25% of people said that they prefered the second layout design because of the large image that covered an entire page and the fact that it overlapped the title of the article.   Another 25% of people said that they would like to see the third layout design of the double page spread because of the way the text is spread out on both of the pages rather then being in one big block.

 

This means that for my final layout design for the double page spread I willl base it on the first design that I did because that is the one that the majority of the people that I asked said that they would prefer to see in my music magazine. 

 

 



Double Page Spread Article Draft

For my article in the magazine I chose to do an inteview with a new band who were just starting out.  I decided to do a simple question and anwser style interview as I felt it was easiest to show and seperate the topics mentioned in the interview and it allowed the readers to get a sense of what the artists are like and make the article more personal and conversational.  By having the question available on the page, readers are able to see what is being said so they will be more willing to read the article to find out the answer.

Here is the first draft for my interview:

Sasha Paulson – Tina Constance – Lockbox

                How did you get into the music career?

Well, that was a tricky one.  We decided to form our band ‘Lockbox’ in year 8 at school.  I suppose we were never that serious about it.  Anyway, we were playing at a friend’s birthday party in a popular club in the town we used to live in.  There was a record producer there, quite by chance and they thought we had a lot of potential and the rest you already know. 

Speak for yourself I was deadly serious, (laughs).  Yeah that was such a fun time.  We thought that we were the coolest people in school because we were in a band and we used to charge £5 a ticket for people to hear us play.

                When did you learn to play your instruments?

I first started to play the guitar when I was only 6.  I had lessons at my primary school and into secondary school.  I always loved the sound of the guitar and eventually I found that I could just pick it up and play any song I heard on the radio (laughs). 

I never actually learned to play an instrument until last year.  I have had singing lessons for as long as I can remember though.  My uncle bought me a piano for my birthday last year and I promised him that I would learn to play. I have to say that I think I am doing very well.

                Who is your idol and would you ever love to meet them?

I would have to say that my idol is very much ... as I grew up listening to them on the radio every day.  I even had all their albums and I used to play them on a loop. 

I would have to agree with you there.  … was always playing in the background in our house.  I don’t know if I would ever want to meet … For the simple reason that ‘you should never meet your hero’s’.  I like the feeling I get just from knowing that they did the same things that I am doing now in my career. 

                How did you get into music?

I think that my parents, and especially my sister, Sarah, were very supportive of my music and my decisions, but I think that overall it was my Music teacher that really inspired me to follow my dreams because she said that as long as I believed in myself I could do anything.  And I have done (laughs)!

For me it was my uncle.  He passed away this Christmas, and I miss him lots, but he was always there when I was younger.  He used to play the piano and the bass so his house was full of music and he always seemed so happy.  I think that that happiness is what drove me into music.

                How are you coping with the fame?

It’s tough.  I’m not going to lie.  But I love it.  It is AMAZING!  Everybody is so nice and patient with me, especially our agent, Imogen. 

Yes, she would have to be with us.  I love the fame, I think that we can help people with this fame we have as I don’t think enough people use the fame for the right reasons all the time. 

                What is it like playing your music in front of a live audience?

Indescribable!

A-MAZ-ING!  Everybody at our concerts is so nice and very supportive.  What I find so wonderful is when the audience start to sing along with us.  They are all so supportive.

I still can’t believe that they are coming to see us playing.  I keep imagining that they are all going to leave the concerts when they realise that it is us playing and not some of these larger bands.

                What do you do in your spare time?

Sleep (laughs).  It is unbelievably tiring being in a band.  There are the concerts and gigs, the advertising and the marketing plus actually writing and recording the music.  In between that I only have time to sleep for a few hours before I’m up again writing another song or attending an album signing.  (Laughs)

Personally, I spend all my time trying to learn the piano, badly. 

                How are the fans?

The fans are great (laughs).  They are all very supportive of us.  I have found, and I’m sure Tina has too, that they come in their hundreds and follow us everywhere.  In a way it is quite disturbing to know that they are able to find us wherever we are.  (Laughs)  But I guess that is the price that comes with the fame. 

I love them ALL!  It’s very funny having fans that dress exactly like us and follow us when we are out shopping and they don’t actually go away until we sign an autograph.  I want to thank them all of being so kind. We love you all!

Double Page Spread Layout 3

This is my third layout design for my double page spread.  In this layout I have decided to move the title and have it going down the left hand side of the page.  I really like this style as it is different to most magazine articles and so it would attract attention.  However, by having it going down the left hand side of the page it is the last thing that you see when flicking through the magazine.  Therefore if I were to keep the style of this title, I would have it on the right hand side so that it can be seen by the readers.  In this layout I have given most of the space over to the main article text.  I think that this would actually put most people off reading it when they see how much writing there is to do.  However, I like how it is arrange so that it isn't all in one big block but seperated around the page.  In my final layout I think that I will do this style with my main article.  I quite like the idea of having an image of the band next to the title as it can draw more people into reading the article.  In my final design however I think that I want to add a few more images onto the page to brighten up the page and also catch peoples attention. 

Overall, I like some of the elements to this design but I don't like how they have all come together on this layout design.  For my final design I will include items such as the title and text styles as well as the image next to the title. 

Double Page Spread Layout 2

This is my second layout idea for my double page spread.  I think that the space for the article is much better than the last layout design because I have allowed more room for my main article, but keeping in mind that most audience members prefer to have more images than text.  On this layout, as in the last, I have left room for a quotation from the band in the middle of the main article.  This breaks up the text so people will be more willing to read the article.  It is also another way of attracting peoples attention as they will read the article to find out more about the quote.  In this layout I have added a large image that takes up an entire page and also covers a bit of the title.  This makes the double page spread more interesting as it catches peoples attention and also breaks up the column/ grid style of the double page spread.  A down size to the image covering an entire page is that it takes up a lot of room that could be used for the main text as well as other images of the band.   I have added smaller images around the pages to make it look more interesting and it allows the readers to get insight into the band.  In this layout I have added an introductin to the article to entice people into reading the rest of the article.  I think that this works well because it makes the page look more professional and also explains about the band.  I have decided to shrink the title on this page slightly, compared to the last layout design becuase I felt that it was taking up space that I could use for images that would attract readers better anyway. 

Overall I think that this isn't the right layout for my article, although it does have some good qualities.  For another layout I wouldn't use such a big image and I would also include the introduction to the article if I felt it can help the main article. 

Double Page Spread Layout 1

This is the first design I created for my double page spread article that is going into the magazine.  I think that this article wouldn't be practical as there isn't enough room to fit all of my article in the space I have left available for text.  I quite like how the title goes across both sides of this double page spread meaning that it will attract peoples attention better than being on just one side.  The size of the images  is good as they are large enough to be noticed when flicking through the magazine, however they won't distract you from the title or the main article.  The space available for the future releases is a good idea as it can be used as advertising space for the bands CDs, concerts and gigs.  Although this space is a good idea I don't think that I want to include it because it doesn't add anything to the double page spread and it takes up space that I can use for the main article or add more images. 

Overall, I think that this layout wouldn't work because the proportions of image, title and main article aren't quite right.  In my next layout I want to leave more space to have the article and maybe add in more pictures.