Original Masthead Designs

These are a few of my original masthead designs, I am not overly happy with the designs, as I feel they are slightly basic and I also feel I could improve these dramatically. I am glad I completed these original designs though as I think it has helped me to understand and view which one I would like to complete as a final masthead. I have chosen to settle for the word 'chart' as my title for my magazine. By knowing the word I am going to use , I will be able to work on my original designs to improve these and make them look more professional. I intend to choose a different font than any pictured above and also use brushes on my final design which will make them more interesting and improve the appearance of them.

Plan for Photoshoot

I plan to carry out a photoshoot to obtain the 3 photo's I need for my music magzine. I am going to have a 'chart' theme to my photoshoot, and so my female model will be dressed in modern party wear.
My photoshoot will be carried out in the afternoon, so that I have time during the morning to set up my photo shoot and also check my camera and get generally organised. I also feel the lighting and mood of the photo shoot will be better by completing it in the afternoon. I plan to carry out this photoshoot over the christmas holidays because everyone will be dressed up for christmas.
I will take the photos set up against a plain wall, or maybe an award ceremony background. If i can not get hold of an appropriate 'awards' background, I could photoshop my model onto an award ceremony background. Possible props I will use are a microphone, a CD and party poppers as a 'celebration' or being in the charts.

Flatplan for DPS of My Music Magazine

The above scan shows my original flat plan design for my double page spread of my music magazine. I plan to have a medium close up photo on the left hand page, taking up the whole page and then have the text of the interview on the right hand page. By using a drop cap I feel it will make my interview/text more visually appealing and interesting. I also want to include a pull quote to make the interview seem more exciting.

Draft of DPS interview

When trying to arrange an interview with a top of the charts singer where do you go?! We settled on a café on the outskirts of London which is where we are now, scoffing cake whilst trying to carry out this interview!

Well, haven’t you made a great entrance into the world of chart?

I most certainly have! How many other chart artists can say they’ve gone from being just a normal girl in a big world to being number one in the charts?! I couldn’t believe it when my new single “Just livin’ my life” went straight to number one!

How do you feel when you walk down your local high street and people start shouting your name?

Because I was never the most popular girl at school, I find it incredible that people know my name and recognise me! Im still a homely girl at heart, so I like to spend much of my spare time in my village and the local town which is very close by. When im walking along and I hear my name I have to pinch myself to check it’s not all a dream!

So… what is your day to day routine like?

Well, if im in the studio recording then my alarm usually goes off about 5.30 and my taxi picks me up around 6 which gives me enough time to search out some clothes and put them on. When I get to the studio around 7 I get whisked off to the stylist’s room to have my hair and makeup done. The dressing room then dresses me before im finally allowed to step foot in the studio around half 8. We stop recording around 10 for a mid morning break and someone usually brings in some biccies! An afternoon of recording is then ahead of us, finishing about half 4. By the time I get home, my mum has tea on the table and then I snuggle up in front of the TV with her for an evening of soaps!

And if you’re not recording?

If im not recording it’s a totally different story! Because I still live with my parents, im waited on hand and foot! My mum will bring me breakfast in bed late morning, which actually means it’s more like brunch! Many Saturdays have been spent with me laying under my duvet sleeping... after all though, the *counts on fingers* 11 hour days are a lot of hard work!

Do you have any exciting tours or gigs booked for 2012?

I can’t say, because that really would be telling*with a cheeky grin*, but I can certainly say, 2012 is going to be a great year for my music career! Keep your eyes open on ticketmaster and you never know what gigs you might be attending!

At just 20 you’re still young. Do you worry that your music career might not go to plan?

Worry? When my first single is at number 1 in the charts? Of course I don’t! Haha! Music is a tough industry to get involved in, but even tougher to stay in so of course I worry, but after all, you only live once so why not go for it now whilst I can!

What are your plans for your music career in 2012?

Well, im obviously working hard every day recording my newest single, and I hope by the summer of 2012 to have produced my first album! Anything could happen though so I don’t like to plan too far in advance!

Well, best of luck with your music journey and I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of you this year. We’re also keeping our eyes peeled on ticketmaster to see what gigs and tours are coming up!

Thank you very much. Im still not giving it away, but yes keep watching ticketmaster!

Reported by Poppy George for Chart! magazine.

Cover Lines for My Music Magazine

On my music magazine front cover I am going to include a small number of coverlines. To encourage my target audience to read my music magazine I am going to include a number of interesting, exciting cover lines which will appeal to my target audience.
I would like to include a section saying "PLUS" and then a list of chart artists other than that of my feature article. Other cover lines I might like to use are;
The Latest Artists; but who?!
Artists of 2012
"Im really glad to be at the top of the charts" - 2012 chart artist
"There is no competition between us" - 2012 chart artist
New faces of 2012!

These are all possiblities for me to include on the front cover of my music magazine. I have not yet decided exactly which ones I would like to include, however I am going to create a survey on surveymonkey to find out which of these coverlines would encourage my target audience to buy a music magazine, and therefore which coverlines would be best for me to use on my music magazine.

Talktalk's Music Interview with Olly Murs

Olly Murs Interview

When planning an interview for my music magazine I decided it would be beneficial to do some research into other music interviews that I could possibly use as inspiration for the type of questions to ask my interviwee for my own music magazine.
I wanted to look at interviews that didn't focus on just the gossip about the band or artist, but also looked at their progression through music, their style of music and also possible future plans while maybe including a little bit of gossip.
This interview takes a very laid back approach and makes it seem more like a chat than an interview. The questions are also not too intrusive or personal towards Olly Murs and don't ask uncomfortable questions like some music interviews do.
The language used is very much 'every day' language which readers of any age will be able to understand.

My Music Magazine Mindmap

The above mindmap shows a few design ideas, features, images, layout ideas, names, and ideas of different use of colours for my music magazine. This mindmap, alongside my reader profile, moodboard and flat plans will really help me to design my magazine and put all my ideas together to create my own music magazine.

My Music Magazine

Chart magazine is all about the latest newest chart music. It focuses on the newest up-to-date music.Chart is the only music magazinee that follows anf focuses on the most up-to-date chart music. Chart magazines strong links to the new media, such as twitter, facebook and youtube make the magazine an exciting way to use the new media.

Moodboard for my Music Magazine

In preperation for creating my music magazine I created a moodboard using photoshop. The aim of creating this moodboard was to look at other magazines, colour schemes, magazine photography and font's that I could possibly use when creating my magazine. By creating this moodboard, I have looked at many different magazines, styles and magazine photography shoots which have given me ideas for my own music magazine. I have included a number of different blocks of colours as possible colour scheme and possible colours that I will consider using throughout my magazine, possibly as colours for my masthead or spot colours for my magazine. I have also included a number of magazine front covers, I included the top of the pops front cover because this is a pop/chart music magazine and whilst the front cover is busy it also shows how it uses bright colours. The 'Style' magazine front cover is very simplistic as a front cover, and not too busy which I think looks good and I would like to design my magazine front cover as quite simplistic.
Many photos of singers are also included on my moodboard, and a microphone. These pictures are included because I would like to have a photo of an 'artist' singing on my front cover which will mean I need a prop of a microphone. The reason I would like to include a person singing is because many magazine front covers have very 'posed' photos and I think a natural photo of an 'artist' would be a UPS for my magazine. I really like the way NME's front cover uses the same colour for the feature article as it does for the masthead, I think this works really well and would be an idea I would like to try out on my own music magazine design. I have also included a photo in black and white, I think this has the potential to work well on a magazine front cover and create a very strong impact, however this would be something I would want to trial before deciding to place it on my final music magazine as I am not sure it would work on a music magazine. The 'Q' masthead is on my moodboard because I am planning on creating my masthead in the same sort of style as Q's, with it being a square with one big letter, however mine will also probabaly have smaller letters as well. The twitter, facebook and youtube logo's show how I will link people's love of new media and social networking into my music magazine, making it appeal again to my target audience. The various different fonts on my moodboard are all examples of font's which are avaliable on 'dafont.com' and also examples of fonts I like and think would work well throughout my music magazine.

Flat Plans for my Music Magazine

 The above flatplan shows an inital design for my music magazine. By briefly sketching out a plan, when I come to actually designing my front cover I will be able to look at this flatplan and use it as a guide to my design. I decided to place my masthead in the top left hand corner, my cover price and barcode in the bottom right hand corner and my medium close up in the centre. I do not want to make the front cover too busy, however I don't want there too be lots of white space, as this will distract from the image and the cover and feature lines. By having a 'special features' section along the bottom of the page, this will hopefully catch my readers eye if I put the text in a spot colour, meaning it will interest them and encourage them too buy the magazine even more.

 The flat plan above is an inital flatplan for my contents page. I have chosen on this flatplan not to design my contents page in the 'normal' way, with reams of writing and images scattered throughout the page, instead, I have decided to place a main image at the top, of the main feature article again or maybe a musical instrument used in chart music. I have almost cut my contents page in half, with the top half a photo, and the bottom half text. By cutting it in half I think it will make the contents page more visually appealing and interesting. I plan to cut my contents page in half in an interesting way, rather than just a straight line so it looks very military.

 The photo above and the photo below both show possible mastheads and name ideas for my magazine. I have designed a variety of mastheads, because then I can choose which masthead is my favourite and then decide colours and sizes for it. On the first page of designs my least favourite are the 'Tune In' one in the bottom left hand corner, the 'Todays Music' one in the middle of the page and 'Listen' in the bottom right hand corner. These are my least favourite because I don't think they are very well designed. On the second page, I really like the 'Chart' one in the bottom right hand corner, and also the 'Chart' design above this one. I think 'Chart' would be a good name for my music magazine because it is all about chart music and I think people would easily be able to associate this with my chart music magazine.