Brainstorm Ideas

FIRST IDEAS

When it was time to come up with my magazine idea, I didn’t know which I would like and would suit me. So to make it easier, I decided to brainstorm some ideas of the price, paper type as well as genre of music. I found that this made it easier for me to shorten down my options.

Typography

TYPOGRAPHY

Since I don’t know much about typography, I decided to a blog about it to get an understanding of the basics. Later on I’ll be able to another blog based on what i have learnt from my research later on. 
There are several term that I researched that can be used to describe and categories fonts. All of these terms describe parts of a font that give the eye visual ideas to decoding the letters while reading.

v  Serifs are the flicks at the end of the letters

v  X-height refers to the height of the main body of the lowercase letters

v  The baseline is a line where the bottom of the main body of each letter rests

v  Ascenders are the parts of the letter that rise above the x-height

v  Weight if the thickness of the line in the font

v  be described which most fonts can be placed:

Sans Serif In typography, a sans-serif or sans serif typeface is one that doesn’t have the small features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. In print, sans-serif fonts are more typically used for headlines than for body text. Sans-serif fonts have become the most popular type of body text on-screen, especially online.

Serifs In typography, serifs have strokes/flicks on the end. A typeface that has serifs is called a serif typeface. A typeface without serifs is called sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning “without”.

The Colour Wheel

                                                        THE COLOUR WHEEL

A colour circle consists of red, yellow and blue. 1666. Since 1666 artists have studied and designed numerous variations of the circle.

There are also categories of colours based on the colour wheel. There are the main 3-part colour wheels.

 

 

 

 

In the 1^st group which are called the Primary Colours: Red, yellow and blue in theory primary colours are known for not being able mixed or formed by any combination of other colours with each other.

The second group are called the Secondary Colours: Green, orange and purple mixing these colours together will eventually allow you to make the primary colours.
The last group is called the Tertiary Colours: Yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green & yellow-green, these are the colours are formed from mixing any of the primary colours with any of the.
In visual experiences, harmony is something that is pleasing to the eye. It engages the reader and it creates an inner sense of order. When something is not harmonious, it's either boring or chaotic in the reader’s eye. When creating a magazine front cover the colours have to link with each other otherwise it’ll look so bland that the viewer’s attention will not be engaged. Colour harmony delivers visual interest and a sense of order.

Complementary colours are any two colours which are directly opposite each other, such as red and green and red-purple and yellow-green. As seen from the picture below, there are several shades of yellow-green in the leaves and several shades of red-purple. These opposing colours create maximum contrast and maximum stability

 

 

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VIBE

                                                             

VIBE

As you can tell from the front cover, contents page and double page spread the first magazine I chose to analyse is a music based magazine. The genre of music that this magazine advertises is mainly Hip Hop and Rap, this magazine caught my eye as I it is promoting music genre that I do like.

The front cover is colourful with a 3 coloured scheme of pink, blue and a grey background, this shows its simplicity of the magazine but the celebrities picture makes it so powerful. The contents page has the same typography of the front covers showing the magazine’s consistency and makes it look more professional. It also has a picture of its featured celebrity, therefore if the front cover wasn’t enough to grab the reader’s attention then the contents page hopefully should. The picture of Kanye West is also in the Zed area, so when the readers are flipping through the pages Kanye’s pictures should be seen. The double page spread in any magazine is supposed to stand out; therefore the typography and colour scheme on these 2 pages are completely different. The main picture spreads across both of the pages with the body text starting with a drop cap. I like how the magazine was able to use the celebrity’s music title and merge it into the background as

The front cover has a colour scheme of hot pink, blue and black, this give the idea that VIBE magazine is for all ages, as well as all genres of music. The typography fonts of the front page are all in Sans-serif and bold capitals attracting more attention as the readers would think that it will be important. Double page spreads primary aim are to sell a feature, which should work together with the front cover and the contents page to represent art the pages are meant to flow together Since the double page spread are usually containing the magazine’s interview with a celebrity, the typeface are always Serif and bold. This makes the double page spread stage out and stay in the readers mind the most. The layout of VIBE’s magazine is simple with the text all connected to each other, without making the readers look all over the pages for the next paragraph. I found out that is this is a good technique as the readers aren’t disrupted during their reading causing them to change the page instead of finishing as well as the title.

 

Billboard

                                                                        

Billboard

Billboard is devoted to the music industry and all its genres. As one of the oldest trade magazines in the world, it maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs albums in various categories on a weekly basis. The 2 most notable charts are the billboard Hot 100, which ranks the top 100 songs regardless of genre and is based on what the public actually buy. The other is Billboard 200 the corresponding chart for album sales. Unlike other magazines, the masthead isn’t incorporated into the magazines main music genre and so the masthead remains the same from issue to issue. This allows the magazine to be easily identified without any confusion. Billboard magazine fills the characters, B, O, A and d with the colours red, pink, blue and yellow; this allows the masthead to flexible with each issue and artist/layout of each months issue. The use of a variety of colours is a denotation of Billboard as a magazine as it covers a range of music genres and combines them into one magazine. The use of this allows an audience with a wider range of preferences to access Billboard as it doesn’t stick to one specific genre. What I also like about the front cover of Billboard is that it uses the Rule of Thirds, which allows the magazine to look professional and helps keep the images, and cover lines within a good distance of each other and presented well on the page.

From the magazine pages i have seen of Billboard, anything that they thought would be important to the reader was put in Sans-serif type. For example the magazines masthead and titles on every page are sans-serif. Since Billboard knew that it’s the younger ages that have such a wider taste in music, they decided to use Sans-serif type. Sans-serif is better at small sizes because the fonts survive reproduction and smearing because of their forms. Sans-serif is typically used for emphasis, as well as from my research I found out that Sans-serif is better for younger ages as the writing doesn’t look too serious.

 

 

 

Vogue Magazine

VOGUE

The third magazine that I decided to look at is a Vogue magazine, this type of magazine consists of fashion, different styles and new cloths. Vogue is the most famous and popular fashion magazine for both women and men; it was firstly published in 1892 by the Condé Nast Publications publishing house. Nowadays Vogue magazine is popular all over the world and is published in 18 countries: UK, U.S., Australia, Brazil, Portugal, Russia, China, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, and is called one of the greatest magazines in the world’s market.
The characteristic that I liked the most about this magazine is its simplicity, everything is clean cut and I think that’s what makes it look like such a powerful magazine. This magazine is constantly having new design, high fashion designers and new seasonal cloths, which allows it to have such a large market attached to it. As you can see from the front cover you would instantly know that its name is Vogue, which allows the writers to cover some of its heading, which is also a way of showing its popularity. Throughout the magazine, its simple concept is used of clean cut fonts and everything in order, I personally think that this emphasises how fashionable the magazine itself is. What I like about Vogue magazine is that they don’t need to use too many features for the magazine to gain an audience; an example of this would be the contents page. Although the contents page is plain block and white it still attacks readers and their attention. It shows how professional and risky the magazine is willing to go to keep its edge and clean look.
The typography for this magazine also emphasises its clean cut edge of each sections. The colour scheme as well as the font families on each page is the same allowing the pages to flow from page to page. This keeps the readers interested in every page of the magazine. The magazine also follows the basic rules of colour. For example not using red next to green. The front page consists of Crème, White and Black. The use of delicate colours: white and crème indicate who the intended market are, which i think are for teenagers and upwards. Although the colours make the magazine look serious the layout on most of its double page spreads show that teenagers will also be interested as the text aren’t in order but are spread out to keeps its readers interested.

 

Contents Page

Contents Conventions

 

v  Most of the time, the issue number is positioned in the top left or right corner of the contents page. From the many front covers I have now seen, I noticed that they are normally near the magazine title. The issue date is positioned with the issue number; they are shown together on the front cover and the contents page also.

v  The words are always prominent; this feature lets people know it is actually the contents page where they can find out more detail for the rest of the magazines.

v  There is also usually a main image on the contents page suggesting it will be the magazines main focus or most important story in the magazine. It is usually positioned in the middle or towards the side of the page.  

v   The magazine’s name or logo is usually in the top left hand corner of the contents page.

v  The specials are one off interviews or features. These are separate from the other headings so it stands out.

v  The magazine will sometimes have their website positioned by the issue number and issue date at the top of the contents page. Allows the audience to get more information from their website if needed.

v  The page numbers start at the left, they are before the heading. The numbers are a different colour and font from the heading also, this makes them stand out. The headings are only either one word or few words, and then it is followed by a short sub line explaining more about article.

v  Sometimes the contents pages have quotes from interviews they had done in the magazine. Most of the time they are on the main image, they are never over the faces of the bands or artists as this will obstruct the readers from being able to actually identify the celebrities’ face easily.

v  The front cover would usually have the largest typography in the whole magazine to represent the title page. Most of the time the magazines’ masthead is Serif, since it’s the main thing that they would want the readers to remember. However on contents pages the front would be Sans Serif, this is because this page’s text is there to direct the readers more easily to the page of their chose, and therefore the writing should be easier to read for them.

Double Page Spread (Main Conventions)

Double Page Spread Conventions

 

v  The Colour Scheme for a double page spread can go both ways, it can either follow the colours that are used on the front cover, or the colours can change completely if they are reflecting the content that is being talked about.

 

v  Direct Address is used for the Main Image, as the photographer tries to engage the audience of the magazine. This makes the main image better on the double page spread, as when the audience reads the main body text, the image easily relates.

 

v  On the main image, by-lines are usually found, these are what tell us who has written the article and who had taken the photo. They can also tell us other things like where the photo was taken, the date of the photo, or even the name of the person in the picture on the double page.

 

v  A drop capital is important for introducing the start of the article for the double page. The very first paragraph uses a massive drop capital, as the introducing letter.

 

v  Pull quotes can be found all over the double page spread either on the main image or found within the main body text. These pull quotes are normally quotes found in the article itself that represent a part of the story of the artist or band and they are normally bigger in font and bolder.

 

v  A stand first is the introduction to the article itself. You will always find it on a double page spread as it is the introduction before the Main body text. It normally says something about the artist/band or relates to the main body text before the audience read it.

 

v  A double page spread always contains columns. The columns are mainly separated into 3 or 4, depending on the contents of the double page spread. The columns are there to separate the main body text so it is not all clumped together; it also gives each paragraph or new sentence a bit of space from the last. Making the article easier to read.

 

v  A double page spread needs to consist of a contrast between the colour of the text and the background.

 

v  In a double page spread article, the language of the main body text is always relaxed. This makes the audience feel relaxed while reading the article, as it is simple but yet still explains what is happening in the double page spread.

Double Page Spread

 

Double Page Spread

From my research done, the double page spreads of magazines have a large image usually on one side of page but could sometimes blend in with the text. The image used is used as direct address, which entices the reader to buy the magazine because the celebrity in the magazine is looking directly at the audience. This technique is used to therefor encourage the music magazines target market to buy the magazine.

Almost all music magazines enlarge a quote said by the celebrity from the interview, which they would think would interest their target readers. This is sometimes presented as the headline, or by the picture and sometimes it is even used in the text, to break it up by making it bold or stand out in some way. The quotes used are usually rather controversial or shocking to grip the reader.

Another convention that most music magazines would follow is the celebrities name being bold somewhere on the double page spread. This is to make them stand out more as a celebrity, as well as make it easier for their readers to identify who is featuring in the magazine. They also include a stand first, which is like an introduction to the celebrity that is included. Some readers may not know who the celebrity is just from the image; therefore introducing them would save some readers not knowing who they were reading about.

All text on a double page spread should be 11 pt; however some magazines make the font connote the genre of the music their magazine is selling. All double page spreads have a drop cap which shows the reader when to start reading. The text is set into columns, usually 2-4 columns. This is to make the text appear tidy and not all over the page. The page number, magazine name and text throughout usually use the same font to show professionalism and consistency.

The main image on the double page spread is usually on the left side however some magazines go against the codes and conventions and put it on the right side. Sometimes the image would even stretch over the both pages with little text on the side although this is not in every music magazine, it is relatively common. Also the picture on the double page spread will always relates to the article.

Double page spreads follow the same color scheme that is used throughout the magazine; it is usually simple so it doesn’t overpower the article or look over done. I also found out through research that the name of the celebrity is sometimes highlighted by the color scheme. The color schemes would usually help the readers to connote which genre the magazine is, for example black, red and white are mostly used a lot in rock magazines.

Front Cover (Main Conventions)

Front Page Conventions

 

v The masthead is usually towards the top of the page and its main job is to draw in the audience’s attention as it should give an idea of the genre and target audience.

 

v Buzz words are used in order to attract attention for example "plus" and "free"; these words both get the reader to want to buy that magazine.

 

v There is always a main image used which is of the main artist, when it is a band it's usually a long shot however when it is a solo artist it is usually a mid shot unless it is a solo artist who is looking at the camera in order to connect to the audience where their body language reflects this audience and the genre of music.

 

v Subsidiary images are used which may also get you to look at the magazine, especially when well known images are used. These images may be used as a backup if some of the others do not appeal to the audience.

 

v There is an organised layout which suggests a more mature audience as it is formal, this is then appropriate to the genre and the target audience.

 

v A tag line is used which also is there to attract attention and give the magazine an edge for its audience.

 

v There is also normally a plain background used as this makes the other features of the front cover stand out more and make it look more formal.

 

v Basic information is also featured on the front cover; which is needed for most magazines in general like a bar code, price and issue date.

 

Music Magazines

Purpose & Conventions

 

Music magazine are magazine dedicated to music and music culture. Such magazines typically include music news, interviews, photo shoots, essays, record reviews and concert reviews. In order for music magazines to sell successfully, they need a well-known institution to sign them. A media institution is an establishment that is in charge of distributing, marketing and producing different media products.

A music magazine that I found was similar to my magazine’s genre was VIBE. Through some research that I found out was that Vibe magazine is currently owned by InterMedia Partners. InterMedia also own other companies such as WAPA-TV, which is a radio station, but have mainly been successful through media institutions. They distribute their magazines though their online website which provides some articles from the magazine. Also the magazines gets distributed to a variety of shops ranging from corner shops to supermarkets.

From research that I have done music magazines are one of the most magazine read and the first thing that attracts the reader is who is on the front cover. The Main Image dominates the page.  Most front cover images are positioned in front of the masthead, which could show that most readers don’t need to see the full masthead because it’s so popular that they already know which magazine it is. The artists are pictures starting straight at the camera as well as the readers, who are addressed directly.

Although music magazines do have a high expectation to entertain their reader, they do also follow the basic conventions such as numbering their pages. The date, barcode and price are all displayed usually on the front pages even thing they are minor features, they are still important parts of the magazine as it informs their readers.

The mastheads of most music magazines are bold colors and large font, to grab the audience’s attention. From research that I have made mastheads are supposed to be simple and positioned at the top 1/3 of the page, makes it visible from far away.

Every music magazine main cover line corresponds to the main image. The use of bold font is to help the colors stands out against the background. The main cover line is easily noticed as it’s the second biggest text after the masthead, which catches it’s targeted reader’s eyes. Not only this, but an unlikely quote from the article's interview is usually put in been put on the cover, which also interests the reader.

The front cover’s color scheme would usually depend what genre of music the magazine is advertising as well as who the targeted audience. For example the colors used in a magazine which is aimed at men would be stereotypically masculine colors; therefore colors which are associated with men are blue, green, black, red and. stereotypically feminine colors are targeted more at female background market: pink, yellow, purple, light orange and more. Puffs and cover lines will always be put in empty spaces or negative spaces. To make the front cover look more interesting without giving too much information, these puffs and cover lines are put anywhere other than on the artist’s faces. The larger the puffs or cover lines, the more the magazine is trying to tell its readers that its important and would probably be it’s the main article or story. Some magazines are laid out to be balanced, so if there was a large text on one side of the magazine it would be balanced out on the other side with a graphic feature. You wouldn’t fill one side with lots of text and leave the other side empty. Puffs and cover lines have been specifically chosen to draw your attention to the magazine to make you want to purchase it.

The language helps grab the attention of the audiences, for example naming it the ‘UK’S best-selling’ would attract attention of those interested and it’s obvious the audience would want something that is well-known and worth paying for.