Music Magazine: Magazine Title

For my magazine name I want something which will incorporate my magazine genre as well as appeal to my target audience. As I am trying to imitate the 'BILLBOARD' magazine, which revolves around the 'gossip/news' element I need a name which will reflect this. I want the name to be memorable, meaning the magazine will attract the reader which will hopefully influence the sale for the magazine.

Whilst looking at other names of publishing magazines which follow this genre I came up with a few ideas.

• V (inspiration taken from the magazine 'Q')
• MBS (inspiration taken from NME-News, Music, Entertainment)
• Inside
• Pulse
• Shout

I came to the conclusion that 'Inside' would be the best representation of my music magazine as this name is individual, as it has not yet been used before, and mirrors the 'news' element of the magazine, as in 'inside scoop'. I will be using this name when designing my music magazine font design.

Success Criteria: What have I learnt and applied from my school magazine?

1) I must take numerous photo shoots to ensure my photographs are of high quality as I was not necessarily pleased with the quality of my school magazine photos and had to rely heavily on the editing process. This will allow my selection of photos to be greater.

2) I must consider using natural light as I used this in the school magazine and this was much softer than the artificial light as the model’s features were highlighted to a higher quality by the natural light which will ultimately improve my photo quality, making the magazine more appealing to my target audience.

3)  I will use the same editing features for my music magazine, such as the black and white, as I feel this worked well in my school magazine. If I am to have a full black and white image I will take this using the camera settings although I am also going to experiment with a colour feature as I think this will liven the image up.

4) I must consider the efficiency of photo graphing more than one model at a time as this caused great difficulty during the school magazine as one model was illuminated more than the other and the features therefore were lost. I would only shoot more than one model if I was guaranteed to gain a quality image due to the circumstances although I would be less inclined to do this.

5) I must sustain a colour theme throughout the front cover as I believed this worked well in the school magazine as it created a professional appearance and is considered good design.

6) I must make my music magazine more creative and interesting to the viewer as this is a media product and must be able to sustain the viewer’s attention span. I must make my front cover busier as the school magazine was extremely simple which fitted the criteria although not particularly engaging.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->7)      <!--[endif]-->My magazine must have striking title as the title on the school magazine was rather bland although fitted the purpose. This title must incorporate colour and add interest to the magazine as the school magazine title was uninspiring.

8) I must ensure I have a clear focus for the magazine which I stick to throughout the creation. This will ensure the magazine is effective and grasps the reader’s attention span which is relatively short.

9) I must ensure the contents page and double page spread is strong and follows the feel of the magazine. I must use a range of research and narrow this down to ensure my contents page conforms to the brief.

10) I must use various models, one for the front page and a different model for the double page spread and contents page. This will also allow me to take numerous shoots.

Music Magazine: Front Page Black and White Images

I am now looking a black and white guitars although I am sure this will be the feature I ensure is in colour as I would like the guitar to be the main feature of the front cover, highlighting the music element. 

Although these images have nothing to do with a music magazine, or my photoshoot, I am hoping for my front cover to have this same sort of effect as each both these images have one main colour feature. I would achieve this by editing my image after shooting it. 

Music Magazine: Front Page Specific Research

Music Magazine: Front Page Specific Research from HGASMedia

Music Magazine: Front Page General Research

I have decided to use a male model for my front cover although I will use a different model, most likely female, for my double page spread. I have looked at a couple of front covers where male models feature. 

I like this image as the model is the main feature of the magazine and the grey tinge mirrors the grey off the model's blazer and the grey/blue of the sky. I am considering shooting my model in a concert scenario to try and incorporated the music element to the magazine. I like the layout of this magazine with the sub titles placed around the outside of the image and the barcode positioned at the bottom of the page. I do not, however, like the idea of having the model's name over the top of the image although in this instance it works. I like the white font and would consider using this colour font on the front page, providing it was visible. 

I like this magazine cover the best out of all three of the magazine covers as the image is something I am aiming for. I am trying to incorporate a musical instrument into the front cover and I believe this cover achieves this well. Furthermore, I like the idea of a darker background which the image is placed on, making the white font draw the reader in. I would try to use this in my magazine front cover. Another feature I would try to use in my own cover would be the dark thin banner along the top as I feel this gives the magazine an edge and adds to the overall finished product. I do not, however, like the idea of another image on top of the main image as I think it draws focus. This image deals with space extremely well and I hope to try and mirror this success.

This magazine front cover also uses a music instrument in the front cover which I like as the model appears to be 'in the moment' and also reflects the idea of a music magazine. This magazine also has a banner running along the top although I prefer the other one which is in black. I still am unsure about the use of multiple images on the front cover as I think this would be better suited to the contents page. I am also unsure about the main title being placed over the main image, although providing the image suits this layout, such as the one above, I would consider trying this out.  

Music Magazine: Moodboard



My mood board features the type of music I am aiming for my magazine to include. I want my magazine to follow the same audience as magazines such as 'BILLBOARD' which is known to feature all different types of music along with a news 'gossip' element. I am planning on my magazine issue to focus on live acoustic music, which would be present in festivals and concerts. I am very focused on the idea of shooting in a concert scenario hence the use of stage sets and 'live' images in my mood board  I have also included a vague picture of what I want my DPS model to achieve. 

Music Magazine: Brief

I have decided to base my music magazine loosely on the theme of  authentic live music combined with a gossip feel of a chart magazine. I have named my magazine "Inside" for this reason. I am going to use a different model on the front page to that of the double page spread. I am going to use a male model on the front page and try to incorporate a musical instrument or band feature to ensure the page fits the "music mag" stereotype. I am going into a slightly different direction for the double page spread as I will use a female model and this will have a more "gossip" element to this. I will try to shoot in concert scenarios to achieve this. I am aiming to recreate a magazine, such as 'Q' or 'BILLBOARD' which aims to cover all aspects of music yet base each issue on a certain theme. For this reason, I will not have a specific target audience, such as Indie or R'n'B and will instead aim to target people who actively take in interest in music as these music magazines have done.