contents construction

This is my conents page for my music magazine. To start of with i opened a blank document on Indesign and decided to keep the white background as i wanted lots of colored text and didn't want it to look to busy. Unfortunately at the time i had to make my contents page i had misplaced my memory stick with all my images on therefor had to use the same photo i had on the front cover. I placed this in the right hand corner quite large as i remember from previous research that a main photo on a contents page is quite effective. After  this i placed the title on a slant above my model to give it an edgy look but swapped the yellow and white around so it would go with my background.
Then i went on to create the text i wanted. As the background is white i wanted lots of bright colours for the text so it would look interesting. I used the 'Type tool' to create text boxes for the writing and then used the 'Apply colour' tool to choose what colour i wanted my text to be. I played around with different font types but decided on 'Rockwell extra bold' as this looked simple and easy to read.

How i made my feature

This is my feature. Unlike the other pieces of work i have produced i had to make this double A4 to make it look like two pages of a magazine. I first decided on a purple a white background, as i thought this wasn’t to girly for my male readers. When i had done this i went on to choose an image for my feature. I chose that photo as i thought it looked fun a quirky and would give a real feel good vibe to my work. I used Photoshop to cut out my model and placed it in the right hand corner.
After i had done this i began adding more images to make it look more exciting. I added three more images of my model performing at a gig with a white box behind to create a funky effect.
Then i began on constructing the text boxes. As my background is purple and white i thought it would be a good idea to continue with this theme and have the text boxes white too. So you can read the writing, i made the text black as i thought it would look too much if i made the writing purple too. To make the text boxes all i did was use the typing tool to make a text box and i then filled it white. I made these text box's slanted as i thought this would give it an edge and make it look less simple.
In between my text i have used quotes such as ' ' and ' ' as this is common in magazine articles and gives the readers a quick view of the material involved in the article before they start reading and it is something to bring them in.

Images and what photoshop tools used

Here are some images i took to go in my music magazine. I had to edit some of these photos so they would be suitable for how i wanted them and to do this i used Photoshop. I had never used Photoshop before i began As Media so had to learn how to use all the tooks quickly.

The tool i got most use out of was the lasoo tool. This is the tool that enables you to select certain boxes and images and remove it from the background. This helped me to cut out the image of my model and change the background to what ever colour i wanted. It is very useful.

Another tool which does something similar is the pen tool. This helps you to create straight or curvey lines around something you want to cut out and then enable you to change its background.

Another useful tool i used was the type tool. What this did was created a text box enable you to type a piece od text onto your photo.

front cover progress

 

This is how my front cover began. i chose a light green background to make it look cheerful but not exclude either gender. I put the photo of my main feature in the centre so most attention is focused onto them. My photo is of a female model wearing a shirt and tight black trousers with a brown belt which is seen as 'trendy' to my target audience. My photo was originally on a different background but this didn’t fit in with my ideas on what i wanted the front cover to look like so i used Photoshop to cut out my model and put her on a transparent background giving me a choice on what colour background i could choose.

 This is how my front cover has progressed. I added a title, date of issue & price, bar code, and banner at the bottom. I played around with different font types and colours so see what looked the best and i felt having live in the colour yellow fitted in well as i associate live gigs with bright lights.
I positioned the title of the magazine were i have so it is easy to read however doesn't draw to much attention to it. i put the bar code where it is for the same reason. It is out the way however isn't hard to find it. The date and price of the magazine is small and in black so it doesn't stand out to much however if the reader felt it necessary to find this information out they would know were to look.

In this screen shot i have added the main title of my feature onto my front cover. i put this quite big in the middle of the page over the top of the image of my model as i have seen this done on other magazines and thought it was quite creative as was made obvious to my audience what the main story was going to be about. I put it in pink dainty writing as this story is on a female and the colour pink usually represents a girl.














                                                            
This is my finished front cover. I added a competition to encourage readers to buy it more as they feel they could potentially get something for free out of buying my magazine. I used the same font as the masthead so things looked neat and not to busy. i also added a story on a different artist just to give my audience more incite as to what was going to be inside my magazine.

construction of my music magazine

I came up with the magazine title LIVE because with my past experiences with reading magazines such as NME and ROCKSOUND i have seen that they regularly uses articles about live performances from different kinds of bands and i believe these types of story's to be popular therefore i decided using the title LIVE would fit in with the content of my magazine.

To make my project i have chosen to use Adobe Indesign CS5 & Adobe Photoshop CS5.
For the front cover i used a range of different colours. As my survey suggested they were expecting to see the colour green in my magazine i decided to use a pale green for the background. This could also add to the fact i would like my magazine to appeal to both male and female.
After i did this i edited my main picture. i cut her out from the background and made her the centre of my page.
Then i chose how i wanted my music magazine title to be. I decided on having the words in white and yellow with a thick outline so this gives of the effect of a head light at a gig.
For the cover lines i chose different colours like orange and pink to go around the edge, this is so it looks bright, colourful and attractive.

my feature for my music magazine

Sofia, the new musical express

Its 6 o’clock in the evening, outside the O2 arena Oxford. The April showers are really giving us a run for our money. It is wet. And it is cold, yet you can still feel the excitement buzzing through the crowd of fans queuing up ready to go inside. Sleeping bags tossed to the edge suggesting people have camped over night, one group of teenagers have actually made a sign saying ‘tickets please?!’ the fact they have stayed overnight and are queuing up in this typical British weather without a guarantee of getting in asks the question, what’s so special about Sofia?
Today is the first time I have crossed paths with this teen eminent since she performed in oxford two years ago as a support act for The gossip. She was fresh to the music scene and her music was virtually unknown, however you would never have thought this from how she entertained the crowd. It was almost like they had been fans for years! “That gig was nerve racking, I didn’t know what to expect and was frightened of a bad reaction” says Sofia. She had nothing to be worried about! Sofia has given herself a good reputation over the years on being a good performer, and we must say she deserves it. At every opportunity she gets she’s leaping around the stage giving it her all, even coming to the edge and letting fans grab her hand.
This increasingly popular female artist hasn’t always been such a sensation though, “I wrote ‘Females‘ and ‘Never ever’ when I was 16 in my friends music room while I was going through a bad break up” she tells us. She also used to be part of a band called ‘the trivia’ but parted over disagreements and felt as if she would go further solo.
Her hard work and tricky decisions have sure paid off. Endlessly travelling around Britain playing in tiny venues she didn’t even know existed has brought her a wide spread of support across Brittan. She’s also been swarmed with record companies and hyped by the indie press but has never let any of this go to her head. This young star is incredibly modest and never speaks of her success and we love her for it.
Sofia’s childhood is very different to the life she leads now. She comes from a strict Muslim family and has had to live life by demanding rules. Boys were out of the question and partying was kept to a bare minimum “I didn’t have my first kiss until I was 19!” she giggled. Now she has grown up and is old enough to make her own decisions she has chosen a life without religion, but still has the same loving relationship with her family. They where never much of a wealthy family and lived in an urban area of oxford. To earn herself a bit of money she worked in the local café near her home on most weeknights to fund her studio time she had at the end of every month. “I used to love it there, the studio really felt like my second home.” She tells us. It wasn’t just the studio time she spent her money on. Sofia loves fashion! Her left over money went on her crazy outfits from bright floral hot pants to big round glasses, she really is unique. Noel Fielding described her look as “flipping amazing” I’ll never forget the time I saw her make an appearance on stage with Hadouken! Wearing a mini mouse inspired dress with silver glittery boots, “I was on a mad one that night!” she tells us, with a big grin on her face. Sofia’s interest in fashion, and growing status as a style icon, is about to be cemented with a book, My chic. "It's a style guide," she says. "All the usual fashion don'ts will be fashion dos.” Well she isn’t boring that’s for sure. You never know what she will do next, and what ever happens she has already made a massive impact on the alternative music scene and we are sure you won’t see the back of her for a long while. The relationship between Sofia and her audience creates electricity we’ve not really felt before. It’s clear she’s going to be big this year and we can’t wait to see what she will deliver next.
‘Mirrors’ is out on EMI music on March 10^th.