Research and Planning Mark

Level 2 (Basic): 11/20 Marks

Add analysis of covers, double page spreads and contents pages (from your genre).

Also add production logs and comments/discussion of each task.

Evaluation - Question 7

Evaluation - Question 6

Evaluation - Question 5

Evaluation - Question 4

Evaluation - Question 3

Evaluation - Question 2

Evaluation - Question 1

My Final Pages

My Pages During Modification

My Cover Page

















My Contents Page

My Double Page Spread

This is my first attempt at making the front page, contents page and double page spread of the music magazine. I had a lot of trouble to start with and so I decided to try again. I have now improved my Photoshop skills so I hopefully won't make the same mistakes again. The main problem I had which caused me to start again is the size of the page. It is not a perfect A4 sized picture which is major problem as the images would have to be stretched and adapted in different areas to make the image perfectly fit the page which would distort the pixels and their size and make my pages look less professional. I came to the decision to restart the magazine before I was able to insert the masthead because there would have been limited space for it and I would most likely have to squash it making much too small. I do have a similar picture to the one I have used on my cover page so I could use that one, or learn how to adapt images to allow the masthead to fit. I like the background I used in the cover and the way the lighting is brighter in one place and gets darker around the bottom. This is something I will try to use in my final front page.

Pictures For My Magazine

This I the first set of picture I have taken. They are only of three people at the moment so I will have to take a few more in the future but for now I am satisfied with pictures that I have. my favorite of these pictures is the one which contains Jack tuning his guitar on a brick wall. Hopefully I will be able to use a few of the pictures and I will take my next ones in a different setting so I can have a variation of people and backgrounds in the pictures.

Convention Analysis

Magazine Cover Analysis - Magazine 1

This is the front cover of Classic Rock magazine. It has a colour scheme of grey, white and blue. The grey and white is also used throughout the magazine. The masthead of the magazine is very large and white. The font used is very smooth and gives an effect that makes the letters look sophisticated. The colours of the letters stand out against the grey. All the letters are big, and the unique font which is used with every issue of the magazine makes it recognisable and unique.

The cover page makes the reader know what the issue is about - Steve Vai - stands out from the masthead, it has a separate unique font and is almost as big as the masterhead's font size. 'Steve Vai' is highlighted in a different colour to make them stand out it also gives the magazine its own look which is not common in some other magazines. Highlighting this makes it stand out to the reader so it is clear from the cover what the reader can expect will be inside.

The magazine has only one picture on the cover, the main image takes up the whole page. It is one musician who stands out to people and will be easily recognisable. The guitar makes him look like a rock star along with the costume he is wearing which is a dark shirt with a waistcoat which has not been put on in a very smart way. The makeup and dyed black hair gives him the typical conventions and image which a rock star would have. 

Magazine Cover Analysis - Magazine 2

This is 'Q' magazine. Although their usual genre is not rock music, in this addition of the magazine they have changed their usual style and created more of a rock vibe to the magazine. The masthead is larger than it usually is on other magazines magazines and they have added an effect where the Q is sitting behind the bassists head. The large letter in the top left corner is typical of this magazine. This is a big contrast to Kerrangs magazine cover. They use rough and broken looking letters in their masterheads as it created a hard rock look; Q uses more sophisticated letters. The colour scheme also consists of basic dark colours; which allows the title of the magazine to stand out more. This is not a convention of a rock magazine as the music is often associated with dark meanings so usually bright colours would not fit in well - however, 'Q' manage to make this happen in a very sophisticated way.


The colours also help to make the image stand out. It gives a very 3D like effect to the magazine and the writing which is either highlighted white or is red; this makes it fit in with the title and also stands out against the background that the artists are in front of. The artists who from the alternative rock band Muse, is also represented in a typical rockstar way. They are wearing dark colours which are common for rockstars to wear along with a very unique looking jacket. Matt Bellamy fits this style as he is wearing a black suit with a unique gold design on the shoulders. Matt Bellamy is also well placed on the magazine. He is big but not too big that he takes up almost the entire space of the page with his chest upwards being shown while leaving enough space for writing along the bottom and for his bad mates to be to the left and right of him.

The words on the side of the magazine are also typical of any magazine, however, in this issue of 'Q' the words are along the bottom. Q does follow the conventions though as they are using thick letters that stand out against the background. The letters also fit along with colour scheme of white and red.

Double Page Spread Article

The Main ArticleBelow is a draft of my article that will be on my double page spread. The first one will be about the main artists, "Jack&Jordan" the magazine is covering. In my research i found out that readers like it best when the magazine asks the artists questions as they feel it is the most interactive way of finding out information from that artist as the readers would ask similar questions. 

Being an artist is difficult.. And a music artist is no acception. You need to have fresh and catchy music to entice new fans. you need to inspire others and love what you do. Jack Griffing has done exactly this! Combining  his inspirations of peoples individual and well known voices and talents he has collaborated them together to make (hopefully) the number one album of the year! Griffing is already an individual platinum selling artist and he has 2 Grammy's! Griffing is still young and looks to have a bright future ahead of him. We are here to chat about his new album 'Repulsive Sophistication'.

What inspired you to come together and create your music?

Jack: Well I've loved Hendrix since like nursery and he actually taught me my first guitar chord. His nephew was in the same music class as me at school. Yea I guess you could say that's the story! I have said that people like the Foo and Hendrix and Nirvarna have inspired me!

How well do you think your new album will sell and what do your fans think of your new 
album?

Jack: I think that if the album is what my fans like then hopefully I will hit the charts quickly; there's no telling yet of what could be but hopefully people like it. And to reply to your second question my fans have been really supportive and really that's what I love seeing, I mean I make the music and stuff for them so its good that they enjoy it.

Being so young have you found it hard to write songs?

Jack: No I mean I write them through my personal experiences. I mean when writing this particular album I used the help of my producers to find sort of a 'back bone' or a beat and I just escalated it from there. Yea this album was such fun to make and you know that's what its all about so yea. I mean normally you have a few gems in the album that the fans really like and I've tried to create as many as possible.

When you talk about gems do you mean like songs or special guests?

Jack: Well; hopefully songs as I created them. In answer to your second question I would say that working with other artists and all of their knowledge and experience has just been a privilege for me so there might be a special guest in the new album... Who knows?

How long do you spend in the studio?

Jack: Too much time! Yea I have no life! Well music is my life and I do it for their fans and their support is what keeps me producing so yea; thanks guys!

You say you make music for the fans?

Jack: Yea

So there's no financial side to your music?

Jack: Well obviously we take what we need to live and the rest is put back into the business? But yea the rest goes into development of like; new albums; tours; new equipment and stuff.

Ok thanks for making the time to speak to me

Jack: No Problem thanks for having me!

Draft Page Layouts

What My Magazine Will Look Like

With all my research done, I need to start my drafting. This will help me when creating my final product because it gives me a clue of what my  rock magazine will look like and it gives me an idea to develop throughout. Here I have a draft for each of the three pages.

Front Cover

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Reader Profille

Who's Who

This is my audience research. It is essentially a reader profile. Here I will tell you who will be interested in reading my magazine based on all the answers I got with my research group. In one of my questions on Survey Monkey; it asked whether you (the subject) would read a rock magazine. Based on my answers I will create a reader profile on a girl called Katie. This will give me proper representations for the reader profile as I will know the age, and gender of the person. 

Reader Profile - Katie

Katie is 23 years old and reads rock magazines on a regular basis. She has always loved rock music and always listens to the same genre ever since she was introduced to it. She has grown up with all of the mainstream rock and solo music artists, such as Greenday, Muse, Kings Of Leon and Biffy Clyro. She loves listening to all of their new tracks and albums and she looks up to them as role models. She is still studying at university at the moment meaning she doesn't have that much money to spend on her music so she saves up all that she can to buy her favourite songs online. She buys her music rather than donloads it for free as she believes that the artists should be paid and recognized for their hard work and effort. When buying her music she mainly uses 'Google Play' as it is much easier than going to the shops, and also much more effective as she owns all of the latest technology; her android phone which she saves up for during the year. She doesn't play any instruments but is keen on her music classes as it interests her. she is already thinking about starting to play the guitar. She has been to many music festivals as it is a popular thing to do at her age and plans to continue going when she's older. Music is a great part in her life as she studies a degree in it. she listenes to it all the time when she can; on the bus to uni, long car journeys home and when doing revision and before bed. 

Reader Profile 2 - Joe

Joe is 17 and occasionally listens to rock music, but always trys to reads rock music magazines. The main artists he listens to are GreenDay and Of Mice & Men because he likes that heavier genre of rock music. He likes the heavy double bass use and the unique style of vocals that separates it from other genes such as Rap and Jazz. Rock music is somewhat calm and easy for the ears, but can be wild and vigorous which Joe likes. Joe is studying Sociology, Business BTEC, Maths and Ethics in 6th Form, meaning he has plenty time to listen to music when he is studying and doing coursework. It makes it easier for Joe to revise as he finds that more information goes in. It is his preferred learning style. Joe also has a part time job as a sales assistant in a clothes retailer. This is because he likes the speed of job, keeping him on the ball and making him more alert. This job means he has restricted time to listen to music at the weekends, but listens to it on the bus to and from his workplace, which calms him down after his shift. He is a quiet person who likes to keep himself to himself, meaning he can sit by himself and listen to music all day long, which he finds promotes him to study. He prefers buying albums as he likes to have something to touch and look at and he believes the artist should be rewarded for their hard work, instead of buying his music on the computer. The shops that he buys his music is in old record shops that give the music a unique feel.

Title Analysis

To make sure I get a title that stands out to the public and differs from others I will go through existing magazine titles and analyse them which will show me how to get the best possible title design as possible. I will focus on types of font, colour, size and other properties to help me get the best view of what title I should be aiming for.

This title block is from the magazine kerrang. This is also the same genre which I will be using for my magazine. It has typical conventions other title blocks in the rock and metal genre. The words are large and stand out and the font is also very unique. the broken rough look gives it a dangerous and this suits the vibe of the music as it rock and metal are usually associated with this kind of look.

This title block is from 'Q' magazine. This magazine is about alternative and indie rock although it does also talk about pop however; I will not use for my magazine. It uses a very recognisable title block and has a good design which is typical of the alternative rock genre. like the one which has been used in the NME magazine its simplicity and colour make it easy to remember and stand out against the other magazines.




This is a magazine title from a similar music genre I am doing. It has a nice contrast of font size, emphasising what kind of genre the magazine is. It contrasts the background really well despite the fact that on the left hand side there is a white colour overlap, the black outline covers it really well. This magazine title colour changes on each issue of the magazine; but the most common colour used is white.


 This is another magazine title of the same genre music as the one I intend to do. The combination of black, white and red really make the title stand out, making it catch the eye of a viewer. These colours again change with each issue, but never stray too far away from its three original colours. Sometimes the title is yellow but that is to contrast a similar colour background.

Costume & Prop Planning

Starting to Put Everything Together

I now have to think about what my front cover is going to look like, with all of my images that I will photograph. Because of my SurveyMonkey questionnaire I know that the main focus on the front cover will be a single artist as that attracts most artists. 

The next question is male or female? To answer this question I will now look at real rock magazines, at least 5, and take the most popular gender to get my answer. The 5 magazines were picked at random and the final ratio was 4 males to 1 female.

So as you can see I will focus my magazine front cover on a male, which will also now help me with the costuming of this single artist. Hoever most of the magazines i found usually had the group or band on the front cover, but because mine is 2 solo artists combined it will only feature on artist. The male will be the main artist in which my magazine cover page will be based on but there will be a little article on the two male artists as a whole, which I will need to do some costuming preparation for as well. To create to a rock music magazine my artist will need to look sophisticated as it is more focused towards an indie rock magazine, maybe with a medium shot which will show the top half of the body and the face. However I need to take into account the artists instrument as well so maybe a slightly further shot will be a good selection

Male Artist

As you can see from the drawings below, the character will be positioned in front of a plain white background, gradually fading to grey the further up you look, similar to this shot below but with the darker element above the artists head. My artist will be given an instrument that he plays to hold in one hand. This means that my cover photo will link in with the colour scheme of white, black, grey and red. The costume has to represent a new artist, who is fashionable and looks good. To represent this in the costuming I will put the male in a suit. This can give a feel of a more modern and indie style of rock music as it shows them as being modern, yet stylish as a lot of music nowadays has a lot to do with fashion and both tie in nicely. I am also using a suit for this photo shoot as both my artists are quite young and by adding a suit I feel it will add a sense of seriousness to the magazine. If I were to put them in a bomber jacket and baggy jeans it would feel more like a rap music magazine. My artist will wear a black/ dark navy suit and red/burgundy shirt which will contrast with the colour background I am planning to use; yet the colours still tie in with my theme making the magazine stand out and giving it a sense of originality.

Title Block & Analysis

Now I've completed my reader profile, I will need to start designing my title in order to start the next task; Title Block and Analysis. To make my rock magazine I will need to download the most suitable font from the internet and then design it on Adobe Photoshop CS5.

The font that I have chosen to use is called 'Paintball' due to the fact that the font looks more like a rock music magazine font that the others I looked at one. I found this font on an online website by typing in the key words that were associated with my genre magazine.

My Music Magazine Name

Every magazine has a title. My magazine will also need a title which will be the first thing my audience sees on the cover page after the picture. Some ideas for magazine names that i came up with were:

• Band Age
• Hedfone
• Panic Station
• Absolution

To get the best title of a magazine I asked around friends and family and see what they had to say about my music title names. These people ranged from my grandparents to my younger siblings so there was a wide variety of age diversity. I asked both males and females also. The title that I eventually chose was Absolution. In the end I went around to my question subjects and asked them what they would prefer, and then came up with the idea myself, which they also liked and said I represents a rock music magazine.