Double page spread copy

The copy for your double page spread is very important.  It must make accurate use of language and it must use an appropriate 'mode of address' that is fitting for the intended audience.  The article needs to be proof-read, correctly spelled with clear use of punctuation and grammar.

It would be a good idea to do some further research and post some different examples on to your blog to help you identify the range of alternatives that are possible.

It could be that it is written as;

• an interview
• a series of key facts about the artist/ band
• a question and answer article
• a review of a tour and album release 
• a combination of any of the above

The copy needs to be between 600-900 words and uploaded to your blog.

   

Planning your photos

Examples of good quality photos by a previous student.

Check this link out and see what standard you need to be aiming for…..

To get a grade A you really need to getting 50 marks out of 60.


Examples of marked construction work- out of 60 marks.

Layout plans

These are simple drawings that are planning documents for working out the structure and layout of print products.  You will need to construct these for each of your front covers, contents pages and double page spreads before you work on the drafting and mock-up stages.  As you can see they have very little detail in them and are composed of lines and text only.

You need to compose 8 ideas for layout plans for your own front covers for your music magazine.

A grade work to learn from…...

A grade work to learn from….

Questionnaire Results

Now that you have all collated your questionnaires you need to present them in a format for analysis that will help you to make decisions about your magazine design and construction.

You will have two types of question.

Quantitative- which will allow you to provide clear data in the form of numbers and percentages etc.

Qualitative- which will give you thoughts, opinions and judgements that will offer you a chance to identify trends or patterns.

Once you have completed your tally chart you will need to transform your quantitative answers into data using excel to help you.  For each question you will need to explain what the information tells you and analyse the value of you it in moving your ideas forward.  How will it help you to make decisions.

With the quantitative information you compile the answers and use the responses to help inform and support the design of your magazine.

Homework
12A- you need to complete the presentation of these results and analysis and post it to your blog by 27th November.
12D- you need to complete the presentation of these results and analysis and post it to your blog by 29th November.

Creating a suitable Masthead

Magazines and consumer goods and like any consumer goods they are brands which like any other brand need a logo. A magazine masthead. The masthead’s role is to be recognizable. In the sea of magazines on the newsstands you want your logo to standout. To be instantly recognizable. This is not an easy thing to do. That is why a logo is the most important element on the cover page. When designing a logo several things should be your concern. The logo should capture the publications character, attitude, it should fit the intended readership and the genre, it should be versatile too, so that it can be used in other occasions, like marketing materials. When working on a logo you should try tenths or even a hundred variations. When you find several that you like, you should work on its variations. The first, and obvious thing is to choose the proper typography. 

Is your publication a modern one, is it more traditional, is it urban or more conservative?   

When working on a masthead you should try numerous variations- it will take time! Is the name of the publication a long one or a short one? If it is a short one maybe you can make the masthead stand in the top left corner. If it’s a longer one and it has two words maybe they can be positioned one on top of each other and placed in the top left corner. If you ask yourself why the top left corner it is because when magazines are stacked on the shelves on the newsstand top left position is always visible, no matter how densely stacked the magazines are on the shelves and because of social conditioning around visual syntax.  If the name of the magazine is longer maybe you can make it in bolder type for more impact. It is always better to use different fonts for the logo than the ones you use for the cover headlines. Although the logo is not read it should be recognizable, and that’s why it should be different in type from the rest of the cover. As you can see, the options are endless. When you finally decide on several versions try it out on the page to see how it interacts with the images and general design of the cover. Sometimes you will see that a top left position does not work well, maybe the top centered position would be better. 

Have you completed these on your blog yet?

You should have completed these documents and posted them to your blog by Monday 18th November.

- Final Questionnaire
- Embedded PREZI
- Brand identity and  brand values of 2 music magazines
- Brand identity and brand values of your own music magazine
- A list of potential names for your music magazine
- Some initial ideas for masthead  designs using fireworks

If you haven't got these posted by Tuesday then it will affect your WAG & ATL.

You should also have collected 25 questionnaire responses as part of your research into your target audience.  These will need to be tallied ready to be turned into charts for analysis and summary.

PREZI Research

Embedding Your PREZI

To embed your PREZI research.
1. Login to PREZI
2. Open your PREZI
3. Click on EMBED
4. Copy code to clipboard
5. Paste into a new blog post but make sure it is on HTML NOT Compose.
6. Done

Masthead ideas

Now that you have generated some ideas for brand names for your magazine you can start to generate design ideas for mastheads using fireworks.

Remember a good masthead is usually;

• short, catchy and on one line
• capitals
• clear, bold and large
• the first thing people read on the front cover
• simple 
• appropriate to the genre and to the target audience

Create a range of ideas using appropriate fonts and upload them to your blog.  It would also be good to get some feedback from your target audience on them.

Brand Names for your own Music Magazine

Now that you have considered the brand identify and values of your intended magazine and of other existing products you should now be in a position to generate ideas for brand names for your own magazine.  These ideas should be tested with your target audience to obtain some useful feedback.

Generate a list of ideas and post them onto your blog with some discussion of how each relates to your chosen genre or audience. 

DJ magazine

MOJO magazine

Preliminary Activity Feedback

Have you had your feedback sheet returned yet?

If so then you should have had a discussion with me about how your work is progressing and an idea of the grade you are on so far.  This will be informing your WAG.

After this discussion you should then complete the student response box on the sheet and glue it in your  exercise book.

If you haven't done this you must do it as soon as possible.

I will be taking books in to check next week.

Developing a Brand Identity and Brand Values for your music magazine

All of the magazines featured on these posts below and above have a very distinct and definitive brand identity.

Brand identity is how all the elements that contribute to the visual appearance work together to distinguish that brand in the mind of the audience/ consumer.  This could be the  use of colour, fonts, style of imagery, layout and house style.  All successful brands work very hard to establish this recognition within their audience/ target market.

How is the brand identity of the magazine presented?

Is it cool, sophisticated, minimal, elegant, opulent, young, messy, informal, modern, tasteful, controversial, interesting, unusual, challenging? 

Your job is to do the same for your music magazine.  You want it to be original, unique and distinctive from other brands.  You want it to make a clear statement that is going to appeal  to your target audience and you want it to display the core brand values. 

Brand values are things that are deemed important by a brand, the things that it stands for and it represents.

For example; youth, fun, excitement, future, modernity, fashion, style, technology, charity, generosity, establishment, originality, ideas, culture, social activity, edginess

In relation to a music magazine it is clear that it will value the genre(s) of music it represents.  Consider how NME establishes its brand values.

It is built upon a love for new music, for supporting young and upcoming talent that are true to the basics of live music.  It values the joy that music brings to life and the excitement of finding new artists that inspire and innovate.  Think about how they approach this.

You now need to start to establish the brand identity and brand values for your own music magazine but before that do an analysis of the brand identify and brand values of  two existing music magazines.

MIXMAG magazine

NME and Q magazine

XXL magazine

VIBE magazine

DAZED and CONFUSED magazine

I-D Magazine

FADER magazine

Target Audience Research Questionnaire

Now that you have completed some of your research into existing products you will now begin to get an idea of who your target audience will be for the music magazine you are going to plan and construct.

To do this you will need to identify the following;

What genre of music magazine are you going to be constructing? 
Will it be for a mainstream or niche audience? Why? 
Is it similar to any existing products or is it going to be different? Explain how and why.
Who will the core reader of your magazine be? What artists do they like? How do they dress? Where do they shop? What products do they own or aspire to own? How do they spend their time? Try and establish a profile of who they are.
Who will be your primary and secondary audience?
What will their age ranges be?
What will be the gender mix?
What will be the socio-economic mix?
How do you know this?  ( Compare with similar products on nrs.co.uk)

Create an audience profile similar to the NME press pack on an earlier blog post.

Once you have done this you will then need to  draft a questionnaire for homework.
this questionnaire should be a minimum of 10 questions and should allow you to collect information that will help you to construct your own magazine.  You might look at other examples on blog spot created by other students for ideas but do not just copy.   Remember that it needs to fit your ideas for your magazine and chosen genre.

CLICK THIS LINK Questionnaire example

Mainstream- the ideas, attitudes, or activities that are shared by most people and regarded as normal or conventional.  Appealing to a mass audience.  A magazine catering for all aspects of Pop music would appeal to a mainstream audience.

Niche- is a fraction of a total market or an audience. A segment of the market or the audience with highly specific needs and interests which cannot generally be satisfied by mainstream products.  A magazine focusing upon Dub step would be therefore be for a niche market.