Alex Newell-Media Studies
Front Page
Over the course of the project my front cover has undergone a number of changes due to the need for improvements that I chose to make myself whilst others were made based on feedback. I recieved this feedback from both peers and media students in the year above, so their feedback is reliable due to their own understanding of the conventions within the music magazine industry.
To the left is the initial draft of my front page where the main colour scheme was based around the use of reds, blacks and some elements of grey. The red was chosen due to its strong effect on the page as an eyecatching colour, which is also enhanced when placed upon a black background.
The first suggestion was to remove the current picture and replace it with an image that makes more of a statement or that is similar but better quality as the current image was ruined by the bright light above the subjects head causing his hair to look overexposed.
This was the first major improvement I made to my draft as it then led onto the other changes that were suggested.
This image shows the initial changes made following feedback from A2 media students. As you can see the first major change was to the cover image, I kept the same pose whilst having the subject in clothing that better compliments the indie rock genre as well as accessories that link with the genre. I also added to the colour scheme by drawing out the blue from the subjects hat which was used in the header and footnotes text as a way of making each title stand out.
It was suggested that I added in 'Brayden Quinnlan' on the front as a way of establishing the cover story and who it was based around as it was not clear from the 'exclusive' description to the left of the subject.
Additionally I moved the album cover to the contents page as it left the page feeling empty due to the fact it took up a lot of space. In its place I added some additional article titles with the use of lines in between each as a design element to reduce the feeling of overcrowding.
I also created a second copy of the image to place above the layers for 'gig reviews' giving the effect of the hand slightly coming out of the page.
This is the final version of my front cover, with the most obvious change being the addition of a sticker in place of the 'exclusive' description. I also moved the quote lower down to make it clearer whilst adding a cover story title and straightening 'Brayden Quinnlan'. I also changed the bottom text to red.
It was mentioned that the fonts for the titles to the bottom left should differ to distinguish between the article name and the subject, therefore I made the article title larger, whilst changing the font and reducing the size of the description.
Following my final changes I sought for further feedback, all of which was positive and no further improvements were suggested.
Contents Page
This is the first draft of my contents page which had mixed feedback. The positives involved the overall layout of the page, consistency of house style and ease of distinction between each category.
However, the negatives included the page being oversaturated with the use of red, the lack of images, and the content of the 'top ten billboard'.
I realised that despite the use of all colours on my colour scheme the red was overly dominant and needed to make better use of the blue seen on the front cover.
This is the second draft of my contents page, following the feedback I recieved I changed the colour of the central box and the weekly box to the bottom of the page which created an equal balance of colour throughout.
In addition to this I changed the colour of the blue text under 'reviews' to the same shade, as the alternation in blues seen previously did not work.
As mentioned in the front cover feedback, I moved the album cover to fill the space to the bottom right of the page where it worked better as a design piece than on the front cover.
Further feedback indicated that the billboard may be too invasive due to the amount of the page it covers, as well as this, the inclusion of both song name and artist created a feeling of overcrowding.
Here is the final version of my contents page, where the final adjustments have been made based on the feedback of the previous draft.
To reduce the sernse of overcrowding, I chose to keep only the artists names for the billboard which enabled me to shorten the box, and increase the size of the article in the space beneath.
Additionally I changed the colour of the box surrounding the page number to red, this would be carried out throughout the magazine as a link to the colour scheme and a way in which to carry over the house style. Whilst also moving the features text and changing the font to that of the font used under the nes section, this gave me room to move the album cover and add in an editors picture. However, the picture used is unconventiuonal due to the style of the photograph, in which a backlight was used to show just half of his face, this creates a sense of mystery but also means his picture does not detract from the importanc of the surrounding articles.
One final change was suggested as it was said that the contents page overall looked more like a secondary contents page, so I decided to create another contents page which would have less text on it, instead having a full page photograph so it can act in a similar way to the contents pages seen in Mojo.
This is the first and only draft of my first contents page, the only changes made between this version and the second contents page seen above was to change the page numbers for the cover story and the artists section. Changing the article page numbers ensured the second contents page led on from the first.
Double Page Spread
This is the final draft of my double page spread, overall I am extremely pleased with the look of the finished piece and the continuation of house style throughout the front cover, contents page and double page spread.
After seeking audience feedback there were positives and negatives, the positives mainly involved the overall layout of the pages and the separation of the questions and answers through differed font colours.
Suggested improvements were to increase the size of the title, reduce the length of the sub-heading, change the font of the pull quote and remove the hyphons seen throughout.
With the improvements made based on audience feedback, I found my final double page spread to be overall a much better looking piece in comparison to the previous version. Moving the main text further down and adding a new column on the right page enabled the title to be made larger, therefore becoming an eyecatching feature which is not crowded by other text. Additionally I shortened the sub heading, changed its font and added in two dotted lines as a design element to section the first page instead of having the feeling of the texts being together when they should'nt.
To the top left of the first page I added another design element to fill the white space and reduce the sense of emptyness around the title. As a final adjustment I changed the font of the pull quote and used the blue seen on the front cover and contents page so it looks subtly different to the font of the surrounding text whilst continuing the house style..