Style Model for Front Cover

I'm using this front cover as a style model, as it was voted for in my reader survey and I also like the simple desgin, that is very bold and easy to use as a style model.

Front Cover Screen Shots 1

Using my chosen font, the screen shots show the begining of the creation of my front cover by using my style model to style is a specific way to make it simple, but not boring, and I've kept to a limited colour scheme of 4 colours, like my style model, being black, white, red and blue.

Interactivity

The interactivity of magazines is getting increasingly essential for magazines to stay in business, as social media is taking over from the humble paper magazine.

This means many magazines now have websites, and social networking sites to keep in touch with their audience and to let them know they have a say on magazine content.

For example, James McMahon, editor of Kerrang!, asked followers on twitter to suggest people to appear on the front cover of their new music issue, along with applications for new apsiring writers. This is a brilliant use of interactivity, as it really makes the reader feel as if they have a choice on the magazine content.

Furthermore, Kerrang! (and probably many other music magazines) have a page in the magazines which includes letters and drawings from fans showing they listen to their audience and appreciate their hard work on their art/letters. 

Mode of Adress

This is how the magazine adresses the audience with language and imigary in a more colloquial manner. This makes the magazine more relateable, and makes it more likely for the target audience to buy the product.

The amount and type of colloquial language differs on the target audience, so Top of the Pops will be different to Mojo, which is different to Kerrang! etc.

Uses and Gratifications

Font Choice

For my masthead, I went to 1001fonts.com and used the C.A. Gatintas Font

Contents Page Update ; Screen Shots!

I added 2 pictures of Kellin Quinn and Alex Gaskarth from previous concerts to see All Time Low and Sleeping With Sirens, and I made them small, as they aren't amazing quality, so they will be better as secondary images.

Contents Page style model

Just a reminder for everyone, I'm using this Q contents page as my style model, as it was prefered in my survey, and it is a really effective contents page to use.

Contents page Update! Screen shots number 9.

 This screen shot shows more manipulation of my drawing and placing black boxes of where my images will be, I will be adding page numbers to these also when the pictures are there.

I also finished my regulars section and renamed and re-arranged a few topics and also using the grid on photoshop, I aligned my features up, to make them look more professional.

Furthermore, I added forms of social networking by statuses, video blogs, tweets and a tumblr blog as well as the magazines very own website. This is to include the audience a lot more in my magazine, as it is very difficult for a magazine to continue without any access on the Internet for readers. This can help the readers stay up to date a lot quicker than buying a magazine and will ultimately aid the magazine's sales.

Also social networking is a massive part in the lives of my target audience proved by my survey, as not a single person in my primary target audience had no forms of social networking at all, meaning taking up all means to access them is essential more the magazine's continuation.

Contents page update - screen shot number 8

I have added a reviews section to my contents page to make it more authentic and closer in relation to my style model of Q magazine.

I put black boxes in instead of my pictures that will be replacing them at a later date.

I also began editing my drawing by editing out the lines by using the smudge and stamp tools on Photoshop.

Contents Page Screen Shots 7

I finally came to the conclusion about by size dilemma with my contents page. I decided to keep my contents page even more close to my style model by making it A3 instead of an A4 contents page, so I have much more room to work with, without the page looking overly cluttered and busy.

I also changed the colour of the title to make it stand out a bit more against the colour scheme.

Contents Page Screen Shots 6

With everything on the page, and the image cropped, I thought the page looked busy, so I decided to hide all the regulars layers to prove if my theory was correct, this is so I can determine if I should scrap the idea of the image completely, or if I should attempt something else to further enhance my contents page.

Contents Page Screen Shots 5

On this screen shot, you can see I changed the background colour of the page to white, and I moved the text away from the edge as no text in a music magazine is on the very edge of the page. I also elongated the blue strips to make it easier to position them in the exact same place in line with the text, giving a more professional approach. 

This screen shot shows me putting in a picture that I had drawn to be a background image, which is used by the artist on his artwork. (CathcingYourClouds) though it needed more editing and cropping for it to look even better.

Contents Page Screen Shots 4

On these two screen shots, you can see that I have started the "Regulars" section for my contents page.