Double Page Spread - Research

This is one of the first double pages i looked at from NME music magazine. This is an interview with Lily Allen. To start with, the head line is big and bold. This seems to be a quote from Lily, so this would make readers want to carry on reading to find out more about her. The big image of her covers the whole right hand side, i like how this is. It attracts attention as if she is looking directly at the reader. The background of this article is white, that makes the black writing and the image stand out a lot more, also i don't think that there is too much white space, i think that its just right. The columns of text are quite small, this could be used to make the reader think that there isn't that much too read. This is a good thing because sometimes people look at pieces of text i think its too long and skip to the next page. Finally, i think that this is a good double page i like where the image is position and i think that there is just enough text, there isn't too much or too little. The only bad thing is, i think that its a bit plain and boring i do think that it works but i wouldn't choose anything like this for mine.

Another double page i looked at included 'Pink'. I'm not too sure which magazine this is from. This is quite similar to the previous one. The main image takes up the whole of  right hand side, this image of Pink is relaxed and natural, she is laughing and it looks really nice. The main head line of this article seems to be 'Cash for questions' Then underneath that just the word 'Pink' There doesn't seem to anything Fancie about these two, they are clearly different from the rest of the text on the page but they don't really grab attention. There is a bit more text in this article than the previous one, it looks organised and not too bad to read because it is divided up into paragraphs and looks easy to read. Finally, i like the way this one is laid out and the colours are simple. The only thing i don't like is the head line, there isn't a specific one and the text that there is doesn't attract attention so that's what i will make sure mine has.

This is a double page from 'Iterview' Magazine. This one included a interview with 'Madonna'. I really like the image, its so up close and personal. Again the image is taking up a whole side, but this time it's the left hand side. I like the mast head, its big and bold and really noticeable. Also the text doesn't look to much to read and the text is easy to read because parts of it are in bold to separate the question from the answer. Also the image and the mast head seem to have quite pastel colours, the light blue, the greenish colour and the image is very light and soft.

The final double page i looked at is from 'Bliss' Magazine, this is more for the younger teenagers. This is an interview with the 'Jonas Brothers'. This one is a bit different from the other ones i looked at, there is more images and more colour in this one. The main image is on the left hand side joined with the mast head 'BROTHER' - 'love'. I do like how there is a lot more images but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with mine, ill have a play around and see which looks better. There seems to be a bit more going on in this one, it has to be bright and fun so that teenagers will want to read it. There is more space between each question so that it doesn't look like there is that much to read. Also the questions are highlighted in green so it separates the question from the answer.

Final Contents Page

This is my final contents page. I have made a few more adjustments since the last draft and decided that this is the one. I decided to go with the black ground rather than the white because i simply thought that it looked better. I know that the white is obviously a bright colour but the front cover was white so i thought that it would fit to have the contents page black. The mast head of this is 'Contents' which it has been since the first draft, i have changed it slightly by using tools on PowerPoint. I also felt that having the 2 music notes didn't look very good so i decided to have a strip of notes just under the masthead. I also added a logo which i didn't include on my front cover because the music note is also part of that image. The 'MM' stands for 'More Music' and underneath it says more music. I got this idea from 'Q' magazine which i showed in my research, it is a lot different but i liked how the 'Q' was in the background of the mast head 'Contents'. For my images i wanted them similar to what i used on my template images. These are some of the images i took:




For the award, i didn't actually have one so i took a picture of an ornament from my house which i thought looked like an award. There are so many different shaped awards so i don't think that this looks any different.

This was the first one i took, i  needed it to be against a white back ground so i put a blank piece of paper behind it. It didn't really take hoe i would have liked, the lighting isn't very good because there is a shadow and also the paper behind isn't straight so that really didn't work.

Another try, the lighting really didn't work well here, also i didn't get the background right. There was a shadow again as well. For the next try i think that i need to position the background right with the ornament and also fix the lighting issues.

This is the final one that i took, this came out reasonably well .The background blended in good and the lighting is better. I did edit it a bit by changing the brightness and the contrast to make it lighter and to change the shadow.






I just decided to replace the image of Cheryl Cole with an image of my friend.

This was just a simple easy image to take. I knew how i wanted her to look and i knew that i needed a simple background this one wasn't white because i didn't want all the images to look the same. I choose to have the image up close, and i like the lighting, it took well. So i  decided not to take another one because i am happy with this image.


Then finally i replaced the image of Justin Beiber with an image of another friend. I already had images of him because i used him in my college magazine. So i thought it would just be relevent to use one of them images i took, obvioulsy one of the ones that werent used in my college one.

I decided to use this one because i thought that it is really good because i wanted my images to be head shots. I edited the lighting a bit, because i thought it was a bit dark. I also thought that it was quite similar to the Justin Bieber image.

Stages of Production - Contents Page

This was my first rough draft of my contents page.I decided not to use the ideas of the last contents page i researched i decided to use some ideas i had from the begining. I wanted to have it neat but but messy at the same time, like have the writing neat and then have images scattered around. The fonts i used were quite formal, and the plain black and white wasn't very interesting, i thought that i would try it because i tried it with my front cover but that didn't work. But i don't really think that this works either; its just so plain and boring. Obviously its not finished but i just couldn't do anything with it so i decided to try my next draft.

This is my first proper draft but my actual second one. I wanted to make it easy on the eyes so that the readers could easily find the informarion they wanted. I know that black isnt a bright colour but i thought that with the red and white it all contrasted well and the white writing stood out a bit more and looked good. I've used the same font throughout all mast head's, and also i wanted to include the logo of 'Pixie' Magazine, but now it is 'More Magazine but i did change the name last minute so the frist couple of drafts have the name 'Pixie'. I dont think that the music note (logo) looks good on the black background because the music note itself has a white background. I wanted my page numbers to be clear and organised. The norm is probably to have it in order eg. 123456, but i decided to put mine into sections. Interviews, Music and Features. I also have included 2 stars to attract attention one says 'Exclusic news' and the other says 'Have Your Say' i choose to do this so that it is bold and eyecatching.

On this draft i decided to change the back ground colour to white and add some images. I wanted to to see what the background would look like in a different colour because the logo (music note) had a white background so it looked a bit odd against a black background. I used these images as templates to where i would put my own images. I choose to put the images where they are because there was alot of blank space between the writing and the stars. I also rotated the position of the music notes on the top of the page, i thought that it looked better and more tidy.

Contents Page Research.

This is the contents page for 'Q' Magazine. I like this, i think that is very plain and straight to the point, however there are a few things that i would like to include on my contents page which aren't on this one. The contents page is labeled clearly so the reader knows exactly what they are reading and that they know that this in the page which will give them the page numbers they need and to know what else is included in the magazine. There is a subtitle 'on the cover' this is a write up about front cover, explaining what it's about - the main feature (Johnny Borrell). And also it says 'Judge for yourself by reading the interview on page page 62' this is so that the reader can find quickly and easily where the main feature is, which is most likely why they bought the magazine. I think that there is enough images, but i don't think that there is enough information about what is inside, there isn't that many page numbers mentioned. Also i don't think that it stands out that much. I know that i will have most things if not all what is inside my magazinem and i will have it organized and attractive.

This is the contents page for 'NME' Magazine. I'm not too sure about this one, i like it and i don't. I like how the colour scheme is, all the colours seem relevant. In the centre of the page it seems as if there is a 'sneek peak' to the article which is 'Oasis kicked off their world tour' i like how this is done but wouldn't really want to include that into mine. The image is obviously relevant because it is members of Oasis. However, i don't like how there isn't any other images of anyone else who is featured in the magazine. On the right hand side there is more of the details of what is inside, i like how there is sections - News, Reviews, Features etc. Also on the left hand side there is a 'Band Index' I'm not too sure if i like that, because index's are usually at the back of things, but i suppose that it does fit well on the contents page. Also i like the 'Subscribe Today' box i think that is a good feature to have a contents page, most of the magazines i read have a choice of subscribing.

This is the contents page for 'Billboard' Magazine. I really like this one, i like the position of the images and the page numbers. I really like the way the images on the right hand side are placed, they are the same size and also the page number is situated on every image on the bottom left corner. I like the colour scheme i think that is is calm and bright, i think maybe there is a little too much white. I also wondered why there was a image bigger than all the rest so i googled the front cover of this issue 'July 18th 2009' And i found this...

This shows the reason why the image was there which was too show the main cover story 'Paramore'. I like how that was done but i don't think i will use another picture of my main cover story on my contents page. I think I'm going take into consideration the contents page's i looked at but i think this final one will give me my main ideas.