Double page spreads

I particually like this magazine double page spread, mainly because of the layout and the colours featured. The editor has made the article look as if graffiti and spray paint has been used this is very effective because it could perhaps the artist/person who is being interviewed. The colours are also very dramatic using white and black and then a very powerful pink which makes the page stand out immediately. The picture of the man and the buildings in the background overlap onto the the right handside of the page where the text is featured, the text is produced in a very neat way just in a rectangular coloum this makes the piece look very original and unique.
The headline 'Everyone's favourite UNKLE' has a play on the word Uncle which I think is a clever technique to use in a magazine or article. The artist featured is a DJ and producer, I think that he looks like a stereotypical DJ which the designers will have probably taken into account. The photo is taken in black and white which complients the picture and makes it look more serious. The picture behind the artist is a block of flats which could perhaps be linked with the artist, he could have possibly grown up there and that could have been what inspired him etc.

This double page spread has been taken from a music magazine, interviewing an upcoming artist.
The article talks about the artists upcoming music and information about the artist.
I like this double page spread mainly because of the way it is designed, the editing and photography is very natural which I like because it could perhaps represent that the artist is very down to earth from an ordinary background. The picture looks like it has been taken round the back of a building or some houses.
The colours are used are very neutral and not to bright possibly because he is not a popstar or dance artist, bright colours are not often associated with bassline etc. The headline used is 'Shining Wit' this introduces the artist to the reader, when someone is witty they are often amusing and intelligent, therefore the magazine is making the artist look good and putting them in a good light. The way in which the double page spread is clever because the image is seperate from the text so that the reader can both read the article and look at the picture, and also the picture is behind the text which I like because it shows that the whole article is about the artist/genre. This gives me key ideas into designing my magazine and in ways in which I can design it.

music magazine front covers

Analysis of Q magazine :
Q is a music magazine published monthly in the UK. The magazine features new music releases, music complications, film and live concert reviews as well as radio and television reviews. Most of the magazine is devoted to interviews with particular artists, in this case Madonna we can see this because she is the focal image on the front cover and is pictured in the centre of the magazine which immediately focuses the reader to her. The colour scheme used is mainly red, white and black these colours are often used in magazines because they are bold and make the magazine look proffesional. The main headline is 'Madonna' featured in red which is associated with importance, showing that she is the main focus of this edition. On the left handside there is a list of what else is going to be featured in the magazine such as famous stars as of 'Girls aloud', 'Russel Brand', 'Kaiser Chiefs' etc this shows that it is a popular magazine.
At the bottom of the magazine it shows what it is giving away in the magazine, Q magazine often gives away freebies such as Albums etc however in this case a 70 page special women in music. this also shows that it is a very successful magazine because of the fact it is giving away freebies with the magazine.

This is a classic example of a mainstream music magazine. We can recognise this by the magazines classic title 'RollingStone' this could perhaps be named after the famous band The rolling stones, this will therefore attract many potential buyers into purchasing the magazine.
The main focus on the magazine is Christina Aguilera who is a very famous female artist, she is pictured in the center of the magazine possibly because the reader will be instantly drawn into looking at her and what the main article of the magazine will be about.
The main advantage for this magazine is that it covers all the main music genre therefore not for a specific genre. This magazine not only covers music related topics but also general showbiz news and news altogether.
With Christina Aguilera the main focus on the front cover this is possibly because she is promoting a new album or single etc.

When looking at mixmag i can immediately establish that is a dance music magazine, this is because mainly of the font used it is large and is often seen on posters advertised around clubs and bars. Also the colour scheme plays a big role in creating the genre, the magazine editors have used bright funky colours such as yellow, pink and orange these are bold and are often associated with new and upbeat music.
The artist featured on the front cover of mixmag are the successful band 'klaxons' they are an indie/dance group who are big in the UK, they are therefore the main focus of the magazine also the band name 'klaxons' is coloured in yellow which is extremely bright and makes it stand out largely.
Focusing on the cover I can see that a CD has been given away with the magazine therefore this will increase the sales of the magazine.
With mixmag the main focus is the band/artist on the front cover, however with other magazines they often have other articles spread around the front cover, I have noticed that there are other artists and bands listed down the right hand side of the magazine perhaps to promote their popularity.
The colour used for the title 'mixmag' is very unusual and not used anywhere else on the magazine, therefore makes it look more original.

With DJmagazine we can immediately see that it is associated with dance music because of the funky font used which is often used on album covers, posters, billboards etc. Also the afro hairstyle is often associated with dance and funk perhaps because there is an article about ibiza which is the place to be for dance music.
The title of the magazine stands out because of the colour red is often associated with importance therefore will draw the reader into picking the magazine up.
Again with 'DJ' the colours are very bright and colourful as in 'mixmag' this is because it could be representing the genre of music which is upbeat and positive.
The magazine seems very focused on Ibiza perhaps because this is where dance music is associated with. The background colour is very pale and also features a small part of the sea probably showing the island of ibiza, the paleness of the blue keeps the attention focused on the main image and main article. Dotted around the magazine are two competions which are also popular with magazines therefore the reader can feel involved and can also participate in competitions. The reason as to why I am mainly analysing dance music magazines is because I am going to base my music magazine of the genre and also these magazines will help me to gather information to create my own dance music magazine which will also consist of celebrity gossip and general information for teenagers/young adults.

Mojo is a popular music magazine published by Bauer, following the success of Q. Mojo could be said as to be classic rock magazine, and would fall under the genre of rock/metal. On Mojo's first issues Bob Dylan and John Lennon were featured on the front cover, this shows that it is a very popular magazine because of the famous artists/bands featured.
Mojo also has special edition magazines which include the whole magazine being about just one artist or genre, one of the most famous was a special edition about the Beatles. The colour scheme of Mojo is very dark and uses minimal colours such as white, black and red these colours especially black are associated with the rock and metal genre. Red often signifies with importance therefore this will perhaps be one of the key reasons as to why Mojo has used this colour.
Mojo also features a CD which shows how popular this music magazine, in this magazine a CD has been given away about Bob Dylans roots and what inspired him as an artist.





NME is an extremely popular magazine and covers mainly the indie/rock genre, the music magazine has been running since 1952 and created the UK singles chart. Many famous groups such as the Rolling Stones and The Beatles were featured.
As we can see on this magazine The Killers are featured on the front cover, the killers are a popular band and therefore are the main focus on the magazine.
The colour scheme of the NME magazine are bold colours such as red, yellow and white these make the headline and information stand out and look appealing to the reader. The NME not only has its own magazine but its own website and its own awards. The music magazine focuses on new upcoming bands and helped bands such as Franz Ferdinand, The Artic Monkeys etc become were they are today.

Making a music magazine-LIIAR

For my main portfolio task I am going to look and see how I can apply the main media concepts to create a music magazine with a double page spread, by doing so I am going to use the acronym LIIAR this consists of Language, Institution, Ideology, Audience and Representation.

Language-The language featured in a magazine is extremely important mainly because this is what encourages the reader to read more, therefore i am going to use language which appeals to the age range which i am aiming my magazine at which will be mainly 16-25. I will also use plugs to make the language catchy, the colour and font of the language is also important therefore I will take this into account.

Institution-There are many different publishers for different magazines such as: Bauer,Emap and many more. They are very important in the making of a magazine because they are included in the production process.

Ideology-For the ideology of my magazine I will be looking into the target audience for my magazine, age range and also the specific genre for my magazine, these are all important for a magazine to be successful.

Audience-For my magazine it is going to be aimed at an audience who are interested in the genres pop/dance, my magazine is mainly going to include music/information about these included genres.

Representation-My music magazine will represent persons who are around the age of 16-25 mainly because it will include celebrity gossip aswel as music. It will also be fixed around the genres pop/dance.

Contents page

Evaluation for my Law magazine

Final piece evaluation

When creating my magazine front cover i looked back at the previous magazines which included 'heat', 'fourfourtwo' and 'NME' i had specifically picked out these magazines to help me gain ideas and help me format my magazine.
When looking back at these magazines i have noticed that they all have the name either central of left alligned therefore 'GUILTY' has similarities whereabouts the title is presented.
Most magazines which you see in shops etc have the main headline spread out across the main picture this is because the picture normally reflects the main headline, i took this into account and applied it to my magazine.
I added a catchy slogan to my magazine, 'For all you law lovers' i added this underneath 'GUILTY' so that the reader immediately notices the slogan. I used alliteration this was to make it sound fun and punchy.
When choosing the colour for 'GUILTY' i looked at 'heat', 'fourfourtwo' and 'NME' these all use the colour red perhaps because red signifies importance i also took this into account and used the colour red for my magazine title guilty.When adapting my main picture which was of a student at wyke sixth form college, i made it the main focus of the magazine this was so that the reader is immediately drawn to the picture and also i needed a student to represent wyke college, which is who the magazine is aimed at.

Looking at my final product we can immediately realise that it is aimed at a specific age group (16-19) and social group which is students, this is because of the main picture which is of a wyke student currently at the college and also the key logo of wyke pictured in the bottom right hand corner.

The target audience which i definately aimed my magazine for was for law students, i picked law because i am currently studying the subject and i also came up with an appealing name which i thought sounded interesting. When looking at my final product we can see that it is aimed for students studying law because of the catchy name and slogan, also the main picture is a student reading a law textbook also the story featured to the left also reflects law. When taking my picture i used a digital camera to capture the main image, i wanted my student to look pleased and interested so i asked her to look happy and almost impressed, i then applied it to photoshop so i could edit and manipulate my image to make it look effective and possibly professional. I did this my blurring out the background images such as the wall, however i kept the student in focal so that it was clear. When the image had been focalised i then added the title, main headline and other articles etc. I was also very careful when picking my the colours which i used i didn't want anything to dramatic to take away the focus of the headline and main picture, so i used simple suttle colours such as red, white and black.

When looking back to my draft of my final piece i have improved my magazine greatly and altered it slightly. I also hadn't worked with photoshop before so therefore have gained a few skills when working with photoshop such as blurring out images, rubbing out the blur or image, adding text and moving images and text and also dragging images onto the main page.

my magazine

Masthead: When coming up with a suitable magazine name i came up with a couple of ideas so that i could compare and see which was best.
My first initial idea was 'guilty' this is because my magazine is going to be about law therefore the name guilty would reflect the law and what happens in the courts.
other ideas which i came up with were 'catch' i thought that this could perhaps reflect catching criminals which would definetely fit into law and 'escape' which could possibly be associated with prisons. However i chose to have 'guilty' as my final name for the magazine, this was because i thought it sounded more appealing i also found that it sounded professional for a magazine name.
the word 'guilty' means commiting an offence this could perhaps be reflected on the potential readers if they do not read 'guilty' magazine. I could see the name 'guilty' becoming very catchy also.

sub-masthead: For my sub-masthead i'm going to place it above the magazine name this is because when analysing 'heat' magazine i noticed 'heat' had its sub-masthead at the top of the magazine and i liked how it looked, i think it needs to be placed somewhere noticable not somewhere in the corner etc. I think having the sub-masthead at the top of the magazine it is noticable,presentable and will also be appealing. Often in the sub-masthead it advertises other exciting stories featured in the magazine and sometimes just general advertisements. It could also possibly be used just to advertise wyke college and events which are taking place.

Main image: For my image focus i have used the same conventions as the magazines i have previously annotated, this is because usually the image is the feature which draws the reader into looking at the magazine and often the story which is linked with the image also helps draw in readers. An image which i would possibly use would be a student (from wyke) posing perhaps with handcuffs to reflect that it is about law. Another idea which i came up with was a student posing behind some bars this would be seen to the reader as if the student was featuring in prison this would again reflect the subject of law. My magazine will also feature sub-images these are important because they can replicate other stories in the magazine.

The main headline: When coming up with my main headline i would use some featured conventions used in magazines today, examples of these would be alliteration this makes the words sound catchy. I would also perhaps try and use puns these are often very appealing to the reader because they play on specific sayings and words.

Sub-headlines: The sub-headlines will feature other stories and also events and maybe extra classes in law featured in the upcoming weeks. They could also help promote other subjects linked with law such as criminalogy which is due to start in a couple of months. I have decided that the sub-headlines could also promote charity events such as the sponsered silence event and also other charity events which are going on in wyke college, this is mainly because not everyone hears about the events which are happening. I will also have a plug i will probably use this to advertise competitions or adventure trips etc.