Names And Fonts

Below are six different titles and possible fonts for my magazine cover.

Which Is The Best Title

AMP

MIXER

LP

BASS

CHART

BOOM

Student Contents Page:

I think this is a very good and effective contents page because it has quite a simple but effective layout. I like the way all the different catergories are separated clearly but none of the catergories overshadow any of the others giving the reader a good opportunity to select what most interests them and what they would most like to read first.

I also really like the colours used on this contents page. The theme of neon yellow and hot pink really work well together against the black background and they don't clash which is important for any page in the magazine.

The way different fonts are used on this contents page is also makes it stand out because the different sub-headings are in the font as the title of the page. In addition to this the font used for the title and sub-headings is quite a retro font and this links well with the colours used on the page as they are quite retro colours.

The way certain stories on the contents page are highlighted with a different coloured outline and the page numbers are written bigger and bolder on them indicate they are important stories in the magazine. This is because they are the cover stories and cover stories are always highlighted in a certain way on contents pages.

Survey Analysis

Double Page Spread

The main article in a music magazine is always the cover story and so the story will always be at least 2 pages long. In this edition of XXL magazine the cover story is about Eminem. The feature has numerous pictures that go alongside a 6 page story.

Since the main story in the magazine is very long and reading a lot in big chunks can get very tiring when reading a music magazine so the pictures are put on there to keep readers interested and willing to continue reading. The pictures put in the article are always very big and usually at least one of the pictures covering the whole page.

In this particular story the theme seems to be quite dark and this works well for this magazine as XXL magazine is usually targeted towards men. So for that reason the colours used on this story are very dark with quite sinister pictures(bullet hole in the glass), which men are more likely to appreciate than women.

The interview itself is also very interesting but has a very formulaic layout for an interview whereby there is a quite short but still detailed introduction of the artist that the interview is about followed by questions printed in bold and the answers to the questions printed underneath. Because the interview has a standard layout it relies on its content to keep the audience entetained one way it does this is by using language and terms familiar to hip-hop culture something that the readers know about and help make the interview more personal. This means using colloquial terms such as 'sick' and 'beef'

Survey

To do more research for my magazine i have to find out what people like and dislike about current magazines so i can make sure that mine will appeal to my target audience. To do this i have created a survey. The link is below

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=cYF87QFQnbCXhB7T2gRxTg_3d_3d

1) The tag line being placed next to the logo helps to keep the magazine familiar with readers as these are some of the few features that are printed on every issue of the magazine.

2) The main image being placed very big in the centre of the magazine is representative of the fact that this is the big story in the magazine and so takes up most of the page.

3) The colour scheme is very bold and this is important to a music magazine as there are many music magazines it is essential that the cover has something that will attract attention and the bold red colour scheme helps to do this.

4) Since the title of the magazine is XXL the very big and bold logo is appropriate, eye-catching and clever and links with the theme for this particular cover of everything being big.

5) The front cover also has to be able to attract readers by its other stories as well. This cover places artist's names that are relevant to the genre of music and hopefully relevant to its target audience.

6) Certain features(Bar code,price, issue number etc) appear on every magazine cover. These are usually placed in the corner of the covers that its noticeable but not distracting to the rest of the cover

7) The question links to the image that's on cover and the fact that Jay-Z appears to be bigger than the Chrysler building which could be seen as a representative of hip-hop.

07/10/09

Just started to learn about music magazines. So far i know that they:

• contain artist interviews,
• Reviews of gigs/singles/albums.
• Run competitions and the prizes are usually tickets to go and see a certain artist or band.
• Usually have an artist or band on the front cover
• Write about release dates for new music

I am now going to buy and research a wide variety of music magazines and compare the similarities and differences between them.