Template for the front cover

This is a template for the front cover on my music magazine. The font is currently black, I think it stands out and contrast well with the red background however I think it would look better without the white background around the writing. I have chosen to use one main image on my front cover and use several over images on my contents page and double page spread. I am going to take my picture on a plain white background so I can edit a colour around it if I need to although most of the music magazines I researched had white or grey backgrounds. The colour scheme that my target audience chose was Red, White and Black so I need to make sure that I include these colours. The artist name needs to be a vibrant colour so it stands out to the audience and makes them buy the magazine.

Final font for my front cover

After looking back to the previous fonts that I had selected, I decided that none of them fitted in with the R&B genre this was because they were not bold and harsh enough. I am still undecided on what colour I want the font to be but what ever I chose it needs to be bright and eye catching.




Once I had decided on the font I was going to use, I added a faded affect to make it stand out even more and not look like a dull normal font.

Fonts for the mainheading

I chose to get a different variety of styles of writing as I couldn't decided what one I preferred. After looking back to my questionnaire analysis the most popular style of writing was bold and harsh so I will consider this when making my final decision on the font. I also need to make sure that the writing is easy to read and stands out from the other magazines.

I also need to decide what the colour of my font is going to be, either red, black or white. The background of my magazine is going to be white so the font will be red or black which are bright colours that stand out.

My favourite fonts are the fourth one and the last one although the fourth one is bold and harsh which was the most popular answer on my questionnaire.

Layout for photoshot

The location of my music magazine will be in the photography room as it has a very simple plain white background and once I have taken my photo I can edit a background in if I need to or keep it white like 'VIBE'.

My model for my music magazine is going to be a male, he is roughly 6ft and comes from London. He has curly hair with green colour eyes. He has a small built body which would fit in well with my genre. I have chosen to use the genre R&B therefore I want my model to be wearing a coat with a silver or gold chain round their neck with jeans and blazers (trainers) to portray that they are a rapper.

The positioning of my model would be direct address to the camera with serious facial expressions. After looking at several different R&B music magazines all the artist on the front cover have serious facial expression or seductive facial expressions.

Picture of my model -

Backgrounds on music magazine

I have been looking at several different R&B music magazines and I have discovered that all of the backgrounds are very plain and simple to make the artist stand out even more as they wear bright coloured clothes. 









On this music magazine the background is white and the artist is wearing black to show the contrast between the two colours, the main headline and straplines have also been written in red which also contrast with the colours white and black. From this information I know to use a plain simple background to make the same effective.















On this music magazine the background is grey which is a dull boring colour however the artist is wearing a grey jumper with a blue collar which makes him stand out. The colour scheme is the same throughout as the colours grey and blue have been used, the main headline is writing in blue to contrast with the artist blue collar. All of the strap lines have been writing in pink to make them even more eye catching.

Further research for music magazines

I decided to do a little research and then create my questionnaire based on what I had found, from this I then analysed my results and I now know what my target audience have chosen so I can research my genre in a lot more detail.
























'VIBE' is the ultimate R&B music magazine therefore I will analyse it in great detail to insure that my music magazine portrays the genre of R&B. The theme of the colour orange has been used throughout even the artist hair is orange. The colour scheme of my music magazine is red, white and black, I could use the colour red for all the writing to create the same effect. The straplines look affective as they have been writing in black and white and stand out from the orange therefore I will insure that I use different colours for my main headlines and straplines. The fact that artist is wearing a crown suggest that she is high up in the industry and looked up upon. The shot that has been taken is a middle shot, most of the shots on 'VIBE' are middle shots or face shots there are never any full body shots so I will make mine a face shot or middle shot. The facial expressions are minimal as the artist is not smiling or showing another expression, however the artist is making eye contact with the camera to show a connection with the audience.

Conventions of a music magazine

A MasterHead : The title is normally wrote with typography to make the readers become familiar with what magazine they are reading.
Main Image : Typically consisting of a leading artist or band within the music genre of the magazine.

Keylight : Usually highlighting the main artist or featured lines, (Coming from the left hand side onto the right).

Strapline : Seen as an introductory headline below the main masthead, to give an insight to the magazine.

Top and bottom strip : These are the strips below and above the magazine that give more information to what may be included in the magazine. Mostly being what draws the audiences attention.

Pug : ‘The ears of the magazine’, can either be at the top left or right-hand corners of the front cover. The prices of the paper, the logo or a promotion are positioned there or even a freebie is placed there to catch the reader’s eye.

Coverlines :  The essential articles inside the magazine are stated through sell lines, these are regularly seen at the right hand side of the cover.

Left Third : The left third contains the main feature article which is normally an exclusive interview on the artist or band as this is the core part of what may be inside the magazine.

Barcode/ Dateline & Price : A dateline is the date the magazine is published and the price is shown near the barcode or in the top right hand corner.