3rd draft of contents page

With this 3rd draft I have added in a background to th sound regulars list. This background ties in with the yellow faded half circles that I use in the corners of the pages, again like with them I have used pain to fade the edges to give an effect to it. This background ties in with the colour scheme however I am unsure whether it looks right. 

I have also added a picture to the DEV & DEE converline, the image ties in with the coverline's reference to the estate that the two lived on this is why I chose to use an image that represents a council block stair way. 

Original: The overall image is very dull, which adds to the intention of the representation of the council block that im aiming for, however if placed onto my contents page it would look out of place.                                                                 

Final edit: Due to the picture not being suitable in its original state I chose to manipulate the image. first of all I put the image in black and whit and then I varies the shading and contrast making the darker aspects of the image stand out which would allow it to blend into the contents page better due to the black background.  

2nd draft of contents page

Since my last draft I have averted back to the plan that I created and I have used this piece to create this first draft.

The two pictures that I have added have both been edited and are now complete.

Original picture for artist:

1st edit: in this is used the quick selection tool on Adobe Photoshop to remove the unwanted background. I have had trouble with the editing around the microphone head as the colour of it is very similar to the ceiling colour, due to this the software has had trouble differentiating the two separate items.







2nd edit: during this editing process I had to manually remove the background around the head of the microphone using different brushes on the software. After this I hardened the outline of the character in the picture to make him stand out.

                

Final edit: after the previous  edit I felt that the picture was ready to have an effect added to it. I chose to use this type of effect because I felt that it made the character in the picture seem as if they are steeping out of the page, this effect was enhanced when I added a spotlight onto the image using the photo editing software, this gave another dimension to the subject and along with the shadows in the picture it added to the aim to make it come out of the page. The spotlight on the person also adds to the mise en scene, where the music artist is on a stage and a spotlight is on him.  The pose the character is doing ties in well with the layout of my magazine and using his arm position I decided to put it bellow the masthead for the page "Inside this month" so that he is pointing and this will direct the audiences attention to it.

Original picture: when taking this picture I took it so that it will be used in the middle page spread ( which it will be ) but I feel that it will also fit into my contents page after some editing.

 Final edit: For the contents page I have decided to take a less conventional approach to the layout, in particular th focus on the main story ( in this case about Route - A ) I decided to place his picture to the right edge of the page and, when editing it I made sure that the contrast of the picture was manipulated so that he would fade into the page and only his white t-shirt and and face would stand out, this was done because I felt that the front cover in relation to pictures was solely devoted to the main topic not including any visual aids for the other stories, so for the contents page they received more attention compared to the main story. The use of white, red and blue in this photo allow the picture to still stand out and draw the reader, but it does not impose on the other stories.

1st draft of contents page

With this draft I have layed out the basic structure of my intended finished piece. When comparing it to the original plan there are come differences. From this structure I can now assemble the pictures that I require to fit into the spaces provided.

Plan

After carrying out research on contents pages I am happy to start my own.
The layout I have designed is primarily picture based this is a style that some magazines use wheres others prefer a more text based contents page, my approach will hopefully have a visual impact on the viewers. The audience that I aim to get will be more attracted by the pictures compared to text at a first glance.
 I gained inspiration for my design from a magazine that I saw during my research:

Bellow is my plan:

What is a contents page?

A contents page is a list of the parts of a book or document organized in the order in which the parts appear. The contents usually includes the titles or descriptions of the first-level headers, such as chapter titles in longer works, and often includes second-level or section titles within the chapters as well, and occasionally even third-level titles. The depth of detail in tables of contents depends on the length of the work, with longer works having less. Formal reports  also have tables of contents. Documents of fewer than ten pages do not require tables of contents, but often have a short list of contents at the beginning.

Contents pages for music magazines

Research

When researching contents pages I came across many slideshows on them and looked some like this http://www.slideshare.net/JackBarlow/music-magazine-contents-pages-analysis which helped me to understand contents pages better.

The next stage of my task is to create a contents page for my magazine. First of sall I will research contents pages and then make a plan.

Final draft of magazine front cover

Criticism of 3rd attempt

After looking at the attempt I have noticed that the writing on the left side of the cover is too close to the edge, im my next draft I will correct this.

3rd draft

In this draft I have added the amended photo.

New edit of front page picture

After looking at the Left picture I found the errors that needed correcting such as the poor editing in the zip, which I have now amended.

2nd draft

When looking at my previous draft I felt that there was something missing in the top right section of my magazine so I have now added another cover line to make the cover look better.

When taking picture for my front cover I wanted my model to wear green this is because this colour goes well with both black and yellow. I chose for my model to wear a hoddie because this is a common item that many Grime artists wear, the use of glasses adds some personality to the character and is also a common item among a Grime artists wardrobe, I provided him with headphones to wear, this was done to add to the image and also make the audience aware that character the model is representing has something to do with music and also that the magazine is about music.

When editing the photo I decided to change the background from the green screen to a black background which made the image stand out and also tied it in more with the house colours.

    

After looking at the picture I will re-edit it and improve any mistakes and also improve the overall quality of the picture.

An example of a mistake is :

FREE CD

As I blogged earlier about the FREE CD feature, in the picture above is my version which I have created. I choose to use the house colours black and yellow so that it looks in place, however the fades edge on the shape has made it stand out more that other features on the front cover. I have deliberately allowed it be different to other items on the page because its purpose is to standout and draw attention

1st draft of Music magazine

After making this first draft of my music magazine I am happy, I have followed my plan and can see my overall image coming together. I feel that my chosen house colours have worked effectively and stand out and makes any text easy to read, I have also used the colour whit for text because it sits nicely on top of a black background. In my next draft I will correct any grammatical errors such as the "gig's".

For Masthead i chose to use a simplistic font that is bold and clear to read, to make it more interesting I added a shadow to it to create an effect that makes it lift off of the page. ON th bottom right of the page is a notice to customers about loss of the free inclusive CD. When making my bar code I included a price in US $ as well as the GBR £, when doing this I converted the GBR £ price on a currency converter so that my pricing is accurate.

After looking at front covers I saw a feature that occurred on almost all of the MOJO magazines that I liked, which was on the top left corner of the page saying FREE CD written on a worn out sticker. When looking at my magazine plan I thought I should incorporate into my plan as I found it to be very eye catching and I can see it being a part of my finished product.

1st plan for music magazine

After looking at front covers for music magazines I learn’t that the colour combinations of  black, red and white and black and yellow were quite popular, I have decided to use Black and yellow as my colour scheme for my magazine. This decision is based too much on their popularity but instead the colours themselves, the genre I am covering is an underground genre of music so the black plays with the semiotics of the colour and yellow is related to dance, drum and bass and dub step, which are often played alongside grime ( my chosen genre) due to this the yellow may attract the audience of those genres and get them to buy my grime magazine. By looking at music magazines I have began to understand the format of them and how they are layed out, from this I feel I am ready to make my first plan for a front cover.

Before designing my magazine cover I feel it is necessary to research music magazines so that I have a better understanding of them.
I have looked at a few front covers and have already picked out that the colours red and yellow seems to be a very popular colour particuarly when the colour black is used.

Music magazine

For my second task I will produce a music magazine front cover, contents page and a double page spread.
Before I carry out this task I will carry out some research.

Final Contents Page

1st draft of contents page

In this draft I have followed the previous plan. However I have made a few amendments. First of all I decided to shorten the length of the red border on the left hand side to allow more space for cover lines, which in my opinion is important. I have also changed to colour of the top red border to black to make the Mast head more striking. For the main image I have edited the colour to black and white however I kept the post protector on the rugby posts in colour, I think this is a good idea because it makes the picture more striking, it also signifies what the captain aims to reach - the goal and underneath the posts he will reach the aim/target.

1st plan for contents page

For my contents page I am going to keep the same template as my front cover (The red border along the top of the page and going down the left hand side of the page) also the school logo will remain in the top left corner. I am going to do this because it will allow there to be a set style for the magazine, taking this in to consideration the font style will remain the same "gungshu" also for the Masthead and Banner the first letter of the main words will be in gold whereas the rest of the letters will be in black. Going down the left red border there will be pictures that will be related to each Cover line which will be on the right of them outside of the red border. On the far right side taking up almost half of the pages width will be the main image which will be related to the Banner which will be above on the top right.

Research on contents pages

As part of my research I browsed the internet to learn about them, I came across this slideshow which I found very useful http://www.slideshare.net/JackBarlow/music-magazine-contents-pages-analysis

Research on contents pages

Before going ahead and making a contents page I have decided like I have done previously when making my front cover to look at other contents pages so that I can familiarise myself with how they are structured.