Planing for my music magazine

MY IDEAS

Now its my turn to create and produce my own music magazine within a particular genre that i have chosen. For this main task I will be making a front cover, double page spread and a contents page that is original, unique and professional looking.

Here is an example of a front cover, double pagae spread and contents page from the current indie/rock magazine 'NME'.

I have decided to create a music magazine in the style of the popular genre 'Indie/rock' . I have chosen this particular genre to base my magazine on because I share a great interest within that genre of music and feel I would be most comfortable with the conventions of indie/rock magazines in comparison to other music genres.

The target audience of my magazine will range from ages 16-21 years old and will appeal to both females and males. I intend to do this by having a youthful, vibrant outlook on my magazine and include artists both male and female to appeal to an audience of mixed gender. I thought even if i used a girl for my main feature artist, then males will of course still be attracted by their beauty and sexiness which i will aim to create within my photo's.

Possible names that I could call my magazine include: Strum
Bass
Amp
Pic
Lick
Riff

All of these possible titles for my magazine are related in someway to the guitar, whether its a sound, component or just general guitar lingo. I thought it would suggests the genre of music easily to the audience and also give the magazine some attitude too. My two favourites where strum and Amp as i thought they would have more of an impact and effect. However I decided to choose AMP as my magazine title. I chose AMP because it is linked to the guitar which plays the genre of music Indie/rock I will be basing my magazine around. An AMP is basically a device that projects sound from an electric guitar which I feel my audience will either recognise or can relate to. Its also a very short and monosyllabic name, making it easily memorable amongst my target audience.

I of course need to take a range of exciting photos that fit within the genre of of Indie/Rock, so i will be using people who have individual styles, incorporate props like guitars or microphones and also experiment with the locations of my photographs. However i can always edit my photos afterwards in adobe photo shop if i need to make any changes or I'm not happy with the result.

I was thinking of having a girl playing an electric guitar for my main image on the front cover. I will make her headline about how she is an individual breaking from the mould. I will surrond the image with plugs and freebies and promote other new upcoming bands as well as including a date, issue number, price and a bar code of course. I will include both male and female artists within my front cover to widen my target audience and therefore sell more magazines.

For my double page spread i will have a large image on one side of a new artist and write about her love for music and how she couldnt live without it. I will structure it as a series of answers and questions, highlight important quotes within her interview for variation and find a good font for her name to be in at the top show how unique and different she is.

Then my contents page will number all the different reviews, events, interviews, stories etc within my music magazine. I also include pictures to link to the different articles and interest the reader further. I will carry a similar colour scheme so that it blends throughout and is familiar with the audience.

Overal I willl take into account all the necessary codes and conventions that i have identified from analysing other current magazines. I will take what ive learnt and apply it to my own music magazine so that i end up with a successful, professional result.

My next stage in creating my own music magazine is to construct a draft of the front page, contents page and double page spread. I will create this is publisher and point out just the main features of the magazine so that i have a plan of what i want my magazine to look like.

These are the plans for the front cover, double page spread and contents pageof my music magazine - 'AMP'

Front Cover

Double page spread

Contents page

Experimenting with text and colours for the masthead of my magazine:

Uisng Dafont.com I tested a range of different styles of text to use for the masthead of my magazine. I also considered a contrasting colour to black in order for the masthead to stand out and look appealing to my audience. I have decided to use the most simple text which is the second font down as I feel its the most clear, and when enlarged it would be easily visible to my audience. I have chosen the colour red to go as a backgrond colour to the masthead too as i think red and black would fit the genre of indie/rock and also could connote attitude and rebellion.