Contents Page Layouts.....

You know the drill, whats good & whats bad  :)

Cover Layout Designs

Here are my first cover designs, please tell me what you like, dislike etc. :)

Masthead Designs

So I have decided on this font, but which colour would look best on my cover?

The Treatment

The Magazine: Stereo

Target Readership: Stereo is aimed at both genders aged 17-20, though it may be read by people older than that. The readers will be in college and university, making their own decisions and being more independent. Most will have a part-time job and so will have some money and will be buying things for themselves often. They now have a distinct style and taste in music. They are willing to spend their money but need to know it is worth it. They want to do well in their education but still spend lots of time relaxing. They will be artistic, into photography, art, reading, writing and arty films. They are quietly confident and are looking for new experiences with friends, such as road trips and festivals. They have grown up using technology and have a laptop and music tech. They are a dedicated magazine readership.

Form and Style: Stereo will be full colour and available in A4 but will mostly be bought in A5, as its readers are busy and take the magazine with them. The cover will feature band photos, mainly well-know in the genre but sometimes with less established artists. The cover will be expensive looking and well designed, the design and style of the magzine is important to readers. It won't be too cluttered and will use quite muted tones. It will cost £4 as it is good quality and the readers are older and can afford it.

Themes and Features: The features will be regulars such as reader mail, new cd lists and reviews. Articles will be on bands and artists both established and up and coming. There will be Q&A sessions with submitted reader questions. Concert and festivals reviews and listings. All music features will be on both established and unknown bands. There won't be any focus on the charts as readers aren't interested in popularity. Also a section dedicated to other stuff such as clothes and style, tech, film and book highlights and reviews.

Potential Advertisers: Advertisers will include some fashion, though not big brands, also music tech such as apple & skullcandy. Lots of related cd adverts, concert and festival adverts and listings.

Editorial Team: The team will be made up of the same sort of people who would read the magazine. They will be young, around 25, and so are relateable to the readers. They will also be quite new to the business and have fresh idea's. Some content will also come from the readers, such as band suggestions, mail and questions for bands.

Colouring Time!

These are my 3 possible colour schemes. As it is an alternative magazine I am focussing on blues and greens and I am using muted tones. I didn't want to use reds as it is associated more with rock or pop. Also I want the magazine to look quite expensive and so don't want to use tacky looking colours. The only problem is if these colours will get enough attention in magazine stands, which is why the third option is much brighter. Whichever scheme I choose I might use with one brighter colour for the main title. When I have decided on my font I will try out the colours on it. I think I will probably use the first set but please leave any idea's below.

Masthead Font Analysis

I have decided upon the magazine name Stereo, these are the fonts I have found so far...

Please comment on which you think will work best for a masthead and be easily recognisable.

More Page Analysis

This is Big Cheese magazine, the name hints that it is an important magazine but I don't think it works very well as a music magazine name as it isn't music related. Also as it is not a very well known magazine I think the masthead is too covered by the images, most of the word big is covered and as one of the E's in the name is reversed, all this makes it very confusing. The page has an obvious colour palette of pink, white and black, also the green background. I think the pink and green are quite cheap and tacky looking, and they are quite clashing. Also I don't think the colour scheme really goes with the style of music the magazine focuses on. The colours are bright to attract a young audience. The page manages to fit on quite a lot of content without looking cluttered though. It does this by using medium size font for most of the titles and by using two colours. The titles in white stand out more and are the more famous names, whereas the pink titles are more subtle and so once the magazine has got your attention you can read them. Most of the titles are in bold all caps, this means they are easy to read. All the fonts are simple and modern relating to the young readership. All of the cover lines are band names except for the Paramore description, this works well because people glancing at the magazine recognise band names quickly. The Paramore title is not capitalised and so is more informal, as this is not a formal magazine. The main background image is on a plain bright background so that the people, in dark clothes, stand out. All the people on the cover are looking directly at the camera so that they catch the eye of the viewer. This page has a classic magazine layout, with the background image as the focus and text around the edges framing the main part of the image.

This is the contents page from the same issue of Big Cheese magazine. The first thing I noticed is that is is a very different colour scheme to its cover, this pages uses the traditional black and red palette. The graphics on this page are very grunge style as well, the eroded font and text box borders. I think this is a good style for this kind of magazine but it doesn't link with the cover at all, you would think they were two different magazines. This page does have the masthead on it to make brand identity, though in a different colour as the cover. The main focus of the page is the image with a small description and the page number, this shows people flicking through where the big stories are quickly. This page has a letter from the editor about what is coming up in the issue and talking about particular features. Taking up the left side of the page is a list of magazine credits, not many readers will really be interested in this and it is a lot of small text. I don't think it really works here and is just taking up room on one of the first pages people see.

This cover is very cluttered and busy, it reflects the readers personality by looking loud and exciting. It also resembles a pin board with cutting stuck on at angles, again referencing the audience. The audience of the magazine is instantly clear, it is a female audience of around 13-15, who would like the bright pink colour and mainly female pop artists. The masthead is quite covered as top of the pops is a very well known brand. The BBC logo is on the cover as advertising and to show the magazine is authentic. The colour scheme is obviously pink, white and yellow, it is very cheap and cheerful and suits the audience. There are lots of boxes and banners, this is used to make the magazine seem full of exciting topics and to section the text so it can still all be read. There is no space left plain, again making the magazine seem full. There are lots of different fonts used, though they are all quite simple and young. Lots of the titles are exclamations, these make the titles seem important and exciting. Questions are also used, these engage the reader and make them want to look inside for answers. This cover uses numbers in the same way as the Q cover does, to make it seem full of content. The page is covered in recognisable celebrities looking directly at the viewer.