Research and planning for my music magazine :)

My music magazine 

The genre i chose to base my music magazine on was pop, however i do not want to aim it at just one age group, i would like it to appeal to a range of audiences. It may only appeal to young adults, however i will try my best to place aspects in my magazine suitable for all, therefore would add people such as take that and Micheal Buble into it as i feel many age groups enjoy these artists.

I would like to aim my magazine at mainly girls, as i feel pop music tends to generally appeal more to girls, however i will not just focus on pinky colours i will add a variety of colours to ensure that if males do enjoy the music i am publishing they can quite happily buy my magazine.

I have chosen to call my magazine BOOM which stands for 'best of our music' i chose this as it doesn't show a sign of focusing on a certain type of audience and doesn't necessarily focus on a certain genre of music, therefore gives me different varieties of artists i can add in if seems necessary, or if i happen to change my mind whilst creating my magazine.

College Magazine contents :)

Most contents pages consist of an image or several images and writing telling you what is in the magazine. I plan on doing a similar thing with my magazine. Using an image that links somewhat to the the front cover and using colours that also link to what I did with the front cover, using a certain colour scheme that will be remembered for example the college colours consist of yellow and blue therefore using these colours within the magazine would create something the audience would remember and know when they see it in the future.

I plan to put my writing along the left hand side getting straight to the point of what the magazine contains, then putting pictures either around or on the right hand side of the contents page creating columns for the reader to follow so that the page is not to busy and confusing keeping everything in line simple but effective.

This is a picture of the contents page of one of the worlds best selling magazines, as you can see they have used two images and used the first paragraph of a feature in the magazine to interest the reader and make them want to read on. NME have also headlined particular parts of their magazine such as 'NEWS', 'REVIEWS' this pin points the most important factors that this magazine has to offer showing the reader their main focuses with music. This shows me how I could have made my magazine in a more professional, headlining way to en-order that the main focuses of my magazine get across to the reader straight away.

Music Magazine Comparrison

The creation of my magazine needed to be thought about through analysing several different genres of magazines and looking into what would sell best on the market today. In order to do this I picked several different genres of magazines looking at how they have pin pointed different audiences in order for their magazine to sell.

I first looked at 'Kerrang' which clearly shows an interest to people who like rock music. Kerrang is one of the biggest selling weekly magazines therefore is a magazine I should look at from a selling point of view. Kerrang revolves around the audience it wants to attract therefore offering competitions and general information telling the audience what they want to know therefore encouraging people to want to buy it as they always know they are in the interest of the people who create the magazine.

I then looked at the magazine 'Vibe' this is also aimed at a particular audience, which seems to be a trend as I look through different magazines which indicates to me that I need to ensure I pick a clarified genre and stick to it to ensure my magazine would sell at its best ability. Using the biggest artists of hip hop music and the right information about whats happening in their life at that point brings the reader in as an interesting headline always interests the reader.

In conclusion to creating my magazine the clear aspects to creating a successful magazine is to always think about the reader and the genre of music you are using in your magazine and what you can do to interest them thinking about what would interest you but also finding out what would interest others therefore you have more than one opinion. Also to always have a selling headline with big artists of that type of music that draws the reader in straight away, ensuring they come back next week top buy more.

Production of my College Magazine front cover :)

When thinking about my front cover for my college magazine I took many ideas into consideration with how I wanted it to look, however what would appeal to others.

After analysing several college magazines I decided to aim my college magazine mainly at the younger students in the college age 16-18 middle class students as they are the hardest age group to get through to involving eduacation, therefore they need something within the college that creates fun and creativity. I am also taking into consideration the adult learners at the college that may like to know what is going on around the college therefore I am going to add aspects of college information for this. Thinking about males and females I will choose the colours carefully. The colours I looked into using are blue's and yellows linking to the college logo, I wanted to add reds into the scheme as it is quite a catchy, bright colour that many age and gender groups attract to.

Firstly I wanted to decide on the masthead for my magazine as I felt I would then be able to link my ideas for other aspects around my masthead. I chose my masthead to be called 'NC Complete' portraying that everything you need to know about the college is inside this magazine. The name is short and catchy however the word 'complete' shows that this is all the information you need. I then thought about the cover lines I should add into my front cover, involving information from around the college but also adding fun to the page such as information on a winter ball and ways to keep warm this winter. However also information on the new building and when we will be moving over. 'Winter ball coming soon, time to grab your date'
I decided on using just one main image on the front cover to attract the attention of the students, a picture of a student outside on the college grounds, showing them enjoying the environment of the college and also showing the weather, linking to the relevance of my magazine it being the december issue.
I decided to keep the price of the magazine affordable between £1.00 and £2.00 as the people that will be buying it are students therefore may not be working.

Here is a mind map of ideas I originally thought of...

College Magazine :) Introduction

A college magazine is something that can bring fun and creativity to education. Allowing me to create a magazine that I would be interested in reading however also having aspects of college life and whats happening around the college inside it, I also had to think about how others would prefer the college magazine. This allowed me to learn about different stereotypes that are surrounding us in the college environment. By designing a college magazine students may become more motivated towards their work, and more interested in what the college is offering them, to ensure that they achieve their own personal goals in life.
I will ensure that my college magazine consists of fun articles that the students would be interested in and also that they could relate to, however still keeping an aspect of education in there, as after all it is a college magazine, and you would expect to see updates on what is happening around the college, exam dates, etc.


There are two main programmes I will be using to complete my college magazine. I have chosen to use Adobe InDesign and Adobe Photoshop, my reason for this is because it allows me to use the knowledge I already have from previous tasks and to exceed and progress further in them to ensure me and my magazine reach its full potential. Whilst creating my college magazine I am expecting to learn more about the tools within both programmes and how I can work Photoshop along side InDesign, editing images and writing, ensuring that my knowledge progresses within this for future magazines.

Photoshop allows me to work alongside InDesign as I edit the images I will be placing on my college magazine, to ensure they look the best they can, giving it a professional looking outcome. Such as if my image needs to look brighter for instance, as when you are printing your magazine your image may come out darker then you originally anticipated. Or if I do not want my image on its original background it has been taken on I am able to cut my image out and place it into InDesign on a new background of my choice. Photoshop will bring a very professional and sophisticated outcome for my magazine creating new styles and better quality images.

Adobe InDesign allows me to create a sophisticated page layout for print publishing. InDesign is a software application produced by Adobe Systems. It can be used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers and books.
There are many great tools offered within Adobe InDesign such as integrated drawing tools, built-in Adobe Photoshop effects, finer transparency controls, and support for 3D Photoshop artwork.
Allowing the production of sophisticated page layouts by using features such as smart guides, rapid table creation, multiple-file placement – providing the ability to create pages of different sizes in a single file, and streamlined object selection and editing. InDesign definitely brings all the best qualities in allowing me to create that professional look within my magazine, as it offers a clear understanding of how to get the best out of the programme.

First draft pics for music magazine, and what I am going to do :)

- I am going to include chart music including all ages and genres.
- I am going to keep my magazine price within £1.50 and £2.00.
- I am going to use bright bold colours depending on the artists to ensure people remember it.
- I am going to keep my title of my magazine as everyone thought it was catchy and you would remember it.

- Have interviews and tour dates up with the latest top celeb artists.

In order to create the best product I have created a draft picture of how I pictured my front cover and contents page to look like. I have looked into having a medium shot of an upcoming celebrity star as my main image so that the audience can look up to her. Doing this allows me to look into and develop my ideas, and I am then able to see how far my ideas have come by the final product.

Magazine psychologies!

The magazine i am evaluating is psychologies. We were looking at why they have chosen certain colours and pictures to present to the right audience. I found that the colours on the magazine were very subtle and simple, however having a slight girlishness to it, therefore found it to be aimed at older women. We could also tell that it was aimed at older women as the picture on the front is of a classy 40-50 year old women (Michelle Pfeiffer) therefore it would attract to that age and gender. Also the headlines on the magazine have been made to attract the right audience, you could tell that a teenager would definitely not pick up this magazine. The contents page was also very subtle and simple, as older women would just want to get to the point with no fuss.We then needed to think about our own college magazines we are making, therefore we need to think about the age of people we are aiming at and the gender. I am aiming both genders and need a wide range of ages as you could find middle aged people at college and they might like to read the college magazine, threfore i need to use simple colours not attracting to either gender and also the simple colours would make it more attracted to any age.