Cover Model Photos

For my cover model, I used the same as I did for the college magazine, as I knew that that model had the props I needed and played a classical instrument, making her the perfect model for my front cover and double page spread. I asked her to bring a gold trombone and a golden dress, as both of these are conventional for the genre and are both commonly used colours in classical magazines. I have taken 13 photos, and only 2 will be used on the magazine. One will be used for the cover of the magazine, and needs to be taken portrait so that it will fit correctly. The other will be used on the double page spread, and therefore needs to be a landscape photo to fit over the two pages. I may use a third photo on the contents page, but i am undecided on this at the moment.

Props for the model

In the images that I plan to take, the cover model will be holding a prop that is themed towards the classical genre. This is done to further take focus towards the model and make the photos seem more believable as a classical music star. Through the use of the prop, the golden colour scheme of the magazine is also carried on, as the prop that I intend to use, a trombone, is a bright gold colour. This colour is different enough from the dress to allow the two to be separately identified while also sticking with the same colours and themes.

Costuming for the model

When selecting a costume for my cover model, I felt as though it was important to select a colour appropriate dress that did not sexualize the model too much, as this is not what the target audience buys this kind of magazine for. the target audience often buys the magazine for the music, as oppose to music magazines of other genres which sexualize their models in order to achieve a greater audience. Through this, a slim golden dress was chosen, as it still allowed the model's body to be shown while keeping focus on the magazine's theme of classical music through the prop and colour.

Digital Mockups

Through feedback from teachers and students, I have changed the designs that I have used for my digital mock ups. these have been changed for a variety of reasons, such as audience appeal, easier reading of text and general clarity as well as better fitting within the theme of the classical music colour scheme often adopted by many classical music magazines, golds, blacks and whites.

The digital mock up of my front cover is likely to be the final layout, and I doubt that much will be changed. when the cover model's photo is inserted, she will be holding up her trombone. However, should the sell lines begin to cover up the model or the model's prop then the model's pose will be changed to holding the prop downwards and across her body, do to the sexuality of the model not being a major factor for the genre's audience. This would allow the sell lines to be further expanded or for another sell line to be placed on the cover.

The contents page's layout is simplistic but does not need to be anything fancy, as it is only being used to advertise the magazine's top stories and articles, as well as listing all of the stories within the issue. I have advertised the larger, more important articles, which will be given sell lines on the cover, through the use of boxes around the central contents box. These small advertisements will consist of a small headline, an image of the subject in question and then the page number that it is on. this helps those who bought the magazine just for that article to find the article that they want easily without having to search the entire contents table.

The double page spread will stick to the same simplicity of the contents page, as it does not have to stand out and draw in the reader's attention initially like the cover does. this allows for a more simple layout, more simple colours and a stronger focus on the information within the interview. the use of a headline to still draw in the readers is used so that it can capture the readers attention while flicking through the magazine, as well as acting as a marker for those looking for the article without the page number. the model's body will be positioned holding up the prop due to the page being larger and having more room to allow for a more extravagant pose without covering up important information or making parts hard to read.

First Digital Mock-up

Today, I finished my first digital mock-up. It is of my front cover, and uses all, if not most of the conventions of a classical music magazine. I have used another classical music magazine as inspiration for my magazine. Here is the inspiration for my magazine cover digital draft

In my digital draft of my cover, I have used a photo of a classical artist as oppose to the photos I will be taking as I have not yet finished editing them. Once I have finished my photo shoot and the photos are finished editing. This is my digital draft of the magazine cover, inspired by the one above. It also uses my hand-drawn draughts as a basis for the organisation of the sell lines, main headline, cover model, free CD, date/price/issue, masthead and bar code.

The free CD offer was later made bigger to further increase it's effectiveness as a free offer/advertisement. this makes the offer more appealing to customers and make it more eye catching, as offers tend to draw more attention to magazines, therefore the magazine is more appealing to it's audience.

Title and Masthead

For my front cover, I will need a masthead. I will also need to decide on my final title, the font and the colour, as I've had a few ideas regarding them. Initially, I was going to use the name 'The Bandstand' for my magazine, as it is relevant to the genre and is musical terminology, but still common knowledge as to not alienate readers who don't play the instruments or in bands. However, I decided that this was unnecessary, and that 'Bandstand', without the 'The', was much more catchy and took up slightly less space on the magazine cover. My first idea of the Masthead was to have it black, so that it would stand out from the background which would likely be a light cream, gold or brown.

However, once I began my digital mock-up of the magazine cover, I quickly discovered that the black just didn't stand out as much as I'd hoped. This led me to change the main colour of the Masthead to cream. This didn't stand out too well either, so I used a copy of the original to be a shadow on the back of the cream. This made the Masthead stand out against the background, but still fit in with the magazine.

Hand Drawn Drafts

I have done some hand drawn drafts for my magazine cover. This depicts the layout of the magazine, as well as the position of the cover model.

From this design, the institution logo was removed, the free CD was moved, and the "Sweet Music" Main Headline was moved to the right side from the left. The name was also shortened, from "The Bandstand" to "Bandstand". The cover model's posture was also changed, this time holding a Trumpet as a prop on the image.

From the 2nd design, more changes have occurred. The institution logo has been put back, as it is conventional of the magazines I have looked at. the free CD has been moved to a more conventional place, as well as freeing up more room for the main headline, which is now on the left. The sell lines were shifted to fit with the new design while still standing out. The cover model's position, stance and action have also been changed, and this time she is holding a Trombone as opposed to a trumpet.

Throughout all the designs, the only elements that have been kept in the same location are the bar-code and the date/price/issue text. The name of the magazine will be Bandstand, as it is shorter, mor attention grabbing, and allows more space for other things on the cover.