Band Identity

Before I do any in depth planning for my music magazine, I need to create my bands identity. I only know the specific music genre which I am focusing my music magazine on. So now I need to base my research solely on the band.

I would like my band to be a duo, preferably one males and one female, who both fit the typical 'alternative' or 'indie' style. As I want my target audience to be 16-18 year olds I think its important that I make sure the models will wear fashionable clothing which a young audience can relate to and could feel inspired into wanting to look like someone from the band. There are two inspirations that I would like to base my band around, which is the Arctic Monkeys and Lorde.

Here is an image of Lorde, who fits the 'alternative genre' very well. I really like her bohemian hair which I think I would like to replicate when creating my band. I also like her natural, effortless makeup which could look great for when I start to take pictures on my photo-shoot.







Here are the Arctic Monkeys who I think also match the criteria of being in the 'alternative genre' I really like their rock and roll look with their leather and denim jackets which could work really well when I create my band. They are very a very inspirational band for teenagers aged 17-19 which is why I would like my band to have some of their persona.




These are the four band names which I have come up with, the highlighted name in the bottom right is the name which I am going to call my band. I really like the name 'the corrections' as it is quite mysterious. I think I could make a good logo for the band with this name as well which would look great on the front cover of my magazine. By having a young band with a name like 'the corrections' I personally feel that a young audience could be inspired as the name could be perceived as a hidden message of making the right choices.

Now for the bands logo, I would like my band to be seen as alternative artists but also be very mellow and relaxed. So I would like to make a symbol that would represent that. Below is a mood board of some symbols which inspires me to make my own for the band.

 
I really like the top left symbol of yin and yang, this could be effective to use for my magazine as I want my band to be seen as laid back. I also really like the simplistic logo to the right, it means eternity and is very simplistic which may work well with the band. I would like to put the bands logo next to the name so that people can associate the logo with it, I could also put it on the album cover which would help the band in the magazine. These logos fit in well with both the alternative genre as well as being very mellow.

Top of the pops magazine analysis

 Recently I have been analysing music magazines to get an idea of the different codes and conventions they use. Here is Top of the Pops magazine which is a music magazine designed for young girls who are interested in the genre of 'pop' music.

 

 



 

 

First of all it has a masthead, you can tell it's a pop magazine straight away as the masthead is in capitals with the colour being white it contrasts with the pink and white colour scheme. This has been chosen carefully to help intrigue young female readers. The layout on the magazine is quite chaotic due to there being a lot of puffs and boxes which includes information that is going to be in the magazine for example 'The X Factor Exposed' This helps to intrigue the reader as it gives them an idea of the stories that will be included in the magazine and it promotes certain elements.

 

The font used on the front cover is clear and bold which entices the reader, the different font sizes compliment the cover lines as they make the magazine seem more intriguing. The use of the different font colours tries to make the magazine seem fun and girly linking to the magazine music genre of 'pop.' There are a lot of secondary images used to help promote the stories these pictures are great for making young readers want to buy a magazine. This is a great tool to use when planning my music magazine. The central image used is of the famous pop star 'Taylor Swfit' this is the most important part of the front cover as it catches the readers eye before they look at the printed text. The eye contact is captured which is great as it reflects the message of pop music and femininity.  

 

There are several images on this page which is great for young audiences as the pictures are what draws them into reading the magazine more than the sub-headings. They show what is going to be included and gives you an idea on the types of artists that will be making an appearance in the magazine. The bar code and price is strategically placed as it is a straight forward feature of the magazine you don't want the main focus to be on it. The bar code is placed under the main headline which draws the attention away from it leaving the focus all on the headline and the main image.

 

 

 

Plan

Now I have completed my school magazine I can work on my task which is creating a music magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. Here is a plan of the set time I have given myself to complete certain tasks to ensure I get everything completed.

Evaluation of preliminary task

Evaluation of preliminary task from emh3196

Finished magazine front cover and contents page

After receiving some feedback from my peers regarding my school magazine they gave me a few pointers to help improve my magazine it was useful so that I could change the layout and structure of my magazine.

For my front cover I was told to make my masthead bigger and change the font colour as it seemed to blend in with the background of my magazine. After making these changes I have found that 'Idsall Weekly' looks a lot more prominent, I also enlarged the size of my logo so that it was clearer on the page and was emphasised a lot more. This will hopefully engage the reader into wanting to understand what the magazine would include.

When receiving more feedback I was told to move the puff further down the page so that everyone's faces in my background picture could be seen so that the eye contact from the models to the reader wasn't ruined in any way.

My contents page is where I made the most change one of the main things I amended was the amount of pictures I used. Previously I said that I wanted to include as many pictures as possible to give the reader an insight into the school, although I have now come to the decision that they looked to close together. So instead I used two large pictures which now makes the presentation of the contents page look a lot more proffesional. I also added a box behind the contents page so that it made the masthead stand out, this has made the page look more professional. I enlarged the logo in the top left corner so that we still understood that it was a school magazine, I am happy with the changes I have made to my contents page as it looks less crowded and more focus is on the stories.

Draft magazine front cover and contents page

For my preliminary task I had to create a front cover and contents page of a school magazine. After researching some past school magazines I had an idea on how I wanted to lay mine out and what colours and font style I wanted to use.

 Here you can see the front cover of my school magazine this is the draft so I will be making amendments to it. I decided to use the background picture of a group of students as it gives a more personal feel to the school, also I decided to use the picture of a tree as my logo so that it makes it still significant to Idsall school. I used a puff on my front cover to show what stories are going to be inside the newspaper this gives the reader an idea on what to expect when they start to read the newspaper which makes it more intriguing to read. They emphasise the main stories in the magazine so then the reader is interested on what it has to say.

The colours I have used are all green to link with the school uniform making the magazine tie in with the main colours that the school wears. This is great for students and parents when reading a magazine as it shows that the colour scheme has been thought through. I also included the school logo in the top left corner to make it seem more proffesional as it makes the magazine seem legitimate and that its focus is on Idsall school.

Here is my draft contents page, I decided to carry on with the colur scheme so it is all green and white. I wanted to include as many pictures as possible so that you could get an idea of what the school was like and how it differed from others. I carried on with using the logo so that it still seems professional and links back to the Idsall School, the news headlines only give the titles so that not much is given away still making it intriguing for the reader. After looking at the magazine I have found a few things which I would like to change for example the stories, the font size and the amount of images. I feel that the images are too overcrowding which takes the emphasis off of the stories which would be included in the magazine.