I would say that my music magazine challenges the forms and conventions of the music magazine industry today because rather than just looking at a particular genre (kerrang) or just looking at whats new (NME) I am looking at the whole picture and that includes old classic artists and music from generations ago, I also felt that it would to a wider audience this way, in fact it's meant to apeal to pretty much everyone because it looks at all different kinds of music. to look at these different genre I have different sections to my magazine such as the oldies section which looks at old music in particular, I have a top ten artists section which changes each issue because a different genre is looked at for example one issue it might be indie rock and thenext it might be pop .
Like NME I wanted to look at what was new in the music industry accept less tabloidy and more to do with the music because whilst I was in my reasearch stage of the project I realised that over the years NME's music content had declined and it became more tabloidy which is somthing that I don't like to see in music magazines, I want to read about music.
After the research I had done and generally having read different music magazines over the years I realized that there was'nt anything like what I have come up with, I also wanted to bring together the different music I love in my magazine and because the range of music I like is so wide I came up with this idea for a magazine. I also think that even though the younger generation will want to know what new sounds are out there that they are apreciating classics more and more.
Because my magazine looks at different music genres I had to kind of steryotype the different generations for example for the older generations, I have put a section on Jimi Hendrix in my oldies section because he is a music icon of the seventies (and just in the history of music) and for todays generation I have put added a section on Muse because they are very big right now and alot of todays youth really like them, I also added a section on the very popular metal band Slipknot because during my reasearch I read a couple of metal magazines (Kerrang, Metal Hammer) I saw thay they both had sections on their tenth anniversary so I thought that if I wanted my magazine to be one that kept with the times like NME does then I should include this so I did.
When looking into different magazines I realized that a good publisher for my magazine would be the same one that publishes The NME who are called Jellyfish. First of all because my m,agazine is similar to The NME in that it releases new information on current bands and artists but because this company specialises in publishing magaszines and has also published BBC Magazines and Which (more info on http://www.nme-magazine.com/company/publishers).
As I mentioned before one of my main inspirations for my magazines was to create a music magazine for everyone because it hadn't been done before so in terms of target audience I am not aiming this magazine at a specific age group or gender I wanted to create somehting that would essentialy satisfy everyone. I supose I had to come to one decision I would be that this magazine is aimed at music fanatics who are into all kinds of music and are not fixated on one specific genre which many are and that brings me back to my first point about universal apeal.
When it came to designing my magazine's look and layout I knew this would be I high point in my project because I am very creative and pationet for design and ilistration so I came up which a whole bunch of visual easter eegs to put in my magazine and I took alot of photographs which you will see in earlier blog posts, I am also skilled in the use of photoshop and publisher both of which I used to create and put together my final product. I found many interesting and cool fonts on the websit www.dafont.com which I used to add proffesionalism and an overall nice finish on my final product which I am quite satisfied with.
The images that I used in my magazine are very eyecatching and interesting for example my photos of the band I did my double page spread on are humerous and cool and I created some cool imagery using some sketches I scanned and coloured in on photoshop (see.
As I mentioned in the previous paragraph I used photoshop and publisher to put together my music magazine. Photoshop is something I have been using for a while now because I did many subjects that I could encorparate it with in GCSE such art art, graphics and media studies all of which I have continued in to A-level, I also used it in my work expirience during GCSE, I worked in a design company called 'Crumpled Dog Design' (http://www.crumpled-dog.com/). Not only is is a very useful program but I enjoy using it alot and I loved designing on photoshop for this project. Publisher is something that I have also been using for a while now and it has served me well, I have used it alot in this project, especially in the making of my magazine as it is a very sraight forward and effective program. using a blog to do all my coursework is actually new to me, in fact I had never created a blog before this project and I was quite worried when I was told this was how I had to hand in all my work but I have grow to like it alot, it is very easy to use and whenever I had some ideas or some research I could post it on the blog whenever which is a very convinient tool. The preliminary task was quite useful because it helped me to get to grips with using the blog and it prepared me for the task of creating my music magazine. it allowed me refresh my skills in both photoshop and publisher and I precticed researching which was good preperation for the main project.
Tuesday 29 December 2009
Friday 18 December 2009
Double page spread-page2
This is the second page to my double page spread and the last page of my magazine!Lkike the previous page I used a couple of full body shots accept they are of the other members of the band. I got some fonts from www.dafont.com and I put this page together with publisher.
This page features an interview with the band and an advertisment on the bottom banner. I also put a little box which has information about gigs and an upcoming tour.
Double page spread-page1
This is my first page of my double page spread. I used full body shots of two of the band members and the little shark image I created on photoshop. It includes a little add on the bottom and a little text about the band which I wrote.I pieced this together on publisher and I got some of the fonts from www.dafont.com
I
Intro to double page spread-page2
Here is the second page to my intro which has the other two members of the band and their little picture quotes.It also features a little bit of text titled 'Who the Hell are these Guys?' which just gives a little backround on them. again I pieced this together on publisher as I did with the previous page and I used fonts from, www.dafont.com.
Intro to double page spread-page1
As well as doing a double page spread I did a couple of pages to introduce it as many magazine have this for their main article. I used downloaded fonts from http://www.dafont.com/ and added some pictures I previously took.I added some text showing what the story is behind this band and how they have grabbed the world's attention and generally looking at their amazing success!
I decided to add little quotes from each band member in the framed picturs of them.
Final Contents Page
This is my final contents page which includes fonts that I downloaded off of www.dafont.com and some of my own images being the two images of the band members and the picture of Jimi Hendrix which I drew and scanned in to my computer and tweeked on Photoshop.
I have also included a little editor's note because I wanted to make this as professional looking as possible. I decided to add a little t-shirt advert as well because virtually every magazine regardless of genre have advertismets in them.
I pieced the magazine together on publisher because on this program it is very easy to manipulate images and text
Thursday 17 December 2009
My Final Magazine Cover!
Finally here it is, my final music magazine front cover!
My final product shows poictures of each band member in a different pose, it includes the shark image I created on photoshop as well as some fonts that I downloaded off the internet from the website: www.dafont.com and an image of a barcode which I found off of Google images.
I did the backround (the title, the shark, the grey box and the grey textured base) on photoshop and added the images og the band and the cover text on publisher because not only did they show up better but they were also easier to manipulate.
I am quite happy with my final product and I feel I have delivered a successful front covewr however I feel I could have made it look better; I think that the main improvement I coulde have made would be to present the images and text more professionally.
My final product shows poictures of each band member in a different pose, it includes the shark image I created on photoshop as well as some fonts that I downloaded off the internet from the website: www.dafont.com and an image of a barcode which I found off of Google images.
I did the backround (the title, the shark, the grey box and the grey textured base) on photoshop and added the images og the band and the cover text on publisher because not only did they show up better but they were also easier to manipulate.
I am quite happy with my final product and I feel I have delivered a successful front covewr however I feel I could have made it look better; I think that the main improvement I coulde have made would be to present the images and text more professionally.
Contents Page Screen Grab
Here is an image of my contents page in the making.
This contents page includes an editor's note, images of whats inside my magazine and a little list of whats in the magazine. It also has a little advert for t-shirts and a few visuals I drew and made on photoshop.
This contents page includes an editor's note, images of whats inside my magazine and a little list of whats in the magazine. It also has a little advert for t-shirts and a few visuals I drew and made on photoshop.
Extra visuals 2
Here are a few more extra visuals I created as I was tweeking my final magazine.
The first one is this image of a t-shirt I created which has an image of the cover art for one of my band's albums it is called 'Swimming with Astro Sharks' I created it to be part of an addvertismet to promote the band.
With this second image of Jimi Hendrix I was origionally going to just get an image of him off the internet but I then found out that all of my images have to be self taken or self made so I just got the nearest thing to draw on which was a piece of cardboard from a shoe box and drew Jimi on it and scanned it in. I then cropped it to the right size on publisher and added it to my contents page, I actually think the cardboard gives a nice effect.
Double page spread Screen Grabs
Here are a couple of screenshots of my double page spread drafts which will be going in to my magazine once tweeked a little more.
This is the first page of my double page spread. to make this got the image of the shark which I altered on photoshop and then I layed out the whole thing on publisher. I then pasted the writing which I had on another file and I added the images above it.
This page gives us a little bit of backround on the band and what they have achieved in so little time.
The second page has the interview with the band as well as some more images, it also has a little box with gig and tour information.
This is the first page of my double page spread. to make this got the image of the shark which I altered on photoshop and then I layed out the whole thing on publisher. I then pasted the writing which I had on another file and I added the images above it.This page gives us a little bit of backround on the band and what they have achieved in so little time.
The second page has the interview with the band as well as some more images, it also has a little box with gig and tour information.
Intro Pages Screen Grabs
As well as doing a double page spread I have also added an 'intro spread' for my double page spread because I thought this would be just like how it is donbe in real magazines plus I had a bunch of extra images!
The first page just gives us a little intro to tell us what we are about to read and generally the baisic jist of whats coming up.
The second page tells us who the band and that they are a new sensation who are taking the worlds attention by storm... you know the usual!
Front Cover Screen Grabs
Here are a couple of screen shots I took of the process of making a draft of my final cover.
This screenshot shows me working on the front cover in photoshop, I have added the title, the backround and the image of the shark which I talked about a couple of posts ago. to make It look really nice an professional I have added shadow to everything to give it a nice 3-d effect.
I then moved the work I did on photoshop on to publisher so I could add images and text. I moved it to publisher because my images and text showed up much clearer and nicer in publisher than they do in photoshop and it was they are just easier to manipulat using publisher.
This screenshot shows me working on the front cover in photoshop, I have added the title, the backround and the image of the shark which I talked about a couple of posts ago. to make It look really nice an professional I have added shadow to everything to give it a nice 3-d effect.
I then moved the work I did on photoshop on to publisher so I could add images and text. I moved it to publisher because my images and text showed up much clearer and nicer in publisher than they do in photoshop and it was they are just easier to manipulat using publisher.Magazine Pictures
I have finally taken the pictures I needed of my made up band and I can now start to put together a final magazine!
I took a few pictures of my friends as well as myself because we are the members of the band I made up. we are in a bunch of crazy and silly poses because these are the types of poses I see alot in music magazines and because I want to make this look like a real magazine that you would find in the shops I thought that these poses would work the best.
I took a few pictures of my friends as well as myself because we are the members of the band I made up. we are in a bunch of crazy and silly poses because these are the types of poses I see alot in music magazines and because I want to make this look like a real magazine that you would find in the shops I thought that these poses would work the best.
When I start to make my magazine I will pick out the best images and I will corpthem to the sizes they need to be.
Monday 14 December 2009
Extra Visuals
For the magazine I have come up with a few extra visuals such as band logos and front cover art for albums and here I will be showing a few that I have com up with.
This is an image of part of the cover art for one of my band's albums called 'Swimming with Astro Sharks'. What I did was I drew a picture of the logo and then scanned it in to my laptop, the image on the right of the photoshop window is of a previous design I did a while ago on paint which in my opinion does not look that good so what I did was I got the origional scan and I coloured it in on photoshop which now look alot better.
To create this image I used paint, the dodge tool, the burn tool, the patch tool, the blend tool, the smudge tool, the heal tool andf the magnetic lasso tool which I can say from experience is a far better range that paint! I enjoy using photoshop very much and this was alot of fun to create.
This is an image of part of the cover art for one of my band's albums called 'Swimming with Astro Sharks'. What I did was I drew a picture of the logo and then scanned it in to my laptop, the image on the right of the photoshop window is of a previous design I did a while ago on paint which in my opinion does not look that good so what I did was I got the origional scan and I coloured it in on photoshop which now look alot better.
To create this image I used paint, the dodge tool, the burn tool, the patch tool, the blend tool, the smudge tool, the heal tool andf the magnetic lasso tool which I can say from experience is a far better range that paint! I enjoy using photoshop very much and this was alot of fun to create.
Tuesday 8 December 2009
Double Page Spread Rough Draft
This draft of my double page spread is just to get some ideas down and my final draft will probably be longer.
The first time I saw these guys it was in a gig for loads of 'Un-knowns', there where some pretty average bands there with nothing special about them, I mean no one thought anyone there would make themselves known, it was nothing special, just a bunchof bands coming together and playing for some people who had nothing better to do, I belive it was called Wild-Stock or something (origional right). I thought to myself this was "it for these guys" and no one would remember them, then about 18 months later I hear a familiar band playing a song called 'Oh S*!? Zombies' and I thinking "I know these guys" and I was glad because I knew now that they would make it big I just, didn't think anyone thought so but I am glad I was proven wrong.
To be honest I did think they stood out from the rest of the bands playing because with song titles like 'Oh S*!? Zombies@ you can see where I coming from when I say they wern't exactly 'Run of the Mil'. I am also glad they are becoming known because while there are loads of great knew artists out there right know they aren't really coming up with anything knew and different because to be honest most of these knew artists are getting a bit same same and Radioactive Righteousness is that different musical expirience that I think the music world needs it's likea healthy dose of weird just to spice things up a little.
Fortunatly I managed to get an interview with the boys about a week ago which was suprisingly easy, as soon as theyknew I saw one of their early gigs they thought it would be "Awesome" they even let me do it in their studio which to looked like a boys bedroom for lack of a better description; there were comics, video games and junk everywhere as well as the recording equipmnet and instruments of course.
Q: So how long have you guys been playing together for?
A: Well we've actually been friends scince high school and we used to jam after school almost every day so after a while we thought why the hell not make a band cos thats baisically what we were any ways. Jay-Me and jake have actually known each other scince primary school then we met Rish and a couple of years after that Miguel came along to our school and I all kicked off from there I guess.
Q: Tell me, who does your song writting or is it done by one of you?
A:Well we do all of our song writting but we kind of take it in turns but not in the sense that who ever wrote a song last the next person after has to; when ever we each come up with something we share it with each other and it takes off from their but we all usually pitch in on tweaking it and making it better.
Q: So what kind of stuff do you guys do in your free time?
well besides song writting as you can see from the state of this place we a still children at heart; we love to play videogames, watch movies and cartoons, read comic books and all kinds of stuff, Jay and Miguel- scince we met we just got along and then we descovered our interests in comics and stories and have bee coming up with comic ideas scince and whenever we come up with stuff we share it with the rest of the guys and ask for ideas much like our music, Miguel- scince I am also pationet about drawing I draw all the comics we come up with, I also do all the cover art for all of our albums. Rishi- I love to make thsose little warhammer figures and paint them, Iv'e been doing it scince I was a kid.
Q: How are you finding this whole new stardom expirience?
A: Its pretty freaky but of coarse we're enjoying it you know what I mean? it's like we've just taken a step up and it's great that we can do what we love for a living, it's like every persons dream to do what they love for a living and we are living it and I know that it sounds cliche but that pretty much the best way of describing it.
With their new album 'Swimming with Astro Sharks out now, a bunch of gigs line up and a tour in the works Radioactive Righteousness have taken our attention by storm and are the biggest thing in the record business!
The first time I saw these guys it was in a gig for loads of 'Un-knowns', there where some pretty average bands there with nothing special about them, I mean no one thought anyone there would make themselves known, it was nothing special, just a bunchof bands coming together and playing for some people who had nothing better to do, I belive it was called Wild-Stock or something (origional right). I thought to myself this was "it for these guys" and no one would remember them, then about 18 months later I hear a familiar band playing a song called 'Oh S*!? Zombies' and I thinking "I know these guys" and I was glad because I knew now that they would make it big I just, didn't think anyone thought so but I am glad I was proven wrong.
To be honest I did think they stood out from the rest of the bands playing because with song titles like 'Oh S*!? Zombies@ you can see where I coming from when I say they wern't exactly 'Run of the Mil'. I am also glad they are becoming known because while there are loads of great knew artists out there right know they aren't really coming up with anything knew and different because to be honest most of these knew artists are getting a bit same same and Radioactive Righteousness is that different musical expirience that I think the music world needs it's likea healthy dose of weird just to spice things up a little.
Fortunatly I managed to get an interview with the boys about a week ago which was suprisingly easy, as soon as theyknew I saw one of their early gigs they thought it would be "Awesome" they even let me do it in their studio which to looked like a boys bedroom for lack of a better description; there were comics, video games and junk everywhere as well as the recording equipmnet and instruments of course.
Q: So how long have you guys been playing together for?
A: Well we've actually been friends scince high school and we used to jam after school almost every day so after a while we thought why the hell not make a band cos thats baisically what we were any ways. Jay-Me and jake have actually known each other scince primary school then we met Rish and a couple of years after that Miguel came along to our school and I all kicked off from there I guess.
Q: Tell me, who does your song writting or is it done by one of you?
A:Well we do all of our song writting but we kind of take it in turns but not in the sense that who ever wrote a song last the next person after has to; when ever we each come up with something we share it with each other and it takes off from their but we all usually pitch in on tweaking it and making it better.
Q: So what kind of stuff do you guys do in your free time?
well besides song writting as you can see from the state of this place we a still children at heart; we love to play videogames, watch movies and cartoons, read comic books and all kinds of stuff, Jay and Miguel- scince we met we just got along and then we descovered our interests in comics and stories and have bee coming up with comic ideas scince and whenever we come up with stuff we share it with the rest of the guys and ask for ideas much like our music, Miguel- scince I am also pationet about drawing I draw all the comics we come up with, I also do all the cover art for all of our albums. Rishi- I love to make thsose little warhammer figures and paint them, Iv'e been doing it scince I was a kid.
Q: How are you finding this whole new stardom expirience?
A: Its pretty freaky but of coarse we're enjoying it you know what I mean? it's like we've just taken a step up and it's great that we can do what we love for a living, it's like every persons dream to do what they love for a living and we are living it and I know that it sounds cliche but that pretty much the best way of describing it.
With their new album 'Swimming with Astro Sharks out now, a bunch of gigs line up and a tour in the works Radioactive Righteousness have taken our attention by storm and are the biggest thing in the record business!
Monday 7 December 2009
Music Magazine Front cover (Rough Drafts)
Before I start to take pictures and create my final music magazine cover I thought that it would be a good idea to draw up some rough drafts of what my final cover could look like when it is finished. I also think that it is a good idea because if there is an element of one which i like and an element of another which i like I can combine ideas to create a really good result which has the best characteristics of each front cover I have designed.
Initially I havwe come up with three cover ideas which are baisically rough visuals of all the ideas I have and I thought it would be good to get them down on paper so that I had something to look at and could think about i more detail.
Cover 1
This cover has a clear view of all the band members which are actually me and three of my friends. behind the ban is an image of the band's logo which is a combination of the very popular smiley image and commonly seen in tv and film the radioactive caution symbol reason being the band I have come up with for this magazine is called 'Radioactive Righteousnes' Which I now realize I have forgotten to add to this draft but this can be improved upon. . on either side of the band there are images relating to an album I made up for them called 'Swimming With Astro Sharks'. I thought that it would be funny to put us in order of height because our tallest member is rediculosly tall (about 6ft 4 If I can remeber) and our shortest member is very short, I think this adds to the image that band's hummer and non-seriousness which I am trying to get across.
Cover 2
This cover is quite a bit different; I have written the name of the magazine in thiker more boxy text because I fwelt thet the previous font was just to thin and scratchy, I also think that this font would be clearer to the reader. On this cover I have added teasers to what is inside the magazine and the name of the band, this was mainly to get a good idea of where the teasers would go if this were to end up as the final design and also to get an idea of what teasers I will be putting on my front cover.
The image of the band members themselves I have decided to put the min the classic box with four sections. I feel that giving each bend member their own "frame" shos they are all eaqully important to the band as is the case with virtually every band and also that each member adds a certain elememt of personality and diversity to thae band, I also thought it would be a good idea to have each member in a different pose or pulling a different face as this would give the reader a little idea of what that particullar band member is like.
Cover 3
For this front cover I have decided to go with the same kind of font for the name as I feel it is effectivebecause of it's clarity and boldness. I decided to put the teasers all over the magazine to give it more of an exiting kind of look and because the double page spread on Radioactive Righteousness is the main article in this magazine I have decided to make it the biggest piece of text besides the title.
The main image of the band is again different and more exiting I think, it shows the band lined up and in perspective and each member is wearing a black t-shirt with the band logo on it.
I think that each design has something special about it and when designing my final front cover I will take each design in to account and I will probably end up using different elements from each design.
Initially I havwe come up with three cover ideas which are baisically rough visuals of all the ideas I have and I thought it would be good to get them down on paper so that I had something to look at and could think about i more detail.
Cover 1
This cover has a clear view of all the band members which are actually me and three of my friends. behind the ban is an image of the band's logo which is a combination of the very popular smiley image and commonly seen in tv and film the radioactive caution symbol reason being the band I have come up with for this magazine is called 'Radioactive Righteousnes' Which I now realize I have forgotten to add to this draft but this can be improved upon. . on either side of the band there are images relating to an album I made up for them called 'Swimming With Astro Sharks'. I thought that it would be funny to put us in order of height because our tallest member is rediculosly tall (about 6ft 4 If I can remeber) and our shortest member is very short, I think this adds to the image that band's hummer and non-seriousness which I am trying to get across.
Cover 2
This cover is quite a bit different; I have written the name of the magazine in thiker more boxy text because I fwelt thet the previous font was just to thin and scratchy, I also think that this font would be clearer to the reader. On this cover I have added teasers to what is inside the magazine and the name of the band, this was mainly to get a good idea of where the teasers would go if this were to end up as the final design and also to get an idea of what teasers I will be putting on my front cover.
The image of the band members themselves I have decided to put the min the classic box with four sections. I feel that giving each bend member their own "frame" shos they are all eaqully important to the band as is the case with virtually every band and also that each member adds a certain elememt of personality and diversity to thae band, I also thought it would be a good idea to have each member in a different pose or pulling a different face as this would give the reader a little idea of what that particullar band member is like.
Cover 3
For this front cover I have decided to go with the same kind of font for the name as I feel it is effectivebecause of it's clarity and boldness. I decided to put the teasers all over the magazine to give it more of an exiting kind of look and because the double page spread on Radioactive Righteousness is the main article in this magazine I have decided to make it the biggest piece of text besides the title.
The main image of the band is again different and more exiting I think, it shows the band lined up and in perspective and each member is wearing a black t-shirt with the band logo on it.
I think that each design has something special about it and when designing my final front cover I will take each design in to account and I will probably end up using different elements from each design.
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