Contents Page Research - Mojo Magazine

The above two images are taken from Mojo Music Magazine. They have chosen to set their contents page over two different pages. The colour scheme for the first page of the contents is green, white and red. I wasn't sure why they chose green as the background, but if the magazine was produced in December then I would assume that they chose red and green for a christmas related theme. The bulk of the text is white to make it easy to read a lot of text on the green background whilst the page numbers are made to stand out in red. All of the font style is the same as the masthead to keep the font style consistent. However, the quote is in a different style to the rest of the fonts which makes it stand out more. Red lines are also used to help make the cover story more of an attraction. Mojo, the name of the magazine, is the largest text at the top of the page. An issue number, date and locations of the main headquarters of the magazine is also included at the top of the page. The image used appears to be photoshopped and includes two young males looking away from the camera. A profile shot has been used to allow the audience to see their style in clothing. They seem casually dressed and the colours that they have chosen for their shirts (of blue and black) suggest that they are male colours and that they are easily seen against the green background. Page numbers as well as the Mojo logo are included in the bottom right hand corner and is consistent throughout.
The second image has more images than the first of the contents pages. It has three images which have page numbers and captions to help the audience find the correct page number easily. Black and white images also suggest that these people are not as important however they feature members of staff who have helped to make the magazine. The masthead in this contents page is black and not white but is still at the top of the page. Black text has been used on a white background to make reading the text easier because the audience are used to reading black on white. A red colour has also been used to help group certain articles under titles to make it easier for the audience to find the articles which they are more interested in. Gold has also been used to make finding the page numbers easier. Again, the same font as the masthead has been used to keep it consistent throughout the magazine. The text is written informally and casually giving the impression that the magazine is appealing to a younger audience who aren't interested in having a formal presentation of text. Images are cartoon and in the style of Scooby Doo because of the article title "Where are you?" and other captions are used to help describe the pictures and page numbers which encourage the reader to investigate within the magazine.

Contents Page Research

This is my first attempt at drafting my Contents Page, before I had done any research on contents pages and just using my previous knowledge of Music Magazines. After browsing through some music magazines, I realised that I'd have to make some drastic changes so I took some photos of some contents pages and analysed them.



This is the contents page for the music magazine The Word. It doesn't appear to use the standard convention of red logo for the name of a music magazine however it does use a red colour to help bullet point some of the favourite articles selected by The Word editor. This particular contents page seems to rely more heavily on text rather than pictures which can be clearly seen from the next contents page, however, it does use some images to break down some of the text. One of the images is of the editor which accompanies his letter on this page. The larger image suggests that this magazine is unusual as it isn't often that you would find a man kissing a monkey! Most of the images on this page are strange and don't really relate much to the theme of music. A common colour used is blue which suggests that this magazine appeals more to the male audience. The date is at the top right hand side of the page just underneath "contents". To allow the target audience, which I think are between the ages of 20 - 30 years, they have included a website address for them to check out as well as a teaser of "Subscribe! Special Offer!" to entice them in to buying more magazines. I believe that the target audience are young males between 20 and 30 as the magazine has a strange sense of humour which is more leanient towards this age group.

This contents page is taken from Q magazine. It includes the typical red logo of "Q" throughout the page, first at the top left hand corner by the page number and also next to "Q Review". This contents page relies more on images to allow the readers to find the page that they want faster as they will recognise the image, see the page number and flick to that page. It makes it easier and quicker for them to get what they want out of the magazine, however, it does also have a lot of text to not only describe more about the articles on that page but to also allow different titles of the articles to hopefully interest the readers. The font style is constant throughout this page and the titles of the articles are in capitals whilst the description is smaller and beneath the title. Page numbers to the articles are situated to the left to allow the reader to read the page number first and also for it to be found more easier than having to read all of the article title and description. The date of this particular issue is placed at the top left of the page and takes up a little square of room. Dr Who figures are also used which are related to this particular issue (the dalek and cyberman). These pictures are also accompanied with the red page number to allow it to stand out on the white background. Black text is used to make sure the writing stands out from the white background and is also what the readers are used to reading from.

Front Cover

Above is my original draft for the front cover of my music magazine. I drew it by hand to give me a rough idea of what I wanted and where I wanted it. I followed the typical conventions of a music magazine which include the name of the magazine and logo in the top left of the magazine, a banner (which is used a lot in certain magazines), a large main image, a smaller image, a barcode, date, large title / name of the featured band, price and other article titles inside the magazine. However, after taking some photos I realised that the main image would have to be altered dramatically, so that is a lot different to how I originally planned. The positioning of certain elements such as the smaller picture and article titles have moved too, which can be seen in later images created on photoshop.

This is my first draft of my front cover - although there are some slight changes I would like to make. Originally, the main image was moved down, but I positioned it slightly over the masthead to follow the typical conventions of a music magazine. It also allowed me more room to narrate my second image which is of the artist Spotlight. Although, I do want to swap the yellow SpotLight with the "Why I'm actually really shy ..." as I don't believe they look linked with the image. The reason why I chose to have a red background and yellow outline for the picture was to help to link the article titles with the picture. Another reason why I chose red, not only for the picture, but for the masthead too was because other magazines use red in their masthead too, therefore following music magazine conventions. I have included a banner running along the top of the page exclaiming interesting and appealing features for my target audience of 13 to 20 year olds. My magazine appeals to this audience due to the image of young people who are all dressed in the style of teenagers. I also asked the female member of the band to wear pink to emphasise the fact that she is a girl compared to the boys and I also believe it allows a contrast between the band as well as other images / features of the front page. The name of the band "Mute" appears like something similar to a comic because of the font which is the effect I wanted to create as it seems fun. With the main female member of the band having tape over her mouth, it helps to reinforce the band's name of "Mute". The image overall also helps to give the audience some idea of who the band are and what they are like. For example, the male to the right of the page seems more playful and comical compared to the male to the left who seems quite moody and cool; I made the girl the main focus of the magazine because of the tape on her mouth and also because the colour of her coat is more eye-catching for a colour to attract the audience. The price of £2.20 is easy to afford for the target audience as well and is the average price for most music magazines.

Above is another stage of planning for my front cover design. I swapped the Spotlight title with the "Why I'm actually really shy" which I believe works better. I also changed the bottom to all yellow rather than red and yellow as I believe it looks a lot better and shows that they are linked to the same story. The yellow behind it also represents and reinforces the name of 'SpotLight'. The quote by "Nina Choo" has also been added on to the front cover to try to break down some of the mass of white in that top right hand corner. I think to improve, I would like to take away the box around the artist 'Spotlight', perhaps move the members of the band lower to show off the logo of the magazine and also make the date and price of the magazine smaller.

Above is my FINAL FRONT COVER for my music magazine. I am very pleased with the stages of progress I've made and the improvements I've made along the way. To improve from my previous idea, I changed the artist for Spotlight to another young female and continued the yellow outline around her which shows that she is Spotlight. I also made the barcode slightly bigger and made the date and price smaller. I also changed the other articles inside, so instead of it saying "Nina Choo" I now have names of bands in a yellow box to link the colours of the front page together. I also moved the band members of Mute down to allow the logo of my magazine to be in view. Overall, I think my front page follows the typical conventions of a music magazine, however, if I had the chance to change anything about this page is probably to alter the font on the banner at the top of the page and also to improve the edges of the female as it seems obvious that she's been photoshopped.

Some Images for my Music Mag

Here are some of the images I took to include in my music magazine. These are all related to the band Mute which my magazine is covering. Unfortunately, one of my male band member's didn't show up on the day I was taking the photos, so I had to use the same male to pose for both the drummer and guitarist. In the double page spread, I'm going say that the two males are twins which will explain why they both look the same. I experimented with tape to help reinforce the band's name: Mute. The members are young to appeal to my target audience of 13 to 20 year olds. Their clothes are trendy and casual to suggest that they are laid back and modern. It also makes them more likeable to the target audience as it shows that they are similar in the way they dress and in their music taste. My main genre of music which JAM Magazine is influenced by is Pop and Indie which are just two of the most popular genres for my target audience. I will edit out the background on Photoshop later on, as I think it looks too busy and doesn't tie in with the effect I want to create. The girl is wearing pink to emphasise her gender and the boys are wearing block colours of black and white to show that they're opposites (similar to ying and yang) and that they're different people. It also suggests that they're not as important as the girl singer as she stands out more because of her colour and is often positioned in front of the boy(s).

I also took some pictures for a friend for her music magazine. So, because I needed to change my image for the artist Spotlight, I decided to use one of those instead. I had the choice from the following below. The one I chose was due to the fact that she was looking directly at the camera (which images on the front page of a magazine do) and also because the overall shape seemed to fit ideally with the corner of my magazine.

Font Styles of the Music Names

For my music artists, I've decided to cover a band called Mute and a singer called Spotlight. The font is important as it represents the type of music genre the artists cover. Below are some examples that I tried. Mute is expressed as bold, large font all in capitals to represent the name of the band 'Mute'. In comparison, Spotlight is more elegant and scripted representing feminism which will hopefully help portray the female artist I want to show. Below are the two examples I've chosen. I decided upon these as I believe they will portray the artists intentions better than the others. Mute reminds me of gaffa tape, which I will hopefully be using in my image, because it is black and bold with little space in between the letters. Spotlight is one of the easier fonts to read out of the previous ideas and I believe it is most suitable for my image.

My Music Mag Logo

This is my first attempt at creating the name and logo of my magazine. I thought of JAM as it is easy and simple to remember and say. It also stands for "Just Awesome Music" which I thought was unique. The red not only symbolises the typical expectant colour for a music magazine, but it could also be seen as representing jam as the food, for example strawberry jam. I'm happy with how my logo looks and I think this is what I will probably use on my finished product. Although, I did experiment with stars and music notes as well, which I have included below. I orginally wanted a guitar somewhere on the logo because there is a saying about "jamming to music" which often uses a guitar, but I couldn't create one which was small enough or fitted with what I wanted.

Double Page Spreads

In this double page spread, it is easy to find the title of the article as it is the band's name: The Teenagers. The blue colour represents masculinity and is used in several parts of the article to reinforce the male theme and to also highlight specific information about the band. For example, the "Need To Know" section is styled like a page ripped from a notebook, this could relate to school - as the band consists of three young males also known as The Teenagers - and it could also suggest that the text is important as it is seperate from the rest of the article and notebooks are normally used to note certain, important facts. The article itself is situated on the opposite side of the page with a white background and black text. This makes the text easy to read as it is the norm when reading a bulk of writing. On the other side of the page is a large main image of the band. All three members are male and are dressed casually and are in confident, laid back positions. The room in which the photograph was taken reinforces the name of the band and their personalities. It is obvious that they are in a bedroom as they are all relaxed on the bed, with posters which you would expect to find in a male, teenager's room. The fact that they are all in a bedroom emphasise their band name of The Teenagers as that is where most teenagers spend their time. Each member of the band is styled differently, though they all share the same style of dark clothing. The male in the centre of the picture can be assumed to be the leader of the band as he seems the more confident out of the three and seems to make a statement about his individuality as he is the only one wearing glasses which can suggest that he is intelligent and / or different. The member to the left appears to be the most relaxed member of the band who seems the more "normal" of the group. To the right, we can see that this member is very individual with his appearance and seems to represent the typical moody teenager because of his facial expression. A smaller image of a band member in action on stage is also shown with a caption explaining what the image is about. To interest the readers more in to reading the article, a quote is made to stand out, (blue background - again to represent the masculinity) which is written in white whilst the name of the person who said the quote is in black. Another technique to advertise the reader is to add a "NME loves" in a black starry shape by the title which suggests that this band are the next big thing due to the magazine enjoying them.

The colour scheme of black, white, blue and grey is used to create a sophisticated, simple approach to this artist. Again, a large image of the artist has been used on one side of the page and he is looking away from the camera which reflects his personality of being "cool" and relaxed. To me, he seems to know that he's good and is showing that through his stance of hands in pockets and looking bored. His dark clothing and glasses also suggests that he is comfortable with who he is and prefers to blend in with the scene, in this case, he blends in with the colour scheme. However, personally, I don't think that the blue writing fits well with the colours, however it could've been used to represent the fact that the artist is male. Though there isn't any title for the article, the largest writing on the double page spread is the artists name down the side of the male "Sebastian King". However, the readers know where the article begins with the first letter of the first word being larger than the rest of the black text of the article. There are several smaller images of the artist which show him posing in different ways which reflect his personality more, though it emphasises the orginial opinion of him being very cool and sophisticated.

In this article, the artist is again taking up a full page of one of the double page spread. She is dressed casually with her eyes being made to stand out using black make-up which could possibly have been used to tie in with her hair. Her stance is quite challenging which could connect to the title of the article as she is stood with her hands on hips, suggesting she is being quite defensive. The title itself is similar to cut out letters from a newspaper and is all black and white to emphasise this interpretation. It takes up most of the page, and some of the second page, to attract readers to the article. A consistent font is used but the letters vary in height; the title is also a quote from the artist which is explained later on by the sub-heading. The name of the artist is made to stand out in red, which could have been used to tie in with the colour of her shirt, and it also stands out in case you didn't know who the artist was. The article text is black on a white background and the beginning of the article begins with a big, black letter which is telling the reader "START HERE".

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It was difficult to find examples of double page spreads to analyse however I found three which I believe share typical conventions of music magazines. Two of the double page spreads are from official music magazines whilst one (entitled Sebastian King) is a previous student's work. Above are the links to the images of where I found them from.

NME magazine

[https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUeeB2zflAHk3XcRYw0_0VuwZGiYf-uNKW6hC1v7nKFljES-8yX6Zv2k1ewEZ-Gwrsk0f_ATOCIywX1r9ZfQBztanQdGI5-E4yC6goi2qnqNCiXdRBd3IlihaeNT7uO8K-Kx5vPwRzgjo/s1600/magImage2.jpg] This is the website where I found this image.

NME Magazine shares many conventions with other music magazines. Similarly, it uses a red colour on the masthead of NME as well as on the bottom banner, it also includes a main image which blocks part of the masthead (which is typical in a lot of magazines, mainly because the masthead is supposed to be well-known). There are also banners used, cover lines, smaller images and white-coloured font. The name of the person in the main image is the largest font size (besides the title) which draws more attention to the singer. There are numerous other bands and singers mentioned to attract more audiences who are interested in different music genres. The genre's which I believe NME covers are pop, indie and rock. Finding the price isn't hard as it is easy to see under the title whilst the issue number, date and website can be found near the barcode. For the target audience, I believe NME is trying to appeal to numerous ages because of the variety of old and new music (example: Bowie is considered to be quite old whilst Lily Allen is fairly new to the music world) however, the main target audience is young people (15 - 25 years). The pose appears quite moody and un-smiling which relates more to the typical teenager appearance. There doesn't seem to be anything happy about the magazine or the contents as it even says "I can't keep on living like this, it's doing my head in".

Spin Magazine

[http://www.netmagazines.com/images/9343L.jpg] <-- This is the website which shows the picture.

Spin Magazine, though not as well known as others such as Kerrang! and NME follows the conventions expected of a music magazine."Panic! At The Disco" is clearly shown with a white-coloured font and pink background. Along with the coverline "How did these guys become rock's hottest new band?" the pink could symbolise the difference which is associated with this band as well as the magazine itself. The impression that I get from this technique used by Spin is that they are trying to be different and appeal to a variety of audiences. Pink is stereotypically a girl colour, so maybe Spin normally appeals to a more male audience but by having the pink, girls are also interested in this magazine. The main image suggests that this magazine isn't serious as one of the boys are positioned with a strange look on his face which puts a "Spin" on the typical magazine. It also shows that this band is completely different to some of them that you would expect. A banner is positioned at the top of the page above the masthead at the top left. Again, red is a colour which is used as the background of the title - an often occurance! There are numerous cover lines advertising further articles within the magazine appealing to numerous audiences interested in different genres; the most popular genre's being rock, indie and pop. In this type of music mag, the barcode includes the date, issue number and price which is easier in my opinion as the audience just need to look at the barcode to find out what they need / want to know (such as how recent the magazine is).

Rolling Stone Magazine

[http://www.shinystyle.tv/Keith%20Richards%20rolling%20stone.jpg] <-- The website where I found this image.

This is the front cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Because of the name of the magazine, we can assume that the target audience for this magazine is people who are interested in rock and/or are the older generation (30+). The main image of Johnny Depp and Keith Richards also promote the rock type of genre which is expected inside the magazine as they are dressed in a rock style. Again, the font colour is red which is a regular occurance with music mags as it easily stands out, it could also be read to emphasise the "blood" aspect of "blood brothers". The banner at the top of the page tells the audience of other large rock bands which are also included in this issue of Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone is the institution of this magazine as it also has it's website near the top right of the page, accompanied by the price, issue number and date. A barcode is also easily seen at the bottom left of the page which is common with most magazines. Compared to Q Magazine, Rolling Stone has very little text on the front cover which narrows it's target audience to those who like the bands at the top of the page and/or those who like Johnny Depp or Keith Richards as the only cover line is related to main image. However, this could also be a technique used by the editor's to want to make the audience flick through the magazine and see what else is included, therefore, they've attracted the audience by having the cover less congested with texts and images as it is completely different to the other magazines on the shelf.

Q Magazine

http://www.dubechoes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/dubechoes_q.jpg <-- This is where I found my image.

This is just one front cover of the Q Magazine. It depicts several famous names of the music industry including: Bruce Springsteen, Blue, Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga, Prodigy etc ... All of these are appealing to a certain type of music audience - one which is interested in the more rock genre of music. It even says at the bottom of the page "Classic Rock" which can easily describe the whole magazine itself. The name of the magazine is easily identified in the top left hand corner of the page. 'Q' is also the institution of this particular magazine. This is postitioned there for a reason as when the magazines are on the shelf, the name of the magazine can be easily found. The aim of this magazine is commercial (to make money) so it has many adverts inside. The banner at the top of the page contains the tagline to accompany the name which sells itself to the audience as 'the best music magazine in the UK', which it has been proved to be. Though it doesn't need anything else to help appeal to the public, it also includes a competition advert on the bottom right of the page saying "WIN". It's large enough to grab the readers attention, but not big enough to distract them from knowing that it's Q Magazine. There is a lot of text in this particular issue which claims to have a lot of knowledge on other bands/singers/festivals etc ... Though this would help to promote the magazine, personally, I find it makes the cover look very busy and involves too much reading. My opinion of a main cover is to attract the audience to want to look and read inside the magazine, not know everything that it features from the front cover. The colour scheme works well as it is consistent everywhere on the front cover. Red and white are used to help reinforce the original colour of the name/logo of the magazine, whilst black is also used to help the other two colours stand out more from the page and to also make other articles more pronounced. The font styles are all consistent as well as the colour on the front page. This helps to keep the magazine in the same style. The main image consists of a long shot of a famous singer, Bruce Springsteen. Not only does this appeal to the audience who know of this singer, but it also interests females who may be attracted to the magazine because of the image.

Top Music Magazines

http://top40.about.com/od/top10lists/tp/musicmagazines.htm <-- this was the website were I found the "top music mags".

Some of the top magazines include: NME, Entertainment Weekly, Q, Vibe (and more!)

Conventions of a Magazine

Masthead - this is the name of the magazine. Examples include: Vogue, Cosmopolitan etc...
Main Image - this is usually of the main feature in the magazine. Sometimes, the main image covers the masthead slightly as it is normally well-known and can be identified by whoever/whatever the main image is. Examples include: U2 on the cover of Q, Cast members of Eastenders on the cover of TV Guide etc...
Cover Lines - these are titles or teasers of articles within the magazine. Examples include: "Foo Fighter's come clean" (Q Magazine) etc...
Secondary Images - these are sometimes included. They relate to other articles inside the magazine and often are used when there are several famous people included in that issue. Examples include: Images on the cover of TV Guide showing cast members of other TV programmes, Coronation Street, Casualty, Doc Martin etc ...
Barcode - there is normally a barcode so that it can be scanned when bought in shops. It sometimes has the issue number and/or the date near it too.
Price - the price of the magazine. Examples include: Q Magazine for £3.30
Date - this helps the reader/buyer to idenitfy how old the magazine is. Some magazines are monthly, others weekly. Examples include: Cosmo which comes out monthly whilst TV Guide comes out weekly.
Tagline - these help to "sell" the magazine. Examples include: Q Magazine "Britain's Biggest Music Magazine".


Music Magazines share many of these conventions with other magazines, including sports, entertainment etc... The only difference is that everything in a music magazine is related to music. The main image is of a band or singer, the articles inside are all about music, the secondary images include more bands/singers, even most of the adverts are advertising new music albums etc ...

The Points of LIIAR

L = Language - This is everything that is seen visually on/in a media text. For example, what you first see on a magazine is usually the masthead, main image, a secondary image and cover lines.

I = Institution - These are the different processes in which a media text is produced. For example, the BBC is a major institution as it has two of the main channels on television.

I = Ideology - This is what the media text is trying to communicate. It usually involves including what the institution wants to represent in it's text whilst trying to share what they believe their target audience would expect. For example, if you're looking for a sport magazine, you may look for an image of a sports person.

A = Audience - This is the any audience which the media text is aimed at. Each text has a primary (also known as target) audience which is who the text is aiming at; this can be easily identified by looking closely at the text. For example, if the front page of a magazine is mainly pink and purple, we can assume that its primary audience is aimed at girls.

R = Representation - This is what the media text is trying to represent and what we have to try to deconstruct. There are many reasons why something has been done in a media text and we have to try to understand what it symbolises or why it's been used in that way. For example, if a pink font is used in a magazine, we can assume that the institution have decided on that colour to appeal to a certain target audience.

Main Task

The main task is to produce: the front page, contents and double-page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text must be original, produced by you - minimum of four images.

Scanned Images

At last I've worked out how to use the scanner! Here are the images from my planning which I did a little while ago. It includes 2 brainstorms, 2 drafted images of my original idea (School Scoop Magazine), 2 very brief drafted images for the magazine in general, 2 drafted images for my Wyke Wonders magazine and finally, a plan which I used to take my pictures.

Pictures that I didn't (and a few that I did!) use

These are all images that I took. The majority of them were for my front cover, the rest were for a contents page.