Music Magazine Front Cover Draft

This one has conventional magazine features such as a bar code, issue no, dateline, masthead, Smaller feature, subtitle, Main Feature: Headline and Image.

In this draft cover I have experimented with a different main image and background. The colour of the font doesn't work as well against this background, but the red typeface still stands out.

In this draft cover I have experimented with the name of the magazine and the Masthead as a whole. I changed the font and the size of the text to see what works better.

I have experimented with a different main image in this draft cover. This makes the model look more vulnerable as if we are looking down on her. This is to link with the idea of Alice in Wonderland and her being a vulnerable young lady susceptible to daydreaming.

Photoshop Practice

This is the image I was given to edit, as you can see she has a lot of blemishes and spots on her skin that can be taken away through editing on Photoshop to make the image look more professional for a print publication.

This is an after image to show how I have used photoshop to enhance an image. By making the model's skin blemish-free, adjusting the layers of the photo by putting a dark and light layer underneath and adjusting the opacity it makes her skin look flawless and porcelain-like. The image is now more suitable to use for a print publication.

Magazine Outline

This is the idea that I have for the outline of my music magazine, I will carry on to add a main feature photo and background. This contains a Masthead, bar code, main feature headline and a smaller feature. A left third could be added as this is a very common convention of a magazine's front cover.

Creating a Draft Front Cover in Photoshop

I started by opening up a new document Photoshop in A4 size to match the Brief of my Portfolio.

I then opened up an image in Photoshop for my background this will take up the whole size of the A4 so when I add it to my background layer I will select Edit>Transform>Scale in order to make it fit the whole of the background.

I have opened up my chosen image in Photoshop to enable me to edit the photo appropriately.

I have cut around the model in my chosen photo as I have already chosen another background for my image.

I have copied the layer of my photo so that I have a back-up copy of the photo or if I erase part of the photo there will still be one there.

This print screen shows the photo of my model against the background I have chosen. One thing that is wrong with this image as a final version is that the image of the model is quite jagged around the edge where I have cut her out from her original background.

In this image I have added a Masthead and my main feature headline, through creating this draft idea I wanted to experiment with using an alternative background to the one that was in the original photograph.

In this draft idea I have used a different image against a different background in the same way I had previously created the other draft idea. I chose the idea of her lying among the flowers, because it represents her daydreaming and that is how Alice ended up in wonderland. It also fits with the idea that wonderland isn't real and is therefore far more beautiful than our reality.

This front cover features a bar code, a conventional feature of a magazine, this is to keep track of how many are sold. I chose the name of the magazine "Sway" because it is a well known song, but after researching the roots of the song I have found that it was originally Spanish and has more of a mambo rhythm and therefore not suitable for my music genre.

The colour of the text doesn't work against this background. The masthead is more visible, but the main headline isn't and that can potentially sell a magazine if it has a good anchorage to go with it.

 This is another idea for the title of my magazine "Jive." This has more connotations associated with the jazz genre of music. I have also changed the font to Cambria and the colour to a brighter red to make it more eye-catching. The quote from the article acts as a subtitle/sell line for the main feature. I chose to put it in italics to separate it from the main text.

This print screen of the layers in Photoshop shows how I have used an outre glow effect on my main feature headline I did it red to keep within the house style that I have created.

Music Magazine Barcode

I used http://www.barcodesinc.com/ to create this barcode for my magazine it incorporates the issue number and price features, all are conventional features of a magazine. I have to price my magazine at £3.40 after researching the average price of magazines. Also my magazine is a monthly and is aimed at mainly women in ABC1, therefore I think this is a reasonable price for my magazine.

Initial Ideas

I chosen to do a music magazine within the genre of jazz and have started to think of several ideas for a name for my jazz music magazine, some I came up with by using a Thesaurus  to generate alternative words for Jazz:

• Dixieland
• Bebop
• Blues
• Boogie
• Boogie-woogie
• Bop
• Fusion jazz
• Hot jazz
• Improvisational music
• Jive
• Ragtime
• Swing
• All That Jazz (well-known jazz influenced song from the musical Chicago)
• Sway (famous song)
• The Jazz Singer (a old "talkie" film from 1927)
• HHR (Hot Honey Rag) - (well-known jazz influenced song from the musical Chicago)

Jazz Musicians
Louis Armstrong
Chuck Mangione
Tony Bennett
Pat Boone
Nat King Cole
Perry Como
Michael Buble
Ella Fitzgerald
Billie Holiday


The idea for the band to be called "White Rabbit" symbolises a reference to the past they are a jazz band heavily influenced by the past and the things that take them back to the height of jazz. Just like the white rabbit in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland leads Alice into the world that she dreams of. The band White Rabbit takes the lead vocalist into an era where jazz was sensationally popular.

I looked at this image when trying to think of what I wanted my front cover to look like. I love the use of colour and how her red hair and fair complexion really draw you into her making a striking image.

I liked this image as an inspiration for an Alice in Wonderland style photo. She looks well-dressed, but is stood in the middle of a wood suggesting that she is lost in another place just like Alice was.

In this image I like the use of excessive flowers and how they potentially dominate the room and a majority of the image, but despite this you are still drawn to her clothing which is what the image is promoting.

Institution

I think my magazine will appeal to Condé Nast, because they don't currently have a Music Magazine publication. They are also an American based company which is where jazz music became incredibly popular during the 1920's and 30's. They don't currently have a magazine which is centred around music, but they do have GQ which a men's lifestyle magazine which focuses on culture for men through factors such as music. GQ has a recent circulation figure of 980,254, with a median age of 33 and 83% aged 18 - 49 (2011.)  Condé Nast produce high-end, stylish magazines in the shape of Vogue, GQ, Vanity Fair, W and Glamour. They were established in 1909 and in 1919 they were the first publishing house to produce international editions - with Vogue being published in the UK. They have since grown and publish international editions of their magazines across the globe, like Vogue for example in Russia, America, UK, France and Italy etc. They have been an established publishing house for over 100 years and continue to grow and thrive in the industry, they launched their newest publication, style.com, last year. They are located on Madison Avenue, New York.