This is my completed double page spread.

This is my finsished contents page.

This is my finished front cover.

For the titles and the interesting quote that i highlighted on my double page spread i used a font called 'Monotype Corsiva'. I had to use a different font for these parts as they needed to stand out, i thought this font was appropriate as it still had a classy look about it, but was also fun, like the article.

Throughout the magazine i generally used 'Arial' as the main font, especially for actual article information of for pieces of text where it had to be neccessary. I used this font because it is very clear and probably the easisest font to read.

JAMIE SQUIRES

JAMIE SQUIRES

JAMIE SQUIRES

JAMIE SQUIRES

These are all the fonts that  i shorttlisted for the cover  story. Eventually i decided to go with the top one, which is called Rockwell. I chose this particular one because it is more visually interesting than the others and it fitted in more with the front cover.  I was very close to choosing the bottom one, which is named 'Franklin Gothic Heavy',  it is very striking,  but i din not think it was alluring as the 'Rockwell' font. 

I fiddled about with various shades of blue throughout creating my magazine but settled on the shade used on the ‘Rockwell’ font. I has a more sophisticated feel to it and looks the least harsh, whether it would catch a potential consumers eye I am not quite sure of.

 

This is very well presented in my opinion as the features listed are clear to see and have simple informatiom about what they contain. Again, the use of red for the numbers and black for the text keeps everything clear. Black is a very good choice for the font colour as it is the easiest to read against a white background. This technique will definitely be used in my magazine.

This section of the contents page directs the reader to where they can find everything that's usually featured in the magazine, such as email, subscription and games. I have used this feature in my magazine.

This bar running across the top of the contents page simply tells the audience the date and issue number. It uses the 'Q' logo again to keep the house theme running. And, it uses all the house colours, black, red and white to keep it flowing. 

Q have used the main feature of their magazine to full effect here as they have made it take up a large proportion of the contents page. All that is done to indicate where abouts the feature is in the magazine and what it will contain is a tab that tells the aduience the page number, the article story and what the article actually contains. The different colours for the numbers and title also helps the audience differentiate.

This is a Q contents page, i have chosen this as an example as it is aimed towards the same sort of target audience as i am, but it is also a very well layed out page. It is very clear, with not too mnay colours over running the actual information, which is a contents page main function. It only uses the magazine's house colours to keep the theme running.  

Again, NME have primarily used the colours red, black and yellow to attract the reader. Here the use of the big and bold coloursis very alluring, also the angle of the font looks as if it's coming towards you, this lifts the front cover. The use of the word 'revealed' makes the reader feel like this magazine is showing something brand new, unseen to the world.

This particular feature stands out quite a lot on the fron of the NME cover. The word 'exclusive' shows that this article will be featured no where else, which is much more appealing to the audience. The colours red, yellow and white stand out in any magazine and the use of all three in this case makes this feature almost unmissable to the eye. The use of the image here also helps the reader get an idea of the stroy. These sort of techniques have definitely influenced my magazine.

The cover story here features the bands name in the biggest font because that is what most people would be interested in looking at. The actual title feature 'One thump or two' is a play on words, replacing 'thump' with sugar. but it's also reflective of the bands aggressive attitude. Below the band name it just gives an insight into what the article will contain. I'm looking closely at cover stories like this to try and give my magazine the same sort of look, althouhg i think i'll keep mine more simple and to the point.

The masthead with the magazine's official masthead below is used on almost every front cover. It is something that the audience will remember the magazine for. For example Keraang's tag line is 'Live Life Loud', this is reflective of the music they feature and their general attitude, the use of alliteration here is also important. NME have cleverly intertwined the tagline in with the name 'NME'. I used the same layout as NME did with the tagline just below the masthead, in smaller but still visible font size.

This is a very useful technique when trying to sell a magazineas it can persuade someone to buy. By using the term 'win' it makes the reader think that they can get something out of the magazine, and highlighting it so that it stands out. Using this on my front cover will definitely give me an advantage and give the cover a more professional look.  

This was another possibility for my border. Although it keeps to theme of my magazine, it does not make the images stand out, which is what they are supposed to achieve.

This is another possible border i was considering using for the front cover. I decided against it as it didn't really stand out and also looked a bit bland.

This is the final banner i have used at the bottom of my front page. I decided to use a bold red line running around the images to make them look more sleek and compact. I made the actual images smaller so they could fit inside the banner i created. I created the banner by simply drawing lines on Microsoft Word, and editing them to suit my magazine. I decided on using red for the banner, even though this goes against my house theme, it makes the images stand out and not just fade into the background as they were doing before. I also changed the angle of the text. Before, it was at slanty angles and i realised that it was quite hard to see and not immediately striking, so i changed thet text to a normal and more formal angle.

Questionnaire

1. How well does the product fit the codes and conventions of the genre?

2. How well does the product meet your needs?

3. What does the product communicate to you?

4. Which parts were most successful?

5. Which parts were least successful?


Answer 1. The product is in parts quite resemblant of other magazines in the same genre. It uses similar stories and presents them on the front cover the same way.

Answer 2. If I were interested in rock music magazines I think I would be satisfied with the content of the product. it also has a good image to text ratio, as I don't what to have to read loads of unnecessary writing but also I don't want it to be crowded with images.

Answer 3. The magazine clearly gets across who it is aimed at. It's colour scheme opens it up to males and females. It has a clean and precise look that would maybe attract people in their early 20's and obviously people who are interested in this specific genre of music.

Answer 4. The whole of the contents page looks professional and as if it's taken a lot of time to precise. It is also a bit different to other content pages that I have been shown, it uses a different layout.

Answer 5. I think the front cover could have been more bold and out standing. It is very tidy and neat but could maybe experiment with more colours to make it stand out. The headline story isn't the first thing that attracts me either.