Experimenting with the front cover, colours, pictures and font.

This is the front page image that I created. I decided from research that I wanted to have a white background with a contrasting masthead. I think that the colour of the masthead works well here as it is linking with the love heart that Rachael is holding in the picture. However, I feel that the White background doesnt work very well as it just makes it seem unfinished. I really liked the font that I found on photoshop. I think it fully captures the style I am going for, (indie electro) as it looks very modern and bold and strong. I definatley want to use this font on my final product.

This was another experiment, but this time with a different name for the magazine. As my magazine is aimed at new/unsigned artists, I wanted to think of a name that would make this clear. "Introduire" is french for "Introducing" which I think fits well because effectivley the magazine is introducing new talent. I also think the fact that it is black works well too, as it stands out very well. However I still feel that the white background gives an unfinished feel.














As I felt that the white background wasnt working, I tried a pale blue background which I felt worked with the red heart in the picture, which is kind of a focal point. I like the contrast of quite a watery, pastel shade with the very vibrant red colour, however I still didnt think this looked right.

This is my favourate of the ones I tested. I chose the picture as the black outfit contrasts well with the very bright background. The picture also gives a "loud" feel which is excatly what I want to convey. I think the bright pink and the black works very well together, and the colours are sterotypical of the genre.
From this, I am going to further the layers and start adding to this to make it look more like a front cover.

Photographs that I took for my front cover

I took around 60 photographs of my friend posing in different ways, wearing different clothes. I asked her to model for my front cover as I felt that she is aestheticly pleasing. This is important as, as she is on the front cover, it will draw peoples attention to her and make them interested and look. I felt that she had the right sort of style and look that I was going for- quite quirky, arty and fashionable. She has also had experience of modelling so was naturally good at pulling poses for the camera.

The look I was trying to acheive in my photos, was quite a fun, colourful, fashionable and loud vibe.

Also as my magazine is primarily aimed at a female audience, I feel it was vital to have styled her in a specific way to appeal to a female audience, as females sterotypically are attracted to clothes and beauty.

However, I do understand that my magazine would now also possibly appeal to a male audience. I feel this because the photographs are aimed to create an impression as they are quite dramatic colours and poses. There is also alot of flesh showing which could be classed as quite provocative.

I chose clothes that had bright colours or where of the "indie" style. A generic feature of this is clashing colours, or very bright fluorecent colours. I wanted the outfits to look quite quirky and mis-matched to give the "individul" style. I feel by presenting the "star" in this way will appeal to the audience I am trying to target. For example people who like "indie" fashion will be interested in "indie" music.

I also looked to indie electro stars for inspiration on how they posed in pictures and also how they dressed. For example pictures of Lily Allen, Little Boots and La Roux. I feel this is evident in my work by the use of the image of the whole body and not just a generic shot of the face.

I decided to use the prop of a microphone in my pictures to create a music feel. When I was doing my research on pictures of music stars, they where often featured with a musical instrument. This links in very well as promoting my magazine as a music magazine and not a fashion magazine.

Masthead Research

Here are some examples of mastheads that I have found from magazines that are closely linked to the genre of my own magazine.

The mastheads above, I have taken and cropped from "NYLON" magazine. The masthead is the same every time a new issue comes out although the colour is constantly changing. However the colours always have a relevance to the issue and work well with the other colour scheme used on the front over. For example, The baby pink version of the title was used to contrast with the stars black hair, and also worked well with what she was wearing. The other typography on the page was also of a modern style and used colours such as baby blue and lilac, which worked well as a colour scheme. This also could give the connotation of innocence, as the colours are quite childlike. This could emply that the star is portayed as being innocent.

A feature that always come through in every issue with the mastehead is that the colours always have a "female" vibe or connotation. The colours are often quite feminine, so different shades of pink, yellow. The colours are often fluorecent, or very vibrant which also fits in with the genre of the magazine.

The actual font of the masthead gives a stong feel as the lettering is bold, and the letters are equally spaced between each other. Also as the letters are filled, so they arent transparent which would also give a "weaker" feel.

The white background I feel is very effective, it makes the vibrant lettering stand out very well.

The masthead makes it clear the audience it will be aimed at. For example the colours give the magazine a young teenage modern feel. The colours give an "out there" feel, and quite a loud feel. For example, just by looking at the masthead makes it clear that it wouldnt be exactly suitible for a buisiness person, or a person from an older generation.

Masthead/Typography

I started thinking and looking into different types of font for the masthead and the other font that will be used on the page. From looking at the magazines such as NYLON and INDIE, and also from researching a few album covers of the music genre I wish to base my magazine on, I came to the conclusion that the lettering styles where bold, and stood out very well. I also noticed the use of either very bright neon colours such as pink and yellow where used quite often. But also the use of black and white, which also looked very effective.
The mastheads of the magazines always stand out and are very noticeable and striking.

Ideas for images for my front cover

I found these images on topshop.com blog. I think they are a good inspiration as the clothing that is bought from topshop also fits the "indie" sterotype. So if i style the model that is to be on the cover of my own magazine in this way, I should hopefully attract the right audience. Another thing I like about these images is the way in which they are posing. The models either are looking straight into the camera, or posing in quite a dramatic way (such as jumping). This makes the images seem quite quirky and cool. Also, as i have decided to have a simple background on my own cover, quite a dramatic pose would look quite effective. I like the way the image doesnt seem organised. It is made to look natural. By positioning the model slightly left or right, it makes the whole image seem more interesting.

Image ideas/Research/Front Cover

From previous research into front covers that I found effective, I noticed that somthing that kept coming up was the simplicity of the images. Not only where the images quite simple, but the backgrounds are kept plain. This focuses all attention onto the image, which is the most important part as this needs to be of good quality to appeal to an audience. I uploaded these pictures of album art from various artists that fit the genre of "Electro-pop" in which I am interested. I found that as a genre, the styles that are runnign through are similar. From this I thought that if i where to use this technique on the cover of my magazine, not only should it look quite effective and striking, but also appeal to my ideal target audience. There is also use of black and white, which again is used in the magazines I was drawn to (NYLON & INDIE). But then also minimal use of colour, but when colour is used it is only used slightly. For example, the "New Young Pony Club" album artwork is kept very simple with the white background, and then the images of the band are also simple and dressed in black, contrasting with the white background, and then the title is in a bright florecent pink, which stands out to the other colours. I feel this looks very effective and I would like to use this style in my own magazine.

INDIE MAGAZINE

I decided to look at "INDIE" magazine. This magazine really caught my eye, which I think is very important for magazines, as when they are put next to many different magazines they need to stand out. This particular magazine challenges the generic look of magazines as there is no text around the outside of the main image explaining what is in the issue. I think this could work well as it makes the magazine seem even more intriguing as the consumer would actually have to pick the magazine up and have a quick flick through before buying. This also could have a disadvantage as they wouldn't know what the magazine featured, so could be mislead. However, as the image is the main focal point, it is important that this captures the eye, as it should promote the magazine in the right way. Below the masthead however, there is a sub title that states "The Independant Style Magazine", the word Style is very important here as style can be related to may things, including music and fashion. Especially as the magazine is named "INDIE"

Again, like "NYLON" magazine, the front cover of "INDIE" magazine is also kept simple. Even more simple than NYLON infact due to lack of text.

I think the use of colour is also effective on this magazine. The background is kept plain, but the colours that are used on the magazine are linked to the colours of the clothing that the model is wearing. So they compliment each other which looks good. There is use of contrast which makes the magazines look visually attractive and eye catching. For example, a darker image paired with a lighter more pastel background. Or a black and white image on a black, or white background also looks very striking.

NYLON MAGAZINE. FRONT COVER.

Although my magazine is to be a music magazine, I wanted to gain ideas from various different magazines, for example fashion magazines as I feel this would be very closely linked to my magazine. I fet looking at other publications would provide me with ideas on typography, imagery, and colour schemes.
I first looked at NYLON. Nylon is a magazine which mainly focuses on fashion, music and indie culture. It could be described as being an "Indie" style magazine due to the style of clothes and music that it promotes.

It stood out as being different to me as it is always kept very simple. Simplicity is somthing that I would like to encorperate within my own work. This makes the image more of a focal point, which is exactly what I want to acheive. I also find the colour scheme quite interesting. The colour scheme fits/goes with what the model is wearing. The colours range from black, through different shades of purple and lilac, fitting in with the white background.

The fontography is also interesting to look at and makes the magazine look quite quirky and cool. It also higlights what is going to take up bigger sections of the magazine, for example, the main feature is in a bigger font, and the smaller features are in smaller fonts, etcetc.

Wordle - electro pop

Wordle - electro pop: ""

Indie/Electro Pop

I decided to gather a few photographs of the sort of artists I am looking to feature in my magazine. These artists fall into the catorgory of "Indie/Electro Pop".














From looking at these few images of the larger, more well known artists of the genre, I have found that they are quite creative to look at, which I like and find inspirational. The images convey quite a quirky fashionable feel which is quite arty. The images capture quite a simple feel, and quite alot of the time just feature the artist, or artists and their instrument. Another thing that I notice about images that are used is the bright use of colour, or the use of black and white.
The background is kept clear so this automatically makes the picture seem very simple, i like the simplicity as it focuses the attention onto the artist. The Focus point of alot of the pictures is the musical instrument. In the above pictures a keyboard is featured quite often, this is typical of the genre as keyboards are often used to get the right sound for the genre. However they are also seen as being "retro" wich is also a current trend that is quite popular at the minute, not only within music, but again, also in fashion.
These pictures have inspired me to think about the ways in which I would like to feature the cover artist on my own music magazine. I would like to draw on the fact that the imagery is kept very simple. There is use of bright colour, but contrasting maybe with a black and white image. And that the instrument is a main part of the photograph.



"Indie" culture/sterotype

The clothes that are worn could be described as "indie" which links in with fashion, but also comes hand in hand with the musical genre. For example, people who listen to the "indie" genre of music are usually expected to be labelled as "indie" themselves.

Sterotypically, people who are labelled, or label themselves as "Indie" dress in a certain way and listen to "Indie" music, and do social activities such as go to gigs, enjoy band music and are often described to be festival goers.

The age range of people that are put under this catorgory is generally younger teens, from about age 15 right through to mid 20's.

Indie has become quite popular in the last few years, as celebrities in the media are often described as being indie, due to the way they dress, the social activities they take part in, the music they listen to, and even their sense of humour.
The celebrities have been described as "Young London". As they generally live and work in London, wear typically "British" fashion clothes, and hang out in the trendiest clubs in London.
The sort of female stars that conform are the likes of Alexa Chung, Pixie Geldof, Peaches Geldof,Kelly Osbourne, Daisy Lowe, Agyness Deyn, Kate Moss.

Many of the younger fans of these people, who look up to and admire the ways in which these stars dress will be interested in the same sort of lifestyles. For example the music and the fashion.
I think it is important to realise that my magazine will feature an unsigned act, which will not be well known so it is crucial to advertise and promote the artist to the right audience.
I feel by styling the artist in a particular way, and dressing them in the sort of clothes that would appeal to the audience of this type of music and fashion scene, I will therfore attract the right audience towards the style of my magazine.