Contents page and double page spread guidelines

Contents page:

• Multiple images
• If just one image per page then do 2 or 3 contents pages
• Reflect your cover stories
• Largest image should be the cover star
• Not all contents is on the contents page
• Approx 60 pages - Weekly 
• Approx 140-180 pages - Monthly
• Divide contents into sections
• Page number - At least page 6 upwards
• Subscription offer
• Letter from the editor
• Magazine branding - Colour and logos

Double page spread:

• A3 Landscape - 300 DPI
• Page numbers
• Usually towards the end - Weekly - 40 upwards, Monthly - 80-90 upwards 
• Big letter at the beginning of the first paragraph - Dropped Cap
• Pull-out quote
• Columns - Photoshop for graphics, headlines and photos, Publisher - To place in the columns
• Columns - 6-12 words

Front Cover Draft

This is my completed front cover for my magazine. It is different to the other front cover and I have made the mast head bigger, I have also made the artists name bigger and put the feature story in capital letters so that I stands out more, I have also slanted the plug slightly and made it more compact and I think it looks much better this way.

Some other things I did  was retouching her face, enhancing her eyes, eyebrows and her lips. I managed to figure out how to do this by researching it on YouTube and the following tutorials are below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmgyRK6H5wk - This is the tutorial I used to touch up her face.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ-mafxccuY - Even though this was a tutorial for lips, as well as using it for her lips I also used the same method for her eyebrows and eyes and I found it the most effective and best way.
I have used the pucker tool in Photoshop in order to make the nose slightly smaller, and i have also used the bloat tool to make the eyes slightly bigger as well.

First Front Cover Draft

This is my favourite front cover idea. I liked the one where she is looking over her shoulder as well however I think that this represents the indie genre better than the other one which is why I have chosen this one.

Front Cover Options

I choose to look at this photograph as the guitar represents music well and I thought the framing would be right.

I chose this Photograph as I thought it was a similar style and framing to the mock up I did of Lana Del Rey.

I choose this photograph as I wanted to show some variety in my images and I think I have done this by using this photograph.

I choose this photograph as I think it was one of the better ones for a front cover that I choose and I thought the framing's were right. 

Again, I choose this photograph as the framing's were right and it was one of the best options for the front cover.

I choose this photograph as I think that it is more edgy than some of the other images that I took and it is similar to the cover of Land Del Rey, of who my magazine is based around.

These are all of the potential front covers for my magazine, I decided to do this so that could then choose the one that I think is the best.

Photographs For Magazine

These are before and after shots of the make-up and hair I did for the photo shoot.

These are all of the photography that I have taken for my magazine

Google mock up ideas

This is the first Google mock up idea I did for my front cover, I chose Lana Del Rey as my feature artist as she links really well to my genre and my survey results suggests she would be a popular choice. I chose to do a light pink, white and black colour scheme because when I looked at some existing indie magazines they tended to be quite pale and I thought they worked well together. However, when i put everything together I didn't think it quite worked so I changed it. This is the final Google mock up for my magazine and I much prefer this as I think both the colour scheme and the image of  Lana Del Rey have a much more edgy feel and link better to the genre of indie.  These are two of the Google mock ups I did first for my contents page, I did one is red as well as in pink as I changed my colour scheme after I had already done the contents page. This is another Google mock up I did for my contents page, however I don't quite like it because There is too many pictures of Lana Del Rey on it therefore it seems like it is just a magazine on her and no other artists. This is my final Google mock up idea for my contents page and I think the colour scheme works really well and I like the organisation of photography and the fact that there is loads of artists included in it and not just one. I have kept Lana Del Rey's image the largest as she is the feature artist in this issue. This is the first Google mock up that I did for my double page spread, I think the image works well on it however I am not very keen on the whole page all together. This is my final Google mock up idea for my double page spread and I really like it as it is very simple but effective.

Contents page house styles

As you can see on contents pages lots of images are used, both of the feature artist themselves and of other artists, this is to show the audience I wide variety of whats going to be in the magazine. There is also text on the page showing whats in the magazine and what page it is going to be on, this is to give the audience information on where certain pages in the magazine are. They also usually have a picture of the front cover on the contents page. They also usually have a comment about subscription, and this is to show the audience that they can get weekly/monthly subscriptions of this magazine. 

Double page spread house styles

In each of these three magazine issues, the picture of the artist takes up at least one A4 size photograph but mostly a full A3 size photograph. This is because they are the main feature in this issue therefore they want to make them stand out. 

A dropped cap is also used quite often, this is shown in the top left and top right magazine issues.

There is also usually quotes from the artists or text bout them, or an interview, this is because the reader wants to find out about the artist. 

Colour scheme ideas, Name ideas and feature story ideas

These are different techniques that you can use to create your masthead for the magazine.  NAME IDEAS:  Forte  I like this because forte means 'a thing at which someones excels'. Indy Mainstream Undiscovered  I like this name because Indie artists are typically people that were not signed by a major music label. This is also the reason I like the names 'Unknown' and 'Unsigned'. Unknown Rise  I like this name as it indicated that the stars I choose to have on my front cover would be rising stars that are still making their way up in the music industry. This is also why I like the name 'Rising', however I prefer 'Rise' as it is a shorter name which is more likely to be more effective.  Indi  Elite I like this name as elite means 'A group or class of people seen as having the most power and influence in a society', it also means that they excel in a certain something. Rising Content  I like this name as it shows that the artists i have on my cover are content with themselves, but also implies that there is going to be a lot of content within the magazine.  Changed Unsigned These are some font ideas for my logo. I have chosen to use 'ELITE' for my name as this is my favourite. The font I am going to use for my logo is Berlin Sans FB as I like it the best and I think it represents the indie genre very well.  These are some of the magazines front covers that I looked at to get my colour scheme, of which I then used on adobe colour wheel to get all the colours that worked well together. I have use adobe colour wheel to decide on my colour theme, I have also looked at existing indie magazines to get the main colour. Looking at these magazines, I have decided to go for a pale pink as the majority of the themes are very pale. I have chosen a black as well as this will help both my logo and feature stories stand out. I have then used the colour wheel to generate which third colour would go best with the pink and the black.  My favourite colour theme is the second one, as I think they will stand out more on my magazine, therefore i have chosen to use this theme for my magazine.  These are my logo ideas for my music magazine. I have done a few so that I can choose which one I think will work best. I was going to have my logo all in capital letters, however when it came to designing the logo I didn't think it worked like this therefore I decided to do it in lower case. I like the bottom one however, I think my logo will stand out more with a border round it which is why I then designed the other two logos, one with a thin black border and the other with a black box around it. My favourite logo is the 'elite' with the black box around it.  I have gone for a light pink colour with black based on my research. Once I put my google mock up ideas all together I didn't think the colour scheme quite worked, therefore I looked at some more front cover magazines for the Indie genre and came up with Red, White and Black.

Mise-en-scene location and prop ideas

One location I would like to shoot some of my images is against a white wall/ in a studio and this is because lots of magazines use this and I think they make the photograph look very professional.

Another location will be outside against a flowery background as I think this links well the the indie genre. 

I think these location ideas will appeal to my audience because based on my survey, the results show that the most favoured artist was Lana Del Rey and a lot of her images are very summary and include flowers either in the background or as a prop, which is why I am going to try and include flowers in my props as well.

Another prop I would like to use is a guitar as this is highly associated with the indie genre and I think it will work really well on my double page spread and contents page, however I don't think I would use it on my front cover as I want the actual artist to be the main focus.