Experimenting with Masthead Fonts

Masthead – Courier New

Masthead - Algerian

Masthead – Arial Black

Masthead – Bernard MT condensed

Masthead - Elephant

Masthead – Wide Latin

Masthead - Castellar

Masthead – Copperplate gothic bold

Masthead - Gungsuh

Masthead – Showcard Gothic

Masthead – Mongolian Balti

Masthead – Goudy stout

I have experimented with some fonts on Microsoft Word, i like all of these fonts. I am going to now create a target audience research sheet and find out which one of these font's my audience like best as to which font i will use for my Masthead. 

Analysis of 'Acoustic' magazine's contents page

I have created a presentation where i have analysed the Acoustic magazine's contents page for the Winter 2014 issue. Click here to view!

Analysis of 'Metal Hammer' contents page.

I have created a presentation on the analysis of Metal Hammer's contents page for the summer 2014 issue. Click here to view!

Analysis of 'Q' magazine contents page.

Here i created a slideshare on the analysis of 'Q's contents page Click here to view!

Planning and Creativity

The research i have done of Johnny Cash, Fleetwood Mac and E.L.O has informed my planning and creativity because it has gave me an insight on the vintage era. It has helped me understand the types of things vintage artists got up to, i could involve this in my magazine to attract me target audience. I also choose to research these artists so that i could use them in my magazine, they could be features on my contents page or front cover.

Research into Johnny Cash

Fleetwood Mac background

Electric Light Orchestra collage

This is a collage of Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), this band is my father's favourite and he listened to them ever since he was young, they are a classic vintage band. I think they would be good to use in my music magazine. 

Fleetwood Mac Collage

Here, i have created a collage of Fleetwood Mac, i have grown up listening to this band as my father is a big fan. I enjoy listening to their music and i think it would be good for me to use a band in my music magazine that i am interested in.

Johnny Cash Collage

I have created a collage of Johnny Cash as he is a vintage artist i want to use in my Music magazine and i like his music, i have also watched Walk the Line which is a film produced all about his life, it is one of my favourite films.

Vintage Artists

 I have researched into some vintage artists i would consider using in my magazine.

How research has informed my planning and creativity.

I have created a slideshare to show my initial ideas for my Vintage music magazine.
Click here to view!

Vintage Magazine Conventions and Findings

After choosing my magazine genre of vintage and completing research on popular vintage artists, instruments and magazine's I have found out a lot about the following sub-headings.


Convention:

• Masthead takes up normally around 1/6th of the front page (usually in black, red or white)
• Colours/font colours used are white, red, black (it appeals to both genders and the colours black and white are simple and formal)
• Cover stories - main article is always about a specific singer or band which takes up the majority of the front cover, then around the sides there is extra information about what the magazine involves under the headings of 'plus'.
• Features may contain: album review, untold information, unseen pictures, birthday specials, articles, interviews.
• Puffs are rare - shapes (e.g circle on Vintage Rock magazine) and corner folds (e.g on mojo magazine) appear more. 
• Pugs contain the price and date, issue and barcode in the bottom right or left
• Banners are used which explain more of what is inside the magazine and to make text stand out.

Pictures and Photography on the front cover:

• Either individual male or female singers or group shots
• Traditional genre representations
• Locations: all of the front covers i have come across so far, their images have been taken in a studio, you can tell because of the lighting. 
• Props include instruments
• Costumes are all formal showing their importance to the music industry.

Fonts used:

• are normally sans serif/times new roman/arial bold - these are all formal fonts. Examples of these are on the magazines i have previously analysed and posted. 

Layout contains:

• Lines
• Dots
• Boxes
• Artistic elements and effects
• Symbolic images
• Banners

Analysis of Q magazine, May 2013

On this front cover, I like the fact the image of the beatles is in black and white because it shows how old the band are and the vintage side of the magazine, it also makes the rest of the text stand out on the front cover.

'Beatles' is the first thing I notices when looking at this magazine, so i know this would attract the audience's attention first too. I think having the big font on the front cover is a brilliant way of catching the target audiences attention.

The colour scheme used is yellow and red, I wouldn't use this colour scheme myself as I don't think it is very appealing but it does work well with this particular front colour, the red text and banner follows the house style of 'Q' magazine as their masthead on every single magazine they produce is red. Red and yellow go together well and by using yellow it makes the writing bright and bold.

The front cover has 2 cover stories and 2 plus's showing that these stories are irrelevant to The Beatles. I like this idea and it is something I would definitely consider using.

This front cover is celebrating The Beatles 50th anniversary therefore it has made The Beatles the main aspect of the page which shows their importance to the music industry.

The main picture on the front cover is a image of The Beatles, 3 of the models are looking into the camera and 1 of the models isn't, I think the image would look so much better if all of the band was looking directly into the camera as though they are looking into the eyes of their target audience and addressing them directly. The model in the middle has his arms folded this gives connotations of power and importance.

This magazine front cover has helped with my creative decisions by giving me the idea to link my colour scheme with my masthead when i create my music magazine, and to also use a black and white image to show the vintage side to the magazine. 

Research into Mojo magazine 2012

This magazine, i believe, would attract a female audience because of the colour scheme used, orange and pink. Although the colour scheme does go with the text and colour scheme which has been used on the CD which comes free with the magazine.

The main cover story is Paul Weller as the text that stands out the most is 'Paul Weller, also the main image on the front cover is a picture of Paul Weller and the free CD is also Paul Weller. The magazine is celebrating '20 years of out-there sold genius!'.

I do like the colour scheme but it isn't some thing i would use myself, i like the boldness of the colours but i want my target audience to be male and female, male's would still pick up this magazine if they liked Paul Weller, but if they wasn't to know who he was, they would probable think this magazine was just for females.

There are banners used on this front cover, at the top of the page 'Free CD! Exclusively compiled by Paul Weller featuring rare Amy Winehouse track!' and '28 pages of reveals' these are not semi-transparent so you can't see any of the image or background behind them. The banners are put to take your attention off the main image and theme and bring your attention to what else the magazine has to offer.

Paul Weller, the model, is looking directly into the camera which gives the effect that he is looking straight at the target audience, drawing them in. He is also leaning into the camera with his hands in his pockets, this makes he look casual. His outfit, a suit, isn't something you would find on a highstreet, this makes him independent and showing his individual personality. The shot used for this image is a medium shot because it is from the waste upwards.

Paul Wellers head overlaps the masthead, this shows that the magazine is so well known you don't have to see the whole text to know what magazine it is, also it shows the importance of the artist, showing his high status in the music industry.

This has influence my creative decisions by showing me other technique to make my music magazine stand out and connect with the audience and also another way to show the importance of an artist, this is something i want to exaggerate on my magazine. 

'Q' Magazine Febuary 2010

On this magazine front cover the image is very vintage, the magazine have took a modern artist, Cheryl Cole, and made her into a vintage artist just by using the effect of dark colours. Although on the other magazines I have looked at, I have noticed that the images of the artists are in black and white, so this magazine has a modern twist on it. It looks as though the picture has been taken in the rain although you can tell it is studio shot because of the lighting on her face, it makes it stand out from the dark background. Her hair has blended in with the black background, the image looks like it has been took in the dark.

The make up on Cheryl makes her look as powerful and independent woman, she looks slightly aggressive. Also Cheryl doesn't have any instruments as props like the other vintage magazines I have looked at, but I choose it because I think the image is really effective and would be something I would consider using.

I also like the colour scheme used goes with the house style of 'Q' with the white and red writing. I think this works really well, I would use this colour scheme myself. I like the fact it goes with the 'Q' logo. There are 7 banners altogether and this is to make the black writing stand out as you wouldn't be able to see it on the black background. The dark colours on the front cover image make the red and white text stand out.

The thing that stands out to me the most is 'Rocks' because it is red text and contrasts with the dark background. Also to emphasise the word, it is spaced out, I like this effect and I would possibly use this on my own music magazine.

The main feature is '3 words.. Cheryl Cole Rocks' this is a play on words as '3 words' is a song which she sung. 'Q' normaly has their tag line under its logo in the left hand top corner of the magazine. For this particular front cover 'Q' has used a banner at the top of the page and made the tag line bigger and bolder but the same colours have been used as 'Q' would normaly use, black background and white text. There is also a banner down the left and hand side of the page stating what artists are featured in the magazine.

A puff has been used on the front cover saying 'John Lennons lost weekend' this is to draw the audiences attention to other features involved in the magazine.

There is a wide range of text sizes to show the importance of different features in the magazine. The text has stuck to the colour scheme or red and white.

This front cover has influenced my creative decisions by the housestyle, red and white. The effect on the image has also influenced me although this would be a hard effect  to create.

Research into Mojo magazine 2013

I like this magazine.

It looks professional and I like the fact it offers a free CD with the magazine.

Mojo offer a free CD with every magazine they publish that goes with the artist which is on their front cover for ever edition.

I like the fact the magazine has just used 'Cash' as a heading, Johnny Cash is a very well known artist and the magazine has expressed this by just using his last name as it has assumed everyone knows who he is. It represents the Legend Johnny Cash really is.

The front cover is rather crowded but I think this works well, the white and red writing stand out as it contrasts with the black and white background. I like the font they have used, it is all the same apart from on the masthead where is stays music magazine but that makes the masthead individual to the rest of the magazine. The font used is Arial Bold.

There are 9 cover stories on this magazine but are spread out so non of the cover stories that don't relate to Johnny Cash are on top of his image. I like this idea as it shows his importance to the music industry.

This magazine front cover has influence my creative decisions because i could think about putting a freebie with my music magazine, i could also focus my magazine on one specific artist but also have cover stories relating to other vintage artists just not on top of my main image, this really does show the importance of the artist.

Vintage Rock Magazine

I have researched Vintage Rock magazine,
Vintage Rock is the brand new magazine about old-time Rock ‘n’ Roll. Covering the music, artists, lifestyle and culture of the Golden Era from early 50′s to mid-60′s, the magazine also brings you bang up to date with current releases, tours and revivals of classic artists and those paying homage to our heroes.
This particular Vintage rock magazine front cover is issue 9 from December 2013. The masthead takes up around 1/6th of the page and is white, I would say the font used for the masthead is Times New Roman. Other big headings that stand out on this magazine front cover is 'Eddie Cochran', 'Starring' and 'Beatlemania'. The strapline for Vintage Rock magazine is 'Hail! Hail! Rock'N'Roll! The music, The memories, The stories, The lifestyle.' This strapline is used on everyone of the Vintage Rock magazines but sometimes in a different order. The colour scheme for this magazine is Blue and white. The fonts used are mainly all the same, sans serif. To make 'Eddie Cochran' stand out it has been put in bigger text and yellow, this is Times new roman and underneath 'Rock'n'Roll James Dean' is in a downloaded font to fit the genre as it looks energetic which is what rock is all about. The Main article is about 'Eddie Cochran' as he is on the front cover. The black and white image of him makes his stand out as he is contrasting with the blue background which looks like a curtain behind him as though he is performing. There are 9 cover stories. 'Beatlemania' and 'Silver screen bombshells' are in Banners to make them stand out from the rest of the text, the banners are not semi-transparent so you can't see anything that is behind them for instance the background.

Chosen Genre

I have chosen to do a vintage music magazine.
I have researched background information abut the music genre as this will allow my magazine to be more realistic and appealing to my audience. 

I have found out that the main instruments used for vintage music was electric and acoustic guitars, amplifies, effects pedals and keyboards, instruments that were used for vintage music people now use as collectibles as they are worth alot of money, the more famous the artist, the more money their instruments are worth. 

I have also researched specific magazines (Mojo and Vintage Rock) which has helped me gain more knowledge about the genre.

Evaluating 'Q' magazine October 2013

The most outstanding feature in my opinion is 'Kings of Leon'. The masthead is situated in the top left hand corner and takes up the area of 7.5 times 7 of the page. The colour of the masthead is red and white and the font used in San Serif. This is a font i would consider using in my own music magazine because it is simple but stands out and easily recognized it also looks professional. There are two cover stories and a plus which gives three more headings which are involved in the magazine. The font is not all the same size, the headings are big and bold and then quotes from the artists are in smaller writing. All the font is not the same 'Fleetwood Mac' is different to all of the other text used on the magazine front cover. The font style represents the genre of general pop because it is simple so would fit any genre, there is also black and red font used which represents the fact the magazine is aimed at male and female's. There is some text on banners, a quote from Kings of Leon, the Plus stories and the Fleetwood mac cover story are on banners but there are not semi-transparent so you cant see any of the pictures through them which are behind the banners. the main colour scheme is red, white and black which is the same as the other 'Q' magazine i have analyzed i noticed the colour scheme was red, white and black, this tells me that this is a trademark of 'Q' magazine. I think this magazine is aimed at 20's + as Fleetwood Mac is a old band although i would read this magazine as i am a fan of Fleetwood Mac at the age of 17. The heading 'World exclusive' would make the audience want to read this magazine because it makes them think all the information has never to been exposed to the media before so they want to know the gossip of the music world. The pug on this page is the Fleetwood Mac story at the top of the magazine front cover. Unlike the other 'Q' magazine from June 2014 this magazine has a slogan 'The world's greatest music magazine' i think this is to make the audience believe that this is the best magazine they could read which involves information about the music industry. There is no sell line on this particular magazine which is the same as the other 'Q' magazine i have analysed. Again i have noticed the 'Q' magazine continues to make their magazine at a high quality with the famous stars they use making it sophisticated along with the glossy effect on the front cover making it hard to wear and tare. The image relates to the headline as it states 'Kings of Leon' and the image is of the band Kings of Leon. Two of the models are looking into the camera and two of the models are looking away, this makes the band look relaxed and more approachable to their fans. The shot used for the photo is a mid long shot i know this because the picture is taken from far away but it only goes up to their thighs. This image is a studio picture i know this because of the lighting on the forehead of the middle two models and the fact they have been cut out to put onto the front cover, The bottom half of all the models are covered by text in a banner and the middle two models are covered at their chest by a quote from the Kings of Leon which is also in a banner. The picture is sharp and clear but you can't see much off it but it is plain but slightly cluttered. The image of the magazine cover is in colour and the main part of the image takes up half of the A4 page. The models are located at the bottom half of the page and they are all wearing grey, black and white, i think this is so it contrasts with the red box around the quote from the Kings of Leon. The outfits the band is wearing are casual and isn't over the top, it is something a regular person would wear on the highstreet. Their hair and makeup makes the band look comfortable like that is how they would look on a daily basis. There are no props being used in the image. There is no free CD or any other freebie with the magazine just like the other 'Q' magazine. There is a housecolour used, Red, it conotates the masthead as it is surrounded by red, red is used as a border around the banner with the quote in from the Kings of Leon, it is also used as a heading 'World exclusive' and 'From rock star to murderer'. The image of the band follows convention of music magazines, When i create my music magazine i would consider using the colour scheme and a simple masthead. I don't like the fact there is a font change just for one section although it is a good technique to make the Fleetwood mac part stand out, i prefer to keep the same font as it makes it look more professional.

Evaluation Q magazine June 2014

I have created a slideshare evaluating 'Q' magazine from june 2014 Click here to view

Evaluating Terrorizer magazine issue 243

The most outstanding feature of this magazine in my opinion is the heading 'Mayhem' this is the first thing i noticed when looking at this magazine. The masthead is situated at the top of the front cover in the centre, it is covered by the image making it hard to read but as it is a well known magazine, customers would still be able to recognize the magazine without being able to see the whole masthead. The masthead is 16cm times 2cm that is visible. The colour of the masthead is grey but is gradient meaning it changes into a different shade of grey, the font used for the masthead is Sans Serif. I would not use this style masthead in my own magazine as i don't like the gradient although i would consider using the font. There are 12 cover stories and one 'plus', 8 of the cover stories are in the same font and 4 of the cover stories are in a different font, not all the font is the same size, quotes from the cover stories or extra information is in a smaller font to the headings, this is because the editor wants the audience to focus of the headings not what is underneath them. The font style represents the genre of 'spooky' as the masthead has Jaggered lines around the outside of it and the headings used are 'Whitechapel' which is a current TV serious about serial killers, 'Death', 'Aborted' these words are all words associated with bad experiences. I would say the target audience for this magazine is male's as black and white colours have been used, the white text works well because it contrasts with the black background making it stand out also females would be put off by the headings used whereas men are more likely to read a magazine like this as they can cope with gore and bad experiences better than some women. none of the text on this magazine is on banners unlike the 'Q' magazines i have analyses, they put alot of their headings of quotes from the magazine on banners. I would say the magazine is aimed at males who are 25+ because of the seriousness of the stories in this magazine. The heading 'Mayhem would make people want to buy this magazine because it would make the audience wonder what the mayhem is about, is some thing happening? is it a band? what is it? There is no pugs, puffs, slogans or a sell line used on this particular magazine. The front cover conotates the quality of the magazine as they have used a image of a famous band 'Mayhem' and they have used lighting from a studio to focus it on the faces of the band so everything behind them doesn't stand out. The image does relate to the headline because the headline is 'Mayhem' and the image used is a picture of the band Mayhem, all of the models are looking into the camera showing they are trying to connect with the audience. The group are arranged as one person in front which i am guessing is the lead singer out of the group and the other two people are behind him to the side. The photograph has been manipulated as shadows has been put behind the band member whos in front's head, they have also been cut out to add onto the cover of this magazine. The shot used for the models is a mid shot as the image stops at their chest but is blended into the black background of the magazine. The picture is sharp and clean and the image is in colour and takes up most of the top half of the front cover from the left to the right. The models are wearing suits, this represents to genre of spooky as a suit is something you would wear to a funeral, this costume wouldn't appeal to the audience because it isn't something you would wear on a day to day basis unless you had a job which instructed you to wear this type of outfit, it is abit over the top for the highstreet. The models hair is black which goes with the black background of the magazine and makeup used is simple, they are made to look powerful. On the front of the magazine there is a free CD, on the image i have put on this post you can't see the CD but on the copy of the magazine i have you can see the CD, the 4 cover storied on the left are covered by it and the plus at the bottom. The colour white might be used as the magazines housestyle as the masthead 'Terrorizer' is in grey/white. The magazine doesn't follow the same convention as other music magazines as this one has a spooky genre. I don't particularly like this magazine, it isn't a genre i would think about using for my own magazine, although the white writing on the black background makes it stand out i think it doesn't look very attractive and it definitely isn't something people around my age group would like to read.

Evaluation

The colour scheme I have chosen is very stereotypical to male and female (blue and pink) when I create my music magazine I will use a different colour scheme making it not so stereo typical. I would use a mixture like greens, blues, yellows, pinks, purple, red etc. I wouldn’t use two simple colours which would be colours that are expected to see on a magazine aimed at mixed sex.

I would make sure I edited my model more when I do my music magazine because it will make it look more professional as I have gained more experience using Photoshop allowing me to do this.
I would definitely plan my photo-shoot again because I benefitted from this a lot because my model knew exactly what to wear and how I wanted to makeup which then created the effect on my front cover that I had hoped for. I would maybe use props for my music magazine like a guitar or set of drums because it would fit with the theme.
I would change the colour of the banner behind ‘Gossip’ because it has ruined my colour scheme by using a lighter blue I wish I had stuck to the dark blue because it would look better. 
I like the font I have used and I would use this again because it looks simple and professional. I would maybe use different fonts for different heading on my magazine because I think it will look more appealing to the customers. I would also make the writing bigger so that it stands out more on a shelf so that people are more likely to pick it up.
I would definitely do a target audience questionnaire for my music magazine because it gives a good insight as to what the target audience want to see and read about.
I would make the background colour a solid colour rather than a natural colour from the picture because I think I would look more professional.
I would use a different a different colour writing for this part because I feel it doesn’t stand out and give the impression I want it to therefore I would use a brighter colour like pink or yellow. The reason I used black and white text is because I wanted to keep it looking professional.
I like my masthead I think that because its simple it is effective. I called it ‘SF’ because it stand for Sixth Form and I thought it was meaningful as the magazine is a free magazine for sixth form which had a target audience of students.

 

Creativity and reflection

When I first started my media course, I was clueless to the media world, I knew basics as I have been doing AS English language for the past year but I am new to the terminology for example I didn't know that the title of a magazine was called a 'Masthead' I thought it was called a heading. I have always been a creative person as I have enjoyed art all my life but when I was told to create a magazine front cover I  didn't know where to start but with help from other students and my teachers I soon got the hang of it. By researching into what my target audience want to see on my front cover it made it easier for me because I then knew what sort of cover stories I could put on.

Things I would change:-

- I would change the colour scheme of my magazine because I have used stereotypical blue and pink colour scheme to aim it at boys and girls.
- For my picture that I will use for the front cover of my music magazine I will use natural lighting because I have found this effect works really well.
-I will also use more skills when using Photoshop by editing the image of my model as this will make my magazine look more professional.

My final contents page for my College Magazine

This is the contents page i have created on Adobe Elements 11.
i have created a basic mock up of where i want the text to go and what i want it to say. i also have the social media information so that students can follow ValeMedia on facebook, twitter and instagram and find out the latest gossip as to whats going on around the college.

My final front cover

This is my final front cover which i have created using Adobe elements 11!

The image i have chosen for my front cover!

This is the image from my photo shoot which i have chosen to use. I have chose this picture because i like the pose, my model looks soft and down to earth making her look like an approachable person which is good for my front cover of my college magazine. i like the natural light effect as it makes my models makeup stand out and she looks quite relaxed which is the effect i wanted to create.