Thursday, 25 October 2012

Deconstructions of Double Page Spreads

In preparation  for my main task which involves creating a double page spread, i analysed 3 different double page spreads from various music magazine.

Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Preliminary Task: College Magazine


 This is the two pages of work i did for the preliminary task which was to create a cover and contents page for a college magazine. This is to practise my skills before i do my professional magazine and can be used in an evalutation to show my improvement between the two magazines.


Wednesday, 17 October 2012

Preliminary Task Flat Plans

I have created these as a plan for my Preliminary task. These will act as a guide for how i will layout my magazine cover / contents page.





This is the magazine flat plan for the front cover which features a masthead, main image, a bar code and multiple sell lines.










 



This is the magazine flat plan for the content page which will have a list of contents, several images and an extract of the featured article (on the front cover.)




Thursday, 11 October 2012

3 Magazine Contents Page Deconstructions (NME/Rock Sound/Kerrang!)


Masthead
The masthead is included in the contents page of NME magazine, in a similar size to the front cover. The font is big and bold, in caps locks which is memorable. The colour of the masthead is a bright red, with a white border around each letter. On the page it is at the top, starting near the far left of the page and stopping towards the middle. Next to it, there is text informing that they are reading THIS WEEK's issue. The text is in white to contrast with the logo and the font is similar to it. The black background helps the text stand out against the rest of the page.
Necessary Information
Underneath the masthead, there is the date of when the issue was published. However they don't have an issue number or a page number. The content page does not include a direct link to the magazine website but they have included a link to subscribe to the magazine.
Text
The page has a lot of text on it, including a band index and different types of genres of the articles. There is a small part of it to advertising their subscription and a part of the main the page is a major article inside the magazine. The purpose of having a band index is for fans of bands to quickly see if a band they like have been written about. Some people may want to search by the types of articles and then by the content. The main article has the main focus of the page and  the subscription serves the purpose of offering delivery of the magazine for a larger price. They use subheads to give more information the articles listed under the main headings. The band list is order alphabetically and the other index is organised by page numbers. The band index is on the far left, the other index is on the far right, with the main article in between. However the band index is smaller and makes room for the subscription box. They use numerical features to organise the other index.
Font
The fonts used are similar to the masthead; the main sell lines are in bold writing with capital letter and the subheads are in lower case fonts and not in a bold or italic text. The different font styles are used to separate the subject of the article and the small synopsis of the article and making the header eye catching. The text is mainly in black, with the numbers in red and headers in white. However the band index is reversed with the main text in red with black numbers. The subscription includes yellow and white text which looks effective on the black background. Bold is used extensively throughout the text while italics is not used at all.
Images
There are only few images on the cover; one to accompany the main article and one in the subscription box showing copies of magazines. The main article image is large and the pictures of the magazines are smaller, as they assigned to a smaller space. Neither image have a caption but are associated with their articles as they relate to them. The magazines do not have writing over them but the main article image does but the opacity of the text/background is lower that usual so some of the image can still be made out.
Composition
The main article is framed by the rest of the text on the page and the layout is simple, boxing the information into different parts of the page. None of the parts of the page overlay each other. Any pictures used clearly relate to their respected pieces of text.
Linguistic Features
The page does not use any rhetorical sentences and are usually in declarative sentences. Alliteration is not used either as well as internal rhyme/assonance. The linguistic features on the page are basic and there is nothing notable.
Colour
Four colours are used on the page for text (yellow, black, white and red) which are used appropriately against the backgrounds, which are either white or black. The images don't have a colour in common, the magazines are mostly red and yellow colours while the main article image is mainly white. The red magazines are eye catching and will draw the reader towards the subscription box successfully. The main article is also eye catching as it is in the centre of the page.


Masthead
The masthead is on the upper right which the readers eyes will still been drawn to but it also makes room for the image as it would have overlapped.
Nessassary Information
Underneath the masthead there is the issue number and the month/year of the publishing date. It has a caption for the photo who informs the reader who it is and a quote from one of the people in the main image.
Text
There is little tezt apart from a quote from one of the people in the main photograph. There is also a caption on the photo and a table of contents which has the page number, the subject of the article and a brief synopsis of it.
Font
There are three different fonts used; one for the masthead, one for the quotes and one for the table of contents.
Images
Only one image is used and is the main sell point on the page. It is also used a a background instead of a plain colour filling the space.
Composition
The composition is simple, with the date, issue number and masthead on the top right, a quote in the middle left of the photo, and the table of content in the bottom right corner.
Linguistic Features
No notable language or lingustic features have been used.
Colour
Most of the text is white but the numbers are red, as well as the banner for the title of the table of contents. The red colour matches the red of the boxing gloves in the background image.

Masthead
The masthead is not shown in the contents page.
Nessassary Information
The page has a letter from the editior, an unusual feature in a contents page. It also has a table of contents on the left, a subscription box below it and several images to its right.
Text
The main body of text is the table of contents which has the type of article, page number and few words about each one. The images also have an overlay of text which contains the same information.
Font
The fonts are relatively similar, mostly in capslock. However, the editiors letter is a smaller lower case font than the rest.
Images
There are several images used in this contents page. Next to the editiorial letter, there is a copy of the front cover of the magazine. Underneath there are 9 photos which are featured articles in the magazine. One is larger than the others which means it is a more important article and will attract readers to it. There are also 3 images of past issues next to the subscription boxes.
Composition
The content page title is on the top right, next to the editiorial letter which is on the top left. Underneath the title, there a quote from an article. The rest of the left side of the magazine is all pictures from articles and the left has a small table of content.
Linguistic Features
Most of the writing is in short sentences except the editiors letter.
Colour
The background in grey which makes the rest of the colours pop. The text is mostly black, but when its on a black background, it is yellow. The yellow text is mainly used for main titles, page numbers and the contents title. The subscription box is red to make the reader notice it.

Wednesday, 3 October 2012

3 Magazine Deconstructions

In preparation for my portfolio, i analysed 3 magazine covers  in depth.