Final Contents Page

Double Page Spread Research

Now that I've (finally) finished my Front Page and Contents Page, I'm starting to move on to the Double Page Spread (DPS). This is arguably the hardest part of my Coursework, and is made even harder since I have only ever read 2 Double Page Spread articles in my life... Anyhow, I still plan on doing a good job. So I'm going to start researching into articles that have already been written, namely the article on Rise to Remain in issue of Kerrang! Magazine that I analysed for my Front Page, and also a Double Page Spread in Q that my college analysed for his Front Page research. So, here we go;

KERRANG!

The Kerrang! Article I'll be Analysing

The Basic Layout

This Double Page Spread is laid out in a very simple way, with the main image taking up one page and the article confined to the next page in the magazine. This particular layout does look professional and the article itself is split into three distinctive columns that have been text-wrapped around 4 other images and a thin banner explaining about Ben Tovey's conductor for a Father. Although this is a favorable layout for some DPS articles, it isn't one that I will use myself. Instead I will probably go for a  less grid-like layout and try to integrate the image and the article itself a bit more than has been done in this DPS article on Rise to Remain.

The Main Image

Austin Dickinson (Front man of Rise To Remain) is the main focus of the main image of this DPS. The first thing that springs to mind when I look at this image is how he isn't looking at the camera, in fact he doesn't even have his eyes open. His gaze is focused on his eyelids, and his mouth is wide open screaming into a microphone. The shot itself is classed as a Medium Shot, and his clothes are similar to those worn by him in the Front Page, and of course this creates similar connotations. The city backdrop also adds to the modern feel and matches the colour scheme of the clothes, and also can be linked into the Front Page image of the same Band.

The Style of Writing in the Article

The article itself is written in more of a narrative sense, documenting the events of the interview as well as a few questions that Rise To Remain were asked throughout the Photo Shoot. There are several things that catch my eye when I have a look at this article in particular, and one of them is that it doesn't document an interview as such, rather than a Photo Shoot that Rise To Remain are doing on top of a London Skyscraper. This is a new idea to me since I have never read a DPS article that wasn't documented in an interview situation, and I've always thought that this was the only way to format an article like this. Preconception No.1 Busted! This article is also written in quite a Formal Style, with the only colloquial language used in direct quotes from what the Band Members have replied to certain questions from the writer of the article. This has also come as a bit of a shock to me, as I would've thought that a magazine like Kerrang! magazine, with the reputation that is has and the way that the coverlines are written, would go for a more colloquial style of writing throughout the entire magazine. Of course, as things mainly are, I was wrong. This is definitely something I need to remember for when I'm writing my own DPS article, to make it fit in more with the real media world. Finally, there is a small banner in the middle of the article page, towards the top, that has a small paragraph of information about the lead guitarist Ben Tovey and his classical background. I'm not sure whether this is a good idea or not, but I might think about including something like this in my DPS article.

Little Bits and Bobs

Here, all I am going to do is have little look at a few of the little touches that have been done to make this article fit in with the magazine itself;

1. Page Numbers: The Kerrang! Masthead is included next to the page numbers on both pages. This little design element subtly groups the rest of the magazine pages together, improving the magazine's "identity", and also gives the page just a little extra something to set it apart from just having simple numbers in the corners of each page.
2. Paragraphs: The first letter of the first word of each new paragraph has been enlarged to at least 10x the size of the other text, bolded and re-coloured. This is known as a Drop Cap, and (obviously) makes it stand out more on the page and also shows when a new paragraph begins.
3. Quotes: There is a Pull Quote from the article enlarged and highlighted, and them embedded into the main image. This does many things such as emphasises that specific quote, adds a little bit of extra flare to the main image and acts as a hook to pull the reader in to the article.

 Q 

The Q Article I'll be Analysing

The Basic Layout

The main image of this DPS article is in the centre of the page and takes up most of the space for the article. The article itself is confined to a column on the outside of each page, and personally I don't think that works as a professional layout for a DPS article. The models themselves look incredibly dressed up using a variety of different costumes and props to make the picture look different and interesting, as if it is acting as another hook to read the article. Personally I think that the image takes up way too much space than it should, and that the text should be wrapped around the image in the centre of the page. This would eliminate the space that is left by having such a blocked layout and would also allow for more content to be included in the article.

The Style of Writing in the Article

The entire article is written in a Question and Answer style, whereas the Kerrang! Magazine article is written as a narrative so this gives me an idea of how both of the styles of writing look in the real media world. I prefer the way that a Q and A article is structured personally and will try to incorporate this style into my own DPS article. Since this article features in the "The Music That Changed My Life" feature of this issue of Q, it makes it harder to look at the questions themselves since they look solely at the music tastes of Billie Joe Armstrong and who has influenced his taste in music. So as a separate task I need to look into what questions are included in a first interview.

Little Bits and Bobs

Second verse, same as the first:

1. Page Numbers: The Q Logo is included with the page numbers, similar to the way Kerrang! uses their Masthead next to their page numbers. This reinforces the importance of the page numbers of a Double Page Spread, and this is an element that will definitely be integrated into my own Double Page Spread article.
2. Paragraphs: There is no use of Drop Caps as there were in Kerrang! magazine, however this could be down to the use of a Question and Answer structure to this article rather than the Narrative structure used in the Kerrang! magazine article. Each question and answer is separated by a new paragraph, and again this is an element to be incorporated into my Double Page Spread.
3. Quotes: Again, a Pull Quote is used on this article to draw the reader to the content of the article. The quote itself is situated in the middle of the page to the right, and the design element used to frame it is similar to those used throughout the magazine to improve the House Style. The Pull Quote is large enough to draw attention to itself appropriately, and takes up a lot of space in the article but again I feel that the space left behind is what dramatically decreases the strength of this article compared to the Kerrang! article on Rise to Remain.

Final Frontpage

Contents Page Construction

I've finally completed my Contents Page, and so now would be a good time to show you how I did it! In this post I'm going to look at the techniques I have used to complete this piece of my coursework and look at the elements that I have taken from my Front Cover and my research to complete this piece of work to the appropriate standard. And so we shall begin!

1)
Alright, the first thing I brought into my Contents Page from my Front Cover was the black background, despite my research into Contents Page's having no black backgrounds at all... However, to allow for this I made my Columns and Rows white, and since they take up the majority of the space on my Contents Page the background only looks like the frame, as you can see in the Screen Grab to the right. The boxes where created using the Rectangle Shape Tool, and are equipped with a Layer Style that included a Drop Shadow, Bevel and Emboss and a Texture Overlay to create the rough surface of these spaces for text.

2)

Secondly I moved onto the main image itself. On the Contents Page, the image takes up much less space to allow for the articles to fill the majority of the space. For this image I maintained the hard gaze of my models, but used an Eyeline Match to produce more of a level view of my models. The connotations of this image where of Old Western Wanted posters, so I applied a Light Effect to further illustrate the idea of an interrogation. I also moved over the "Hell Raiser" logo to reinforce the identity of my band.


3)
The next part of the Contents Page to complete was the Masthead. The text was written in the same font as the Masthead for my Front Page, the 'Unreal Tournament' font from Dafont.com. One of the main aspects I found from my research into Contents Pages was that a small copy of the Front Cover is shown on the Contents Page, which I incorporated into the top left hand corner of the Masthead. The Issue number and 'Issue' text are also a part of the Masthead, and these are done in a combination of the 'Gargoyle' and 'Guttural' fonts found on Dafont, with layer Styles including a Stroke and Bevel Emboss.

4)

Fourthly you can see the bottom panel of my Contents Page taking shape. The bottom panel is the space reserved for the Album Cover competition. I also included another image of my models, a Low Angle shot to reinforce the dominance my models have over my Target Audience. Many of the elements here were duplicate layers from previous work and elements brought over from my Front Page.

5)
Finally, here it is. With articles and everything, the whole Contents Page. The Coverlines themselves are split into three sections, and each aspect of the sections are constructed in different ways with different layer styles. The title of the section, such as "Interviews" is equipped with a layer style including a black Stroke and a soft Bevel and Emboss, as do the page numbers that are linked with the articles. The articles themselves have a layer style including a Bevel and Emboss and a Gradient Overlay. The article titles are also stretched and squashed to fit into an aligned row.

Front Page Construction

I've spent quite a bit of time working on my Front Cover, and unfortunately I haven't been recording what I have done to my image! This is a small problem, but I will be showing everything I have done to my Front Page so far in this simple-to-understand post! Below you can see the image that I started with when I began on my Front Page;

NOTE: This is the Edited version from my previous Post. The link to this post is in the brackets;(http://alexclarkwgsbmedia.blogspot.com/search/label/Front%20Page%20Planning)

1)

Now a lot of elements went into my Front Page, and many of them are very complicated and involve a LOT of editing (so we better get started...). The first thing that I did to this image is Cut him out of the background using the Extract Tool in Photoshop, as shown by the Screenshot to the right. This is a quick and easy way to cut someone out in Photoshop, and if your careful with what you do then you can get a really nice effect from it. There is also a 'Preview' button in the Extract menu that can be used to make sure you are cutting out the image in the way you want, which I found very helpful.

2)

The next bit that I did with the image was give it a black background. This can be seen in the Screenshot to your left. I chose a Black Background because I wanted to give my magazine a Dark, Dangerous look to it to reflect the genre of music. I also used a Layer Mask to create the feel that the Model was fading out of the darkness. To make the effect look more realistic I used a Faded Black Brush sized at 300 pixels to create the Layer Mask. I chose to leave the models hands in the shot so it didn't look like he was just a floating head. I also used the Smudge Tool on the hair of my model, to make it look a little bit more blended with the background as if he is coming out of the Darkness of the background.

3)

Then I started on the Masthead. This is a VERY complicated piece of work, and to create the effect I used a YouTube tutorial which can be found with the following link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XppFKFkud7w). The effect that was created was, in my best words, Spectacular. But it may have been a bit too extravagant for the Masthead of a Music Magazine, and I will probably experiment with changing this. To the right you can see how my version of the effect looked on my chosen image. As a small summary, the Masthead is created using a combination of White Faded Brushes, a custom Diamond Brush, the 'Guttural' Font from the following link (http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=Guttural), Motion Blur, Gaussian Blur, different Layer Blending Settings and the Reticulation Filter under the Sketch Tab.

4)

The next step was to add a graphic element to the Front Cover. I decided to make use of the Diamond Brush that I had used in the Masthead to frame the bottom of my Magazine. I then used a Colour Brush to create the colours on the shards, with a Blending Setting changed to Hard Light. This gave it a glow effect on the shard themselves which I felt was very effective for the Genre, a bit crazy and unrestrained. I also used a small Layer Mask to confine the glow of the colours so that they didn't distract from the main image too much.

5)

Then I started to add the proper text. The name of the Band that I have created exclusively for my Media coursework is Hell Raiser. As you can see from the Image to the right, this is also made up of many different effects and layers grouped together to form the Coverline. The letters "H" and "R" are on seperate layers, and each of them have been equipped with a Layer Style, including Bevel and Emboss, Pattern Overlay, Drop Shadow and a Stroke. The rest of the letters are done a little more simply, with only a Stroke and a Drop Shadow for the Layer Style effects. The caption "They won't know what hit them!" is also done with this (less complicated) Layer Style. The Font used for this Caption is called "INFECTED".

6)

Now we move on to the other Coverlines for the Front Page. There is also a great amount of editing happening with these and I may well decide to tone it all down for my Final Front Page (but that's a story for another day...). The main Headline is made of a Font called "Unreal Tournament", and the final word in the headline is in Red to distinguish it from the other White words. The Layer Style effects for the headline's includes an Outer Glow, Bevel and Emboss and a Stroke. The Caption underneath the Headline is in the Font "Your Are Loved", and the Layer Style effects include a Bevel and Emboss and a Stroke.

7)

Now there are only a few small changes that need to be done to my Front Page. We need a Barcode, the Price and the Issue of the magazine. Because it's now 2012, I have entitled this issue the "Apocalypse Issue", because it's meant to be the end of the world in 2012 (apparently...). The Price has been done in the same way as the captions for the Coverlines in Step 6, but the £ sign had to be from another Font so I used the £ sign from "Unreal Tournament". "Apocalypse Issue" is written in the Font "Stenstreet" with the same Layer Style as the price and the coverline captions.




And there you have it! The Construction of my Front Cover in 7 easy steps! Alright, it needs to have some work done to it, but its coming together which is the main thing.

Part Two

Ok, so I've finished my Front Page! But it looks very different to what it looks like here, which is where I started. So, I'll get on with the second part of the construction for my Front Page:

 8)

The first thing I did was change the picture I was using for my Front page, since I felt the image I was using at that time didn't properly show the conventions of my chosen genre. I edited this image in a similar way, using a Layer Mask and a Faded Black Brush to blend my model into the background. Much the same as step one in Part One of my Front Page construction above, I also used the Sharpen Tool to improve the clarity of my model.





9)
After changing the main image, I then changed the Masthead of my magazine. I toned it down in terms of editing and made it much more simple so that it didn't draw the readers attention away from my main image. I went for a Large letter M aligned to the centre, and then framed with the words 'Project Mayhem' to show the title of my music magazine. I used various text effects such as a Gradient Overlay, Stroke, an Inner Glow and a softened Bevel and Emboss to create the desired effect for my Masthead. I decided to stay with the 'Unreal Tournament' font for my Masthead as I felt that it conveyed the conventions of my chosen genre in the most effective way.


10)
Once my Masthead had been completed, I placed the graphic element used to frame my magazine back into the bottom of the page. It's the same layer that as been created before, detailed in step 4) above. I also placed the name of the band 'Hell Raiser' back onto the cover as this was another part of the magazine that wouldn't be changed. This coverline has been detailed in step 5).

11)

Then I added a new graphic element to my front cover, with influences taken from my Preliminary Task. I created an album cover for my band and then, with the same effect used to frame my magazine, I created a sphere that I could used to show a competition in my magazine, with the album as a prize. The colour style and effects used where similar to those used to frame my magazine, however I also used the Smudge Tool to create the effect that the colours where bursting from a single point in the centre of the sphere of shards. The album cover itself was created using several fire brushes found on the internet, the shard effect again and a light effect to give the image a united colour scheme of purples and blacks. The text was made with the 'Guttural' font, and was given a layer style of a Stroke and a Bevel and Emboss, and the colour of the text also changes between white and red to reflect my colour scheme and emphasise the words Win and Inside.

12)

The next thing to do was to add the coverlines back into my magazine. There were a few changes that had been incorporated into these crucial features of my front cover, such as the text had been changed in a few of them, along with edits to colours and they were given more graphic elements to help draw the readers attention. The effects themselves were created using various brushes and colours that matched the colours used in the coverline text.

13)

There was only one other step to take to finish my front cover (again) and this was to add the Barcode, cover price, issue and the Strapline of my magazine. The Strapline; "Turn it up, right up. Metal never dies" was created in an army-style stenciled font with the connotations of chaos and conflict, emotions that are expressed through the facial expressions of my models throughout my final pieces of work. The layer style used for my Strapline included the use of an Outer Glow and a Bevel and Emboss, similar to the styles used before to reinforce the House Style of my front cover. Finally, I also added a thin black bar at the bottom of my front cover to frame my work and allow for another coverline of my magazine to be expressed on the front cover.

And there it is, my Final Front Cover! It's come a long way since an A4 black page with nothing on it. One down, two to go...

Contents Page Research

Ok, this is a post DEDICATED to Coverlines and Contents Page Research that I could use in my Contents page, and possibly use on my Front Cover if they need replacing... Anyway, I've got a load of ideas that have been influenced by my work with UK Tribes (a link to that post: http://alexclarkwgsbmedia.blogspot.com/2012/01/uk-tribes.html) and are relevant to the information that I found on that post:

• Download 2012 - The Event that Everyone is Screaming About!
• Korn + Skrillex? - The Match Made in Hell!
• Trivium Exclusive - Taking the World On In Waves!
• Drowning Pool - The Comeback Tour!
• Hell Raiser - "They Won't Know What Hit Them!"
• 2012 is Here - Will you Survive the Comping Apocalypse?
• Project Mayhem and Metal Hammer - The ULTIMATE Partnership of 2012!
• Relentless! - The Sponsor of Project Mayhem
• Fresh Meat - THE Unsigned Band you wish you Heard First!
• PM Quiz - Trivia from December to Now
• Advice from Anthrax - Not your Average Advice Column...
• Monthly Giveaway - Hell Raiser's New Album, Into The Shadows!
• Mayhem Monthly Madness! - The Good, Bad and the Crazy!
• Drowned in Project Mayhem - What happened when we went on Drowned in Sound!
• Mayhem Radio - A Note from our Digital Radio Station!

So these are my Ideas for Coverlines. Now lets move on to the Layout of other Contents pages to improve my ideas from my Flatplan that I completed earlier. To the right you can see a Contents Page from the popular Heavy Metal magazine "Metal Hammer". Just like I plan for mine, "Metal Hammer" is a monthly magazine so I can learn a lot about the layout of the images and the space that each article takes up from looking at this page. Unfortunately the image itself isn't of the whole Contents which is a slight complication, but I can see that the articles of the magazine are split into 2 sub headings, Features and Regulars, and that both of them are separated using a thin Grey line. There are 12 articles shown in these sub headings, and all of them are based on Artists and Bands (Bullet for my Valentine, Cradle of Filth etc.). The images on the contents are also page numbered, so that each image has something to do with the pages within the magazine. What has caught my eye however is that the numbered pages here don't start until page 28, which I can use to justify doing this for my Contents page. The basic layout of this Contents page is very simple to see, with the majority of the Coverlines in a list on the left hand side of the page with images depicting other articles both on the right hand side and the bottom of the page. Finally, there is also an image of the Front Cover of the magazine next to the "Contents" title, which I will also use on my Contents Page. And there you have it, the makings for an awesome Contents Page!

Photo Thumbnails

Here you can see thumbnails of the pictures that I took for my Front Page and Contents. Obviously a lot of them don't work for the situation, but I have got a few that I could use for my work. Take a look for yourself;

Target Audience and UK Tribes

UK Tribes is the website that I have used to research into my Target Audience and look at the things to include in my magazine that will best appeal to the tribe that best fits my Target Audience. I will also include a general outlook on UK Tribes, telling you what it's about and how it works.

What is UK Tribes?

UK Tribes is a project undertaken by Channel 4 back in 2005, with the goal of categorising the youth of the world into different 'Tribes'. These 'Tribes' act almost as a family of common interests and gives a teenager a label that they can recognise as their own identity. Of course, its also very useful for a company trying to sell a product, since it gives a company access to a range of useful information with regards to what interests each of these defined 'Tribes'. This makes targeting a specific audience much easier, and that is why I have been doing some research into the project.

What 'Tribe' best fits my Target Audience?

After looking into the results of the project, I first went into the Young Alts 'Tribe', as I felt that this would be the most appropriate 'Tribe' to start with. It was there that I found the 'Metalheads', and my research was pretty much complete!

What makes the 'Metalheads' so fitting?

Well (as the name suggests...) Metal Music is a big influence in the lives of this 'Tribe', as the sound and the bands are seen as Icons for everything from lifestyle choices to fashion sense. The description of the 'Tribe' fits in perfectly with what I want to do for my magazine, and so that made my research a lot easier and allowed me a great insight into what would appeal to this group of people.

What did you find?
I plan to make the most of all this information for my music magazine to improve my coursework. The first thing I looked at was the Brands, Media and Media Consumption of this 'Tribe'. Brands that came up on the list include;

• Vans (Shoes)
• Relentless (Energy Drink)
• Metal Hammer (Music Magazine)
• Download (Music Festival)

These are just a few of the Brands on the list, and this information is very useful to me indeed. This gives me a good stand point for adverts within the magazine and possible sponsors for the magazine itself. I could even say that 'Project Mayhem' is in partnership with 'Metal Hammer' magazine, which will instantly make my magazine more popular among 'Metalheads'. I've already included a page on the Download Festival, so I feel that this information has been used well. I also looked at the Media that 'Metalheads' use on a daily basis, and on this list I found these (among others);

• Drowned in Sound (Website)
• Metal Hammer (Music Magazine)
• YouTube (Online Streaming)
• Scuzz (Radio Station and TV Channel)

Here you can see the Media that has become a huge part of the lives of the 'Metalheads'. As you can see their all pretty much music based, with the exception of YouTube (but YouTube does stream many Music Videos and music-related content) which shows where their loyalties lie in terms of their interests. I could add a section to the Contents Page of my magazine titled 'Online' or something similar, where I could put some pages on latest online content posted from 'Project Mayhem'. Some work with Drowned in Sound is another feature I could include in my contents. Finally I decided to look at the Media Consumption of 'Metalheads', which is pretty large in most of the areas shown. Since this isn't an easy thing to show on a list, I have taken a Screen Grab of the diagram from UK Tribes;

So as you can see from the diagram to your left, the Media Consumption of your average 'Metalhead' is overall quite extensive. I was surprised to see how 'Magazines' are the most popular form of Media, but I guess with all the music magazines there are (Metal Hammer, Kerrang! etc.) this would be the best way to get the most up to date information about the latest bands, trends and events. Overall, 'Newspapers' and 'Cinema' are the least popular forms of media. I can see why for 'Newspapers', since a 'Metalhead' would probably go with a copy of Metal Hammer instead of the Daily Telegraph. Although I was surprised by the lack of interest in 'Cinema', I think that a 'Metalhead' would be too interested in the music than films. This just shows to me how music is such a huge influence in the life of a 'Metalhead'.

So now what?

Now that I've taken the time to get all this information, I can further plan what I want to put in my Contents Page and the main coverlines for my Front Page. The coverlines I have come up with, using the information that I have gathered here include;

• Download 2012 - The Event that Everyone is Screaming About!
• Korn + Skrillex? - The Match Made in Hell!
• Trivium Exclusive - Taking the World On In Waves!
• Drowning Pool - The Comeback Tour!
• Hell Raiser - "They Won't Know What Hit Them!"
• 2012 is Here - Will you Survive the Comping Apocalypse?
• Project Mayhem and Metal Hammer - The ULTIMATE Partnership of 2012!
• Relentless! - The Sponsor of Project Mayhem
• Fresh Meat - THE Unsigned Band you wish you Heard First!
• PM Quiz - Trivia from December to Now
• Advice from Anthrax - Not your Average Advice Column...
• Monthly Giveaway - Hell Raiser's New Album, Into The Shadows!
• Mayhem Monthly Madness! - The Good, Bad and the Mental!

I hope that I'll be able to think of others that I will be able to use, since Project Mayhem is published on a Monthly basis. I am aiming for around 130 pages, since this is the average number of pages I have found in Monthly Magazines.

Peer Assessment

Just undertaken some peer assessment with our work, and we all moved around the room looking at a few of the work from our peers and giving our opinions on them as they are now. I've just had a look at my comments and all-in-all I am quite pleased with what I have been given in terms of constructive feedback. Below you can see the stage that I am at just after the Peer Assessment has been completed. Please note, I know its not looking too good but I am still working with it...

What did we do?
We were each told by our teacher to move 4 places clockwise around the room, and write on a piece of paper what we thought of the work that was on the screen. We then moved another place and did the same to another piece of work, and finally again for a third. Then we moved back to our own work and read the comments that were put down on our own pieces of paper, and there you have it! One recipe for effective peer assessment, and in all honesty it was a very useful exercise.

How did I find it?
Personally I found the session very useful, as it gave me the chance to have a look at the work that my peers had completed. Seeing the things that they had done and the way they had solved certain problems with their work gave me a great incentive to try these methods in my own work, so my final piece will be improved that way. Of course there is also the sheet of paper with all the comments from my peers written down, which I can use to develop my work. So all in all, you can see that the session was a complete success in my eyes, and have already begun to implement the changes in my magazine cover and contents pages.

What did they say?
Like I said they gave me some good comments with regards to my front cover and contents pages, and below you can see images of the ACTUAL paper that they wrote on (excuse the handwriting, it took me a while to figure out what it said as well...)

The comments that I have been given are generally critical, which is good because it gives me a lot to work on to improve my work. The main problems have come down to the main image itself, with my peers thinking that it is too dark to fit properly in a music magazine. I plan on looking to change it to a better lit picture to improve the impact of the cover itself. I did also receive some praise, since my peers liked the chosen Font and how it reflected the Genre well. The Design Elements were also received well with my peers which I'm very pleased with. Moving on to the Contents page, I have been advised to include more distinctive columns, and to work on an alternative to the black colour. I plan to experiment with Gradients when it comes to my Contents page since according to my research no Contents page has a pure Black Background. With that said however, my peers appreciated how the two pages fit together nicely, and where impressed with my use of photoshop. I am pleased with the comments I have received and am eager to work to improve what I have done.

Flat Plans

One of the things I have been doing to help plan out my coursework is to draw up a few plans for my Front Page and Contents, in the hope of giving myself a better idea of what I want them to look like. I used the 4th picture I edited as a base for the picture and began working around that for the Front Page. Here is what I have come up with:

Front Cover

This is the first drawing I did to plan out my work. I have used a number of ideas from other places, for example the column along the left hand side was used by the front cover of Kerrang! Magazine that I analysed earlier. The Masthead is large, clear and centered to the top of the page. The coverlines are meant to bend around the models face, neck and shoulders the way I feel it should have been done for RockSound magazine. The face underneath the M has been inspired by Disturbed Mascot "The Guy" and has been adapted to fit. A circular button is placed under the second M of the Masthead as space for a special offer or an upcoming event of some kind that will interest my audience. The column on the left hand side is made to look like Torn or Burnt paper, a design element I included alongside the fire at the bottom of the page, just for another aesthetic element. I have gained some feedback from my peers and my teacher regarding this mock-up, and I have been told that the column does not fit into a Front Page. I can understand this as it could distract the audience from the main story, the element itself is much more appropriate for a Contents page.

This is the Second Mock-Up I have done for my Front Page, and there are quite a few changes from the first. As you can see the column on the left hand side has been removed, but the flames at the bottom of the page remain behind the Main Coverline. The Price has been moved from above the Masthead to resting on top of the Barcode, a place I feel that is much more appropriate. The Torn or Burnt paper effect still remains just behind the Masthead as a graphic element, and the sphere button has been made to look more like a Bullet Hole (sorry about the terrible drawing...). Coverlines are still bending around the models head, neck and shoulders but they are above the wings that I had thought about adding in Photoshop, although I have been going against that idea now that I have seen it rough on paper. Finally, using a Sharpe pen I have added in tattoos and red eyes to my model similar to the way I had done before in my first edited image. I still think that the whole tattoo and glowing eyes edit is a good idea but just isn't appropriate for a Front Page picture, and I might try to include it in either the Contents or the DPS of my Magazine. 

Picture used for Front Page Mock-Ups

Contents Page

Here you can see the Mock-up that I have done for my Contents page. As you can see I've decided to go with a 3 column layout which is what I have found in my research, and have positioned my features in the center of the page, with my main image positioned to the right hand side. The Masthead has been constructed in a similar way to that of my Front Cover, and the shard design is shown throughout my Contents Page as one of the main design elements, but also as a way in which to define the spaces for the features of my magazine and to separate the different features accordingly. Now that I have drawn up this particular layout for my Contents Page however, I feel that many of the ideas I tried on this plan aren't appropriate for use in my Contents Page. For example, there is space remaining between the features of the magazine that could be filled if the layout was more thought out and systematic. There also aren't enough pages in my magazine according to my Contents Page, and with the space left I feel I could fit more features in to show that this is a Monthly magazine over being a Weekly edition. Also, I don't like what I have done with the main image in this plan, by cutting half of my models face off at the edge of the page obviously isn't appropriate for a Contents Page image, and I feel that I ought to include the other member of 'Hell Raiser' as well in my Contents Page. On a more minor note, I feel that the way I have set out the Competition feature, at the bottom of the page, could be improved and constructed to take up less space which would again give me more space for features in my magazine and also give 'Project Mayhem' the professional look and feel evident in existing media products.

Double Page Spread

To the right you can see the hand drawn design of my Double Page Spread, where I have tried out a few ideas of how I want my Double Page Spread to turn out. As you can see I intend to combine two images that I have previously taken of my models individually, and this is to show a divide between the two which is strengthened through their different costumes, each of them representing the light side and the dark side respectively. The introductory paragraph takes up the majority of the left hand page, and is Text Wrapped around the image. I have also included a Drops Cap with a depth of atleast 5 Lines in my introductory paragraph, since this is a common element that has been seen in my research, which can be found here. The questions are then arranged around the image with a final note at the bottom to conclude the article, with the title in the bottom-centre of the article, with the word 'Hell' on one side of the fold and 'Raiser' on the other, to make allowance for the fold. Now that these ideas have been put down on paper I can see there are a few issues with my Double Page Spread plan, and the main issue I can see is there are only 7 questions in the article. This is obviously way too little, and needs to be expanded upon since there are roughly 20 questions in the Green Day article that I analysed from Q magazine. I also think that the narrative beginning also takes up too much space, so the layout of my Double Page Spread needs to be revised. However, I feel the image works well to create the desired effect and the page numbers have been included are appropriate to the article and the genre of music.