Second draft - contents page of my music magazine

This is the second draft of my contents page. It is quite obvious that I have changed a lot on this page. Originally, I liked my old contents page however I thought it was too plain and that not enough was on it. With the way I laid everything out on the other page, I couldn't fit any more information on it so I decided to try a new layout.

I kept the same picture of the artist in the top left hand corner as I feel like that's the most important page in the magazine, as It is about a double page spread on how music saved his life. On top of this picture, like on the front cover, I added a banner at the top of the picture with the title in it. I changed the location of the title as I thought that maybe people wouldn't notice it as much as they are so used to reading what's included on the page at the top. However, I do prefer it like this as I saved extra room because I made the title smaller because I knew it would be the first thing that people would read.

Underneath the main picture, I also added the advertisement shape again as I think that it would really appeal to the audience although I changed the text inside of it matching the front cover 'Win a chance to meet YOU ME AT SIX'. The picture underneath of the text is a picture of one of You Me At Six's concerts. However, I decided to write You Me At Six's initials to make the picture look more effective and bold for the reader, and also not everyone will know who the picture is of so won't be too sure who the competition is about.

The old background that I originally had, I changed to a plain white background as I have more going on in this page and didn't want it looking too cramped and confusing for the reader. I like the plain colour as it makes the text very much more easy and clear to read.

Second draft - front cover of my music magazine

This is the second draft of my front cover. On this cover, I didn't change too much about it.

I added some writing on the left of the page so it filled the blank part and so that it wouldn't look like much was involved within the magazine. I wrote 'Win a chance to meet YOU ME AT SIX'. As I know that You Me At Six is a popular pop punk/rock band I thought that it would draw the reader in and make them want to try for a chance to meet them. 

I also changed the quote that was on the front of the cover. I did this because the other quote didn't really match with the genre of the magazine. i thought it looked too 'soft' for a rock magazine, however as i'm mostly into rock I know that rock bands are really into their fans and try their hardest to talk to them. I also think that this quote would make the reader want to buy it and read the story because it's talking about them on the front cover and also 'saving' someone is very serious, obviously when you think of saving someone, you think that you saved them from death. So hopefully would really stand out and appeal to the fans and readers. In the text on the right, 'IN DEPTH INTERVIEW WITH LUKE HOOPER, HOW MUSIC SAVED HIS LIFE', originally I had put the page number on top, but looking at other magazines I have now realised that most of them don't include the number on the front page. I want my magazine to look as realistic as possible. 

I added the price as I didn't have it on the cover before. obviously the price is one of the most important things to have on any product and it should be clear for the reader so they know how much they're paying. I put this above the barcode as the barcode is usually scanned to read the price so someone would look their first. I also changed the cover by taking off the circle shape at the bottom. I did this because I didn't think the colour went well with the colour scheme of the colour and also it didn't look as realistic as I wanted it to.

Overall, I think that this front cover is a lot better than the last one. However, I am still noticing extra space on the page which I know could and should be filled with more about the magazine.

First draft - double page spread of my music magazine

This is my double page spread. On this page, I wanted to make it really different to the other pages that I created. This is because it is all about one person, so I wanted the colours and fonts to express what the person is like and what his story is about. 

I chose a black background because the story he is telling is very deep and moving as it is about a sad part of his life. To me, black represents sadness and seriousness and I wanted it to express to the readers, through the colour of the darkness what he was put through. 

However, the use of the dark colour black was to show the darkness in the persons life but the bright colours were put there in order to represent the goodness that came out of the story. I wanted to create a meaningful story and I think that the colours helped me to express it.

The title "Music saved my life" is a quote from the interview. I wanted to use a quote so that it would drag the reader in as they are being told just in the title about the seriousness of what happened to the artist. At first, I wrote the title in just a blue colour. I found that this didn't work because the colour of the background kind of hid the colour of the blue so I decided to make it look brighter and bolder by using the yellow colour too. I wanted to keep the blue colour so I just wrote the same title, in the same font but just in a different colour. When I was placing it, I moved it a bit further down than the original title and slightly further to the right of it too. I did this so that it looked bigger and better and also I thought it fit within the rock genre too. In the top left hand corner, I wrote 'R! REVEALS'. This was to introduce the story and to make it sound more serious and hopefully more eye grabbing for the reader. 

I placed the picture in the bottom left hand corner of the person bending down presenting a 'rock' symbol with his guitar. This was to show how in love with music he is. Scattered over the page, I drew music notes to show also how important music is to him. I placed the other pictures on the other page and on the side for just little snippets of his life now. I didn't crop him out of his bedroom because I wanted like a natural photo shoot with him in his own environment showing how he lives his life now. 

I wrote the main text in blue because it is quite a neutral colour and the other text on the second of two pages In white. I did this so the white would stand out as it is a quote to the readers from the person himself so I wanted to make it meaningful and bold. I put the persons name at the top of the second page in white as like a carry on from the page before.

Overall, I quite like these pages but like the other pages, I think that I can improve. I have noticed that it is not really clear to read the actual interview because of the colour, so maybe on my next draft I will change the colour of the background.  

First draft - contents page of my music magazine

This is my first draft of my contents page for my music magazine. I wanted my contents page to look quite simple but seem to have quite a lot of information on there. 

I wanted the title of the contents to be different and not like every other magazine e.g. at the top of the page, named 'contents' etc. So I decided to position my title at the bottom of the page. At first, I was worried that the reader may not pay attention to the title because of the position it's in so then I decided to change it. Before, it was at the bottom but in a more simple font and smaller text size so I changed my font into a very unique one and I made the text size a lot bigger, this way it seems to be the boldest part of the page so hopefully the audience would be drawn to that first.

I didn't want to have just a plain singular coloured background as I don't think it would look appealing or bold enough so I used a photo of textured paper. In photoshop, I edited this photo to give it the dark grey colour to follow the dark colour scheme of my magazine. I then wasn't sure of what colour text I should use. Firstly, I tried the same yellow colour which is on the front cover but it didn't match well with the grey so then secondly, I tried a dark red colour which seemed to match much better with the colour of the background. 

I decided to put the main picture in the top left corner of the page because I think it draws the most attention as when we read, we start from the left so the readers will see the picture and will force them to read the story. Underneath the main picture, I created another sort of advertisement shape like I did with the circle on the front cover. I did this to draw the audience in and to make them apply to win the free magazines. I wrote this in all different fonts and bright colours for it to stand out and appeal to the readers more.

The writing of the actual contents is all the same because I wanted a set font so it wouldn't look messy and 'all over the place'. I chose to write the page numbers in the dark red colour and what's on each page in black so it was easy to read and be sure what they mean. 

Like the first cover page, I still feel like I can improve on the contents page. I have noticed that I haven't put page numbers on the top of the pictures on the side so the readers will not know where to go to read them. I also think that this could have a bit more information on it to make it look a bit more appealing. However, I do like this and think it's good for my first draft.

First draft - front cover of my music magazine

This is the first draft of my front cover for my music magazine. When I was making this, I changed a lot of my ideas, such as using paint splatters on a plain white background for the actual background of my front cover. When I tried this, it didn't go particularly well as I thought it looked dull and that it didn't really 'fit' in with the type of magazine that I wanted to create.

After I tried the ideas that I originally thought, I searched through magazines and looked at the backgrounds used on them, as all the magazines I looked at were rock, I noticed most of them had a 'dark' look to them. I decided to take this on board and decided on using one of my ideas which was to  use a picture of the sky. On this picture, in photoshop I edited it to make the sky have a darker tint to it. Once I made it look darker, I used the gradient tool to fade it nearer the bottom. I did this as I wanted it to look faded towards the bottom to make it look more intriguing. For the title, I really wanted it to stand out and not look boring and unattractive so instead of just a normal text, I used the rubber tool to put lines through it so you could see the background through the title. I think this was affective and makes it look quite captivating. I chose to have the title in grey as I thought white wouldn't go with the 'dark' colour scheme as there is also some grey in the background.

For my main picture in the middle, I used a shot of his full body so it would fill the page from nearly top to bottom. I cropped the photo of the gituarist out and left a thin white line around him, I did this so I could smudge the white out into the background so it would look like a glowing light is shining off him. I made his head cover part of the title as when looking at proper magazines I saw this on nearly every one and also I quite liked this idea.

For the other text I wrote, I put them in lots of different fonts. I did this so it would look more appealing and eye capturing as if it was done with all the same text, it may look boring. I mainly used the colour yellow as I thought it went with the dark turquoise colour in the background. I decided to put a giant quote on top of the photograph of the guitarist as it shows that it is him who is talking. The quote is also put there to captivate the reader so for me, it had to be large enough for them to be able to read it and also it had to be an interesting quote otherwise the reader would not be drawn in. On the bottom right corner of the magazine cover, I made a circle shape with 'WIN A FREE YEAR OF RESONANCE MAGAZINES' in the middle. I made this so it so it would grab the audiences attention so that more people would want to purchase the magazine and apply to win a year of free magazines. On the top of the magazine, I created a black banner stating in bright yellow all of the posters that are included inside. I know being a teenager who is into the rock genre, posters in magazines are always included and teenagers love magazines to put on their walls at home, so I wanted to include a decent amount of posters that are included inside so the audience will see it straight away and may force them into purchasing the magazine. At the bottom of the magazine, I added the barcode like everything you buy always does, the website, the date and issue number.

Overall, I like this cover that I have created as I have tried very hard to make it look like a realistic magazine. However, I still think there is more for me to improve, like more writing down the left side of the page, beside the photograph explaining more about what's involved in the magazine. Also, I have noticed that I forgot to add the price to the front of the magazine which is obviously a very important thing to have on anything you are purchasing, so on my next draft I am going to work hard to fix them in. 

Plan for my music magazine pictures

Since deciding on the genre of my magazine, I knew what type of pictures I wanted to take and the type of person I wanted it to be. 

As my magazine genre is rock, rock bands and artists are usually male so I wanted my front cover to have a picture of a male artist on the front stood in the middle. I also wanted my double page spread and main story to be about the male on the front of the front cover.

The pictures that I took of my male artist were first done in his bedroom, I wanted to create a more natural feel to his story as it is about his life, however later on once I had put them on one of the drafts I noticed that it didn't look professional or like a real life magazine so I decided to crop the pictures out and in the end they did look much better. However, on some of the pictures I didn't have to crop my artist out. This is because I took some pictures of him outside but it still looked professional. We decided to take some outside because it represents just a normal person in the same world as everyone else. 

Other than my pictures of my artist. I wanted to get pictures of real bands also to put into my magazine. I knew I was going to a You Me At Six concert so I decided to take some pictures there and if they were good enough, i'd use them too. I wanted to use pictures of a real life band as it makes it seem much more realistic than just fake artists and bands that have been made up.

Interview for my music magazine

Inside of my music magazine on the double page spread, I am going to put an interview written about the guitarist's life on how 'music saved his life' that is on the front cover of my magazine.

Hi Luke, we’ve been seeing a lot of you lately! How is life in general now you’re one of the most well loved men today?

Hi! Yeah I know, I bet you’ve had enough of me now! Well its frat, its all a bit crazy at the moment, it doesn’t seem real at all. I wouldn’t say I am the most loved man today but of course it’s nice to be liked.

Has there been a drastic change in your lifestyle now you’re back in the music industry?

Yeah, definitely. My life used to revolve around going out and being too drunk that I was even kicked out of my own gigs. But now, I can control myself more as I have a new manager, she puts me in my place and now I’ve found the old me again.

I’ve heard rumours that you said that music actually saved your life, has it?

Completely, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for music. Although I can’t just thank the music, my fans saved me.

What do you mean you wouldn’t be here?

Well, I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for the music. Like I said, I was irresponsible and as embarrassing as it is, I can now admit that I was an alcoholic and I realised this after my near death experience. However, the real reason is because of my fans, they have been there from the very start. I’m sure they’re all amazing people.

Your car crash was in the spotlight for quite some time, is it hard to think about it now?

Yeah it is hard for me but I like to tell people so I can raise awareness on alcohol. One night I was out of control, drink does a lot to you. I thought I was invincible, literally. Things were getting bad with being kicked out of my own gigs, family problems and losing friends over drink. My life was in pieces so that’s why I turned to drink; it was the only think that I thought I could turn to. To be honest, I don’t remember much about that night but the scary thing is that I woke up 3 whole weeks later in a hospital bed.

What are your feelings now towards drink and your accident?

Firstly, in myself I now know I was selfish and I put the drink before everyone who cared. Most people would think the typical ‘rock n roll’ life is based around drinking and having a laugh, and so did I. But now I know that’s not the way forward and I haven’t touched alcohol for nearly a year now and I don’t intend to, family, friends and music is more important than drink. Although the accident was a negative thing to happen to me, I believe that was meant to happen as it has got me where I am today.

What would you say to all of your fans that have supported you through everything?

I honestly couldn’t thank them enough. There are just no words to describe how grateful I am to them, they’ve saved me. I didn’t know who I had until I saw all of the letters they’ve sent me. I couldn’t bring myself to look at them first because I thought I was just being sent things that I didn’t want to see so my mum read them first, it took her about 4 months to encourage me to read them. Afterwards, my mind and just myself as a whole felt completely different. It wasn’t the man that lost himself in alcohol; it was someone who wanted to try to make other people happy and not feeling sorry for himself. I was in such a dark place but my fans showed me the light and I could not thank them enough for that.

Have you ever met any of your fans?

Yeah, quite a lot. I would never send any of them away. If someone comes up to me in the street and asks or a picture or a hug, I’ll give it to them because I know that they are making the effort to actually talk to me so I make the effort to actually thank them for keeping me alive. I wish I could meet every single one of them.

Thanks or sharing your life with us today, I’m sure you’ll have some very proud fans and a proud family.

I hope so. My fans mean so much to me and so do my family. So I would just like to say thank you to everyone supporting me, you’re totally awesome. 

Why did you chose to write your interview this way?

• I chose to write it like this as I wanted to have a really serious story that I could use quotes out of to put them on my front cover.
• I also wanted the interview to be really indepth and meaningful so that if it was a real-life magazine then people would be shocked about the artist's situation and want to buy it.
• I really didn't want to write a formal interviw as I would have been restricted on what sort of things I wanted to write for example, I wouldn't have been able to go into such depth about the story, I would only be able to answer simply because the question would only be simple and the interviewer and interviewee wouldn't be that comfortable to talk about much more serious issues.

My music magazine title font

From my last post of what font I wanted to use for my title, I tried all of the three fonts that I thought would be the best for my magazine.

However, after trying all of them, I didn't really like the look that it gave and it didn't give off the perception to me that the magazine was actually a rock one so I decided to look some more at the different fonts and managed to find one that I thought really worked well with the genre and style. 

The font I used for my title is 'Cracked'.

This is what the font looked like in the final product of my magazine. 

I think this font looks much better and attractive and fits in more with the style and genre of a rock music magazine.