LO1: Sample Materials - Masthead Designs [✓]

This is a moodboard of different mastheads for music magazine. These magazines range from indie music, to RnB, however they still hold a large range of similarities. It was hard to find magazines that were indie magazines as even though it is become a more mainstream style of music, it could still be said to be aimed at a niche audience, compared to a pop magazine.

There are similarities in the colours that are used in the masthead, and as the housestyle colour. Generally the colours are monochrome, white and black, with a pop of colour. This is most commonly red. The use of the colour red is bold so therefore it could connote standing out which is what alternative music is about. I like the use of the monochrome colours because they go with any other brighter colour that could be used in the design of my masthead.

 This was my first design for the masthead for my magazine. I decided to design it so that the masthead linked to the music theme and the name of the magazine. I decided that incorporating something that would connote "beat" was important in the design of my mast head. This is because it would no only add interest but also really strenghten the themes in the magazine. When I thought of the word "beat" I associated it with heartbeats, so I decided to create a mast head that mimmicked the way a heartbeat looks. I liked this idea because it connoted that music is something that comes from the heart, however I was not happy with the way in which I portrayed this within this mast head. I felt as though the heartbeat idea made it look too medical so therefore I decidede to keep the same concept but try a different idea for the portrayl of "beat". I also decided to see what the mast head looked like when the line running through it was the same colour as the text and also what it looks like as a different colour. However I prefered the second of the two options.

This is the development of my mast head, I looked at the first design that I created and decided to keep most elements of it the same such as the font because this is something that I really liked from the design. However I decided to change the way that I represented "beat" in the masthead, this is something that I changed to look more like music beats. I did this to look like sound bars and I'm really pleased with how this looks. I made sure that I used a variety of different shapes and sizes for these bars in order to create the best and most autentic look for this whilst also making sure it looked good. I also experimented to see what the mast head would look like in yellow instead of the red which most indie music magazines use. 

I also tried this mast head in different colours to see what it would look like, I really liked how it looked in both green and blue however I feel as though it does not look very indie. This means that it doesnt fit with the style of magazine that I am trying to create. I feel as though these shades of blue and orange look to poppy for the style of an indie music magazine.

After trying different colours, I think that orange is the best colour to have my masthead as it fits into the theme of an indie music magazine. I feel as though this will look good on my magazine, especially as the key house style colour. Orange is a colour that I do think looks good and also that I want to use because it is slightly more femimine than red whilst still being gender neutral and not many indie music magazines aare aimend at a female audience. By using orange, I hope it would entise more women to engage with the magazine. Also it is a warm colour so therefore could bes aid to be more welcoming and make people want to read the magazine more than they would if it was a cool-toned colour. Plus it is still bright and eyecatching, which will mean more people could recognise the magazine and therefore want buy it. The use of The two orange mastheads differ as the first has the line running behind the "E" and "A", where as the secomd has the line running through the "E". I prefer the way that the second orange mast had design looks so this is going to be the one I choose to us eon my magazine. 

LO1: Sample Materials - Visualisation Diagrams [✓]

This is a visualisation diagram for the front page of my magazine, with it being how i want the front cover of it to look. I have made sure that I have included magazine conventions on this as they are the things that make it a magazine such as a masthead. This is also annotated, explaining the reason why I want each thing on the cover. This sketch is what I will be using when creating my magazine, so I know what it looks like however this is just a draft so there may be changes to the final product. 

This is the visualisation diagram for my contents page. I have drawn what I want the page to look like so that when I am designing my magazine on InDesign I have something to work from. This also helps me to know what images I need to take. The common conventions have been included as well as things such as colours and use of san serif font.

This visualiation diagram is for my double page spread, where my main article will be. This shows the layout with ideas of headlines and images, this may change however depending on the interview with the band. The annotations on my visualisation diagram state things such as what I want the band to be wearing within my images as well as the place I will be taking my pictures. 

LO1: Proposal Document [✓]

Magazine Proposal

FORM  AND GENRE

As a part of this unit of work, I am creating a media product in the form of a magazine. This is a local Sheffield based magazine which will promote up and coming musicians, artists and bands in the Sheffield area. The genre of music that I am going to focus my magazine on is Indie-rock as the magazine is a way of promoting indie, or independent artists in order to create more of a name for them in the local area. 

TARGET AUDIENCE 

My magazine is aimed at a target audience of 16 to 25-year-olds. This is due to the genre of music that my magazine is made for as the indie-rock style of music is something that appeals more to a teenage audience. The audience will be mixed gender, however, more appealing towards females, I want to create a magazine that appeals more to a female market as many indie music magazines are more catered toward a male market. This means that my magazine would reach a different audience of people that aren’t as regularly targeted. My target audience are of an ABC1 social grade on the NRS readership survey, this is due to their age and lifestyle. People of the ABC1 audience are those who are more well off and have a higher amount of disposable income, this is due to many people in my target audience age range not having to pay for living expenses due to them living with parents. I will appeal to this audience by having advertisements in my magazine for different brands or shops which sell higher quality goods such as the shops like COW which is an indie clothing shop selling upcycled designer clothing. This will appeal to my target audience as it is indie clothing and things that many of the artist or musicians would wear. These artists are ideal partners for my target audience and will, therefore, make them want to buy things from these advertisements. An example of someone that might read my magazine is Mia, she is an 18-year-old female who works at a local coffee shop and lives at home with her parents. This means that she has a large amount of disposable income, and therefore is part of the ABC1 social class. This disposable income means that she can fund her hobby of visiting different places and see her favourite music artists or bands in concert. Mia has interests in bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Libertines and Wolf Alice. She shops in places such as COW and The Thrifty Store where she buys vintage clothing that she can use to create the perfect outfit. The way that Mia dresses is alternative and she likes to mix different fabrics with patterns, wearing colours such as oranges and blues. Her spare time is spent listening to music and spending time with her friends.

PURPOSE

I am creating a magazine which is going to used to promote local artists and bands in the Sheffield area. This magazine will draw attention to new up and coming Sheffield artists, bands and musicians which will allow them more publicity which will affect them positively.  This is due to there being a larger amount of people that are aware of them and therefore could take an interest in the music that they have to offer. This could even lead to.a rise in the number of people who go to see them perform their music live. My magazine will be used to entertain my audience as many people use music as a form of escapism and by creating a music based magazine it will allow the audience to use local bands which may not have as much recognition as a form of escapism. By allowing the readers to learn more personal information about the local artists, they could feel more of a connection with the musicians making them more interested in their music but also feel a personal connection with them especially as they are based in the same city as the magazine. This also makes it convenient for the audience to go and see the music performed live. The emotions created by writing the articles in the magazine but also the imagery used throughout will create a personal connection for the audience of readers. 

CONTENT
My magazine is going to contain four pages, these are a front cover which is used to create a strong branding and entice people to want to read the magazine. It will also have a contents page which will be to allow the readers to know what articles are going to be in the magazine. I will be creating a double page spread which will be my main feature, this is going to be based around the main band or artist that is featured on the cover page. 

The front cover of my magazine is going to include different conventions which are seen on most magazines, especially those of the same genre of my magazine which is a music magazine. The font that will be on the cover and throughout my magazine will be one that is san serif, this is due to it being easier to read for the audience, especially as the text needs to stand out as this will make people want to read the magazine as it will intrigue them. The text and font style that I use will be consistent throughout in order to develop the branding for my magazine. In order to create strong branding for my magazine, it will include the same house style colours throughout, this means that people will easily recognise the magazine due to the colours that are used. As my magazine is a music magazine which will need to appeal to both genders, the colours used as the house style must be gender neutral so that it will appeal to all. The house style colours of my magazine are going to be quite simple, with it being mainly monochrome colours but with pops of bright orange and blue. I would like to use these colours as they are complementary colours so they look nice together. Also, they link nicely to the indie theme of my music magazine because they are bright colours which will be eye-catching and this means that they stand out which is much like indie music, which is the type of music that my magazine is about. The black and white are neutral and will also work nicely alongside the orange and blue. As the main cover image on the front of my magazine, I will have an image of the band, who the main article will be written on. The image will include the band as a whole but will be composed so that the main or lead singer will be in the middle, this is due to the eyes being drawn to the centre of the image. By having the audience's eyes drawn to the lead singer, this connotes importance. The band will also be dressed in a way which reflects the style of my magazine, this will allow for a stronger branding for my magazine. Cover lines on my magazine will be there to make people want to read the magazine as they will be intrigued by the content that is inside the magazine, these could include things such as naming other local artists or bands that will feature inside the magazine. The main cover line or “sell line” is there to make the audience want to read the main feature, which is usually a double page spread, which is inside the magazines. 

The contents page of my magazine is there to inform people of what feature are in my magazine and helps the audience to find specific articles. A magazine is a type of print publishing in which the audience can use to their own pleasure. They are able to choose how they read the product and what feature they want to read and that they are interested in and those which they are not interested in, so, therefore, would not want to read. My contents page will include page numbers which are clear so that the audience will be able to navigate their way around the magazine and find the features that they want to read. In order to make sure that these are easy to read, I will make the numbers bold and in orange, as this will allow for me to create an even stronger branding because this is sticking to my house style colours. The numbers will be in chronological order, this means that it makes navigation even easier for the readers. I will the word contents written at the top of my magazine, this will be in the same font as the one I have used to create my masthead. This allows for stronger branding as I am sticking to my house style again meaning that people would recognise this as a contents page, which would be consistent through different issues of the magazine. There will be one large image at the top of my magazine, this will be of the band, who are my main feature in the magazine. This image will show the band members up against a wall covered in graffiti which includes similar colours to those of my house style. The band will. Be dressed in clothing that is indie, to reflect each band members personality, but also compliments the house style as well as the genre of the magazine. This means that my band could be dressed in clothing such as denim or corduroy jackets and orange toned clothing. There will be anchorage with text that is in the top right-hand corner, with one of the main or most catching parts of the feature so that the readers will be enticed to want to read the article. There will also be a smaller image of another important feature in the magazine, this will also have anchorage of a quote from the article as well. There will be graphics in the shape of squares, these will be in the corner of the two images with the page number written on. This means that it is easy to see what page these main features are on as the number stands out. 
The double page spread within my magazine will be an interview with a band, this will allow my audience to find out more about the band, learning personal information to feel a connection with members. I will interview the band as a whole to find out things about them indervidually and as a group along with giving my audience information on their music such as up and coming gigs along with new music releases. The colour scheme for my double page spread will reflect the housestyle colours of orange and blue which are prominant on both the front cover and contents page. The photographs which will be featured on the double page spread will be of the band all together, I want to include more than one image of the band, and ideally one of them performing aswell. They will be wearing their own clothes in order to bring there on personallity to the table as this makes the audience feel more connected to them. The shots which I will take will be a mixture of medium and medium close ups, which will be taken in a chilled out environment such as at a bar as this is the band when they aren't actually performing. The headline is something that I will decide once I have interviewed the band and will be something which they have said. This will be something that is interesting but also shocking and will grab the readers attention to want to read the article. A pull quote will also included within my double page spread, this is a quote that has been taken from the main article and used as a subtitle in order to give a brief overview of the article and again catch the readers attention. 

RESOURCES AND PERSONNEL

I will need personnel and resources to make my magazine. I will be not only the editor but also the photographer and graphic designer, as all of these are important roles within the creation of a magazine.As the photographer, I will take the images which will be used in the magazine, these will include those that are seen on not only the front cover but the contents page and my main double page spread. I will use the Canon 700D as my camera to take photographs as this is a DSLR and will give me high-quality images. I will use a range of lenses such as the 22mm lense which allows for the foreground to be in focus and the background to be extremely blurred so all focus is on the subject. Along with a camera I will use a tripod for some of my images, especially if I am going to capture some images at gigs. As an editor, I will need to use software such as Adobe Photoshop CC and Adobe InDesign to edit my magazine. Photoshop will be used to edit my images, this could anything from using the lasso tool to cut around an image so that I can place it on my double page spread. I will use InDesign to layout the pages of my magazine, such as the double page spread and the contents page. In order to edit I will need hardware such as a USB as this will allow me to back my work so that I will not loose anything during the production of "Off Beat". Another role I will need to take on is the role of the graphic designer. This is because I need to create graphics which will be seen on the front of my magazine and other pages such as making my own plugs and mastheads. These are things that I will create on Adobe Photoshop and then place onto my magazine on InDesign.
The models for my magazine will be musicians and bands in order to create a strong connection with the audience. I will use a picture of a band on the front cover as well as on the double page spread. I really want to create a personal connection between the artists and the audience of "Off Beat" as many of the people who are going to be featured in my magazine are ideal selves to the audience. On my content page there will be different bands along with images of music venues which are relevent to my indie music magazine such as the Leadmill.

DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING METHODS

In order to make my magazine as successful as possible, I will need to market and distribute my magazine. Marketing and distribution are important tools because they allow for audiences to know about a product, making it accessible for a large number of people. It is also important so that my audience know where they can find my magazine. Horizontal integration is one method in which companies can distribute their products, this is most regularly where a conglomerate company uses subsidiary companies to distribute and market their products on a range of platforms using a range of different methods. This is easier for a conglomerate to do due to the way that their company is integrated with their subsidiary companies. The compass that I am working for, Sheffield Publishing House, is a local company, this means that they do not have subsidiary companies to market and distribute their product on. However, they are able to use horizontal integration by advertising their magazines and print products on different platforms. One way that my magazine could be marketed could be via a radio advert. This could be aired on Sheffield Live as it is a local community radio station. This means that a local audience would be able to hear about my product. Sheffield Live is an appropriate radio station for a radio alert to be aired on as it is not a large radio station such as BBC Radio Sheffield or Hallam FM. Even though these are local radio stations so therefore would allow for my magazine to reach a large Sheffield audience, advertisements on these stations would be too expensive. This would especially be a problem due to my magazine being free so therefore being funded by sponsors. A different way that I could market my magazine could be a poster. These posters would be found in and around the Sheffield area. My magazine is an indie music magazine so therefore the posters would need to be placed in appropriate places. Music venues such as the Leadmill would be an appropriate place for my magazine to be advertised as it is an indie music magazine and the Leadmill is a venue who plays predominantly indie music. This means that the audience who would be visiting the Leadmill would be the same as my target audience so therefore they would be able to pick up a copy of "Off Beat" and so the reach of my magazine will be higher. My magazine will be available in places such as the train station. This is a good place for my magazine to be found as people pass through this every day. As my magazine, if free, this means that people may pick it up and use the time that they are commuting to have a read of the magazine as a form of entertainment. By having my magazine in a train station, this means that the magazine will reach a wider audience than just a Sheffield audience because people from different places are passing through this place. Once people have read the magazine they may leave on the train or in a different place which allows for another person to read it so the reach is larger than the circulation. The magazine will be available in coffee shops such as Tamper Coffee which is a local coffee shop with the same demographic visiting as my target audience. This is also a cultural hub meaning that it is the perfect place to distribute my magazine as there will be a large turnover of people so there will be a larger reach.

Social media is a below the line method of advertising, this means that it will reach a narrow audience, targetting specific individuals. My magazine could be marketed through social media by having its own social media accounts on platforms such as twitter, facebook and Instagram. It could also have its own hashtag to get people talking about the magazine. As my target audience are 16 to 25-year-olds, this means that they are digital natives. This will mean that they expect to find things on social media or the internet as these platforms are used daily by my target audience.
My magazine will be circulated 1000 issue every month as my magazine is a monthly magazine meaning that there will be 12 different copies of "Off Beat". This means that I can make copies specific for the live music events which are happening in Sheffield each month. It also allows for more up and coming artists to be recognised. A monthly circulation is a convention of many magazines, such as Q magazine which I have taken much inspiration from. The readership of my magazine however will be close to 3000 as the magazine will be distributed in public places so more than one person will read the same issue. If around 3 people read each issue then the readership will be three times more than the circulation.

SPECIFICATION
Advertising is the way in which magazines get revenue. This is especially important for local magazines such as "Off Beat" as it allows for companies to promote their products within my magazine. By companies buying space within my magazine, they will be able to advertise which is especially good for local companies as the magazine is a local magazine. The money from the adverts will go towards creating more copies of the magazine as it is free so there is no revenue from people purchacing "Off Beat". The type of companies who may buy advertisements within the magazine are those which appeal to the target audience of my magazine. Leadmill could be the perfect company to buy an advertisement space within my magazine as they are a local music venue who are aimed at my target audience. This would make sense as the Leadmill is one of the places that I would distribute my magazine so therefore possible
The dimentions of my magazine will be A4, meaning that it will be 210mm by 297mm. My double page spread will be 420mm by 297mm. "Off Beat" will have a bleed area which I will use so that the graphics and background reach the edge of the pages of my magazine. This means that my magazine will have a professional look as the print will reach the edge of the pages, where the trim line is. My trim line will be 5mm from the edge of my magazine so that I ensure that there is space to allow for the printing to reach the edge.
This is a price list for advertisements within my magazine, the prices are discounted if the company is willing to buy a series of 4 adverts meaning that they will have advertisements for 4 months. I decided on a 10% discount after four months because my magazine has monthly issues so 4 months worth of advetisements cover a quarter of the year. The cost of the advert is dependant on the size and the prizes I have chosen were dependant on the circulation and readership figures predicted for my magazine.

LO1: Mindmap of Ideas [✓]

This is a mindmap of ideas that I could potentially use for my magazine. This includes the possible genres that my magazine could be, as well as different ideas for names and article ideas. This is just a starting point to get my ideas flowing and find a starting point to know what magazine I want to create.