On this blog, you will find my research and planning which was produced to help me create my college and music magazines. The evaluation of my music magazine will then follow on.
I hope you enjoy my blog and the work I have produced.
During the process of making my magazine, I have used several types of technology whether that be hands on, or computer based technologies. Some technologies I have used have been completely new experiences and others are technologies I have good knowledge of how to use efficiently.
Canon DSLR camera:
The DSLR camera was one of the key pieces of equipment in producing accurate and crisp photos of models and props used throughout the cover, content and double page spread pages. A camera is a use of technology I am useful with, however a few good features such as auto focus and flash helped with generating the professional looking photos of my models.
Apple MAC's:
Using a Mac was a completely new experience to me and I found them tough to use at first because their files and programs are stored in different ways to other softwares such as Microsoft which most users are comfortable using. Therefore, in the beginning, out teacher helped develop my skills using tutorials which slowly made me more efficient in using a Mac. After seeing what great power and potential is within the Mac, I could then develop my skills in programs such as Photoshop and Indesign where designing and building my magazines were based. Without the technology of a Mac, I couldn't use Photoshop as half as well therefore meaning my magazine would have suffered.
Computer based technologies and softwares:
- Adobe Photoshop
My skills have considerably improved using Photoshop as many tools I used to create my magazine, didn't exist to me in the beginning but steady improvement allowed me to use the software and the variety of tools it contained. I will show a little tutorial of how I used some tools in Photoshop:
- Adobe Indesign
This software was another new experiencing in using and tutorials were needed to get me up to scratch in learning how to use the tools included. The technology was helpful in portraying text and images in a easy and professional manner such as contents pages and posters but wasn't as helpful in terms of a creative side used for covers as manipulating and editing tools weren't as advanced as they were on Photoshop, and if they were, they are much more difficult to use.
- Blogger
Blogger was a key website because this allowed me to portray my research of magazines and express my designs for my own magazines to the public. Blogger was not a complicated website to use, however, I did learn how to add HTML's and links to blogger and changing the settings to allow the link to turn into videos and hyperlinks. This skill was necessary especially in my evaluations so I could add Flickr and Prezi documents. To help show how I used blogger, I am going to show you a little tutorial of how I created a new post:
- Flickr
I used the website Flickr in another evaluation question as a means of using it as a publication document where the public can see my cover, contents and double page spread pages and comment on them. This website deals with professional high quality images and photos that other social media websites such as Facebook couldn't handle.
- Prezi
Prezi is another publication software which produces creative presentations in which I used to express another evaluation question. I had never used Prezi before but my skills improved quickly as it is a simple software to use. I have learned that instead of simple powerpoints created on Microsoft software, there are other means which can produce better results in portraying information in more of a creative way.
- ishowu
Ishowu is a screen recording software created just for Macs. It allows the user to record whatever the user has on the screen which is especially useful for creating tutorials and producing evidence in research. Instead of using camera's, technology has advanced greatly to allow screens to record themselves with no expensive equipment needed.
The image above is a drawing of typical target audience member. I believe the character to be a stereotypical metal music fan.
The character I have drawn is around 19 years of age. He will be a usual university student looking for a good time with other students. However, every student is looking for a unique look to stand out and metal fans have a distinct advantage as their music taste is unique in itself with the songs and style of artists. This means merchandise outfits, piercings and medium long hair.
A metal fan would typical shop at places which express their love for music such as Pulp.
"Music and pop culture influences have always been at the very heart of youth culture"
Pulp are a store which like to clothe the younger generation in cultures and influences that teens and young adults like whether that be music, films etc. This shop fits perfectly with my target market as it is young, fresh and sells merchandise my target audience would love to wear.
The tattoos and piercings are an expression of pain and individuality, the medium long hair shows carelessness and the merchandise is to highlight their love for music. Each feature of my target market helps express themselves and become unique and a 16-21 year olds strive to become individual.
The typical target audience member will be influenced to buy my magazine because my magazine simply includes everything they want to read about in the metal atmosphere such as interviews with their favourite artists, stories, posters, tour information, artist know-how and even competitions. This is the only reason why people buy magazines, however the colours, design and layout will appeal more to my audience therefore guiding them towards my magazine over others.
If you Click the Flickr link above, it will take you to my FLickr page and slideshow presenting the reasons why I have chosen the specific publisher and distributer.
posture, gesture angle, shot type, lighting, costume. espression and hair
I have created a photoshop document placing an image of one of my models located on the double page spread of my magazine, next to an image of the Linkin Park lead singer found on Kerrang cover. This helps to create observable comparisons when the two images are next to each other, aiding in evaluation.
Gesture: The two models are using a similar pose of placing their hands around their heads. The difference is that my model is placing his hands on his ears to create the impression that their is a sound deafening him. Metal music is very loud especially at gigs therefore I wanted to express actions and emotions that my target audience feel, by using them on a model. The audience will see him and notice that famous artists experience similar things to them and see they are like each other, making them feel there is no difference between great artists and their audience.
Costume: The obvious difference is that my model on my double page spread is wearing a black jumper whereas the Linkin Park lead singer is completely shirtless except for a cloth wrapped round his wrist. The reason behind choosing a black jumper is because black is the colour that represents darkness and death, which most metal songs are based on therefore I thought this would portray through the costume. However, by choosing to go shirtless, the Linkin Park lead singer is expressing his many tattoos which give the look of toughness especially when his tattoos are of skulls and flames which all add to the "Bad-ass" look. Although, he is wearing a black wrist band therefore the connotations of black are still found. My models tattoos can still be seen however they aren't as obvious therefore he doesn't look as tough compared to the Kerrang model.
Shot type: Both photo's use the medium-close up shot type where you can see a little torso as well as your head. I used this shot type because this type of shot allows to focus in on the models face which is important as the facial expression (screaming) is vital to be noticed with the arms pose to complete the deafening look. This is another reason as the shot type also allows easy viewing of the arms.The Kerrang example has used the shot type for a similar reason as the model is also expressing a pose that is important with the design therefore with a close-up of the face, as well as wide image for the arms, the screaming and arms arched is effective.
Expression: The two models are portraying a screaming expression. I decided to make my model choose such a facial expression because screaming is an action that all metal fans can relate to when they are singing. This helps for when my target audience notice the magazine as they will see the model is screaming and associate this with the metal genre, therefore knowing the magazine will be based on metal music.
Lighting: I took my images outside as natural lighting is bright and creates little glare. However, the images produced from Kerrang would have most likely taken place in a studio meaning many artificial lights surrounding the studio, I believe the Kerrang image looks better as the artificial lighting has created little shadow on the model where as the natural lighting used in my image comes from one angle therefore shadows appear on the models lower face which is unprofessional.
Hair: I believe my model looks to have the better head of hair to represent the younger metal scene. This is because most "moshers" prefer to have their hair longer because they like to wave their hair about, up and down which is a lot more extravagant compared to short hair where their head is mostly just shaking with little excitement. However, Linkin Park are an older band therefore they are more likely to represent more of an older generation of fans which may have receding hair lines common in middle aged people.
After going through the final tweaks before my evaluation, I noticed a few features of a metal genre magazine that I have missed in my research.
The first one was a banner above the masthead. This acts as another cover line which breaks the top of the page from the masthead making it more dominant. it allows more space to elaborate on stories and contents that the reader will be interested in, that are included in the magazine therefore influencing the reader even more that the magazine is jam packed with great content. This is why I changed the cover to add a banner.
These are a few examples from metal hammer and Kerrang.
I also noticed in every magazine that the cover lines included around the model do not cover the face of the model as the face of the artist is seen as a major feature therefore covering the face with cover lines
will exceed the point of the models image being there.
For example:
As you can see, the faces have cover lines surrounding them but not covering them therefore this encouraged me to slim my cover lines so they aren't placed over my model. This allows the model's face to pop out more and make it look as if the magazine is moulded around the model.
Looking at the masthead, I gave notice to the fact that the masthead wasn't very dominant. It is big and bold which gave it a good presence however your eyes are not drawn to it. Therefore, I then added a background to the title with a contrasting and strong colour such as black drawing your eyes to the top of the page. As the drop shadow of the masthead is black, I therefore changed the colour to white to contrast the shadow against the black background. However, A pure black background was boring therefore I cut a triangle/arrow into the rectangle pointing down into the main cover which acts as a direction to point the audience where to find the best information.
With the arrow feature in mind, I couldn't use red, black or white to fill it in as any of them colours would blend the other colours used in the masthead or rectangle. This then gave me the opportunity to break my 3 colour scheme into a 4 colour scheme. I did this because a 3 colour scheme can appear to be boring and samey. Every where you look is either red, black and grey and nothing to break the sequence. When cycling through the colours, I noticed a bright yellow worked very well with the dark colours expressed on the cover of the magazine. The yellow wouldn't just work with the masthead however as it would look out of place. Therefore, I looked to change the bottom part as well by applying the colour to the PLUS line. Further more, It will then add symmetry with the cover and the colours.
The message below is from a friend who shares the same metal music enthusiasm as me therefore I asked him whether the competition prize I am offering in my music magazine is suitable for such a fan as I want people to enter and they will only do so if they prize is influencing.

His response was pleasing as he says that the competition I am offering would be a "dream" for a metal fan such as my friend. This was the sort of response I wanted as my friend is in the required target audience and he thinks it is "top quality". I am therefore convinced to continue with this prize.
Before evaluation, I have altered my contents page slightly with a few tweaks. The first tweak is the masthead title, as I thought it was placed a little too close to the border of the page therefore I removed the ellipses at the end and made the font size bigger to stand out more without the title being too close to the edge of the page.
The second tweak is in the competition story. The first paragraph was aligned on the left hand-side of the text box which didn't look accurate as one sentence was too long and slight merged with the second paragraph. Therefore by centring the text, the gap between the two paragraphs is more clear.
My double page spread has undergone a couple of little tweaks. The first amendment was a grammar error in the sub-heading sentence below the main graphic on the right side page. I added a full stop in the sentence after the word "work", as the sentence contained a comer which didn't suit the sentence.
I also moved the left and right text column in the story a touch closer together to the middle column as the right column was too close to the background edge and the left column was too close to the left page image therefore moving them allowed the story to look more practical while leaving enough space around the middle column to see the synapses.
When I was making my final tweaks to my cover design. It occurred to me that I had forgotten to add tattoos during my model make-over process. I believe to have forgotten this feature when my teacher had told me that I could not use internet images therefore my past blogs which included internet pictures were all scrapped, including the tattoo designs I originally created.
However, I found that brusheasy, a website I use to download stamps also included tattoo stamps therefore I realised I could continue with the tattoo project. After downloading a couple tattoo stamp examples to Photoshop, I worked quickly to implement them onto my cover and double page spread model. The finished look are on the images located above.
My model is wearing a jumper therefore I only had a little wrist and hand space left and hand tattoos rarely seen. By placing the tattoos at the wrist section, it creates the impression my model has a full sleeve tattoo. A full sleeve is more of a hard-core tattoo as it takes several weeks of money and pain to eventually get a good one. So, if an artist is seen with a sleeve tattoo, people can see money and pain means nothing to them and a metal artist would like to be associated of such "bad-ass" trades.
Now that my double page spread is near completion, I have decided to return to my cover page and make a few unfinished tweaks to the cover to make it look as good as possible.
I have added a few more stamps of shattered glass behind the model on the background as I felt they didn't stand out as much as I wanted them too and they were the one of the main design features therefore I added a few more in a higher opacity to make sure the reader can notice them.
Also, in the bottom section of the cover, I added a few more names into the "Download" listing to fill more space and intrigue the audience even greater with more good bands.
After inputting the image from the camera to photoshop, I noticed the image came out a little blur and there was no opportunity to re-take the image therefore i used some photoshop tools to sharpen the image. I like how the sharpen tools made the camera and the flash stand look as they appear to stand out more from the white background paper creating a 3d effect putting more emphasis on the broke effects on the white paper.
To create the effect on the paper, I downloaded some crack stamps off brusheasy which incorporate into the paint brush styles. I then turned the opacity down and added them to the white paper background. I used a variation of stamps to make the image look original as when damaging a photo-studio, I doubt the same crack appeared over and over.
The double page spread is looking much better since the last progress update. Since then, I have added the model image, background model image of the studio and some extra quotes and sentences.
I have implemented the model image which has been edited from the original pictured. The way I edited the image has been recorded on another post, the only editing I had to perform was cutting a part of the model's left arm so it didn't cover the story. I also lowered the brightness of the image so it could compare with the darkness of the photo-studio.
The background image, the photo-studio, was much easier to edit as all I had to edit was the scale of the image to fit the A4 size of the page and place it in behind the model.
After the images, I had noticed there was lot's of white space above the images therefore I placed a black rectangle to fill the space so the image looks as if it stretches the whole left side of the page. I then added an introductory sentence starting with a stand-out band name so readers get the sense that the story has something to do with the band.
I also added a quote sentence to emphasise the story. The quote is very controversial therefore allowing the readers to drive their own opinion.
The photo's below are images I took using a Canon 1000D camera using the photo-studio we have at college. I took a range of distances to give me options of which image to use as I am only going to use one.
The background image will be the picture I will place behind the model. I am going to attempt to make the studio look damaged therefore creating the effect that it is not just an ordinary studio. The idea behind the broken photo-studio is because metal is not simple, it's difficult and I thought that seeing as my pretend model is a jackass, I was thinking that a broken studio area would represent that the model is difficult to handle and with his pose (which is him screaming), it's like he has wrecked it.
To make-over the original image, I first deleted the background as I plan on adding a photo studio behind the model.
I then made his jumper darker by adding using a black coloured paint brush and turned the opacity down to around a 20%. This was because the model is wearing the same jumper as the cover image therefore I wanted him to look as if he was wearing something different as wearing the same clothes for two images is repetitive and boring.
I made the light highlights in his hair disappear by using the same paintbrush with a lower opacity and a lighter black colour to remove the white streaks in his hair caused by the light.
I used the spot-blemishing removal tool to remove the model's spots and blemishes to create smoother skin and a more professional finish on the model.
I also used the paint brush tool with a near white colour and a low opacity to colour his teeth and a remove any stains on them. As the teeth are on show, I felt the need to make his teeth a little whiter, not too much as you rarely see a metal singer with bright white teeth as they would dominate the image and metal singers end to have the "don't care about my look" attitude.
During the design work of my double page spread, I found a problem with my story as it was too long to divide into three columns as well as create enough space above the text to allow room for a heading.
To solve this problem, I deleted a question and answer in the story and re-write some answers. Re-writing some answers allowed me to create a persona as I wanted the Dark Destroyer to have character to make the interesting therefore instead of going for nice answers that people expect, I went for a Jackass laid back route and made the Dark Destroyer sound like a carefree person who says what he wants. This will then generate controversy and get the reader involved.
The new version of the story is included below:
Before we begin, what's the deal with the Dark Destroyer nickname, can you shed some light on the matter?
Let's just say it involves my dark hair and many women. I will let the readers figure out the rest.
You are currently planning your, Lucifer's whipping boy tour, can you tell us how your managing to cope with the pressure of creating such blockbuster gigs, as they are stated to be better than legendary classics such as Slipknot, say our fans?
Of course we are better than Slipknot, where have you been since the 21st centrury? I know what the fans want and I give it to them with a side of awesome. Pressure is a feeling I am evolved to ignore, my band mates may get a little shakey but not me, I have once appeared on stage and forgot half the lyrics and still sent the fans home dizzy. There is no pressure, we just do what comes naturally to us.
Do you have any superstitions before entering on stage?
The band has a ritual in which we drink a can of Foster's before going on stage. It started from the first gig we ever did as when we were on our way to the venue, our bus collided with a fosters advertisement sign. The gig was delayed but the Fosters has stayed with us ever since.
Our female fans are especially interested in your private life, they are all dying to hear if you are tied up?
Females have always found me attractive. What can I say, I am a girls dream, what girl wouldn’t be interested in this. The Dark Destroyer will never be tied up, but I am always up for fun.
When you were growing up, who were the artist that inspired you to metal music?
Metal music was a big part of my life. I have to say Nirvana and Iron Maiden were the band we got high to the most. There was nothing better than jamming to Run to the hills in your bedroom, volume remote in one hand and a beer in the other. In my opinion there is no equivalent.
As your known to be a man of great style, do you think a front man needs to have a good image?
My style is having no style. These days all you have to do is where a jacket and some pants and you have style, it’s ridiculous. What's important is music and the gigs, nothing more, nothing less. If you want a good image, learn how to rock and then you will have a good image, if your desperate enough.
After your tour, what are the future plans for the band?
Well we can't spoil the surprise now can we. The readers will just have to wait and see but we promise, Leviathan are planning some big things.
Leviathan kick of their new tour in Manchester next year. For further details and latest news on the band and their upcoming shows, visit the website.
WWW.ANARCHY.CO.UK
Visit the website for latest news on your favourite artists and
Since my start up post of my double page spread, I found some influential design ideas that I integrated into my design and the image above is the outcome I have so far. I have added a heading style feature which includes key words from the story in many different sized fonts with alternative coloured backgrounds to the words to make them pop out.
I have managed to continue the theme of red, black and white for colour scheme keeping consistent through-out my magazine.
I have added a sub-heading sentence which gradually introduces the story instead off forcing the reader to jump straight into it allowing the reader a few hints of what is to be talked about.
For the story, I have highlighted the questions in red to distinguish the interviewers questions from the artists answers. This helps the reader to follow the story easier and to not get confused.
The trapezium located on the top left of the double page spread acts as an introduction to the page itself which allows the reader to notice what page they are reading and allows me to add the Anarchy masthead for further consistency.
I have also subtly toned the background grey colour into a slightly lighter grey therefore the background does not over-power the text like the past attempt did meaning the text can be read much easier.
For my contents page, I will be creating made up cover lines as they are then guaranteed to be entertaining for my fans, however, I will still be adding original metal band names and singers to create the presence of authenticity.
Some of the reasons for making up stories:
I took the snippit above from a Metal Hammer website and the news is that selfie sticks are banned from UK gigs. I don't want any nonsense such as this to fill my magazine as my target audience won't care about selfie sticks, they would want to read about bands and new albums etc.
I don't want no information dated from past stories such as the one above. My target audience is for at least 18 and overs an they will want to read current information not out dated news.
the snapshot above looks at some awful stories such as "long hair to like metal?" or "Is metal dying".
Of course metal is not dying if people are buying the magazine and 1000's of bands are entering the genre every year.
If current news only has these stories to offer, I would be more than happy to generate stories that my fans will like to read therefore they will enjoy my magazine more.
Stories I intend to add in my magazine:
I will be adding stories such as bands tours and gigs as readers are forever interested in when there bands are looking to go on tour, and Anarchy will be supplying the details.
Fans love it when big, legendary band members speak out and shout out about controversy information which will create tension for the readers to enjoy.
The snippit includes two stories I intend to interpret into my magazine, posters and top 10 stories. Posters are always a great page filler and readers would love great quality images for free of there favourite artists. Fans have their own opinions therefore when they read about a top 10 story, they will always disagree with some choices meaning they are interacting with the story.
Albums and songs are the format which artists deliver there songs to music, despite online streaming therefore readers will need to hear about upcoming and new releases of albums and songs so they can keep up to date.
