JAMMIN BLOG
18/12/09 – this was the last session before the christmas holidays, i started my research onto the main task, which was to create a magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread. i googled top 10 music magazines because i thought the internet would have the most recent statistics. and explored the features of the best selling magazines. the ones which came up on the guardian news website were in descending order :
10-word
9- mixmag
8- metal hammer
7- classic rock
6- new musical express
5- kerrang
4- uncut
3- the fly
2- mojo
1- Q
however i realised 80% of those magazines mentioned above were of rock/punk genre, thus the Hip hop and RnB category of music was missing. therefore i googled top 10 hip hop magazines and took vibe magazine which was number 1 to focus on, i chose two other magazines to evaluate one being kerrang and the other being Q, one from each genre of music. i did this because i thought it would make the research of magazines more equal and fair as i would be more informed to what each category contained.
8/1/10– today i created a powerpoint exploring three different types of music magazines, the hip hop, the rock and punk and the popular music genre. and on each slide evaluated why i researched them and what their strengths were. i decided to do a powerpoint because it was the easiest way of presenting pictures and then suggesting my thoughts of the front covers to the viewer. .i chose 3 different themes for various reasons, the first that were more in the area of hip hop and RnB like vibe magazine, i chose because i personally am a fan and have a collection at home therefore if my magazine was based on that it would be simple for me to construct it as i would know the appropriate material to include. the second theme of magazines i explored were rock music and punk culture like kerrang. i thought as this is new to me and i have not yet experienced such things it would be interesting to analyse it and to create it. the third was Q magazine i chose this because my final research was into the pop culture which maintained a balanced medium of not being an extreme of any sort creating a pop magazine would give the freedom of mixing the music themes together and linking them all for people who listen to “abit of everything” in the end i made a decision as to which genre i would like my magazines to be in and backed up my conclusion with an argument
15/1/10- the genre of music i decided on was the hip hop culture and music. the reason i made this decision is because i buy hip hop magazines myself therefore it is where my interest lies. and decided that if i like what im working on im more likely to try and increase the quality. this date gave me a chance to do specific research into hip hop magazines only as it was what my magazine was going to be based around, and i gathered a few images of magazine front covers, the ones i gathered were called ozone, XXL and the source after i done this i started writing an analysis on three of the front covers. Starting with the source in my analysis i concentrated on its theme, and provided some background information on the source, partly from my own knowledge as i have personally bought it before. i then high lighted the main image and what messages it could illustrate, and whether it was appropriate or not. swiftly then i moved on to colour schemes and explained how they merge in with the theme and main image of the magazine i then included what target audience i thought the magazine was aimed at . i then moved on to analysing ozone, concentrating on the same things however this time including what quality they hold that’s different to the source, and argued whether it works better or not.
22/1/10 – i continued on last weeks work and finished the analysis on three of the hip hop magazines. ending with XXl magazine, including the depth of detail already mention previously. There was a certain element I liked in each magazine, for instance in XXL I liked the act they strictly concentrated on the music, and paid attention to many of the late great artists, which influenced me to have a quote of an artist with every new issue of my own magazine placed at the top of the front cover. the source magazine was able to mix politics and music together and create something for the older readers. this influenced me to have – women of the month dedication pages with my own issue, where an article would be written on an influential women in the media with every new issue, as I decided that my target audience would be women as im a women myself thus will know what the 17+ generation of women desire to read about. And lastly ozone magazine was less hostile and serious then the other two and more light hearted with subtle humorous articles which reminded me that a magazine is projected to entertain, therefore I thought id have more youthful subjects in my own issue, like top 50 sexiest Rnb stars of the decade, would defiantly appeal to the female readers who are my target audience.
29/1/10 – today i started researching music magazine contents pages – this led me onto get inspired on how to create my contents page and what to include inside and how to structure it. i found a few content pages two from vibe magazine and one from NME. the first version of vibe magazine appealed to me because I really liked the structure, the structure was so spacious, and there was a main image which acted as a wallpaper( background) and it was in black and white, which appealed to me even more adding an edge and authentic look to it, I really liked the fonts used and the way it took 3 lines to write the word ‘contents’ it was defiantly something unique and I hadn’t seen it with any other magazines. the colour of the writing was black which gave it a naturalistic look as if it were part of the background. and the font used as subheading was different to the rest that gave the page numbers and mini description I thought this was really clever as it catches the readers eye more, as its rather bigger in font and the pretty italic writing gave me an idea for my own content page, as it would be something that would appeal to women. I done the same type of analysis to the other two, however this vibe was my favorite layout and I decided to do my content page similarly to that. as the other two I analyzed but their analysis included many criticizes.
5/2/10 – i finished the content page analysis and done the first draft of my front cover using an internet image of an RnB artist, initiating exactly how my real front cover will look like. thus when i would want to do the real thing it would take me less time. for this main task it was the first time I used photoshop in a long while, so I had difficulties trying to regain the knowledge of my past experience. the one technical difficulty I always have with photoshop is the the size of my font for the mast head, and how I have to spend such a long time altering it so it fits just right on the top of the front cover. however the colour schemes and effects photoshop provides is always a bonus as the color i chose was perfect and in theme of the magazine, its contents and the target audience. as was the main picture, I chose it because it was a picture of omarion a famous Rnb star, shirtless. this would appeal to the target audience who are women aged 17+. after finishing the editing on photoshop I wrote an analysis of the front cover, explaining why I used that color scheme, why I used that font and why I included those subheadings. I then started constructing my content page draft.
26/2/10- time lost due to ski injury and half term, meant i was two weeks behind therefore i plan on staying behind two tuesdays once on the 2/3/10,and once on the 9th. however in this lesson to during this lesson however i started on my front cover. it was very similar to the draft, I used the same writing and almost the same structure, I had the same type of quote at the top of the page. and a similar image for the main picture. the background however this time was light purple, as I wished to make it more feminine, also the writing contains a lot of yellow, and as they are colour contrasts I thought they would draw focus to and high light each other much more. after I complete the final front cover I wrote an analysis on it commenting on the color, font used and image, and explaining why they are compliment each other, why I used them, what attracted me to them, how they are different to the magazines I analyzed and talk about my how my target audience will perceive it . and possibly what I could improve.
5/3/10-
today i started on my final contents page, following the drafts i had completed . and finished my final front cover. on my final content page i originally wanted a black and white background however, i done a tiny verbal survey asked the pupils in my class what they thought would look better the background in black and white or the characters, 80% agreed on the characters being black and white, thus i thought my target audience would possibly agree. The structure of my contents page was influenced by the Vibe content Page i produced an analysis on, i really liked the naturalistic wallpaper in the background in black and white and the way the writing was structured as if written on the clouds – the colour being black didn’t disrupt the black and white pattern and merged in really well. the vibe contents page was my inspiration. however i didn’t have a naturalistic background, as i only took photos of models in the studio not in nature or outside. therefore i decided to go with a retro wallpaper as it would be more contemporary and appeal to the younger generation of girls, also the colours of pink and yellow show continuance from the front cover, which makes the magazine look more presentable, clear and structured. and i have the written word of Contents going down the page, i chose this because my old preliminary task had the contents logo going down a page as well and i liked the structure therefore decided to have this similar. the pictures i chose for the contents page are of all the models standing up, and two are looking at the camera ( reader) 1 is facing away. i thought this gave a good effect and all three seem to be connected by some way, two have the same eyesight and the same model with the white coat is leaning on the other, showing the connection. the font i chose was the same as the one on the front cover to show continuance through out the three finished products.
12/3/10- after completing my final contents page and finishing the analysis on it, i started the mock up for my double page spread and shortly after i started to the final, the research i had completed influenced me massively. i Found an interview from a music magazine on the British RnB singer Jamelia, the structure of the double page spread immediately caught my eye as it was layer upon layer, so half the page was taken up completely by a picture of Jamelia and they used that as a background but were able to put a layer on top blocking half her body. the writing and fonts used were warm skin toned writing, giving a reflection of the relaxed atmosphere of the interview also the artist is on her bed, also a connotation of relaxation and privacy. the colours were consistent so they were only white and orange, which also complemented Jamelia’s skin tone. and the font and colour both stood out and contrasted againts the dark background. i enjoyed the subheading “the queen of UK RnB on finding her voice, and feeling exposed”i thought this was very catchy as it states she reveals feelings which would possibly interests the readers, i decided to use something similar to this for my own final double page spread.
19/3/10- todays lesson allowed me to complete my final double page spread its similarity to the Jamelia interview double page spread is very close and the inspiration is illustrated clearly, through such things as colour, font, structure and images. i wanted to show my creative side through the overlapping images by increasing and decreasing the opacity of the images. i really enjoyed experimenting with this as i hadn’t used this photoshop tool before. the interview created was done purely on imagination and role playing with a few of my friends, to add a factor of realism i added many aspects of humor through out the interview. the colors of the interviewee, and each individual interviewer was different as i knew from research that if there are more that one person being interviewed there must be a clear distinction as to who is saying what and in which order, this is so the readers don’t get confused and the chronological order can assist the readers to se the reaction of the interviewees which would also add to the realism . the only continuance of the Jammin magazine’s front cover and contents page that was reflected back on in the double page spread was the writing font of the sub heading. i though its best to keep resemblance to a minimum in order to show a clear change in atmosphere, and a distinction between the quality of the products. an interview with super celebrities is forced to look more professional thus concluding in the contrasting choice of color and effects used on photoshop for editing the pictures.
My Blog 
