Contents pages are very important in magazines because they inform you of what is inside the magazine and it allows the reader to decide whether they are interested in reading further and purchasing a copy. That is why it is extremely important to make a magazine that will attract your target audience. When creating a contents page you have to consider conventions including graphics, text, fonts, colours and photos. You also have to consider many technical conventions including headlines, editors comments, captions, information and page numbers. These conventions are important because because if you have a well designed and informative cover page your target audience will want to read on. Below I have presented a few examples of contents pages. When creating my contents page, I will examine these content page and think about all of the conventions that they have used and consider layout. These conventions are important because because if you have a well designed and informative cover page your target audience will want to read on.

Examples of Contents Pages

By examining and the contents pages above and researching the expected conventions, I have been able to come up with a few ideas of what I would like the layout of my contents page to look like. Common features that I have found in many contents pages include, big headlines, bold photos, small but engaging amounts of information and page numbers to make it easy to find the section you are looking for. Below are two examples of contents page templates that I have made and will base my actual contents page off of. When I make my contents page I will include images that fit the EDM genre. I want to use purples and pinks so that it shows that my magazine is targeted towards females. I will also use purple filters over my photos so that it will give off a party vibe. I will not use to much text so that my readers are overwhelmed. I will just use enough text so that my readers are informed without having an overload of information.

Contents Page Templates

I have also considered what headlines I want to use so that they are informative but grasp my readers attention. Below I have written my top five catchy headlines that will fit my target audience.

. How Isabella Gomez fought her way to the top to become the World’s most famous EDM star!

. Fighting sexism in the EDM industry. What we’re doing to change peoples perception of female DJ’s.

. Mollie Cruz: Her how to on making the sickest beats.

. The latest EDM festival news and how you can get your hands on loads of free tickets!

. How Elsa Eilis faced her stage fright fears and became the women me all know and love.

Researching headlines is very important because headlines are what attract audiences to read further and purchase magazines. For example certain words, such as ‘exclusive’ and ‘special’ are good to use because they create suspense and they make the reader feel special and connected to the magazine and the artists that the magazine is discussing. This helps to attract audiences and increases the likelihood of people purchasing the magazine.

When producing a magazine cover there are many different elements that you have to consider. These elements include colour, font, language, image and using the conventional design features of a magazine. All of the connotations listed are things I have had to think about when creating my cover. Over the past few days I have been designing a magazine cover that aims to align with my target audience so that if it was to go on sale, it would maximize profits. This is my first of a few drafts and below I have assessed my work so that when I come to create another, it creates even more interest and desire for my target market.

Draft one

Self Assessment

Targets for my next draft

. Experiment further on InDesign so that my magazine is technically better.

. Add more text so that it draws the reader in further.

. When cutting my model out using Photoshop, make sure there are no mistakes.

. Add more conventional design features of a magazine.

. Consider different fonts that may fit better with the genre of my magazine.

Moving forward this will be extremely helpful because it will allow me to focus on what I need to improve on to make the best cover possible.

Having a production agenda for my magazine cover shoot is extremely important because it will help me to be organised and know, what costume, make up, hair and props I need to bring for my shoot. This is very important because it will help me to create the best photo that will fit my target audience.

Mastheads are an extremely important part of a front cover. This is because it allows the brand of the magazine to be recognized and remembered. It is also one of the first things that your audience sees when looking at a magazine and can or can not leading to someone wanting to read on and buy it. Below are some mastheads that I created for my chosen genre (EDM). As you can see throughout my designs I used quite bright colours which supports my theme because electronic dance music is known for using neon lights and bright clothing and makeup. When creating my mastheads I worked with different fonts, type faces, strobe, vertical scale and horizontal scale.

My favourite masthead is the one I created at the top. I like it because it is big, bold and quite out there. In my opinion I think it meets AIDA. It is quite attractive because of the colour used; it also interests the reader because the font is quite striking and vibrant which will hopefully lead to them wanting/desiring my magazine. I really like that I moved some letters closer together and tilted some because it makes it more exciting and I like the blue around the edge because it makes the masthead look quite static and electric which definitely fits with my genre. Doing this task has helped me a lot because it has definitely allowed me to improve my indesign skills and has taught me about lots of different conventions and fonts.

Click on image to see full mood board.

Today, I created a mood board on pinterest that consists of many different parts of electronic dance music. I did this in order to get some inspiration for my magazine. I found conventions like, images, song lyrics, fonts, colour schemes, magazine covers, album art and tour posters that I thought fit well with the EDM genre.

As you can see in my mood board lots of neon and bright colours are used. Heavy makeup and strong eyeshadow looks are also used to connote quite a fun and exciting feeling. Bold fonts are also used throughout. This shows that EDM is very out there and wild, in fact almost crazy. I’m happy with my mood board because in my opinion it definitely communicates a feeling of electronic dance music. To make it better I would probably add more fonts and possibly more song lyrics. This has helped me a lot because when I make my magazine I am definitely going to look back at my mood board and take lots of inspiration from it because I think it fits extremely well with the genre.

As you can see in the first slide above I did some research on a famous EDM artist. I did this to show that artists have to be ordinary yet extraordinary at the same time as well so that they can appear likeable to their audience. They do many things that lots of people would consider every day tasks but they also experience things that most people will never. For example he participates in normal activities like walking, he cares about his family and supports charity’s. However he’s also performing in front of crowds of thousands of people, lives in a massive mansion and often walks red carpets. The factors that I have included in my first slide clearly show that they live both ordinary and extraordinary lives.

In the second slide I showed how I would want my model star to look when the audience is reading my magazine. I would like them to appear very glamorous and important. I also want it to look like they are partying and that they have extremely out there style and makeup looks. I also want to give off the impression that they are not going to be held back by anything and that they are going to stand up for what they believe in, I want them to be the centre of attention. I want my front cover star to stand out amongst other magazine and attract the correct target market.

It is extremely important to understand who our audience is when making are magazine so that we we can make as many sales and collect as much profit as possible. To help create an idea of who my target audience was I used a website called yougov.co.uk to research different popular EDM artists and see who there psychographics and demographics were. I researched Avicii, Martin Garrix and Kygo. As you can see from the information below the main electronic dance music demographic is female millennials.

Using the information above I made a dating profile for someone who would be part of my target market. When making the profile I used the Blumer and Katz theory, (education, entertainment, personal identity and social interaction). The theory was very helpful when making my profile because it helped me to encode what the audience would want to decode when reading my magazine. This task was very useful because it helped me to understand the importance of considering who my target market is and how I should market my magazine towards them. My dating profile is below.

I am able to analyse a music magazine cover. In this task we had to pick a magazine cover from a few different choices and genres. I chose the Billboard magazine cover. I examined the different visual aspects of the magazine including fonts, colour used and the cover star but I also assessed who the audience psychographic and demographic were to find out who the target market was and who would be buying it. For instance the different “rainbow colours” used suggested that the brand supports pride and that the magazine is targeted towards people who are part of and support the LGBTQ + community.

In this task I have learnt that it is really important to consider all options when creating a magazine that will be attractive to the target audience. This is so that you will be able to maximise sales and earn as much profit as possible. When I create my magazine I will definitely consider things like font, language and the colours I use to make it the best it can be.