Here I have inserted draft 1 of the article which will be found on my double page spread. It is a Q&A style interview so the questions I have asked my Indie pop star Fin, are in bold to make this easy to read and understand. When I put this onto my double page spread I will make the questions a different colour/bold so they stand out and to fit in with my colour scheme, and also to break the text up a bit.

Beneath this document, I have included a voice recording of me reading my article aloud, this is to hear how well my questions and responses flow and so I can pick out errors. This will help me when I make draft 2 as I will know what to change to make it better.

To ensure my article read well and was how I wanted, I recorded myself to check for errors and grammatical mistakes. I had made a few spelling mistakes which I have now corrected. But here is the first draft of my article, read aloud.

Targets from teacher:

-Change pull quote of ‘King of Indie-Pop’ as it sounds very arrogant

-Make sure I have capitals in the right place for the word ‘Indie-Pop’

-Remove bit about family in the future, doesn’t really fit

-Add a link to something coming from the tour eg. merch

These targets will help me develop my article for the second draft because it will flow a lot nicer when I change the capitals, changing some of my choice of words, especially in my pull quote, to make him sound less boastful and more like a genuine man, this will help his reputation within the industry. Finishing the article with a link to merchandise will help to advertise, promote and remind the audience with what they have in store, yet will also lead the reader to take more interest in what else Fin is getting up to, and may even buy his products.

I have been developing my article in this planning document, breaking my article down into sections so it is easier to construct. Below is my article idea development stating everything I will include in my Q&A style article. I am targeting my magazine to the fans of on the rise Indie pop artists, such as my star, Fin Price. Here is my article idea development which I will soon turn into a full written article;

This planning document has been really helpful as it has helped me structure my real article very well. It has prepared me for when I write the real article as I got off on the right foot by including all the questions I will ask in the interview, in this planning document.

This week I am focusing on the double page spread of my magazine. We were given a range of types of articles in which we would have to choose one to analyse. These were our options-

• Biography
• Intro to a long read.
• 10 Tips for Life
• Q&A
• New Band
• Album Reviews
• Interview

I chose the Q&A style of article for my very own double page spread as I was most interested in this one and I feel it flows nicely between the people as it is demonstrated as a conversation, there is a real sense of connection with the audience in this article.

I analysed a Q&A article to prove I am confident with the layout and template of this style of article, I do like most Q&A layouts/ templates however this one seemed crammed. My DPS will be a lot more spread out with the main image being a lot larger.

Here I have a short presentation demonstrating the features of a successful article to prove I know what to include in my article when I begin making it.

I have now completed my second draft of the front cover of my music magazine. I and am inserting it here next to my original front cover to show the changes I have made. The second image (draft 2) links to a pdf so the adjustments I made are more noticable when the image is enlarged

I have made a few change in order to improve the overall look of my magazine. I will now list the changes I made-

• I added an issue and a date
• I made the writing either side of her head slightly smaller so it fits the page better
• Added a subheading to the title ‘meet ruby’ to give the reader more information
• Made the price and barcode slightly smaller
• Spaced out a few of the letters from the masthead so it is more ledgible

I have been using the photos from my studio shoot to create a front cover for my brand Reign. Here is my first draft of the front cover of my music magazine.

In my previous post I have uploaded contact sheets including all of the images I took in my photoshoot. I picked my favourite image to use on my front cover, that being this image. I then exported it into InDesign where I began to add all the features of a conventional music magazine. After playing with fonts, colours, backgrounds etc I have completed my first draft.

Above I have an evaluation of what a classmate thought of my first front cover. I have put all of her feedback into a document so it is organised for when I make my seconds draft, I can access this constructive criticism easily.

I now know what I can change to improve my magazine, such as the shades of yellow I use and I also want to adjust my masthead so the overlap of the letters look neater.

Once taken all of my pictures, I made a contact sheet via photoshop. I put all these contact sheets into a slideshow; here are all my images put into contact sheets so they’re all together.

I then picked my favourite images and turned them into a new contact sheet with just my top 7 pictures that could potentially end up on my front cover.

I think the top 3 images, with the jacket on, are my favourites and most likely to be used as I think a brightly coloured masthead would contrast well with the colour of the jacket. I also think the close up where my model is looking sideways is very effective because of the glitter however I would like my model to be looking at the camera for my cover image; yet I may use this in my double page spread.

I met the aims I set in my production plan as I aimed to braid the hair 4 times, as I did for the shoot. I did purple, smudged, glossy eyeshadow and glitter freckles for some of my shots. I feel as though the outfit came together nicely as the zebra print top is very effective especially when close up on the front cover of my magazine. I prefer the pictures where my model is wearing the jacket as it is eyecatching and bold.

I chose my favourite image, the top right image, as she is looking directly at the camera and I wished to use a midshot as the image for my front cover so I thought this image was perfect, I also like how my model is forward facing compared to a few of the other images I took.

I had the opportunity to test out some fonts and mastheads on InDesign to try and figure out what style I like for my real front cover. Here is what I came up with

Here are a few practice designs of some fonts I may choose to use for my masthead.

The first font is called Prisma, I like the colour and shade of pink I used also. This font is my favourite out of the 5 I tested.

The second font is called Rosewood and is very unique but I don’t think it fits the word ‘Reign’ well as it isn’t too easy to read as it has lots of details to it.

The third font is called Stencil, I like how it is very symmetrical yet I find it isn’t very eye catching and it is difficult to make it one specific colour.

The fourth font is Niagara engraved and I really like this font and the colour I use, however I don’t think my masthead should be in lowercase as I want my masthead to stand out.

The final font is Niagara engraved in caps, in gold and I really like this font as it looks very royal. I like this one as well as the first one I used, Prisma, so I will choose one of these for my masthead.

In conclusion, I really like the boldness and style of the first font, Prisma. However if I were to use this for my masthead I think I would change the colour from pink to gold to make it more fitting to the ‘reign’ and royalty theme. I also think the crown shape above the masthead is very efffective as it fits to the theme, it is also very eye catching so I may choose to use this little symbol of the crown in my real masthead, depending on what cover picture I choose and whether it will suit the colour scheme.

On Friday I will finally shoot my model for the cover of my magazine. My aim for my shoot is to get as many pictures as I possibly can; this is so I have a variety to choose from when picking the front cover of my music magazine. I have chosen my model to be my friend Ruby, I chose her because her hair will suit the hairstyle (braids) that I wish to do on her. I have planned my costume, hair ideas, makeup and the equipment I will use, I have put all this information into this google document as a plan for my shoot.

This document will help me stick to my brief so I get the best possible photos. It is useful to have on my blog so people can gain an understanding as to the look I am going for.

I have created a slideshow on google and linked it to the voicethread application. I made a voiceover to go with the slides and I describe the competition my magazine will face. Along with this, I have included what my magazine will have inside it.

I now know what is good to include in my music magazine and what the reader will be interested in. This will help me when I make my music magazine as I have an idea of eye-catching mastheads and also what articles are interesting to the reader; I will keep this in mind for when I make my double page spread.