Front Cover Photography Process: Setting up equipment

After styling the cover star, I set up the soft-box lighting equipment, the black/white screen (depending on the outfit that my cover star would be wearing in the shot), a tripod to place the camera on, and the camera was set in position. I placed the lights, one shining on the background, one in the foreground to shine over the models face and one on the ground. I experimented with different angles, and positioning of the lighting and by turning different lights on and off depending on how the lighting looked when the cover star was in front of the lights.  

Front Cover Photography Process: Styling the cover star

To start my photo shoot process I first had to style my model regarding her makeup and hair style. I did this so that the cover star would look presentable ad to convey the right attitude to relate to the demographic. I did my cover stars makeup and kept it with quite neutral tone and focused more definition on the eyes so to help engage the reader as eye contact is key and holds convention when posing the cover star on the front cover. Her makeup was neat and elegant with emphasis on the eyes and a slight pop of colour on the lips however her hair was left down and had a body of movement to it to convey a more relaxed, fun and free attitude which is what the target audience of a dance magazine can relate to. However the use of the elegant makeup, it does show that the cover star cares about her appearance. 

Double Page Spread Draft Designs

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For the double page spread I decided to base it on the second draft as I wanted the feature article photograph to be large on one side of the page. I also wanted the stand first to be under the headline as the demographic would easily be able to find out more about the article rather than delving straight into a long article which may not seem appealing to a the demographic.

Contents Page Draft Designs

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For the contents page I decided to go with the first draft design because the demographic would not be interested if there was an imbalance of text to picture ratio. However a contents page is an informative page therefore there should be a substantial amount of text. Due to this I based my contents page on this particular draft over the others as the picture to text ratio would suit my demographic. 

Front Cover Draft Designs

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I decided to base my front cover off of the third draft because I didn't want the front cover to be to crowded in terms of plugs and text. I wanted the masthead, cover line and the cover photograph to be the main focus of the front cover as my demographic are stimulated by visuals rather than through text.

Style Board

Style Board Inspiration

To enable my magazine front cover to conform to what the demographic would find most appealing, the cover star has to engage with the target audience. As inspiration for my cover star, these images of current young models and singers would be appropriate take into consideration aspects of their actions, poses, facial expressions and body language to convey the correct tone for my magazine. My cover star will be dressed in clothing appropriate to the dance magazine, either on trend fashion pieces as the demographic are into young trendy experimental fashion or festival looks as these are common events that the target audience would attend. 

Dance Music Magazine Moodboard

Audience Profile

The demographic of the magazine are in the age range of 16-25, mainly young people who are attracted to the night life and the clubbing scene attending the latest events to make the most of the nights ahead of them as young adults.

• A typical reader of the magazine would be a young female/male at the age of around 16-25.
• They are most likely to have a low income job or perhaps in education (college/university). Even if they do have a low income their money is usually spent on things such as concert tickets or entry to the latest clubbing events. 
• They tend to be bold, outgoing and fun, experimenting with new music and fashion trends.
• The reader is very relaxed about life, lives for the moment to have fun and enjoy socialising with friends and listening to good music. 
• Their hobbies would include partying, socialising, listening to music, hanging out with friends at their local clubs, bars or party's, keeping up to date with trendy DJ's, events and downloading new music.
• They would also typically have a strong interest in the music festival scene and like to be up to date with the latest trends.

 

Magazine: Design Brief

For my dance music magazine, based on the results from my survey I will be including:

• A colour scheme of red, white and black
• The typography will be based upon a 'fun and playful' tone.
• The magazines content will be informative and busy
• The cover star will be female 
• The feature article photograph will be taken at a mid shot
• The image to text ratio will be 50:50 to create a balance
• The double page spread will be mainly in interview style 
• There will be three or more pictures featured on the double page spread
• The overall magazine should convey a relaxed tone to the reader.

Magazine Survey Results Evaluation

By carrying out a survey on my demographic of the ages between 16-25 about what type of magazine features would be important and what would appeal to them the most, enables me to analyse this data and base my magazine on what the target audience would feel more engaged with regarding a front cover, contents page and double page spread. 

• For the typography that i will use on the masthead the demographic chose between 'sharp and edgy' or 'fun and playful'. Their response was 60% preferred fun and playful which is what i feel does meet the right tone for the masthead of a dance magazine as its has more of a relaxed and joyful tone to the magazine.
• The cover star on the front of my magazine will be a female and it will be a mid shot as the percentage on these questions were around 60-70% for this  These are both what the demographic said would appeal to them if they were to buy a dance magazine. The mid shot will be able to convey the attitude of the cover star and even though it will be a female on the front it doses not restrict the magazine to a female audience as a dance music magazine will appeal to both.
• The demographic when collecting results from my survey have said that they would be more interested in a magazine that is busy and informative and they are passionate about the music that they listen to and would much prefer for there to be a sufficient amount of witting for them to read. 
• With regards to the colour scheme the survey result showed that the demographic would prefer  a more conventional colour scheme of the purple, white and black.
• The image to text ratio that the demographic would prefer to see on the magazine's contents page was 80% wanting a 50:50 ratio. This is a good balance to have on the contents page as the reader can clearly look at both picture and text to easily navigate their way around the magazine. 
• The content that would appeal to the demographic with regards to a double page spread would be an interview rather than an informative article. This reflects their attitude of have a more relaxed magazine which displays information but is more of a chatty tone. 
• The tone which the demographic would prefer is a relaxed tone which is also why they would prefer the interview style rather than the informative style of article on the double page spread.
• The demographic would also prefer 3 or more pictures on the double page spread to break up the volume of text over the two pages. 

Overall the demographic would prefer a more relaxed, informal and chatty feel to the magazine but with both a relatively balanced picture to text ratio on all aspects of the magazine whether it be a front cover, contents page or double page spread. 

Magazine Survey Results

Magazine Evaluation: Summary

Mixmag Magazine:

The magazine Mixmag as a whole is a very simplistic magazine with a lot of negative space to enhance the simplistic tone. Mixmag is presented this way because the demographic find it easier to relate to a magazine with limited text as they are of a younger age who do not convey an interest in long written articles but are stimulated more by visual images. Mixmag aims it at the target audience by containing lots of fun bright and bold visual images of festivals, music scene and parting scenes. These are the type of images that engage the reader and get them to want to buy the magazine because they can then relate to the context in the magazine whether it be visual or written.

This is a strong aspect that helps the young demographic relate to the magazine. This would be a good point for my magazine as strong images are eye catching and allow the reader to find a lot of interest in the magazine. However i would not want my magazine to be simplistic like mixmag as the exaggeration of the negative space does not grab the readers attention which would negatively impact the mise en scene of the front cover of the magazine.

Mixmag's front cover, contents and double page spread do not all follow the same house style. In my final magazine i would like the magazine to follow the same house style as then it gives there a sense of structure and a more sophisticated feel to the magazine.

The contents is very unconventional without the use of the more than two columns and the use of a very large picture spread across two pages. I would not like my contents page to follow the same style as mixmag due to the use of these very unconventional features.

The double page spread is also very unconventional as there is minimum text on the page and the picture is the main focus of the article. However there are some features that I would use on my magazine such as the stand first and the bold headline which make it easier for the reader the gage what the article is about and these are seen to be conventional features used on magazines.

DJ Magazine:
DJ mag has a busy layout unlike mixmag which could be due to the demographic being slightly more sophisticated in their reading style and would read longer articles. However the double page spread was layed out closer to the style of mixmag with a large feature article and less text yet it is very approachable in terms of gender. This is how i would like my magazine to be layed out and be able for both genders to be able to enjoy the magazine. This magazine is more conventional as it uses plugs, pull quotes and a lede to enhance the readers understanding of the magazine and the context that is layed out in the magazine.
DJ's contents page is very conventional in the way it layed out and this is how I would like my contents to be portrayed in my magazine. DJ uses columns to separate page titles which have been ordered further by categorising them into subtitles. This makes it a lot easier for the audience to navigate around the magazine and can enjoy the magazine more by finding the specific pages that interest them.
I want the contents page to be as informative as possible and i think DJ mag contains a good picture to text ratio that convey the right tone of the magazine.

Q Magazine:
Q magazine is a much more sophisticated magazine with the use of plugs, large headlines, stand first and pull quotes used through out the magazine which enhances the idea of really grabbing the readers attention, This is something that I would like to be able to capture in my own magazine as i feel it shows structure and can be aimed at a more sophisticated audience. I also think that the double page spread would be good influence on my magazine as it was set out in a more conventional way with the use of 5 to 6 columns with a large picture in the middle. I like this spread because it shows that the reader is interested in reading it but their is also a good ratio of visual images as well as written. The images compliments the text when there is a lot of text as it gives the reader something else to focus on as well as the written text.

Magazine Evaluation:Q