Dazed & Confused contents page as inspiration

Dazed&Confused is not a music magazine, however, I was deeply inspired by its contents page.

I really like the idea of the content page being a double spread page, because it produces more space for images and the cover lines. I am going to keep my initial idea about creating two columns, one for cover lines, one for images, however it will look a bit similar the this content page. I also like the graphics and the design itself, its very unusual, and I believe, suits the style of my magazine.

Contents page: images

Here I present several ideas of the pictures I'd like to use on my contents page.
I am planning on organazing a photoshoot to produce similar pictures.

Contents page; process of creation

Here are some ideas of the cover lines, which I am planning to include:

· Concert schedule 2012

Coldplay

Florence and the machine

Kasabian

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Snow Patrol

The Black Keys and many others

· Can you feel it coming? Kasabian in Australia.

· Face of Armani: Sergio Pizzorno.

Guitarist remembers his past.

· Exclusive! German Lavrovsky will tell you everything

· Red Hot Chili Peppers -“I’m with you”. Their plans for summer+the review of the last album

· January SALES: Urban Outfitters, The Kooples, and many others.

· Steven Meisel new work

· Kurt Cobain journal (one page from his journal is published in every issue of L’esprit)

· Review of 15 new albums

· New music apps for your Iphone

Contents page; my starting point

After I’ve produced my final front cover I am now planning to create a contents page.

Contents page must be very interesting, attention-grabbing because this is the source where the reader will find out what is inside the magazine.

I’ve already looked at different layouts of the contents pages and I think the most suitable is the one where there are two columns, one includes cover lines with page number and the other presents picture which will tell more about the articles.

It important to remember that contents page has to link with the front cover and should have the same design as the front cover.

the Front Cover: Final Editing

I finished editing two possible front covers for my music magazine L'ESPRIT. However, I need to decide which one would become the actual front cover of the magazine.
Could you please vote which one you prefer :)
1.

2.

process of creation the front cover so far..

So far I've put barcodes, issue details, price and cover lines on the front cover. However, I might remove some of the cover lines and make the rest of them bigger so they would stand out more. It is important to mention that while doing this front cover I'm also working on the second one which I've presented earlier.

Cover lines.

Here I present several ideas of my cover lines which should be attention-grabbing:

• Concert schedule 2012: Can you feel it coming? Kasabian in Australia


• Face of Armani: Sergio Pizzorno


• Exclusive: frank interview of German Lavrovsky + photoshoot


• RHCP open air: plans for summer


• The Kooples: SALE

process of creation my front cover

the front cover;evaluation of the survey

I have asked people which front cover they prefer and most of them voted for the first one. However, I believe the second one looks better because of the white background and it would be easier to work with.
For now, I'm going to continue to work with both photos and then I'm going to make my final decision.

Making the front cover

1.

2.

Which front cover do you prefer?

Choosing the design of the title

After looking at several designs which I've presented earlier I chose 2 that I liked the most.

Which one do you think is better and more suitable?

The Title.

Even though the title l'esprit didn't get the most votes, I still decided to choose this title for my magazine, because it is very symbolic and I believe reflects what my readers think the music really is.
L'esprit means mind in french, and i believe it suits perfectly for the title of the music magazine. Music often becomes something much more than just a sound for many people, it could reflect their lifestyle, their fashion style or even state of mind! Its easy to explain by giving few examples from my own experience - music reflects the mood and thoughts very often. For example, the band Radiohead usually drives me to a very depressing, however calm mood and some electro music like Skrillex is suitable for some action - when you do work or when you simply walk.
Therefore I used the website http://www.dafont.com/ to look for designs for the title. Here I present some of them, they are the one I liked the most.

Drafts and Sketches

I've drown drafts for my front cover, contents page and a double spread page.
I believe more details will be added on during the actual creation of those three elements, however these sketches give me a rough idea of how I should place all the details on the page.

THE FRONT COVER:

THE CONTENTS PAGE:

THE DOUBLE-SPREAD PAGE:

Summary of my audience questionnaire.

Most of the people who took part in the questionnaire said that they dont read music magazines very often, therefore I think it will be reasonable if my magazine issue will be released once in a month.
Unfortunately, my participants dont prefer Indie or Rock type of mysic, however this is the type of music my magazine will be focusing on.
Many people agreed that interviews and photographs should take a big amount of space of the magazine as everyone likes to look at the images of their famourite bands/singers and read about their lives!
Also most of them agreed that advertisment could be really annoying as in some magazines its taking up a large amount of space and not many people are interested in what is being advertised.

IPHONE EXPERIMENT

During the photoshoot me and my model decided to experiment a little bit and we've taken several pictures on Iphone using the app Hipstamatic. I believe it worked well and produced a very unusual effect.
Here are some of them:

MY PHOTOSHOOT.

Powerpoint Presentation - Photography.

We were shown a very useful presentation on the lesson. It helped us to find out about the key elements of the photography, such as: colour, light, framing, angle, zoming in and out, etc.
It was really helpful to find out how the effective pictures are taken.

PHOTOSHOOT description

I have completed my photoshoot task over Christmas holidays because back home I have more opportunities rather than in school.
I used camera Canon 550D with portrait lens. Light was artificial inside, however no artificial lights were used when photographs were taken outside.
The model is German Lavrovskiy. He is an actual fashion model in Moscow. That made my task easier because he knows how to work with camera and he is professional at what I have asked him to do.
Pictures were taken in the professional studio which I was realy lucky to find. Therefore the background is plane and simple and the focus is on the model.
It's important to mention that I haven't actually used photoshop, instead, I used Iphoto on my mac to adjust colours. However no major changes were done to photographs as I prefer them to look natural

Questionnare :

I hope this questionnaire will help me to find out more about what my target audience is expecting to see in my magazine.
Could you please leave you answers in the comments. Thank you!

1. How often do you read music magazines?
• Every month
• Every week
• Very rarely
• Never

2. What is your favourite type of music?
• Classic
• Rock
• Rock’n’roll
• Indie
• Pop
• Electro
• Rap
• Hip-hop
• _________________________(other)

3. What do you like the most about music magazines?
• Photos
• Gossip
• Reviews
• Interviews
• ____________________________(other)

4. What do you dislike about music magazines?
• _____________________________________________________________________________

5. what would like my magazine to be focused on?
• Articles
• Gossip
• Photos
• Reviews
• Bands
• _____________________(other)

6. how often do you think it should be released?
• Weekly
• Monthly
• Annually
• ________________(other)

Internet Research about music magazines

Mag ABCs, music and film: NME down 14.3 per cent
18 August 2011
By Press Gazette

Sales of IPC Media’s music title NME fell 14.3 per cent to 29,020 in the first half of 2011.
In a statement IPC said that despite the drop NME “continues to be an exemplar of a modern multiplatform media brand”, serving its audience “via social media, on TV, radio, mobile, through live events and in print and reaches over one million consumers each week”.
Overall circulation figures for music magazines were up 22.6 per cent on the previous year, but this down to the ABC debut of free magazines The Stool Pigeon, Properganda and DIY Magazine.
Of the paid-for music mags Bauer's Mojo remained the biggest seller with 87,262 ( down 4.8 per cent year on year), followed by its stablemate Q with 80,418 (down 10.1 per cent year on year).
In the movie market the free title Odeon Magazine has the highest circulation at 186,740 – up 6.8 per cent on last year – but Bauer’s Empire continues to outsell its paid-for rival Total Film by 100,000 copies.
Bauer’s publishing director for Kerrang!, Q and Mojo, Rimi Atwal, said: “Bauer’s influential music brands continue to dominate in the UK, underlining the loyalty of our highly engaged audiences and our commitment to delivering the best content in a 360 experience.
“Our magazines sit at the heart of our multi-platform music brands, which have never been more connected with their passionate and influential audiences in print, online, radio, events, TV, podcasts, social media and our world renowned awards.”

Music (rock) circulation figures for the first half of 2011:
Title; publisher; average sale; change year on year

• The Fly (free) ; Channelfly Enterprises Ltd ; 100,386 ; -7.2%
• Mojo ; Bauer Consumer Media ; 87,262 ; -4.8%
• Q ; Bauer Consumer Media ; 80,418 ; -10.1%
• Uncut ; IPC Media Ltd ; 66,004 ; -10.9%
• The Stool Pigeon (fee) ; Junko Partners Publishing ; 51,750 ; N/A
• Properganda (free) ; Proper Music Distribution ; 45,212 ; N/A
• Kerrang! ; Bauer Consumer Media ; 43,033 ; -2.2%
• DIY Magazine (free) ; RWD Creative Media Limited ; 38,125 ; N/A
• New Musical Express ; IPC Media Ltd ; 29,020 ; -14.3%

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Throughout the year, I have felt that there had been a positive progress present, which lead to the improvement of the final product. My understanding of media industry increased and my main task looks more professional and completed than my preliminary task.

As you can see the second front cover looks more professional and finished. It is very bright, white is the dominant colour and therefore it attracts the audience, unlike my first front cover which seems to be very dark.

Also the cover lines are much easier to read on the second front cover, letters are big and the contrast with the background and it is not very easy to see and read the cover lines on the first draft.
I also believe the front cover's photo is more interesting than the first one.
The front cover of the main task looks real as it has a barcode and the font size is rather small for the price and that is what exensive magazines choose, so people would not actually see the price, so it wouldn't push them away.