Third Draft (Contents Page)

Before                  After

This is the third and final draft of the magazine contents page for my AS Media coursework.

The feedback from the second draft stated that I simply needed to add more features because, there was some vacant areas that were large enough for more features to be added.

I agreed with the feedback and I indeed, added more features to make the contents page look more lively and to offer the target audience more choice, as you can see in the comparison images above.

Initially, I found it difficult to undertake the third draft because, I was unsure of what to do. However, I was able to recall current up to date artists in the music industry and then, I started to include more features on my contents page. I also changed the date of the issue from November 2014 to the current moth/year, April 2015.

Third Draft (Front Cover)

I have now received feedback that will enable me to complete the third and final draft of my front cover for my AS coursework.

There are only a few changes that I need to make.

For my third draft, I will include a more broad variety of fonts and ensure that the masthead completely dominates the top of the cover. I could possibly remove the dark box and drag the masthead to the other side of the page.

This is the third draft and the improvements that I have made

As you can see, I have made several changes to the front cover to make it look more lively. Firstly, I changed the main cover line from red coloured text to white, surrounded by a black box. I decided to make this change after reviewing various front covers from the NME magazine. One particular issue, which had white text surrounded by a black box, which caught my eye, so I decided to use the same format for my main cover line. I also typed the text, using both capitals and small blocks to make it more eye catching to the target audience.

I also included a new section at the bottom of the cover, again to make the cover look more lively and to offer the target audience more to read about. Again, the inspiration from the issue in the image above.

Again to make the magazine look more lively, I enlarged the masthead so that it would dominate the top of the magazine, in order to stand out to the target audience. I also moved all of the sell lines to the left hand side of the page to allow space for other cover lines and images to liven the front cover.

Font Styles

The main fonts that I used during the production of my media product, revolved around bold font

For example, for the masthead, I used the font of lowan old style black.
For the cover and sell lines, I used the fonts of Helvetica Neue Bold and Kefa Bold, Marion Bold and Microsoft Tai Le Bold.

The reason why I used bold font was because, it is very distinctive and it instantly catches your eye to the relevant information. Also, bold font is far easier to read and it is more visible. If the font on my front cover was not bold, the text would be incredibly difficult to read.

Colour Styles

The following are the colours that I have selected are the colours that I used for my media product;
Red
Grey
Black and White

This was the colour scheme that I stuck to throughout the development of my media product.

I chose this particular colour scheme because, it is a colour scheme that similar magazines use such as Q and NME follow and I am attempting to appeal to a similar audience to the target audience of Q and NME.

This an example of a colour scheme from Q magazine.













As you can see, the dominant colour is red. I decided to make red the main colour because, it is bright and it can be instrumental in instantly attracting the readers attention.









Black is another colour that is featured prominently in both this image and my own media product.
I decided to use the colour black because, it is a colour that is associated with the rock, indie and r&b genre.

Second Draft Feedback (Front Cover)

I have now received feedback for the second draft of my front cover.

I received less feedback for the second draft because, it is significantly better than the first draft and it looks more professional.

The only feedback (to improve upon) of any significance that I received was about the masthead. I was told that I could remove the box and increase the the size of the actual masthead 'Top Spot' so that it is the length of the top of the page. If I was to make this improvement, I don't think that it would really fit in with the rest of the front cover. I also don't think that you would be able to see the masthead because, the background colour would be too bright and as a result, the masthead would look too bright as well.

I was also told that I could place a black box over the skyline, 'the best talent for the best readers!' because, most magazines use this on their front covers.

Again, I was told to use a wider variety of fonts because, they all looked to similar to one and other.

Second Draft (Front Cover)

This is the second draft of the front cover for my AS Media coursework. As you can see, I have significantly improved aspects of my front cover to improve its quality.

I have decreased the size of the essential information and now, it doesn't overshadow the rest of the front cover. Generally, I have decreased the size of the font to include more cover lines to offer a broader choice for the target audience. I have also changed the colours to determine a clearer colour scheme to my magazine. That colour scheme is black, red and white. Q and NME follow a similar colour scheme and these are the magazines that have inspired mine.

I have also completely changed the main cover line. I have changed the content to give a clearer indication to the target audience as to what the main article is about. I also changed the colour of the text so that it fitted in with the colour scheme. The previous colour was yellow and it stood out like a sore thumb.

The most distinctive change that I have had made to the front cover is the masthead. I have changed the colours so that it would fit in with the background colour and I have increased the size of the box and the text to make it look more professional.

Overall, I am very happy with the finished result of this front cover. I should receive better feedback and better marks for my coursework.

Double Page Spread

This is the first draft of the magazine double page spread for my AS media coursework. This is the third and final component of my coursework. I had to write an article that was suited the theme and the target audience of this magazine. My magazine is inspired by the likes of NME, Q, Kerrang.etc and its content normally consists of musicians of a rock/indie/songwriter genre, slating other people in the music industry and bragging about their drug and alcohol lifestyle.

Surprisingly, I found the double page spread the easiest to develop out of the three components and that was because, I didn't have spend a large amount of time placing boxes in certain places. All I needed to do was write in the text, which I got from my double page spread draft on blogger. I wrote a draft because, it was a forum where I could type down ideas for the article.

Overall, I think that I have done very well in this aspect of my coursework. I think that the double page spread looks very professional because, of the colours used. The inspiration for my magazine, NME possesses similar colours to the ones I have used. I also think that you would find an article that looks similar to this in a professional music magazine.

I think that the only thing I would improve upon is the way I edited the image into the page. This is because, you can still see parts of the background of the original photo so it is more obvious that it is edited. The image doesn't really look professional. I edited the background by dragging several grey coloured boxes onto the page.

In order to undertake this task, I researched professional double page spreads from NME, Q and Kerrang for inspiration. I was researching what the layout of a double page spread looks like and what the content is. I found that in a double page spread, the image was located on one side of the page and all of the text was located on the other side. I decided to use this format because, it has appeared in most music magazines. The content mainly consisted of the act telling the interviewer about his/her upcoming album and I have stuck to this content for my article.