Masthead Research

As part of my research for music magazines i collected a variety of mastheads which are iconic to the audience. The masthead is an important aspect to the cover of a magazine and for the entire content of the magazine itself. The audience will look for the masthead when choosing a magazine to purchase, therefore the text must be clear, bold and unique. 

The masthead for NME is a simple and standard text style. The text is bold and capitalised to make it stand out on a cover. Being a red coloured text also makes it applicable for the audience because its a primary colour therefore it entices the eye of many people easily. Being a indie/rock magazine it is essential to have masthead that is simple because the covers tend to be stand out, therefore the title must be identifiable and simple to contrast. It is what makes it iconic. It is also an acronym which allows it to be abbreviated and identified easily. 

Kerrang using onomatopeia in its title to comply with the genre of music. The word 'kerrang' connotes a guitar smashing sound, which is relatable to the rock theme of the magazine. It is also in a black print which is a constant theme of kerrang magazines. It has an exclamation mark which suggests it is to be shouted out, and will stand out from other magazines.

Q magazine has a simple masthead logo, however it is iconic. The red background is striking and makes the white capitalised Q stand out. The font style is unique and makes it look more interesting despite it being just one letter. It is easily identified on covers because of the font size also.

We heart pop magazine is an example of the pop genre type text. It uses san serif font style to make it bold and fun. The logo surrounding the masthead is a speech bubble which is in relation to the genre of pop magazine as there are elements of gossip to be noticed in the content. The black print in contrast to the pink heart makes it stand out and gives the magazine the fun/bubblegum pop feel. The text being capitalised also gives it the element of gossip.

Music Magazine Research

Music Magazine

College Magazine Contents Page

Flat Plan

As part of my preliminary task i also created a flat plan for a mock up contents page. The flat plan shows where on the page the masthead, title, image, page numbers and contents will appear in the magazine. Initially the boxes connote where each prospect will be and the amount it takes up the page. 

Contents Page

The mock up contents page i have constructed shows the masthead clearly at the top of the page. I also included the coverlines separate to the other pages within the magazine because i believe this is useful for those who read the cover and are particularly interested in the coverlines more so than the other content. I made the page numbers large and bold so they are easily seen on the page. The image used is corresponding to the main image used on the cover, it creates a theme and relates to the content involved in the magazine.  I would improve this by adding more page numbers and contents to make it more useful. However i feel the initial design is appealing and helped in the process of making my final magazine. 

College Magazine

Flat Plan

To begin the process of making a college magazine i made a flat plan of how the cover would be initially laid out on the page. The obvious place for the masthead was at the top of the page so it stands out and acts as the main aspect of the cover. The boxes are an indication of where each feature will be arranged, this would help when designing my magazine cover because the layout was fixed and planned. However it was only a rough indication and therefore some aspects changed in the process.

Magazine Cover

This is the college magazine i designed. SMAG is a student magazine and appeals to both male and females whom attend South Downs College. The cover lines are student friendly and relate to education and college life. I am pleased with the outcome due to the image being a medium close up as specified, the cover lines are also enticing and i find the layout is structured so that the text is identifiable. I feel students would be appealed to buy the magazine judging on the cover because of the stand out cover lines and attracting puff and plugs. However the cover could have some improvements surmised to it, the colours used aren't captivating, this was limited due to the image and the colours exposed. I would use a different image with a wider background used so that i was expressed with more colours and could use a wider range to set a thematic theme. I would have set the image out appropriately so it had a relation to the cover lines. 

Proposal For College Magazine

I will be producing a magazine cover and contents page which has the purpose made for those who attend college.

The cover will be designed specifically to appeal to college students, it will be aimed at both male and females who are around the ages of 16-18 years of age. This will be evident in the main image, colour scheme and cover lines i choose to publish. It will be available to buy only by the college students and therefore makes the audience specific to those who attend that college. It will accessible supermarkets, it will be purchased to those who are interested at college, it has a niche audience in mind.

The content of my magazine will also specify the target audience by featuring exam related articles,  this will show that the magazine can educate students about achieving and the most successful method to revise. It will also include elements that will appeal like competitions, games and gossip. I hope that it will have content which is helpful and educational but with additional articles and features that students will attract to and make them want to read the magazine.

The cover lines that i have proposed to be presented on my cover will be '10 ways to succeed' 'Revision Guide Inside' 'Student Low Down' 'Win a free bus pass' 'Last years results revealed!' these are some ideas that have relation to the content and will attract students when they read them. I will use the 10 ways to achieve as a puff and plug to entice the students into wanting to know more to benefit them. They are all short and snappy cover lines so that they get to the point, the audience will see the lines and decide whether they are interested in buying the magazine, this will be down to what is included within it as indicated by these cover lines.

The title i have opted to use is 'SMAG' this is an abbreviated way of saying 'student magazine'. I choose this because it has the potential to be iconic due to the uniqueness of the word. It is also short, one worded and therefore could be easily identified and recognised. It creates a fun aspect to the magazine and could attract students to buying it. Some of the other ideas for titles included, 'College Life' 'Student Low Down' 'Student Life' 'College Weekly' however i rejected them due to the basic and standard portrayal. I wanted something which was one worded, fun and interesting. Although initially i knew i would have the use of student or college embedded in my title, i was able to get this without evidently using the formal word.

The fonts i wish to use on my cover will be a variety of san serif and serif font styles, the contrast in fonts can make it unique and interesting. I will use fonts such as georgia, news stand. and gothic because these are stand out fonts and are easily identified when placed on a magazine. They will also attract the target audience because it is sophisticated yet not too formal, it can portray a sense of youth for the students. The masthead will be in a bold font which is also a font which is widely used yet portrayed in a unique way, this will make it iconic and stand out.

I  would publish my magazine during exam season, because this will relate to the revision and exam cover lines i plan to use. During the academic year i feel this will be the main period in which students will purchase a useful student magazine for advice, support or as a mechanism that will help them relax in the process of revising, therefore by publishing the magazine around this time will be helpful for the students and the content will be specified for this period.

The image i hope to achieve will be a student who is in the library with work surrounding them portraying revision and studying independently. The student would portray calmness and happy gestures to interpret how revision can be depicted in this way. It will be a medium close up, showing the student as the main focus with aspects of college work around them, also showing in the background the environment it is in. I will go about collecting this image by going into the college library and finding an appropriate candidate who is studying and adjusting the gestures to make it how i expect it to look.

The magazine i made would be published each term, so it would have one during the first term whereby new students are attending, the christmas period and then the periods leading up to the exams. Due to it being a student magazine i feel publishing it weekly or monthly is too frequent because students wouldn't necessarily be inclined to buy every issue. The content it includes will be the aspect in which will entice them.

Initial Ideas