Font selection for my magazine

I have to consider which fonts I will use throughout my magazine and ensure that the are easily legible and fit in appropriately.

Arial
Arial in bold

Courier
Courier in bold

Trebuchet
Trebuchet in bold

Focus group results.

Arial = 9 People

Courier = 1 Person. The general feedback for this font was that it didn't really fit in with the magazine genre.

Trebuchet = 9 people. This was a very good choice and it looks effective and will match well with the rest of the magazine.

Magazine colour schemes

When creating my magazine I had to think of a very effective and eye catching colour scheme to grasp the readers attention.

A green and white background.

A blue and white background.

A red and black background.

I asked my focus group to give me there feedback on the magazine backgrounds above

Green and white = 0
Blue and white = 5
Red and black = 12

The focus group helped me decide on my chosen background colour. This was very helpful as I would like to know the audiences preference. Although most people said this because I explained that I was going to put a band group photo or a single shot of someone holding there instrument.

Magazine considerations

1. How often will the magazine be published?

I plan to have my magazine as being sold fortnightly. I plan to do this as the magazine wants to have a good readership and this has more time to purchase.

2. What is your magazine going to be called?

My magazine is going to be called NAM. I have chose this name as it is catchy and will stick.

3. How much are you going to sell the magazine for?

I am aiming to sell my magazine for £3.99. I aim to sell this magazine at this price because it is a 50 page magazine giving you all the up to date news and also give you a discount code on the website.

4. What sort of age are you aiming to sell your magazine at?

My magazine is aimed at 18-25. I am aiming it at this age group because I feel they would purchase more magazines as an age group than anyone else.

5. What gender is your magazine aimed at?

My magazine is mainly aimed at males but may appeal to females.

6. What genre is your music magazine?

My music is not specifically one genre and aims to reach to a wider audience.

Feedback on intial front cover.

The magazine front cover is very clear and shows the main image clearly and effectively. The coverline and teasers down the side of the page make the readers interested and want to know more.

"I thought that the layout is very well done and looks very effective and has a good design."

I personally feel there is still some work to be done before starting my magazine front cover.

Plan for magazine front cover

I had decided that I want a magazine with a simple but very effective. It needs to contain the following things:
- A clear masthead,
- A striking and eye catching picture,
- Bar code,
- Price,
- Date,
- Teasers,
- Short cover line.

I plan to to this sort of layout and have the price and bar code below the date in the bottom right hand corner.

Analysis of front cover

I analysed a magazine front cover and looked to see how I could use the designs VIBE used in my magazine.

Masthead

The masthead is clearly shown here going across the top of the page and is very bold and striking getting the name across clearly.
This is a good idea and I think I will use a similar striking font and put this at the top of my page to clearly show my magazine name.

Bar code and Price

The bar code and price are vital on every magazine cover clearly showing the price of the magazine and the bar code.

I am definitely going to include a price and bar code. On this magazine I do not like where they have put the bar code and price. I personally think it would be a lot better for the reader to see it horizontally and for that reason I plan to put it in the bottom right hand corner of the page.

Banner

 The banner is very good at eye catching and will easily grasp the readers attention.

I think I will include a small banner just to show something or to make the readers integrated and want to read more and purchase the magazine.

Main Image

VIBE have used a very clear picture on the front cover and they have used a famous artist as people know who he is and will therefore want to know what the magazine has to say. Also this could bring in new readers if they are obsessed with an artist and then they will want to buy it and then may enjoy reading the magazine and continue to buy it.

The main image I plan to use is going to be very striking yet appealing at the same time wanting you to read in to it and explore.

Cover line

The cover lines this magazine has used are not just on one topic making appeal to a wider variety of people.  This is a also very good teaser to give the readers a brief snippet into the magazine stories wanting them to look into further detail.

I plan to use only a select few cover line stories but also plan to put on there a thing saying buy of the week. Here I will put a good deal on something to buy. I haven't seen this used before and will be interested into what my focus group will say.

Evaluation on School Magazine

I used a few key words which would make it obvious to the reader what they are reading. I used certain phrases like "Shebbear College" and "sheb" which are all things to do with school. I thought that this was very important and would be effective if used correctly. A few key words I used were :
- "Shebbear College"
- "6th Form"
- "Mr Newitt"
- "Mr Langridge"

I made sure that when creating my school magazine that I included the school colours as this would be show a clear link with the school and also share an almost safety net as the people buying the magazine find it familiar. Our school colours consist of:
-Red
-Yellow/gold
-Black

I used the red colour as a background colour. Red resembles a warm feeling so I used this as I thought this would entice the reader and not put the reader on edge.
I used the gold and black colour as my heading colours. The text was a clear black colour and was surrounded by a gold outline. I used those colours for the heading as they are very bold and prominent colours and make it clear and easy to read.

On my magazine front cover I used two key picture linking to both teasers on the page. I had a carton picture of two people debating. I manipulated these picture so that then it show two plagues on the boards displaying tutor names.

I managed to link the contents page to the title page by using the same colour scheme and also I included the same pictures relating to the teasers.

I personally thought that it was key that I should include the price, bar code and a date. It was very important that the price was clearly displayed for all customers to see. Also the date was essential as this tells the customer whether they have grabbed the latest copy.