The
title of the magazine: The Masthead of my magazine follows some
of the many conventions for music magazines mainly “Clash” and brings separate
interpretations on their well renowned cultural presence and their instant
recognition. I wanted my magazine to have a stylized look that could be
instantly recognized by readers, I realized that the first place to start in
this would be by using an innovative masthead. I noticed the common theme of
blocky magazine mastheads with large and bold letters (ie
CLASH) and realized that this could cause confusion with potential audiences
buying the magazine at a store. This is why I decided for a gothic almost
cursive style font, it allowed my magazine to be instantly recognized by font
alone and would also separate my product from other less niche music magazines
giving hopefully a good initial impression on my target audience of young
adults with less mainstream music tastes as a magazine centered in Punk rock
and Midwest Emo
Revival. The positioning of my masthead is heavily inspired by “CLASH” with the
off center masthead acting to split the page in two. One section shows the
title, information, date and featured band yet the other half of my page being
free to display my cover image and allow the readers full focus of each element
separately. The blue coloured
masthead in contrast to the black and white image is used to set the theme for
my magazine, the use of this odd colour scheme was to pay homage to the classic
punk DIY fan-zines that were prevalent throughout the 90’s with the inability
to use vivid colour
palates and the usual default of black and white products due to low costs and accessibility. The reason for
the use of “Gaze” as my magazine title is because it is short and punchy again
following along the conventions set up by music magazine greats like “CLASH”
“MOJO” “DIY”. It is easy to remember and sounds nice read out loud.
Page
Layout: The
layout of my magazine is rather simplistic. I wanted to keep a consistent font
pool throughout my magazine, meaning I had to make sure to use all of the fonts
found within my magazine on my front cover. The Font’s used were: “Painter”,
“Myriad Pro” in both Bold condensed italics and in regular. I felt that the use
of a consistent font theme kept my magazine feel uniformed and professional. My
main reason for using “Myriad Pro” in italics was to keep with the
distinguishable features of my masthead and it’s cursive stylisation. “Myriad
Pro” is also a very legible font in my opinion making it easy to read for
articles and pull quotes, it stands out enough to make It easily recognisable
yet also it doesn’t fall into the block capital blocky geometric font types
used in many popular music magazines. My magazines font sizes are structured as
to decrease in size with the decrease in importance meaning my masthead “Gaze”
takes up the most space and has the largest page presence in regards to all
other text on my page, this is then followed by the bands name “Launchpad McQuack”.
This is significantly smaller than my masthead however I have inflicted the
monochromatic colour scheme upon it as an attempt to keep the users focus on
branding and the cover image, I did this because I feel like readers of my
magazine would already be introduced to the artists featured and this magazine
would be to give the next depth of knowledge regarding the music industry and
scene. I think the relaxed colours used for my front cover create an inviting
and attractive atmosphere surrounding my magazine and this is conveyed rather
well through my colour schemes. The lack of barcode on my magazine is because
of it being a free magazine, this is explained through my editors note on my
contents page. I made this decision because I admire the creative choices and
the community aspect of free campus magazines, the magazines I researched were
mainly functioning around Canada and the Montreal college campus music scenes.
This is also the reasoning for my colours scheme, in theory the black and white
would be a cheaper printing cost and increase the distribution rates. I also
felt that free magazines in the UK did not hold the same quality I saw in other
regions. On my contents page I chose to use a header image of some buildings,
this gave my contents a rugged and “punk” look contrasting my calm and relaxed
colour scheme, I left a gap of negative space the size of one column to
separate my table of contents with my editors note and distribution
information. This was I think gave my contents page a more relaxed and spacious
feel in comparison to some other cluttered magazines like “Kerrang” .
Costumes,
props, iconography used to reflect genre: My front cover model Ethan Smith and
subsequent band members were styled in a range of clothing over multiple
photo-shoots, this meant I was able to pick the exact images I wanted to fit
with my magazines genre and the genre of music my fictional band were creating.
The clothes are meant to be quite simplistic and yet they still needed to hold detail even
through being made black and white, this is why most of the raw images are
actually quite monochromatic and there is very little use of prevalent colour
throughout. My cover image consisting of only Ethan has been specifically
selected as it has quite stylized “punk” undertones with the blocking of the
model looking down upon the camera and with the scrawled writing upon the
hoodie, however it also comes across as quite calm with the out of focus high
aperture “Bokeh” background normally associated with stylized Japanese magazine
covers. This enabled my model to fit with the genre aspects whilst also having
a stylized and different flare towards it. This theme has followed throughout
my double page spread with the use of one large image and on the second page a
collage of images all showcasing the stereotypical “punk” aspects I have become
familiar with throughout my research.
Camerawork
and framing: As
previously stated I have used a low angle on my cover image to show the
dominance of the model and fit with the
“punk” themes I researched throughout my coursework. The smooth and
“Bokeh” trees backing the image have been used to add a layer of depth to it
and comfort. I did not find using the studio practical enough and wanted to
take all of my images outside, relying on natural light for composition and
giving complex and unique backgrounds for my models. My initial idea for my
contents page was for the three band members to be together sitting on recycled
props found around the school premises. This is what I did for my first double
page spread however I came across a problem related to text and the composition
of my image, I wanted to keep the desk in the picture yet it meant I could not
fit my article on one double page. This desk I believe give the first image a
rugged and nonconformist flare yet contrasted with the blocking of Ethan sat
strapped into a car chair it gives a juxtaposed connotations of conformity and
rebellion. I wanted to get a high angle for this shot with a (fairly) wide
depth of field (50mm) to give a natural perspective and to show the rugged
background concealed within the image. For my second double page spread I wanted to use different perspectives and
ranges for camerawork, I chose to use three headshots of the band members to be
able to introduce the reader and show the conformity throughout my magazine.
The main image of the squatting was something I had not seen done before in
many magazines and I wanted to be able to manipulate the blocking and layers of
my photo to clearly show the graffiti on the wall behind the subjects. This way
of using headshots to introduce the members of the band I have seen used
throughout multiple magazines and I felt was necessary to convey the attitude
of the article.
Article,
header etc. font and style: My article follows a simplistic style, I
learnt through my research that most people are likely to just look at the
images in a magazine rather than the text itself. With this in consideration I
tried to make my article friendly looking and less text focused. I decided to
use a bold font for my article reminiscent of the “CLASH” font type, this gave
my article a friendly and approachable design. To link my pages together I have
also used “Myriad Pro” in bold condensed italics for my pull quotes and headers.
I feel this gives my magazine a needed sense of fluidity I would be unable to
get with varied font types throughout my magazine.
Genre
and how the magazine cover, contents and spread suggests it: I
think my magazine presents the DIY punk scene quite well through the use of
black and white, the grungy effect it is given through the black and white
leads some to the imagination a key aspect of the punk genre. I also think the
black and white theme conveys the non conformist attitude of the punk and
Midwest emo subcultures as it is no longer the norm for single colour scheme
magazines to be in production, this gives my magazine the rugged and
independent aesthetic commonly regarded with these genres. This running theme
also adds an aspect of professionalism and would incline the audience to read
onwards.
Cover
inspiration: My
cover was inspired by a variety of magazines, I really liked the use of a
single profile shot used prolifically within magazines like “I-D” and “CLASH”
however I also wanted to incorporate themes from fanzines with their black and
white themes and uses of big borders (E.g. “radio riot” pictured above). Above
all this however I wanted to keep a minimal and stylised front cover “fantastic
man” esce.
Contents
inspiration: My
contents page was heavily inspired by the handmade Punk fan-zines of the 70’s
however I wanted to give this a modern edge. I did this by using elements of
magazines like clash to format my magazine whilst also keeping natural font’s
for headings to add to the handmade aesthetic of the fan-zine community. I came
about the decision to use a singular colour as an ode to the early 70’s artist
Leslie Schiff with her sure of having a singular vibrant colour overpowering
the scene in contrast to the dark and monochromatic images
Double
page spread inspiration: This was inspired primarily by
photographers like Roberta Bailey and her photos of the Ramones with their
serious and stern facial expressions. My formatting however was inspired by
“CLASH” in the layout of text bodies, I still wanted to pay homage to the
fan-zine culture however and tried to use a culmination of images and collage
them whilst still keeping to the modern format.
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