Images play a major role in the developing of a music magazine, as they are the first thing that visually attracts the audience. The front cover image is especially important as it is the first image the audience will see, so I chose a model who represented my idea of an indie magazine well. I instructed her to wear the dark lipstick and a black leather jacket, as it contrasts with her bright blonde hair making her stand out even more, and i think this rebel-like look fitted well with the representation of an indie star that i was trying to portray, and fitted well with my colour scheme- red,white and black. Her pose is very conventional, however I edited her out of the original photo and placed her back over the top in order for her to be more clear and to be seen, and I have slightly placed her head over the top of my mast head, another convention that I have noticed in various magazines ive looked at, for example the image of NME below. Lily Allens head is obscuring part of the "E" like Alys is obscuring part of the "L" and "U" in "VOLUME".
I was happy with my image, as it was clear and conventional, and fit the criteria for my target audience. I edited it to black and white using Adobe photo shop. I wanted to have a background, so I chose to put Alys in front of a tree which wasn't too busy and cluttered, so that my sub headings would be easy to read. The branches on the left hand-side were fairly busy, so i simply outlined my text in black in order for it to be clearly seen.
The image on the left is the one that I used for my double page spread, and I again edited it into black and white to match my colour scheme. I chose this background carefully, against a dirty wall with graffiti, to emphasise my article and the fact that i brought up that Alys was from a working class back ground in London and this is a stereotypical representation of this. I have edited it to black and white, to link it to my front cover, and she is wearing the same outfit, which all fits in with the idea of a young rebellious indie artist. Her Blonde hair contrasts within the Gray scale and this makes her stand out even more, especially against her dark clothing. I positioned her this way so she was further to the right, so I could fit my article over the graffiti. Alot of magazine double page spreads ive come across have used a very simple background or none at all, and although mine is fairly simple it could potentially challenge the conventions of a double page spread with the background and the fact she is looking down in the image. I feel that despite the fact my magazine features many of the common conventions found in a typical music magazine, I wanted my magazine to stand out and be unique, so I slightly changed the convention in order to make my magazine slightly different from others, still managing to carry many of the usual codes and conventions. I had portrayed alys as a very normal girl, and so chose an environment in which I could present that, with the average wall and railings with graffiti, making the readers be able to relate to her and find similarities with themselves.
On my contents page, I used a total of 5 images, 2 of which were Alys. my main image on the contents page was her, and I edited her into black and white again linking it with her double page spread, which I featured as a subsidiary image. I again chose the mis-en-scene for this image carefully, making sure the surroundings and background for all of my images fitted. this time, she is against a dirty wall with railings at the top,which shows again she comes from an average background, and is easily relatable. I did this because I wanted my magazine to be realistic and believable, and found that in some of the magazines that I looked at, people from realistic average backgrounds often had realistic pictures to represent this, another convention I have used within my magazine. My other images were of different thing's I had featured in my contents page, and I tried to do a variety of different edits, styles and shots, including a copy of Alys album, medium close up on "Harri" and a long shot of a band. This is a convention I have noticed a lot in "Q" magazine. I chose to edit my photos differently in order to create a bit of variety, whilst sticking to the theme of red black and white. My main image of alys was in black and white, and I did this to link and match my front cover image, main contents image and double page spread image together. However, her album cover is in Sepia, and i only slightly edited Harris image to bring out the bright colours in the background, leaving it in colour. choosing the correct people is a key part in the magazine as they need to represent the genre or type of magazine you have created. I chose alys because she represented what I perceived to be a young indie artist well, and her clothes and makeup also were key in choosing her. I had to ensure that Alys looked like a believable average girl who had shot to fame through you tube videos, and I think I pulled this off, and I believe that the Mis en scene helped in this. I chose the poses that I often found in Q magazine, wanting them to appear professional and realistic at the same time, and I believe that I achieved this, mainly due to my choice of person. I think that her image fitted her story perfectly, and i am happy with my choice. In the Copy of Q, they have represented Jessie J in a true way through her image on the front cover, she is seen as fun and quirky, through her pose. Her clothes make her appear ambitious and fun, and that is what I had hoped to achieve in my making of the magazine.
The written content is one of the main aspects of the magazine so it was important to me that I did it the best I could. I had to ensure I used professional terms in my write up, and I used phrases such as "She is absorbing the attention our team is giving to her" in the introduction to make my magazine believable. The language I used throughout the interview was one I assumed the reader could relate too, making it casual and using some slang, making it informal. I found this slightly more easy to write, because I am within the age group of my target audience, so I am aware of what would and what wouldn't catch my eye. I made sure that I added in all the typical conventions that a double page spread has, such as the drop capital, the introduction before the interview began, information on tours and album release dates, giving her website and twitter at the end of the article and pull quotes. For my contents page and front cover, I made all my headings and sub headings quick and easy to read, something I personally would like. Underneath each subheading, I gave a brief summary of what was going to appear in each article, hoping to intrigue the reader further. I mainly wanted my font to be readable, giving it a lot of thought. I noticed a common convention on magazines was keeping to 2 or 3 fonts and not constantly changing, and this is something I also adopted during the task. I mainly used the fonts "copperplate gold" and "minion pro" as they are easy to read and are clear. I felt that my mast head font it fitted my genre perfectly, and was easy to read, and distinct from the rest of my fonts. I ensured that my mast head, and the majority of my cover-lines were in red, so the reader is aware they are all equally important, as they are the same colour as the masthead. My font size was traditionally a size 10 in my double page spread.
Layout.
The layout is important as this is the first thing the reader sees. I wanted my page to look full, but not overcrowded or untidy. It was also important to me that everything was clear, whereas if it had been cluttered things may have been unreadable. This copy of Q is clear and full, it is evenly distributed across the page, with no area of the cover looking empty, or the other extreme cluttered. I tried to use this idea when making my own cover. Like Lady Gaga, Alys is in the centre of the page, and her name is written across the front of her body, as is "GAGA". I also have cover lines going around the picture, and I have banners along the top and bottom. 
My contents page was clearly set out and it was relatively simple but I noticed this was a common convention in magazines, especially in Q. As you can see, both of these contents pages are similar, and I used this one as a framework to work from. I used the common conventions of a magazine, such as "features" "regulars" and even including a "V review" section, based on "Q review." Again, organisation and making sure everything was easy to read was my main focus, along with making it look professional. The subheadings I used were also helpful in navigating the reader, as if they were looking for something regularly featured in the magazine they could just go to "Regulars." I chose to make my contents page a double page in order to achieve this idea. I included a copy of the double page spread to show the reader what was to come in the magazine, and I noticed this was a common feature on contents' pages in my research.I centred my main image of Alys and made it bigger than the rest of the photos, making it clear to the reader this was my main feature. I used her because she was on my cover, again telling the reader she is my main feature. My other two images are significant, but I made them smaller and situated them at the bottom of the page so it wouldn't interfere with my "features" and "regulars" section, and to highlight that Alys is my main story. Like in the copy of Q the main image/feature of that issue is on page 44, and we can see this as it is the biggest image on the page, surrounded by subsidiary images which are smaller. I wanted the contents to go from left to right down the sides and as this is naturally how people read i found this made sense. I put my "Q Review" underneath my regulars column, as i thought it fitted well and would flow nicely. The red on my contents pages signified importance, as the background of the "contents" "features" and "regulars" is all red, making it stand out, and signalling that they are all titles of some form.
here is some brief analysis of each of my pages using prezi.
Front cover- http://prezi.com/pkf86h552mfa/untitled-prezi/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=prezi_landing_related&utm_campaign=prezi_landing_related_owner
double page spread- http://prezi.com/davtmkbbox6x/untitled-prezi/
contents page- http://prezi.com/-bxjew71ak6e/untitled-prezi/
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