blog 4- flat plans

There are elements to my designs which are inspired by other magazines but i generally tried to make things at least slightly different. This helps the magazine stand out and gives it it's own identity which will help establish a brand. Unlike nearly all other music magazines i chose to have a picture of an artist performing on the front cover this is unconventional so will attract peoples attention. I think it also helps indicate that the magazine is focused on music and not the gossip from their personal lives that surround artists. This is an important factor in the design of my magazine as this is the content my demographic are interested in. Across the top of the magazine front cover is the title of the magazine this is large and striking so it is memorable to the audience. It will help people recognise the magazine immediately. On each side of the picture of the dj are articles featured on the magazine there is only a short summary written for each of the two stories this is so too much is not given away. I have again chosen to differentiate my magazine from other music magazines (atm and k magazine) by including stories that are featured on the front cover opposed to what artists are featured in the magazine. This should help to draw in more readers as they will know what they are reading about not just who. The general look of the front cover is contrasting to alot of music magazines including mixmag as they have alot of items (stories and pictures) on the front cover. I have tried to reject this style of front cover as I think it can look tacky. It is a general theme with magazines that the higher end magazines tend to have plainer front covers. The front covers design mean it will be more likely to fit in with higher end magazines.This is the sort of look I was going for as it is a specialised magazine. Specialised magazines are usually more expensive and higher end because they have a niche target audience.

The contents page of my magazine has been designed to suit this style of magazine. Specialised magazines are more focused on content than visual appearance which is why the use of photos is minimal in the contents page. The contents page has a simple layout so that what is in the magazine is clearly laid out. This enables the use of the contents page to be quick and easy. At the top of the page is the title of the magazine in the same font so it is more memorable and establishes the brand with the audience. The page is laid out in two columns with stories running down each one in order they appear in the magazine. This contents page is all about convenience for the reader. This is why the articles are arranged into sections under genre. Arranging it like this allows the reader to find exactly what they are looking for quickly.




The first page of the double page spread has dj static at the top of the page this is to show who the article is about. There is a picture of him below and below this; is the text arranged into two columns. The picture is large to draw the readers attention. The title also makes the page more eye catching. This page of the double page spread differs to the one in mixmag in a few ways for example this one has a title while the one in mixmag does not. Part of the reason for using the title was to make the article seem more important to the reader. By introducing the title it makes the reader less likely to skip through it because it stands out to the reader making it seem more interesting. There is a large picture below it to stand out and to show who the interview is about. This again differs from the article in mixmag because the picture took up the whole of the first page of their double page spread. There is only a small amount of text on their first page which is a quote from her interview my page differs as there is two columns of the interview.


The second page of the double page spread is organised in four main segments. The top left box has the text in; while opposite there is another picture. I chose to put this picture here because that is where the readers eyes are naturally drawn to on the page. Below this picture is more text and opposite that on the left side is another picture. The layout of this page is very different to the one of mixmag as this is much more photo orientated than the one in mixmag. The pictures are bigger in mine and are more prominent in the pages layout. The text is wrapped around the images in the mixmag one while the images stand alone on mine this is so the importance is emphasised.