Production Task 13) Audience Profile Research //draft//

For my inhitial research I wanted to find out what the most popular music genres were, as this would point to what genre of magazine my audience were most likely to buy. I designed a questionaire which would give me abase understanding of the likes and dislikes of my audience. I asked various questions to find the likes and dislikes of my audience, as well as their favourite components of any music magazine.

Production Task 9) Front Cover Analysis //draft//

 

 I really liked this magazine cover for the interesting use of colour. The cover is almost wholly made up of white and red. The only image is a close-up which looks directly into the camera, this would grab the readers attention as they will feel like the model is making direct eye contact with them  

Production Task 8) Music Magazine Analysis

The Lead Image on the front cover is very striking, the pose of the subject is very extreme in order to grab the viewrs attention. The meduim close up lets us see all of the subjects facial features, whilst other stories cover his body.The house style gives the impression of a very vintage magazine, possibly aimed at an older reader. The main colours used are white and red with a touch of yellow. The main image is in black and white which makes the text stand out very clearly and easily.

I really liked the design and layout of the contents page. It is simple and easy to navigate, but still 
looks good, and gives the reader an easy way to pilot efficiently through the magazine. The style of the photography on the contents page is old to fit in with the magazines vintage house style. The Photos are mainly close-ups and medium close-ups to engage to viewer

For the double page spread, again we see the house style colours: red, and white. All of the major headings are written in red, and the main element in the photograph is too, red, the guitar (also the model is wearing a red top and red shoes, sitting on a white sofa). White space is used well to draw attention to a quote and make it stand out more. The model is looking directly at the camera to give a stronger effect on the reader as they feel as though she is looking directly at them

Very colourful. Big title, easy to read. No empty spaces on pages, all areas are covered by picture. text is in white and quite small. The font is clear and easy to read. The articles are written in a posotive and upbeat tone.

 

This cover has alot of whitespace which gives the cover a clean clear layout. The Title is easy to read on a white background and the font is clean cut.

 

The majority of this cover is occupied by the lead image. Above this, the masthead of the cover and magazine details such as issue date

Production Task 7) College Magazine Cover & Contents Page

 This is my final design for my colleg Magazine's front cover
















 
This is my final contents page for my college magazine

AS CD Cover Analysis

My CD cover was for the Band Electric Toaster. The album was entitled Definig Electric and was in the electric/rap style genre. The Album featured 10 songs.

I think that the overall finnish on the CD was very good, although maybe some things could of been improved. The genre of the music was electric/rap and so the target audience was teenagers and young adulds. I wanted my CD cover design to cover common interests of young people, so the main focus of the cover was the graffitti. To illustrate the colour and tone of the music (which is fun and bright) I altered the grade of the image to look more colourful and eye-catching.I also added a foreground image of a danger sign which ties in with the electric being dangerous and wild.

I think my CD could be improved by changing the font of the text. The text does not fit in with the general theme of the rest of the CD cover and could be improved. I think a bolder, more striking text would fit better and would make the CD appeal more to Teenagers. 

If I had a bigger budget and more time I would consider changing the graffitti used on the CD cover. I would make the subject of the graffitti more to do with music and Electricity, rather than generic old-school graffitti.I might also change the colouring of it to give a bigger impact upon viewing, to grab the attention of the reader more.

Successful CD Covers 12/9/12

Led Zeppelin: Houeses of The Holy
This Album cover by Led Zeppelin was produced by Atlantic records for their fourth album. The cover has no lettering, not the bands name or the album name. However the picture itself is very iconic and easy to recognise. The cover featured naked children photographed from behind, climbing the giants causeway in Ireland. The story of this picture was Inspired by the book 'childhoods end' written by Author C Clarke. In 1973, when the record was released the images of naked children on the cover led the album to be banned in much of the Southern states of the USA. The lighting used in the image gives a very nice effect. we can see the sun peeping over the top of the rocks, just as it is about to rise, and we can see the children climbing towards it. The fact that the album was banned in some of the USA for several years would only of led to it becoming more popular and more talked about which is probably what the producer of the cover was aiming for.
 

The Beatles: Abbey Road
This is a very famous cover by the Beatles which was released in 1969. It was the only Beatles record not to feature the bands name on the cover. The cover shows all four members crossing the road at a zebra crossing. The crossing is situated on Abbey Road, which is linked to the name of the album, and the fact that the Beatles famously used to record their music at EMI Studious, which is located on Abbey Road. In the background we can a white Beetle which is parked on the left. This is sometimes called the "Fifth Beatle". The cover shows the Beatles all dressed in a different uniform, all with different occupations. The contrast of the white and black of the Zebra crossing relates to fact that each uniform is different and each Beatle is a different member dressed for a different occupation. The fact that the cover was shot on scene at Abbey Road made the album popular with fans.





 Squeeze: Up The Junction
This singles cover by Squeeze was released in 1979. The cover shows all five band members looking straight at the camera. The cover is particularly recognizable by the huge band name featured at the top, and the uses of clashing colours. The band name is in large pink text making it stand out. The font is very bold which makes the name easy to read. The huge areas of block yellow in the background makes the dark image of the band stand out, the contrast also gives the black title backing more definition. The uses of the block colours makes this cover stand out and easy recognizable. The image of the band is also very clear and very large so each member is recognizable. The song title "up the junction" can be seen in the bottom right, tilted slightly. It is written in red with a white background which makes it clearly stand out against the darkness of the backing picture. The clothes that are worn by the band are quite working class which ties in nicely with the lyrics used in the single.