LOOKING AT MUSIC MAGAZINES.

The initial ideas, developments I looked at.

HOUSE STYLE

This is the “theme” running through a magazine,

looking at the thought process and the design

features required.

The house style can include almost anything, from

the Title and barcode always being the same, to

things such as the magazine only having one colour

scheme over all editions.

By looking at house styles it can help me develop

my own.

NME HOUSE STYLE

As you can see to the left, this is a typical NME magazine cover. The house style, is to have a central figure/band the title in the left top third the barcode in the right bottom third and to always have a colour scheme, this one is Pink, Black and White. The colour scheme will run through the magazine as will the fonts used. This is the old house style the new will be shown in the next slide.

NME NEW HOUSE STYLE

This is the new house style of NME, this has been completely changed as you can see. There is a colour scheme that involves the title as well as the rest of the fonts and colours. This particular example used the simple colours of red, white and black.

NME CONTENTS PAGE

This is a typical contents page for

the magazine, NME. This is the

old style, which uses the typical

colours of red, black, white and

yellow. There is a main image

with a little about it and an advert

in the centre to the left there is a

contents page with everything in

it, and to the left there is the

main articles people read.

KERRANG HOUSE STYLE

This is a typical Kerrang magazine cover. The title across the top with a banner along the top, there is usually stickers and a plus bar with the barcode and a special poster in each magazine.

KERRANG CONTENTS PAGE

A typical Kerrang contents

page. This week title, with a

list of the contents and to

the left a series of pictures,

that have a relevance to the

magazine and the article

numbers that go with them.

The name Kerrang is

onomatopoeic and refers to

the sound made when playing

a power chord on an electric

guitar.

http://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerran

g

The name NME stands for

New Musical Express,

giving the idea that the

focus is on new music and

that is comes to you quickly.

http://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NM

E

MAGAZINE NAMES

Kerrang NME

Independent

New Noise

Underground

Hipster

Indie Landfill

Alternative

LOOKING AT PRODUCING A NAME FOR MY

MAGAZINE

I

NGM

NCYDE

Words relating to the music scene; Indie rock

Single letters, or a series of them;

Out of all of these options I am most likely to go for Independent or I however I also really like NCYDE, because pronounced it sounds like Inside this is also and interesting name.

LOOKING AT COLOUR

For many music magazines a large proportion of them use red, yellow,

blue, grey, black and white. These can be all together or may take a few of

them and mix them.

This is a typical colour swatch in the colours used, I think these are used

because they are the basic colours found within a printer. Making it

cheaper to produce on a huge printing scale and they are easy to mix and

match with one another.

MY COLOUR SCHEME

I decided that in order to get my music magazine to look

professional, I will use the same colour schemes that the

professionals use, however I decided that I am going to use the

same sort of idea the new editor of NME uses, to include the

model in my colour scheme, and incorporate the colours of their

outfits & props with the ones I am going to use through out my

magazine.

The colours I am going to be using are; Black, Blue, Yellow and

White.

When developing a

magazine you need to look at

things such as the fonts that

are used, these are also

generally the same making

up part of the house style.

The fonts are usually easy to

look at and do not hurt

readers eyes.

LOOKING AT FONTS

The main fonts that are used in

magazines are;

1. Helvetica

2. Trajan

3. Garamond

4. Futura

5. Bodoni

6. Bickham Script Pro

7. Frutiger

8. Avant Garde

NME FONTS, LOGO & COLOUR

NME uses the font ITC

Avant Garde Gothic

Bold.

NME used to use the

colour scheme of red,

yellow and black.

NME now used a

variety of colours, that go

with the colours that the

model is wearing.

KERRANG FONTS, LOGO AND COLOURS

The font used on

Kerrang’s main logo is

very bold and has a lot

of emphasis on black

and white.

Kerrang uses the

colour scheme of

black, white, red and

yellow. However any

graphic stickers tend

to be in blue.

PHOTOGRAPHY – QUICK LOOK

Photography for music

magazines, involves the

members of band or the singer

that the main article is about

in a portrait style picture.

There are several pictures of

other bands/singers taken for

the contents page.

An image for a double page

spread is taken of the band

members or the singer.

NOW WHAT?

Need to pick a name for my

magazine.

Have to find a suitable house

style.

Need to look at a colour scheme.

Have to find a suitable font.

Need to find a logo that I can

use.

Need to plan a photography

shoot.