Final Evaluation

I think that my magazine is of good quality, however, I would change some certain things. The first would be to add more text to the front cover. As I have already explained, I was hoping to do this, but It did not fit in with the actual design, so I decided to remove it. I'm sure there would be a way to add it in, but I could not find this design quick enough. In contrast to this, I would actually remove some text from my double page spread, as it is very word 'heavy'. One problem with doing so, would be that my design of the 'Silent Cry' album, would be completely irrelevant, as it would link to none of the text.

The design was chosen because it is simple and subtle. I know that this does not typically conform to rock magazines, but I think it looks better than if I was to make the design bolder. The Image I chose, was chosen for the reason that the person in it is making eye contact, and their body language is serious and strong. This is typical of Rock magazines, where the main person will always be making eye contact, with body language that shows they are confident. Another feature of these images is that almost none of the time, anyone in the image will not be smiling. This adds to the Aura of 'seriousness'.

I titled my magazine 'TRM' as a reference to NME. However, I gave it a 'noise damaged' font like Kerrang, suggested it is the intermediate magazine, or, it a subtle combination of both magazines.





The design is also reminiscent of these magazines, with the Masthead at the top, a large main image, and a small bar at the bottom showing some extra things featured in the magazine. Out of them all, the bar at the bottom was crucial. If the audience sees nothing there, the immediate thought is that you have nothing to show. This puts readers off. If you have the bar, and list some bands, chances are that the reader will be familiar with at least one. Doing this also allows a potential reader to see some of what the articles will be about, without having to go to the contents page. A typical feature of NME is that it will have a picture in the top right, with a small description. Because I have abbreviated the title, I needed to fill this space, so I took this idea and transplanted it into my work. Most of this type of magazine tends to be a mix of colours (generally red, black and white). I have tried to keep it limited as much as possible to black and white. This makes the pages easier to read, as well as making the text stand out.






Typically, this genre of magazine will feature someone young (relatively speaking) on the front, and will generally be of a band, instead of one person. By making slightly different, the magazine stands out. Most magazines of this genre will represent one sub-genre of rock more than any other. For example, NME is slightly representing pop, while Kerrang focuses on the Heavy metal side. My magazine doesn't actually try to represent any single sub-genre. This is why it features bands ranging from Indie to Metal etc. The language I used is informative, formal and generally descriptive. However, this would obviously change on context. It suggests the readers aren't music listeners, but music appreciators. They listen to music to enjoy it, and the experience new ideas/concepts instead of sticking to already laid out styles.

Focusing on the design side, and the creation of my pages, the software is surprisingly easy and intuitive to use. However, at first, it feels alienating and overwhelming. Experimenting with what you can and can't do was a great way for me to learn how to design my page. One problem I did have was the creation of non rectangular objects. If you draw a line, then after that, you decide to make a rectangle but using the rectangle tool, once you draw the rectangle, the line will disappear which was slightly frustrating. The lack of a fill button made me change my design completely, as you can distinguish from my flat plan and my final page. Although this can be done in Photoshop, I would have preferred to do it in InDesign, as using one piece of software reduces time and would make it easier.

I decided to ask some friends/Relatives about what I could improve. The general consensus is:

More Text/Pictures on the front cover, More images in the contents page, less text and more images in the double page spread.

Based on this feedback, I would probably follow what everyone has said. However, I should have asked what sort of images (Album Covers, Band members etc), this would have been better advice.

My target audience would probably be between the ages of 15-late 20s (26/27). The psychographic would be mainstream (maybe a few individualists). The magazine would probably only appeal to males, maybe a few females. But the Male readership would be much larger.

I think that the people most likely to publish the magazine are Bauer Publications. They publish magazines such as FHM, Kerrang, Q, Empire and others. With my magazine being similar to Kerrang, Bauer Publications are the most likely to take to the magazine. I'm not sure about the distribution of the magazine. I would think it would be focused more on specialist shops, then going mainstream if the readership picks up.

If I was to do the project again, I would make the changes that people have suggested to me. This would improve the quality of the final piece, and help with my learning and understanding of the software involved in the creating process.

Page Evaulations

I think this is quite a good front page. Most Rock/Pop magazines have a single person/Group standing in front of a white background, so my main image follows this standard. However, due to relatively low lighting and a deep yellow tint, when I adjusted the brightness of the image, it became too light, which is a slight shame. The Titles for this style of Magazine are generally block fonts. Finding a block font which doesn't look too childish or too serious is difficult, so I settled upon a font which looks like it is 'Noise Damaged' (similar to Kerrang). Although a lot of the page is empty, I think it looks better this way. I tried adding some more text to it, and it looked out of place, so I kept it like it is. Overall, I would say that it conforms to most of the Magazine standards.

This page follows the general concepts of magazines. Certain articles are mentioned and paragraphed with a title and the page number, followed by a short description. It features only a few colours (without the inclusion of the Image in the bottom left), which is similar to other magazines. The font stays uniform throughout the page, which makes it look neater.




I think that this is a good double page spread because it flows well. This is key for a double page spread, since if it confuses people, it's not doing it's job properly. The spread is easy on the eye, as well as being neat, which adds to the quality of it. I would have liked to have added more pictures, but I only had the one image of grant from a Silent Cry Tour, and a picture of a dead dove that I rotated to look like it was flying. Each main heading is given a distinct colour (to match with the Image in the top left), so you can distinguish different sections from each other. I think that it works well as a Double page spread.

Flat Plans.

Main Page:





This is the basic idea of what my front cover will look like, although I will make some changes. I would have less writing on the bottom left (possibly moving it up to the top right). I would have a few pieces of writing around the sides of the image as well, and the Image would be slightly smaller. I might make the fonts slightly smaller or bigger, depending on how it sits with the page.

Contents Page:





Instead of having a Band list, gig list and event list on the left hand side, I will just have a band and gig index. The 'Feeder' box will be a bit bigger, and the empty boxes will have pictures in them.

Double Page Spread:





The image of the person will be slightly bigger than what is shown, and the quotes will be more centered in the columns than to the side of the columns. The 'Feeder' box will also be covering slightly more than the first column.

Photo Choice.

In the first image, he is looking straight at the camera, which makes it a suitable choice. In the second image, he has been distracted and subsequently turned away from the camera. In the third image, I held the Camera incorrectly and it slipped out of my hands as I was taking the shot. My choice for the final image is the first image.

Double Page Spread

On this double spread, the main colours are Black, White and Yellow. The yellow could correspond with Oasis, as an Oasis is found in the desert. The fonts in the main text are serif fonts, which is a change from the block style san serif fonts on the main and contents page. The layout here is very simple, but aesthetically pleasing, and easy to look at. Because the layout is simple, they flow well together, instead of a mess of pictures and text, It is much easier to read.

Contents Page

The fonts are all block flonts, except for the sub-title: 'the moment that'. In the column describing the contents, the titles used are single words that get straight to the point e.g. News, Radar, Reviews, Live! and Features. The articles described in that column are probably the articles of most importance. Much like the rest of the magazine, the main colours here are Black, White and Red. The language used is informal (for example: 'top the bill'). The layout is quite simple, with a main article being used in the contents page to draw the reader  into reading the magazine, or to jump to that article. Also, The magazine has a subscrioption advertisement on the contents page, which is unusual. However, the benefit of having one here is that the reader generally goes to the contents page and looks at what is in that issue, Unless you read the magazine backwards (like me). 

Main Pages

NME stands for New Musical Express. It is focused around Rock/Indie music. It strives in being the 'first for music news'. I think that the Title of the magazine stands to reason. It is about New Music (mainly rock) and the express means fast, which is what it claims to be. Also, it might be a coincidence but NME said fast sounds like 'enemy' which could suggest that the music is about being rebellish.It is a Modern Block style sans serif font. This would be to appeal to the newer audience. The colours make it stand out on the page more, and the size also helps this, since the title is pretty big it makes it stand out further. The only light colours on this page are Blue and White. The other colours are either black or red. However, there is a brown/beige colour as a sub-title. The language used is informal. This can be seen in "Josh's Desert 'orgy'". I would think that the target audience for this magazine would be 14-30, mainly male, Working class and probably British/American. The main sells are: Oasis' new album review, Josh's 'desert orgy' and the main feature itself. It seems to be that only the price is shown. The price is £2.20. An issue of NME has around 70 pages. 


Nearly three quarters of the readership is male. Average age of the reader is 24 which measn that they are either just about finished education or are working full time. 7% of the readers work part time, 52% work full time and 29% are still studying. 





I presume that they have given the magazine the title 'kerrang' since it could be the sound of the cymbals on a drum kit. Much like NME, the fonts are all block fonts. The text is generally big, the only smaller items are te things inside the PLUS! box. Kerrange has a few more colours than NME, with the main colours still being the same. Kerrang has Green, Black, White, Yellow and Red. As with NME, the language is informal, but there are no puns or alliteration. I think that the age range for this magazine is around 15-30. This magazine is also probably read prodominantly by Males. Mainly Middle Class/Working Class and they would be English and American. They have chosen this band since they believe that this new band will be successful. Music Magazines in this genre generally have a male cover star, probably because there are not many women who sing/play in Rock/Indie bands. The main sells are the main feature and the Disturbed feature. The barcode, date and price are all present on the front cover, with the price being the same as NME at £2.20. Kerrang also has the same amount of pages with the average of usually 66.

The total readership for Kerrang is arround 450,000 people. 285,000 of the readers are male, 165,000 are female. 423,000 are aged 15-44, 27,000 are 45+.