Double Page Spread Mock Up

This is a mock up of my double page spread. I have decided to do my double page spread this way as I feel that it is a clear and effective layout. I chose to use the whole of the right hand page for the photo and use the left page for the main article. Above the photo there will be a small caption to tell the reader about the person in the photo.

I chose to place a pull quote at the top of the left page above the article as it will give the reader an idea of what the article consists of. This pull quote wiil be written in a large, bold text with a jagged outline around it so it will be eye catching and the reader's eye will be drawn to it when they turn to that page.

Underneath the pull quote, in a text box will be an introduction to the article, which be in a smaller size of font but will still be bold, under that will be the main article itself. The text in the article will be written in black and will be aligned to the left in columns, as it is what you expect to see in an article, it also makes the page look more organised. This text will also be a smaller size than the pull quote and wont be as bold. At the bottom of the left page I have once again placed the name of the magazine to keep it consistent so that it carries on from the contents page.

The colour scheme of this double page spread will also be black, white and red which makes it consistent and will carry on from the front cover and the contents page. I think the reader will appreciate the fact that the colour scheme is the same on each of the pages.

Erica Swaby

Contents Page Mock Up

This is the mock up of my contents page. I chose to create a single contents page as many of the music magazines that I looked at used a single page. I have placed the title across the top of the page and just above that in the top right hand corner is the name of the magazine, I have chosen to place the name of the magazine there as it reminds the reader what the name of the magazine is that they are reading. Under the name of the magazine I have placed a pug/puff which says 'Subscribe NOW! to your favourite music mag'. I did this as it lets the reader know that they are able to subscribe to the magazine, I also chose to write the word 'NOW!' in capital letters with an exclamation mark at the end of it because it encourages the reader to subscribe to the their favourite music magazine. This will be will be written in bold text and underlined to make it stand out to the reader.

There will be a large image in the centre of the page which links to the main cover line on the front cover and underneath that image it will tell you what page number the corresponding article is on. Underneath the page number for the main cover line article I have placed the other information and articles which will interest the audience, along with the page numbers.

 Directly under the main cover line I have put a box saying 'Reviews- All the reviews on the latest albums and films' and next to it I put another box which says 'Competitions and quizzes- Win tickets to see your favourite artists'. The titles of each of these will be done in a bolder text than the rest of the writing as this will help to show what each bit of information is about. I decided to place these boxes in the middle of the contents page as they will be the next thing that the reader looks at after the main story  and they will also help to interest the audience and make them want to read more about the information which has been given.

Across the very bottom of the page I have placed a box about fashion which says 'Buy the latest items of high street fashion with up to 20% off '. Once again the heading for this article will be in a bolder text to illustrate what the information is about. Next to this box I have decided to put two images of clothing/shoes, this will make the reader want to read more on what they have just seen. The images help to make that part of the magazine seem more interesting as the reader has already seen what sort of things are included on the page.

The colour scheme for this contents page will be black, white and red which will carry on from the front cover. I chose to do this as it will make the magazine more consistent and the audience may like it better that way.

Erica Swaby

Front Cover Mock Up

This is a mock up of my front cover.I have chosen to place the masthead across the top of the magazine which is entitled 'Muzic', it will have a text box around it and will be written in a large and bold text so that it stands out and catches the attention of the reader when they first look at it. I have also chosen to place the year/month, issue number and price at the top of the page just under the masthead as this is where the audience generally expect to find this information. Next to the issue information and also under the masthead, I chose to write 'The Country's Best Music Magazine', I feel that this helps the magazine to be more individual by claiming that it is the best. Both the issue information and the caption have been placed in different text boxes which helps to space and separate them out.

Down the right hand side of the page I have placed the feature photo which goes with the main cover line which is down the left side of the image.The main cover line says '(Name of artist), gives their own opinion on the up and coming artist featured in the last issue', under this cover line will be a small photo of the artist of which Shaun has taken a photo of for his issue.I have made sure that the cover line has been kept short so that the audience can read it quickly but still wants to read more about the story without the cover line giving too much of it away.

At the bottom of the page, I have chosen to place other information which may interest the audience 'ALSO, High street fashion and Competitions' and 'Reviews on the latest albums and films'. I decided to place these in different shaped pugs to show the fact that there is added information in the magazine about other subjects that could be of interest.

On my front cover I have chosen to use a colour scheme of black,white, red and possibly blue. This is because these were the most popular colours on the magazine survey and each of these colours are also associated with both a male and female audience, which the magazine is aimed at. I also chose to use these colours as they are what most music magazines seem to use on their front covers as they bold and eye catching.

Erica Swaby

Institutional Research: Bauer Media Group and Spin Media LLC

We have decided to research Bauer Media .

Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group. They are Europe's largest privately owned publishing group. It is a worldwide media empire which offers over 300 magazines in around 15 countries as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer Media joined Bauer Media group in January 2008  following acquisition of Emap plc’s consumer and specialist magazines, radio, TV, online and digital businesses.

Collectively, the Group employs  6,400 people and has a 2008 turnover of 2.08 billion Euros. They are a multi platform UK based media group consisting of many companies which are collected around two main divisions; Magazines and Radio. They are widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators.

Their business is built on influential media brands with millions of personal relationships with engaged readers  and listeners. Their strategy is to connect audiences by using excellent content through their broad multi- touch point brand platforms. Their wide portfolio of influential brands gives them the advantages over pure play magazine or radio competitors.

The companies first magazine to be published was Angling Time in 1953, this was then followed with the publishing of  Motor Cycle News in 1956. Both of these magazines are iconic brands within the companies portfolio.

The company began to widen their business by introducing radio in 1990 with the London Dance Station Kiss FM, which was followed by Radio City, TWC and the Metro Group. In 1994 the company created a magazine called For Him Magazine which is now the core of the best selling international multi platform brand FHM.

In 1996 the company extended to TV by creating a digital music channel called The Box, this was a route to the small screen business which has now grown into Box Television, a seven channel joint venture TV business with Channel 4.

In 2002, the company launched a magazine called Closer which is Britain's first weekly glossy, this company also launched Grazia magazine in 2005. They involved in over 80 influential brands which cover a diverse range of interests which include Parker's, Match, Car and Yours. Every week Bauer Radio Station reaches over 12 million listeners every week.

We have also decided to research Spin Media LLC.

Spin was launched in 1985 by Bob Guccione Jr ( son of Penthouse founder Bob Guccione). Guccione sold the magazine to Miller Publishing in 1997. Today the company is owned by San Francisco based McEvoy group, which also owns Chronicle Books. McEvoy purchased the company in 2006 for less than $5 million. This company hopes to put a new spin on the old concept of music journalism. Spin Media owns and operates Spin, a monthly magazine devoted to covering new rock music through interviews, reporting and photography. Spin Media also publishes an online version of the magazine on their website SPIN.com, and it's SPIN Earth publishes digital music related contents from 300 cultural correspondents in 75 major cities.

If we chose a company to distribute our magazine, it would be Bauer Media. This is because it is a very successful company and distributes many magazines, some of the well known top selling brands being Q and Kerrang!. Both of these magazines use different genres of music which is what we want our magazine to show. If we were to choose this company to distribute our magazine, we feel that our magazine would be successful as they already distribute a wide and diverse range of magazines. Spin Media LLC only deals in distributing magazines with the music genre of Rock. This wouldnt be right for us as our magazine would have different genres of music in it.

Erica Swaby and Shaun Casey

Music Magazine Survey Analysis

We asked 10 people, 2 males and 7 females, to fill a survey on music magazines. From analysing the completed surveys we found out that the most expected price to pay for a magazine is £3.00. Also from our analysis we discovered that music magazines are generally bought from the newsagents or supermarket and that most people tend to buy them monthly and sometimes seasonally.The surveys showed that the main colours which are expected to be in a music magazine as they work best together are black,red and white, although some of the surveys showed that yellow and blue are also good colours to use. Most of the surveys showed that the thing which is most influential when it comes to buying a music magazine in the main cover story line however some of them also showed that the main front cover image is also influential when it comes to buying a music magazine.We also discovered that the most popular way to listen to music is on an Ipod, the second most popular ways to listen to music on the radio and the internet.Many of our completed surveys showed that posters and Cd's are the most expected thing to be included in a music magazine, but competitions are also good to be included within a magazine as well. The surveys also showed that the style of the magazine is just as important as what is in it, as it is the first thing that grabs the attention of the audience and gives the first impression of the magazine. If the overall style of the magazine isn't attractive and looks bad, it looks as though the contents of the whole magazine is going to look bad as well.

By analysing our completed surveys it helped us to decide on some of the features for our magazine.It helped us to decide that the cost of our magazine should be £3.00 as this was the most popular answer on the survey, it also helped us to decide that black,white,red and possibly yellow or blue are the colours to use on our magazine to make it attractive to the target audience. From looking at the surveys we have decided that we will make the overall style of the magazine attractive as they showed that this is important for a music magazine to make a good first impression.

 Erica Swaby and Shaun Casey

Initial Ideas for Magazine

1. Genre - We have decided to use a mix of genres in our magazine. These are RnB, Pop, Rock, Dance and Indie etc
2. Issue Dates - We have decided to use December 2010 and January 2011 as the months that our magazine would be set. This is because we could do a Christmas and New Year special for our issues.
3. The look of the magazine - we have decided that we would like to use a range of colours in our magazines to represent the fact that it is aimed at a male and female audience. Also, we have decided that we are going to use at least two images on our front cover, around five on our contents page and between one and three on our double page spread.
4. Target Audience - We have decided that our magazine will be aimed at both a male and female audience between the ages of 16 - 25 years old who like a range of different music genres.
5. Story Lines - One of our main ideas for a storyline is a band/artist rivalry. For example, our December issue will feature an up and coming band with an interview and our January issue will feature an established artist giving their impressions of the new band/artist.
6. Name - We have decided to call our magazine Muzic. Other ideas that we thought of were Dazzle, Starz and Beatz. The pictures below will show our initial designs of the title:

We have decided to go with the top picture because we believe it is more unique than the second and we also believe it will be easier to create for our final magazine.

























Shaun Casey and Erica Swaby

Similar Product Research: Double Page Spread

This is my analysis of a double page spread article. I chose an article from a magazine called MixMag, with the article featuring the international female DJ collective known as "Girlcore". The first thing the reader looks at when they see the page is the giant image placed at the top centre of the double page spread. This image is a long shot which shows the whole group in a children's playground. The long shot is used to show the group as there is a total of twelve DJ's in their group. This main large image is accompanied by four smaller images which are placed directly below it at the centre bottom of the page. These images are used to show various scenes from clubs that they have attended or played a set as a a DJ at. A couple of the pictures are named "Ladies Night" and "Glitter Balls" and these in particular pictures show how fun and easy going the group are as DJ's. In total on the double page spread there are six images, five in the centre of the page and one sitting on top of the text on the right hand side of the page. This picture shows the another scene from a club of a girl dancing. This image is a medium to long shot. In terms of colours, this double paged spread uses a very simple white background with black writing and black logos. This is used as the creator of the spread is making sure that you look at the images first, which are presented in colours of pink and green. The style and layout of this double paged spread is very simple.It presents the text form the article in two columns on either side of the page. In the main image in the centre of the page is a pull quote that says, "Everybody ends up covered in either food, glitter or beer". This is used to show one of the main quotes from the article and is there to make the reader interested in the article and makes them want to read it.The actual topic of the article is very much related to the the house style of the magazine. It mentions things such as "the Secret Garden Festival" and the "Offset Festival" in Moscow which are both major music and dance festivals. These certain festivals are only things that people who read a magazine such as MixMag would actually know about. The typography of this article is presented in five different font styles and a grand total of four different font sizes. This therefore means that the different font styles make sure that the double paged spread is not repetitive and keeps the reader engrossed.

Shaun Casey

Contents Page

This is my first idea for my contents page


Shaun Casey

Similar product research: Double page spread

NME- 24th January 2009

 I chose to analyse a double page spread from an NME magazine.This magazines double page spread has a bold pull quote at the top of the page 'People think I'm an attention seeker, but I'm just honest'. This has been written with a jagged outline to make it stand out and it looks as though it has been made out letters which have cut from a newspaper or a magazine, it also in the same type of font as the main cover line on the front cover on the magazine. There is a large portrait mid shot image of 'Lily Allen' on the right page of the magazine which takes up the whole of the page, leaving the left page for the text. She is wearing clothes that match the colour scheme of the text (red,white and black) and is looking directly at the camera and posing with her hands on her hips which makes her look as though she is an attention seeker even though she is saying that she isn't. This double page spread conforms to a stereotypical magazine as it has a plain white background and the main article is written in a small black text but the letter 'I'  at the beginning of the article has been written in a larger and bolder text which stands out from the other text. This is different to the pull quote at the top of the page as it has been written in a large and bold white text over a black background which also helps to make it stand out. The name 'Lily Allen' in the introductory text has been written in a different style of text with the colour red, which lets you know who the photo is of if you didnt know.It also makes it stand out from the other text surrounding it. Altogether on this double page spread there are 4 different text fonts and 5 different font sizes. The main article, which is aligned to the left of the page gives important info to the reader as it gives the release date of 'Lily Allen's' new album which would be important for the people who are interested in her music.

Erica Swaby

Contents Page

This is the first idea for my contents page.

Erica Swaby

Analysing the Contents Page: Similar Product Research

Q Magazine October 2008 


This magazine's contents page is presented in a single page spread. The main story from inside the magazine is depicted on the top right side of the page alongside an image of "The Courteeners" to draw the reader's focus. The shot used to illustrate the main story is a long shot and the rest of the of the content's are displayed in a column going down the left side of the page. These other content's include an "Oasis Special" which is surrounded by a golden border, highlighting it's importance and again drawing the reader's focus. In total, the contents page for this magazine contains two images, one for the main story and one other to illustrate a review on "How to Buy by Nick Cave". One other thing that initially stands out to the reader is the red background colour to the column headers like "Features". This, like the BBC Music Mag previously analysed, draws the reader's attention and makes them look at the other features in the magazine, therefore making them interested. The genre of this magazine is indie/rock music and it appeals to an audience of young to middle aged men who are interested in and like Indie and Rock music. The male audience is backed up by the fact that the magazine content's page only features male's in the pictures used. The typography of the page is presented in seven different font sizes and a total of five different font styles. However, this magazine's contents page does not conform to a typical magazine as it does not portray the main image of the front cover on it's contents page.




Drummer Magazine January 2007   


Like the Q Magazine analysed above, this magazine's contents page is presented in a single page spread. The "Exclusive" main story of the magazine containing an article about "Dave Lombardo" is presented on the centre right side of the page and is again like Q magazine, illustrated by an image of the main feature.  All other contents from this magazine are shown down the left side of the page in a column. This contents page contains six images, one illustrating the main story, four others to illustrate the other contents within the magazine and one other to emphasise what the magazine is all about, drumming. The page uses a predominantly black and white colour scheme however it uses red for the headers to the other content's in the magazine to draw the reader's attention. The genre of this magazine is rock music and it appeals to an audience of young to middle aged men and people who are interested in drumming. You can tell that this magazine is aimed at a male audience by the fact that the images used are predominantly of male music artists. The typography of this content's page is presented in six different font styles and six different font sizes. Again, like Q Magazine, this magazine does not have the front cover presented on the contents page.

Shaun Casey

Analysing the contents page: similar product research

Q magazine October 2008

This magazines contents page has been presented in a single page spread. It has the main articles down the left side of the page with a large image of 'The Courteeners' on the right side of the page to go with one of the articles in the magazine, this helps to catch the readers attention when you first open the magazine. There is a smaller image at the bottom of the page which is also used to illustrate on of the 'review' articles. This creator of this magazine has used black text over a white background, two of the headings have been written in white text surrounded by a red background, this helps to draw the readers eye to them. There is an 'Oasis Special' feature down the left of the page, it still uses black text on the white background but the heading and numbers have been written in gold text with a box around it. This helps to show that it is a special feature and helps to separate it from the other articles and features on the page. The typography on this page has been presented using 6 different font sizes and 7 different font styles. The audience for this magazine is mainly aimed at males although it isn't specific, the genre of this magazine is Indie rock music. On this contents page the second person narrative has not been used and the language which has been used is formal. This contents page does not match the house style of the magazine as it uses a different image to what the front cover uses.

Spin Magazine- August 2009

Like the Q magazine analysed above, this magazine's contents is also a single page spread. It has the main features down the left side of the page, with a large image of 'Duffy' down the right side of the page to illustrate one of the main features in the magazine. This contents page conforms to the stereotypical magazine as it uses black text on a grey/white background. The typography on this contents page has been presented using 5 different styles of font and 7 different sizes of font, the headings have been written in bold text to help separate the different articles and features. The article page numbers have been written in blue text which also helps to separate the articles. The genre of this magazine is pop and the audience is male and female teenagers and older adults. This contents page doesn't use the second person narrative and uses formal language and matches the house style of the magazine as it has an image of 'Duffy' on the front cover and the contents page.


Erica Swaby

Analysing the Contents Page: Similar Product Research

BBC Music Mag February 2009

This magazine is a double page spread. The main story of the magazine is presented on the left page and is portrayed alongside an image of Andre Previn which illustrates the story, therefore drawing the readers interest. The rest of the contents that are in the magazine are placed on the right page in a column with a different colour scheme to the rest of the contents page. This column features a white background with black writing where as the rest of the page has a grey background. This again makes it stand out to the reader. The contents page of this magazine contains a total of six images including the one that illustrates the main story. In addition, it also contains two images that emphasise the fact that the magazine contains a free disc with music from Leos Janacek. This magazine has a classical theme that is emphasised by the artistic nature of the images used to promote the free disc and some of the articles inside the magazine. Another feature that the creator of the magazine used to draw the readers focus is the use of blue backgrounds for the headings of the articles. This is coupled with the white writing to help make the headings stand out. The typography of this magazines contents page is displayed using eight different sizes of font and five different font styles. We thought that this magazine was for male and female audiences and this is backed up by the fact that the contents does not specifically target only one gender. This contents page is written using formal language which is mainly associated with an older audience. However is does not address the audience personally as it does not use the second person narrative frequently, only when advertising other BBC products. 

DJ Mag No 70 February 2009

This magazine is a single page spread.The main story of the magazine is presented on the left side of the page and the rest of the contents are on the right side of the page. The main article is portrayed by an image of Josh Wink, this image is a medium close up. The other articles also have an image to represent them as well, these images help to attract the readers attention to the shown articles. The main stories on the contents page they have been written on a black background with white writing, whereas the other contents have different coloured backgrounds such as pink, blue, yellow and purple, these help to separate each section of the magazine contents page. Different coloured text has also been used on each of the backgrounds to match the colour of them as well as black text, this also helps helps to separate each of the stories. The genre of this magazine is dance music and is suitable for an audience of up and coming DJ's, young adults and people who are interested in dance music. We thought that this magazine was aimed at mainly a male audience because they mainly use male models and dark colours have been used. This magazine contents page uses formal language which goes against the stereotype for young people, it also uses alliteration, a question to draw the audience in, no second person narrative have been used so the audience has not been addressed directly. There are five different fonts that have been used and six different sizes of font. 

Erica Swaby and Shaun Casey

Similar product research analysis of front cover

Q Magazine   


This magazine has a predominantly white background with red around the title of the magazine. The front cover consists of three cover lines with the main cover line placed on the left side of the page. The cover shot of "John Lennon" is in the centre of the page and is medium close up. It is a black and white image of Lennon in his youth and is used to commemorate his life. The article within is to outline the fact that he would be seventy this year if he had still been alive. The cover has three feature article photographs of alternate covers of the same magazine. It also features a banner around the outside of page which highlights the main cover line, "Lennon's 70th Birthday".This is used to try and draw the interest of the audience when they are buying the magazine. The cover has one pug which is in the form of a red circle with the words, "37 pages of reviews" within. In addition, it uses three different font styles and seven different font sizes.

NME Magazine  

 This magazine cover has a completely black background with a cover shot of David Bowie in the centre of the page. The image of Bowie is displayed in a multicolour of red, pink, yellow and blue which means that it appeals to all audiences either male or female and also makes the magazine stand out. The cover consists of four separate cover lines including "Save the 100 club" and "The Drums" as well as the main cover line about Bowie on the left side of the page.  In contrast to the above Q magazine, NME magazine has no feature article photographs, contains no banner and no pugs and puffs. This is showing that the creator wanted the reader to solely focus on the main story which is "Ultimate Hero David Bowie". In addition, the cover consists of three different font styles and five different font sizes. 

Kerrang Magazine

This magazine consists of a black background with a red main cover line. The main cover line is in the centre of the page and it reads "Bring me the Horizon" (the name of the band portrayed). It has the effect of blood which links to the cover shot of the band who are made to look like zombies. The cover shot of the band takes up the whole page and is a mid to long shot. This is used to emphasise the fact what they are wearing and to further emphasise the fact that they are zombies. The magazine cover has a total of five feature article photographs including Ozzy Osbourne and Green Day. It also has a banner across the top of the page highlighting another story inside the magazine "My Chemical Romance: Back in Business". In addition, it also contains a pug in the form of a red circle with another feature story inside, "Pete Wentz, On life after Fallout Boy. The writing on the cover is presented in six different font styles and a grand total of six different font sizes.   

Spin Magazine 

The front cover of Spin magazine features a very simple plain background with the main cover shot of the band "Arcade Fire" in the foreground. The cover shot is a mid to long shot and portrays all four members of the band. The front cover consists of three different cover lines which includes the story about Arcade Fire and also includes "Kid Cudi Comes Clean" and also "Brandon Flowers Gets Bedazzled". The main cover line is placed on the centre right of the page and is written in plain white text which is highlighted by the cover shot's dark clothing. There are no feature article photographs on the page which shows that like NME magazine that the creator wants the audience to focus their eyes on this band which they are calling "Indie's Biggest Band". In addition, it contains a single banner across the top of the page emphasising the fact that the magazine contains a "Free 18 song soundtrack to the issue". This is on a black background which again makes it stand out against the plain background. Unlike the other three magazine covers, Spin magazine only contains two different font styles compared to about four in the other magazines. In addition, it contains four different font sizes. 

Shaun Casey