Music Magazine Background.

What genre of music are you going to use?

The genre of music I am going to use is R&B. As I enjoy listening to this genre. Rhythm and blues is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s.

What media exists for the genre currently?

There are a few magazines, which surrounded their articles/front, covers with R&B such as ‘VIBE’. There are also TV channels dedicated to R&B such as R&B TV and RandB TV.  And a huge amount of website delivering the top news about rhythm and blues music and what’s new and what’s popular.

Who produces these?

VIBE is produced by Quincy Jones who is famous in the music industry for producing the Thriller album by Michael Jackson and many other albums made by Sinatra and Dean Martin.

What is typically included in the current publications?

The publications predominately features R&B and hip-hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. ‘VIBE’ has a circulation of approximately 80,000. Featured segments included the back page list 20 Questions, the Boomshots column about reggae and Caribbean music by Rob Kenner, Revolutions music reviews and Vibe Confidential, a celebrity gossip column. Next profiled up-and-coming artists. The magazine also devoted several pages to photo spreads displaying high-end designer clothing as well as sportswear by urban labels such as Rocawear and Fubu.

How much does it cost? How often is it published? How many pages does it have?

VIBE magazine cost 79p to buy every 2 months or £9.51 to buy it for 12 issues over two years.  It’s published every two months.

Who is it aimed at?

The magazines target audience is predominantly young urban or supporters of hip-hop cultures.

How successful are they?

The magazine was initially released in fall of 2004 and sales were considered successful enough for the magazine to be issued on a quarterly basis. VIBE Vixen folded after its August/September 2007 issue due to low circulation.

Example of another R&B Magazine.

Example of a VIBE cover

Magazine Genre Homework.

The genre of the magazine I would like to produce is R&B. I think people associated with this genre would have to be with the current fashion and music etc. I think the magazine to fit with this genre would have to layout there magazine for example coloured with the changes of the seasons. The cover models would always have to be well known or someone who in the future may become well known. I think they would have to make layout look futuristic and new to make a statement that other magazines would like to copy. Also I think cover lines would have to have to stand out to the public, as that’s what current musicians have to be nowadays to be noticed. I think the magazine overall would have to be unique and stand out as thats how you get into famous industrys such a singing and acting. I chose this genre because i enjoy listening to it. 

Evaluation of Preliminary Task.

As part of the preliminary task I was asked to create a front cover and contents page for a new College magazine. To prepare for this I took photos around the college which were suitable to represent college life. We used two programs to create our magazine which were called Adobe Indesign and Adobe Photoshop. As  i had never used these programs properly before I found that they were quite easy to use once you know the appropriate techniques and buttons. I found that InDesign was useful to create my magazine heading as its easy to edit text and make it appropriate to fit the college atmosphere.  I chose a font that was clear and easy to read as I wanted people to notice it as if they were walking past in college.

I then used Indesign to create the layout for my magazine. I used rectangles behind my College magazine logo and I decided to carry this on when creating my front cover to display exclusives within my magazine. I think by carrying on this theme gives the magazine formality. I then continued to use the same font as my title to say 'exclusives. I used a continual colour theme throughout my magazine which was blue, yellow, grey, white and purple. I used this many colours as it seemed to diverse well together which made my magazine more fun looking. My contents page also used the same fonts, colour schemes and also continued to use my logo on my contents pages aswell but filling the gaps with photographs from around the college. 

I think I could improve my contents page and front cover by filling the space better so that space is not lost as in a real magazine that would not be allowed as it would cost a lot of money. Also i could made it more real life looking as my front cover does not include a barcode or price. I thought the positive points of my magazine are that i followed a colour scheme which would make the  magazine recognizable and also I think that the picture of my front cover fits just right around the 'exclusives' and titles.

Over-all I think the preliminary task went very well as I completed the task to a good standard and on time and I feel that the programs I used made it easier to make it look professional and realistic. 

Contents Page Design.

I continued to use the theme of my Front Cover page using my title and then using similar boxes. I then created different titles for things in my magazine such as 'exclusives' and 'usual articles' and created names of articles that fit into those headings. I also continued to use the main colour theme throughout my Contents page and Front Cover.  I used lines to separate the text, and I used the photographs from the same time as the Front Cover.
I am pleased with my Contents page as I feel it looks very professional and well finished and structured very well. 

Front Cover Design.

I chose a picture that we took a few weeks ago for the background of my front cover as it fit the qualities I wanted. I then put the title I designed onto the photo and made it look so its a right fit and looked as what a magazine should look like. I then added my title onto my picture and  then added text to advertise things that would be in my magazine. I like my magazine as i feel it looks professional. 

Preliminary Design.

For most of the lesson i chose to design a magazine title for the college magazines we are asked to make in the brief. I chose to call my magazine SouthDC. I decided to try out different fonts to choose the one that i liked the best and represented the atmosphere of the college the most. Then i wanted to make my designs more professional by adding colour and adding effects to it. 

Using Text.

Example of Text Threading

We then created a document using only text. We then used a technique of making text flow called text threading which is useful for people who make magazines as you create a box which the text you began to write appears in the box next to it so editing a magazine wouldn't be more difficult. We then added pictures into this document which the fit in around the text. 

First Lesson.

For the first lesson we were taught how to use a program called InDesign. We were taught to create shapes by using the shape tool, draw lines with the pencil tool than they could be curved and create text in different ways such as type on a path tool which lets you type on a line you have drawn already. We learnt how to give shapes, text and lines colour and change the gradient. 

Print Screen of InDesign Work