Title notes and feedback

My possible titles were: Now Indie, Indie Weekly, Indie Now and Indie Music For You. I decided to go with Now Indie after analysing my survey results and seeing that the majority of my responders preferred this title over the other options. These responders were in my target audience so this gave me even further reason to use this title in my work.

House style mood board

When creating my mood board I made sure to include a variation of magazine covers, fonts and mastheads. This gave me a better understanding on how house styles are established through colour and typography. You are able to see the difference between the high and low production value magazines by the use of colour and the quality of the images. The photographs with a plain background with the shot in focus have high production values, because the magazines can afford to have professional photo-shoots of celebrities for every issue. The low production value magazines usually use bright, bold colours, but this is not always the case, as evidenced by the Q Magazine logo pictured in the bottom right of my mood board. All of the fonts, despite the high or low production  values, are in capital letters to stand out.

There is quite a variation of colours but black, red and blue are the main colours present on my mood board. These are the colours I want to include across my magazine.

Font styles

I am aiming to use quite masculine fonts to make sure my magazine appeals to both genders. Using a female throughout my magazine will appeal to the female members in my audience because it gives them someone to relate to, but I am trying to avoid using any femininity through typography and colour. This is why I am focusing on using fonts like the ones below (at the bottom of the page) which are not seen as too feminine or too masculine, so it wont appeal to just one gender in the audience. For the double page spread the text will need to be quite small to ensure that all of the information fits onto one page. I will have two columns in my double page spread, because when considering how the page will fold I decided to have the main image take up half the page, and the text and masthead to take up the other half. I am also considering using a drop cap or an initial letter at the beginning of my article to give my double page spread a more sophisticated appearance.

The two fonts below are included to show examples of the sort of font I am wanting for my masthead. I am using my understanding on how some fonts can look too masculine or feminine to make sure I avoid using these fonts, which will ensure that I am appealing to both genders. In terms of the two fonts pictured below, I would be more likely to choose the top font because it is bolder and capitalised, whereas the bottom font isn't in capital letters so it doesn't stand out as much.

Masthead design and feedback

After thoughtful consideration I decided to use the bottom right masthead in my magazine, because the bolder font makes it stand out more, which makes it gain more attention. The sans serif used makes it look more informal, because although formality usually connotes professionalism, using sans serif will attract the audience because the masthead looks more friendly and welcoming. The colour choices I am mostly likely to use are black or white, although it is more likely I will use black because I wanted the background to be white, to follow genre conventions and connote high production values.  I will also ensure that the masthead I am using will be in capital letters, to emphasise it and gain more attention. 

Photoshoot planning

Images I will need for my magazine:

• Front cover - One medium close up shot of an individual looking directly at the camera. There needs to be a neutral facial expression shown and the shot needs to be in focus. If I use a female I may consider presenting her in a slightly sexualised manner to follow typical genre conventions.
• Contents page - One medium shot of the same student or a different student to show variation within my magazine. I may also incorporate smaller images from my photoshoot within the main features section.
• Double Page Spread - One long shot and two medium shots - The long shot will be used as the main image and the two medium shots will be used as side images in the article. Maybe a mix of facial expressions, such as straight faced in one image and laughing in another, which will connote happiness, thus showing that my magazine isn't totally serious.

• Location - The location is most likely to be in the photography studio based up at Woods Browning. This way, I can ensure that the lighting is of a high quality and the shots are in focus due to the use of a professional camera.
• Costume - Indie clothing will need to be worn to represent the genre (any casual clothing like a dress, a checkered shirt with shorts/jeans etc.)
• Person - My person can either be a boy or a girl, it doesn't really matter as most indie music magazine target audiences are aimed at both genders equally.
• Representation - A white background will be needed to be used throughout my shoot to show professionalism and connote high production values.
• Camera shot - The student needs to be looking directly at the camera and every shot needs to be in focus. The camera angle is likely to be eye level to make the audience feel more personally involved with the student and magazine.

Institution Notes

I have chosen Anthem Publishing to publish my magazine because although they don't typically publish magazines relating to my chosen sub-genre of music, they publish a variety of different music genre magazines which target similar audiences to mine (both genders in social grades C1 - D aged 17-24). It is also not one of the massively known worldwide companies, such as Baeur Media, that use famous celebrities consistently in their high production value magazines.

Typography Analysis

• Style - The style of the typography is very neat and professional, and both the masthead and cover lines are all in capital letters for emphasis and attention. 
• Font type - The font has a very tidy style, which connotes professionalism and sophistication
• Range of fonts - It looks like the magazine uses the same font for all of the front cover text, which suggests that this amount of consistency will be present all throughout the magazine. 
• Size - The masthead is the most important typography feature, so this is the largest piece of text.
• Colour - The red and purple is a common feature throughout all of the typography, which also consistency, which will create a sense of familiarity with the audience. Red connotes lust and danger which contrasts with the white background and maybe represents the female in the main image. Purple connotes luxury and power, which could also be a representation of the female.
• Case - All of the typography is in capital letters for emphasis.

• Masthead - The masthead follows genre conventions by being all in capital letters to grab attention from the audience, as well as the rest of the text. The colour used for the masthead is purple, which connotes extravagance and power. This gives further connotations of high production values.
• Cover lines - The cover lines follow typical genre conventions by just including names of indie musicians. This is also used in high production value magazines such as Q magazine. The cover lines are positioned around the main image to not take too much attention away from the main subject, yet they gain enough attention to inform the audience on what the magazine will include. The cover lines are a mixture of black and red, which are two colours which connote power, which is maybe a representation for what the magazine is trying to portray. The font used for the cover lines looks professional and the style of it makes it look like it has been outlined in bold for emphasis.
• Puffs/plugs - A photographic puff is used in the front cover by showing a female musician related to the magazines cover. This can be seen as a puff because it is presenting her in a promotional way. Every cover line could be seen as a puff because it is promoting musicians relating to the magazines chosen genre.
• Small print - The small print positioned above the barcode is all in capitals to show the audience that despite its small size, it is still important information. The font is simple to show professionalism.

• Style - The style of the typography is very neat and professional, which adds to the organisation of the image positioning and layout.
• Font type - It looks like there are two different fonts used - one for the subheadings and one for the contents and numbers. It is difficult to make out the contents typography but it looks like all of the text on the page is in capital letters. The slashes used after the some of the subheadings has maybe been done to give the contents page a  more interesting appearance. The main features and bonus features are positioned down the right hand side of the page, which has most likely been done because this is the first thing the audiences vision will be drawn to when they open the magazine.
• Range of fonts - There are two different fonts used throughout the contents page. Sans serif is used for all the font to make the contents page look professional. 
• Case - The masthead and subheadings are all in capital letters to them stand out more from the small lines of text. The small text (and page numbers) that contains information about what the magazine will include is all in a plain font with lower case letters. This has been done to make the subheadings stand out more.
• Size - The subheadings are the largest pieces of text to gain the audiences attention and inform them on the different categories the featured articles are divided into.
• Colour - Apart from the masthead and issue number, all of the text is black to contrast and stand out from the white background.

• Heading - The heading is all in capital letters to stand out. The font has a plain style, which connotes sophistication.
• Subheads - The subheadings are all emphasised by being large in size and capital letters. Forward slashes are used to make sure there is no white space between the text.
• Small print - Aside from the contents page information, there is no other small print presented on the page. This information is in a plain font with black text to make the appearance of the contents page overall look more professional and follow typical conventions created beforehand.

Style - The style is very professional - the typography is very small and plain text is used to make sure that all of the information fits into the double page spread without disrupting the structured layout.
Font type - The font is sans serif, to make it look professional to connote high production values. It also establishes a house style throughout the magazine.
Range of fonts - There only appears to be one font used throughout the DPS, and it has been decreased/increased in size depending on its purpose.
Size - The size of the text depends on what it is used for - the masthead is the biggest piece of text because it wants to grab the audiences attention and the text used for the article is of a small size to fit all of the information into the designated space.
Colour - The majority of the text is black to stand out against the white background, however the quote is blue to fit in with the occasional graphology presented in the DPS.
Case - The article follows typical conventions - the masthead is in capital letters for emphasis, and the text is in lower case letters to show formality.

• Heading - The heading is made the biggest feature to draw the audiences attention to it as soon as they will open the magazine. The typography is plain to connote professionalism and high production values.
• Subheads - There are no subheadings present on the DPS, but the article is split up by dividing it into paragraphs. This has been done to separate the information and not to bore the audience by not placing a giant section of text onto the page in the form of an essay. Graphology is used at the start of each paragraph to highlight the first letter of each section.
• Byline - Because of the images low quality it is difficult to make out the byline, but it looks as though the authors name may be at the bottom right of the DPS.  
• Pull Quotes - There is one pull quote used near the centre of the article to make the appearance of the article more interesting.
• Small print - Aside from the article text and byline, there is not other small print present on the DPS. The text in the article is black to contrast with the plain background.

From my understanding on typical genre conventions for indie music magazines, I know that the byline is either positioned at the bottom of the page or just before the article begins. The style is usually professional to connote high production values, and the text is consistently black to show professionalism. Every heading/masthead used is in capital letters to grab the audiences attention. If an article is featured on a double page spread, it is usually spilt up into paragraphs to let the audience know that each section contains information about a different topic relating the featured indie artist. Pull Quotes are also used often. Puffs/plugs are used in the form of cover lines or an image/several images for promotional purposes. A sans serif font is used throughout the magazine to connote professionalism and sophistication. It also establishes a house style, as it suggests that every page in the magazine will use the same typography. These are all features I would be able to apply to my own work.