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.

MAGAZINE NAMES
Kerrang
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/ NME 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/

Kerrang

NME

LOOKI NG AT PRODUCI NG A NAME FOR MY MAGAZI NE

Words relating to the music scene; Indie rock
Independent New Noise Underground Hipster Indie Landfill Alternative

Single letters, or a series of them;

I NGM NCYDE

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.

LOOKING AT FONTS
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.
The main fonts that are used in magazines are; 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Helvetica Trajan Garamond Futura Bodoni Bickham Script Pro Frutiger 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 Kerrangs main logo is very bold and has a lot of Kerrang uses the colour scheme of black, white, red and yellow. However any graphic stickers tend to be in blue.

emphasis on black and white.

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.