DPS Mid-Production Peer Feedback

The state of my DPS at the time the feedback was received.

During the production phase of my final double-page spread, I asked my peers to look at my current progress and answer four questions based on it. These questions were:

1. Is the page design appropriate for the task? Why/why not

2. Does the image used work with the article to create meaning? (Note that the current image is a placeholder, but the real image will be similar in style).

3. Do you think the layout/design of the article works with an article about an independent upcoming artist? Why/why not?

4. Overall, how would you rate this design out of 10 (with 10 being "great" and 0 being "terrible"), what would you give it and why?

Overall, the feedback I received from my peers was incredibly positive. All of them agreed that the page design was appropriate for a music magazine, with several saying that this was a result of the image including a guitar and a musician.

Again, they all agreed that the image used works with the article to create meaning, with some saying that this is because the musician is facing the text, and some repeating that the use of a guitar creates a link with music.

When it came to the third question, "Do you think the layout/design of the article works with an article about an independent upcoming artist?", the feedback was positive once more. One person stated that the quote at the start of the article makes it feel personal, linking to the theme of an independent artist. Another person stated that the use of green in my colour scheme creates a very natural feel for the page, again linking to the theme of an independent artist.

The responses to the final question were incredibly positive, with all responses giving my design a rating of 10, with their reasons being that it feels incredibly polished and links in well with the subject matter.

At the end of the questions, I asked participants for any further comments or criticisms they had in relation to my design. One comment was that the use of an image featuring a man in his 30s makes the design look as if its aimed at males aged 30. This is a valid criticism, so I will need to make sure that my final photo features a younger musician, emphasising that the magazine is aimed at males and females aged 16 to 25.

DPS Interview Final Text

Article Text

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In the ever-growing community of young musicians posting their tracks online, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stand out - yet some still manage. Tom Bridge is one of them. With his fanbase rapidly expanding, we decided to interview him to get an insight on his life and his music.

Playlist: So let’s start with a little bit about yourself for any readers that might not know you already. How would you define your music?

Tom: Right okay, so my music is quite hard to define; I suppose it’s quite retro-sounding - I saw a comment a while back where someone said I’m like a mixture of The Beatles and Pulp, with a slight hint of Oasis mixed in there too, so maybe more 90s Britpop than “retro”, I guess!

Playlist: Have you always been musical? What led to you persuing music as a career?

Tom: A lot of people are surprised whenever I say this, but until about three or four years ago, I couldn’t play any instruments had no interest in learning. I was always more of a listener than a player, but I got bored of listening to other people’s music, so I made my own. Simple. I started uploading my creations to YouTube and before I knew it, I had built up quite a following. It was only then that I saw this as a viable option for a career and decided to drop my plans of being an engineer and pursue music.

Playlist: What is your overall process for creating your music? How long does it take?

Tom: It really depends on the song. Sometimes, if I have something on my mind, I’ll just grab my guitar and have a play around until I like what I hear, and then I’ll post it online. For my more polished album tracks, I spent a good year or so trying to nail the sound. When people are paying to listen, there’s a lot more pressure to impress them, so it takes longer.

Playlist: Apart from creating music, what are your other interests? Are there any cross-overs with music?

Tom: I’d definitely consider myself to be a bit of a film buff. When I’m not writing or playing, I’m usually watching some sort of indie film, either at home or in the cinema. There was actually a cross-over between films and my music on my most recent album - the final song on the album is loosely based on Forrest Gump.

Playlist: You just released your first studio album - what’s next for you?

Tom: Currently I’m on a UK tour with a few other musicians and then I’m taking some time off to do a bit of travelling. Once I’m back, I’ll be starting work on a huge project that I can’t talk about quite yet! It’s something new for me and I’m very excited!

Continued on Page 12
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Pre-production - Flat-plans/Mock-ups

Please note that found images have been used within these designs as placeholders.

Front Cover

Front Cover - Flat Plans (Final) from Ewan Tough

Contents Page

Initial Sketch - Contents Page

Flat-plan - Contents Page

I decided that the use of white-space would be very important on my contents page for several reasons. Firstly, it would make the page appealing to look at and appear un-cluttered, making the magazine easy to navigate. In addition to this, it creates a refreshing and modern look for the magazine, linking with the identity of my magazine.
From looking at other contents pages, I noticed that a convention was to divide the page into sections, with each section representing a different article style. For this reason, the folios and articles are separated into "Regulars" and "Features", with the "Features" section being given its own page to symbolize that these articles are much larger. I also noticed from my research that contents pages usually have two columns per-page, allowing for more content to be placed on the page without it appearing to be cluttered.

DPS

Pre-production - DPS Flat-plans (AS Media Studies) from Ewan Tough

Interview Plan

Who - Tom Bridge - Local independent musician.

When - Monday 28th November, 12pm-1pm (followed by photoshoot).

Location - Tom's home (outskirts of Norwich, travel by bus).

Interview Style - Conversational/Question & Answer - Allows for a more personal feeling interview.

Questions -

 1. How would you define your music?

2. Have you always been musical?

3. What led to you pursuing music as a career?

4. What is your overall process for creating your music?

5. Apart from creating music, what are your other interests? Are there any cross-overs with music?

6. You just released your first studio album - what’s next for you?

Press Release

A UNIQUE NEW MUSIC MAGAZINE FOCUSED ON DISCOVERING MUSIC.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

8th November 2016. Bauer Media is proud to announce it's upcoming new music magazine, Playlist, which will be available in print and digitally from January 2016. Playlist's main focus will be to recommend and promote music from upcoming or unsigned artists, usually available to listen to on popular streaming services.

Specifically aimed at males and females aged between 16-25, a demographic for which listening to and discovering new music online is a popular activity, Playlist aims to introduce readers into genres they may not be familiar with by featuring inspiring interviews with upcoming artists, a diverse selection of unique playlists, and details of gigs of festivals that readers may be unaware of.

The magazine also has the potential to serve as a launch-pad for new artists by promoting their music to the masses. One key aspect of this publication is its focus on positivity; the magazine will not feature gossip or any sort of criticism of the music featured, setting this magazine apart from many others available.

A print copy of the magazine will cost just £3.50 from a variety of popular retailers, featuring over 100 pages crammed with fresh new sounds, interviews, competitions, as well as a small section covering over forms of media, such as films and television. Our research has also shown an interest in digital distribution, so a discounted digital version of the magazine will be available for £2.99 from popular app stores.

Photoshoot Plan

Location: Various outdoor locations in a suburban area, including: an alleyway, a back garden, and an over-grown looking car park.

When: Monday 28^th November, 1:30pm-3:00pm (to allow for dry weather and natural light).

Who: Tom Bridge, a local independent artist, aged 17. He is the subject of my DPS.

Clothing: A trendy outfit – grey skinny jeans and a white t-shirt with a checked shirt on top.

Props Required: Acoustic guitar (provided by Tom), RODE Microphone (provided by myself).

Camera required: High-quality Cannon DSLR camera with manual focus to create depth.

Pre-production - Masthead Designs

Design 1

For this design, I adjusted the tracking of each individual letter of "Playlist"to make it slightly touching any characters beside it. This creates an eye-catching yet simple design, but if I were to use it, I would need to conduct research to see how quickly my audience is able to read what is written as it could be difficult to read.

I experimented with a variety of colour combinations to see if the masthead would still be effective and not look out of place. This is important as the magazine would usually feature a different image on the cover of each issue, so the colour of the masthead may have to be altered to still be visible to readers and not clash with the cover image.

Design 2

This variation of the masthead takes inspiration from the logo for "Q" magazine. It would be placed in the top/left third of the page, allowing for more space for design features such as cover-lines and puffs. The triangle in the square resembles a play-button, creating a link with music, however, this symbol is more frequently associated with online video content, such as YouTube videos, which could create confusion.

Design 3

This design takes inspiration from Design 1, but this time I used a different font, "Lemon Milk", and removed the tracking between the letters. This font appears to be more modern than the font I used in Design 1, however, it is thinner and therefore less eye-catching. The slimmer design of the font would also make it difficult for the masthead to stand out to potential readers when placed on a magazine rack. In addition to this, the font is very similar to the font used for the masthead of Empire magazine, which could cause confusion and also not make the magazine stand out to potential readers.

Pre-production - Magazine Content

Explanation
I referred back to my magazine analysis, audience research, and some of my own knowledge of magazine conventions to decide what articles should be featured in my magazine, and how many pages they should take up. My audience research showed a large interest in interviews with upcoming artists, so I decided to include eleven double-page spreads (in total) dedicated to this topic, plus a further three dedicated to existing well-known artists. Lists are also a key feature that my audience are interested in seeing in my magazine, so I have included several articles relating to this theme, including an eight-page (4 DPS) feature called "10 Playlists to Star 2017", and another eight-page (4 DPS) article called "5 Genres You've Never Listened To". In the "regulars" section, I included several smaller articles relating to this topic, such as a monthly playlist, and a "reader recommendations" section, encouraging reader interaction with the magazine.
My research also showed an interest in the idea of having a small section dedicated to upcoming film and TV releases, so I have included two double-page spreads, one for film and one for television. I decided that including more pages on this topic would not be suitable for my magazine as music is my main focus point.

I dedicated 15 pages to paid advertorial space, allowing the magazine to have further income to keep the magazine running. My research online showed that full-page advertisements in popular magazines can cost around £17,000 in publications such as GQ magazine (source), however GQ is an established magazine, whereas Playlist is not, so charges would have to be considerably lower in order to attract the attention of companies.

My magazine will cost £3.50 for a print issue and £2.99 for a digital issue (available through services such as Google Play). From looking at similar existing products, I found that these prices are fairly common; a print copy of Q Magazine retails for £3.50, and my research on Google Play's Newsstand showed me that £2.99 is the average price for monthly magazines, with some being sold for more/less. For a 105-page magazine featuring a large number of articles and recommendations, £3.50 and £2.99 are prices that offer value for money, and my audience research shows that a wide majority of my audience have enough disposable income to buy my product.

Pre-production - Initial Names

Idea 1 - Playlist
Why it would work:

• Links in with current music streaming platforms (ie: Spotify).
• Playlists are a key focal point of the magazine.
• Short and to-the-point.

Potential Issues:

• Playlists are also associated with other forms of media, such as YouTube videos, which could cause confusion about the topic the magazine covers.
• This would be resolved by making sure the cover image and cover-lines have a definite link to music rather than YouTube.

Idea 2 - Discover
Why it would work:

• Emphasis could be placed on the word 'Disc' in the title, creating a link with music.
• The main focal point of the magazine is discovering new music.

Potential Issues:

• The magazine puts emphasis on modern music platforms such as streaming. Using the word "Disc" in the title could make the magazine look out-dated and aimed at an older demographic. My research showed that a very small percentage of my target readership still prefers to buy physical copies of music.
• The word "discover" is often associated with other topics, such as travelling, which could cause confusion about the topic of my magazine.
• A magazine called "Discover" already exists, which could cause issues with trademarks as well as confusion for readers.

Idea 3 - TRACK
Why it would work:

• Songs are often referred to as "tracks", creating a link with music.
• Short and snappy.

Potential Issues:

• The word "track" doesn't immediately stand out as being related to music. It can also be related to other topics such as trains, racing, surveillance, and roller coasters. This would result in confusion for readers.

Final Title - Playlist
I have decided on "Playlist" as the final title for my magazine for a number of reasons. Firstly, it has the fewest issues, and any issues it has can easily be resolved. This title also has the most links to the subject-matter of my magazine, with playlists being a key element of the publication.

Audience Profile

Design Inspiration

1.  Cassette Spines
This image inspires me because each spine has a very unique and creative design/colour scheme relating to the artist/band it is representing. I'd like to use a similar idea in my magazine, such as using this design for a "features" section on my contents page as it would catch the attention of my readers and also create a sense of individuality and creativity.

2. 'Pulp' Film Poster
There are many aspects of this poster that inspire me. Firstly, I really like the use of colour; a blue/purple gradient has been used for the background, and white has been used for any titles, writing and graphics placed on top of the background.This creates a very clean looking image by only really using three colours, but the final result does not look empty or dull in any way.

I also inspired by the fact this poster features several layers of graphics/images/writing whilst not appearing to be cluttered in any way, yet still conveying a fair amount of information about the film and its subject.

3. Double-page spread
The first double-page spread of a feature article in a magazine should feature something to draw readers in to read the article. I like that this DPS (double-page spread) from 'Total Film' uses a large pull-quote from the article, which is then followed by the actors name, serving as the title. I also like the use of white space here, creating a clean and minimalist design to not distract readers from the content of the article. The use of various font styles and sizes here also inspires me; the serif fonts create a sense of professionalism whilst also being easy to read.

4. 'Total Film' Cover
There are several aspects of this cover that inspire me. Firstly, the overlapping of the masthead and the image gives the cover depth whilst still making the title of the magazine clear to the reader. In addition to this, I am also inspired by the use of cover-lines on this cover - the use of different colours allows readers to differentiate between the aspects of the magazine being discussed.

5. Mumford & Sons 'Wilder Mind' Cover
The cover for Mumford & Sons' album 'Wilder Mind' inspires me because of its use of a plain white sans-serif font placed against a darker background, making the text stand out whilst not distracting from the image itself.

6. Bo Burnham Poster
This poster for Bo Burnham's latest comedy tour inspires me because it is very simplistic whilst also making use of Bo's t-shirt as a canvas for another image of the show. The pink/purple colours contrast against the black background, creating a visually intriguing design.

7. 'Dopest' Font
This sans-serif font inspires me for my magazine because it is very simplistic and clear, yet the white lines in the middle of each character make this font stand out whilst not making it look either messy or dull. I'd like to use either this font or a similar font for my masthead.

8. Green Day Article Page
The use of both sans-serif and serif fonts on this page creates a very visually-appealing design when paired with the black/white/grey/turquoise colour scheme of this page. I would like to replicate this pairing in my magazine as it would fit in with the idea of appealing to many different music tastes.

9. Spotify Promo Image
This promotional image for the Spotify music streaming service inspires me because the image behind the logo has many connotations which are then linked with the brand itself by placing the logo on top of it. The image shows a person running down and empty road in the countryside. The connotations of this are 'freedom' (linking with the fact that you can stream any music you want on Spotify without limits) and also 'fitness' as the person running could be interpreted as doing exercise, suggesting that Spotify is a good service to use whilst exercising.

I also like the use of a plain/white sans-serif font on top of a darker and faded image. This creates a very clean and refreshing looking image, which is a style I may consider for my magazine.

10. 'Geomancy' Font
The Geomancy font inspires me because it is sans-serif, making it modern and clear, but the mixture of straight lines and curves provides a very futuristic look, linking with my idea of promoting upcoming (future) artists.

11. Public Service Broadcasting 'The Race for Space' Cover
The specific part of this album cover I am particularly inspired by is the text at the top. I think the white colour being placed against the dark blue colour makes it very clear whilst not distracting from the main image itself. This is a style I would like to replicate in some way for my product. I also like the use of tracking to make both of the lines of text the exact same width as each other, creating a very neat and aesthetically pleasing design.

12. 'Rainfall' Font
The use of triangles in this font creates a very unique geometric style for the font whilst not making the font difficult to read. I would like to use a font like this for my masthead as it would intrigue readers and make my magazine look modern.

13. Musician standing in front of retro televisions
The image shows a young man (J. Willgoose, Esq, the front-man of a group named 'Public Service Broadcasting') dressed smartly and standing in front of several retro televisions. I am inspired by this image because it is very intriguing without context and readers could see it and become interested in buying the magazine to read the article it is related to.