Unit 30 LO3

Candidate Name: Carmel SeagerCandidate Number: 4127Center: St. Andrew’s Catholic SchoolCenter Number: 64135

Layout & Content Plans – Front Cover and Double Page Spread

OCR – Level 3 Cambridge Introductory Diploma in Media

Unit 30: UK Media Publishing

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Production PlanThis is my production plan for my magazine. I have planned to use a month to produce the magazine, collect the content, plan and edit.This plan is for the release date of the 1st of December and starts on the 3rd of November.

I have contacted Bauer Media which is the publisher of Q to find out the production process for the magazine.As I did not get a reply I made my plan as accurate as I possibly could by researching the average production plan for a magazine and then taking account that my magazine is released monthly. This changes my production plan from other magazines as the production plans I found were for weekly magazines so I changed it so I could collect and edit more content.

For each day you can see that that I have added a deadline for all the content that is edited or collected on that day. This would help me to ensure that my staff always understood what they needed to do. I have tried to make these deadlines as realistic as possible.

Contacting the publisher

Here is a screenshot of my email to the editor of Q magazine. I have asked these questions to gain a better idea of the production process for a monthly magazine. This will help me to make sure that my production plan is as accurate as possible.Some of the production processes that I have found are for weekly magazines so I will find/ create a production plan for a monthly magazine. As my magazine would have more content it would need a longer production process.Unfortunately I never got a response, so I have tried to make my research as accurate as possible from different researches I have carried out.

Image Plan

This is my plan for the images that I will take for my magazine. I have added all the details that will need to be taken into consideration when taking my images, including the props and location. I have also included pictures of the people that I will need to ask permission from to take the images. This image plan is essential for my magazine as it helps to ensure that the staff are completely aware of every detail within the production process of the magazine. The image plan also helps to ensure that the production plan is successful as the photographer will know what is expected in the short time that they have to take the images.

Equipment needed to take pictures

Hand-drawn Magazine DraftsThis is my hand –drawn draft, I focused on making sure the layout was appropriate for the magazine. I took a dew inspirations from the Q magazine layout.

Social Networks:On my front cover the social network logos will be placed on the top right hand corner to make them visible for the audience.

Masthead:My masthead was inspired by Q. The colours are green, white and black to match the colour scheme. The denotation of the strapline for my magazine is ‘Music Matters.’ this will be placed sideways to the masthead.

Main Image:My main image for the magazine will take up most of the space. This will be layered underneath the text.

Website:The website for my magazine will be placed underneath the barcode. This is different to Q as they place theirs within the box of the barcode.

Cover lines:The cover lines will be placed all around the sides of the cover, this is inspired from Q magazine. These will be layered on top of the main image.

Hand-drawn Magazine DraftsHeadline:The denotation of the headline of my double page spread will be a bold quote from the interview.

Main image:My main image is going to take up most of the second page, this is to gain more attention to the subject.

Text:The text will be in the middle of the pages to make it stand out. The font of the questions will be in green and bold. Then the answers will be normal text (Black, simple.)

Page number:In the bottom of the pages there is the page numbers and the M logo.

Quote:There will be a quote in a box that relates to the image or the subjects life.

Drop capital:The drop capital is located at the top of the article to make it stand out. And so that the text fits around the drop capital neatly.

Image: There will be another image of the subject in their normal lifestyle. This will be smaller than the main image.

Interview Drafts

Here is my magazine interview draft, I have taken inspiration from Q magazine to think of suitable questions. I also took in the personality of the subject and the things that the artist is doing recently to make the questions more realistic. To make sure the answers were as accurate as possible, I researched the artist to be able to provide realistic answers. I looked at her biography and previous interviews with the artist to see the way she would answer questions.I made the interview appealing for the readers by portraying the subjects personality. As well as, by asking questions that the readers would want to know the answers to.

Magazine Flat PlanThis is my magazine flat plan, I have made sure to add the details of each advertisement whilst including some images to make it clearer. On each page it gives basic details about each page to make it easier to understand and work out the layout.

The pages that are filled in a green colour are the main double page spreads within the magazine. These will be placed in the middle of the magazine. This is because it ensures that the reader has to look at the content at the front of the magazine.

The pages with a blue cross are double page spreads, these include different advertisements and content including adverts that relate to the main interview and the celebrity gossip for example.

This flat plan does not show every page that will be included in my magazine but enough to be able to show the types of content that will be included.

As seen there is a lot of advertisements within the magazine, this helps me to ensure that there will be a good income coming into the business.

Front Cover PlansMastheadThe masthead for my magazine is simply M. This was inspired by Q magazine, as the M stands for Music. It will be located on the top left hand corner, with a green, white and black theme. It will be bold and stand out from the rest of the content on the front cover of the magazine. Some font styles that I have considered are:

Mom’s Typewriter Amsterdam Graffiti Sketch Block

I think the best font for my masthead is the Amsterdam Graffiti because it would suit my magazine better, as well it is bold and easy to read. I also think this font would be the best for my magazine because it would be a good font to be able to repeat throughout my whole magazine which links to the theme of my magazine.

StraplineThe denotation of the strapline for my magazine is ‘Music Matters’. The use of alliteration will make it memorable for the audience who read it or hear it within adverts. ‘Music Matters’ is also a good strapline for my magazine because it links with the title of my magazine whilst explaining to the audience what type of magazine that it is.

I have taken the inspiration for the location of the masthead from Q magazine, as seen in these screenshots. My masthead will be of a similar size and shape compared to the masthead of Q magazine.

Images The images on my front cover will be the main image that will take up most of the front cover, leaving little blank space on the front cover. This was also inspired by some Q magazine editions. I have chosen to do this as I feel that it will make the front cover more effective at gaining the audience’s attention. The other image that will be on my front cover is the masthead, barcode and a puff promotion.

Front Cover PlansMain headlineBy looking at many Q magazine editions, I have noticed that they put a short quote from the interview as the headline, with the artists name bigger placed either above or underneath the quote. I think this is effective as it will gain the audiences attention and make them want to read on to know the reason for them saying it. The denotation of my main headline will also be a short but effective quote from my interview, with the artists name below it. The font will be ‘Amsterdam Graffiti’ the same as my masthead to keep the theme consistent. The name of the artist will be bigger to make it noticeable and one of the first things the audience can see when looking at the text on the front cover of the magazine.

Cover linesThe denotation of cover lines on my magazine will be located on both sides of the magazine, around the image to make them easy to read. This was inspired by Q magazine as they locate their cover lines around the sides of the front cover, layering them over the image but making the image still visible. The language of the cover lines will be enticing to make the audience want to read the other stories within the magazine too. They will briefly explain the content within the story, so the audience know ifthey will want to read it or not.

Puff promotionMy magazine will have a puff promotion on the front of the magazine, this will be located in between the cover lines on the left hand side. This is because people will be able to read and see it as they look at the masthead because it will be big and bold. My puff promotion will be a circle shape with different effects and a bold colour to make it stand out. The circle shape is inspired by the sleek puff promotion on Q magazine. Synergy with social media My magazine will have the social network logos in the top right hand corner to make them visible to the reader opening the page. They will stand out compared to the main image and be of a medium size. This will help to attract more people to the social networking sites.

Puff Promotion!

Front Cover PlansHouse StyleThe house style of my magazine is simple but bold to gain the attention of the reader and also to highlight the music genre of the magazine.

House coloursThe house colours of my magazine are green, black and white. This is because it would be good for a music magazine that has a focus on indie music. Another reason for the theme colours of green, black and white is because these are neutral colours that can appeal to both genders. This could make my magazine appeal strongly to the target audience. The house colours will be seen on the front page in the masthead and throughout the headlines. Green will be seen in the masthead. Black will be seen in the text and masthead. And white will also be seen in the text, through the cover lines.

House fontsThe fonts throughout my magazine will be mainly Amsterdam Graffiti . This will be used in the masthead and titles. I will also use a less bold font such as Arial for the normal text throughout the magazine pages. The big titles (headlines etc.) throughout my magazine will be in the green colour. Then the smaller subtitles will be black just like the text.

ArialPage LayoutThe page layout will be very similar throughout the magazine to make sure that it looks sleek and professional. The features that will be the same on each page is the page number and logo. As well as, the colours and fonts throughout the pages. The layout of the text will also be similar as it will be in columns to make it clear to the audience to read. As well as at the top of each interview there will be a drop capital.

Double Page PlansInterviewThe person that it is going to be interviewed for my headline will be Jessie J. This is because I think that she could appeal to the readers. As well as interview with her at this point in her life would be interesting as she has just finished writing her new album out in America. Jessie J appeals to a wide range of people but mainly teenagers. Although by looking at some of the lyrics in her songs it is obvious that she also appeals and targets an older audience too as there is swearing and the content is for an older audience.

The questions that I will ask Jessie J are ones about the work she has done previously, including new singles and writing her album. They will range from how it was collaborating with other artists to any secrets that can be revealed about the album. I will also give her simple questions to make the interview more relaxed and allow the artist to be open to say what she would like to say to her fans and the readers.

The answers from Jessie J will reflect on her personality, meaning that they will be quite bubbly. As well as Jessie J is quite an upfront person so the answers will portray her opinions strongly. Her answers will also be quite long as from looking at previous interviews I have noticed that she likes to make sure her answer is detailed. Jessie J also tries to be very inspirational to her fans so by asking questions for her opinions etc. it allows her to portray her inspiring side to the audience.

This interview will appeal to the reader because it will give them a ‘exclusive’ insight of Jessie J’s life and opinions. It will also help them to understand what the artist has coming up next which would get them excited about it if they are Jessie J fans.

Front coverThese are my final productions of the magazine pages. My main magazine inspiration was Q magazine. This can be seen in plans and in the features within my final edits.

Some of these features include the masthead as it is placed in the top left hand corner which is strongly inspired by Q magazine. The denotation of the headline is also inspired by Q magazine as ‘M’ is a simple initial. Additionally the strapline placed in the square of the masthead is also inspired by Q magazine. To make it my own design I have placed my strapline ‘Music Matters.’ underneath the logo as I feel that it looked better placed underneath. I believe that by using ‘Music Matters.’ it connotes to the audience that the magazine is all about music and only include the information that matters.

Another feature that was inspired by Q magazine was the denotation of the cover lines on the side of the page with small lines to break them up. After looking at a few different Q magazine editions I noticed that they all have different numbers of cover lines. I made mine green to fit into the house style, like Q made theirs red.

My main image is in black and white to relate to Q magazine as the edition I looked at, the main image was black and white. I think this was a good way to bring out the green from the house style.

Finally I changed the barcode and its features to make it easier for the reader to find the magazine online and become aware of the brand.

I changed my font from the original plans as I felt that my new font was more appropriate for my magazine, it also allowed me to use it small for the main text too. This was still readable where as the font that I originally used was not readable in a small format and was not appropriate for the genre of my magazine. The font I changed it to is LongTime.

Double page spread

This is my final edit of the double page spread. This is similar to Q magazine as some of the features are same but it is very much my own design. Some of the denotations that are similar to Q are the quote box layered with the main image, this helps to break up the page and pick out the important parts of the interview. Another thing that is similar to Q magazine is using the main house style colour to break up the questions and answers within the interview. As well as the headline being a quote from the interview is also inspired by the magazine as this can make people want to read the article. Additionally having a small image placed in the bottom left hand corner is similar to the magazine of inspiration. The small image helps to break up the text and give the article more interest.

My stand first is different to my magazine of inspiration as Q uses a quote as a stand first but I decided to summarise the article and artist that was being interviewed. This can connote to the audience what they can expect in the interview, as well as vary the content within the interview. I think this has been effective to gain the readers attention. My main image is black and white as well as within the text of the interview, this is different to Q but has been effective with linking to the front cover.

Simple step by step for producing the magazine

Simple templateI started producing my magazine by using templates to help me with the layout of the pages. This helped me to add the different details and make sure that the bleed was appropriately fitted.

Adding the barcodeTo start my front cover I added the barcode on the page with the details around it including the logos, date, price and social networking/ web address details.

Adding layout placeholdersI then added placeholders for the details to the right places of my pages, this helped me to plan the layout of the magazine. These details included page the page number, headline and where images were going to be placed.

Importing information Afterwards I started to add the final edits of content that was going to be in my magazine. This included headlines, puff promotion and adding the appropriate quotes into the quote boxes.

‘Publishers’ FeedbackTo improve my front cover and double page spread I gained some feedback from the ‘publisher’ to see if there was any improvements that could be made. By having an opinion from the publisher it helped me to be able to make the most appropriate editing that was needed. The feedback that I received was to edit the images a bit more, move some of the features on the page and edit the interview a slight bit more.

By making these improvements it has helped me to be able to make the pages as professional as possible, so that they reach a high quality standard. This means that it will make my magazine suitable for selling to the public as they will be of a good quality.

Final Front Cover

This is the barcode section, here I have included the price, the magazine website, social networking and magazine logo as well as the issue date.

Here are the cover lines, the layout of these was inspired by Q magazine. I have changed them to suit my magazine by changing the font and colour scheme of them.

Here is the main image of my front cover, it takes up almost all the page to show that it is the most important article within the magazine.

The puff promotion on my front cover is located straight under the masthead to attract the attention of the audience. By having it in a blank space it also makes it pop out from the rest of the page.

My masthead is located at the top left corner of the magazine so it is easy to see as well as this was inspired by Q magazine. The masthead shows all the main colours of the colour scheme within my magazine. The writing is bold to also make it stand out, whilst making a statement.

The strapline of my magazine is located in the masthead, this makes the magazine look professional. Whilst also making it easy for the reader to find and see. By having ‘Music Matters.’ under the bold masthead it connotes to the reader that the magazine is important.

Final Double Page Spread

I have placed the logo of the artist in the top right corner, to highlight who the subject is but also to make sure that there is no blank space. This helps to make the magazine look professional whilst helping to make it look full of information. This will appeal to the audience because they will be fans of the artist and recognise the logo straight away.

The page number in the bottom of each page has extra details such as the website and the magazines logo. This helps to increase brand identity throughout the magazine. The box that the page number is in, also links to the house style too as the colour is the same green throughout.

The questions and answers in the interview are differentiated by different colours, this looks effective as it continues the house style whilst also making it easy to read.

Quote boxes help to break up the page whilst also hinting to the reader what the interview will be about before they read it. Additionally quote boxes also make the reader want to read the article as the most interesting quotes have been chosen.

The title of the article is the subjects name and a quote, this entices the reader to carry on reading. It is located big and bold on the top of the page, this makes it stand out from the rest of the page. By making it green it fits into the house scheme of the magazine and makes it fit with the rest of the magazine.

The main image takes up most of the second page of the double page spread, this makes it a important part of the interview. But it also helps to break up the page and make it look more interesting.

The stand first is placed straight under the title of the article, this helps the reader to know straight away what the article is about.

ConclusionIn conclusion I have successfully been able to plan the pre-production of my magazine by contacting different people whilst also looking at the different processes of a magazine production process. The pre-production materials that I have made will show the publisher that I have planned all the details about my magazine successfully and appropriately. By planning and drafting the appearance and content of my magazine I have been able to make sure that everything reaches the high quality that is expected of a published magazine whilst also making any suitable corrections.

By receiving feedback on my front cover and double page spread it helps me to understand how the magazine should look for a publisher to want to publish it. Whilst receiving feedback also helps me to gain another opinion on my product, which benefits my magazine as my aim is to appeal to as many people as possible. So by receiving different opinions I know that I have reached that aim.

Many of my pre-production materials will help my employees in the future because they can reuse them and use them as guidelines when making new issues. By making a production plan it helps me to make sure that the employees know what they need to do and when they need to do it by. As well as, by making a image plan it helps me to make sure that the photographers know where to take the images and the equipment needed to take the photos. It also reminds us to make sure that we have the appropriate permission to use the locations. Finally by making a step by step guide it helps the employees to know the process of making issues of the new magazine. By doing this I can make sure that the production of my magazine is always successful and effective.