Colour Lovers: colour palette research

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Mock-up Contents

This is the mock-up of my contents page; I took inspiration from an ELLE magazine contents page I researched at the start of the course, this gave me the idea to create a border of images around the text. The text is not visible on the page as it's a mock-up however the blank white box in the centre of the page would be filled with a list of pages with page numbers and a brief description of what you should expect to find on each page.
I like my idea of having one repeated image around the outside of the text in black and white and then other images over-lapping these to represent other band members, in colour. The instrument props used in my test shots came in very handy for this contents page as I used the drummer with her sticks and the guitarist holding her pick. I like my mock-up a lot and think I will produce something similar for my final magazine. The title font is the same font as used on the cover of my magazine for the small text, this shows continuity through the pages and creates a themed font for the magazine.

Institution Profile:

Institution profile

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Draft Article:

Ardent Love Article

Double Page Spread - Mock-Up

I produced this double page spread mock-up to show the style of layout I would like my magazine to look like, there will be a lot more writing on my final copy and I will shortly produce a mock-up article as well. I will include what is listed on the second page within my double page spread;

- Where the band are from

- The band's genre of music

- Examples of their songs

- The band's inspirations

Followed by an individual breakdown of each band member somewhere else on the page, this shows a well thought-out layout of a spread.

I think the images work really well together and they all tie in because each member is wearing denim, on the real version I will use a similar theme to this as it creates a unique signature dress sense of the band.

Ardent Love - Font

I used the website www.dafont.com to find the right font to use on my magazine to advertise the band name across my double page spread interview. The eight I have chosen each have provide a different vibe about the band. Some are more girly, hand written style and close together letters; when some are more spaced out and bold. One of these fonts will be used in my magazine but I will play around on Photoshop to find out which one works best with the genre of the band and style of magazine.

I like all the fonts for different reasons but the 1st and 5th are probably my favourite;
1st because it's different and the elongated letters create an interesting effect; 2nd because it's equally individual and the swirls surrounding the words gives it an edgy alternative style. Both of my favourite fonts are lower case, this appeals to me as not very many bands would want their name to appear inferior if it didn't have a capital letter at the start of each word. 

NAME CHANGE:

I have considered the idea of the name 'Rewind' and have decided it isn't suitable for my acoustic Indie-Alternative magazine, it seems to modern and technological for the genre of music I am focusing on.

New name: UNPLUGGED
I think the word 'Unplugged' has a certain ring to it, and it literally translates into the language of music as being non-amplified.

I have looked at many fonts on dafont.com but I chose to stick with my original font provided by Photoshop Elements, called 'Harlow Solid Italic'. I will also use all lower case letters as this font in particular looks more professional in lower case; I also think this makes it appeal to a younger audience as well as older as it doesn't look too formal.

25 Word Pitch: Feedback

I recieved 5 comments off other members of the class, they all said similar things:
- 'I rather like your close-up idea...'
- 'I think you need to represent that it is a fashion and music magazine...'
- '...unsual aspect to it'

I have taken this feedback and tried to use it to my best advantage, I am making the title of the magazine revolve around music to ensure that the genre of the magazine is obviously music. I am still unsure on the title however as 'Rewind' could sound too technological and modern for my acoustic-style music magazine; I will continue looking for the perfect name. As my magazine revolves around music and fashion I will tie in the fashion on the double page spread and contents pages, this will make sure the audience know what's included after flicking open the first page. As for the title font I will keep the idea of a neutral colour against the brighter, bolder background colours, one person mentioned they liked this idea and others said it was unique.

Band Profile:

Name: Ardent Love
Members:
Abbie - 17 - Vocals & Electric Guitar
Georgia - 18 - Drums
Jess - 17 - Acoustic Guitar & Other Vocals

Formed: 2010

Genre: Indie-Alternative

Interests: Writing songs, playing music, listening to music, reading magazines, fashion, going to gigs

Inspired by: Ellie Goulding, The Maccabees, The Arctic Monkeys, Foals, Little Comets, Two Door Cinema Club, The Pretty Reckless, Mumford & Sons, Biffy Clyro, Plain White T's, Vampire Weekend, Katy B, Laura Marling.

Creating a Band Name:

Intoxicate

Blaze

Ardent Love
Nobody's Perfect

Intoxicate: This word appeals to me as it means that a person could become intoxicated with the band; it would usually be associated with breathing too much of some form of air, or becoming intoxicated with alcohol. I think the name could be catchy and memorable for the audience of Indie fans, I don't know of any bands with a name similar to this so it's a new idea and could be successful.
Blaze: I like this idea of a word as a name because it reflects the idea of fire, and fire is linked to danger; this could be popular among an Indie-Alternative audience. I think people are unsure on what you can class as Indie-Alternative, and what becomes more Rock, or even Folk, this means there is uncertainty about the genre which links back to my Blaze-Fire-Danger connection.
Ardent Love: These two words came about when I tried to search for fire related words, the word Ardent means passionate, like a never-ending love. This could link to how if a person likes a band's song, they tend to keep up-to-date with their music or style and form a never-ending love for the band. However it's also not a commonly used word so it would stick in peoples minds.
Nobody's Perfect: I really like this as a band name, it doesn't pinpoint a genre that the band should be expected to be so it entails mystery. However I feel that as it's been used as a song name three times it could be too familiar and nothing fresh or new in the world of music, which could be a threat to the success of the "band".

Rankin - Colours:

I am interested in making the eyes stand out on my front cover, these pictures are also part of Rankin's work and I think the different eye colours are really bright and bold. The picture cut out in the shape of a lightning bolt would be an amazingly eye-catching magazine cover and the colours used makeup-wise make the eye colour stand out against the white base colours of the image. When I come to making my final magazine cover I will try out different effects on Photoshop to create interesting and bright eye colours; this shows in Rankin's eye photos as they must be enhanced seeing as the brightness is
unbelievable on some of the iris'.

Rankin - Inspiration:

The make-up on these models looks so effective and different, if I saw a magazine in a shop among hundreds of others with a photo as individual as these I would certainly pick it up. These images are part of Rankin's 'Special Projects' photography; these in particular show the beauty of faces. There is nothing particularly unusual about the faces in the images above, the make-up just makes them look striking and interesting. I will have a go at creating a characterisation as well as Rankin has through make-up on my model(s), this will help to make my magazine cover stand out from the others. The colours used in the first image blend well with the grey-scale and blue to stand out against it, I like this colour palette a lot and would create something similar if I chose to do a photo like this.

Jessie J

I have included this video on my blog firstly because this is the style of music people should expect to see appearing in my magazine, it's live, acoustic, tuneful and bold. The lyrics of this song and her braveness are inspiring and everyone should be able to experience listening to videos like this without having to search for them on YouTube, these types of performances will be mentioned in my magazine. I also like her visual style, her 1900's black hair cut stands out amongst a crowd, the same way my magazine should in a shop.

Dazed and Confused Cover:

I really like this magazine cover, if I saw this in a shop I would pick it up and read the cover without a doubt, the colours are so vibrant and the title is slightly transparent which focuses all the attention on the models. I like the make-up used in this image and I am inspired by how the editor has managed to achieve such an eye-catching cover. The tagline at the bottom being 'Smile!' really ties in with the huge smile that has been painted onto the models' faces, I like this idea a lot; as Dazed and Confused has a number of different features to the magazine they haven't singled just one of them out on the cover, it is very neutral. The black writing in the four corners are barely noticeable which I like, the colours in the middle of the page are so bold that they are insignificant at first.

Example of an article:

"Jessie J has been announced as the winner of the Critics' Choice Award at next year's Brit Awards. Previous winners include Ellie Goulding, Florence And The Machine and Adele
Jessie J adjusts her grey beanie, pokes a lock of hair behind her massive hooped gold earrings. “You know,” she grins, “it’s like Popjustice said: ‘Jessie J – 500 years in the making…’”
The name on the tip of too many tongues for too long, Jessie’s been waiting in the wings for so many years that she’s watched whole pop civilisations rise and fall in the time it’s taken her to get to the launch platform. ‘Do It Like A Dude’ will change all that. Real bump’n’grind R&B pop in the Rihanna/Pink/Gaga mould, in it she’s managed to synthesise all three of these totems into a writhing slab of raunch that sounds very big indeed. “I think people miss the wit in that song.
It’s meant to be funny too!” she laughs.

continued...

It’s easy to see why record execs kept getting the wrong idea about Jessie J over the last five years, because The Voice is what hits you first. “Who is the best singer?” Justin Timberlake pondered. “Jessie J.” So vocal was his vocals enthusiasm that he took her into the studio for a week (“A sweetie. Gave me lots of great advice”). And in its power, the voice has an air of jazz hands to it. She was barred from the choir at the age of 11 for “singing too loud”. Really, she makes Florence seem like Jack Steadman singing through a straw.
Now, after battles with those trying to tar her with the ‘diva’ brush, she’s managed to find a way of transmitting her self-written real-me thing. There’s a vulnerability, a proper confessional quality to a lot of her stuff that could appeal to a nation of self-examining teenage girls, in a soul Kate Nash way. “My song ‘Who You Are’,” she admits, “is like therapy for me. I can’t sing it half the time because I start crying.”
Jessie J knows what she’s got is special – that’s why she’s invested so much energy in incubating it for so long. She’s certainly not your manufactured toy.
Are there any big surprises on the record? “Well. Uh, there are some bits where I rap.”
Oh, kinda like that Cher Lloyd girl off of The X Factor? “No,” she frosts over, “not like that…” The conversation peters out."
- NME MAGAZINE WEBSITE



I have chosen to copy and paste this article onto my blog as this is the style of article I wish to include in my magazine, I like the slightly informal aspect to it and the other topics included other than music. My favourite sentence of the article 'Jessie J adjusts her grey beanie, pokes a lock of hair behind her massive hooped gold earrings.' stands out to me because of the fashion interest to the article. I hope to include short sentences like this to enhance the fashion side of my magazine.

Draft Article:

I will need to include in my article:

• Up and coming band...
• Style of music
• Interests
• Where they're from
• Their names
• Their ages
• Their individual summary of backgrounds
• Their roles in the band

Cover Inspiration:

I have recently looked at some Dazed and Confused magazine covers, I like the style of magazine a lot and the colours used. This is one particular cover that I am interested in the layout of, I like the pink and blue contrasting colours with the white text surrounding the main images. Equally I am fascinated by the cloning affect the editor has created on this cover, I know for a fact it is possible to recreate this on Photoshop so I will have a go at it myself to compare it to this one. I also like the fact that the picture is just of a plain face, nothing fancy about it, but by using the cloning effect it brings another level of creativity to the image. The colour they have edited her eyes to be ties in with the blue used in the background; they have tried to make the background look as though there and pink and white clouds behind her however they have enhanced the colours so it is an unrealistic sky, which workds well against the bland colours of her hair and face. I am choosing to use white writing if I use a busy colourful background as well, I think it works really well with the brightness of the pink title.

Mock-up Magazine Cover

This is the mock-up of magazine cover, my real magazine may be completely different to this depending on my final colour palette and photoshoot shots. I like the layout of my mock-up with the picture holding most of the colour on the page, the name of the band will be in a bright colour to stand out against the neutral title and 'what's inside' text. I produced this on Photoshop, and will do the same for my final magazine cover; my double page spread and contents page mock-ups will be posted shortly.

Analysis of test shots:

As I have taken a fair amount of photos I have chosen my favourite shots and have looked at what will work best for my magazine. I have decided to stick with my original idea of a close-up half-face on the front cover and I will create a mock-up of what I want this to roughly look like. On the contents I will just various sections of photos and apply them as a border, with one group feature photo as the main image and the text surrounding this central image. Again, on the double page spread I will use various images of the "band" of three people whilst sticking to a colour scheme but adding flashes of other colours to brighten the page up. The three people the "band" consists of each have a different colour of hair, I wanted to do this from the start as it means the images will be eye catching.

OTHER test shots

Other test shots

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COVER: test shots

Cover test shots

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Two Door Cinema Club - I Can Talk

This is a video showing the style of music that will be analysed and reviewed in my magazine, I like this band a lot and their genre of Indie is the type of music I listen to. The "band" that I feature in my magazine on the double page spread will use this band and many others as their inspiration. This is a very upbeat Indie song compared to others, such as Foals - Spanish Sahara or Arctic Monkeys - Cornerstone.

Colour Lovers: colour palette

Colour Palette

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Why 'Rewind' ?

I chose the name ‘Rewind’ as it can be associated directly with music, but also with life in general – linking to the idea of rewinding time; this is used in fashion all the time, the idea of things coming back in fashion and looking as if we’ve gone back in time. This discretely shows that my magazine is linked to music and fashion. I will also use the rewind symbol in the corner of every page next to the page number, as this adds an effect and is a memorable detail. The symbol in my magazine will be grey as my colour scheme will consist of a greyscale palette with a flash of blues and purples to contrast this.

Arabella - Out Of Love

Out Of Love by Arabella

Font/Title Research

Font title

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Moodboard

Moodboard

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Audience Profile

Audience Profile

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About My Magazine:

About my magazine;

The audience for my magazine will be from the age of 16+, they would typically have a keen interest in indie/alternative music and a side interest in fashion.

The font will be big but in a scribbled font so it appeals to a younger audience as well as more mature people. I would like the colour of the title to be white as my background will be busy, however I may make changes to this when I make my actual product.

The music featured in my magazine will be similar to the likes of The Foals, Arctic Monkeys, Two Door Cinema Club and Ellie Goulding.

The front cover of my magazine will feature a close-up image of a girl’s face, with the emphasis on the eye; this means I can use Photoshop to change the colours of the eye and adapt the make-up on her face. I will also use Photoshop to show that my magazine is music based by putting an instrument in the reflection of the pupil of the eye.
These are some magazines I have looked at for inspiration;

Jess Pardoe