Main task, vinyl ( 12/01/17 )

In this post I am going to talk about the vinyl cover and album I created to include in my magazine.

I began with a plan background of green ( representing new beginnings ). The heading is 'Jordan Bruce' 'Citybound', the C from Bruce is also the C for Citybound, this is to show that the city is a part of Bruce; intertwined within him, which is what album is about and what the interview will focus on too. The face the artist is looking to the left shows that he is looking to the past, this contrasts with the connotations of the green: this is to show that everything that has happened in his past has allowed him to grow and prosper; him looking to the past is him experiencing nostalgia and reflecting linking to some of the songs in the album and the green is representing his new life and growth as an individual, which is also explored in the album.
I then included the image of Big Ben submersed in fog, which represents Bruce's mind; a blur. The fact it is London is because that is where he has moved to to create music, linking to the name of the album. The time on Big Ben is 2:40, which links to one of the songs in the album which I will come on to explain. At first I just had the outline of Jordan, but it was not very clear to see, so I filled the image in with the green, this is to link in the theme of new beginnings and growth.

I have also come up with the titles of songs in the album and what they are about, this will be talked about in the interview;
Homeward Journey - This is about his mental journey looking back to his past, his childhood, and expressing his feelings when both parents died when he was only 7 in a car crash.
More than words - This song explores the idea of appearence versus reality, in terms of what he saw of his parents 'perfect relationship' but it was not as it seemed and his parents had dark secrets: his dad was a cheat and would hit his mum, but it was kept from him to protect him.
Dancing with the devil - This song focuses on a relationship the artist had, which was toxic, he knew it was toxic but stayed because he couldn't escape.
20 to 2 - Relates to Bruce dealing with his depression, unable to sleep. 20 to 2 ( AM ) is when he wrote the song, and is also the time that is on Big Ben on the front cover.
Open door - New beginnings, this represents him creating music, as each door closes in his face he opens a new door. It explores the strength to get back up when you are knocked down.
City sights - This is about where he is now- living in the city, making music. However, he is still not at his happiness as he cannot experience this with the people he would have liked to: his mum and dad.
Paragraph - From one of his favorite poems by E.E Cummings: Since feeling is first, he sings about the fact that 'Life is not a paragraph', and that it cannot be explained so simply in a few lines, and that death is not the end, memories still live on.
There are only 7 songs in the album, this is because it is at the age of 7 that Jordan Bruce's life changed; when his parents passed away. This made him turn to music as the songs he would listen to would bring him out of the sorrow.

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Main task, ideas and sketches ( 12/01/17 )

This is where I will explain the ideas I have come up with for my magazine, it includes different sketches for the front cover, contents page and double spread article. 

Firstly, I will describe my thought process whilst creating these different sketches of the front cover. At first I created a rough sketch of what the front page will consist off: a heading ( MELODY ), a slogan, what is featured, the headline of the cover story and a barcode and price. This was to give me a rough idea of what will be included and begin to decide where each element will be placed. I want to begin the first element of the magazines house style, by having the image of the artist on the front cover twice, first I want to enlarge and fade the image then place the image in front of the faded version, this is to create this element of the artists past always being in the back of their mind. 

I have chosen the name 'Melody' for the name of my magazine, as it was one of the more common words I found people completing my questionnaire associated with Indie pop. As you can see, in all of my sketches of the front cover I have included the colour green/ turquoise, this is done for two reasons, one reason being that it was one of the colours 16 to 17 year olds associated with indie pop, but I chose green in particular as it is a representation of growth and new beginnings, which the magazine will be known for; it delves into the lives of upcoming artists, artists that are beginning to flourish and grow as an artist and as a person in general. 

As I created these sketches I played about with where each element will be placed, I came to the conclusion that the image of the artist will be placed in the centre of the page; they are the main focus of the edition of the magazine, I will place the name of the magazine at the top of the page as this is a convention of magazines in general. The part that I was indecisive of was where to place what will be featured in the edition, the headline of the cover story, and who will be featured in the edition. In the end I decided to place the cover story to the left of the artist; one reason is because looking at my research it seems like this a common theme, also, the artist on the front cover will be talking about his past a lot in his interview, so the left hand side seems a productive place to put it. I have also decided to place what will be featured in the edition both sides of the artist and who is featured at the bottom, in smaller font to highlight it is not the focal point of the edition. The barcode will be placed very small in the right hand corner of the cover, as this is not an important feature for readers.

Sketch one

Image layout example

Sketch three

Sketch two

Next, I will go on to the sketches of the contents page. Again, I started out roughly sketching where elements will go, so in the first sketch I have included an area where it will have page numbers and what articles will be featured on these pages on the left. On the right, I will include two images, one being the artist featured on the front, with the headline of the interview, beneath this an image of an music reviewer. At the bottom of the page I have sketched the vinyls that will be at the bottom of the page, this links to the cover story as the artist would have released an album on a vinyl, the image will have one vinyl out of place which will represent how the artist feels in society and how the music he has released will represent this. It can also be interpreted as the song that the music reviewer has ranked first in her review for this months edition.
It becomes more clear that the images will be placed on record discs, to link the whole vinyl theme together, also I am going to photograph the the reviewer with her arm stretched out and palm up, placing the headline of her article on her hand, adding to the house style.
I am indecisive whether to make the heading of the page 'Melody' in large font, beneath this 'Music magazine' and to the left hand side beneath this 'Contents' ( shown in sketch two ) or to headline the page 'MMM' and beneath this 'Melody Music Magazine', and beneath this to the left hand side 'Contents' ( as shown in sketch three ).

Sketch two

Sketch one

Sketch three

Lastly, I will explain the sketches of my double spread article. I start with a rough sketch of the design of the double spread contents page; I will have the masthead as the name of the artist ( Jordan Bruce ), which will go across the two pages at the top. I will then have a long shot of the artist on the right page, at the right hand side, to emphasis the talk of his future, but he will be looking to the left which will also highlight the talk of his past, leading up to his music career now. In the second sketch I added the element of the phrase 'Q&A', as that is how I am going to structure the interview. I also added the feature of a quote from the artist, from the interview, by the artists head. In my sketches, I only included two columns per page, however I will actually have three columns, as this is a convention of magazines.

Sketch one

Sketch two