Comparison task
The first thing to notice on this double page spread is that there is the main use of text wrap on the left page as the photo takes up a lot of the room on the page and the text is placed around it, making the photo really stand out. The text almost ‘locks’ into the photo and creates a good overall layout to the design as it feels that the photo is connected to the text. This double page spread is from the Vogues December 2019 copy and shows photos of Emma Watson modelling some outfits.
There is a small gutter that splits off the two columns of text, which makes the text easy to read as it’s easy to identify where one part of the text leads to the other when reading it. There is a light side bar to the left of the first page which also acts as a white space, giving the page space to ‘breathe’. At the start of the text, we find a drop cap, which leads the reader into the text and also brings a sophisticated style and organised feel to the double page spread. At the bottom left hand side of the double page spread, we find the page number printed quite small so that the main focus is on the magazine feature itself.
We can see that the writing is in Serif which brings some aesthetic look to the writing itself making the whole column look posh. On top of the main photo bleeding out of the page, we find the credits giving the reader more to look at and acknowledge. In the photo that bleeds on the right-hand side, we see Emma Watson looking in the direction of the other side of the page, bringing the audience back into the newspaper.
This double page spread brings off vibes that higher-class people probably purchase and read this magazine. Due to the photos of Emma Watson modelling, it gives the impression that younger woman around the ages of 20 would read this magazine to get fashion inspiration but also because they may have celebrity interest.
This is a double page spread from the rock magazine, Kerrang, on Gerard Way. This double page spread, unlike the Vogue’s double page spread, is one that I found on the internet digitally. When you look at this double page spread, straight away your eye is drawn to the model in the middle of the spread.
The pull quote at the top left-hand corner of the double page spread really comes to view secondly behind the main photo as it’s in that red colour that really goes with the layout of using red to stick certain parts of the feature out. The photo of the model shows him looking down at the floor almost in a sad sort of way, like he’s uncomfortable. This creates a grunge and ’emo’ feel to the spread and you can already tell that people into rockier music, may pick up this magazine as a read. The expressionless face the model is pulling, pulls the audience in and makes us think about what he could be thinking about or feeling and therefore makes people assume that the copy could have the answers to these questions that the picture creates. The colours that the model is wearing links in with the colours throughout the design of the double page spread meaning that the photo has had an influence on the entire design of the feature. The black background also adds to this rock music vibe, as black is normally the dominant colour in rock and emo culture, along with some red colours that stand out from the blacks and whites.
The columns are next to each over and separated by a predominant gutter on the left hand side the final column is simply placed on the right-hand side of the model. The writing in this feature is in a sans serif font which makes the feature feel bold and easy to read. There is a caption at the bottom left hand side of the model illustrating that the model is Gerard Way. This double page spread feels like it hugely contrasts the Vogue’s double page spread, as its dark and very specific whereas the Vogue’s double page spread had brighter colours and a white background for a slightly more broader audience rather than something really specific like rock music.
In this double page spread by the NME, there is an interview with Noel Gallagher. This double page spread is digital as it was from the NME website. The first thing that pops out in the double page spread, is the headline of the feature ‘The word of God” as it spreads across the entire feature and takes up a lot of the room. The headline is also a light blue colour, like most of the other things in the feature that sticks out. The light blue contrasts the light grey background really well and sticks out from the simple black text columns. Another main thing to notice though, is the two photos of the model, Noel Gallagher, on both the opposite sides of the feature. The effect of the two photos makes it look symmetric, but in a cool way as Noel does different poses. This gives the impression that people that are laid back and into their music would read this magazine, a bit like the Kerrang magazine but a little bit more broad and less hard-edged.
Due to the bright light blue colour, I feel that this magazine would attract a younger audience around the age of 16-25 as the bright colour doesn’t set a simple tone that any person would read. Brighter colours are also normally associated more with a younger audience too as younger people like things brighter and can be more into colorful objects and things.
There is a slight pull quote on top of the photo of Noel on the right-hand side that adds some depth to the design of this double page spread and brings more entertainment to the feature. Another thing to notice about this double page spread, is how the writing is in sans serif, like the Kerrang, it creates a bold hardcore feel to the whole feature, and adds some depth and boldness to the design but also uses it to represent the different type of music culture to the Kerrang. Unlike the Vogues elegant feel with the serif font, a common theme between the two music-related double page spreads is the font showing that the font can really have an impact on the design and what sort of magazine it is for what sort of readers. I feel like the whole feature and design really brings out Noels character and if anyone who didn’t like Noel picked up, would be angered by it as it really shows that he has a big-head.
This double page spread has it’s main focus on the images of the Duchess of Cambridge, taking over the feature with four separate photos of her in her patterned dress. There is one big photo of her taking over the entire right-hand side of the feature and then three boxed-up photos on the left-hand side of the feature. This creates a dramatic effect as there are loads of different photos of the subject making her really jump out of the pages and into the features view. This makes the article really bold and along side that, the use of the font, sans serif, really helps create an over all effect in the double page spread.
The headline is placed in between all the photos so that it easily comes into view as it’s sort of placed in the middle of all the photos. One key thing to notice about this double page spread from ‘Hello’, is that there is less text in the article, as there is only one small column, and the feature is mostly dominated by imagery. Another key difference that this feature has, is it’s lack of space ‘to breathe’ and you can only ever so slightly see the background colour of dark blue in between the spaces between the boxes and behind the headline.
Like all the other double page spreads, at the start of the text, there is a drop cap, but this drop cap is smaller and low-key like the text and doesn’t create as much as an effect like all the other drop caps in the other double page spreads. You could say that the layout and design of this double page spread is more crammed in and their feels like there is a lot more going on as you would open it up and look at it. For this reason I feel that physical magazines can have more in them and more to look at than a digital magazine which has to look more spaced out as when your looking at something digitally it can be harder to read it as the writing can be smaller and harder to close in on.
Magazine Roles
Writer
Magazine companies usually have the staff and free-lance writers to write the stories for the stories in their magazines. People that aspire to be a member of staff for writing will typically need a first degree in journalism, English or communications. Freelance writers can show ideas to the magazine’s editor but normally unless there have a strong portfolio of previous work that has got published, those ideas don’t always happen. People who want to take up a career in writing for a magazine are well advertised to write for their college newspaper or magazine.
On average, a magazine writer earns around £45,000 a year and 25% of magazine writers, earn more than that.
To be a magazine writer you have to be creative in your writing and use research skills to find out information about the topic that you are writing about. Sometimes magazine writers have to interview people to find out information for their topic, or the feature in the magazine could just be based around the interview itself.
Some of the duties that magazine writers have to do is:
- Go to meetings to plan content fort the magazine
- Suggest new ideas for articles and features that may interest the magazine readers
- Interviewing and collecting information for features and articles
- Writing articles that suit the style of the magazine
- Keeping up to date with the new trends that relate to the magazines subject area
- Making sure that the features and articles are entertaining
Photo Editor/Researcher
The Photo editors responsibility is to take and select photos that accompany well with the publications articles. One of the most important roles of the photo editor, is to choose a good photo for the cover of the magazine as the cover of a magazine can make a huge impact and can be a reason why a customer might pick the magazine up. They mainly do their own work and take their own photos but can also use photos from other agencies, individual artists and photographers.
When they use other images they are charged with drawing up license agreements with the owners of the copyright of the work that they want to use in the magazine. For people who want to be a photo editor/researcher typically you would need a bachelor’s degree in photography, visual arts or digital media. On average, a photo editor/researcher earns around £36,000 yearly.
Some examples of the jobs that photo editors/researches do include:
- Figuring out time scales and budgets
- Exploring the sources of pictures including pictures from online and stock photo libraries
- Keeping up to date with the rules and regulations to do with the governing of the use go images
- Keeping accurate records of photos
- Negotiating good prices for photos
- Handling all photos with care and protecting them from loss or damage
Art Director
To be a good art director you have to be creative, have good time management and good leadership skills. The responsibility of an art director is to manage the overall visual style of the magazine.
According to the BLS, a feudal agency that produces a range of economic data which reflects the economy of the US, most art directors normally start their careers as graphic designers, illustrators, copy editors or photographers having gained at least a bachelors degree.
Photo editors always work closely alongside editors and writers so that they can work out what way is the best way to present their work and content on the page or on screen and normally oversee and team of designers. The average an art director earns yearly is £35,900.
Some examples of responsiblilities that art directors include:
- Creating original graphic content for the companies website, social media, magazine and possible other marketing materials
- Communicating with managers to create an aesthetic among with a brand that reflects the company in it’s values and it’s ideas
- Give out projects to art designers
- Review graphic material for the company and brand
- Maintain consistency graphically
- Develop artistic concepts with the other team members in the artistic side of the magazine company
Links:
https://work.chron.com/list-magazine-jobs-12295.html
https://www.ucas.com/ucas/after-gcses/find-career-ideas/explore-jobs/job-profile/magazine-journalist
Comparison of Magazine Roles
Out of all three roles in the magazine industry, the best role for pay is the writer earning a salary of on average £45,000 then followed by the photo editor/researcher earning £36,000 and the role with the least pay is the art director earning £35,900.
An important factor for all three of these roles is that they all require creativity, but they all require creativity in different forms. For the role of the writer, creativity is needed in terms of writing and making the article interesting to read and entertaining using different types of vocabulary, adjectives and other writing techniques. If the story or article isn’t creative then it will be a boring and bland read and people will not want to read the companies magazine weather the magazine is something that they are interested in or not. For the role of the photo editor/researcher, looking for the correct photos or taking the correct photos is really important and they can’t just be any old photos. You have to have a creative mind to think about what photos would draw in an audience or please them. You have to look for certain photos that jump out of the box or experiment creatively when taking photos of things or models. Without the influence of creativity in photos, the photos in the magazine would look simple and boring and it would almost feel like the photos have no presence, they would more so blend into the magazine then ‘pop out’. As a art director everything is revolved around creativity from the graphics side of things in the magazine to the font that the writing in the magazine is. The job of an art director is to make the magazine look visually satisfying and without creative spark and thinking out the box, these designs could make the look of the magazine look dull and boring. I people see a weird or different design to a magazine, people will be more likely to see the magazine and want to know more. The design of a magazine and the way it looks artistically can drive certain types of people that are interested in the magazine towards it.
I feel like out of all the roles, the writer has the hardest working conditions as there is a lot of pressure on making sure that all the grammar and punctuation is correct. It’s also a harder job to get people to connect with words than anything else as you have to be interesting in what you say and how you say it. With being an art director and being a photo editor/researcher, the photos and art tells you all you need to know without words which means conditions are not as hard. Being a photo editor/researcher there is still definitely pressure to connect with your audience but figuring out ideas for how your going to capture a certain person isn’t the hardest of jobs. As a photographer you can take loads of different photos and express all the different ideas you’ve hard through your shoots but by the end of it, choose your most capturing work for the magazine. And if your looking for a photo of something or someone you can take time to think about with photo looks the best and choose. As a writer or an art director, you can’t take as much time to decide cause there is a lot to do, but all the photo editor/researcher has to do is edit the photos and upload them. If your an art director the pressure is on you to come up with perfect design to represent the whole magazine and that design can really create a feel when someone picks up the magazine and looks at it, but at the same time once you’ve chosen the design, the rest is fairly easy, you just keep the design consistent and use it. So in order of hardest to easiest working conditions I would say the writer has to deal with the hardest conditions, followed by the art director and then finally followed by the photo editor/researcher.
Overall as a professional, the role that would suit me best is the photo editor/researcher as I don’t feel that there would be as much pressure and I feel that I would be best at taking photos and picking out good photos for a certain magazine company. Being a photo editor/researcher would also mean that I could chose my best photos from a shoot and have an opportunity to experiment a lot more and see what experiments are a success and others fails. I would also have the opportunity to possibly meet famous people and be able to capture their personalities and take my own unique photos of them which have the opportunity to go viral. Photography is also something that I enjoy doing so working as a photo editor/researcher wouldn’t necessarily feel like a job and I’d still be making a salary of £36,000.
Kerrang! Magazine Research
The Kerrang! is a British magazine devoted to rock, metal and punk music. The magazine was founded thirty-nine years ago back in 1981 and is now a radio station, a TV channel, an app and a tour.
The editor for the Kerrang magazine, currently, is Sam Coare, the eight editor of the Kerrang magazine in running.
The founder of the kerrang magazine is Alan Lewis and decided to retire in 2011.
In the era of today, the kerrang is one of the only magazines to bring together youths and influence people to buy magazines in todays culture involving the youth.
The posters inside the magazine can be a big reason to buy the Kerrang, especially if it’s got your favourite musician in it. Along side the posters, are exclusive interviews and exclusive photos taken by the company itself. Kerrang magazines can also be collectables and people have collected the Kerrang magazines since it came out in 1981 and have now more value to them. People can also keep the magazines for childhood memory as it brings them back to what their old passions used to be and they can be a nice memory to have as well, with the youthful design and musical content that these magazines hold.
Due to the magazine being devoted to mainly rock and metal music, the Kerrang magazine only really publishes articles on musicians that fit into these genres of music. There is certainly no pop culture in the Kerrang magazine or ‘Glastonbury’ type musicians featured in the Kerrang. the Kerrang magazine normally features bands and artists that are popular with the youth and today’s culture of ’emo’ music. Although it feels like the Kerrang’s audience are very specific, there is always different trends arising in rock and metal music and there are so many musicians out their along with loads and loads of fans for these musicians. One example of this was the band Twenty one pilots. They started featuring in the Kerrang because they were the newest trend that managed to fit into the “emo” category of the Kerrang even though they were definitely not your cliche rock band. I would buy the Kerrang whenever I saw that they were featured on the magazine, which shows that anyone with an interest in a certain band that is popular around the time, or that someone just has genuine interest in, could pick up the magazine. Different people, that are mainly young, could pick up this magazine at any time if an artist that they are interested in is on the cover.
I think that it’s important that the Kerrang magazine is still going weekly, as it allows diversity and an opportunity for people that have a interest to buy something physical and know it’s there if they want to read it. If this magazine wasn’t still going, I feel that Kerrang readers would feel like they had been swept aside and that their passions don’t matter and that only cliche magazines matter like fashion magazines and health magazines.
I spoke to a young person that reads the Kerrang magazine and picks it up most weeks and also has parents that used to purchase it when they were younger. She says that “I tend to purchase it when there is a band or bands that I like featured in it” She then went on to say “I really like the posters inside and I put them all up my wall, the posters are beautiful because it’s beautiful people that sound amazing”. She then started talking about how her musical passions has an influence on her picking up the magazine. “I love music and when there’s a magazine on something you love, your going to want to look at it and enjoy your love as much as you can”.
I then briefly spoke to her dad, John, about the Kerrang magazine. “I’ve been collecting it since around the time the first one was released. In those days we didn’t have phones to watch band interviews or get hold of a favorite photo of your band, this was the only option, but I really enjoyed it as an option and as entertainment.”
Kerrang Publishers:
The old publisher for the Kerrang is Wasted Talent, a music and life style media business , so that ties in perfectly with the kerrang music magazine. The Wasted Talent headquarters are in London and is privately held. Wasted talent says that they create solutions for brands that wish to connect with the global youth audience.
According to Campaignlive.com, Mix mag is is now the current publisher for the Kerrang magazine and along side that, the face. In the article, it talks about how the company plans to turn Kerrang into something big in the digital world. Jerry Perkins, who runs Mix mag media, talks about how the brand is suffering in the UK and how it isn’t that big in the UK compared to LA.
How successful in the Kerrang magazine?:
It’s hard to define what successful means in the case of how successful a magazine is that fits a certain demographic of people but if you look at it in terms of how successful it is in terms of it’s a magazine on music, it’s pretty successful considering that magazines are more for clothes and advertising typically. Younger people are more so into music but younger people don’t tend to pick up a magazine at their local corner shop as much nowadays and more so see everything they need to know online on YouTube channels like ‘genius’ and other interviews. As a music magazine that carries on publishing weekly and still makes a good profit, Kerrang is quite a success compared to other music magazine companies that publish monthly but still aren’t as recognized or popular. In fact the Kerrang is the only British weekly music magazine that carries on going.
The website ‘weird’ talks about how successful the Kerrang is a as a magazine in terms of music magazines come and go. They compare how successful the Kerrang magazine has been compared to the NME magazine as the NME stopped publishing magazines. In the article, it talks about how the Kerrang have managed to adapt to the what future music holds whereas the NME have failed to do that and change the content they show in these music magazines. This shows that the Kerrang have kept good and persistent content in their magazine and people have kept wanting to read it.
Ethical and legal issues that may arise:
An issue that could pop up when writing articles in a music magazine is if the Kerrang talked about an artists new music or un released music and give away too much information. The music artists themselves might be annoyed about this however the Kerrang hasn’t given away sensitive information of false facts so they can’t get sued for doing so but it can effect the fans in either a good way or a bad depending on what they have released.
Any subject to do with a musician that’s outside the subject of music can’t be too far away from the subject as otherwise the information doesn’t have any use for the audience and the people that published an article may be sued as the artist may not want certain information to be displayed. It’s also important that no one publishes false information on a artist or music related celebrity. The Kerrang shouldn’t twist what an artist or interviewee has said in their publication as that makes it fake and the Kerrang magazine could get sued.
The Kerrang can’t use ant other persons pictures of certain artists or music related celebrities without the owner or companies permission to use the photo. This also goes for other articles or anything that could be used in the magazine that has already been created originally form someone else. In the Kerrang did this they would be sued for Copyright and their company could eventually get shut down if they carried on going against these rules.
Another thing that is really important that the Kerrang should not produce at ant point is any artciles that show hate or offence to anyones gender, sexuallity, race etc. If they proceed to do so the Kerrang could lose business and be sued big time. This also means that if there is any language in their articles that is humorous, it is really important that their humorous writing isn’t offensive so the writers have to be really careful when writing articles.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/why-nme-failed-where-kerrang-thrived
https://www.linkedin.com/company/wastedtalent
Reader Profile
Comparison
Using Primary research was a really helpful way to find the information I needed on the Kerrang magazine for a number of reasons. The first was that I could look at a copy of the Kerrang magazine itself and create my own understanding of it as a whole. As you read the magazine I found myself understanding what sort of features were featured and what the articles were written on. I also got first hand research from other people that were big readers of the Kerrang magazine back around the time when it had just came out. Speaking to the people gave me some really deep insight I feel.
On the other hand secondary research gave me the basic and raw information on the magazine that I wouldn’t of necessarily known just off primary research. The problem with secondary research is that I don’t know for definite where it’s come from. All I know is that it’s come off a site on the internet and that the bigger and more well known the site is, the more likely that it’s going to be true – that isn’t exactly true but it’s something to go off roughly when your doing research on the internet. Secondary information was definitely really helpful though and gave me other information on the Kerrang like who publishes it and who the editor is etc. Another problem with secondary research is that different websites will come up with different answers from a question that you put in the search bar. Different websites also write their articles and information in completely different ways – the way they structure the information, present it and the different punctuation they use.
Quantitative data wasn’t a huge influence in my research compared to the other types of research as if I’m honest as there wasn’t a lot of statistics that effected the facts on the Kerrang magazine. It was helpful when it came to making my reader profile as I could find more statistics on which gender tends to read the Kerrang and what age people tend to be that read the magazine. Even though data like this for useful, it didn’t have a big effect on how much research I conducted as there wasn’t really a lot of surveys that showed statistics or facts on the magazine.
Qualitative research was definitely more helpful than quantitative research as the opinions that people had on the magazine helped gain a deeper understanding of the magazine so that it was easier to write about the magazine and the research that I found out on it. People’s opinions on the magazine from outside of the internet, were more common than I thought. They were all different opinions and ideas on the magazine as well, but when you looked over all the different ideas they all made sense together and made it clear what the magazine is based on and what it’s all about. Qualitative research definitely gave me important information on the magazine that I wouldn’t have got from just looking on the internet.
Overall I feel that Primary research is the most useful type of data to use as it’s pure research that you’ve done by yourself and you know it’s not fake facts and it also gave me a deeper insight in the Kerrang magazine. The least helpful type of research, however, was quantitative data as surveys and numerical data wasn’t really help and didn’t tell me much about the Kerrang magazine in general and I would certainly not conduct as much research or know as much information.
Idea Development
Font ideas:
The Kerrang typically and mostly uses sans serif in all their articles and double page spreads unless it’s on rare accession, so I am definitely going to use sans serif font in my double page spread.
Different sans serif font ideas:
After looking at the different sans serif fonts available, I realized that the Kerrang use a bold font so the bolder fonts are what I’m most likely going to use. The font that I think I will use is the Arial Black font, as it looks most like the same font that the Kerrang would use.
Mind Map:
Rough Design:
Mood board:
This mood board that I have created, gives me different options and ideas that I could use for my Kerrang double page spread. There are also similarities in all the different pictures and double page spreads, but also some features and designs that make them all different from each over.
I plan to interview Seana Lye from the upcoming band ‘Placebo Effect’ and talk about their first album that they are still working on called ‘sustainability’ and how Seana got into music and how she finds the music world. I feel this new band fits into Kerrang’s category of punk and rock perfectly.
Planned Questions:
- What influenced you to make music ?
- What is the album ‘sustainability’ about?
- What does the word ‘sustainability’ mean to you?
- What instrument has been your favourite to work with during making this album and why?
- When do you aim to finish making the album ?
- What do you think about the music world and artists today?
- Who are your favourite rock artists?
- What are you planning to do now ?
- Are you planning to tour after you release the album?
- Where do you record and make your music?
I recorded the interview on my phone and have answers to the questions from Seana Lye.
This is quotes in transcript;
What influenced you to make music?
“I think it was primarily down to the fact that I was heavily involved around drug intake when I was about 16, 17, and then when I was about 18, I decided to get clean and I changed the way I lived my life, and I channelled my free time and kind of just wanted to do something productive and music was the thing I turn’t to and has lead me to where I am now.”
What is the album ‘sustainability’ about?
“So the album sustainability, that we are soon to release, is, it surfaces, I guess, climate change, better for the planet, better for the people, but just with our genre so like rock and it’s just about like the extinction rebellions, living a better life, better for the planet and just saying, ‘you know what, fuck the governments standards’ like and large companies.”
What does the word ‘sustainability’ mean to you?
“The word sustainability means bettering my environment and the global environment, so, living a better life that helps promote a better planet.”
What instrument has been your favourite to work with during making this album and why?
“So because I’m a bass player that just seems, that’s always been my favourite so therefore working with it has always been the best for me. I don’t know whether that’s because I know what I’m doing. But I think do be honest because I kind of decided to take up a bit of pianoing for this album, so yeah, piano and bass were the most interesting instruments and fun to use during making this album.”
When do you aim to finish making this album?
“So I think, it’s the start of the year now and we’re trying to do the best we can on finishing the album trying to create something that we know our listeners will like that’s different, unique and offers new sounds etc. So we’re hoping to get it out by the summertime.”
What do you think about the music world and artists today?
“Well I think because we, the band, are new to the music industry and I think the music industry it can be very toxic, but you do have the good aspects to it and I think as a musician that’s what we’re here for, to do better for the people when they listen to music, to do better for just the industry in general. Artist wise, they’re doing their own thing and just let them do whatever they want really, I guess.”
Who are your favourite rock artists?
“I grew up a lot on Alien antfarm and they were the superior, so I’d say them, they’re quite like, I think 90s early 2000s and probably a new modern or still around, would probably be like Falling in Reverse and Bring me the Horizon, but that’s just your cliche ones.”
What are you planning to do now? And are you planning to tour after you release the album?
“I think what comes next for the group is just to finish this album, get it out to the people, get their feedback and maybe, maybe we’ll tour, I don’t know it really depends on the feedback we receive from our listeners. I think the problem is, is cause we’re used to like gigs we’re up where we’ve gained fame like a lot of the last year or so has helped us and I think gaining that world tour would be really good for our band. But it all depends on the feedback of our fans, how they feel about it, would they be willing to come to a tour. So the world tour depends on the fans.”
Where do you make and record your music?
“Well, it started off as like a bedroom project where it’s just like something that I was doing at home and then I came to form this band and we kind of invested in a small studio, not something big, but something that was able to provide what we were looking for.”
Best Quotes:
Pull Quote:
“You know what, f**k the governments standards”
Stand first:
Seana Lye, from upcoming band Placebo Effects, talks about their upcoming album sustainability and the meaning behind it, and music culture.
Article:
Seana is the main singer and band member in Placebo Effect a band that got together about 6 months ago now. Seana got into music due to wanting to be productive after a rather rough time in the drug world “I was heavily involved around drug intake when I was about 16, 17, and then when I was about 18, I decided to get clean and I changed the way I lived my life, and I channelled my free time and kind of just wanted to do something productive and music was the thing I turn’t to and has led me to where I am now.” Thanks to music, Seana has come so far and improved so much compared to the person she was previously.
Seana goes on to talk about ‘sustainability’, an album project that has started off since the band got together. “So the album sustainability, that we are soon to release, climate change”. She then gets more specific and talks about how the bands genre comes into it. “Just with our genre so like rock and it’s just about like the extinction rebellions, living a better life, better for the planet and just saying, ‘you know what, fuck the governments standards’ like and large companies.” So the album definitely covers climate change in a rock star viewpoint.
She then defines ‘sustainability’ in her own words: “The word sustainability means bettering my environment and the global environment, so, living a better life that helps promote a better planet.”
Talking instruments, Seana talks about her relationship between her and her bass guitar, but also about her and her piano which she decided to take up whilst making the album. “So because I’m a bass player that just seems, that’s always been my favourite so therefore working with it has always been the best for me. I don’t know whether that’s because I know what I’m doing. But I think to be honest because I kind of decided to take up a bit of pianoing for this album, so yeah, piano and bass were the most interesting instruments and fun to use during making this album.”
Seana says that her and the band plan to get the album finished by summertime. “So I think, it’s the start of the year now and we’re trying to do the best we can on finishing the album trying to create something that we know our listeners will like that’s different, unique and offers new sounds etc. So we’re hoping to get it out by the summertime.”
She then viewed her opinion on the music industry. “I think the music industry it can be very toxic”. She then went on to talk about how music individuals who can do what they want. “Artist wise, they’re doing their own thing and just let them do whatever they want really, I guess”.
Seana goes on to talk about her musical influences and favourite rock artists from earlier years to now. “I grew up a lot on Alien Ant Farm and they were the superior, so I’d say them, they’re quite like, I think 90s early 2000s and probably a new modern or still around, would probably be like Falling in Reverse and Bring me the Horizon, but that’s just your cliché ones.”
So there is one question that every inspiring music producer wants to know and that’s where does a band make their music. Seana explains where her and Placebo Effect make their music and where it started off. “Well, it started off as like a bedroom project where it’s just like something that I was doing at home and then I came to form this band and we kind of invested in a small studio, not something big, but something that was able to provide what we were looking for.”
So what is next for Placebo Effect after this? A tour? A break? Seana explains what the future plans for Placebo Effect are. “I think what comes next for the group is just to finish this album, get it out to the people, get their feedback and maybe, maybe we’ll tour, I don’t know it really depends on the feedback we receive from our listeners. I think the problem is, is cause we’re used to like gigs we’re up where we’ve gained fame like a lot of the last year or so has helped us and I think gaining that world tour would be really good for our band. But it all depends on the feedback of our fans, how they feel about it, would they be willing to come to a tour. So the world tour depends on the fans.” So it looks like Placebo Effects future is in the fans hands, whatever they want they will get but for now Placebo Effect will carry on working on their album and make it as quality as possible for their fans. The fans really do come first.
Photo shoot for double page spread:
Sadly, I wasn’t checking the first lot of photos when I was taking them and the brightness is very low, but the second half of the photos, with the flash, looked really good and one was edited in portrait as the main photo I plan to place on the left hand side.
Final photos to use for the double page spread:
This was the photo that I edited into portrait mode so that I can use it for the main photo on the right hand side. I really like the dark background of the photo and how it matches with the models outfits.
I think that this photo is one of the bests as I have captured the motion of Seana jumping in the air whilst playing the bass guitar.
This photo is one of the best photos in my opinion because of the funny actions the models from Placebo Effect are doing and it really shows their personalities.
Designing the Double Page Spread:
I copied and pasted the article, pull quote and stand first and roughly placed it in the area where I wanted it.
I made sure the font was the font I had planned to use, Arial Black and that it looked good.
I then placed the pull quote etc in the place where I had planned and moved it around and experimented with where different things looked good.
I added an image of the colour black and put it to the back on the text so that I had a black background to go with the Kerrang theme of the double page spread.
I added the main photo on the left hand side to draw in the viewer and create a ’emo’ style.
I sorted out the text and put it all in it’s correct place so that it’s understnaable to read and also added a big drop cap at the start of the text.
I added small photos on the right hand side to show more content and theme in the double page spread.
I added page numbers to make the double page spread look more realistic.
Final Project:
Evaluation
I think that my designs and initial research for this project were pretty effective for various reasons.
When I learnt about different magazine layouts and how different magazines are laid out in different ways, it helped me think about all the different things that can go into a double page spread. Looking at the different double page spreads and labeling them really helped me picture how I would want my own double spread to look. Looking at these double page spreads made me realize how things are laid out to create an effect and how the effect can change depending on what type of magazine it is. The only thing I would do to improve is make it more obvious that I’m comparing and remember to refer back to other magazines and point out key differences about all the magazines.
Learning about different magazine roles helped me realise how much different jobs there are to be done when making a magazine and how if you perform a role effectively, it can make a huge difference to the over all magazine. Looking into these different magazine roles taught me that in able to make a good overall product of something you have to think about all the different parts of it and how they come together to make that final product. It showed me all the different routes I could go down if I wanted to, in the magazine making industry.
Researching on the Kerrang magazine helped me get more of insight in the magazine rather than just knowing that it’s magazine on rocky musicians. It gave me clearer ideas into knowing how would design my double page spread whilst teaching me a bit of what youth culture and rock culture is all about. Creating a reader profile helped me know exactly what sort of people read the Kerrang and get into it. Knowing this made me know what colours, design and article would be produced for the double page spread. I think gaining knowledge on any subject as whole allows you to go so many different places and do so many things that you want to do. When I looked back over my research and saw what kind of research helped the most and the least, it made me think about all the different things I could research and how the different types of research would be helpful for different things that you could research.
My design for the double page spread was pretty effective as I had already planned where I wanted everything to go as I drew out a rough design and stuck with that. As I had looked at the typical font that kerrang used all I had to was figure out what font that was available on the computers would be the best to use for my double page spread. I think creating a moodpboard helped me see what I liked and what I wasn’t so keen on to use in my double page spread. Using a mind map also made my project effective as I could let out all the different things that I could possibly do with my project and look back at what the best ideas are and use them.
When I conducted the interview with Seana Lye I knew what sort of questions I was going to ask as as I knew what sort of content the Kerrang readers like to read as I had conducted my primary research in reading a couple of articles myself. Asking everything music related was key and helped me get some good quotes for my article. When I had wrote down the interview in transcript, I picked out the most appealing and best quotes for the magazine double page spread which made my final project very effective and bold. Knowing the best quotes also made me decide on my pull quote which is “You know what, f**k the governments standards” as it makes the reader ant to see the article and see more.
There are a few things that I could have done differently in terms of initial research and design development. When I was doing research I could of tried looking at a more range of research as appose to just the internet. I could of looked at books and maybe read different magazines in person and talked about them in more depth. Another thing I am going to consider to do differently next time, is take more time to take in the research and read it so that I can learn more and remember more and therefore, maybe my research could come across slightly clearer. In terms of design development I could of looked over the article and made sure that all the spelling and grammar was correct before uploading it onto InDesign. I could of also shown more methods and examples of design development other than mind maps and mood boards etc. Overall, I am happy with my final results talking research and idea development and I did learn from using these steps in order to make the final project which I am also really happy with. Without these steps I don’t think my double page spread would look as good.
I am overall, happy with my double page spread as I think it looks like a double page spread that would be in the Kerrang magazine due to the colours and the way that I have laid it out. I am really happy with the photos that are on my double page spread and the rocky musician vibe that they give the double page spread as a whole. The background and the area that I took the photos really went with the whole colour them and design. As it was dark outside, the darkness in the background went really well with the black background and the white type font. I am happy with the pull quote that I used to wheel in the reader as it is really bold and a semi -extreme thing of Seana to say that really sticks out and makes people look at it and go “Wooo that’s an extreme comment to make what’s this about in relation to music?”. I think it’s good that Kerrang readers would see something political that music has took a toll on and turn’t it into meaning. As Kerrang readers, as I found out from my research, are quite well educated and independent people that won’t be told what to think, I thought that this sort of article and interview would be perfect to conduct with the right artist that fits into the Kerrang genre of music and scene. I am happy that I added page numbers, although it’s quite a small thin to do, it made the overall finished project look realistic and like it’s part of an actual Kerrang magazine. I could of tried to add dates and captions etc to add more depth to the double page spread and make it look more magazine-like.
I asked other people about what they thought about my double page spread, and the minority said it looked really good. People said that it looked so good because it actually looked like it would be in a magazine and that it went perfectly with the magazine I was basing it off, Kerrang. Some people were spun by the photos and said that they really have an effect and go with the theme. Other people weren’t so sure on the photos, but I think it’s because these people weren’t really into the whole ‘rock scene’ type stuff. Based on peoples opinions on the double page spread, I think I would try and cut out the amount of the word “likes” that were in the article of the interview. I might of also spaced out the stand first a bit from the pull quote and article a little bit, just to make the layout of the design look a bit more organised and in place.
Evaluating my professionalism:
During this assignment, I feel that I have been quite professional whilst doing research, making my double page spread and expressing my ideas and opinions. I still feel that I have a few areas to improve though to do with being organised with my assignment.
Throughout this assignment I have been as professional and organised as possible. I started of with the comparison task and did the basics of it first where I didn’t go into the part of the assignment in too much detail I just did the basic foundation of the task. Then I went back over it and went into it in more detail so that it was up to standard, in my opinion. So I feel that one of the most organised areas in my assignment has definitely been the first part of it as I made sure I had completed it before I put in extra time to go over it in more detail. I think that making my work more detailed and explained makes me quite professional. Due to the fact that I got this task done quite quickly I felt I was up to date with my work and therefore I felt that I was reliable when completing the first part of the assignment.
I feel like I was fairly organised when I went over the magazine roles part of the assignment as I feel like I got it done fairly quickly and I felt I couldn’t do much more to it to make it any more detailed. I feel like I could of put more time into looking into these roles in more depth so I don’t feel like I was as organised here, so this is an area where I could of improved my professional skills. I feel I could of tried to collect some primary research just to get a deeper understanding of the roles. The amount of information on the magazine roles that I had conducted effected the comparison of the roles a bit so I couldn’t compare as much, but I still feel I did a good comparison. I managed to get a good understanding of each of the roles so that I could decide which role I would most likely take on, so I think my research into the roles was good enough as I did understand what I was talking about when I was writing the comparison, so I think that my research was reliable enough.
I felt like I was organised when I decided to conduct my research on the Kerrang magazine as I already understood what it was roughly all about as I had a friend that used to buy them all the time and liked the exact same thing. I also brought a couple of their weekly magazines so I mostly I had to look up secondary research as I already had plenty of primary research. I do think I could of went a bit more in depth when looking at research but I think I was organised as I knew so much already and about the culture around the magazine.
I feel as if I am hitting deadlines for my assignments well and getting all the parts of it done. I think I do need to look over it a bit more though, and add in anything I can just in case I’ve missed anything out and so that I can make sure that everything is there so that I make sure absolutely everything is in for the deadline.
When I work on my new assignments, to improve my professionalism and organization I should spend more time on research and going really into it. This could mean adding in more primary research or spend a little more time reading articles or books on something so that I get a deeper understanding. I could also spend a bit more time on certain parts of the assignment that I feel are harder or longer to do in future assignments.
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