"SPIN" Magazine Contents Page Analysis

This is a contents page for the SPIN Magazine issue which features Duffy as the focal image.

The page includes a colour scheme of multiple colours, which are; black, white, red, grey & blue. These colours interlink together well as the grey background contrasts the latter of them to emphasize what they are conveying significantly more. There is only a small element of red shown on the page which is exposed in the title of the page (SPIN).

The title is located in the upper left-hand corner, mirroring that of the main title of the magazine, which is partially covered by the image of Duffy. Although there is no actual title mentioning the word "Contents", we are aware that it is one as there is a list of stories situated down the left-hand side of the page with a sub-title saying "Features".

The sub-title and the stories ("Features") are positioned on the far left-hand side of the page, beside the prominent image of Duffy. The stories have no correlating images, only detailed text below it to give an in-sight into the anecdote. The stories are presented in a dark grey to compliment the colour scheme, yet makes the text less noticeable because of the light grey/dark grey contrast. Yet, the sub-titles become more noticeable to the audience as they are vaguely larger than the text which contains the features of the story, and are exhibited in the colour black. The page numbers are displayed in a similar format to the sub-titles, but are coloured in blue to differentiate them from one another, and also so they are more visible. It causes the page to become more attractive and active rather than tedious. Located just below the stories, is a box highlighted in blue with white text, conveying futhur information featured in the magazine in more depth than the latter of the stories mentioned. This idea works as it enduces the audience's attention towards it and gives more detail to the story rather than a quick summary.

The prominent image being portrayed in the contents is the image of Duffy. The picture is positioned on the right-hand side of the page, opposing that of the stories featured. It is presented as a powerful image, as it gives the more of an edge and to stand out more, as a opposed to a contents page with no domineering image. She is wearing black and white clothing to follow the colour scheme, to make her more prominent on the page and so that the image contrasts the background to have a heavier influence on the audience. The light reflecting off of her blonde hair makes the image and the page a lot brighter to the audience, and gives off a more contemporary and studio taken feel to the picture. She is wearing red-nail varnish, which again follows the theme of the magazine, and her hand is placed over the title to influence her hands to stand out more. The small pink guitar she is holding with the less dominant hand on the page, juxtaposes the colour scheme of the page to convey and symbolize her artistry.

The general impression we get from the contents page is a combination of both a powerful yet confusing cover. It is not clear as to whether or not the contents page is actually a contents page as there is not title for it. The elements in which directs the audience towards the idea of a contents page is its mentioning of the stories featured and what is featured on the cover.

"V" Magazine Contents Page Analysis

This is the contents page for 'V' magazine.

The page consists of 3 major colours and 1 minor colour, these being; black, a dark grey with elements of blue, light grey and red. These colours intertwine together to make the page convey a less contemporary feel, yet because the colours show elements of blending (dark grey & light grey), the black and red contrast this to make what the colours are conveying stand out more and suggesting a more modern feel.

The most prominent element of the page from the audiences point of view is the title. It is positioned in the upper-right hand corner of the page and is radically larger than that of any other text on the page. Although, the letters are not all next to eachother, they are in 3 layers, consisting of a pattern of 2/4/2. The edges of the letters entwine with eachother.

The image conveyed on the page is a medium shot of Kanye West, postioned on the left-hand side of the page. The shot parallel's that of the theme of the page, expressing the less contemporary feel to being portrayed. The colours he wears, follows the theme of the page, wearing a light grey shirt, and a blazer which combines black and dark grey, to emphasize the theme. Also, there is an arm which is reaching over his right shoulder holding a heart, which it is holding over where his heart is positioned. The heart is red, which is the only vibrant colour conveyed on the page, this emphasizes the theme of West's most recent album "808's & Heartbreaks" which was being promoted during his appearence in the magazine.

The contents featured on the magazine is placed on the right-hand side of the page, parallel to the image of Kanye West. There are various stories attributed down the page. They follow the theme of the page, a combination of dark grey and black, with multiple different styles and sizes of text displayed. This expresses variety and a way of conveying the text differently to the reader, instead of using one design of text. It can also be interpretted that they use different types of text to show that they are a magazine of variety and different genres, in comparison to a magazine which portrays only 1 kind of genre. The sub-titles for the contents featured ("Features" & "Fashion") are portrayed slightly larger than the text shown in the contents, yet signifcantly smaller than the main title. It portrays a different design of text than the rest of the page, it is conveyed through old-style gothic text, coloured in black to follow the making of the page feel less contemporary and to make it stand out over the other text to draw the attention of the audience.

The general impression we get from the contents page is a combination of both contemporary and mature aspects, in which it is presented in a positive way. It proves successful as the overall image takes on the impact of designing a creative, yet contemporary page to draw the audience in. The image of Kanye West displayed, if you are a fan of him, it makes you want to read on furthur, and look at more pictures taken in the shoot and find out more about him. The way the stories are shown, makes the composition more interesting to look at and draws more people to read them because of their style.

Analysis of "SPIN" Magazine

This magazine is entitled SPIN, it is widely acknowledeged for its exposure of an assortment of musical genres.

The colour format for the front colour is a combination of red, yellow & white, which comprises elements of black. This arrangement is used across the cover of the magazine, to accentuate its appearence to the target audience.

The core point of the front cover is the image presented, in this case it is "Fall Out Boy". The photograph in which we percieve, is a medium shot of them central on the cover, intertwined by rope lights. Their picture applies to the scheme of colour and is emphasized by their clothing, make-up and the accessories (rope lights, glasses & hat), which also pertains the theme. The rope lights which entangle them, accentuate the yellow background, to make it stand out more to the audience, and they also create an effect of brightening up the cover. The members of the band are all wearing either black or white (3 in black, 1 in white) in which the colours combine together to clash with the yellow background, to emphasize their facade more in the foreground.

The title is portrayed in the style of a banner, which includes a red background with the white text conveyed in block capitals. It is positioned in the upper-left hand corner of the cover, just behind 2 of the members' heads, so it does not cover their faces. The white text clashes with the red background to make the title more apparant to the reader. It is not entirely colossal, yet significantly bigger than the rest of the text on the page, so that we are aware it is the title.

The sub-title for the band is allocated across their bodies, just below their upper section. It is at a slight tilt, and is designed in the style of a banner (the same format as the magazine's title), which also compliments the co-ordinating colour scheme as the title. It is central to the magazine, which causes it to become a focal point and so it becomes more apprant to the audience (also entitling who is on the cover). The sub-story which correlates with the sub-tile, is placed in the lower-left hand corner. It is mostly presented in lower-case text highlighted in white, with 2 of the members' clothing acting as a dark background to contrast the white text to emphasize it more to the audience.

Positioned at the top right-hand corner of the page is the mention of 2 more stories, included on the inside of the magazine. They are significantly smaller in comparison to the title of the magazine, yet are still large enough for the reader to notice them. They apply to the theme of colour, which includes the title of the band in black which contrasts to the background to make the writing stand out more, and the features of the story, just below, slightly smaller and in red to emphasize the features of the story rather than the title.   

There is one PUG and a bar-code situated close to the bottom-right hand corner of the page, it is positioned here so it does not cover any other elements of the page, yet it is still visible to the audience. The colour scheme of the PUG is relevant to the rest of the cover, although the number shown is displayed in green to emphasize the number shown. 

The overall image is considerably powerful as it represents more than one genre of music, as there are a variety of stories mentioned on the cover (talking about the club scene, bands etc.) So it appeals to more than one type of audience, readers who have bought the magazine prior to this release would know that they cover a wide-range of topics & genres. Whereas if a reader had never read the magazine before, the main focal point would be Fall Out Boy on the cover and assume it is a rock  magazine, but because there is minor mentions of another genre on the cover, the audience can assume it covers a wider-range of topics. 

"The Fly" Magazine Anaylsis

The foremost colour scheme for this cover is an arrangement of contrasting tones, prominently black, grey and white. Although, for other uses such as PUGs, more distinctive colours like yellow & pink are used to highlight different aspects.

The title is in the style of block capitals, highlighted in black, which dominates the enitre 5th pinnacle of the page. This makes it become more evident to the audience because of its size, composition and placement on the page. It is situated vaguely behind the image of the band on the page, so it does not over-lap them. Slightly underneath the title, to the far right-hand end of it is an adevertisement for the website in which the magazine is associated. It is in the same fashion to that of the title, yet to a significatly smaller size, so it is not as noticeable as the title, yet visible. It is a superb way to promote the website, yet does control the majority of the page.

The central image is the band "Muse", corresponding with the focal story featured inside. The photograph consists of them wearing black and white, which coincides with the cover's colour scheme. The background is a more pale grey, so it follows the theme yet contrats the rest of the cover. This is so that they are more obvious to the reader, rather than merging them into the background. The sub-title for the cover story is portrayed through block-capitals, but a diverse style of text from the main title. The colour of the text is a bold pink, so it contrasts to the central colour scheme to emphasize its presence and so the audience's attention is drawn towards it. The scale of the text is somewhat larger, in comparison to the main title of the magazine, so it causes the cover story to become more apparent.

The sub-stories of the magazine are situated in the lower left-hand of the cover. This is significant because it doe not suppress any other elements of the cover. They are presented through the design style of 3 seperate banners, postioned close together. They apply to the scheme of colour conveyed on the page and stand out more as the text is written in block capitals, coloured in white & placed onto a black backgrounded banner. These constrasting colours assist the stories in becoming more noticeable. There is 3 stories situated on the page, although they do not go into any more detail than their names, they are not the key focal point of the cover. They are still a major component in influencing the audience to read-on, it is because they do not enter further deatil about the story that it makes you want to continue reading.

There is 1 PUG are situated near to the upper-right hand corner of the page, so it does not cover the main image. It does not apply to the scheme of colour so that it is emphasized more to the audience. The colour of the background is yellow to make the PUG stand out more & the writing is in black to contrast the background and accentuate the writing more.  It is positioned at a slight angle, and the text is conveyed in block capitals to assist the writing in standing out more. The same theme is applied to the the sub-title of the featured stories inside.

There is another PUG on the page which is placed in the lower-right hand corner. This is an advertisement for virgin mobile. The colour is parallel to that of the main scheme, so it blends in more. 

Analysis of "Billboard" Magazine

This is Billboard Magazine, it is a collection of various different music styles, which includes the genres of electronic/pop & dance music.

The core colour scheme of the main image is a combination of black & white, which has influences of hot colours such as reds, oranges and yellows. This makes the overall image significantly eye-catching as do the people on the cover ("No Doubt"), who follow the same theme of the magazine, introducing the colours to the way they are dressed and by the way their make-up is done also. This is also done so it coincides with the main story of the magazine. Their name is placed in block capitals, just below their faces in the bottom right-hand corner, across the medium close-up of them. It is presented in white, to contrast the black which they are wearing to assist the text in standing out more. Their clothing acts as a background for the text to sit on. The minor section of text, which is situated below their title, again follows the format of colour as is it exposed in a light orange colour to make the writing extensively stand out more.

The title of the magazine is located at the top of the page, beneath the sub-title/banner & the features inside the magazine. The text is significantly larger than that of any other text featured, to make it stand out from any other adevertisement elements on the page. The text is partially behind the picture of group, so it does not over-lap their faces, ruining the photograph and covering them up. Some of the letters of the title are highlighted with hot colours to emphasize the theme and also to make it more prominent towards the audience. The white background helps the title stand out more as the letters are written in black, using the contrast of the colours to heighten the boldness of the title.

The cover consists of only 1 PUG, adevertising (present to the time of the magazine's release) 300 upcoming tours & 125 upcoming albums. It is postioned halfway up the left side of the page, with a black background from one of the members' jumper. The PUG features a yellow outer ring, with the words within the circle displayed in white & orange block capitals to accentuate the presence of the PUG. It also pursues the colour scheme of the magazine's cover. The contrast between its colour scheme and the background in which it is positioned, allows it to become more visable to readers, helping them in conveying a message more evidently towards the audience.

The cover includes a banner situated at the top of the page, adevertising the version of the magazine it is conveying. It is made more apparent to the reader by the letters being shown in block capitals. The colour of the words are a rich yellow to follow the theme of colour (which is summer & hot colours). The background of the banner is white, which acts as the background for the entire magazine cover, so the words blend more into the page. The banner also plays out to be a sub-title too, again as I said prior, displaying the version of the magazine.

Beneath the sub-title/banner at the top of the page, there is a block of bullet points which features the stories that are included within the magazine. The text is written in orange, whilest the bullet points are coloured in yellow, following the pattern of colour for the cover. It is above the main image so that the stories do not block or distract the audience from the people on the cover. The title for this section of the cover "Inside" written in block capitals larger than the text of the bullet points to draw the audiences attention to the bullet points. It is coloured in black and follows the colour scheme.

The bar-code, date & price tag are postioned in the bottom left hand, here it is still perceptible for the reader yet does not cover up or draw the attention away from other fundamentals of the page. Among this, their website is included so it helps advertise it more and so more people will visit their website. The reason they put it here is so when a customer looks for the price of the magazine, they will stumble across the website in hope that they will see it & visit it.

Preliminary Task

For the Preliminary Task, we were asked to compose a Front Cover and Contents Page for a School Magazine using Photoshop Elements. We had to come with some ideas for Stories and all other aspects in which would be included on both pages.

Front Cover

This was the first time I was using Photoshop, I had to begin to understand the use of Layers within the program so elements of the page could overlap and all come together. First of all I selected a Blank File and chose the size to be A4 (the size of the Magazine), I then simplified the layer so more things could be done to it. I then chose Enhance, and selected Auto Colourand then chose to change the Hue/Saturation tool to change the colour of the background. Ultimately, I went with a light blue colour to follow the theme of the school colours.

Next, I opened my picture I wanted to include as the Front Cover Person for the Magazine, so I opened the photo in another window and using the Lasso Tool I cut round the image, getting rid of any excess background in which could not be changed by enhancing tool. I then copied this image onto the A4 page. I then selected the re-sizing tool to make the image significantly larger and to fit the page.

After this was completed I needed to begin to include Titles and Stories on the Front Cover, so I selected the Text Tool, found an appropriate size forthe Title to be and chose this to be Black to contrast with the background so it stands out and positioned it in the Top Right-Hand corner. I followed this same pattern with the Featured Story, the Date and the Website. But for the Story and the Website, I had to change the layer down the right hand side, only once this had been accomplished it could be placed on top of the image. By using the move/resize tool, I could move & rotate the Text to be placed where I wanted it to be. I made all the Text White to it contrasts to the Title and works well with the background.

I decided I wanted to include a banner on the page, so using the Ellipse Tool, then selecting the colour I wanted the shape to be at the top of the Page (Black), I chose the Rectangular shape. I moved the layer along the right-hand side and placed it above the background and the image of the Model so it could be seen above the image. Then, used the Move Tool to vary the angle of the shape to make it stand out. After this was done I used the Text Tool to create some text, which I made Pink so it was completely contrasting to the rest of the page and would stand out on the black. Again, by moving the layer and changing the positioning of the Text by using the Move Tool, I was able to have the text be placed on top of the shape to make it look like a banner.

Finally, I wanted to create a price PUG, so by using the Ellipse Tool and selecting the custom shape option, and then selecting a shape which outlined a circle, and making the outline white. After this I could place Text within the excess space (in this case, the price), so I did this by using the Text Tool and then using the move Tool was able to place the text within the circle.

Contents Page

For the Contents Page, I completed this in a similar process as I did for the Front Cover. First of all, I opened a Blank A4 File, and then started off by changing the background colour for the page using the Enhancing Selection, then selecting colour and finally selecting the Hue/Saturation option, essentially making the background Black.

After this I opened each of the 3 pictures included on the Contents Page and, selecting each of them using the Rectangular Marquee Tool, copying and pasting each of them individually onto the page. Using the Move Tool I altered the sizes of the them to make them all the same size and positioned them each along the right-hand side of the page, leaving a gap in between each of the photographs.

Next, I decided to create all the text which was going to be included on the page, I done this by using the Text Tool, first of all by creating the Title for the page, putting the Text in Capitals, in Bold and Underlined so it is enhanced and stands out more over the rest of the text. I continued to use the Text Tool to create each of the stories which were going to be included on the page, and then using the Move Tool to position them where I wanted them on to Page, yet still leaving excess room to place Page Numbers.

That was the next step I took, creating the Page Numbers, for this design I chose to have each of the Numbers in blue, bold and underlined to make them stand out more significantly. I done this also by using the combination of the Text Tool and the Move Tool, to create the Text and then positioning them where it was suitable.

Finally, I wanted to add more detail to one of the images (the "Controversial Artwork" image). So I selected the Ellipse Tool, then selected the Custom Shapes option and finding an appropriate shape to fit the blocking out of an image. Initially I wanted to use a Cross ('X'), but this did not seem as effective so I decided to use the 'No' Sign Symbol as it worked better. I chose this to be Red so it stood out, once created I moved the Layer so it could be placed on top of the image. Then, using the Move Tool to resize the shape I placed it over the image.

Introduction to my Blog

Hey! My name is Aaron & this is my AS Media blog. Recently, we have just begun our media coursework which will be displayed and analyzed on here. The main objective of our coursework is to create a music magazine, which includes a front cover, contents page & double page spread. Throughout the process, I will be showing my progress & how the project unfolds. I will be focusing on the genre of electronic/pop & dance music.

Have fun reading! :)