This is the first draft of my final magazine front cover. I used an original image on the front cover, shown shortly underneath this on the blog, I then cut the image of the model out in front of Brooklyn Bridge in New York to create an edgy look to the front. Most of the fonts used were found online or used from the Photoshop selection, where assorted logos were placed to accompany them (e.g. the Lockin' Out logos at the bottom and the Judge icon in between Bull and Doze). In addition to this, the content in the left third of the page showing what is included in the magazine were also found online to create realism. I used a select amount of fonts which match the style of music that is included inside, and to create a professional and realistic product.
To decide name ideas, I decided to place them all into a mood-board to identify which would suit the magazine style more. I discovered that the title I used to create the mock-up was the most appropriate referring to an old, inspirational hardcore band in the heading. I came to the conclusion that 'bulldoze' has the most likely name to become a magazine which would get a second look from the general public in a shop.
This video (from 0:00 - 1:58) features my focus group discussion about the magazine I have created and the general thoughts of my peers of the genre and conventions that they would ideally read about. This area of the research was aimed at a group of teenagers aged sixteen to eighteen which is in the age range of my target audience, the results suggested that the genre of the magazine that I created is not a widespread popular topic.
The questions featured were:
How would you feel about purchasing a magazine related to more niche alternative music (e.g. acoustic, spoken word, hardcore, punk, and metal)?
Are you familiar with the following popular hardcore bands - Black Flag, Descendants, Terror, Touche Amore, Trash Talk & Your Demise?
What values would you expect to read about when purchasing a magazine?
For the first question, half of the people questioned were not interested in reading about the genres mentioned. However, hardcore and metal were genres that another half is moderately interested in. Following this, the same percentage of people had heard of the example bands given in question two. Although most of the bands mentioned were unheard of, Trash Talk and Your Demise were known bands by the two people in question. Finally, the last question was reasonably answered by all of the volunteers where reading about the musicians was the main intention of them when buying a magazine, in addition to the news made by the bands. The focus group was not a success as the genre which is being used is only aimed at a small percentage of the public, where most of my peers are oblivious to the genres' existence. Although the age range is correct, and it is aimed at a niche audience.
I created a moodboard of fonts to identify which is more suitable to the type of magazine that I have chosen. Using the title of my final product, I have been online to find a wider selection of fonts that I can use (legally). It is fair to say that the majority of fonts that I have included are not appropriate for the genre and audience which will be reading this magazine. The third and fifth font downward are the only ones which are considerable for this magazine. The final font is close to the theme, however it has a gothic edge which is not fitting.
The source of these fonts is from http://dafont.com.
This is my mock-up for my magazine idea. I set the layout similar to current music magazines which are available and popular worldwide. In creating this, I took note of the header size, opacity, price and left third rule along with many other conventions of creating a magazine. I used images which I had found on the internet along with the header font which I had also found online. The barcode is not legitamate and the headers used are not based on my final piece, though this is a representation of what my final piece may look like.
This is a mood board relating to different conventions of the genre which I have chosen to include in my magazine. It includes live shots, promo photographys, merchandise, record labels icons and records themselves. These are the representation of the genre as a whole. It is often more rare for promos to be taken in the hardcore and punk genre as the quality of the music is more evaluated than image alone. The image of a band tends to be the least important aspect as with the fans themselves. Live photographs are more common to capture the energy which is given at concerts. I believe this moodboard generally sums up the genre and scene as a whole.
