Location of Photoshoot

As the deadline for my final magazine was becoming closer, I thought about beginning to take my original photography which will be used throughout my magazine. I arranged a date with my model and set up a place to take the photos.

I set up some white sheets in a room and asked my model to stand in front of them whilst I photographed her. Using the sheets gave me a plain, blank background in the images making it easier for me to edit them using the programme paint.net at a later time.

Research into image ideas

Although I had originally planned to used balloons as props for my photoshoot, when I researched previous cover stars I came across this photo of the pop singer Katy Perry. I particulary like this photo as she looks extremely girly and feminine because of the use of the colour pink, her make-up, costume and the use of flowers. This photo has  inspired my original photography and made me change my mind about the props I am going to use. My model will therefore be made to look extra feminine with the use of flowers somehow.

Mastheads

I made my final decision that the name of my pop magazine will be 'Burst' and this will be the typeface I will use. I know from questionnaire that my colour scheme should consist of bright colours such as pinks, purples, blues and yellows so I took the masthead I created and experimented with these colours. The colour of the masthead I use will depend on the colours I can pick out of my main cover star image as it will make my magazine look more professional a consistent.

Props for photoshoot

I want my entire magazine to portray a postive, fun message which will appeal to my target audience and make them feel these emotions too. I have thought about the ways in which I can ensure my Masthead could do this so I started thinking about the ways in which the images I will use of my cover star could do this.I thought about the different props I could use and came up with idea of using balloons. I then researched some images of people with balloons and this is what I came up with:

I especially like these two images that I came across as I think they present a 'fun' portrayal of the girl used in the photo which is what I want to create with my cover star.

Cover Star

This is an image of the model I will be using on the front cover of my magazine who will also be featured on the contents page and double page spread. This model will take the form of a pop star I have created called 'Pixie.' I have chosen to used this name as it corresponds with the girly, feminine feel I want my magazine to have and is a realistic name for a pop singer. I have decided to use a solo, female artist in my magazine as in my research I realised many pop magazines tend to do this as it represents a positive role model for readers of the magazine to look up to and as my main target audience is teenagers they can aspire to her. My model also has a particularly girly, pretty look with long, curly hair and bright green eyes which further support the genre of my music magazine and could also be likened to many strong female artists today such as Cheryl Cole, Katy Perry and Jessie J.

Draft of Double Page Spread

Draft of Contents Page

Draft of Front Cover

Front Covers

After my research into the front covers of typical pop magazines, I started to create some front covers of my own with my own mastheads and cover lines:

Front Cover 1 - I chose an image of the pop star Katy Perry as she is typical of the pop genre. I picked this image of her as she looks particularly feminine because of her hair and make up. I put my masthead 'Burst' in the colour red as it stands out and matches the lipstick of the cover star highlighting her girly image. I featured one main cover line which is the cover star's name in black and the title of her album 'Teenage Dream' in red. I decided to maintain the house colours of red and black as it makes my magazine look more professional and the two colours work well together. I also focused on the layout of my magazine. I placed the bar code, which is one of the main conventions of a magazine, at the bottom left to ensure it does not distract away from the main image and main cover lines. I placed the main cover line in between the cover stars head and shoulder to illustrate it relates to her. The text slightly touches the cover star's which I do not like as it makes it look less professional. Another thing I wasn't sure about with this magazine is although the colours black and red go well together, my questionnaire came up with the result that bright colours such as pinks, blues and purples would be more relevant for a pop magazine.

Front Cover 2 - In this front cover, I incorporated the masthead I designed which I thought was best suited to the type of pop magazine I wanted to create. I found an image of the pop star Pink which was a close up and consisted of bright colours. I think the pink of the masthead, the main cover line and the cover star's lipstick go well with the orange background and cover star's accessories. These bright colours portray a positive image which is what I want my magazine to create for the audience. The cover star is not using direct mode of address, which is what I will most likely use when taking my own photography, but I like this image as it just Pink's face which allows the audience to identify with her more. I have only used one main cover line which is 'P!NK' to reveal to the audience what the main article inside the magazine will be. In my research into magazines, I have noticed that the most effective front covers are quite simple and are not made busy by the use of many cover lines which I tried to illustrate when creating this magazine.

Possible Magazine names and mastheads

As I am creating a pop magazine, I researched the word 'pop' in the Thesaurus to get some ideas of what to call my magazine. Some possible names I came up with are; 'Squeeze,' 'Burst,' 'Echo,' 'Smash' and 'Boom.' I then researched the word 'noise' and came up with; 'Buzz,' 'Talk,' 'Blast' and 'Peace.' Out of all these possible names, my most preferred one is 'Burst.' I think this would be a good name for the magazine I am going to create as it links to the genre of my magazine and projects a positive, happy feel which is what I want my magazine to do. It could also link to the fact that my magazine will be 'bursting' with exciting features such as new and upcoming artists and exclusive interviews.
As I have now decided on the name for my magazine, I started creating possible mastheads that I could use on the front cover of my magazine:

Masthead 1 - I like the way I have designed this particular masthead as it links to the genre of my music magazine as it is feminine and girly. This is effective as it would attract my target audience which is teenage girls. However, I dislike this design as I do not think the font is bold enough for a masthead and therefore may not be eye catching enough if it were to be on a magazine stand. I also think the hearts and the fact that they are pink may be too girly so may decrease the amount of people buying the magazine for example, boys may want to read the articles inside as they may interest them but could be persuaded the magazine is not for them because of this masthead.

Masthead 2 - I like this masthead as I think, unlike masthead 1, it relates to a wider target audience. I have still kept the colour pink as my questionnaire came up with the most popular result that the house colours of my magazine should be bright, but the use of the colour black and the image of the headphones distracts away from the girly, feminine feel. However, although I think this masthead is effective and stands out, I'm not sure whether it would be more suited to a Hip Hop magazine rather then pop. I also think it may be too busy as my research into other music magazine shows their masthead are usually just big and bold but simple which I think is more effective and looks more professional.  

Masthead 3 - I tried to base this design on the masthead of Billboard magazine as I think it is a particularly effective masthead. I like the way this is design is simple but stands out because of the large, bold, black font. I used the colour pink again as it relates to the pop genre but also contrasts well with the black. However, as much as I like this design as it looks simple yet professional, I realised that I could not insert enough colour to make my masthead look as effect as the Billboard masthead with the word 'burst' as it is not long enough.

Masthead 4 - This is my most preferred masthead as I think is covers all of the elements I am trying to achieve. The font is big and bold which would stand out against other magazines and is simple so will not distract away from my main image and cover lines. I have used a pale pink colour which comprehends with the results of my questionnaire and is not too bright or girly so wouldn't decline my target audience. Depending on the main image I choose to use, this masthead would also be quite simple to change if I needed to adjust the colour to match my image more effectively. The typeface is also similar to the fashion magazine, 'Vogue' which I particularly like as it provides a professional, classy look to the magazine.

Research into cover stars

I looked at 'We heart pop' magazine which is one of the most famous pop magazines today, and looked closely at the cover stars they often use. As the target audience is young, teenage girls, the magazine often features powerful, female artists they can relate to or be inspired by. They also use boy bands which would also attract a female audience. This research has influenced me and gave me some ideas as to what type of cover star to feature in my magazine as I want to include someone that readers of a pop magazine would want to see.