(P5, M4, D1 U3) Meeting the client brief

Double Page spread

First I start my double page spread with a blank page, then I used the paint bucket and changed the background colour to blue as I decided that this was the best choice for my background to not take away from the main image which I was making the focus for my double page spread.










-paint bucket tool used to fill background to make it blue



Next I added my main chosen image of two North London artists, I chose this image as one of the explicit requirements in the brief  as the music magazine is for the local vibrant music in North London and North London artists helps to "showcase the talent, venues" and music and our target audience would relate to the magazine, which would also appeal to our target audience more.
 I then cut a border around the two artists in the picture so that the blue layer behind the photo would make the outline blue. I felt that this would really make the artists pop and stand out from their surroundings, as the blue outline is a bright color and makes the artists in the photo come forward. I did this to make the artists the focus of the double page spread as to showcase the talent in the area and make it the focus. I chose this photo as the artists serious facial expressions helps to convey to the reader that although they are young that they are serious about their music and shows them off as serious artists. In the photo the two young artists are looking up, we did this as it creates a feeling of mystery which can be related to the fact that these are new unknown artists being brought into the spotlight while also showing that they are serious about their music as they're not looking at the camera and smiling.

I used the lasso tool to cut around the two artists in this image and deleted that part of the image around the artists, so that the blue background I used the paint bucket tool to fill would come through from the section of the photo I deleted. I chose to have a blue border around the artists as this baby blue is a calming colour and connotes tranquility and calmness, which can be related to the artists and their music. As these are indie artists their music isn't very loud and explicit like rock metal or some rap, instead they have more cool and calming music. The two artists are standing next to each other with their arms by their sides, we decided to go with this simple pose as it drew more attention to the artists faces and the text that will be put around them as we want the reader to focus more on that.

-lasso tool used to cut and delete an outline around artists




Next I added in all of the body copy and quotes using the type tool and coloured paragraphs a yellow or blue, whilst also highlighting certain words I wanted to standout in blue as I wanted this key information to stand out. The font I used in the body copy was 'Viridian College' as this text style goes well with the mast head on my front cover and the font is very eye-catching, but doesn't draw too much attention away from the masthead, whilst also fitting quite well will the indie genre. This font style we used could also be related to a high school font as this is similar to stereotypical high school fonts used in their end of year books and this could be related to the artists age since they are still teenagers so the font style is representative of their youth as the chosen font style connotes youth.

I did this by selecting the text I wanted to colour and using the colour picker to colour the text I selected. I chose to use the colour blue yellow and grey as the blue connotes calmness, whilst the yellow connotes happiness and these can both be related to the artists music, whilst also following our colour scheme which makes the double page spread look more appealing to our target audience as the double page spread would be more visually appealing.

-type tool used




Then I added the larger text like the band name and 'insight into north London indie' using the type tool as the client brief specifies that the magazine should be about the local music in 'North London', so I wanted to make it quite apparent to readers that this magazine is is showcasing artists from North London. I used the 'Viridian college' font to write "Insight into North London Indie", as by doing so it helped target a North London audience, helping to meet the client brief, which is why I made sure to make this font bigger so that it was bolder and stood out. I used  different font for the logo of the featured indie artists, as I felt it fit well with the indie genre and would be easily recognised an an indie band and is clearly very different from the 'Viridian College' font. This would appeal to our target audience as the fonts used are visually appealing and also are indie style fonts which fits with our chosen genre. Furthermore the font style connotes relaxation and help to create meaning by relation to the type of music they make by it looking edgy and calm helping to represent the artists music style.

and I added social media links, website links and the page numbers along the bottom to show readers that we were on multiple platforms, as to promote our other social media to gain more followers on these platforms so that any content posted would reach our readers. As I wanted to have all of my text on my double page spread before I added any borders or text boxes. The social media links would appeal to our target audiences who are technatives, so links to social media will appeal to them as they spend a lot of time on social media and will attract them to our other forms of social media.

I then added grey boxes which were grey images that I turned the opacity down 26% no, so that the main image was still visible so there was still an outline around the body copy as the background image is one of the main focuses and I wanted it to still be visible as in the brief an explicit requirement was for it to be about the "vibrant music scene developing locally", and the artists are part of this so bringing most of the attention to them was the main focus, which is why I turned the opacity down. I decided to put these bodys around the text to show that they were separated to each other, as each box is a different question we asked our artists or different facts or information related to their music. The point of the boxes was to help the text look more organised and to make it easier for readers to read, so that they don't get lost in the information to avoid and confusion.

Next two rectangles were added(images) along the top and bottom of the double page spread and turned the opacity down to 73% so that u can still see some of the background image through it, as I wanted the main image to draw the reader's attention instead of harsh borders but the borders are mainly there to neaten up the double page spread and fit in with the colour scheme. The colour chosen was grey which connotes seriousness and sophistication which helps to represent our artist's positively and the colour scheme used shows a sense of maturity as grey is a more plain colour.

Finally I added an image of the QR Code (our USP) which opens the Spotify playlist when scanned, as this is the USP of the magazine and will appeal to our target audience as they will be interested in the music being featured and will help to convince them to buy the magazine as they also get a playlist as well as a magazine. This helps to meet the client brief by "showcasing the talent" as we are giving our buyers access to the artists music and showcasing it.

Final product:

Front Cover

I started with a blank page which is didn't change since i would be keeping the main images  background.

Next the main image was added, which is an image of the lead singer smiling and looking at the camera, I chose to use this image as it helps to create meaning by being inviting as the image isn't him staring seriously at the camera and helps to attract our target audience to buy the magazine due the positivity of this image. The facial expression helps to show the artists youth as he isn't making a serious facial expression and insisted is smiling which is related to joy, happiness and being energetic.Using an image of the lead singer also follows the brief, by letting people know about  "the vibrant music scene developing locally" as its letting people "know about it" since its the centre main image and all the attention is being brought to this main image, helping to showcase the local talent.

I wanted the masthead to be behind the featured artist as I wanted him to draw all the attention to the main image. I used the lasso tool got the same image of the artist and cut around his hair which I used to layer in top on the Masthead so that the artists hair is in front of the masthead, which signifies his importance in comparison to all the other text on the front cover and how our priority is to "showcase the talent and venues in the area" as stated in the brief. This helped to create meaning by symbolising the artists importance and how they are the focus of the cover, showing the actual magazine is less important in comparison.

-Lasso tool used and layer

Next the Masthead was added and its layer was put under the artists head. The font used for the masthead is 'be true to your school', I chose to use this font as it looks like font you'd see in a year book and this was done to represent the youth and new music, "Vibrant music developing locally" since its representative of the new muic developing so we went with a font related to being young. Whilst this font also fit well with our young artists since they are still teens. The bold white font is eye catching and appealing and will catch the attention of our target audience due to the eyecating font, whilst also helping to create meaning as the font style is relate to high school and youth which is also meant to mean that we are showing "developing" "vibrant music scene" as the word developing suggests new which can also be related to being young, so we chose this font to be representative of the type of music we feature in our magazine . 

A skyline and byline were added across the top and bottom of the front cover, I chose to make it a baby yellow since it's not too bright, fit with my colour scheme. It helped to make the front cover more visually appealing, to attract more readers. The colour yellow helps to connote positivity, freshness and happiness which we did so that the front cover connoted positivity to the reader so they they would want to buy it.

Next the puff,barcode and colour strip for issue number were added. The colours used for these are yellow and grey since the puff is meant to stand out as it feats information that would make the reader want to buy/read the magazine, so using a bright eye-catching colour is necessary to draw the readers attention, the puff was also placed neared the top of the magazine to be in a better position to get the readers attention. A grey was used for the issue number as it fits with our colour scheme and is not supposed to be the focus to the front cove (only tyre to inform the reader what issue the magazine is). The bar code was placed on the bottom righthand corner of the magazine as this fit with the codes and conventions of a magazine since this is where the barcode is supposed to be placed.

Finally all of the body copy was added Using yellow and blue text, these colours were added as they fit our colour scheme. the colour blue and yellow were used since it connotes calmness and relaxation, which fir well with the indie genre. This was also done to represent the artists music and style. The skyline said"North London Indie Magazine" which fit the client brief "For North London" as it shows that we a specifically targeting a North London target audience and showcasing the music in North London. The body copy text used two colours as specific words we wanted to draw attention too were in  more eye-catching colour, to draw more attention to words like "free" and "exclusive" which will attract more buyers as its showing what you can get by buying the magazine, which appeals to the target audience. The Issue number was added to the top right hand corner which said "issue 1", this met an explicit requirement in the client brief "the first addition of the magazine". website and social media links were added to appeal to a young audience of tech natives. Dates and price were also added to fit with the codes and conventions of a magazine which also informing potential customers of how much the magazine will cost. Lastly the Bands name was added in big bold writing to "showcase the talent" as the client brief says that there is vibrant music and "people need to know about it" and we do this by bringing attention to the bands name which is the second largest text of the front cover, helping to signify its importance.  

-Text tool used