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Completed Article.

We caught up with ted this month to see how he's been doing throughout the hectic year that is 2013. Not exactly what you expect to hear about when you think 'lead singer of an up-and-coming rock group'... or maybe exactly what you WOULD hear but with different reasons. High stress levels, drug taking, 24 hour parties, touring, festivals, album deadlines to meet, wedding to be planned and a kid on the way. Some of those things don't exactly match up with a person of his age, status and persona...

Me: So how was your 2013?

Ted: Erm yeah it was great you know, had a great yearrrr. Hit up reading and leeds in the summer that was pretty sick, and just got back from an American tour which wasn’t too shabby.
Me: how was the tour?
Ted: yeah it was alright man, got to play some places we never played before and that was awesome, just really grateful I have the chance to let more people hear my music.
Me: Yeah, Quite a few people have said that... um, i understand you prefer smaller gigs though?
Ted: Hmm Yeah i love the vibe of small gigs over the big stages, get loads closer to the fans and although i do love playing big stages, gigs in my local town Redcar will stick with me forever.
Me: I seen you play there earlier in the year, well i say see, more hear from a distance-
Ted: That's the problem with playing small venues when you start getting a name for yourself, people hear about you especially in your home town and all want a piece of it. So there is a huge turnout in a tiny pub or club, and it just doesn't work.
Me: A lot of bands that have gone fairly big recently have arranged more and more secret shows, i guess for the same reason as what you have just said, ever thought about it?
Ted: We played one earlier in the year, but as for the future, no comment haha.
Me: Do you not like playing smaller venues anywhere else? Other than Redcar?
Ted: Erm, Well in the US it was okay because we don't have a huge following so you can go play a small show there without the pressures that you would playing one in your home town. And i liked that and all, its just being away from home i don't like it anymore... not to sound like I'm getting old i mean I'm 21.
Me: Yeah i know what you mean, like it must be fairly hard being away from your girlfriend for so long when your touring for like months on end.
Ted: Yeah and my friends its a killer, like the first 2 times we toured i was caught up in the excitement of touring like any new band but i mean that was 5 years and like 2 albums ago, I feel like ive grown a lot and don't really suit the lifestyle as much as i would've done.
Me: I suppose everyone's like this just after a tour though, you got back like what, a week and a bit ago? and i mean it was a fucking big tour wasn't it, a lot of the US, some of Canada, a lot of the UK too... and with the album on the way, aren't you stressed?
Ted: suppose it is because I'm drained at the moment, i mean i love every single show we play. But with everything that's going on at the moment i just feel like Pink in the Pink Floyd movie the wall... everything's getting a bit much.
Me: No wonder! Album deadlines, Wedding to plan, son on the way, Tour recovery. You must feel like shit?
Ted: I feel mentally drained yeah, i used to live for music, now it's like keeping me alive. I wake up in the night with an idea for a song and just go write it down before i forget, then wake up in the morning and think its complete and utter shite. Even on tour while everyone is partying after a gig I'm jotting down lyrics and scrapping them, having a huge writers block at the moment and the albums only half done.
Me: I've had that feeling before... its like when I'm finishing an article or cover the night before the mag has to go out to print, something doesn't feel right with it no matter how much you tweak...
Ted: It's exactly like that and the more you listen to it and worry the worse it sounds, like when i give it to other people to listen to they say "yeah that's good" but i just feel its not good ENOUGH.
Me: Think a nice holiday is the best remedy for that to be honest.
Ted: Not enough time at the moment, maybe after the album I'll have a little break or something.
Me: Isn't too bad of an idea that man. Anyway, moving onto a lighter subject... What can we expect from you in the new year?
Ted: first of all the new album, well, what We've got of it, is a work of art. You can expect a Jam-esque, fast paced, hard hitting album. kind of like beady eyes stuff. And i think we have a few shows lined up for early 2014 already... Probably try go to a festival in the summer too!
Me: Good to hear. love a bit of exclusive info especially on my favorite front-man, so... Boy or Girl?
Ted: Well we don't know yet we didn't want to find out, but i can tell you, Rudy if its a boy, and Clementine if its a girl.
Me: Good choice, but not perfect, i was thinking more along the lines of Tom?
Ted: (laughing) how did i know... erm me and the girl are going to have to sleep on that haha.
Me: always better than a no! Anyway, you're a busy guy we better go our separate ways! Anything you'd like to say before you go?
Ted: Erm yeah sure, well the album release date isn't 100% yet if you know what i mean, and neither is the name we're keeping it kind of secret. Early 2014 is my only say in it, just follow our band page on twitter to keep up to date with it.
Me: Looking forward to it man! Anyway cheers!
Ted: Yeah its alright man see ya' later.

The new album from Ted will be released on iTunes January 20th 2014.

Music magazine planning.



 

I have decided that my music will be called 'all the mod cons' after the jam's classic album 'all mod cons'.

 

I will be using these 4 colours as my house style to keep with the mod theme of the magazine. 

Font #1

 



 

 

Font #2

 

Font #3

 

 

Font #4

 

 

I am struggling to decide between these 4 fonts so i would appriciate any help on my polls, Thanks.

Magazine conventions.

 This is a slide show, showing the conventions and house styles of clash and other music magazines.

Readership profile

I have collected this data from a focus group of self titled "dedicated mods", consisting of 20 people from a local scooter club. What follows is the result of my questionnaire:

Audience research Music mag.

Who would you're media product be aimed at?



Audience:
Average age- 22
Male- 60%
Female- 40%
Employed- 80%
Student- 17%







Associated brands:
Fred Perry
Ben Sherman
Levi's
Vespa
Lambretta
Ikon
Roamers
Delicious junction
Dirty harry




Loafers/Brogues: £70
Fred perry polo: £45
Ben sherman shirt: £45
Levi sta prest: £40
Tonic 3 button suit: £200
Desert boots: £40
Vespa px125: £700-£4000
Pretty green Tee shirt: £40
MA-65 parka: £150
Crombie style overcoat: £100-£500
Tootal silk scarf: £45
Fred Perry cardigan: £90
Moss V-neck jumper: £40




Yearly spend:

Clothes: £750
Mods have to look smart, they will spend a lot of their yearly budget on clothes so they keep their sharp appearance.

Music: £50
The average mod has to keep up with the latest music, weather it be original R&B, Ska, Soul or indie.

Gigs: £100  (2 a year)
Weather it be Paul Weller touring, Miles Kane playing a local gig, or a trip to Brighton for a Soul night... A mod has to let himself go a bit in the year.

Nights out: £400
Going down the local with a few mates every week, maybe to a birthday, or just an excuse to wear the new suit... nights out are crucial for mods, they can't be sensible ALL the time.

College Magazine Final Draft And Evaluation.

This is the final draft of my college magazine cover and contents page.

First of all, i have realized that the overall feel of the magazine is not as professional looking as i had hoped. It looks too simplistic and although that is what i set out to do, make a simplistic magazine, i can only see that this cover is just too blank even after multiple drafts. I will think of using a more direct mode of address and a better texture in future photo-shoots for my music magazine. Whilst making this magazine i learned various techniques within Photoshop and Indesign, i like using the spot healing tool on Photoshop to fix minor imperfections within the photo such as blotches and shadows. In this cover i only used photoshop for ironing out kinks and cutting out the central image, but in future projects i will experiment with it a lot more and try to leave a lot less negative space on the cover. I used a lot of things that would attract teens and college students on the cover, and mentioned a lot of the things asked for in questionnaires such as lunch menus, news, student contributions.
If you have anything to say about the magazine cover or contents page, any constructive criticism, advice, anything at all, please feel free to leave a comment.

College Magazine Preparation.

I have been thinking of names for my college magazine and i have narrowed it down to 3, simple to the point, magazine names...

College
The College magazine
The Prior Magazine

I like these as they are very informative and to the point, they give information which half of the people in my questionnaire asked for.

Keeping with the 'short and to the point' structure, i plan to have a small but fairly frequent magazine, that is only say 25-30 pages depending on the amount of news, but a new issue is released every week with news from the college (as requested), Lunch menus (as requested), Student contributions (as requested), events around/arranged by the college or its students (as requested) and competitions (as requested). I will stray away from adding too many advertisements, but still use advertisements from around the college to help students that may be starting up a new business, or to advertise say a new product available from the college shop. I would like to have more pages devoted to student contributions and news rather than advertisements and gossip as college magazines should be informative. I will devote more than half of the pages to the informative side of things such as dinner menus, college sports events, maps, room changes, college events. And what is left i will use for advertisements, gossip, information on nights out and parties, TV/music/film reviews (contributed by students) and fashion.

I would like to keep the cover fairly clean and clear, not too much cluttering it up with a very pure feel such as a white background with a red or black masthead, high levels of contrast will make the masthead easier to read and make the magazine stand out more. I will also add kickers and coverlines that will appeal to college students and their lifestyle such as nights out, how to save money and health tips. I could use kickers such as...

HEALTH TIPS we'll help you get skinny...
GYM new regimes...
CASH we'll help you save some...

These will catch the target audiences eye and help to lure more college students into buying the magazine. I will be using a red, black and white colour scheme to make sure it does not get too cluttered and crowded with too much colour but still is highlighted with a BIT of colour to ensure it is not too boring.

Music Magazine Research.

 Clash magazine is a music and fashion magazine specialising in indie, britpop, soft punk and unusual chart music. Clash does not just appear in Paper magazine form... it also appears as an app and an online magazine with countless blogs and online features including social networking such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Here is a link to the Clash magazine website:

http://www.clashmusic.com/features

Countless celebrities have appeared in or on the cover of clash, some having monthly input to the magazine such as edith bowman. The cover of every issue has a kind of aggressive feel to it, and a direct mode of address which catches the potential readers eye. Almost every issue has a different layout of cover and content with only a few articles and conventions regularly occurring such as the masthead that has only been changed once and articles such as Edith Bowman's blog and the new music section. The fashion section of the magazine is constantly changing sometimes incorporating advertisements into articles. One of the biggest changes in the magazine's history has to be the change in masthead, it changed from the A and S being joined to the whole title being in capitols and the A and S being separate, giving it a more sophisticated and mature look. The overall feel of the magazine is sort of 'in your face'-ish, while still being fairly jokey and having a laugh in some of the articles which is a feel i would like to pull off in my future music magazine. It also makes a lot of big music stars seem like every day people almost giving hope to the public telling stories of upbringings in Manchester's council houses with violent parents and striking it big in the britpop era, telling coming of age stories of criminal youths making the biggest albums in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Although this magazine comes across as cocky and in your face at first, it drags you in and reveals that it is more than that with deep stories and some humour.

College magazine research.

This college magazine is very colourful, obviously to attract the potential audience's eye. The first thing that you notice is the drastic contrast between the vibrant red and the green which obviously makes it stand out on the stall, it also makes it look a lot more cheery and happy than a magazine with a darker cover so potential customers will feel more inclined to buy it. The composition is not too crowded making it easy on the eye yet still giving information. The straplines are obviously aimed at teens highlighting the target audience with reference to legal highs, drug culture, sex and alcohol.

The depth of field on the centeral image shows the focus point of the cover, and makes the cover easier to look at because the brain can focus on one thing instead of being destracted by other things on the cover.

 

The colours on this college magazine is a lot less vibrant and punchy than the other, yet still contrasting a lot with the blue and orange. The cover fades from a shade of blue to black as you follow it down and the whole cover is very clear and looks very clean and professional. Again the straplines refer to things that college students are attracted by like sex, life tips, drink and drug culture and parties. Overall i think that most college magazines are very informal and features more gossipy content that informative content, which seems to be the case for most popular college magazines that i have seen so i am going to base mine on that ground.

I am going to make a very clean looking college magazine with a medium close up (head and shoulder shot) that is fairly informal, yet still gives advice.

 

 

audience questionnaire

I asked questions such as 'what are your reasons for reading' and 'what materials would you like to see in a college magazine' to find out what would make the magazine more appealing to students who are likely to buy it, as i can add the things they would like to see atfer i have ound out what that is.


Here is a link to my results from the questionnaire-
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aqk1qdaibozQdFJWanN6WmNvY0hTRUlQdzFraDJXOVE&usp=sharing

After this questionnaire i asked the people who participated in it questions to find out their social grades such as 'what car do you/your parents drive?' and 'what jobs are your parents in?'

My first experimental Photoshoot for my college magazine

 

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