How I Made My Feature Article

To start my feature article, i first edited my picture and pasted it into fireworks. My feature photo is placed in the top right corner, this takes up half of an A4 page as my feature will be a double page spread.

Using the eye dropper tool I used the colour of my artists face and made this the background so it links back to the image.

I added my title using the text icon, after i decided on where to place the title, i again used the eye dropper tool to use the white logo of the artists hat to make it my official chosen colour for my title.

Using the text tool i added my text and put them into columns, the size of my text is 14. To link back to my urban target audience I changed the font to HOBO STD, so the magazine does not look like an ordinary NME magazine or Q magazine, i followed the conventions of urban magazines such as Vibe and XXL. I also moved the texts in the last 2 columns and the reason for this is so that i can place quotation from the artist into that chosen spot.

When i added a Quotation i had to make a few more adjustments and shifted my text so it fitted into my article; I made my quotation white linking back to the white logo of my artist’s hat and the title of this feature article.

Feature Article Planning

Feature Article interview

For my feature article, I plan to base it around the artist I managed to get in contact with called VELLI; the article will mostly talk about his lifestyle, how he defines success and what he would like to achieve to become successful. Most importantly music and how it has affected his life. My feature will be called ‘I AM ME’. I got a reply from the artist agreeing to do an interview, the questions are:

      ‘VELLI’? Where did the name come from and what is your real name?

  Music, you've made upbeat rap, slow jams and even Sang in couple of tracks? But what category would        you place yourself upon?

 Did you enjoy school life and what life lesson have you gained?

 Record labels? Any plans to get signed?

 Family/friends support your goals and aspirations? Did they motivate you to stick to what you want to do?

(                                                             Urban, how would you define it?

Feature article conventions / research

Conventions of a feature article

Most people buy a music magazine due to the feature article; the magazine is concentrating either on celebrities or stars. The audience who purchase a magazine would like to read about their idols or celebrity interview.   

Feature articles are usually published in double page spreads, it includes pictures, quotes, colour and text, however a feature article can also be a single A4 page, and this still follows the same conventions of a double page spread.

The same style of pages is used for consistency.

Headlines and subheadings are used to explain celebrity or star stories to grab audience’s attention (puns and questions about tours, album releases)

Artists or stars only feature in a magazine if they have new projects/tours/album releases and so on.  

The images should dominate the page, this can be one large image, or one large image with other small images, and this should be different locations.

An anchorage is used to explain the images.

 

 

 

 

Contents

Photoshoot

These are a couple of photos which stood out to me for my music magazine.  

I picked this picture out of the 3 similar ones to be my front cover image, this is because of his position, leaning forward, looking straight at the camera and its the strongest image. whereas within the other images he looks bored and tired.

This was the image for my front cover for my first draft magazine, however because of the background green area, this does not relate to my urban demographic target audience, therefore it would not work

I picked this image to be included in my contents page because of the lighting, and the background, its different and I wanted a range of different shots 

This image also used in my contents page because of the different angle shot, i also like the background of city blocks, also the iconography of the snapback representing young people

For this image i used this mainly because of the iconography of the moped, it is a cheap transport system available to 16 year olds and for that reason I wanted to include it as people can relate

For this image I was originally going to use it for my feature article, but because i couldn't enlarge the picture I decided to use it for my content because its a strong picture, it contains iconography of the hat, this is when young artists advertise themselves by including text, also because Velli is the artist whos featuring I thought it would be a good idea to include him in the contents.

This is the image for my feature page, its a portrait picture meaning it will cover a whole A4 side. I like this picture because of the black and white, its modern with an old twist. I like how the camera is focused on Velli and how everything in the background is blur. 

picture editing

Front Cover 

Feature 

Content

Contents page planning

First draft improved Front Cover

This is my improved version of my front cover, taking inconsideration of me peers feedback.

Contents page research

This content is from a music magazine. Vibe magazine features the latest music and news to do with R&B and pop music. Looking at this contents page, I like how the page is split into two halves, the feature and fashion information being on the right and the picture leading its way up into the left side.

The colour scheme used again follows the three colour rule which makes it merge together. 

The negatives are: the black outline which is merged into the picture, this affects the writing on the left column as its too hard to read, the ‘contents’ title is not in line, slightly tilted which doesn’t work, so are the features and fashion columns, in addition the letter ‘T’ is not in line with the letter ‘N’ or ‘C’ this makes it untidy instead of it being neat. It would look better if it was kept normal and straight.

The content page includes page numbers making it user friendly, you can easily find out what you’re looking for instead of looking through every page.

One good strong point about this contents page is how the artist Ciarra, Is using her legs to make the letter ‘V’ but also another ‘V’ is put into place just in case the reader’s eye does not catch this action, this links to the title of the magazine ‘Vibe’.

This content page from NME features a lot of information rather than concentrating on a contents page which should tell the audience how to navigate through a magazine.

The content is not done to a good standard, it is very messy, and everything was just put into place without any organisation. The image used is too dark, as the editing was not done properly; the hand of the male dancer is too light compared to his face, also parts of the female dancer’s leg is too light compared to the rest of her body. 

More adverts are used within this content page compared to other magazines such as Vibe and XXL, making it squashed together.

The content follows the three colour rule (white, black and yellow); the band index is on the left hand side of the page in a bright red box linking to the image used, this gives the reader information towards the band. In addition to this, this content page is split into different parts (news, radar, reviews, live and features); a sub heading is used for each category which makes it user friendly and easy to interpret. 

First draft Front Cover picture editing.

Results from questionnaire

Front Cover first draft with feedback

This is my first draft front cover, to improve upon this i received feedback from peers and from my target audience.

what went well:

The colour coordination is good, but most importantly it is very clear, the masthead is strong in addition to this the two tone colour used within the masthead links back to the colours used for other headlines.

The black outline merging into the picture works well as it comes together instead of just having an original black outline.

Headlines are symmetrical instead of just being plotted all around the front cover which works

Improvements 

'page 3&4' is not needed as it is out of place in addition to this, readers will be able to find this information in the contents page.

'Poetic Justice' needs to be written properly, capital letters needed, this also needs to be done for 'Enemies'

It needs a date as it is missing one either 'issue 1' or an actual date will work.

'Velli' puff needs to be bigger as this is the main artist which the magazine is focusing on.

Bring down the 'JHAZ' and 'Prophet AKA Big MALZ' puff down as it is too high up

Rotate the bar-code and put the price tag above it.
The picture needs editing, all the grass in the back ground is not needed, makes the front cover poor

Front Cover Mood Board

Photoshoot planning