Decision on the content and images for all my pages

I have just finished creating my masthead (logo), layouts and house style. Therefore I will now start making all my decisions on the content that I will be including in the front cover, content page and double page spread. I will be developing my ideas on what I would be including in the double page spread and contents page.  The focus will be to make my overall outcome and decisions on what I have researched on R&B and other music magazines. This will include me refereeing to the survey responds, magazine analysis as this will help me create the best and most successful R&B magazine that links to my target audience.  I will also not be creating a free CD this is because throughout my research none of the R&B magazine I analysed included free CD therefore I will follow this convention. 

Front cover page

I will start by referring to the research I conducted throughout the course on the different music magazine and mainly R&B. The centre image will be of an R&B artist and the main cover will be his name ‘Matt Blake’. The main cover line will be placed in the centre towards the bottom of the cover as this is the conventional place I saw it in when analysing R&B magazines. Therefore I will need to follow these key conventions in order to have a successful outcome.

 I will also include other cover lines such as:

• A pull quote she’s the reason behind my lyrics’ This is to engage the reader and make them want to buy the magazine in order to find out what it’s about. I have also seen this in previous R&B magazines therefore I decide to add one to my front cover as its effective. This also gives the reader an idea about what the cover story will be about.
• Skyline ‘R&B goes oft, John Ledgend, NE-YO and Lloyd try to get it up’ this will grab the audience attention as more R&B artist are mentioned and this may be one of their favourites. So for that reason they know the magazine will include a lot more features on other artist, making them want to by the magazine to find out more. As the skyline doesn’t give too much away, but just enough to make the viewer feel curious.
•  Cover line 1- ‘Killer app summit-Newsmakers, winners from mobile entertainment, live’ this will engage my target audience a lot as they are quiet a young age and they are really interested in apps, entertainment, winning and live feature. Therefore including this cover line will grab their attention on winning something and knowing the latest news and apps.
• Cover line 2- ‘usher’s exes will.i.am: the future of music + Alicia keys gives up the goods’ this will engage my audience because as young people they want a little bit of gossip and personal information about their favourite artist. Therefore by adding this it will enable to please a lot of my target audience, as I have seen these type of cover lines on existing R&B magazines when researching. 
•   Cover line 3- ‘win- 2 free tickets to Matt Blake’s concert’ winning something will definitely allow the audience to approach and buy the magazine. This is because most of my target audience said they wanted a free or winning feature in the magazine when conducing my questionnaire. Therefore I have included this cover line to grab their attentions on winning tickets to one of the best R&B singers. I have also decide on making the audience win something and not add a free feature with the magazine because when researching none of R&B magazines had this. So for that reason I needed to follow the codes and conventions and at same time please my target induce. So at the end I diced to this as it follows the conventions and pleases my audience, because though my research I saw some of these types of cover lines included.
•  Cover line 4- ‘Your turn- who is the best R&B artist ever? You decide’. I included this cover line because it will enable the audience to interact with the magazine, which will show the audience they have a say and they can always be involved in the magazine not only read it, which will make them want to buy the magazine monthly.
•  Main cover line- ‘Matt Blake’ this is the name of my artist that the main image will be taken off. I chose to do this for my cover line because through most of my research and R&B magazines, they all had their main cover line as the artist’s name that is on the front cover. This is a convention in R&B magazine therefore I need to follow it in order to produce a professional and successful magazine. This will also grab the audience attention as it is a famous singer.

Images

I will be taking picture of Yousif, the shot will be a medium shot. This will pretty much take up the entire front cover. He will be looking directly at the camera, his gesture will be him standing up straight with his hands folded. I will also be trying other poses however this is the one I will be using most likely. This is because it really emphasis the R&B personality and engages with the reader. The image will be taken in black and white and some in colour, however it will be more likely I just the black and white image because it makes front cover more sophisticated and I have seen many R&B magazines using black and white images, which I loved as the image stands out more and the details a brought out more than coloured images. I will be taking the image in the studio as the lighting and the back ground is perfect. Also if I needed to edit the background on Photoshop it will be very quick and easy for me to do, due to the white background.

Contents page

From the research I conducted I decided on making my magazine consist of 60 pages long. This is because I wanted it to be short, as my target audience are 16 to 24 years old they wouldn’t want to go for thick magazine as they will get bored and become uninterested. This is similar to some of the magazine I was looking at for my research their target audience is 25 years old, therefore they only had around 59 pages in their magazine. However magazines like Billboard their target audience are 34 years old their magazine consisted of way more pages. Also in Vibe magazine they have around 100 pages and spread it out into two content pages, however, for my magazine I am going to have less than that which is 60. This is because my target audience are much younger therefore they can get bored easily and won't want to read or finish of the magazine. I have gone against the conventions of including two contents pages because it will confuse my audience and bore them as I mentioned before they are young. Not only that but one contents page is enough this is because I have much less pages which all fit into on contents page. Adding on to that, it is not entirely going against the convention this is because throughout me research on music magazine many have used only one contents page especially with younger audiences. So by doing this will also be attracting my target audiences and keeping them interested and entertained. 

During my research I found that my target audience were most interested in a music magazine is interviews with artists and upcoming events. Therefore I will be planning to put these two feature under the features column as I would like to have a few features on these features. The other content will placed under the features column. Through my research on R&B magazine I found out their contents pages only include features column and 1-3 pages on fashion. However in the questionnaire I conducted my target audience said they wanted reviews as it interested them a lot. Therefore to please and engage my target audience and keep on track with the codes and conventions of an R&B magazine I will add only 2 pages one reviews. This will allow me to give my target audience what they are interested in and I won’t be going totally against the conventions of the R&B magazines.

Reviews:

THE WEEKEND

Find out what people say about his LATEST album drop.

NEW CALIBRATION 

Rihanna wants to calibrate with a rapper, find what peoples reviews

Features:

 #TWITTERGINEWILD

Once an innocent social network, tech-crazed celebs have flooded twitter with uninhibited jabber. VOLUME captures the best of the worst in all their reckless glory.

EXCULSIVE INTERVIEW

Matt Blake speaks out his secrets

VOLUME Q: MAN ON FIRE

In a definitive VOLUME Q, Usher reveals his most embarrassing and weird secrets.

LONG TIME COMING

He may be down, but B.O. isn’t out. The former Cash Money Record’s star looks to keep the flames burning from behind bars.

 YOUNG & GETTIN’ IT

FUTURE is a former VOLUME. Freshman, and a, well Future super star. The mystery R&B musician is rolling the radio and set to climb the charts Liftoff.

 ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

The most-talked-about R&B singer 0f 2016 is a half-Mexican, former childhood actor from Canada, But beneath the surface, who is Trey really?

 FASHION: A SPLASH OF MASCULINITY

Amber Rose’s wardrobe goes both ways in this high-fashion shoot.

Images

 I am planning to take a long shot of Yousif which is the same artist that will be on the cover and double page spread, this is to show that this is the cover story. The gesture of the image will be Yousif standing and a women’s hand wrapped around his shoulder with a heart. This will give a hint to the viewer what the double page spread will be about (love) and this also relates to R&B is mainly about women. I will not be adding any other smaller images, this is because while searching through R&B magazines such as Vibe and others most of their content pages contained of one main image, it also keeps the focus on that image and the text. I will be taking the image in the studio due to the lights and background, as it will allow me to edit the background easily when using Photoshop and then placing it on to InDesign.

Double page spread

The double page spread will be about the artist on the front cover and content page. My double page spread will focus on the artist that is on the other pages, it will be an interview that will be about him and his music. This will interest the audience because through my research I found out they like to read interviews and know knew things about the artist and this is what I will be including in the interview. I will do this interview by making a Q&A with the artist which is a common convention in R&B magazines such as Vibe. I will advertise this in my content page as it’s the main feature in the magazine. That questions will be all about the artist and his music; the questions will have to be interesting as people want to know knew things and not stuff they already know, in order to engage them and make them want to read on.  It will also include questions to do with his album and the mean behind it.

Image
For the double spread image I am going to take a medium shot of the artist. I will be taking the photo in the studio because the lights and background will be perfect, as it will help me Photoshop it. The pose will be him sitting down and a girl stand up facing him. This will be placed on one side of the page as the other side will be the writing. I will only be adding this pain image and no other images, I decided on this layout and design because when I analysed existing R&B double page spreads a lot of them did this type of theme.