Double Page

Contents Page

Cover

Double Page Spread Draft

Contents draft

Cover draft

Initial Photographs

Hand drawn mock ups

Cover page

Contents page

Double page spread

Double page spread article draft

Aster Star is a new, fresh young face for the music industry to promote. And that is exactly what she is doing here today. We, here at Backup, have an exclusive interview with the star her herself.

So, Aster, tell us a bit about your album?

Well, I called my first album You’ve got it and this actually has it’s own back story. When I was getting all that attention on the internet I decided that was what I wanted to do. I remember going to London with my dad for my first gig ever in front of a real audience and before I went on stage, this little, tiny tot with a bunny outfit and blonde curls came up to me and pulled me down to her level. She was so cute, she just got on her tiptoes and whispered ‘You’ve got it’ right before I went up on stage. It was the best moment of my life. Whenever I feel bad, I just think of that little girl.

That is so sweet! What about the songs on your album? Tell us something on that.

I have 15 songs on my first album which my producer said was really weird because the all the artists first albums he had produced have always been 12 tracks long. I have 3 covers, which my online audience asked me for. The rest are all originals, some of which are on my channel. My little brother actually inspired one of my songs. Rocket minds, which is by all means has a weird vibe to it, was based on things my little brother says to me.

Did your online audience inspire you to do this album?

Of course! After all, they are the reason I am here at Backup today. Without them I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing! I actually have so many people to thank for this opportunity. But out of everyone. This is all down to Thomas, my little bother. So thanks Tommy!

How different is it from recording you own songs?
Well the quality is all I could dream of! I can't even put into words. It's so much more fun and exciting than recording in my own room. Finn and the team have made this the best experience for me. Thanks guys!

They have done a fab job! So now your album is out, can we expect a tour?
Yeah you can! I actually remember Finn asking me if I wanted to do a tour and I was so excited that I sprinted around the studio and screamed 'yes yes yes' over and over again. So the cards are on the table, they just need to be dealt.

Oh, sounds mysterious. Well thank you so much for joining us here at Backup Aster.
No, thank you for talking with me, it was so much fun!



Good luck with everything Aster, I'm sure we'll cross paths again.

I took the draft and formatted it into the shape on the page I wanted. I also converted it into the font of my choice to see what it looked like on plain page. This was the outcome;

I am not completely happy with it yet but I will work on it with the photo's on my page and work it around from there.

I would like a gradient grey scale transparent background on my writing. It would give a more professional look to my double page spread. I might change the colour of the transparent background to suit the pages better. I'm not sure if I want softer edges or sharp edges but I will see when I am constructing my pages. 

Artist Planning

Aster Star- my main star

My artist is going to be a solo pop singer. I have decided to name her Aster Star. She is a young and upcoming pop singer who has just released her first album called You've got it. She is with an independent record label called Starboard Records. She started by mixing songs together as a 12 year old interested in music, which then progressed into her learning many instruments including the guitar, drums and piano. She started to create chord sequences when she was 15 which led to full length, layered songs of her own. Music was always just a hobby until one day her brother accidentally uploaded one of her songs to YouTube, she rapidly gained the attention of  thousands which eventually turned into 2 million followers. She then decided that was what she wanted to do. She wanted to perform. After 5 years of uploading her songs to YouTube she gained 4 million subscribers. She caught the attention of Starboard Records when she was 20 years old. She is now 21 and ready to release her first album. Her public image when not singing is a charming, funny young women. She stands up for things she believes in like equality of the genders and human rights. She is very intelligent and always did well on the more academic subjects however she loved nothing more than to relax after a long day and tickle the keys on a piano. She has no trouble getting a bit muddy in the garden and always ends up with chipped nail polish which doesn't bother her at all. She isn't bothered much about her image, only wanting to come off as a clean and real person.

I want Aster Star to have stylish clothing but still be original. I was thinking she could either wear a short dress, with a flared skirt not a pencil skirt. OR she could wear black trousers with suspenders and a cropped white shirt. I think this look would be cool and a bit different from what other pop stars wear. So far I like colour schemes which has a dark AND light colour. So either black and a light/bright colour or navy blue with a light/bright colour. For location I would ideally like a studio white background with lights, or I could find a background which is associated with 'street'. I don't want a brick wall because I feel too many artists have that look already. I think a garage would be a good idea because my star came from a life where she shared her music from her own room. I also think it would give a familiar look to wannabe stars. On a regular day she likes to sport her skinny black dungarees with a shirt underneath. She would always pick a pair of dungarees over a dress anyway as she loves to outside with her dad and help in the garden.

Photography

For my front cover photography I want  a mid shot of 'Aster Star' I want her makeup to be dark and edgy but a bright red lip. Dark eyes are perfect so I would have black eyeliner, mascara and dark and shimmery eye shadow. I would like her to also be contoured so her face it really defined. I want her hair to be blonde and straightened but teased at the roots to give it a 'chic' look to it. I do want her to be smiling but a charming, small smile. I want it to be quite relaxed so I want her to be in an informal sort of pose. Like leaning against a wall. I did have the idea to have her leaning against a mirror and take two photos so I could merge them together to make the reflection look at the camera and the real Aster to be looking down. I feel like that is more album art or double page spread worthy. I would like her to be in front of a light background, either white or light blue so she, dressed in dark clothes and makeup, is a stark contrast to her surroundings. I also want her to be central focus so I don't need any added decoration, maybe a faded pattern on the background but that is it. 

My other artists

Richie Carson

Do Re Mi

House Style

Names
The Bubble: I like this name because it could be taken in a few ways. Firstly the music genre is pop and you pop bubbles. Secondly 'THE bubble' sounds like a place you can get information. Having it as a magazine title connotes that you can find information in the magazine. It sounds exclusive. As much as I like this it feels sort of immature even for a younger audience.

Top Up; Referring to both the top music and knowledge this title is simple and effective, It could refer to topping up your information on a certain artist as well as noting that the top music will be featured. This one isn't my favourite because I feel it relates too much to old phones.

Highlite; Misspelled on purpose it can reach out to the younger audience more. 16-24yr olds who are into pop and the top music will most likely be internet users therefore abbreviating their language. The word relates to the most important and best topics in the articles.

Backup: I like this because it has dual meaning. It's a backup copy of amazing content and information within the magazine. Also related to backup tracks and music. I really like this one because it's catchy and short and is directly AND non directly related to music which I think is great. I am going to pick Backup because out of the ones I have come up with, this one is my favourite. It is related to music and files such as this magazine so it is perfect. I also think it suits the style I wanted to go with; 'cool' and edgy. It's not to feminine and it's not too masculine, more of a happy medium which is just what I want.

Track: This name idea is good because you have tracks on a record. Music EP's and CD's have tracks and I was thinking if this was my name, the slogan could be 'ever bodies favourite track'. Everyone has a favourite track on an album and I thought that this was clever.

Fonts:

I really like Rock Salt, I think it is bold and looked like an autograph. I was liking quicksand but I came to the conclusion that it was too feminine for a unisex magazine. Also I tried it in bold and it just looked like comic sans. I think the top one and 'coming soon' are too childish, magazines don't really suit handwriting looking fonts unless it's a crafts one or for children. 'Dosis' could be a possibility but, again, it's not very bold and it doesn't stand out. Rock salt or anything near it is perfect for my magazine, it's bold and in your face and looks slightly like graffiti.

Main body typography

At first I liked Berlin Sans FB but then I when I compared it to the rest of them, I imagined a whole chunk of text in that font and it didn't look good. I feel for big blocks of writing it is too childish. Then I found Century Gothic which I really like but the font is very thin and smooth and overall quite feminine which isn't what I want for a unisex gender. Then I tried Tahoma and Tahoma in Bold which I really like. I don't want a whole section in bold lettering however so for my main body typography I am going to go with Tahoma.

Subheadings

I think subheadings for articles need to be bold and more stylish than main body typography. As my main text is quite straight forward and easy reading I think I can have a more exciting sub font. I think Rockwell Condensed is more suited to country music. It looks a bit western. For my subheading font it is a toss up between Berlin Sans and Impact. Berlin sand it big and bold and spaced out which is what I initially wanted but taking a closer look at it compared to Impact it's not as related to my music genre and readership as I first thought. Impact is the feature title font I an going with. It's bold, in your face and will attract members of all genders.



Colours

As a general colour scheme I wanted either two dark shades and a light or two light shades and a dark. I want blue to be on the front because it's a universally loved colour. I really like the first colour scheme I chose of light blue, white and black. I do not want red, I have decided, because I feel like too many female magazines use red to be attractive to a male audience too. I am also really loving the light blue, navy blue and black. I feel the first and third schemes would work best. The third one appeals to both genders and it very dark with light highlights whereas the top one would be more bright and have highlights of dark. In my audience research more people chose bright than dark so for my house colour scheme I am going to be using light blue, white and black. In my opinions having red, white and blue as a scheme seems like a flag and people could take something which reminds them of patriotism which is not what I want for the magazine at all. The bottom scheme is a good scheme however I feel that it is too dark and I have my market research and myself thinking that light blue would be a better colour to use.



Images

For Richie Carson, he is going to be pictured with his acoustic guitar. I think this would be good as it is his image. He has revolved his career around his guitar and it would be unspeakable to not have it featured with him. I want it mid shot to put variety in my magazine contents page. I want it to have a hazy feel to it, maybe near sunset. I definitely want it pictured outside.

Finally for Do Re Mi I want two pictures. The first one would be outside at night, with the two girls having fun and laughing. I think this will give a young, party vibe to it. Then I want a picture slip in half diagonally. In the top half would be a candid public picture of Lizzie B looking stressed and the bottom half would be the same but of KP.

Readership profiles

My music magazine is aimed at both genders, therefore I have created two separate readership profiles.


Matilda is 17 years old and studying Music, English Literature, Law and Film studies for her A levels in a city school in England. She loves to record covers in her own time as well as writing little melodies on her ukulele. She sets up her speakers everyday so she can blast her music while doing her coursework much to the disdain of her family. She hates it when people play music too quietly because what if even the point? With her small amount of disposable income from her parents and weekend job, she spends it mainly on sweaters and her monthly subscription to Spotify. She is keen in saving some money aside when tickets to concerts are available. As much as she loves going to converts she isn't huge on festivals. She is a loyal user of Sony as her phone and music equipment belongs to the brand. When it comes to clothes she is a bit on the cheaper side so loves Primark, H&M and Newlook. She drives her little red Ford KA around to school and back. On the internet she is an avid user of most social media websites, she has Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube. She prefers to stick to either action films or musicals when it comes to films as she doesn't watch much TV shows. he loves to listen ti the top 40 and other charts because it is filled with the latest pop music for her to sing with her friends.

Dillon is 22 years old and studying PR and communication at Greenwich University in London. He enjoys the bustling nightlife and clubbing with his friends. They often dance to the latest and trendiest pop music. He is not particularly fond of rap music as he feels "it's just fast talking." He has a part time job at Cherry Red Records which revolves around his University timetable. With his decent wage and money sent from home he likes to browse the music shops and purchase accessories for his acoustic guitar as well as broken records he can mount on his wall. He also spends a good amount of money on his apple phone contract. His music equipment, phone and laptop are all products of the Apple industry. He is loyal to the brands he uses like Apple, Vans, Topman and even Primark if he's running skint.  Dillon spends a lot of time hooked up to his social media accounts where he can follow his favourite music artists. When it comes to watching TV he is a big fan of Music documentaries and he loves old 80's films such as the Breakfast Club. He's not even ashamed to admit it.

Planning- Ideas

Idea 1: Friendly rock music magazine

Focuses:

• Reviews on music
• Opinions of music by band members
• focuses on music and anecdotes by celebrities

The target audience will be both genders but tipping towards female slightly. I want a young age range, so 16-24. 

I would like the style of writing to be friendly and informal as inspired by Kerrang.

Finally house style colours would be black, white and crimson. I want a bold 'in-your-face' and bright typography on the cover. Especially for the masthead.

                                                    

Final choice:
I've chosen to do a friendly styled Rock music magazine. I think it will be different from what i'm used to listening to and fun. I believe it will apply to the market research I've carried out. Majority of participants wanted rock, so rock they shall get. I want to stick to what my target results showed to ensure I get the best results for my magazine. I want to use dark and bright colours so I think a black, white and dark red colour scheme would be suitable. It would attract a unisex audience as well because they are gender neutral colours. I think the image should be a single person as it draws more attention because it has that simple but effective look to it. I want the front image to be quite edgy and powerful and I also want to use a female model for the front cover. On the contents page and double page spread I want to feature male and female artists. I think a friendly, funny style of writing would suit best fro 16-24 because it's relatable and something the readers can identify with. 




Idea 2; Pop music magazine

Focuses

• Lifestyle of artists
• music and tour dates
• celebrity interviews
• promotes bands

The target audience would be female orientated. It would have a slightly older audience, 18-30.

I want it to be bright and colourful so I want to use colours like blue, red and green. I would like a bold, blue and white masthead on the front cover. 

The writing style would be semi formal, having a bit of fun but still keeping to the point of the music magazine. 

Idea 3: Country

Focuses:

• The singers and bands lives and lifestyle
• anecdotes
• focuses more on artists than music

The target audience would be gender neutral. I would like an older target audience but still quite young so about 21-30.

Dusty, hazy colour scheme. Black and white typography across the cover, contents and double page spread. Colours suitable; black & white writing; sunset colours, orange, blonde, brown, blue. 

I would like the writing style to be very direct and friendly, like you were talking to a friend.