Double page spread article

En(ore say Coelho to Noel - Exclusive interview with the most talked about 19   year old.

Noel Coelho has been impossible to ignore since Late Night Fairness hit the charts in 2010,  and we've been fans of her music, charisma and savvy songwriting ever since. Her 2011 debut album Tears Exposed reached number one on the UK albums chart and has sold over 900,000 copies in the UK, the 19 year old has since shot to superstardom. After endless amounts of gigs, award ceremonies and tv appearances Noel Coelho has landed back in Liverpool to have a breather before hitting the road again. En(ore had a chance to have a shindig with the well-travelled Liverpudlian before she embarks on her next project. 

You've been very busy recently on tour, most people would take a break but we have heard about a project you are embarking on can you elaborate on this?

Well I have been asked to collaborate with Coldplay. Christ Martin approached my agent and I couldn't resist the opportunity.

What was your motivation to become a singer songwriter?

My dad was in a group and I was his biggest fan, I was brought up in a very musical environment so I don't really know anything different, it was always the route I wanted to pursue.

What do you do when you are not singing?

I like to kick back and watch films, bake and walk the dogs. I'm the most boring 19 year old you'll ever meet.

Thank you for your time we are all looking forward to your collaboration.

Second draft of my front cover

This is my second draft of my front cover I have looked at specific things that people liked and disliked about my first draft. Creating a second draft allowed me to change some of the things that my target audience picked out, although it is not my favourite I have changed the main points that my target audience said about. Firstly I changed the size of the masthead, when I looked at main magazines that have been published their masthead is rather large and with my first draft it was to small for people to pick out in a shop. I do prefer my masthead to be bigger as it is eye catching, however as I am only using pixlr to create my font cover I can not make it too big as it will go over my models head which is not very flattering. The problem with pixlr is that it is hard to try to create something that looks like a well known magazine as they have all of the best programs and tools to use which I do not have access to, although this is a downside I have created something which I do like, also with my magazine I do not want to follow all of the conventions of a typical magazine therefore it is nice not to have the masthead behind my models head as we can actually read the name of the magazine, in addition because this will be the first edition of the magazine it will be nice to make it stand out as people will not of heard of the magazine before so it is best for them to read it so they can take note of the name of hopefully their favourite magazine on the shelf. I removed one of the sell lines so I could make those bigger as well this makes the front cover look less cluttered and makes it is easier for my audience to read. I did keep the + and the box as this was one of the things that my target audience liked however I did remove the - signs so it was less like a list, I thought that if it looked like a list that it was more formal and it didn't want my front cover to look like that. The 'December 2013, issue 1 £2.20' was moved to the bottom right hand corner I will defiantly keep it there as it makes the magazine look professional as a lot of magazines have the price in that area. Also because I am not having a barcode on the front of the magazine I thought that it would be perfect to be put in its place otherwise there would be nothing in that area. The font is different which makes it clearer to read and also goes better with the other fonts rather than the one I used before. I did choose to use a different colour as the black was difficult to read in this font however it is not my favourite. I asked people for their opinion on the two drafts of the front cover and they said that they liked everything on this one apart from the colour so I will defiantly change the colour to something that will appeal to my target audience. I don't think that I will change anything with the free download as I have made 'The XX' bigger and also in a different font so it stands out, also I moved it down from the boarder and used again a different font to create the circle. In my last draft it was more of an oval shape which was not what I wanted, this is more circular which makes it look more like a stamp therefore I will not change anything with this one and use it in my next draft.  

Things to change in my next draft

• The colour of the font
• The edges of the box to make them level
• The white blocks inside the box
• Maybe add an extra sell line or competition

Break down of first draft of front cover

Here is my first draft of my music magazine front cover.
Firstly I used the front cover image that most of my target audience liked, I asked them to look at a recent blog post and to pick which front cover appealed to them and this was the chosen one. This was one of my favourites as it fits the theme that I wanted to use and also it looks relaxed and not to poesy. I confirmed with my model noel and she also liked this image, I think it is good to use for a front cover image as it is a full body shot however is unusual as it is not showing every part of her body. I have looked at recent NME magazines and there are no front cover images like this therefore it is not following the conventions, I did a recent blog post with images that I liked which looked rather indie so I took that inspiration rather than any of the images on any magazines, the images that I found did not look like any of the images that would go with my specific theme therefore I think this one works well. When I edited it I used pixlr which is the website that I normally use I did find this easier as I have used it a lot of times before firstly I used an overlay of vingette and then added the ink boarder. I will defiantly use this effect for my front cover and will always use the same edit of the photograph. I looked at some popular NME front covers and looked at what they included in that issue of the magazine, this allowed me to look at some of their sell lines and then change them slightly for my magazine. As my magazine is at the end of the year I thought it was ideal to have 'Meet the stars of 2013' also I looked at some interesting words to use for the ticket scandal and found on the thesaurus website Ritzy which was the word that I used. Also as my genre of music is soft indie I thought that the main sell line 'Noel's Addiction to music' worked well. A lot of musicians are known for their addiction to drugs and alcohol however as my image is soft and clean I thought it would be good to use addiction to music instead. Also this will allow me to make the interview interesting and could attract my target audience as it is an intriguing sell line. All of my fonts that I used are sans which makes it less formal and makes it more engaging to my audience as they are quite young they do not want to read something that looks rather boring.
So on to the good and bad points of the draft for my front cover.

Good Points

The + and the box that adds extra information. People say that it stands out and is a good way to make things less cluttered on the front page. Also this could be used on every front cover for the magazine so it is consistent. For some added ideas they said to use the + throughout the magazine in articles, contents page ect. The font of the masthead is good and they like the two colours, they also like the extra turquoise colour for some text. They like the fonts that I used and the position that they are on the page.

Bad Points

The masthead could be bigger so that it can be seen easier by the target audience, also the 'December 2013 and Issue 1 £2.20' could be placed on the bottom right hand corner to allow the masthead to be bigger. 'The XX' could be in bold and the circles need to be lower so that it doesn't overlap the border. I will change the sell lines font as I think it doesn't really go with the image however if I do not find anything else that I like I will still keep this one. If I don't change the fonts then I will have to make the main sell line bigger or a different colour as it doesn't stand out from the others.

                                      

First draft of contents page

Here is one of my drafts for my contents page. I have not included anything in the news, reviews and features yet because I will design my front cover first, this will allow me put the sell lines on my contents page. I have looked at a typical indie magazine and I prefer the first contents page shown below, it looks modern and can be targeted at a higher age range than my draft. Although I do like the colour scheme of my draft it will look a lot simpler if it was black and white with many images. I had

some feedback and people said that it doesn't fit my target audience as it looks like it is aimed for the younger generation. They like the image that I have used and they also like the font however they think that the main text looks like snow. The black and white lines below the main text does not fit with the other images and it overlaps the other text. I do like the 'Top 10 Indie Tracks' as it will attract the reader as it will be one of the first things that they will see in the magazine. I will change the 'This week' to one side as the top 10 indie tracks will look better in a straight line. In the NME contents page that I looked at I saw the band index down the side which made me think of making the top 10 indie tracks. Also the news, reviews and features is the style that I had on my draft, this does look good however it is a bit simplistic. I will try to recreate my contents page and try to add more pictures to make it look modern, also the numbers on the pictures allow it to look clearer and easier to to follow

the magazine. With each picture there is a clear piece of text to show you what exactly is going to be on the page which I do like.

Encoding and Decoding

Contemporary semioticians refer to the creation and interpretation of texts as 'encoding' and 'decoding' respectively. 
In 1973, Stuart Hall published a paper entitled 'Encoding/ Decoding'. This had a major influence on cultural studies, the essay takes up and challenges long held assumptions on how media messages are produced, circulated and consumed proposing a new theory of communication. Stuart Hall's model claims that all media audiences are presented with messages that are decoded or interpreted in different ways, all depending on an individual's background, culture, economic standing and personal experiences. He advanced the idea that audience members can play an active role in decoding messages because they rely on their own social contexts, and might be capable of changing messages themselves through collective action.

Decoding- How audience members interpret messages on a page

Encoding- The actual written words on a page and the production of the message

In Stuart Hall's essay he advances a four-stage model of communication that takes into account the production, circulation, use and reproduction of media messages.

These four stages are:

1- Production- This is where the encoding of a message takes place. The creator of the message in the magazine (this will be me) is feeding off of society's beliefs, and values. In this case looking at other magazines and how they encode a message to their target audience.

2- Circulation- How individuals perceive things

3- Use- This is the decoding of a message

4- Reproduction- This the stage after the audience have interpreted the message in their own way based on their experiences and beliefs. At this point, you will see whether individuals take action after they have been exposed to a specific message. 

When I make my music magazine I will encode messages for the readers to decode. One of my sell lines is about the scam of festival tickets this is encoded however my target audience could decode the message in a negative way and will be very careful when buying tickets. Also the model that I have is very young so people could decode this and think about how they could become her.

Advantages and disadvantages of questionnaires

Advantages:
It is cheap to make and easy to gather information.
You can collect data from large amounts of people quickly.
As people answer the same questions it is easy to convert it into a graph.
Also they can be private as they do not need to put their name on the top so people might be more comfortable to fill out a questionnaire.

Disadvantages:
It can be easy to misunderstand the questions by ticking two boxes which could make the answers unreliable.
Some people could be persuaded to put something as they might not be sure what to put
It can be just a yes or no answer so does not give any information about changing the front cover etc.

Overall I think that I will be more likely to use a questionnaire rather than a interview as it is much easier to do. I shall be creating one for my front cover, contents page and double page spread to show what my target audience like and dislike and how they think I should change it.

Front cover choices

These three pictures are the ones that I am contemplating using for my front cover. I have used pixlr to choose the specific effects that I would like, however I have not decided what image I like for my front cover therefore I have made two different effects on three different pictures. I am going to ask my target audience which front cover they like and the one with the majority of votes will be my front cover.

Attracting an audience

When creating any media text that will be on sale the editors and publishers will have to think about how to attract their audience. There are many music magazines that are on sale which makes it highly competitive therefore they have to make sure that they can keep on attracting their target audience. When I make my magazine I will have to include things that will keep my target audience interested in the publication. Pleasing the target audience is extremely important as without them then there would be no sales. Therefore I have come up with a few things that I may like to put in my magazine. As I am only making a front cover, contents page and double page spread I will not be able to show all of these articles however I could put them as sell lines on my front cover. 

New artist 

Competition

Free cd

Indie artist articles

Quiz

Greatest Indie songs of all time

Reviews

International stars

Reunited groups

These extra touches of information about what is inside the magazine will allow the audience to be attracted, when people see things that are free or big juicy gossip they will want to buy. When you have free items on the front cover or competitions then the reader feels the sense of being given to this is good as they will need my magazine rather than want it, therefore my magazine will have sales as the free item that I am giving away as attracted them to buy it. On my front cover I think I will have a free download of a very popular band, the popular band will have to be indie to fit in with my genre this will make the magazine easier to understand what it is all about and people will be able to spot the genre straight away. I will not be giving a rapper's song or a classical as it will not work and my target audience will not buy the magazine as it is not personal to them with their typical music taste. Using a free gift will make my magazine stand out on a shelf as people will be drawn to it. When on a shelf in a supermarket it needs to stand out from other indie magazine and draw in the reader's eye, this is why I will put a free gift on it and also make sure the image and writing stand out as well. 
When I think about how it will look from far away I will have to make sure that the writing is big enough, the font is easy to read and also the image is engaging. 
The colours and fonts that I use are also big parts on how the magazine will sell. When you look up at a shelf you don't want to buy something that has a very small font, in a colour that you can't see on top of the image. I will have to make sure that the colour is suitable and that the font is big enough. The font also has to be appropriate for my genre as I don't really want a big bold masthead for a indie magazine. 
My sell lines will have to be written also to engage the reader, the sell lines will have to be specific to the genre of the magazine. I can't have a new classical singer article and the sell line is on the front as this will not go with what I am trying to sell. Therefore I will have to think carefully about the specific sell lines that I will use as this will be what is written inside the magazine which hopefully they will buy. 
Also I will have to think about the use of miss-en-scene, the clothes that my model is wearing, the location of the photo. These will all help to attract my audience. 

Using all of the above will help me to create my magazine which will then allow it to easily be brought buy my target audience, using the things above on my front cover will attract my audience which will therefore make the sales of the magazine high. So when I am creating my magazine I will defiantly add sell lines that go with my genre and add a free item.