Deisgn Inspiration

Each 'pin' has been captioned as to why I've added it to my board; click on an image for more information.

Visual Audience Profile

Audience Profile 

I created this through the data I found through my questionnaire.

My audience are young adults in Britain, all with an interest in indie music. I found that many of those who filled out my questionnaire enjoy reading, playing instruments, and also shop for clothes at places such as Primark, H&M, and Topshop/Topman. 

Questionnaire Analysis - Audience Research

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Questionnaire - Audience Research

This is the questionnaire that I supplied through social networking to get the public to fill in. 

Magazine Analysis: 'INDIE' - Music and Fashion

Front Cover Analysis of Indie

Here is a collection of front cover issues of the magazine Indie, an international music and fashion magazine which is released seasonally. I have decided to analyse these in bulk so that I would be able to show you this magazine's general style. 

This magazine generally has the front covers in washed out shades that create drama in the image. The colours used are pastel shades, or generally black and white with a splash of colour in places. After some research I found that in the summer editions the colours are generally brighter and bolder which shows that they take season into account when designing their front cover.

In terms of design, the front covers have a main subject of a person, who is generally surrounded by negative space; this creates a minimalist style. The masthead of the magazine consists of large, bold sans-serif text in white. This is the same on every issue so that they remain to keep the same recognisable name. The cover also has very minimal text. Besides the masthead, it has a barcode and just a few words in the bottom right corner.

The models on the front covers all have a unique style which goes against general conventions in style, for example a male with 'feminine' qualities such as long hair or a feminine face. Most men features on magazines would hold the typical image of a masculine male with rugged looks, and a beard. The woman on these magazines also contrast against other magazines as the women on these magazines have an edgy appearance with sharp features, bold makeup, or random objects featured with their image. Each model has a serious facial expression which shows the magazine is official, and something to be taken seriously. These models used are obviously to represent the generic 'indie' styled person who naturally goes against the trends in general style and music. This no doubt will attract an audience who relate with this rebellious personality, or those who feel this is the way to become their own person.

Overall, I think this is a daring way to design a magazine. The front covers hold almost no information on them, and show nothing of the inside contents except a hint that the model on the front cover will likely be featured. In my opinion, this magazine relies entirely on the curiosity of potential readers who want to see what's inside the mysterious magazine. It does well to represent people of similar style who want to be different. The magazine itself is quite a beautiful design and inspirational in that way. The magazine clearly targets a young-adult audience of ages 16 to late 20s who of which identify themselves to be 'different'. Older audiences are unlikely to find interest in this magazine as the indie movement is something amongst the younger generation.

'INDIE' is a magazine published in both German and English by Plastic Media who are based in Vienna. Roughly 55,000 copies are printed and sold every 4 months, but download copies are available. Plastic Media also publish a magazine called Material Girl which solely focuses on fashion and style.

Autumn Issue 2016

This is the magazine I managed to purchase (in German) online. This is the Autumn 2016 edition, which is a Japan issue - and is expressed through the red themed colour choices on the front cover. Each issue alternates between different countries so that it expands peoples' culture and knowledge. 

This is part one and two of the contents pages. In page one, we can see here that it has a very clear layout and with colours that slightly clash. For example, in the image on the left it's mainly green, whereas the image on the right is beige and blue. This could be showing typical conventions of Japanese style, or the magazine may just be expressing its non-conventional style.

'Contents' on both pages is in a clear, bold font and stands out well against the white background. The fonts in general on the contents pages both alternate, keeping the pages engaging, and the colourful line separating each of the subheadings allows everything to remain neat and easy to read.

Like seen in previous magazine analyses, this magazine has also used very brief and ambiguous headings under contents to draw in the readers; they don't even include a hook to allow the curiosity to peak. They have very minimal writing which adds to their layout.

In the contents pages, we're immediately greeted with striking images that may be looked upon as unflaterry or immoral, as they have strange expressions, and unusual clothing - or no clothing. I imagine they've done this as it's not something you see in generic fashion and music magazines, such as Q, or Elle; this approach stands them out from other magazines. The first image of the two woman standing amoungst carnations strikes me as quite a meaningful image as carnations are known to express admiration, but they're also featured in the Bible when Virgin Mary's tears fell to the floor and they grew in placement. This could be an image that's expressing motherhood, or love.

In summary, I think this is a simple and effective contents page. They are meant to be informative pages that help readers find what they're looking for, and I think this is a good example of exactly that.

Magazine Analysis: 'Uncut' - Music

Music magazine analysis from Kirsty Hamilton-Emery

This analysis of the magazine 'Uncut' is a good lead in my research. The only problem is that this magazine is the genre of rock, whereas I'd like to focus on a genre of indie music. I've struggled to find any indie based magazines in any shops and so have had to make the best out of the options I have.

Although this isn't the genre I would like to follow, it allows me to see the general layout of a music based magazine and give me ideas in how I should design my layout in the future. 

Genre Research of my Magazine

This is a scan of some notes I made to choose what my music magazine would focus on genre-wise. I thought the easiest way to go about this would be by choosing music I'm personally interested in so that I'll feel more involved in my work and will have more context without having to do a wide-spread of research.

I wrote down some artists I have in my playlists and researched the genre. The over-ruling genre I listen to seems to be indie/ indie rock so by having the broad genre of indie music I can include a wide range of artists in this, covering indie rock, indie pop, and so on.

Magazine Analysis: Front Cover and Contents Page - Fashion

Front Cover Analysis of Vogue

This front cover of the fashion magazine Vogue was published in the month of February, in 2014. The colour scheme of cold blue, white and soft red fit the winter season well; the red text stands out well against the blue background and adds an eye-catching effect to the front cover which is essential to draw in readers. The red text could also be seen to imply that bright times are ahead as spring quickly approaches. One of the cover lines in large text at the bottom left is talking about first looks at the upcoming spring fashion trends which can reinforce my previous statement.

A range of fonts are used in this front cover so that each text stands out by contrasting against each-other. It's important that the front cover is the most eye-catching part of the magazine in order to attract attention to itself. Serif - a mature font - is used in the title and a couple of cover lines; the header is always in this font for each of the magazines so that the magazine is easily distinguishable and maintains its appearance. Other sans-serif fonts used are bolder, others are in italics.

The image on the front cover is of Georgia May Jaggers, a British model. This model has an eye-catching flawless natural beauty: minimal makeup, soft pink lips, natural tousled hair, clear and smooth skin. She has a typical girl-next-door appearance which is what many people aspire to look like. She has a direct gaze and her green eyes are complemented against the background of the portrait and the denim jacket she's wearing. She has a well-known reputation of modelling for the denim clothing brand Hudson Jeans - the style choice in the cover also relates to the spring fashion that is revealed in the magazine.

The magazine is aimed at stylish females ranging from the ages of late teens to mid 30s, though some specific issues may have stories aimed at an older audience of 40s. Due to the audience aim, the language choices are appropriate for those with general knowledge of fashion, and those of the age range. This allows people to not be scared off by specific jargon of fashion, and instead feel welcomed to read into the subject. They use discrete terms in the cover: 'in bed with' which isn't unsuitable for younger, naive people to read. An interrogative is used in the cover which draws the reader towards the contents of the magazine to find the answer. Other texts featured on the magazine include brands for bad skin which many people can relate to and would be eager to find possible solutions.

Vogue is available to buy copies in print, and also to download as an e-magazine. Condé Nast Publications is the publisher that distributes Vogue. This company is an American mass media establishment who are responsible for many other magazines such as Glamour, Wired, The World of Interiors. The large range of magazines they publish are aimed at a large variety of different audiences which allows the publisher to make money out of many different people.

While this magazine's content doesn't directly apply to my music magazine development, it does help my research in magazine structure and professional image. My analysis has helped me to see the different language uses I can use to draw in an audience, and how to target a specific audience with just the cover.

Contents Page Analysis of V Magazine

This is the contents page to another fashion magazine named 'V'. Again, I am fully aware that I'll be producing a music magazine, but the beauty of fashion magazines is something I'm keen to include in my work. This issue was published in October 2008. V Magazine was launched in 1999, and releases a copy 4 times a year, for each season's fashion.



This design has a clear focus on the model of the image. She's the only person featured on the contents page, and the general colour scheme is set out to compliment her, for example using clear black and white writing, and grey background with a vignette to help the logo and header stand out. The model is also making direct address, and takes up at least half the page. She's wearing minimal clothing and her pose can be seen as seductive, and glamorous. Women looking 'sexy' is very conventional in the media, but it does help to promote fashion if the model is considered beautiful.

The font used for 'contents' is in bold, and clear writing so that the page stands out and is easy to distinguish, against the other pages. The writing for the sub-headings are in a fancy style with in a serif font. This can be seen to reflect the elegant and classy fashion within the magazine. Then the writing about the contents is in a clear font so it's easy to work out what is where.

The titles of the pages we can see featured on this page are short and quite ambiguous. For example, 'Barely There'. This could be referring to almost anything, but as we know that this is a fashion magazine, the connotations of 'barely there' are quite sexual in the way that there would be minimal clothing. This is likely to be what the main image on the contents page is referring to so that it draws the readers in.

Fashion is generally considered to be a 'girly' subject, and this magazine does seem to be one that targets itself at a trendy, young women audience. I am aware that this company produces a magazine called 'VMan' which is a fashion magazine aimed specifically at men.


In summary of these two short analyses, I can see that in fashion magazines they use a limited amount of colour, which tie each of the pages together by doing so. I think that it's important for magazines to be aesthetically pleasing in order to look professional, and I'm personally drawn towards these minimalistic layouts that keeps everything clear and organised.

Critical Analysis of College Magazine

This is my analysis of my front cover and contents page I designed.
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Front Cover and Contents Page with Peer Feedback

Front Cover:

 My front cover ended up following my flat-plan design well, and also my general expectations. Some possible improvements I was suggested by my peers included enlarging the text to decrease the large amounts of free space; adding a barcode; adding shadows to texts to aid in readability.


Contents Page:
I'm pleased with the end result of my contents page. I received good feedback but a couple suggested improvements were adding something else to reduce the white space on the page, and also using a wider variety of fonts.

Flatplan Designs: Front Cover and Contents Page

Front Cover Flatplan Design

Contents Page Flatplan Design

These two above documents are my flatplan designs for my front cover and contents page. I labelled what each rectangle represented for a more detailed design. I chose these layouts with inspiration from looking at other successful magazine covers and contents page.

Visual Audience Profile

Visual Audience Profile by kxrsty on Scribd

My visual audience profile wasn't as easy to do as I had hoped due to the questions I asked in my questionnaire. Next time I will know to ask more personal questions in order to get more of an idea of my audience.
I have based my audience profile on what I know my generation is generally like and what they enjoy doing.