Drafting & Planning: Further Improvements to my cover page.

I have changed my pug font to Andre Heavy SF from Budoken SF. I have also changed the colour from deep red to deep pink. Secondly, I changed the information accompanying my headlines from Budoken SF to Calibri because Rocksound rarely uses fonts that have Serif.

Evidence of colour testing on my pug/coverline:

I have also evidenced the testing of enlargement and the use of anti-red eye in paint.net:

In addition to my improvements, I have decided to change the layout of my front page. I have decided to do this because when I was comparing it to other Rocksound issues it looked very different and did not conform completely to the conventions of Rocksound. In addition to this, I have changed my additional coverlines to upper-case. I have done this because it makes my magazine more realistic, and adds a professional feel to sans-serif font choice, Also, I have changed my magazine price to £3.50 (from £3.99) because although the price of Rocksound can vary, the more prominent price is £3.50. I also made the choice to change the Paramore coverline into a skyline, as I feel that my magazine did not conform to the codes and conventions as well as it could have,

As well as this I have added more coverlines, as Rocksound has numerous coverlines compared my my magazine. I believe these changes have made my front cover more professional and attractive to my target audience.

Improved Draft:

Drafting & Planning/ Organisation: Personal improvements to my magazine.

Drafting & Planning:

Cover:

• Change pugs to pink so that my cover will have a variety of covers. This will make it more similar to the housestyle of Rocksound because they have a variety of colours on their front covers. (Done)
• Change some Budoken SF to another font (Done)
• Make sure the new font has no Serif (Done)
• Make cover star bigger on paint.net (Done)
• Reduce red eye in paint.net (Done)
• Make the space between the main coverline smaller- this will make the cover look more professional (Done)
• Add a web address to the cover (Done)

Double Page Spread:

• Change the 'drugs are fun' font. Done
• Remove photo- it does not have musical mise en scene. (Done)
• Check grammar. (Done)
• Cut out actions - rocksound doesnt include *laugh* 's. Done
• Change the title back to Impact to give it synergy. Done
• Change pull quote fonts.
• Rewrite part of the article so it matches completely with the introduction.

Contents Page:

• Add facebook and twitter icons to show where you can download tracks from.
• Add way more page numbers because Rocksound is a monthly magazine and usually has around 100 pages.

Organisation:

I plan to update my Front Cover on the 31st January. I am choosing to edit my front cover first because it is largely important that I decide and arrange my coverlines before I start editing my contents page, or the articles will not converge and my magazine will look unprofessional and broken up.

Next, I will edit my double page spread. I believe that this will take longer to edit than my contents page, but a shorter time than my front cover. I will complete this on the 3rd of February because I am able to stay behind at sixth form that day, so if it takes longer to fix than I thought, I wont run out of time and rush.

I plan to update my contents page last, on the 4th of February. This is because I believe it is the least flawed out of my pieces, and I think my time would be better spent making improvements on my double page spread and front cover. The 4th of February is also my study day so if the amendments to the contents page take longer than i anticipated I will still have allocated myself an adequate amount of time to fix this.

Drafting & Planning: Colour Wheel.

After I got my suggestions from improvements from my peers and teacher, and also after I assessed it myself, it was clear to me that my range of colours may be too small to conform to the ideals of magazines similar to Rocksound.

(Such as this issue. The layout is neat but the colours vary slightly.) 

Rocksound has a slight carnivalesque approach, but it also has a good layout so I know that I need to keep my cover neat and nicely laid out like in my drafts. The thing I need to alter is a few of the colours. I have used mainly reds and purples but I was unsure about which alternative colours I could use which would not ruin the house style of my magazine.

I used a colour wheel to identity these colours, and now I know that I need to use colours from the left side of the colour wheel. I plan to change a few of my pugs and puffs to pink or dark purple.

Organisation: Blog Tracker.

Here is the latest blog tracker update. I am still lacking in posts for target audience and organisation so in the upcoming weeks I will make sure I add more posts.

Drafting & Planning: Contents Page Improvements

I have changed the word breaks on the contents page because the majority of rock magazines do not have word breaks in their contents page titles.
In addition to this, I have added another picture because this conforms to the norms of magazines similar to Rocksound. They nearly always have multiple pictures on the contents page.

I have also re-sized the subscription advertisement because when I printed it out to test whether it looked like a real magazine the font was much too large.
I made the decision to delete the Lostprophets title and replace it with a story from my cover page. This helps my magazine to converge because the titles flow from page to page. A second reason I have decided to change it is because the front man for Lostprophets has been found guilty of an unpleasant crime and magazines like Rocksound do not cater for these types of stories.

Drafting & Planning: Double Page Spread Improvements.

I have changed the title from Impact to 28 days later so that the font can represent my band as gritty and urban. A second reason I have changed the font of the title is that magazines like Rocksound use a variety of fonts, so I have chosen an abnormal font but kept the house style colours the same so that my double page spread can still be holistic. I have also enlarged the title because the previous one was not 'in your face' enough to be suitable for a rock magazine.

In addition to this i have altered the colour of the introduction text and i have also altered the colour of the photo caption text. This makes the double page spread more appealing and easier for the readers to read because the red is no longer overwhelming. I chose to keep the second pull quote the same so that the double page spread doesn't differ too much from the house style of the front cover and the contents page.

Drafting & Planning: Front cover improvements.

Improved:

I have added more secondary picture and more cover lines so that my magazine looks less plain. I have also added free posters which is a stereotypical trait of rock music magazines. I have also changed the colour of the story lines because magazines similar to Rocksound usually have a variety of colours, and using just red and white was too simple. I have also tilted the smaller coverlines so that my magazine can have a carnivalesque approach rather than being laid out steadily..

Drafting & Planning/ Organisation: Feedback to First Draft

Drafting & Planning

Two of my classmates gave me feedback on my draft pieces so that I know what improvements need to be made.

Front Cover:

• The cover is not cluttered enough to be similar to Rocksound. Another secondary image needs to be added.
• Some more cover lines need to be added.

Double Page Spread:

• Add in page numbers.
• Change the title from 'Chemical Lungs to a Broken Heart' to something else. 
• Make the pull quote bigger.

Contents:

• Don't use Lostprophets.
• Add another picture of Thorns and Roses.
• Create more simple magazine covers so it can look like there are more magazines available.

Organisation

I will begin to improve the front cover today, on the 15th of January and make sure I am finished my the 16th. I am planning to complete this first because i need to finalise my cover lines before i begin to alter my contents page, as they need to be the same.

I will then start on my double page spread on the 17th. Although the improvements themselves will not take a long time, I need to give myself a good amount of time to assess whether my new idea for a article title is good enough and comprehensive enough to flow with the housestyle and attitude of the magazine.

Next i will do my contents page on the 20th of January. I am choosing to do this last as i have little improvement suggestions and I think i would be managing my time badly if I spend too long on small adjustments.