Double Page Spread Feedback

This is the feedback I received from my class. It is mostly good with some constructive comments. One of the reoccurring comments was that the font of the text was too small/too much text. I am considering looking at my article again but feel that if it is shorter it would not be as good and interesting. The other comment was about the left side of the article having quite alot of whiter space, I am currently looking into what i could do to reduce that, whether I add a design or secondary images. It seems alot of people like the main image and say it looks professional, i think this is because of the colours used and how it flows with the rest of my magazine.

Double Page Spread

This is my double page spread. I may make some changes depending on the feedback that I receive. As I said in the flatplan I have an image of the model where she is facing towards the article which automatically drags the readers eyes to the article. The opaque 'S' behind the article worked well and I feel it prevents that side of the page from looking bland. The Slug also worked well and looks good with the models/pop stars name in.
 I also think the image works well with the pull quote as in the image she looks like a shy innocent normal girl, not a diva etc, and the fact that her jaw dropped when she saw Simon Cowell shows that she wasn't expecting much, or someone so famous to actually be coming to see her.

I tried 2 other images to be used on the double page spread but after alot of thinking i decided upon the one above as it was more relevant to the article and the innocence from it that she puts across. The images below were those that were considered for the place.

Double Page Spread Flat Plan

This is my flat plan for my double page spread. I have designed it to make it easy to read and not a clutter to the eye. The background colour will be white and the text will be black, this is because it ensures that it will be again easy to read and goes well with the house style of my magazine. The magazine is set on the left side of the double page spread with a pull quote over the bottom section of the model. The image I have decided on has my models body turned facing the article with her head tilted towards the camera, having the model position aimed towards the article automatically will take the readers eye to the article.

Behind the text in the article there is an opaque red 'S' standing for the name of whom the article is about. I have seen this in magazines such as Q and feel it brings more colour to the page without it being over the top. As I want to keep the brand noticeable throughout the magazine I have added the web address in the centre bottom third, the 'Pulse' logo in the top left third and a slug in the top right third.

The article will be in columns with a question followed by an answer.

Article for Double Page Spread

It was a bitter Tuesday in Newcastle,  a crowd of press and paparazzi were standing eagerly outside a small studio waiting for the Pop star to arrive. A large Range Rover pulled up outside and a perfect 5”8 pop princess stepped out before being protected by her 3 bulky bodyguards.
Sam who is now 22 has only been in the public eye for 2 years now but has taken the world by a storm.
It may seem to you and I that it all came easy to singer and songwriter Samantha Gold since she was discovered in 2011, but you don’t know half of it.

Me: So Sam, tell me how it all started, what made you want to become a singer? Who inspired you?

Sam: Well, it all started when I was around four. My mother was a keen singer, a great one to say the least and she would sing to me constantly. I would start copying her and singing along, she loved it. She would record me pretending to be in music videos and I would sing at friends and family’s birthdays. By this time I was about 8 or 9 and after all of the complements I was sure being a singer is what I wanted to do.

Me: Once you had made the descision that signing is what you wanted to do, you headed to New York to make your dreams come true, how did that work out for you?

Sam: It was in 2008 and I was 17, my dad wasn’t around anymore and I hadn’t seen him since I was about 10. My Mum and I had decided we were going to move to New York for six months to see if I could get a record deal. It was all planned amazingly in our heads. Mum had some contacts over there and I had done a lot of research, but it was the complete opposite once we arrived.  The apartment was rancid to say the least, we had company we didn’t expect. In the form of cockroaches. We spent the first week or so looking in to mum’s ‘contacts’ which were about as much help as a chocolate teapot!

Me: So, what happened next?

Sam: I had a studio session at home and had many copies with me. We started at the obvious, the huge record labels like Mercury and Warner Music Group before trying the back street companies that barely got any recognition. We tried around 30 labels and only a handful would take a copy “we’ve seen it all before” or “ you’re the 30^th person to come in giving a demo today, don’t get your hopes up sweet thing”. It made my blood boil, getting turned down one after one everyday.  Then that was it we had a week left before we had to leave to come home, the 6 months had vanished. Almost felt like it had been wasted. It was our last night so me and mum got over the fact that a music deal in ‘The Big Apple’ wasn’t going to happen and went out for food. We were sitting talking about what we were going to do once we got back home, I still wanted to be a singer and I made that clear. I noticed that the twenty-something year old man on the table next to us was paying attention to our conversation, smirking every so often.

Me:  And? Come on the tense is killing me! Who is he? Justin Timberlake?

Sam: No! I wish! But yes, the man next to us leaned forward to catch our attention. “Why don’t you post your songs on YouTube?” Mum and I froze in confusion that we hadn’t thought of this earlier, we had heard of a few artists that appeared from YouTube. We thanked the man next to us and caught our flight home.

Me: Wow, so now you’re sitting in front of me. 5 years later, with an amazing career. Thanks to that one man in New York.

Sam: I know it’s amazing! I set up the YouTube account within 10 minutes of walking through the front door once we got home before I sat and recorded my first cover, Alicia Keys- No One. It got about 50 views in the first day, 20 of them were probably family members. But day after day the views were growing, people were sharing the videos on social networks and within the month it had 200,000 views. I uploaded another and another and another. My subscribers were growing. 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000. Every time I checked it was growing, I was getting more and more positive feedback, likes and views.  In 6 months I had 450,000 subscribers and multiple twitter accounts dedicated to me. I got a phone call from YouTube, in New York. They were sending me a gift for reaching that amount of subscribers in the short time, A trip to London. It was strange at first a girl from County Durham sitting in a room with my mum in a hotel. We had no idea what we were waiting for. There was a knock at the door and a cough before he walked in. Both mine and mum’s jaw dropped. It was Simon Cowell.

Me:  Wait, so within 6 months of you setting up the account you received a phonecall from YouTube, they paid for  a trip to London for a surprise and you had no idea you were about to meet Simon Cowell?

Sam: Yes! So Simon came in and sat on a chair opposite us, he explained that he had seen me on YouTube after his secretary showed him. He was really impressed so contacted YouTube so they could contact me. That day was talking about a lot of meetings in London, I was having to travel down there every weekend all expenses paid. After a month or so of meetings and singing in front of a room of businessmen an press Simon finally signed me to his label Simco. "I don't want you to jump in the deep end just yet" he repeated. So I didn't, I spent around a year and a half writing material in the studio with amazing writers and musicians and learning my technique. Finally in 2010 Simon said I was ready. Being my manager he organised a lot of gigs, press coverage and had me meeting a lot of people whose name I would never remember.

Me: Sounds like you had a busy year, it didn’t go well to start but look where you are now!

Sam: I know and I am so blessed to be where I am today. I most likely wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that man in New York who told me to set up a YouTube account.

Me: Congratulations on that! It is really well deserved! Stay in touch with us Sam and when is the album out?

 Sam: Thank you so much!  New album ‘The Change’ is out December 15^th.

By Emily Bunker

Contents page changes and Final

When looking back at my work I realised that I had a page in the contents 'Get to know pulse magazine!' set as page 3. It then came to my attention that the contents page was in fact page 3 and the previous page number needed to be changed. I have made the changes to the page and will upload it below. 

Final Contents Page 

Contents Page Peer Feedback

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Overall the feedback I received was positive, complements about my images, font and colour scheme. 

I received some useful feedback such as that I could add an editors note or more sub images. I am considering adding an editors note to my contents page but it would take some reorganization to manage to fit it in and it could end up making my contents page look crowded and/or messy. When it comes to adding another sub image I think it would make the page look cluttered and look more aimed to a younger audience to what my magazine is aimed at.    

Contents Page

This is my final contents page, I have varied with the opacity of the bar shown on the left side containing the page numbers and articles and decided this would be the best as it shows good colour yet still shows the main image behind. I like this as it prevents the page looking to bold with constant blocks of colour and creates more of a flow.

As I needed to maintain the brand identity I added the magazines logo in the top right corner and kept the colour scheme the same in addition to having the magazines web address at the bottom centre third of the page. 

Contents page flat plan

I've designed the flat plan of my contents page to not be over crowded and to link with the front page by including the same colour scheme and model. The 'Pulse' logo is also being used in the top right corner with the issue number and date in the left corner above the title. I am yet to decide whether my title will say 'Contents' or ' In this issue' but I will do them both and decide between the two.  

The image I will be using is one taken by me of the model that is also used in the front cover. I noticed whilst doing research that magazines tend to use interesting images or poses on their contents page, therefore I told my model to create this pose for me to photograph. 

The column to the left of the main image will be an opaque red meaning some of the side of the main image can be seen. The page numbers will be shown clearly to make it as easy as possible for the customer to find what they are looking for.

November Schedule

Edited and Final Front Cover

When looking at the feedback for my front cover it came to my attention that some said the background was quite plain. This made me think that having too much of a plain background was making my magazine look bland and wouldn't attract as many people to buy it. Plus as it is the front cover it is the first thing that the audience/customers see, they need to be interested in the magazine to want to buy it.
I have edited my front cover by adding some splash effects of colour from the brushes tool in what I feel are suitable watercolours and make my model stand out a lot and also take away the plainness of the previous background. I also didn't like the layout of the previous edition of the magazine once the colour was added therefore I removed the text boxes and made the layout more like Billboard magazine with the '+' sign and coverlines all on one side of the page. Due to the change of page design it means that I haven't stuck to my flat plan therefore I have made another one and will also add that in the next post. Although I haven't stuck to my original front cover flat plan I have changed it for the interest of the audience and what they would like to see, which overall would make my cover better and more interesting.