Contents Page Layout

These images show the process of my contents page. I have outlined what I added and changed in order for it to look consistent and link to the front cover.

Contents Page Image Choices

Here is a video I made on Stupeflix which shows all the test shots I took for my contents page. Most of the images are suitable for the contents page as they are mid-shots. Although the model is in black clothing, the red lipstick really stands out and is quite eye-catching so I think these images are still suitable for a pop magazine. The poses are creative and unique and the lighting is very effective as it makes the model the centre of attention. The third image is one of my favourite as the pose is creative and the model has a wide smile which is very eye-catching. The eighth image is also my favourite because the lighting has created a shadow and the way the model's hair falls down is really unique. I will have to choose my image carefully because I have limited space on the contents page and I need it to fit in.

Contents Page Research

Front Cover Target Audience Feedback

Created with Padlet

After conducting feedback from my target audience, I  found out that the potential readers liked my front cover however, they did make some criticisms which could overall, affect my magazine because I could use their advice during the production of my contents page and double page spread. By using the criticisms, I could adapt them to make my magazine consistent and look like a magazine from my intended genre which is pop. This feedback may impact my magazine as I could use my target audience's opinions to construct a contents page and DPS that will linked to front cover and the features added will reflect their opinions. 

Front Cover linked to Research

My market and audience researched helped me a lot in the making of my front cover as I used the opinions from my target audience to make it according to the features suggested. I made the masthead bold and vibrant and by adding a white background and white outline on the graphic, it makes it more eye-catching. I also made my artist quite large to make her the centre of attraction, I used a couple of graphics, I added relevant coverlines with suitable images and I used two bright colours as well as black and white for the text. I think pink goes well with all the other colours on the page because it looks consistent. Overall, my market and audience research has helped me with the making of my front cover as I was able to incoorporate all the features mentioned by my target audience.

Front Cover Features and Cover Layout

Here is my front cover which isn't fully complete because I still need to add other features on it. I used paint to outline the existing features on my front cover.

To begin with, I chose to place the masthead on the top left corner of the page as one of the existing 'WE HEART POP' magazine had its masthead in the top left hand corner and it was rotated so I adapted the same features into my own magazine front cover. The blue line outlines the masthead. At first, I only had the 'Spark' by itself but I saw that the 'WE HEART POP' magazine had a graphic behind the masthead so I incoorporated the same convention into my own magazine.

Most pop magazines have busy covers and many other features on the front cover so I got some Justin Bieber and Chris Brown albums, tookk pictures of them, and then photo shopped them onto my cover. I then added relevant cover lines which have been outlined with the red lines. This advice was given to me by my teacher and I thought it worked quite well as the pictures had to be original and my own so adding in album covers was relevant and unique.

I chose to place the model on the right hand side of the cover because whilst conducting research on existing Pop magazines, I saw models were usually placed on one side of the magazine and I also chose to follow my flatplan as closely as I could. The yellow outline shows my model on the right hand side and I think so far the spacing has been used effectively.

Underneath my artist, I added her name and a quote. I saw that the 'WE HEART POP' magazine had everything rotated in one direction for example the masthead, coverlines,quotes and the artists name and so I decided to follow this convention. I think my quote isn't quite relevant but it could work because I could use the same quote on the double page spread and add it to the artists interview. The pink outline shows how I have rotated the name and quote in the same angle to match that of the masthead and coverlines.

I noticed that many pop magazines have some graphics on the front cover so I added a star shaped graphic and chose not to add a fixed price because 'under a fiver' seemed more eye-catching' and I saw that some pop magazines did not have a fixed price on them. This has been outlined in green and again, I rotated the writing inside the star to make my front cover consistent. The star graphic is pink and outlined in black because it matches with the masthead graphic and makes it look consistent and the artists name is also in pink.

I added a text box at the bottom of the page because when I was conducting my research, I saw that pop magazine front covers had text boxes either on the top of the page or the bottom with the latest coverline and I followed this convention and added the textbox to make it eye-catching. My teacher gave me advice to change the colour to something different like purple and magazines usually have 2 or 3 main colours so I made it purple to make it stand out. This is outlined in black to show how I followed the conventions of pop magazines as well as my flatplan.


Last but not least, I have outlined some missing space in purple because it looked quite empty and I thought I would more coverlines to complete my front cover as well as add a barcode underneath the red outlined coverlines. Overall, I think the spacing has been quite well but I could've made it better by making it more professional because my target audience is older teenagers and adolescents. I will add a barcode and more coverlines to complete my front cover.

I first thought I would cut my model out because I was finding it hard to adjust the lighting and colour but taking advice from my peers and teachers, they told me it look quite unprofessional so I decided to just add the picture back into Photoshop and work with it. I watched multiple videos and figured out a way to blend the picture into the background and make it look a part of it. My masthead was dull pink colour which I picked up from the models flowers on her dress but pop magazines are bright so I changed the colour to a brighter pink.

After changing most of the features and colours and adjusting the light levels, I made the picture blend into the background, changed the colour of the masthead and added the artists name and a quote. I saw a huge difference as it now looked more professional and more like a pop magazine.

Examples of Photograph Manipulation

This is an 'emaze' that I made showing some photograph manipulations during my construction period.
Here is a link to the page if it doesn't work.

http://www.emaze.com/@AFZZRFRF/examples-of-photograph-manipulation

Masthead/Font Decisions

•When I first started to think about masthead ideas, I was inspired by existing mastheads. These consisted of the words: King of Pop, Bust, Popstar, Express, Glamour and Blender. Two words that I came up with were RazzleDazzle and Spark. King of Pop reminds everyone of Michael Jackson so it wouldn’t be a suitable name, Bust has negative connotations and it could link to Hip-Hop and Grime music, Popstar is quite informal and may relate to the younger teenage audience, Express is already a famous magazine, Glamour sounds like a makeup and beauty magazine and Blender doesn’t sound like a Pop magazine but rather links to a health and food magazine. I then came to the conclusion that RazzleDazzle was also quite informal and wasn’t suitable for my target audience. I made a final decision to name my magazine Spark. I think this is a suitable masthead because it is quite formal and relates well to my genre of music, Pop.
•I first chose font 1 as I thought it represents the word ‘spark’ quite well. However, it doesn’t relate to the pop theme and I don’t think mastheads with the exaggerated serif work well with the theme of Pop. Also, at this point, I hadn’t researched other fonts so I thought this was the best one.
•Font 2 is my final choice because after asking my peers, my teachers and investigating for myself, I quite like this font because it has connotations of a bubble and links well to my theme. However, I experimented with different colours as you can see in fonts 5,9 and 10. I think font 10 is targeted towards younger teenagers so it isn’t suitable for my target audience but it reminds me the typical ‘spark’ colour as its yellow. Font 5 and 9 are quite suitable for both my target audience and my theme and I will experiment with the colours after I do test shots as I can use the model’s outfit for the colour inspiration.

•Font 3,4,6,7 and 8 are some other fonts I got hold of  but after looking at different fonts, I realised that these ones didn’t suit my theme so I will use font 2 as my final font because it suits my theme and my target audience as it is quite ‘mature’ and the spacing of the letters is quite effective. 

Test Shots, Final Shot and Model Consent Form

Here is a video I made on stupeflix.com where you can see all the test shots I have taken for my front cover, contents page and double page spread.

 The first shot I took was a mid-closeup shot of my model standing up and she wasn't posing. I decided that this shot wasn't suitable for my magazine because the model looks too simple and this doesn't match the conventions of a pop magazine where the model is usually posing. However, I like the model's smile and the angle of gaze as it looks quite intriguing. This shot might be suitable for the contents page or the double page spread as these are usually simpler compared to the front cover.

 The second shot I took was a mid-long shot where my model was posing. Her pose isn't too over the top but still makes it relative to my theme. Her wide smile is also eye-catching however, I personally think that it will be hard to work with if I made it my front cover image but it could work for the contents page or the double page spread.

 The third shot is my final shot for the front cover of my magazine. I think this is a unique angle and the angle of gaze is also innovative. In this mid-closeup shot, my model was sitting down and slightly looking up at the camera which makes her the main focus on the cover. Her wide smile is also very hooking and the natural lip colour goes against the conventions but the colours on her dress make it better. When it comes to my masthead choices, I will consider making it brighter so that my cover has some bright features.

 The fourth shot I took was a long shot of my model standing up with her hands in front. I think this is a different pose which isn't usually seen on pop music magazines. I could use this for my contents page as it looks good and very eye-catching.

 The fifth shot is also a long shot of my model sitting down with her legs out. This is suitable for the double page spread because I have intended to use a sitting down image of my model with her legs out and this is preferably the best one. She doesn't have a wide smile which could help me write a suitable interview and this could also help me make up a quote.

 The sixth and last shot I took is a mid-closeup of my model sitting down and this one is very similar to my final decision however, I liked the third shot better compared to this one because this was a little blurry near the eyes. However, I like the angle of gaze and the shot angle.  The last picture on this video is my model holding her model consent form to show that I used her consent when taking these test shots.
When I was taking these pictures, I didn't add enough lighting to the background so it came out came dark and hence, some shadows were created. I thought this would be a big problem but I will fix it when it comes to manipulating the images.

Overall, I like the images I took as I think they are suitable for my target audience and also suit my theme. They aren't targeted towards younger teens because I would've used brighter colours but I used some natural colours to make it suitable for this age range. Last but not least, when I was taking these images, I didn't follow my shots as I didn't take all of the shots I had planned to. Although, I didn't follow the shot list, I managed to get a good variety of images.


This is my final shot.

Shot List

Shot 1 shows my model with both hands on her hips, with her mouth open wide. I thought I would use a multi-coloured background so that it would link to the Pop genre.

Shot 2 shows my model holding a microphone with a hat on and I thought these accessories link well with Pop and would make my model stand out. I chose to make it a white background so that it would be easier to use the photo later on.

Shot 3 shows my model holding a bag. I thought this shot wasn't quite suitable for a music magazine because it would look like an image for a fashion magazine.

Shot 4 shows my model with her hands on her mouth and her mouth wide open. The expression on her face will be eye-catching as her angle of gaze will be straight towards the camera and her hair could be styled for it to look more as a part of the Pop genre.

Shot 5 shows my model with both of her hands on her hips and she's looking in the distance. This is to make her attractive and make it unique but I think it would be most suitable for a double page spread as the angle of gaze isn't eye-catching for the front cover.


Shot 6 shows my model sitting down and her whole body can be seen. Again, I think this shot is most suitable for the double page spread because an interview can be based around the image and the space can be used for efficiently.

Shot 7 shows my model posing with sunglasses and I thought is accessorie would make it unique and make my model stand out on the contents page. I am thinking of adding other models on the contents page because the conventions of a Pop magazine is that the the front cover and contents page are usually really busy and full of different features.

Shot 8 shows my model standing on the right hand side and her angle of gaze is towards the interview given by her and this type of shot is inspired by an existing magazine I saw whilst conducting my research on music magazines and their double pages spreads.


Shot 9 shows my model standing on her side and I thought I side view would be appropriate for the double page spread as it would be unique and could also link to the models interview.

Shot 10 shows my model with her mouth wide open and her hands on her mouth and she is placed on the right hand side of the double page spread with the interview on the left side. The big pull quote links well with the model's expression and I thought I would add more images of the model at the bottom of the interview to make it all about her.


Shot 11 shows my model in the middle of the page to make her the centre of attraction and the models name will be in large lettering to make it stand out. The interview will be on the bottom or one either side. This is suitable for the double page spread because most DPS' show the model's long shot and the outfit is quite exaggerated.


Shot 12 is my  last shot which shows my model standing on the left hand side and the interview is on the right hand side. The model is looking at her name which will be above the interview and will be in large, bold lettering with a couple of images inserted in between the interview.