Marina and the Genre-Artist research

The second artist i chose to do research on was Marina from Marina and the Diamonds.

I am starting to like the idea of having a main singer with their own style and fashion sense, who are part of a band such as Marina and the diamonds or Florence and the machine.

Preliminary task

     

This is my front cover for my preliminary task.

I have included some of the features of a magazine such as: 

. The masthead - the masthead is relevant to the type of magazine and I chose the font I did as it gives the impression of being handwritten. As this 

magazine is 'for the students by the students' it creates ability to relate.

. The web address-  due to the rise in online media use, most magazines are now also available on a website 

. The left third - usually the majority of cover lines are in the left third of the magazine as this is where most attention is paid

. Cover star- the cover star draw immediate focus and is also making direct address with the reader which encourages them to buy and read the magazine

. Barcode- all magazines have to have a barcode as this is necessary for purchase

However, some of the features of a magazine haven't been included in my magazine, for example the date. Also many of my font choices are not corresponding with the style of the magazine, especially the one used on the main cover line, as it appears to fierce and harsh.

The preliminary task cemented my knowledge of the features of a magazine so will help in my final product as anything I have left out this time I will remember next time. 

Also, I like the idea of a 'handwritten' style font, so I may carry this through to use a similar style in my final magazine. 

Image for preliminary task

After taking a range of photographs, I decided to use either of these for my Preliminary task magazine cover, as they were taken from flattering angels that complimented the model.
However, i chose to use the top one in the end as i think her facial expression is more inviting and friendly. Also, her body positioning is better as it is more interesting than the straight on image.

Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine - artist research

To gain inspiration, I carried out some research into some of the artists who I felt carried out similar styles to the artist I plan to create, in order to gather information about their genres.

The first artist I decided to look at was 'Florence and the Machine' who falls under the genre of indie/alternative. In particular I looked at the lead singer Florence Welch as she provides the biggest impact on the group, via style, magazine covers and publicity.

I discovered Florence's style often varied between two main styles. The first of these being a soft gentle style often with vintage tones and calm facial expressions (relaxed, smiling) Or the second, and edgy, powerful look, where bright, bold colours are channelled along with sharp angles or serious facial expressions.

A mixture of these two styles can be seen in the collage I made below. 

For Florence Welch I feel the vintage tones work best for her music genre, making the black and white or softer coloured images the most suitable for her work. However, despite them being the overall style working best, my favourite image in the collage is the bottom right, as despite its edgy, modern style, the editing has created a relaxed tone. In a magazine it would be the image I'd choose to use.

Therefore, if my artist is going to be a similar genre to Florence and the Machines, I will be more likely to consider softer tones but with a modern style.

Below are some examples of the magazines Florence Welch has appeared in. Although they're not all music magazines, they give an idea or the image she portrays to the readers of the issue as well as clues to her personality.

In this issue or vogue, we can see Florence in a very powerful stance, showing the attitude we would expect to see from her, but also carrying herself in a very ladylike manner. I like her fashion sense in this photograph, but don't think high end fashion would be suitable for the artist I have in mind at the moment.

Here, her glamorous style is still presented, but in a more relate able way, that allows her to appear like a 'regular person.' This down to earth characteristic often makes an artist more likeable due to more people feeling comfortable in relating to them and looking up to them. However, the mild direct address and blocking causes there to appear to be a lack of her individual style and personality injected into the cover.

 In my opinion, this cover portrays Florence's personality the most accurately. The medium close up with direct address shows her confidence and power immediately, with her fiery hair connotating the expressive part of her personality. On the other hand, the hand shielding her face slightly shows vulnerability and a protective nature, making her seem able to relate to, yet a good role model.

Band/Artist image research

Whilst trying to decide the genre I feel I could best create a magazine for myself, I chose to look for images of 'possible artists' that I felt were inspiring. Although these images are not of actual singers, the styles they are portraying are useful for me to decide the style I feel best suits the magazine I wish to create.
I love all of the images in some way, as they each offer a different vibe. The black and white images create an edgy yet modern and cool look, whilst those in colour offer a more quirky vibe, with creativity.
All of the pictures share some common ground; they all portray 'attitude' and a 'care free' tone to their characters. I think I would like these qualities to be replicated in my band or artist rather than the 'squeaky clean' of a pop singer as it appears less realistic.
Therefore this exercise has helped me narrow down my genres, as well as begin to decide on the image of the band or artist- Carefree, down to earth, with all or some of the edgy/modern/quirky vibes portrayed above.

Spin magazine music analysis

I decided to look at the music magazine 'Spin' as I was intrigued by the genre varieties presented in the different issues. The magazine is able to adapt its style to cater for the opposing genres due to its simplistic style and versatility.
Other than the masthead, the colour scheme is back and white, injected with colours to match the cover stars music style. However, the fonts and colour blocking used portrays power, suggesting those on the cover possess confidence and strength as an artist.
On the first magazine cover, Haley Williams, the rock band 'Paramore's' lead singer stands in a aggressive stance to mirror the control and power of the magazine style. Also, her clothing matches the general black and white theme leaving her hair to inject the colour. By doing this, the attention is drawn to her and focus' on her as an artist but also highlights her simplistic beauty with her fair skin connotation innocence to contrast her fiery hair colour. Therefore, although her stance is in agreement with her fiery hair colour, the cover line 'Sexy doesn't have to be tan, blonde girl showing off her goodies' shows her classy demeanour and lady like intentions.
The second magazine is a completely contrasting genre and personality. The artist on the cover shows a quirky side to herself through the use of clashing bright colours along with a stance to provide 'attitude.' Her two tone lipstick could connotate different sides of her personality; orange to connotate the fiery, outgoing side whilst pink the feminine, fashionable side. The edgy clothing and pose, create an immediately recognisable image that reveal many aspects of her personality as well as possible music style before even knowing the artist well.
Both artists show confidence and power through their use of direct address and determined facial expressions along with the previously discussed aspects.
My reasons for analysing Spin magazine is because I wanted to explore how the magazine manipulated its style to support each genre and which I felt worked best.
Although both magazines are successful in their suitability for the genre, I think the powerful blocking and fonts work best along side the rock genre of 'Paramore' whilst the 'rap/hip hop' genre would be better suited to a brighter, edgier layout.

Billboard music magazine

I decided to do research into Billboard magazine as I felt the magazine covers would provide influences into my own work.

The music genre included is  mainly chart (pop) music and follows most of the typical codes and conventions. 

In the first magazine cover of Lady Gaga, i like the incorporation of the colours on the magazine cover with her vibrant hair colour. I also like the idea of the main cover star being central to the cover, as it focus' attention on them. 

In the Coldplay cover, the use of the graffiti wall suggests the new path their music may be trying to take as they have often been seen as a rock band but this suggest the more alternative element of their music taking the forefront.

All of the covers are a modern style, which is what i intend to do in my own magazine, to portray the intentions of the artist as well as relate to the target audience. 

I would say the target audience of billboard magazine is from teenagers around the age of 16 up to adults around 25 years old. This is because the layout is mature and not sprawled with teen artists. Also, it doesn't advertise gossip on the lives of the stars, but rather an insight into their style and an update of the chart music.

Not being genre specific, the magazine focus' on the news for each genre, particularly the charts.

This can help me as I can see the ways magazines meet the needs of their target audiences.

Music magazine analysis

For each magazine, we were given the name, main cover star and genre and then had to create cover lines and other features for the magazine.

Typography task

The coverline font should create a link between the magazines style and the main cover stars personal image. Therefore, with the magazine style being urban but chic, and in this image, the cover star is presenting a modern, powerful personality.

The cover line font should therefore be, urban but powerful and modern to create a relationship between the two. I think the fonts that best do this are B, E and F as they all have an urban edge but all connotative being powerful in different ways.

In my opinion the font that works best is version E as its similar to the masthead font but also is sharp suggesting the modern powerful aspects of the cover stars personality. I also think font B would work well due to the bold letters at the beginning of each word showing power whilst the rest has an urban feel.