contents page

the idea i wanted to create was a simple easy contents, like nme magazine, which i used as the base, i stole the ideas of the subscribe, the centre main articles, and the band index.
this is what i got in one lesson:

i used the band index on one side as it allows the reader to focus on the parts of the magazine they want to read and are attracted to. the centre pictures. the main two articles are placed in the middle as they are the ones that would appeal to my target audience.

my final product reflects NME in another way:

in my final product of my contents page i have reflected NME in its layout: band index  on the left, main articles in the centre and the rest of the contents on the right. this reflects NME magazines layout so my audience will recognise it  and it will make it more easily navigable for my audience, which will convince them to buy it.
                                          

Album Review: The Kids We Used To Be(2010)
The latest album from the melodic punk and hardcore band from St Albans, Your Demise have created a musical masterpiece. The intro 'MMX' takes the catchphrase of the album 'Your Demise, 2010 B*tch' and continues with heavy riffs and a strong drumbeat. The next song is the single 'Miles Away' a 90s punk throwback song with melodic riffs and a upbeat feeling. The album switches between hardcore and metal boundaries, with classic Your Demise-esque songs such as 'xo' and 'scared of the light' in classic beer and hate fuelled anger. However, some of the album is very melodic, such as 'teenage lust', 'like a broken record' in which ed mcrae, the vocalist does some convincing singing. Another song to be noted for its melodic singing is 'life of luxury' which features Mike Duce from Lower Than Atlantis for the singing parts. There's even a comedic punk song 'Get the f**k out of Little Rock' a short interval from the hard hitting riffs and double bass fuelled drumbeat. The title track 'the kids we used to be' is a mixture of punk, metal and hardcore. There's a hardcore, original Your Demise style beatdown, some sweep picking from the metal genre and lot of Punk influenced drums.

Rating: 9.1/10
Comments:'The st albans hardcore 5 piece have done it again, with a blend of punk, hardcore and metal, they are destined to become an influential band of this decade. Simply a masterpiece.'

feature story

With roaring riffs and harsh vocals,Your Demise stormed the Camden Underground this January. Celebrating their new album of the same title, The Kids We Used To Be, The UK tour kicked off in London. Supporting acts Stick To Your Guns(US), Break Even(Aus) and Letlive (UK) shared the stage.

The opening band, Letlive, released their passionate 80's roots style hardcore punk, comparable to Black Flag and Bad Brains. The live set was well composed for an underground band, who's strong guitar and shouting vocals got the crowd jumping and singing along. They played the full tracklist from their new album, 'Fake History', but did a surprise cover of Black Flag's infamous single 'Fix Me' which got the crowd chanting along for their closing song.

The next band to take the stage was Break Even, a hardcore band from Austrailia. This was their first ever UK tour, and first ever UK gig but were received well by the crowd(half of the crowd was wearing their t shirts!). They opened with the intro from their latest album, 'The Bright Side' called sunrise, a very mellow acoustic buildup to the rest of the hardcore punk with emotion from this band. The crowd reacted well, with many of them singing along into the microphone, many mosh pits and a lot of activity. They finished with a more mellow, acoustic cover of their biggest single 'October 27th' a light way to finish a energetic, heavy set.

The main support act was next. Stick To Your Guns, a US hardcore band. Hard hitting riffs, and crowd vocals were rife throughout the set. They opened up with their new albums intro which got the crowd moving. During their hour set they did a whole playthrough of the new album, which got the crowd jumping onto the stage and singing along and pitting against the walls. They ended their hour long set with their title track 'We're what seperates the heart from the heartless' which included guest vocals from Ed Mcrae from Your Demise. At the end of the set they went wild, with a wall of death covering the whole venue, and then the crowd invaded the stage in a flurry of singing, fists and moshing.

Finally, the headlining act was to show. Your Demise, a hardcore band hailing from St Albans, UK hit the stage. This is their first album promotion tour, 'the kids we used to be tour". They opened with the intro of the new album 'MMX' getting everyone hyped up with its famous chant of 'Your Demise, 2010 b*tch!'. The next few songs were taken from the old album, 'ignorance never dies', the songs were 'blood ran cold', 'nothing left but regret'. Half way through the set, there was a fifteen minute break, they played their 'unknown dub' track, a dubstep track which got everybody dancing along to it. Once the set started again, they played an old song from the 2007 album 'thick as thieves' which was called 'No Half Measures' which got the whole crowd moving, and got them chanting their famous line 'see you, you c**t, ill cut you first'. They then proceeded to play their final song of the set, their tour and album title track 'the kids we used to be'. Once the set had ended, a crowd hungry for more songs chanted for an encore. They came back on to play their most famous track 'Burnt tongues' which involved a constant crowdsurfing, a wall of death spanning the whole venue and a whole crowd stage invasion of hardcore dancers at the end.

3 things to finish today

- get my title font on - after a long battle, my font is on.
- Add the baseball swoosh - couldnt do this as it was impratical to add to my magazine and caused too many problems.
- add some details to my front cover - some details about the magazine are there, its coming together.

Draft + action points

this is my original draft.
since i drew this i have changed my ideas + layout in my head.
i am keeping the bottom line and the title and 50's baseball motif.

but changing everything else to an easier layout.

My 5 action points are:
- make it informal for teenagers
-easier layout
- research smaller bands
- look at interview skills
- find some suitable fonts and colours.

survey results

22 people took my survey, this is my results:
Gender: 7 male, 15 female. this shows it appeals to both genders.
Age: 20 aged 10-19, 2 aged 20-30. this shows that it has a predominantly teenage audience.
Magazines: my results showed that music and tattoo based magazines were the most popular among my audience so i will use tattoos in my magazine to add a double appeal.

Genres: my results showed that the 3 most popular genres were pop-punk, hardcore and metal. this means that to appeal to my audience i will feature these three genres.
This graph shows that metal hardcore and pop punk were the 3 most popular genres.

Magazine Name: my results showed mixed appreciation of this name, with some hating it and some loving it, so i will keep the name as the same, as there is no debate against it.
Types of articles: my results showed the most popular articles would be gig and tour reviews, new and upcoming bands, nude tattooed women and interviews with bands and tattoo artists. so for my double page feature i will use one of these ideas.
Colours: my results showed that black, grey, red and white are  the most popular coours of choice so i will use those.
Artists: my results showed that i should use less popular bands that are up and coming in my feature, so i will.
Pay: results showed that the optimum price is £1-£1.50 andt he second most is £1.50-£2.50 so i will make it £1.50.
This graph showed the two most popular cost ranges were £1-£1.50 and £1.50-£2.50, so i took the common factor:£1.50 and used it as my most popular cost so that will be the final price of the magazine.

today i looked at my final product of my college magazine.
after assessing it i decided that what i need to do for my new music magazine i will make sure it is much more professional and neater.